Long overdue join

[Hobie]

First off, I'd like to wish everyone a Merry belated Christmas, and a Happy New Year! Or Happy Holidays if you celebrate anything else.

Still no huge updates, but I did get the brown Ford Turd, or Thunderchicken, running and driving. PO didnt check to see if there was fuel in it before taking it to the shop where they said it needed about $4500 worth of work just to see if it will run...

But a few gallons of fuel, primed the lines, and filled the bowls with fuel, and it started right up.

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On the truck, I decided it was time for a full tune up, and service. Oil change, trans fluid change, fuel filter, plugs, cap, rotor, and a new air filter for the new intake. Been having a slight issue with a rough idle, and I'm glad it's gone now. Plugs weren't too bad, but needed changed, and I also gapped the plugs down to .040 instead of factory .060.

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[Hobie]

After making a 3 hour trip on the interstate on New Years eve, I definitely need some brighter low beams. It's never been a huge deal due to most of the time while I drive at night, it's all back country highways and high beams are on. But after Tuesday night, I definitely need something else. So my question to you guys, I know I'll be going with Phillips bulbs, but should i go with the Xtreme vision, or Crystal vision for light output? Not too worried about 'how they look' but I want to be able to see at night. I do have crystal vision bulbs in my KC 57's, and I do like the 'pure white' light that they throw on the road, but it's hard to tell if those will be my best bet on light output.

I also grabbed another set of KC 57's about a week ago, still sealed in the original box, so I may be swapping out the driving lights for some competition lights as well as swapping the bulbs over, and possibly getting a set of yellow/Amber bulbs to use the driving lights for more of a fog light with a more focused beam pattern. But no definite answer yet.

 

[kennythewelder]

Relaying your headlights is the best mod you can do to improve the brightness. There are a bunch of videos on you tube about this. I did mine several years ago. It makes a huge difference. After I did the 4 high mod, and saw how much brighter my headlights were running off of a relay rite off of the battery, I added another relay, jist for the low beams. I used the OE low beam wire, to turn on the relay, and then a #10 wire to supply the relay to the headlights. Here is a video, and from there, you can watch more videos.

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[kennythewelder]

While your at it, do the 4 high headlight mod 2 if you havent already. There are a ton of videos on you tube about this too, but I put my relays rite next to the battery. I used #10 wire, and a fuse, 30 amp I think. You can buy a kit, or make your own like I did. Mine has been on my truck for several years. Here are a few pics of mine.

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[Hobie]

@kennythewelder
I have already added the HD headlight harness a few weeks ago, as well as had the 4 hi relay added in quite a while back. The HD headlight harness made a world of difference but unfortunately the low beam bulbs are just too low of output to be safe in my eyes. When driving down the road at night, my streamlight 90lm pocket flashlight actually shines out further than my low beams, and they are adjusted properly, but the bulbs just run out of juice.
So at this point I'm just looking to replace the bulbs with something with a higher output like the xtreme vision, or crystal vision. I have a bit of wiring I need to do behind the grille, so when i finally get around to it, I'll add in pictures of my headlight harness as well

 

[Stepside_fever95]

On the shift lever, if you pull the boot back you'll see a torx screw where the shift handle fastens. Take that out and you'll notice the end of the shaft is "D" shaped. The new shift lever is "D" shaped as well but with the flat side being on the opposite side. What I did on mine, and theres a write up somewhere, is take the new lever and file a flat spot on the opposite side until it fits in. Then route your tow/haul wires in the column if you plan on 0411 pcm swapping in the future, and bolt it back in like you would the factory shift lever.

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[98chevy2500SS]

If you are keeping halogens, definitely do go with Philips Xtreme Vision bulbs. Your headlight bulbs are probably just getting old. The blue light of the Crystal Vision/SilverStar Ultra bulbs reduce light, I realized that when I got SS Ultras, never again, too expensive for what good they do, which is not much.

 

[Hobie]

Huge thanks to @Stepside_fever95, this is exactly what I missed, the pictures and videos that I watched didnt really point out that the screw is what you needed to remove, and not the whole lever.
On a side note, thank God for these Matco diamond files, got them on discount when I went through tech school, and boy they were nice when finishing that up after the stone wheel

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I think it looks nice, I am waiting for my new bulbs to come in tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully anyways, and hopefully Phillips puts out some more light than Sylvanias. Also, I'm thinking of adding on the other set of KC 57s, will be running a fog lens as well as a yellow fog light bulb to see how that works out, if not I have another set of crystal vision 55w bulbs laying around that I can throw in

 

[Stepside_fever95]

Huge thanks to @Stepside_fever95, this is exactly what I missed, the pictures and videos that I watched didnt really point out that the screw is what you needed to remove, and not the whole lever.
On a side note, thank God for these Matco diamond files, got them on discount when I went through tech school, and boy they were nice when finishing that up after the stone wheel

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I think it looks nice, I am waiting for my new bulbs to come in tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully anyways, and hopefully Phillips puts out some more light than Sylvanias. Also, I'm thinking of adding on the other set of KC 57s, will be running a fog lens as well as a yellow fog light bulb to see how that works out, if not I have another set of crystal vision 55w bulbs laying around that I can throw in

No problem man, it looks great!

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[Hobie]

Well back to the bad news. I was letting the truck warm up after work before I left for home, and I came out to see a puddle. As in about a quart of oil puddle sitting under the engine bay, so I watched, and lo and behold, it was leaking quickly. About a drop every second or two. Crawled underneath, and the oil pan, side of the block, oil filter adapter, and front cover were covered in fresh oil. Brought it in, and it looks like something is leaking on the back side of the drivers side head, front cover is dripping badly, and looks like the oil filter adapter is seeping pretty badly. Now, due to this engine only having about 15-20psi of oil pressure, I'm going to think about putting together my L31 that I tore down over the summer. Now, with that being said, I dont want to go back to stock, but I also dont want a crazy build. I've been thinking about a RV cam, but I'm not set on anything if anyone has ideas.

Now for the block I have, it's a 98 2 bolt main vortec, its sitting at my machinist's shop, and I think I'm going to go ahead and tell him to start on it with a fresh .030 overbite, deck the block, freeze plugs, new cam bearings, and checking the crankshaft journals.

I do already have a set of .030 4 valve relief pistons, and I'll be going with a stock crankshaft. I may try my hand on a mild port and polish on the set of heads I have, depending on the condition, and will have my machinist check them, as well as throw new valve seals in at least.

So my question to you guys, what cam would you guys recommend, I do a good amount of towing, as well as work the truck fairly hard delivering hay and wood when needed. Like I said before, I've had my eyes on a RV cam, but havent completely decided

 

[Hobie]

This just ain't a good week for this truck. Installed the new Phillip's Xtreme vision bulbs, and as soon as I turned them on to check the aim, they flashed once, and smoke came bellowing from the grill. I dont think I've disconnected a battery faster in my life lol. Tore the grille off, and found that my HD headlight harness wasnt too HD? But it melted every wire together, both low beam connectors, and one relay. So I ripped it all off, and will be making a new one this weekend. I'll be getting new connectors, new relays, and new 14awg wire.

Now, on the good side? I do quite like these xtreme vision bulbs, very nice output, even for the factory wiring for the headlights. The color temperature is pretty nice if I have to say so myself, more of a pure white color being projected onto the road, rather than more of an amberish color. Also installed the Hella yellow fog light bulbs to replace the crystal visions that were in the KC housings, and they seem to fit perfectly for what I was wanting, a lower output fog light bulb, and even got to try them out this evening due to some rain/fog throughout central Missouri.

Old bulbs w/ HD harness

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Phillips xtreme vision w/o HD harness

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