Not-so-new 94 K2500 farm rescue

[thz71]

I hate msd stuff its junk imo

 

[RyanMerrick]

Nice truck! Reminds me of mine When I first bought it

 

[C.E.Divine]

Made a little progress on refurbishing Big Red today. I had the engine and both differential oils changed. My duplex will not let me do anything involving vehicle fluids, and I don't have anyone with a garage I can borrow within an hour and a half drive, or I would have done it myself. I asked them to check out the transmission and t-case oil, and both still have a nice honey-yellow color, so no need to change them. Phew. That oil is expensive in those. After I finished up at the Grease Pig, I went to O'Reilly and got a cap and rotor, Borg Warner as Kenny recommended, and went ahead and picked up some Borg Warner plug wires too. They are cheaper, and I really didn't want to wait for Taylor cables to ship, because a couple plugs wires got loose on the way home from my in-laws and melted on the exhaust manifold. I wish I had snapped some pics before I threw the cables away. If these don't last, I will order some Taylors.

I got the wires off, cap off, and this is what I discovered under the cap.

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The outside was not bad. Dielectric grease was used, so no major corrosion.

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Inside was worse. About half of the terminals were nearly eaten through. Not as bad as the time I helped change it where it had melted through the plastic.

And then....

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Ohhhhhh fffuuuuuddddddgggggggeeeee.....

I couldn't get the stinkin' rotor off. It had been on there so long that it corroded to the distributor shaft. I was using a prybar and block of wood when this happened. I had a minor erlijvfqeldkjvbqewdk moment, and then realized that things are better this way. I could get leverage right where it was needed, rather than farther out and catty-corner to the shaft. It came off after minor persuasion after I broke it. Unfortunately, the rotor disappeared in to the bowels of the truck ,most likely sitting on top of the transmission. It was pretty bad, but no pics. And since I was flustered, my picture documentary ended here. After the remainder came off, I cleaned up the shaft with some sandpaper to get better contact with the inside of the rotor.

Started routing plug wires, and realized every single clip is broken. I see an order from LMC coming up soon to replace the clips. Anyone know a better source? Currently, my routing job consists of a combination of electrical tape, pieces of 3/8" air hose protecting the cables and zip ties.

I also discovered the PCV sitting totally loose on the valve cover grommet. This is a big problem. I stuck my finger down in there and looked around, and I would wager $20 that it has been loose for years. Oily dust absolutely CAKED on the rockers. I had intended to pull the TB off to clean it and maybe do the TBI mods, so I will probably pull the valve covers at the same time and clean as much as I can. Hopefully it will go well. The PCV was extremely fouled, the grommet was so hard I couldn't put the PCV back in, and both elbows cracked while I was messing with it. Back to O'Reilly! I am glad that these are common parts. Dorman replacements were purchesed and installed in about 15 minutes. 10 minutes was spent tenderly taking the old grommet out piece by piece. I was very worried about losing it in the valve cover, and nearly did twice.

The results of this tune up were very good. (Side note, did spark plugs a few months ago before I brought it down to Arkansas. Crappy E10 rusted the plugs) Power does not feel increased, but the power is over a much wider band, and the idle is MUCH better. It still falls on it's face around 3k rpm, and I am hoping that it is a plugged cat/02 sensor. A code for one or the other comes up every now and then, and the exhaust is rusted out in several places. New exhaust from the manifold back is coming Thursday, and I have high hopes. New wheels and tires will come shortly after that. I'm looking at these American Racing Baja wheels. I love this style of wheel on these trucks. They will be fitted with BF Goodrich All Terrain K02's.

http://www.americanracing.com/wheels/AR172/AR1721?year=1994&make=Chevrolet&model=K2500

That's all for today! More coming soon!

 

[77Impala]

That is the worst cap I have ever seen. Hope the valve cover job goes good. Also check the egr valve and ports as well. You may find that they are plugged as well.

 

[thz71]

Make sure you tell the exhaust place you want to keep your cat

 

[SCOTTYINWV]

I would cut the cat out before I went in. They try to say that they have to keep them by law. It's bs.

 

[C.E.Divine]

Update on EGR testing- the valve itself moves freely, and almost feels like it has absolutely no diaphragm left. When the truck is up to operating temp, moving the valve by hand has no effect at all on the idle. I know that is a sign of clogged ports, so I am pretty sure I will be pulling the intake. I haven't done a vacuum test of the valve yet, but if it fails that, I may try replacing it first before I pull the intake. I do not relish the thought of that particular job.