'89 Stepside "Way Cool Jr."

[Erik the Awful]

Did some tweaks to my dad's black walnut *******. I may not be able to post pics, but videos post fine!

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[MrPink]

awesome build, i also like the nut *******.

 

[Erik the Awful]

In about a month and a half it's going to start warming up, so over the weekend I placed about $350 between RockAuto and Summit for transmission rebuild parts. I'm hoping to get most of my yard work caught up with in the meantime.

Here's what I bought:
Pioneer rebuild kit
Raybestos High Friction clutches
Sonnax Line Pressure Booster Kit
Sonnax Sun Gear Shell
Sonnax 4th Gear Super Hold Servo
GM Genuine oil pan (it was cheap!)
The "GM Overdrive Automatic Transmission" book
Vacuum and pressure switches for controlling the TCC without the ECU.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to need accumulator springs and maybe an accumulator piston, but I want to wait and see all the parts that are broken before I make another order. I'm probably also going to order the Corvette servo and the spring-end Sonnax sells for TV cables.

 

[Erik the Awful]

Small victories, I'll take 'em!

My small lawnmower was acting up today - bad gas and the fuel filter was already full, so I decided to drive the truck to the hardware store. I tweaked WCJr's throttle adjustment closed a bit because the Sniper's IAC has been running 0%. The trip to and from is just enough to get the engine up over 160*, and when I pulled back into the driveway I grabbed the handheld to check the IAC. The stupid SD card popped out! I shut the truck off and put the card back in place.

I then went to fix the mower and discovered I got the wrong size fuel filter. Doh! I started the truck back up to head back to the hardware store and checked the IAC again and found it at 30%. That's way too much, so I tweaked the screw again and rechecked and had it swinging around 8%. That's acceptable. It drove great!

As I was checking out one of the younger guys asked, "Is that truck cammed?"

"Oh, yeah, it's cammed." I told him a bit about the truck.

I got some more chores done around the house and decided to head to Patriot Steel to get metal to build an engine stand. It's about 12 miles, round trip, and the truck ran near flawlessly. The IAC swings a little too much, so I likely have a small vacuum leak somewhere.

As the guy was helping me load the 1.5" x 3" .120 tubing he looked at WCJr and said, "I love these trucks. I've had four of them. I think I like the fiberglass fenders most." We chatted pickups for a couple minutes.

Best of all, the transmission ran better when warmed up. I'm hoping to get the windshield replaced later this month, and once that's done I can start using the truck more.

 

[Erik the Awful]

Friday I bought a dinky shop vac from a friend, and I grabbed the keys for WCJr to drive to meet him. I turned the key and it cranked, but wouldn't fire. TPS was reading 83%. I cycled the key off and back on, still at 83%. I hopped in the Mustang instead.

Saturday my wife and I went to a funeral for a church friend, and on the way home we saw an estate sale. We stopped and I found one of those old metal teacher's desks. Sturdy as can be and perfect for the shop. I bought it and said, "I'll be back to pick it up if I can get my truck started."

At home, WCJr again failed to start, so I popped the hood and pulled the TPS and IAC plugs. Something in the Sniper made a "click" sound (power was off), and I put everything back together. It fired up and ran like a champ. I went and picked up the desk. I think the TPS was sticking.

Yesterday I started building my transmission stand - I'd rather have bought the $65 Harbor Freight engine stand, but they were out. Mine's basically an engine stand with a provision for holding a GM transmission by the two lugs on the sides. I got the frame and transmission holder built, but needed hardware. Community Hardware is closed on Sunday, so I had to drive a bit further to Tractor Supply. The truck again ran great.

After work today I'm going to finish the transmission holder and shoot a couple coats of paint on it.

 

[BruiserCruiser]

Haha, just went through the 20 pages of this build thread. I like it!

 

[Erik the Awful]

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[Erik the Awful]

I finally got the windshield replaced yesterday - $189 and the guy replaced it in my driveway. OKC Auto Glass if any of you local guys are looking for a windshield.

I drove it further today; went to O'Reillys to dump my 5 gallon bucket of oil and get some coolant. It drove like a champ. My only complaint is that the Sniper's throttle response is on/off without a whole lot of in-between. It's either burning the tires or idling.

The engine was pinging with me leaning halfway into the gas pedal, so I might turn back the timing a couple degrees. The best gas that's readily available in Oklahoma is 91 octane, and with a 9.7:1, I'm thinking 91 is a necessity. I topped the tank off.

Also, I'm either getting 4 miles per gallon or I need to get a locking gas cap. It's 50/50 on the odds for that. When my Cadillac was parked in the driveway, it always had room for me to dump old gas into the tank. God help whomever was siphoning it, that was some nasty stuff.

Tomorrow I'm driving it to work. Also, my new cell phone's charger is crap. The phone's at 2%, so I'll be flying without it. Wish me luck!

 

[Erik the Awful]

I left the house at 0550 this morning, and immediately realized the headlights are horribly mis-aimed. "No worries, it's early and there's no much traffic. I'll just drive easy." I thought. I got to the end of my street and hit my turn signal. All the lights went out.

Crap.

I drove the Mustang. It got cold today, and I didn't get home until it was almost dark, so it's not getting fixed tonight.

 

[Erik the Awful]

I started tearing into the original transmission this morning. The fluid's pretty burnt, but the transmission itself is incredibly clean. I was considering buying a new valve body wiring harness, but the old wires are still flexible and in good condition. I'm wondering if this is a relatively recent GM replacement transmission, or if the truck was babied for the first 100,000 miles before it was abused.
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