My 88 C1500 "The Go-Get-Mobile"

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PlayingWithTBI

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I bought my 88 Silverado in the spring of 2002 when my son was getting ready to graduate High School in Los Banos CA. At the time I was working in Merced about 24 miles one way. After living in LB 12 years I asked my wife "what's keeping us here anymore" so, we decided to move to Merced. I bought the truck to help with the move, hauling small stuff and her antiques, and then just to go get stuff like wood for my hobby and an occasional dump run. For the next 5 years, it pretty well sat under the liquid amber tree in the back yard. Every so often I'd use it, then it'd just sit. When we moved to AZ because I got a job here, the company paid for my moving costs and shipped my truck in the back of a Mayflower van. Again, it pretty much sat unless my Daughter's car broke down then, I'd let her "borrow" it. I think she put more miles on it than I did. LOL. The 1st issue I had was the instrument cluster started wigging out - the odometer quit working a couple years earlier, the fuel gauge only showed 1/4 tank when full. Then the final straw was to oil pressure gauge quit working. I did some research and found a reman instrument cluster was close to $600, I found the Dakota Digital dash for ~$450 IIRC.
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Then about 6 years ago I got tired of riding in the old broken down bench seat that, wasn't even OE. I found these bucket seats for ~$1,000 shipped to a nearby DC. Yeah, they didn't have any blue ones but I figured eventually I can do a color change.
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A couple (maybe closer to 3) years ago, my truck started over-heating, not bad but it ran higher than it should and started losing about 1/2 gal of coolant every so often. I didn't get any white smoke or sweet odor out of the tailpipe, no water in the oil, no oil in the water. I tried a new T-Stat, Tuff Stuff high volume water pump, and a aluminum 3-row radiator (no, I'm not gonna get into the argument over these). No help, at idle it would still go up to ~230*. I broke down and threw some Bars Leak Blown Head Gasket repair stuff. It helped but that's just a band aid! We pulled the heads off and found where water was bypassing into #s 5 & 6 combustion chambers which just happens to be where the EGR passages are. You can see the white staining in the pics. #1 is on the top here.
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#2 is in the bottom here.
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THIS IS WHERE I WENT DOWN THAT RABBIT HOLE!!! Sorry about the dissertation, more to come...
 
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PlayingWithTBI

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Part 2 - Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!
I started thinking what path to take? The engine was a Mr Goodwrench long block (made in Mexico) which I really don't know how many miles it has on it due to the odometer mentioned above. It was really clean inside, I ran nothing but Mobil1 10W-40 or 0W-40 European spec oil and didn't burn or leak any, you can see how clean the valley was. The compression test was within 5lbs over all cylinders with the lower ones being 5 & 6 go figure!

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So I decided to leave the short block alone. Next decision was do I just want to put it back together stock (what's the fun in that)? I could send the heads out and have them magnafluxed, cleaned up, check the valves and seats, etc. I started doing some research, which told me these "swirl port" heads are somewhat prone to cracking and really weren't worth a damn as far as performance. The "peanut" cam was about worthless too. I found this link from Harris Performance where he made a lot of sense to me about getting it to breathe better from top to tail pipe. I don't necessarily agree with everything he said but, it was a good baseline to start.
https://harristuning.com/Tbi/recommended-350-tbi-mods/

My biggest restraint was, I still had to pass emissions here in Maricopa County. That meant I had to restrain my options on how far I could go. Brian suggested these Summit Racing heads (made by Trick Flow), they flow better than Vortec heads and have a CARB (California Air Resources Board) order (if CA allows it, the rest of the USA will). A little smaller CC for a slight gain in CR, 2.02/1.60 valves and 170CC runners for good low end torque.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-162108/make/chevrolet

I cheated a little by getting 1.5/1.6 roller rockers, reason being these heads advertised a max lift of .480" at the time, if I got 1.6 for the exhaust it'd have .484lift. I have since contacted Summit Racing where they said I'd be OK with .484". So I ordered a 2nd set of the same. Now I have a set of both, in case I can't pass emissions, I could swap them out to 1.5.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/pro-66920c
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The cam I bought was the Lunati Voodoo 10120700LK which gave me .466/.484" lift with the 1.6 rockers and 207/213 @ 0.050 that gave me a nice smooth idle, eventually. That comes later, ha ha. I printed a CARB order from a Comp Cam, who's gonna make you pull the cam to ensure it's that one? Got a Cloyes double roller timing chain and 3-position gears so I can advance or retard the cam timing.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/lun-10120700lk

Now, on top, I did some more research to see how much flow I'll need for this setup. With the TCI Racing Calculators I found my 350 @ 6000RPM, 650CFM would be a good match.
https://www.tciauto.com/racing-calculators

I went to SPR Performance for the bored out 46mm with "ultimate mods", flow matched 61LB/HR injectors, and an 18LB spring. New IAC and TPS (calibrated). Again, this was all pretty close to what Harris suggested.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/46mm-PORTE...837306?hash=item3d963196ba:g:mpwAAOSw2xRYWVJj

Here's part of that rabbit hole - If I'm gonna put all this fancy stuff on top, I "might as well" Get the Edebrock Performer 3704 intake manifold and polished aluminum valve covers too, ha ha.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/edl-3704
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/pro-141-130
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Next, we have to get it to exhale better. Since I was trying to do this project on the cheap (LOL) I went with the Summit Racing G9015 (made by Pace Setter) shorty headers with A.I.R. (stupid CA laws!)
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-g9015

The OE "Y" pipe is restrictive at best, there's a couple options. You can get this collector and fab your own pipes.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/flo-y250300

But since I'm already in that rabbit hole, what the hell! :banghead:
I got this JBA "Y"
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/jba-2831sy

Here it is with my high flow cat slipped on the end - nice smooth transition from 2-1/4" to 3" single.
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For now, I wound up using the 3" - 3 chamber "Performance Muffler" the PO installed before I bought it.

More to come. :cheers:
 

PlayingWithTBI

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Part 3 - Getting Power to the Road and Results
1st, I want to mention, all the work on my truck was done by me and my son. The only time I ever took it in to a shop was to get the oil changed or an alignment. I'm finally getting payback for sending the kid to Wyotech in Laramie WY, LOL.
Here's the engine after all is said and done.
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Originally, after fixing my overheating issue, my goal was to see what can be done with the TBI plarform. Could I have put a Vortec or LS in? Yes but, that wasn't the idea.
Since I don't have a dyno in my shop, but I do have my Dakota DIgital dash that can time 0-60, high RPM, 1/4 mile, and trap speed, I can use these to compare different setups/modifications.

Before we tore it apart, I ran a couple time trials -
Stock - 0-60 in 11.2 seconds, 1/4 Mile - 18.6 seconds 77.2 MPH (pretty dismal huh?) shifting @ 4400RPM

After the build with the Harris Chip (yes, I bought one for $301)
0-60 in 9.2 seconds shifting @ 4400RPM, 8.2 seconds @ 5000RPM

Needless to say, I wasn't too happy with the results. I was hoping to get close to 1HP/Cube and turn in the low 7s and 15s, maybe even high 6s.

I started doing more research and finally joined GearHead-EFI in Dec 2018, started a conversation with Dave w (Old School EFI). After some emails back and forth we agree on a plan. He modified a 1227747 ECM with a ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket, I bought some 27SF512 flash chips, and we started tuning. Here's the link to the conversion, if anyone's interested.
http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Injection/showthread.php?172-7747-Flash-Chip-Conversion-(27SF512)

He sent me a base line .bin, I flashed it with my Moates Burn2 on one of my chips, and installed it in my ECM.
http://www.moates.net/burn2-chip-programmer-p-197.html?cPath=94

With TunerPro RT, I drove around and data logged for a while, I sent that log to him, he tuned it, sent a copy of that .bin and I flashed another chip, stuck it in and, repeated the process. After about 4 times back and forth I tried another time trial
0-60 in 8.0 seconds, 1/4 Mile 16.4 85 MPH - better. We talked some more and decided the 7747 ECM just isn't good enough, its tables are too small and the processor is too slow - 160 Baud Rate. Dave suggested I either swap to the newer 7427 which was used in 94 - 95 or go with the EBL Flash-II
So I said, what the hell, I'm this far, why not?
https://www.dynamicefi.com/EBL_Flash.php

This was a whole new learning curve but, with support from RBob there and more research, I started gaining.
0-60 in 7.6 seconds 1/4 Mile in 16.3 Edit: s/b 7.9 seconds IIRC.

Well, I decided to swap gears in my rear end from 3.42s to 4.11s
https://www.amazon.com/Yukon-ZGGM8-...83-8-2-141--&vehicleName=1988+Chevrolet+C1500

The overhaul kit
https://www.amazon.com/Yukon-ZKGM8-...ds=ZKGM8.5&qid=1591032948&s=automotive&sr=1-1

And the crush sleeve eliminator, makes it easier to set pinion pre-load
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/yga-55048

We pulled the rear end out of the truck and set it on the bench - a lot easier to work on.
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Here we set pinion depth
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Backlash
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And pre-load
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Doing that, we gained 3/10 of a second or 0-60 in 7.6 seconds. The issue I'm now having is keeping my 1 tire fryer from breaking traction on take-off! Since my wood hauling trailer needed a pair of tires I put the rear ones from my truck on it, and bought a pair of Cooper Cobra's 275/60-R15s
 
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PlayingWithTBI

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Here's my truck with the Coopers
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After a bunch more tuning, playing with fuel pressures, injector sizes, SA, PE Launch Mode, and PE AFR, I still can't get off the line w/o smoking them but am getting better -
0-60 - 7.3 seconds. I'm considering getting a locker,LMAO! Anyway, so far, we've been able to reduce times by 4 seconds.

Coming up next is blowing a 700R4 trans, twice.
 

PlayingWithTBI

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Part 4 - My woes with the 700R4 trans.
Before I get into the transmission part I wanted to add some more about tuning. I wasn't just going for acceleration, I wanted to optimize my VE tables too. The EBL does that automatically with its "VE Learn" utility. You drive around and try to get it to stay in different MAPs and RPMs, the EBL will adjust for AFR you previously set as the target. I'm using a WBO2 so it can tune WOT cells too. If you're not close to desired setting it will only adjust a maximum of +/-12% so you flash another bank and continue on until you get there. Then you smooth out your tables in TunerPro. Sometimes it helps to tow a trailer so you can get into higher MAPs at lower RPMs too. I also eliminated EGR and turned on Lean Cruise set to go on at 40MPH with AFR ~16.5 and up to ~41* timing.

OK - on to the next chapter...
I bought this truck from the manager of a trans shop in Los Banos. He had recently rebuilt the trans, added a shift kit and maybe a 'Vette servo, I can't remember exactly. It had a good firm shift, not too hard. After I started "tuning" the engine, the 1st thing I did was get the governor calibration kit.
https://www.amazon.com/TCI-326500-R...d=1&keywords=TCI+326500&qid=1591134608&sr=8-1

I swapped weights until I got it to shift @ 5000RPM 1st - 2nd, and 2nd - 3rd.
The I started playing with the tunes. One day, all of a sudden it wound out to ~5300 a couple times, then it started short shifting some times and wouldn't shift out of 1st with part throttle until it got up to ~3000RPM and slam into 2nd. We jacked up the truck and pulled the trans.
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The best investment I made was this transmission adapter for my floor jack!
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We dropped the valve body and found the TV was stuck (seems to be a common issue), the rest didn't look too bad, there was a check ball missing, got one and replaced it, we cleaned it up, I got a 700JR shift kit that comes with an upgraded TV with a return spring that helps to keep it from sticking.
https://www.amazon.com/Transmission...+transmission+shift+kit&qid=1591135256&sr=8-1

Put it back together and stuck it in. It shifted great for a while, but it started doing the same stuff. Maybe there was some crud floating around or worse. Pissed off, I decided to look for a "bullet proof" 700R4, if there's such an animal. I surfed the web some more and looked at Monster Transmissions but found pretty much the same thing for less at Transmission Depot (got some good reviews from some friends). I wanted a higher stall TC too. So, their stage 1 trans was rated 500HP and, at the time, came with an 1600 - 1800RPM stall TC where the Stage 2 came with a 2300 - 2500 TC. I called them and, since I wanted a higher stall the price for the Stage 1 would be the same as the stage 2. After flush cans, synthetic trans oil, TC bolts, tax and shipping total price was ~$2300.
https://www.transdepot.net/700R4-The-Nemesis-Stage-2-600HP-7004-R-700R-4-TH700-4L60_p_18.html

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Note to self; DON'T EVER BUY A TRANSMISSION FROM TRANSMISSION DEPOT!

I got a transmission out of a car instead of like mine that came with the cast aluminum inspection cover, it didn't come with a VSS gear or O-ring housing, the tail shaft was bare! I called them to complain and they sent me a VSS gear and a POS plastic cover I had to heat up to get it to clear the flex plate. Once we got it on the road, we had to change the governor weights to get it to shift @ ~5000 WOT 1st to 2nd. We could not get it to shift into 3rd unless I let off the throttle! We tried different combos of springs and weights, adjusting the TV cable - no joy!

That's 1 issue, another is, when at WOT in 3rd it'll widnd up to ~5000 OK, then it'll freewheel up against the rev limiter in the EBL, like it was trying to shift into OD! I'm done with these guys! Their warranty for 2 years says I have to pull it, crate it up and ship it to them cross country which will probably be as much as taking this thing in to a reputable shop in Phoenix!

Enough ranting, does anyone have an idea what can be causing these issues? It's not the TV adjustment, I'm thinking maybe a valve spring or servo?

Does anyone know of a good shop that know their way around the 700R4/4L60 in the Phoenix area?
 
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PlayingWithTBI

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I decided to switch gears and see if I can make the truck look better. It has a Maaco cheapo single stage paint job from somewhere around 2000 (PO had it done). Through the years sitting out in the California and Arizona sun it faded to a light silver blue with acid rain drips. Here's it before I started trying to buff it out.
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I didn't want to color sand or anything like that, I just bought a buffing machine and a couple different compounds. Did I ever mention I hate body work?
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I burned through the paint trying to get the acid rain (or whatever it is) out. So now I have a patina paint job.
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Here you can see the difference before/after on the hood.
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Anyway, after a lot of buffing and a couple coats of wax, it looks better but, really needs new paint.
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PlayingWithTBI

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Most of the exterior painted surfaces are faded or starting to rust. Here's a couple examples. Here you can see the original color on the tail gate lip after I removed the protection strip. The handle was flaking and looking pretty sad.
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I sanded the handle down with 120, 220, and then 400 grit. Then painted it with gloss black.
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I did the same on the mirror mounts, I found the tension on the mirrors are adjustable too. Just remove the cover (1 torx screw on the bottom) and adjust it with the 2 bolts. The PO siliconed the passenger side because it was a little loose. I was able to get it just right.
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After
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PlayingWithTBI

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I posted a lot of these pictures on other threads but wanted to get most everything stuck in one location. Here's my driver's door before.
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Here it is shot with SEM Shadow Blue (dark blue) and Pacific Blue, it has more purple in it than original but I like it.
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I still wanna paint the door handle and lock cubbies flat black. Now, I'm in the process of cleaning and masking the dash for Pacific Blue. I don't want to mess with removing the dash since it's 32 years old and would probably start cracking and coming apart on me. Here's what I'm using. The Dupli-Color on the right is flat black I picked up @ Oreilley's for the cubbies and other stuff.
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