92 K2500 Revival

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Kens1990K2500

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It's not really working on cars season outside, but a guy noticed it was 45F and overcast today, which is good enough to unlock spray paintage. Did a full rebuild on the engine bay, it's looking snazzy:
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No expenses were spared in this operation, and by that I mean I only had a partial can of DE1635 in the garage but it was good enough to hit the major eyeball impacting areas. Got myself a hoist so I'm ready to receive the L31:
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It basically takes up my entire shop space, seems fine. Had to get in on that $60 off coupon at Hazard Frought, these things are getting expensive.
I bought a HF shop crane last year, with the intention of using it to remove my truck bed this spring. I don't have a garage, so my shop is my driveway. Fortunately it's been a very warm, and very light on snow, winter in my state.
 

Komet

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I like those digital HVAC controls. My truck has the same one. Mine had a flickering display. It worked, sort of, although you couldn't tell what mode or temp setting it was on.

I replaced it with a unit from eBay, not too difficult to swap. 'New' unit has been good. Gives the truck an old-school, 80s vibe.
I do too; they're nostalgic for me because my dad bought a '93 Z71 ECSB in 1994 and he's owned it ever since. He replaced it with a Tacoma, I tried to get him to sell it to me before I committed to this one but he wouldn't do it so it just sits at his place now. LCD hvac panel is just so unnecessary in a truck it's hard to understand the reasoning but I love that it happened and it's just another reason why I prefer the early interior.

I bought a HF shop crane last year, with the intention of using it to remove my truck bed this spring. I don't have a garage, so my shop is my driveway. Fortunately it's been a very warm, and very light on snow, winter in my state.
Yeah I feel pretty good about what I've accomplished on this so far in the 'off-season', Washington weather has been mild this year other than the silverthaw day that did a number on my knee when I slipped. As expected this project killed my velocity on the IROC-Z but I sorta wanted to leave it alone for a bit so I can enjoy driving it since it took a little over a year before I could really take it out on the road.

Very nice build! Being a lifelong 3rd Gen guy myself, I’ve always thought the TPI would be an excellent truck engine.
Everybody says TPI was the best truck intake GM never put in a truck. It was the first thing I had to rebuild on the IROC-Z so I already know the ins and outs, plus I just like how it drives and it looks cool. I've got about $1200 invested in the conversion and according to my spreadsheet I've got another $1000ish before we start turning rubber into smoke but hey, it's always been my dream to tune an efi system so you gotta pay to play somewhere.
 

Komet

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Congratulations! Your towing wiring has been scheduled for immediate removal.

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Ah, that's better. I haven't done a continuity test yet but I'm pretty sure the red, green, and blue leftover wires from back here are the same ones that run along the frame rail all the way into the engine bay. They aren't connected to anything so I'll clean them up later but they're benign for now. I do want to tow stuff with this rig, but it's going to be a fresh system I put in because that old junk isn't happening. Did an electrical test, no changes in functionality, all powered systems still functional.

Also good news, I found some 4:1 shrink ratio PTFE heatshrink. Bad news, it's coming from China so fuel tank is going to be down until late March. There are rumblings of a deal regarding a parts truck in the mix. Because that's what I needed, two non-running vehicles on the property I'm renting.

Confirmed the mount that holds the front diff in has been cut off, will need to reattach. C'est la vie.
 

Komet

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Well a guy has turned up the dial on parts acquisition. EGR block off plates, 24lb injectors, distributor sub harness, ptfe fuel lines, all kinds of goodness is heading my way. I also went over budget on wheels and tires ($450), but I think you will agree I got a good value. They came with some extra parts and I'm working on acquisition logistics.

Until all that shows up, I wanted to tackle the peeling paint on the roof real quick. Jam some POR-15 on the body rust so we can move on. So I pick off the big flake:

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Oops, hole in my roof.

No big deal, this is somehow not my first rodeo with oops hole in my roof, but I don't have a custom plugalyser and the last one I had to order from China so we needed a before I go to work solution and also it's raining tomorrow.

So I hit it with the wire wheel and get some primer on there, that should slow the rust down and get me a surface I can pretend is dry in 10 minutes to get my thirty dollar tube of goo on. Then I got to work in the hotrod custom metal fab shop and precision engineered this plate from shop stock:

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I think it turned out pretty good:

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Maybe less moisture will get into the cabin? Probably not.
 

Chewy1576

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Going to sub to this one. I have a 1990 K2500 with a Blueprint 383 and currently a Fitech 400 HP throttle body, but I really want to do TPI. This Fitech TPI system has me seriously considering jumping in. I already have the fuel system and stock engine harness modified for aftermarket EFI, shouldn't be much more to go to a Fitech TPI setup.

RCLB K2500, 300 HP 383, NV4500, and 4.10s = woooooooooo!!!
 

Komet

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There are great advantages to having friends that own tow trucks. Had a buddy hook me up with transport for my wheels and tires for the cost of diesel:

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Oh, the wheels and tires are attached to a '99 K1500. $350 for the truck, $200 for the tow. Never met the previous owner, but I will tell you the story as I understand it.

A coworker of my friend had a neighbor that wanted / needed this truck gone and offered it for scrap value. It was inoperable, ring carrier and pinion left out in the rain, axles out, driveshaft in the bed. It is a factory L31 4L60e unit with 198k on it.

Oh, and it was declared a total loss in 2016 and sold at auction with 160k on it. Pretty decent front and rear end collision. Airbags deployed, all that. Somebody rebuilt it (poorly) and drove it until 2020, when the rear end started making some noise. They took it to a shop for a quote:

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Don't think that was ever done though, there's a receipt for an oil change 2 months later. They knew a guy who could do it cheaper. It didn't work out. And now it's here.

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I haven't really looked at it much. My friend put a fresh battery in it and it's actually a running truck.

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The doors open in a crunchy manner. The hood doesn't open nicely. The tailgate can't close because the bed is 1" wider on either side. She's tweaked pretty hard. So, this should offer me almost all the parts I'm missing to complete the '92, and it came with a title so I can sell it to pull a part when I'm done and be out even less money.

Two of the tires don't hold air though. Dangit!
 

Komet

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I took inventory of the junk in the truck, it's mostly garbage but there were level 3 sparkalators and a wee 11mm wrench in there:

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Anybody know if these plugs would work well for my application? I'm thinking about running them.

I found normal lugnuts in the bed, and splined locking nuts on the fronts with no key. Tried the rocketsocket and it started twisting a lug. Turns out a 19mm 6pt deep socket took all the rest off fine, and I was left with the final boss:

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I hammered the 19mm on, it spun. Twisted worse, using the right key is now off the menu. This is now an extraction operation.

I tried every trick I had; penetrating oil, heat, and I hammered the rocketsocket on. I could see the nut flexing, and then it finally broke free with a snap.

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Whew.
 
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