My second 89 Shortbox project

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89GMCJOHN

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Well Im back lol.....I sold my completed 89 truck last year .....I kind of swore off doing another project as I just bought myself a brand new 21 truck and modded that a little and was kind of burned out . But then I realized how much I enjoy the build process, need to keep my mind active and rodding in general. So I picked up this non running 89 Shortbox project off facebook marketplace a nice guy had to stop working on . He told me it was originally a V6 truck , Turbo 400, plain vinyl bench seat , window cranks, no ac . Its a former University of Florida Campus truck . The interior is completely trashed . So far its got a 90k LS takeout, Turbo 400 . Jegs 3200 stall. Hes got a PCI harness in it I will have to figure out :( . For an old school look Im going with a Holley LS intake, Holley sniper, sloppy stage two,MSD spark controller, old school air cleaner, mechanical fan etc. My last truck I really did a nice job on it , rebuilt everything and finally painted it -and spent a little too much frankly. This one will kind of be ratty on the outside, but a semi fresh LS on the inside . Probably HALF the budget of my former truck . I dont plan on painting it and I am actually going to attempt some bodywork on my own . Not a ratrod by any means but I wont care if it gets scratched or who parks next to me lol....

So far I have pressure washed the hexx out of it, painted the engine compartment , pulled the front grill and fixed the cracks and repainted it , cut the radiator opening to fit the larger new radiator, Herculined the bed and sides and ordered a ton of parts for the engine.
 

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89GMCJOHN

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Progress so far, Herculiner , radiator opening cut, grill cracks fixed and repainted .
 

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89GMCJOHN

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Pulled the valley pan to take a peek at what I got...she looks pretty clean at 89k ...new sloppy stage 2 cam visible,new springs - blue spray paint marks on them , it says "93" on the coilpacks label ,and 862 heads are amazingly clean. I did some engine and intake surface cleaning with gas on a rag ,razor blade and shop vac. Sanded and painted one valve cover and coilpack so far.
 

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MrPink

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Nice looking rig! Will be doing an LS swap into mine but keeping it all electronic. That part scares me a bit.

Ken
The electronic aspect scares you or ?

OP cool truck I am currently in a debate of doing an LS swap or not.
 

kenh

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The electronic aspect scares you or ?
Yes all the wiring to make a running engine and possibly trans, making the gauges work with the new updated engine. Will I have a functioning cruise control when finished? Removing all the unneeded wiring from the old computer without screwing up what needs to be kept. Getting the computer set up so it will talk to the engine and make it run. If I swap transmissions and that makes sense to me, I understand the stock speedo will not work??? Getting the engine/trans set up and bolted in place is the easy part, more or less. I'm kind of on a budget so don't want to speed needlessly.

It's my daily driver so I kind of need it done yesterday when I start the project:)

Maybe I'm just paranoid????

Ken
 

89GMCJOHN

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A little more progress ...finished painting the valve covers, coil packs , touchups here and there and installed them. Mounted the MSD on the firewall , removed all plugs - all looked great ....nice and tan no black oil fouling , soot etc. Blew out each port and also from the spark plug holes , I got one large blue fly and that was it lol. I mounted the new valley pan without knock sensor holes and its new gasket . I goofed up and ordered the wrong valley pan for a gen IV . They are different so I traced the original valley pan pattern onto it and cut it with a cutoff wheel . It came out nice - no leaks proper shape, all factory holes line up etc . etc . Painted the intake , installed its port gaskets , twisted in the vacuum fittings and installed it . Shes coming along ....
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