1993 C1500 ECSS

[ima93chevyguy]

Thanks for posting this, I am considering updating the brake system as she does not stop as fast as I would like/feel comfortable with. Im not a fast driver, but just feel like it stops a bit slower than I would like... This is also my first truck in 25 years of driving, so I cannot expect it to stop like my caddilac.....

I am also considering a low profile cowl hood, any recomedations?

Yea 2" inch is as "low profile" as you're gonna get

Definitely get a Steel Hood and not a fiberglass one or any BS synthetic stuff.

Whatever reputable retailer you choose to purchase from it's gonna be about $400. I got mine from classicautoparts or something like that. But Jegs, or summit or whoever would be fine too. The hood will be around $275 but they'll charge you about $100 for freight shipping so don't be freaked out when you see that.

It'll come primered out of course so you'll have to get it painted. I painted the top and bottom of mine but didn't get the bottom clear coated. That was about $400 but prices will vary depending on your area.

 

[Steve A Willis]

I'm looking for a cowl induction hood for my 98 Chevy K3500. LMC offers them for the 1500 & 2500. They won't guarantee that it will fit the 3500. My question is if the hood any different from the 1500 and the 2500?
Thanks

 

[98chevy2500SS]

Hoods are the same, not sure why they think they are different.

 

[ima93chevyguy]

I did a little minor thing this past weekend. I finally cut off the end of the tubular bed supports where they hit my leaf springs. Rides so much better in the back and makes almost zero noise now. The top of my shackles still hit the bottom of my bed but there's nothing I can do about that. At least now when i go over small bumps it doesn't sound like a transformer. I just got up under there with a cordless grinder and a 4" wheel.

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[RQ Jay]

Currious if you gained anything with the addition of the headers?

 

[Tim W]

Very nice write up. I read the whole thing from start to finish

 

[Tim W]

Alright so I should have posted this a long time ago but I was so busy and didn't actually take any pictures at the time... but oh well.

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I completely installed my new dash! No more cracked dash or rattling pieces.
It took about 3 days each about 4-5 hours of working kind of lazily. While I was in there I cleaned up pretty much any wiring I could find and made it all tidy; redid connections and rerouted wires. Cleaned out the evap while I was in there too.
If anyone is planning on replacing their dash core then I would spend the time and look at anything behind the dash and make sure it's all 100%.
The job wasn't hard, it was pretty tedious. Removing the old one was easy because there was basically nothing left of it. Installing the new one was pretty easy too as long as you have an extra hand to get it in there and set down.
The only problems I ran into were that the dash I recieved was from a pre 92 truck so the hole for the gauge plug was smaller and I had to open it up with a dremel. I also put a piece of styrofoam to hold the plug up. Also there's two screws in the dash behind where the gauges mount to hold up a main wiring loom, they're a pain to get to so i broke them pulling it out and did not put them in when installing the new one.
And of course after doing all of this I determined I needed a new bezel piece so I had to replace that as well. So make sure that you thoroughly examine what all pieces you will need. I still need a fuse box cover and lower column piece but it's no bigee right now.
It's also amazing how discolored my interior was compared to a freshly spec painted piece.

I'm very impressed with it and it way better than a cracked up one.

Also for anyone wondering this is where I got all my pieces I ordered. This guy gets many different pieces every couple days. Pretty good prices. The dash core was $250 plus $65 ship, bezel was $45 plus $13 ship, and the speaker grilles were $20 plus $8 ship.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html/?_saslop=1&_sasl=tjsoff

Then, to top it off and protect the new dash I ordered a dash skin
https://dashskin.com/
Fits pretty good, You're supposed to glue it down but I have not got that far because I'm going to get my windshield tinted so I'm waiting till after that. I had to trim the very edges because they were hitting the A pillars.

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Those are with the dash skin installed.

Did you have to replace the bezel piece bc yours didn't wk with the new dash or was yours broken? im looking at a dash as well. It too will be going in a 94 stepside

 

[ima93chevyguy]

Currious if you gained anything with the addition of the headers?

An exhaust leak lol

Painfully honest... I can't really tell a difference. I think the exhaust is a little deeper but I still have the stock Y pipe after the headers and that thing is terrible. If i replaced it and ran true duals then I would suspect some improvements in horses or MPG. If you were keeping stock motor I'd recommend them, but my plan is after I retire the truck as a daily I'm gonna LS swap it so they probably weren't worth my time overall.

Did you have to replace the bezel piece bc yours didn't wk with the new dash or was yours broken? im looking at a dash as well. It too will be going in a 94 stepside

No i replaced the bezel piece purely because most of the mounting holes that screw into the dash on mine were broken. Also the foam padding stuff under it was deteriorated and separating the two pieces. All of my pieces from my dash swapped over perfectly. I also recently got a new fuse block cover and lower steering cover they both fit very nice. I really need a new face bezel because most of the headlight switch screw holes are stripped and it's chipped on every corner.
The guy I linked in that post runs across most color dashes pretty often for pretty reasonable prices.

 

[Tim W]

An exhaust leak lol

Painfully honest... I can't really tell a difference. I think the exhaust is a little deeper but I still have the stock Y pipe after the headers and that thing is terrible. If i replaced it and ran true duals then I would suspect some improvements in horses or MPG. If you were keeping stock motor I'd recommend them, but my plan is after I retire the truck as a daily I'm gonna LS swap it so they probably weren't worth my time overall.



No i replaced the bezel piece purely because most of the mounting holes that screw into the dash on mine were broken. Also the foam padding stuff under it was deteriorated and separating the two pieces. All of my pieces from my dash swapped over perfectly. I also recently got a new fuse block cover and lower steering cover they both fit very nice. I really need a new face bezel because most of the headlight switch screw holes are stripped and it's chipped on every corner.
The guy I linked in that post runs across most color dashes pretty often for pretty reasonable prices.

Thanks for the link. I got a dash from him. I just wanted to Make sure the bezels were the sams. Thanks for replying

 

[ima93chevyguy]

Thanks for the link. I got a dash from him. I just wanted to Make sure the bezels were the sams. Thanks for replying

No problem man glad to help

I think the only problems I had when doing my swap was that the gauge plug was a major PITA to get through the hole since the dash I got was for 88-91 gauges and the hole is super small compared to our plug even after widening it out. Also one of the big mounting points on the sides the threads got screwed up and I had to tap it out. Everything else was pretty smooth.