New guy from California

[kennythewelder]

Oh man I gotta get that instrument cluster, that's cool. I would imagine I'm going to have to find a harness from a electric single cab. Or modify an extra cab one seeing as I would like electric doors.

My truck was loaded. Its a 3 door extended cab. That was an option in 97. It has PW, PL, P mirrors, cruse tilt, ect. Had an OE, CD player, but I have blue tooth now, with a 10 sub in a box under the rear seat, with a 780 watt amp, and I had a viper alarm installed years ago, so that gave me keyless entry. About the only option it didnt have was was leather seats, and I didnt want that anyway. As for adding power windows and locks, the easiest way is to get them from a donor truck. A salvage yard should have what you need. Oh and here is a peak under my hood.

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[HotWheelsBurban]

Man oh man, reading through those regulations makes me think I live close enough to California! And Houston, Texas is nowhere close LOL! We have an annual state inspection program, and vehicles with OBD-II get plugged into the machine and checked. I think that there's some leeway on a CEL on/pass, depends on what the code is for. They give you 90 days to get the vehicle to where it will pass, if it doesn't the first time. You get a certificate from the inspector for the retry, and another paper if you pass. Then you take the passing certificate to the tax office and give them the fee for your registration renewal. Then you get a windshield sticker and you're good till next year. In 1975, Texas went from a new plate each year to a yearly sticker in the corner of the rear plate. In 1994 they went from that to the windshield registration sticker, mounted above the state inspection sticker. Several years ago they decided to combine the 2 programs and have 1 sticker. So our inspection fee went down, and the license fee has some of the difference in it. IIRC it's around $75 per year for my 99 C1500 Suburban.
A lot of our state inspection process depends on how diligent the inspector is. I do business with an independent service station in my hometown that has next to no overhead, and if I have a CEL I try to have it fixed before going to get the inspection. The Texas Department of Safety has troopers that go around and check the stations for compliance, and people that get caught cheating do get busted and lose their certification. Once an eligible vehicle is 25 years old or older, you can get a "classic " or "antique " license plate for an additional fee. That also gets you exempt from the state inspection! Hope nothing happens to my Burb before then!

 

[Racer X]

There are no emissions testing here, but there is a state inspection. All your lights have to work, horn also. Mirrors, need to be intact. Basically of you have a CEL, you may not pass inspection. Oh and your brakes have to be in good working order. Some places here are more strict that others. Keep in mind though that we only have about 4.5 million people in our whole state. The city I live in has a little over 125,000 but metro area is just over 480,000.

Hell I bet we have that many homeless people pooping on the street! I'm so screwed! I live in the heart of the most expensive liberal city on the west coast San Fran$hithole. It cost 10 dollars just to walk outside. min $15 for lunch $25 for a mediocre dinner that isn't fast food. These guys would smog check a moped. But not even prosecute if they caught you stealing one. As a matter of fact they would arrest you for stopping someone from stealing. I got chewed out by the store clerk for going after a guy that stole a soda out of the machine near the door at the hardware store. And was told I could be arrested for getting that soda back. I don't shop there anymore. Where I come from we back the Badge.
Say Hi to the girls rockin on the red roof up in Shreveport. Been a spell but sure had fun there. Used to live in Longview when I was doing my internship for Prosthetics and Orthotics. I worked on Wendel Spreadberry's Rolls royce and Packards for him and the Arklatex Packard club in my spare time. I ended up leaving a beautiful 54 Patrician 400 senior car there when I came back out to California. Damn I wish I had that car now it was beautiful. Come to think of it I left a damn good woman there, I shoulda kept her she was beautiful too.

 

[Racer X]

My truck was loaded. Its a 3 door extended cab. That was an option in 97. It has PW, PL, P mirrors, cruse tilt, ect. Had an OE, CD player, but I have blue tooth now, with a 10 sub in a box under the rear seat, with a 780 watt amp, and I had a viper alarm installed years ago, so that gave me keyless entry. About the only option it didnt have was was leather seats, and I didnt want that anyway. As for adding power windows and locks, the easiest way is to get them from a donor truck. A salvage yard should have what you need. Oh and here is a peak under my hood.

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That looks nice man! Well I guess I know what I'm going use my new airway buffing wheels on next. Ya just had to show me them pictures, that's going to be a lot of work. I have to replace the intake manifold gaskets and the water pump along with the core support so I have to disconnect the A/C lines and remove all that other stuff anyway.

 

[Racer X]

Love the utility bed!

I swear by my utility bed that's my bread and butter. I'm even going to ruin my reputation and wash it and polish it when I get the front end put back together. It got broken into a few months back so I gotta give the wide doors a little love. Got hockey pucks and 3/8 loops on it now and they ain't gettin in.

 

[Racer X]

Looks like a solid truck. California I hear is very picky when you start touching the stock system. Also I like your user name lol. I used to watch speed racer with my dad

Having been into cars since childhood speed racer was a staple on saturday morning. Me and my dad used to watch formula 1 when I was just a tyke. This was back when Jackie Stewart, AJ Foyt, and Mario Andretti were still winning races.

 

[Eveready]

Welcome to the forum. Looks like it will be a great truck. Hope everything comes out OK with the state.. I sure don't envy you that. You know we raise a lot of chickens here in NC and after reading that page of regs I know where we ship the chickens**t. I personally would get the new engine in, load my stuff in the back and drive it somewhere else!

Good luck!

 

[GarrettGmc]

Hey Garrett Thanks for the input man. I'm thinking I might just build a little hotter version of the original but I'll know more after I talk to the ref. On a side note I'm from Redding! My mom and brother live up there still and I go to visit all the time. Maybe I'll see ya out on 5, 44 or 299 and don't forget 273. I've taken my all original, numbers matching, 50,000 mile, 67 Mustang to every Kool April nights for the last 25 yrs. Bummer about this year though I was in quarantine anyway.

Yup I'm currently trying to find a wrecked newer 1500 for an engine swap and its been a pain. Yea it sucked but locals still went out driving neighborhoods. Hopefully next year it'll be back on

 

[Racer X]

Hey y'all,

After much consternation and financial consideration. I think I'm going to go for a Chevy L31 crate motor as a stock replacement so I can get it smogged. Then and this is the part I'd like to get some conformation / stuff to remember / better combinations / orders of process/ no! don't do that/ etc. on.
Do the following mods and make them reversible so I can keep the smog ref at his house and me at mine.

The other caveat is. It's also the only tool box I have running in the City right now. I don't have a roof rack on the Mercedes so that's out. Good parts getter though.
The 73' F250? well, that's a dark place and we won't go there. I need my truck for work. Theses mods are something I can do each in a weekend. FOR OFF ROAD USE ONLY!

First: a 411 swap; I will make adaptor harnesses so I don't have to repin for smog / street use. Essentially plug and play breakout harnesses, keeping in mind the next two mods. I need a black box to destroy and get the connectors out of or a source for them.

Marine intake/efi swap, I still have a lot to read about that.

24X coil pack swap, again more to read there.

It's still gonna be a boatload of work to get it smogged. I'm hoping it will give me a chance to appreciate the mods, having to drive it without them after having had them. Uh.... yeah that will make me sleep better. That's my story and I'm stickin to it.

Welcome all thoughts.

For brevity I edited out my Bio story and put it in my profile page. Look there if you want to know who your dealing with. Long and short of it is im well versed in mechanics and electronics.


Basically I can understand any of it from an engineering perspective but I'm not familiar with Chevy trucks or Electronic Engine management. I've had carburetors or Diesels until 2013 when I got the newer Mercedes and it's all software now because it's built to the hilt and already too much power.

That reminds me Here's the current stable:

1967 mustang all original 50k miles immaculate 2nd owner.
1973 F250 Camper special with a utility bed and patina.
1987 Mercedes 300D turbo 250k miles.
2003 Mercedes CL600 RENNTech, 80K mile, flawless.
2000 Chevrolet C3500 with a utility bed.

"A finger pointed in the right direction can work miracles" That's gonna be my tag line.

 

[Old77]