92 K2500 Revival

[Erik the Awful]

AGE stuff will never see the rot that a car will. Not the greatest example.

LOL. Our stuff got parked in open, uncovered yards for years at a time. Twice a year it got rolled in for inspections. About a third of the equipment gets used routinely. Lug stud rust is a real issue at other locations, but not so much in Oklahoma.

Don't anti-seize your lug studs. Wire brush them clean if they need it, and maybe put a dab of oil on the threads if you're in a high-corrosion environment.

 

[Komet]

Seller wants another week to see if his insurance will cover the sewer repair, works for me I got some cycles for my truck.

One of the least cherished pieces of advice I give others is "one of the things you believe to be true, may not be true." I thought I had the coolant system bled because I did everything I did on the Camaro, and that thing will melt your socks off. Plus the truck doesn't overheat at all, totally normal temps. Regardless, I felt like I had some heat the first time I filled it up, and zero now, so a regression in functionality may imply operator error.

I unfolded the strange marked paper that came with the funnel. Turns out there's instructions and a labeled diagram of the components on there, which was enough information for me to choose the correct combination of adapters to get the funnel to not leak when filled this time. A critical improvement. I was mentally prepared to get the duct tape out. And I mean the Class 1 Duct stuff they use in the trades, I was serious. Fortunately it didn't come to that. I poured a bit in and fired it up:

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The coolant expanded as it warmed up:

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Once it got to thermostat open temp, I started snapping the throttle, holding revs at 2k, squeezing the tubes vigorously. I got bubbles, success! I kept going for a while, seems like revving it closes the thermostat with the temp drops so I'd give it a few minutes to heat up, then crack the throttle and I'd get a few bubbles. I figured it was the perfect time for an exhaust video, so here's what I ended up with:

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The extremely boring pause in the middle of the video is me watching a huge release of bubbles, sorry you're kinda along for the ride here. I guess my tune needs some work but I don't normally crack the throttle wide open like that.

Anyway, after 45 minutes or so of really givin 'er, I was rewarded with somewhat functional heat! By the time I shut it off, the cabin was actually pleasantly warm. The heat is far from great but it's definitely happening which is a huge improvement. Defrost is critical around here this time of year.

 

[Komet]

Turns out the sewer is fine and the guy I hired was just a total waste of money, so we are moving to the mountains. I got a lot of firewood to move, so I hopped on the craigslist and looked for a cheap bed topper and they were all

SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS?!

What! My budget is more like... zero dollars, so it looks like 'ol Stan is going to help me out one last time. I went searching in the surplus zone around ye olde outbuildings:

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Fifty generations of insects have lived and died here and the wood is color matched to my truck, seems fine. I take some measurements and grab some materials.

I've been watching dudes install tile showers on YouTube lately, and I got to thinking I wanted an 1/8" gap between the boards. Well, dremel bits have an 1/8" arbor:

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You can see them poking out between the bed and board. Oh, it started raining. Washington guy life. Anyways, I used those as shims and built up some sides:

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Then I used the scraps to block off the rear window:

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Now I just need a piece of plywood to slip in front of the tailgate and hopefully I can move all my firewood in one trip. But, even two trips would be a lot better than four.

Not bad for free, I might do some vertical reinforcement boards across the window blockers, but I need some shorter screws. Only had the 2 1/2" ones on hand from the wheel crib project a few years ago.

 

[Supercharged111]

In for pics of that thing loaded down like Sanford and Sons.

 

[Komet]

Well a guy had a week to ponder the mysteries of load securement, and I'm back with truck bed enhancement 2.0.

I got the back pieces reinforced:

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That did offer a substantial rigidity improvement, I think it'll be adequate for my purposes. I realized I'll need to strap down a tarp over the top since it'll probably be raining, so I added 4 d-rings per side:

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To secure the back, the mvp from the previous phase of the project, ground plywood makes another appearance to help out again! Check out that new svelte shape and vintage automotive fluid staining:

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I got an appointment to have the front end aligned since we're about to find out if she can throw down hundreds of miles per day. 36 test miles is good, right? Seems fine.

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

In for pics of that thing loaded down like Sanford and Sons.

Like this? I feel sorry for the poor Burb.....
I've seen this same Burb and very overloaded trailer before, and posted a pic of it then too. These guys are in the 'hood a few miles from where I live(glad I'm in a "gated community").....

 

[Keeper]

With 8 matching wheels! Awesomeness!

I wonder if they run matching tire sizes... if one doesn't care about LT vs ST, which I'm guessing they don't, it does make some sense

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

With 8 matching wheels! Awesomeness!

I wonder if they run matching tire sizes... if one doesn't care about LT vs ST, which I'm guessing they don't, it does make some sense

That's a good question....I haven't wanted to get that close to the poor thing, might get cooties LoL. I know I have seen this rig with a ginormous load like that, at least one other time. This was in the parking lot of the shopping center that the Laundromat I use(and the local Little Caesars) are in. The other sighting was at the Kroger a few blocks away.
Prolly the last Burb they had, all that's left is those wheels....

 

[Komet]

Shop didn't charge me for an alignment because all my steering stuff is too worn out to hold one. They offered to fix it, but I don't trust the quality of the parts they're sourcing and it would actually be cheaper to wear my tires funny and replace them, so I'm just going to roll with it for the time being and put a steering system rebuild on the todo list. I already pretty much knew that needed to happen but it's nice to have someone check your work now and then, especially at no charge.

Allegedly the tech punched the gas to get it out on the highway and wasn't expecting to light the tires. They thought it was LS swapped.

So, for better or worse, we're hitting the highway with a cord of firewood next week. I better do some high speed testing, I've only ever taken this thing to 45mph. I got my firewood destination uncovered this past weekend:

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Check out that yard. You know how I like 'em.

And here's a teaser picture of where I'll be rebuilding that front end after I get the feces off the everything:

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Yep, losing all my gravel cred.

I had a moment today after I unpacked the third box to find my multimeter because the IROC-Z's voltmeter says she's running on 10v, where I thought life would be easier if I didn't constantly make extremely inadvisable decisions.

But she's charging at 14.5v at the battery. I'm going to take that as an omen to send it.

 

[fancyTBI]

You could easily add gravel to that overrated concrete floor and still keep your cred!

Also, must’ve missed when this thing turned green but I like it.