My 89 K1500

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mountie

I sold my '88 C2500 to a happy guy in Germany
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FUN PROJECT...... heck..... at worse.... $2,000 crate motor.... $2,000 700R4..... Brakes, front end service..... REPAINT the darn thing ( stock colors)......
Oh, yea..... that dash is the same as my '88 GMC C2500.
 

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VIKING_MECHANIC

GMT 400 obsessed Swede.
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We've been working on the truck more over the last week. On Friday, I pulled the transmission pan off to see what was in the pan. The fluid was a cherry red, not really that bad, but what I found in the pan didn't shock me at all.

In the pan was a good amount of black soot and some fine metal particles. Awesome. Clutch materials and who knows what else. May be why the engine redlines when it attempts to shift into third. 1-2 shifts are really, really firm and when I put it into drive, it throws you back into the seat.

Other issues we are trying to figure out, is why it's overheating. We changed out the thermostat, which was rusted closed. Also put actual coolant in the engine since it was running 99.5% water. Replaced the radiator since it had a crack. The truck still gets to 260 within a few minutes of it running and we not sure if it's the pump, gauge or some other thing.

Today after working on it, we let it cool off for several hours. I went to start it and the temp was at 150 and not even joking, withing seconds of starting the engine, it was at 260. I think I may get a aftermarket temp gauge to try and rule out the factory gauge.

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VIKING_MECHANIC

GMT 400 obsessed Swede.
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Another day of working on the truck, although we didn't do much other than take off the ugly ass step bars.

The truck still won't shift into third when driving and there's this clucking sound coming from what sounds like the flexplate/torque converter. You can only hear it at idle. I think there is some weights missing off the flexplate but not entirely sure.

It is also still over heating. We at first thought the temp gauge is incorrect, but when it reaches 260, I pointed my infrared thermometer at the sender on the side of the block and it read ~265-270. So the gauge may be correct as when you shut it off and immediately try to restart it, it will hesitate to start but if it cools off for a few minutes, starts right up...

We should probably start with a proper size radiator since I accidentally put my S10 radiator in it. Also there's no fan shroud so that's probably not helping. But I'm not entirely convinced the heads aren't cracked.

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VIKING_MECHANIC

GMT 400 obsessed Swede.
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Well after months of deliberating, the truck is officially mine! At approximately 5pm on 6-24, me and my friends brother signed over the titles two the trucks.

Now, to drive the truck, I just have to rebuild the transmission and figure out it's overheating....
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VIKING_MECHANIC

GMT 400 obsessed Swede.
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Got the transmission and transfer case pulled out today. Took about 4 hours and many trips crawling in and out from underneath the truck when I thought I had everything I needed next to me next to the front tires.

Getting the flexplate off was the hardest. I think those bolts haven't been taken off in 30 years!

I noticed when I took out the trans, the tailhousing is cracked. So unless my trans shop can weld aluminum (I can't), I may be looking for another case.
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VIKING_MECHANIC

GMT 400 obsessed Swede.
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So in attempt to repair the cracked tail housing, I decided to use the steel reinforced putty to "fix" the piece that broke off. Mainly because I've never welded aluminum and I don't really know anyone who can weld it.

To my surprise, it actually worked and is holding strong. Although in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have use the bolt to keep the piece aligned while the putty set. But it came out no problem.

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