My 1990 Silverado C1500 longbed

[bartbarter]

Hello folks, newbie here

Just picked up the above recently as my new daily, single cab 350 with a 4 speed auto, pw, pl, cruise, large gas tank. 2 owners, 82k, as clean as it looks in out and under, clean looking fluids but minimal service records (tires, radiator and fuel pump).

Only immediate needs are AC & radio inoperable, and a minor muffler leak. I also need to scotchguard the beautiful seats and door cards asap before my messy self stains them (more pics soon), and get it undercoated with the stinky woolwax. Already added a padded console/cupholder that fits on the bench seat. I also found and installed a pretty nice factory bedliner locally.

Other issues I'll be going after:
*It smells a little gassy after being run a while.
*If I, say, pull into a parking lot, stop completely, and throw it into reverse it'll stall once in a while. (wonder if it's related to the gassy smell)
*There is some sort of knock in the drivetrain. U-joints seem OK but I'll change them (and the rear trans seal) as part of my old car onceover. I found the info on the yoke going into the tranny sometimes knocking, and will clean and lube the shaft (!) when I do the ujoints to see if it stops.

Everything else is SOP for my 'new' old daily drivers, full tuneup (rad hoses look good though), all fluids, trans filter, fuel filter (if it doesn't look new), brake pigtails, likely rear bearings and complete rear brakes/ cylinders (less drums) when I do the diff oil, repack/replace front bearings and replace front brakes and/or rotors if needed, clean and/or lube everything in sight, sway bar bushings and end links, EGR delete, O2 sensor, coil, TBI rebuild w/ new IAC (maybe that'll fix the gas smell/stalling? might get lucky), replace t-stat with a 180 degree, whatever else I'm missing at the moment.

Comments and any maintenance recs appreciated Looking forward to being part of the discussions here

Pete

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[Drunkcanuk]

WOW.....that's a fine looking, clean machine!!!
Always loved that color combo, my grampa had the same color, just a extended cab, short box.

As for the smell, the fuel lines from the back of the throttle body to the hard fuel lines are rubber. It's possible they are old and letting the fumes from the new fangled ethanol gas weep through. They were never intended for ethanol in today's gas.

Oh.....and welcome from Alberta Canada!!!

 

[Komet]

Stick with the stock temperature thermostat and don't delete EGR unless you're changing the tune to accommodate. IAC won't do anything for gas smell, a datalog will tell you if it's experiencing an issue. Honestly I'd be hesitant to change any engine parts (o2, coil) given the state of aftermarket parts today but the other high voltage components (cap, rotor, wires, plugs) never hurt. All fluids is a fantastic idea for sure.

 

[GrimsterGMC]

Welcome to the forum, that is a beautiful truck, maintain and enjoy.

 

[bartbarter]

Thanks guys! From all over the place too. I go into Toronto a few times a year, for work great people. Never been to Washington or New Zealand but would like to.

DC I'll check those line for sure

Komet, I hear you on the parts quality, it's terrible. I search for NOS stuff. So far I've picked up an old 'Standard Plus' Ignition coil made in NY and some Delco Hyatt bearings (tho I'm not as worried about bearings). Still looking for a NOS temp sensor, oil switch, and (big one) ignition module. Many of these will just be backups. New stuff, I have had good luck with Herko AICs and Bosch O2 sensors.

Why not a lower temp tstat and EGR delete? Just curious.

Pete

 

[bartbarter]

Found a stock GM bedliner with tailgate protector in good shape locally for $75! In already, looks pretty nice too. Found a butterfly toolbox but it's 72", haven't tried it yet but it looks like it might be a little big.

Added a Moblorg 2133311 console, the kind that rests on the bench seat. Got mine for less than $85 amazon warehouse. Looks OK, the vinyl seems a little thin and there's no slots for the seatbelt (to hold it down), so I just ran the seatbelt under the lid. For $85 it's.... OK? but full price? I'd be thinking hard about it.

Ordered a seat cover, Westin bed rail protectors and some stake pocket tiedowns. Scheduling the cat-back exhaust repair- keeping stock y and cat, going with either Borla XR-1 (304 SS) or AP Xlerator XS2579 (409 SS but much cheaper) mufflers, for relatively quiet and no drone.

A bit OT maybe but as I buy parts for the refresh I stumble across what I think are good deals. I can't post these in the classifieds section yet, seem like good deals (no aff, etc etc, just passing them on):

Tensioner, unknown brand, the one I got WAS Canadian made, accepted $24, 1 left https://www.ebay.com/itm/134855308085
Timken USA SET6, 2 ea, mine was USA, $15 for both, seller also has Hyatt for $10/pr, volume discounts https://www.ebay.com/itm/172257862567
Rock Auto stuff, so plus shipping, ACDELCO PF1218 oil filers $3.84 or less, SPECTRE 11252 TBI spacer kit, $14.68/ea, it IS a complete kit.

Hopefully OK, mods feel free to move/delete if not

Pete

 

[bartbarter]

So I bought the below NOS coil. Box looks old, right? It has a Long Island NY address on it.

When I opened it, it has a little sticker that says 'Made in Japan'

Oh well, win some, lose some, hopefully it's newer than Japans' junk stage.

Pete

 

[bartbarter]

Got the universals changed (spicer) and rear trans seal, it that a carbon fiber driveshaft? It's lighter than the aluminum shaft on my old Grand Marquis.

On my truck the correct universals were: 5793X rear and 53614X front. I measured them with a caliper before ordering.

Still a bit of a (drivetrain?) knock. It may be the trans shaft tail bearing (man is it loose! but I read it's normal?). I need to check everything else before acting.

I added 2 bottles of Gumout Regane to a full tank of gas (34 gallon tank).

I installed the new O2 sensor (bosch) and IAC (herko). The IAC did bump the idle up slightly, maybe a hair too high? -I'll decide what to do sometime. Meanwhile I don't have to worry about the engine dying when I put it in reverse.

Checked the MPG for the first time, in mixed driving: 13.8. Hopefully it will slowly go up at least a little as I keep tuning and cleaning it up. I think it needed a bit of an 'Italian tuneup' too (my dad would call it cleaning out the carburetor). I'm looking forward to cleaning and rebuilding the throttle body, and getting the new cap / wires / plugs / coil in.

I've also been slowly flushing the trans fluid (mobil 1), pulling 1-1/2 to 2 quarts at a time out the dipstick tube using a fluid extractor, re-filling, driving for a day or so and doing it again. I'm up to 11 quarts changed and it's def shifting better (particularly, it had a hard 1-2 shift that's smoother). I'll be doing the pan drop / filter / trans mount soon.

Going in for a cat back exhaust and AC diagnoses Thursday! - I'll review the exhaust when done.

... and the refresh continues

Pete

 

[Scooterwrench]

Thanks guys! From all over the place too. I go into Toronto a few times a year, for work great people. Never been to Washington or New Zealand but would like to.

DC I'll check those line for sure



Why not a lower temp tstat and EGR delete? Just curious.

Pete

The fuel mixture is controlled by engine temp. As it warms up it leans out the mixture just like an automatic choke. If you run a lower temp. thermostat the computer thinks the engine is still warming up and it never leans out the fuel mixture to the normal running state and MPG suffers(as well as your wallet). If you bypass the EGR the computer will sense it as defective and set a code and your check engine light will come on and the computer will go into limp mode and run on the fuel and spark tables burned into the chip. This will hurt power and MPG(and your wallet).
A tuner can lower the normal operating temp setting in the computer and tune out the EGR by burning you a new chip. They can also change ignition timing and fuel curve and initiate lean cruise which will give you gains in power and economy.

That's a really nice truck!!!

 

[bartbarter]

Wow thanks! I understand. I guess I'll stop being stubborn then (dang it lol) and keep it all stock, I might go back and redo my '93 S-10 with the 4.3 too

And it did stall going into reverse yesterday. I'm hoping the TB rebuild will help.

Some good news (for me), the exhaust and AC is fixed! But I can't pick it up until Friday. I'll post about the exhaust once I hear it

Pete