2000 C2500 Project

[EJ_74]

This is my 2000 Chevy 3/4 ton work truck. It has a quarter million miles of wear and appears to have seen a little abuse too. I'm going to try and fix/improve some things to make it like I want it. Here's what it looked like when I got it a few months ago:

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Notice the painted bumper and work truck grille have been swapped for a chrome bumper and grille by previous owner. He also put some later model (GMT800 I think) aluminum wheels on it. I like these changes. It's still heavy duty but looks pretty too, without being too fancy. Only thing I would like different is a front bumper without the plate holes or rub strip.

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One of the first things I needed to fix was the turn signal. Had an intermittent problem where the driver side brake/turn lamp would not light and the front would blink fast. I put new modules and bulbs in the rear lights but still had the problem. So I looked for poor connections in the front. I found a huge bundle of splices behind the bumper and thought maybe one of them was bad. I didn't like how the splices weren't staggered and it was just a big ugly lump, so I got an entire forward light harness from the junkyard to replace it. Turns out it wasn't the front, but the connector to the module at the back. Oh well. I'm still glad I took it apart and replaced the harness though.

I found some more problems when I took the front end apart to do the wires. The front bumper felt flimsy, turns out it was missing the outer support brackets on both sides. I thought maybe someone just left them out, but the passenger frame horn is actually bent such that it won't line up. Apparently the truck was wrecked before and the fenders and hood were replaced. I got a hydraulic ram and a hammer and managed to reduce the damage on the frame. It's not perfect and the core support alignment still seems screwy but it's close enough that you can't tell from the outside and I was able to get all the bumper brackets on. Nice and solid now. Turns out the core support is actually the wrong one for this grille. It works, but the filler panel and some other pieces have been modified to make it fit. Can't tell once it's assembled but it's not like it should be. One day I'll put the right one in but for now I'll have to live with this.

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I also replaced all the front lenses. What it had on it was some 10 year old aftermarket ones. All yellowed and starting to crack. I think it looks better with the orange corners.

 

[EJ_74]

One of my next tasks was to redo the trailer wires. Previous wiring was... sketchy. Wire tapped into taillights instead of using the bundle behind the bumper. Couple of the wires to the socket were just cut and hanging down. Had an old trailer brake but some of the wires were cut and they used power from a skinny interior light wire instead of going to the underhood fuse block. I ripped all that crap out, taped up the cuts in the insulation, and started fresh. It was fairly straightforward for the most part, GM put most of the wires there already behind the bumper and under the brake booster, just had to hook them up.

One thing I wanted to know was if there was any way to connect the brake signal for the trailer brake without having to cut into the wires from the stoplamp switch. Searched the internet a little and I think someone said there was a pin on the fuse block for it. Looked in the service manual and found it. I don't remember seeing any pictures so here are some in case anyone else is looking for it.

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You could just use a spade terminal but there is a connector made to fit it. Will be a much more secure connection. I didn't have access to any used ones so I had to buy new. Standard Motor Products makes one, part number S-649.

I don't have a trailer yet but checked it with a tester and everything works good.

 

[tpass]

good looking truck.... it's always fun going through and improving on a previous owner "repairs".

I really like the PYO wheels too and had them one of my previous trucks.

 

[vince72]

Great looking rig there!

 

[BNielsen]

Looks great! I see in your bio you're in NC? Whereabouts are you located? I'm about 45 minutes south of Charlotte about halfway between there and Winston-Salem.

 

[EJ_74]

Looks great! I see in your bio you're in NC? Whereabouts are you located? I'm about 45 minutes south of Charlotte about halfway between there and Winston-Salem.

Thanks. I'm about 30 minutes east of Raleigh, on the edge of Wake county.

 

[EJ_74]

Another thing I wanted to change was the seats. Originally the truck came with a bench seat, but the previous owner swapped it for cloth bucket seats and a center console. But for a work truck I really wanted a vinyl bench. I like the way the late model "scalloped" one looks and thought it would be a good fit for the truck.

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Not a big fan of the seat covers but the fabric was so clean I didn't want to risk staining it. The foam/spring structures underneath felt soft and wore out and the passenger seat had some sort of rattle in it. These are power but someone had to run wires for them since my truck was manual before. There was a hole drilled in the bottom of the cab and the wires were run all the way along the frame, across the engine bay, and to the battery. Connection at the battery was not secure, pretty much just wedged in there. Don't know why they didn't just run it to the junction block under the dash. The holes they drilled for the console also seemed slightly misaligned.

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Everything taken out. I like how it has the vinyl floor instead of carpet.

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All cleaned up. I bought some plastic pushpins to try and seal the extra holes a bit.

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New seat installed. Luckily they didn't change the original buckles when they put the buckets in and I was able to reuse them.

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I cleaned the seat some but it's in really good condition. No tears, padding is firm like new. Very comfortable.


It took me a little while to get a seat. Couldn't find any good ones at the junkyard or online but eventually got this on marketplace. It is actually the rear seat from a crew cab. I was told they were the same size as the front (they are). However, the tracks are different. At first I thought all I needed was to attach the longer lever and the springs/wire. I got an entire LH track assembly with the lever and thought I could reuse the RH one. But it turns out the rear seat brackets have slightly less travel than the front ones. So the driver side can't move all the way forward or back because the passenger is stopping too early. Next time I go to the yard I need to get a matching passenger track but this works for now. It's only one or two notches short. I never thought about it before but the return springs seem to be slightly different tensions between the two sides. When I had the soft one on one side the seat got all crooked and was hard to slide but after I switched them it worked perfect.

 

[EJ_74]

Truck had a lot of problems with the powertrain. The engine ran good but I was losing a lot of oil (about a quart every 2-300 miles). Valve covers were leaking some so I replaced the gaskets. Put some cardboard under it for several days but didn't see any significant leakage. So it must be burning it. Air cleaner and intake seemed to have a film of oil in them. I replaced the PCV valve, cover, hose, and grommets, no change. Tried some of that "engine restore" stuff they have at the parts stores but didn't work. I think the rings are just wore out.

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This is the numbers matching engine to the truck with 250,000 miles. Oil pressure shows it's far from new. Probably never been rebuilt before.

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Engine stripped down. I am going to be redoing the entire exhaust system as well. The muffler had a loose baffle inside it and made a very annoying rattle every time I took off from a stop. Could use new O2 sensors, cats are probably close to fouled from the oil consumption, rear flange was warped and leaking, pipe has been welded on in various places and seems to have some leakage at the welds. I would have liked some 2.5" true duals with two mufflers and no cats. But since I'm not equipped to do tuning or exhaust fabrication and I don't know anyone I'd trust to do it for me I'm just going with the stock setup for now. The original exhaust on a 3/4 ton is already an improvement over the 1/2 ton with the bigger downpipes and smaller muffler.

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I considered getting a rebuilt engine from Summit or Jegs but then decided I'd rather have a GM crate engine for peace of mind about the longevity. A 383 stroker wasn't much more so why not.

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The transmission wasn't great either. I could cruise on flat road in OD but if it went up any kind of hill it would get the TCC slip code and go to hard shifting and no 4th gear. It is numbers matching as well but may have been rebuilt before, not sure. Instead of replacing just the torque converter or messing with the valve body I decided it would be good to just get the whole thing refreshed and upgraded for the stronger engine.

 

[EJ_74]

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Driveshaft got new center bearing and U-joints.

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I had the transmission rebuilt at Aamco. They also installed a shift kit and upgraded some things.

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Chevy performance HT383E is here. So clean.

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Partially assembled.

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Ready to go in truck.

 

[EJ_74]

I finished putting everything back together a few weeks ago but wanted to share some pictures.

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I didn't feel like painting the manifolds initially but they look really pretty after I did. I spent many hours with the driver side one getting out a broken off stud and stuck donut. Would've been cheaper and easier to buy a new one but glad I saved the original.

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Almost done. Installed a lot of new parts (hoses, belt, sensors, etc.) as preventative maintenance. I spent a lot of time washing parts trying to make everything clean. Intake, trans crossmember, pulleys, every bracket and bolt that went back on the engine got cleaned.