88 factory restoration

[Steven Petersen]

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I picked up this early 88 about a year ago. It had 49,000 original miles with extensive documentation. The owner bought for business and retired around 1990. Then kept it just for use on his property. Even with low miles, it was pretty beat up. Interior was trashed as well.

 

[Steven Petersen]

The first thing I did was replace the carpet and seat covers. I’m not happy with the seat as it doesn’t look or feel exactly as original. I purchased a used one in Canada that is being shipped here soon.

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[SUBURBAN5]

That makes a world difference. Great job. You plan on keeping the moon guages?

 

[Steven Petersen]

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[Steven Petersen]

Other things I’ve fixed so far.

All missing or broken dash pieces.

OEM all black 88 only Radio with cassette/equalizer.

New front speakers.

Air dam. Old one was missing.

Window washer motor.

New Delco plugs, wires, cap, rotor, module and coil.

New O2 sensor.

New IAC solenoid.

New OEM style exhaust using factory hangers. Bought exhaust from Rock Auto. Hangers from EBay.

Upgraded to the Sport steering wheel and horn cap.

Upgraded to 265/75/16 tires and OEM aluminum rims. It had 225/75/16 on steel.

New programmer chip to recalibrate speedometer due to tire size swap.

Swapped open differential for a Gov-lock carrier. Kept the OEM 4.10 gears.

(2) new power window motors.

Door seals.

New Delco compressor, Dryer and Orifice tube. Fully functional AC now on R12.

OEM floormats. A guy sent them to me for free, he was throwing them out.

 

[Steven Petersen]

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That makes a world difference. Great job. You plan on keeping the moon guages?

Yes, trying to restore factory original. It has the 88 only style gauges.

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[PlayingWithTBI]

Welcome, nice looking acquisition. Hope you enjoy your project. Lots of great info here. A few questions...

New programmer chip to recalibrate speedometer due to tire size swap.

How did you calibrate the speedometer with a chip? The speedometer on these is calibrated with the VSS signal adapter on the back of the cluster. The chip only calibrates the speed in the ECM. 2 different things. Here's how to calibrate your speedo. I'm curious, where did you get the EPROM chip?
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=313815

Yes, trying to restore factory original. It has the 88 only style gauges.

I was under the impression the 'moonie" gauges were on 88 - 91, I may be wrong. What's the difference between them?

 

[Steven Petersen]

Welcome, nice looking acquisition. Hope you enjoy your project. Lots of great info here. A few questions...


How did you calibrate the speedometer with a chip? The speedometer on these is calibrated with the VSS signal adapter on the back of the cluster. The chip only calibrates the speed in the ECM. 2 different things. Here's how to calibrate your speedo. I'm curious, where did you get the EPROM chip?
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=313815


I was under the impression the 'moonie" gauges were on 88 - 91, I may be wrong. What's the difference between them?

On the calibration, I found a chip on eBay. My cluster had never been recalibrated. It had no chip. From the factory, GM just popped the appropriate resistors for tire size/gear ratio combination. To recalibrate the first time, GM made a harness to pop all the resistors. I couldn’t find one, so I improvised. I applied 12 volts with a jumper wire to each resistor, blowing them. Then I broke off the appropriate pins on the chip and installed. My speedometer is dead on accurate now.

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[Steven Petersen]

Welcome, nice looking acquisition. Hope you enjoy your project. Lots of great info here. A few questions...


How did you calibrate the speedometer with a chip? The speedometer on these is calibrated with the VSS signal adapter on the back of the cluster. The chip only calibrates the speed in the ECM. 2 different things. Here's how to calibrate your speedo. I'm curious, where did you get the EPROM chip?
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=313815


I was under the impression the 'moonie" gauges were on 88 - 91, I may be wrong. What's the difference between them?

On the gauges, the 88 style have the hash marks and plain white pointer. The 89-91 have no hash marks, and an orange line on the leading edge of the white pointer.
My parts book shows the newer style was available in 88 also, but I’ve never seen an 88 that had them.

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

I found a chip on eBay. My cluster had never been recalibrated. It had no chip.

Maybe I misunderstood what you said about the chip. The only chip I know of is the one (2732A EPROM) that goes in the ECM.