Balzer's 94 Chevy RCSB K1500.

[Balzer]

Greetings earthlings,

Im Will and this is my build thread (like you didnt know that)
First off I have owned several of these trucks and learned a few things in the past.

Some of the bad things I have learned
1 there are some really crappy lifts out there on these trucks. My first was a 6" tough country from around 1999-2000 era. It was HORRIBLE! It only dropped the front diff about 3" the rest was crank. The front and rear crossmembers for the front diff where composed of 8 bolt together pieces. This lift gave me fits constantly. The truck ate up CV's, ball joints, tires, pitman arms, unit bearings and needed an alignment every few months.

2 CV joints are happier as straight as possible.

3 turing sharp while in 4wd does not make CV's happy (especially if they already have bad angles)

4 there are a lot of bandaid fixes that usually just cost more money.

Now some of the good things I have learned
1 lift kits came a long way from when they was first introduced to now.

2 the IFS on these trucks are not as bad as their reputation.

3 Wheels are a huge factor in keeping these front ends happy. 12" wide deep dish wheels that poke your tires out a mile are the WRONG wheels!

4 A little product called 4X4 posi-lok is one of the best things you can spend money on for these trucks.

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OK got that out of the way, are ya still with me?

Here are some pics of my past GMT400's
My last one was a 99 GMC yukon

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before that was a 96 GMC ECSB Z71 (my posterchild for what not to do to the front end)

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[Balzer]

Now my current truck is a 1994 RCSB K1500 if you hadnt guessed.

My baby brothers, friend drove this truck in highschool then it got passed to another friend and then after the engine and trans went bad my brother ended up with it. Its a really clean very high milage truck. So my little bro built an engine somewhere around 400hp and had it in a 91 suburban. He found out that TBI does NOT support the engine he built. So it got swapped into this truck with a carb and accel HEI dizzy and all the computer is bypassed. Behind it he swapped in a 700R4 that I had built a few years ago with all the goodies.

The previous owner had just had the front suspention rebuilt with new solid upper a-arms ball joints ect. Somewhere in the past the rear pass axle was bent and my brother replaced that. while in there we inspected the rear diff and the G80 and everything looked great.
The front axle is currently getting new inner bearings and new seals the ring pinion and everything else look great.

SO right now it is getting a lot of little stuff fixed at my baby bros shop. door pins & bushings, wiper motor, loose ends getting tied up, testing and tuning blah blah blah.

So far I have bought a new optima yellow top, electric fans, wiper arms, distributor spring and weight kit, door pins and bushings and a bunch of used parts such as dash gauge cluster, matching grey CD player housing several other things I am sure I am forgetting.
Basically in the last week I have spend right around $800 counting what I have paid my bro. (hes just starting his shop and need the work)
pics crappy cell phone pics but I dont have an actual camera after picture #7
engine

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EDIT FOR MORE INFO
This truck has 2"+/- diff drop brackets and I think it also has either aftermarket or ford TB keys it also has a rear add a leaf.
It has factory solid upper a-arms that hit the droop stops before the truck is level. It has 31x10.50x15s on 15x8 wheels. Grey cloth seats (buckets)((power drivers side not hooked up)) and no center console. It has power windows and locks. If it was a Z71 the stickers are gone and I don't really care if it is a Z71 or not.

 

[Balzer]

Just to add to the story and some entertaiment value, pic #7 is the aftermath of me mistaking a cow wallowing hole for part of the trail I was on. It ended up being deep and slick and smelly

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Those are buried 35's (well 3 of them anyway)

Anyway I ended up with about 6" of water in my floorboards, busted CV #eleventeen, it sat over night. the next day after we pulled it out my friend wanted to try the hole in his dodge and got stuck so I had to pull him out (with a busted CV mind you) and somewhere in the process my digital camera went for a swim. I spent the next 3 days pulling the interior out and washing the carpet with laundry soap and a pressure washer, and getting new undercarpet insulation. I did however get the cow **** smell out of the truck.

I havent got a new camera yet LOL.

 

[Balzer]

Just got back from the shop, I installed a 16" electric fan and plan on adding a second, probably smaller, fan before summer. I did a little digging and (DUH) actually read the RPO in the glove box and found out it is a Z71 silverado. Not really super news but worth knowing I guess. I think this truck has been repainted some time in the past, It may have been wreaked a time or to as well. I say this because there are areas that the paint has flaked off such as the underside of the hood inside of fenders... Under the white paint, some of it is primer grey and some of it is black like replacment parts come.

Also hate to admit this but I was having hell tuning this truck. Setting the AF mix screws and the timing (something I am usually really good at) has been difficult to say the least.
Well tonight we was finding a keyed on power for the E-fan and I noticed sometimes the engine would change. I got looking and both grounds for the engine to firewall and body to chassis where not conected. Doesnt sound like a big deal right? but this meant several things where not getting a proper ground, including the fuel pump (noted by an audiable difference with the ground conected. So now maybe I can try to tune it again and get better results. By the way I tune by ear not with timing light and vaccume gauge. I always get great results this way. Some people question it but it is the way I do it. I am a firm believer that each and every engine has its own prefered settings to run at peak performance.

Sill so many small ends to tie up. However we did get the front axle rebuilt with new bearings and seals. Unfourtunatly this engine sat for a little while and now we think the rear main may need replaced, so the front axle isnt in the truck until we get that sorted out. My brother did crawl under it tonight and snug up the oil pan bolts, so we will see if it still leaks when I have it running during the tune work.

 

[Balzer]

Spent today (Mostly screwing around) tinkering on truck, but did tie up some loose ends. Got the oil pan gasket changed and so far no leaks. Started to put the front axle in, but Somehow 2 bolts and nuts have gone missing 1 for the rear diff drop bracket and one on the pass side axle housing.

However I did some investigating to my front suspention (you may have seen my other thread about trimming the droopstops) The rear part of the a-arm hits the droop stops before the truck is level, This is not a lot of crank! So per some sugestions in the other thread I pulled the pass tire off to check on flipping the balljoints. This is where I saw the problem. The ball joints are maxed out to the rear of the truck! Not right at all, so I started going between my truck and my brothers 94 k1500 that is all stock comparing the upper a-arms.
I am SURE someone has but the wrong upper a-arms on my truck. the angles are differnt and some of the bends are different. Just to clairify the balljoints are tilted to the rear of the truck and maxed out on their range of motion (front to rear)((not side to side)). This bad angle on the balljoint is through the whole up and down travel of the suspention. I will draw up a quick MS paint diagram to show what I mean if the words dont make sence. Very crude but imagine the blue is the a-arm, and the black shapes are the balljoints themselves.

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So I have to replace the upper a-arms. However one of the other projects happening in my brothers shop, is a 82 camaro is getting a engine from a wrecked 88 K1500. The 88 truck is getting stripped down of all usable parts then the carcase will be hauled off. So I will be able to swipe the a-arms from the truck, to use on mine.

I have a feeling the a-arms on it now are 2000+ truck a-arms, either way they are definatly the wrong ones.

 

[Balzer]

Was just doing a bit of net research LOL. It appears I was wrong in the other thread Both superlift and skyjacker still at least "show" the 2.5" lift kits for these rom looking at the pics they show it looks as though my truck has the skyjacker kit.

 

[Balzer]

OK finally have most of the bugs worked out, got a new windsheild put in (they are so shiney and clear when new) Had it in for some front end work and finally figured out the root of my front suspention problems. First and foremost the upper a-arms where the correct ones for this truck but they put them on the wrong sides of the truck, Also they had 1 ton TB keys! This was rediculous, first it had the TB's cranked up tight without the bolt being in very far at all and second they didnt really fit the bars! the keys slid over the bars and had a gap around them. So the corners of the hex was resting in the flats of the keys. To picture this just think of useing a slightly oversized wrench on a bolt head (15mm wrench on a 9/16 bolt comes to mind) Could you imagine if that would have slipped?

The oil pan gasket didnt fix the leak so we had to put a new rear main seal in. FINALLY NO LEAKS!

Anyway another $600 this week and went to pick up the truck from Big O and the damn starter nose cone blew up! So I have to get a starter for it and pick it up tomorrow.

While I know it takes time and money to rescue a truck like this, I am starting to get annoyed! This truck deffinatly has a personality and thus far its been a negitive one. Its being a high maintanance *****! It seams like every time I turn around something (although usually simple) goes wrong. But on the positive side the damn thing is going to be practically a new truck in no time at this rate!.

ALSO the 700R4 transmission in this truck has a computer controlled lock up converter, I have talked to my transmission guy and he says they can change out the servo motor to a pressure switch and fix this small problem. So once I get it on the road it will go to the trans shop and get that changed and they are going to set the TV cable to the proper pressure. This apparantly is crittical for a TH700R4 and especially for a modified one like I have.

I still need to add an external trans cooler and find a torque converter dust cover (Its around here somewhere) I need to clean up the engine compartment of loose wires and such make sure nothing it gunna get burnt on the headers and stuff like that. Also need to figure out why my dash gauges are not working, I am thinking its a ground problem. And that brings me to the inside. There are about 4-5 toggle switches stuffed up under the dash that dont seam to do anything. I need to trace them down and eliminate any extra wire mess.

 

[Balzer]

OK now I will let you in on my plans for this truck.

Install recently aquired MSD 6AL ignition (gotta love parts trading)
I want to swap the grill to a W/T grill with the single headlights
Paintable smooth diesel front bumper *I think I will add a grill hoop before paint*
95+ mirrors
Lund moonvisor
stock style fender flares
remove chrome rockers
remove side molding
paintable rear bumper without the side trim
remove embelems and tailgate "chevrolet"
tint all maker turn and tail lights including visor lights *just a light tint to give it a smoked look not too dark*
paint grill, bumpers, mirrors gloss black.
rhinoliner on rockers,fender flares and bed interior in gloss black
wheels are probably going to be KMC XD revolvers in black 17x9 -12 offset
Tires will be Big O ATs in a 285x70x17

I have thought about going bigger with a 6" lift and 35" tires but im not really sure yet. I kinda like the size and stance it has now. AND I am running out of budget.
I do have a another parts truck that is a 94 6 lug 2500 with the 14BSF rear and it does have 4.11 gears but it is open. I may pull both front and rear axles out of that truck and rebuild them and add a rear limited slip or locker then swap them into my truck. (might be a good idea,I think my tires will be close to 33's)
I would like to build a headache rack but do a sportier rollbar look without rear kickers. Thiswould probably end up being simple and clean angle iron bed rails and a single hoop for behind the cab and a low profile black tool box.

 

[Balzer]

After yet another hectic day chasing demons in this damn truck I got a few more things fixed. But now Im having starter issues. Its an underdrive starter and it starts fine a hand full of times then somehow it doesn't line up properly and grinds. take it off put it back on and it starts fine a handfull of times then goes to grinding again. Maybe its the wrong starter but this block IS NOT that old its a 76 or 77 block. I know some of the real old blocks actually need a different nose cone.

I dont know what the hell!

 

[Balzer]

OK now thats just silly! Turns out when my brother was doing the engine swap he sent a friend of his to get a starter. Well he forgot to tell the kid to get a starter for a 76 NOT a 94. The truck is a 94, engine is a 76, so it had the "1 piece rear main style" starter on it. Just goes to show that sometimes the simplest answer gets over looked. It only cost me a $100 underdrive starter and a $60 regular starter.
While I was trying to tune it the other day I had the timming off and the truck died, when I started it it backfired and blew the underdrive starter appart. That wasnt covered under warrenty so I had to buy a new one. When I finally got around to changing the starter, (today) and discovered I had the wrong starter, the place I always buy from was closed so I had to buy a regular starter from orilley. I really HATE parts store starters and altenators! However I am extremely impatient as well. The place I normally go to is "All Star Electric" They ONLY do starters, altenators, electric motors, battery cables and batteries. They rebuild used ones, and hand assemble new ones. Once I get time while they are open I WILL order a new underdrive starter that fits this engine from them. This parts store starter will get put on a shelf for emegency use.

Now that it starts reliably I can finish fine tuning it, I think I need to change the springs in the distributor again. When I get the bottom end where I like it, I get detonation at the top end. When I get rid of the detonation at the top end, it looses its bottom end. This is the biggest cam I have ever run so its a bit different than I am used to.