mn_ski Daily Driver - Keep it on the Road

[mn_ski]

Super Stoked, I finally got my Arteb headlights installed!! I bought these in October of 2022 from @1998_K1500_Sub . He was an excellent seller and I highly recommend buying these lights from him if you are in the market. I also installed a set of TYC front marker lights just to help cleanup the front of the truck. The lights are not adjusted yet but I can already tell they are going to make a huge difference. Then again, what wouldn't be an improvement over the 25 yo clouded out lenses that I took off? Any way, so happy to be 4HI and with new jewelry out front!

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[mn_ski]

Still enjoying the cleaner look of the the new lighting!

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[mn_ski]

Time for a little maintenance over the past weekend. For a few weeks now I have been having a squeak coming from the front of the motor. Noise increases with RPM of motor. Was getting to the point of starting to sound like metal grinding. The sounds changed with ambient temps going up or down ( cold in MN here!). I went ahead and grabbed a new water pump, fel-pro gaskets, and bolts. Water pump job took a little longer than expected for two reasons.

First, I tried to get fancy and actually use the drain on the radiator. I wasted probably 2-3 hours trying to get good access to that by removing stuff I didn't end up needing to remove. I eventually gave up and just drained the coolant with a bucket under the lower radiator hose and the water pump neck.

Second, the water pump had a bit of interference with my Holly metal timing chain cover. Before I installed the Holly cover last year I had heard of a few people running into this issue. I also read of other people not having an issue with the cover. I now know that the issue seems to be with the water pumps. My original pump fit just fine with the Holly cover, but this pump did not fit. I ended up taking off more material than the picture shows. I got it to fit and seal though!

I am glad I have the pump done. It significantly reduced the amount of squeak and eliminated the metal grinding sound. I still have a small squeak coming from the front so an idler pulley or tensioner maybe next. All in all the truck is running really well.

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[454cid]

Time for a little maintenance over the past weekend. For a few weeks now I have been having a squeak coming from the front of the motor. Noise increases with RPM of motor. Was getting to the point of starting to sound like metal grinding. The sounds changed with ambient temps going up or down ( cold in MN here!). I went ahead and grabbed a new water pump, fel-pro gaskets, and bolts. Water pump job took a little longer than expected for two reasons.

First, I tried to get fancy and actually use the drain on the radiator. I wasted probably 2-3 hours trying to get good access to that by removing stuff I didn't end up needing to remove. I eventually gave up and just drained the coolant with a bucket under the lower radiator hose and the water pump neck.

Second, the water pump had a bit of interference with my Holly metal timing chain cover. Before I installed the Holly cover last year I had heard of a few people running into this issue. I also read of other people not having an issue with the cover. I now know that the issue seems to be with the water pumps. My original pump fit just fine with the Holly cover, but this pump did not fit. I ended up taking off more material than the picture shows. I got it to fit and seal though!

I am glad I have the pump done. It significantly reduced the amount of squeak and eliminated the metal grinding sound. I still have a small squeak coming from the front so an idler pulley or tensioner maybe next. All in all the truck is running really well.

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I think the last three pumps I've changed have been in the winter, too. One was inside a heated shop, so no big deal, but the other two were outside. The first, I'd only work on it for about a 1/2 hour at a time. The cold makes it so much more challenging.

 

[mn_ski]

Outside would have been brutal for sure! Temps here last weekend were around 0F with wind chills around -20F. Although I certainly have done work before at those temps, I am not sure I would have attempted the change in those conditions this time. I would have waited for warmer weather or catastrophic failure of the pump, lol! I don't have a large garage ( 23W x 27D) but it is heated and insulated. So for that I am very fortunate!