Slowlaned
Newbie
Hey guys, I've been on the forum for about 3 days now and have received a few requests for a complete build thread on my truck, so here it is.
I don't have a cool name for it like most of you guys do, I guess that's the first thing you do before joining a truck group and I just can't come up with anything. Even after spending countless hours in the garage, getting countless cuts, knuckle scrapes and bruises from crawling around on my very neglected gravel driveway, and overall spending more time with the truck in the last year than any human being should. In fact it seems like what I call it most is son of a b*&@, or motherf+%*^$... But that's not very catchy, and my other choice of a name, "pussybeat-armaggedon-chainmaster-texasranger-deluxe" is too long to fit on the windshield. Oh well, enough with the rambling and onto the build, if u have any questions just send me a message. I am always looking for new ideas and suggestions too so send those as well. Now, here's more details than you would ever want to know!!! and then some pictures!!!
I mentioned this in my headlight build thread, but it is an '89 Sierra c1500, 4.3l tbi, with the manual tranny, short cab and box, and 2wd. A rare combination to say the least. I picked it up from a coworker in spring of 2017 for $1000 cash with 207k on the engine and I believe 90k on the rebuilt tranny. My coworker got the truck from his grandfather, who was the first buyer from the dealership in 1988. I even have the original receipt from 1988 somewhere that I will post a pic of when I find it. before I get on with the build and the pictures, there is plenty of things that should be mentioned, just skip ahead if you aren't interested.
THE GOOD:
The original owner was a diesel mechanic at frieghtliner for 30some years, so the upkeep on the truck mechanically was better than I could ever imagine. The oil was easily the cleanest I had ever seen, even in a new car. It had been changed RELIGIOUSLY every 3000 miles, and I have the stack of service orders from the freightliner diesel shop to prove it, as well as every other service ever done to the truck. The engine fired right up, and has never even hesitated to start for me, the engine sounded great with no knocks or unusual noises and the tranny itself shifted smooth, with a firm clutch pedal, though the gas seemed very touchy at first which only took a day or two to get used to. My coworker tells me the guy was very meticulous when it came to mechanical maintenance, and it showed.
THE BAD:
It really was in great shape for an '89, but there were, expectedly, a few things that had broken in the last few years of its life which my coworker didn't have the time or skill to deal with. Mostly little things like the blinker/wiper switch on the column was broken halfway down the plastic shaft, so if you put your blinker on u had to pull it from the base, otherwise the wipers would turn on. The 3rd gear syncro was going bad, so you would have to ease it into 3rd using a steady pressure, then it would slide right in at the perfect rpm. That was a fun thing to work around as I had to teach myself how to double clutch if I wanted to downshift into 3rd. The windshield had a large crack along it but it didn't leak. Also the driver side door wouldn't close, which I will explain.
THE UGLY:
Unfortunately I never took a lot of pictures of it when I first got it, but if you know about these trucks you know that quite a few had problems with the paint peeling off for the first few model years and this was no exception. The drivers side was good paint-wise, but the passenger side had big patches of primer exposed, they hadn't rusted any yet so it wasn't so bad. I was planning on painting it eventually anyway. It also had a huge dent in the door from my coworker closing it when he shouldn't have... The bushings on the door pin went bad so instead of buying the $3 bushings, he shouldered it shut, denting it majorly in the process. it was the only visible dent in the entire body. The paint itself was in pretty rough shape even without the dent or peeling, and that is something I did manage to save a picture of.
THE BUILD:
It should be noted that I have only done cosmetic work to it so far with the exception of a few small things and the suspension. I don't really see much point in overhauling a 4.3 engine on one of these trucks, especially when the 350's are pretty much direct bolt-ins, so I have just been working to make it into what I wanted it to look like, then sometime this coming spring or summer I will start planning a heart transplant.The second day I had it home I immediately started with the planned alterations.
The first thing I did was ditch the canopy and give it a wash and wax.
You could really see the dent after it was clean and shiny.
I don't have a cool name for it like most of you guys do, I guess that's the first thing you do before joining a truck group and I just can't come up with anything. Even after spending countless hours in the garage, getting countless cuts, knuckle scrapes and bruises from crawling around on my very neglected gravel driveway, and overall spending more time with the truck in the last year than any human being should. In fact it seems like what I call it most is son of a b*&@, or motherf+%*^$... But that's not very catchy, and my other choice of a name, "pussybeat-armaggedon-chainmaster-texasranger-deluxe" is too long to fit on the windshield. Oh well, enough with the rambling and onto the build, if u have any questions just send me a message. I am always looking for new ideas and suggestions too so send those as well. Now, here's more details than you would ever want to know!!! and then some pictures!!!
You must be registered for see images attach
I mentioned this in my headlight build thread, but it is an '89 Sierra c1500, 4.3l tbi, with the manual tranny, short cab and box, and 2wd. A rare combination to say the least. I picked it up from a coworker in spring of 2017 for $1000 cash with 207k on the engine and I believe 90k on the rebuilt tranny. My coworker got the truck from his grandfather, who was the first buyer from the dealership in 1988. I even have the original receipt from 1988 somewhere that I will post a pic of when I find it. before I get on with the build and the pictures, there is plenty of things that should be mentioned, just skip ahead if you aren't interested.
THE GOOD:
The original owner was a diesel mechanic at frieghtliner for 30some years, so the upkeep on the truck mechanically was better than I could ever imagine. The oil was easily the cleanest I had ever seen, even in a new car. It had been changed RELIGIOUSLY every 3000 miles, and I have the stack of service orders from the freightliner diesel shop to prove it, as well as every other service ever done to the truck. The engine fired right up, and has never even hesitated to start for me, the engine sounded great with no knocks or unusual noises and the tranny itself shifted smooth, with a firm clutch pedal, though the gas seemed very touchy at first which only took a day or two to get used to. My coworker tells me the guy was very meticulous when it came to mechanical maintenance, and it showed.
THE BAD:
It really was in great shape for an '89, but there were, expectedly, a few things that had broken in the last few years of its life which my coworker didn't have the time or skill to deal with. Mostly little things like the blinker/wiper switch on the column was broken halfway down the plastic shaft, so if you put your blinker on u had to pull it from the base, otherwise the wipers would turn on. The 3rd gear syncro was going bad, so you would have to ease it into 3rd using a steady pressure, then it would slide right in at the perfect rpm. That was a fun thing to work around as I had to teach myself how to double clutch if I wanted to downshift into 3rd. The windshield had a large crack along it but it didn't leak. Also the driver side door wouldn't close, which I will explain.
THE UGLY:
Unfortunately I never took a lot of pictures of it when I first got it, but if you know about these trucks you know that quite a few had problems with the paint peeling off for the first few model years and this was no exception. The drivers side was good paint-wise, but the passenger side had big patches of primer exposed, they hadn't rusted any yet so it wasn't so bad. I was planning on painting it eventually anyway. It also had a huge dent in the door from my coworker closing it when he shouldn't have... The bushings on the door pin went bad so instead of buying the $3 bushings, he shouldered it shut, denting it majorly in the process. it was the only visible dent in the entire body. The paint itself was in pretty rough shape even without the dent or peeling, and that is something I did manage to save a picture of.
You must be registered for see images attach
THE BUILD:
It should be noted that I have only done cosmetic work to it so far with the exception of a few small things and the suspension. I don't really see much point in overhauling a 4.3 engine on one of these trucks, especially when the 350's are pretty much direct bolt-ins, so I have just been working to make it into what I wanted it to look like, then sometime this coming spring or summer I will start planning a heart transplant.The second day I had it home I immediately started with the planned alterations.
The first thing I did was ditch the canopy and give it a wash and wax.
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
You could really see the dent after it was clean and shiny.