Rusty, crushy, but trysty.

[68Timber]

A lot of folk put down Harbor Freight tools. Some of it is justified, but most of what they have is good for the weekender like most of us are - especially if money is a concern. Like me. I shop there a lot and have a heap of stuff I wouldn't be able to afford if it were branded Snap On or even Craftsman. Like a buddy with much more skills and money once told me - "at that price, it doesn't matter if it doesn't last a lifetime."

What are the specs on the cam?

[jbwolfe]

First off, that is one nice lookin truck! It's been really cool watching it all come together.

I agree about Harbor Freight tools. I'm still learning to work on my own rigs as i go, and my favorite way of buying tools is at garage sales. But when you need something right a way, Harbor Freight is really nice. Some things are junk, so I try to only buy something if I'm going to use it right away and give it a good work out, that way I can take it back if it's useless.

I like there impact sockets, and I've put a few of there wrenches, and there 3/8 ratchet through some tough stuff using a cheater pipe. And yes they do stand behind there lifetime warranty for the things I have broken.

Originally Posted by BRUISER

A lot of folk put down Harbor Freight tools. Some of it is justified, but most of what they have is good for the weekender like most of us are - especially if money is a concern. Like me. I shop there a lot and have a heap of stuff I wouldn't be able to afford if it were branded Snap On or even Craftsman. Like a buddy with much more skills and money once told me - "at that price, it doesn't matter if it doesn't last a lifetime."

What are the specs on the cam?

[makman1297]

Bruiser its a 204/214 adv 270 280 with .420 int .443 exh lift. Its seems to run fine with the TBI. The harbor frieght usually works for me, usually. I got a run on the truck. I adjusted the steering the wrong way last time, woops. Will need to make corrections to that. I had a annoying whistle when giving it throttle, one of my vac lines must be a little loose. Engine is running great, temp at steady 190, tranny is running a little warm was at 190, i think i will be getting a bigger cooler i am not fond of a hot tranny. I olied my spedo when i was waiting for the engine to cool down, no more squeaks and its within one mph of what the computer is reading. The spedo is nice and steady, its so nice to actually have something working for a change. As far as i can tell the torque converter is locking the rpm @ 60 is 1900, according to randys ring and pinion it says 1800. I have roughly 32" tires and 4.10 gears. I also washed the truck today got all the grime off of it.

[makman1297]

Well i finally figured out the tranney issue, i printed the hyd circuit for the trans and pulled the valve body off and followed it through from the 1/2 shift valve and then i found the dummy plug for the tcc in the valve body was not seated all the way and was blocking the fluid from going into the transmission. I seated the valve the rest of the way and took it for a drive, it now has a nice distinct tcc lockup. Sweet, 1770 rpm at 60mph.

[makman1297]

I took it for a little run, tranney is running cooler now, i also found my annoyinf whistle, the TBI unit gasket was leaking. I took it off and cleaned it up hopefully that will fix it. The tailgate is ready for paint. I also have a brake pull on this thing. It wants to go to the right when you get on the brakes. I replaced the front calipers, maybe one of the lines is bad.

[Gordonr1973]

Looks great back together, that blue is really nice!

[makman1297]

Took it to work yesterday, wow the brakes need some major work. It pulls to the right. The egr posted again, but i got a new solenoid installed, the old one was leaking vacuum when it was off. I hope thats it for egr issues. I also found i had a vacuum leak under the throttle body, so off it came and i cleaned it up and put a new gasket on it. I went through the brakes today, the rear looked worse than i thought they were, and glazed really bad. Put in all the new parts and set the rear drag. All i need to do is bleed the system out real good and take it for a test drive. Tranney is working great, running a nice steady 160F.

[makman1297]

I redid the brakes still having a pulling issue. I think the proporting valve is bad. The pas side is getting more pressue than the dr side. The pro valve on these models has two seperate lines for the front. I got the impact bumpers installed on the front. I noticed the gear box is worn too. It has a wandering feeling on the highway and there is some slop in the gear box. I towed my car trailer with it today and got the electric brakes hooked up. It toed really well and was nice to use it for some work. I hope to get the tailgate painted tomorrow, every time i start to work on the gate something interrups me. I also replace the ERG solenoid alve, it was nice to drive it to town and back and not have the check engine light come on.

[squaredaway]

Great build, brother. You must be very proud.

[makman1297]

Thanks squaredaway, it turned out pretty good. I am still working on the tailgate, i loaded a couple of pics. I also cut the spare tire shaft and welded an old socket in it, now i just keep a 3/8 rachet in the glove box in case i need to lower the spare.

[Greenlee]

Looks great!

Do you remember what type of vehicle you robbed your spare tire winch from? I want to do this to mine. Welding the socket on there is a great idea.
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[makman1297]

Hey greenlee, IIRC it was from a 91/92 chevy pickup. I did weld a bracket/metal to the original small cross member that was on my truck and then bolted it on that. The spare tire crossmember that has the guide hole for the shaft is a bolt in piece. I think i had to narrow it down a bit because it was too wide. I thought about how to make it work before, i could of drilled a hole in my bumper and made the license plate flip up, i could of welded a universal joint or two (was thinking about a socket style) and had it come out between the bumper and frame. But i went with fast and simple. I did run it down and up with the rachet, works pretty good.

[Greenlee]

Thanks Makman. I am planning to build a rear bumper and had the same thoughts running through my head as to whether I would need a hole in it for the spare tire winch. I used to have a newer body style 88' GMC and it had a hole in the bumper. I like your socket idea a lot better. I need to go to the junk yard and see if I can find a winch.
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[makman1297]

Your welcome greenlee. I got the tailgate into paint, but got a couple of runs. I also sprayed the inside with bedliner. The temp dropped here so i will give it a day to dry before i try to sand out the runs. I also replaced the steering gear, 10 times better. The steering is actually powerful and no more wondering on the highway. I also replaced the proporting valve, took it for a test drive a little pull to the right, but not like before. I noticed my right rear tire was now locking up, so i loosened the adjuster a little and tightened the left side, nice and straight now. The old valve was not sending enough pressure to the rear before and higher pressure to the rh front. I also decided to mod my air cleaner a little, i was getting really tired of the whistle noise that it was making. I talked with someone who heard that removing the choke collar made the whistle worse, its caused by the fuel air mixture going past the throttle blades. It did not do it at idle or high throttle, but mostly around 2000RPM which is close to crusie with the OD. So i took a old stainless bowl i had laying, cut it and put it under the air cleaner. I opened it up to match on both ends. It is quieter now, will do some more road testing to see how much better it is.

[makman1297]

So i took the truck on a 75 mile round trip today, catching up on partially completed house projects, i decided to check the milage. This is with a couple miles of town driving and fighting a head wind on the way back. I got 15.89 MPG i cant believe it was that high, espically with the awesome brick aerodynamics it has. I had the cruise set at 60 MPH. I still have some whistling but its much better than before, at least i can tolerate it for now. I noticed the fuel guage is off a little at least for the LH tank that i have been running. When its full the guage is right, but when it hits empty on the gauge i can put 14 gallons in it and its a 20 gal tank. I will see if the RH tank is the same maybe the gauge is off a little.

[Greenlee]

I wonder if maybe your sending units are for 15 gallon tanks? Not sure if that would make a difference or not. All of the dual tank trucks I can remember seeing had the smaller 15 or 16 gallon tanks.
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[makman1297]

Hey greenlee, as far as i know the 16 and 20 gallon units are the same. This is the same tank and sending unit i was using before the conversion and it read pretty close before. I am thinking maybe the gauge or a poor connection somewhere along the line. This is the gauge out of the 87 suburban that i am now using. I will try running the other tank for a bit and see how it reads, if its the same then it must be from the fuel switch forward. Of course it could be a good thing since i dont have the baffled tanks, if i switch tanks around empty i will never starve the fuel pump.

[makman1297]

I did a little work toady. I got the tailgate repainted and will install it tomorrow. I installed my tow hooks and braced the sway bar drop brackets I made before. I worked a little on the brakes again, I decided to replace the rear wheel cylinders since they were original and only $9 each. I reset the rear adjusters, it needs the rh adjuster a lot looser than the lh, not sure why, maybe the shoe material is more grabby on the rh side. I have been driving it every chance I get, its really a lot of fun, but a little on the stiff side. It will be nice to have the tailgate, I dont like hauling stuff with out one, I keep thinking everything will slide out the back.

[makman1297]

Thanks jbwolfe, you are correct. I have returned so many broken tools its not funny, but i have never broken any of there impact sockets. Some of there parts are just better than others and it really depends on how much you use them. I am pretty much wrapping the work up, i do need to replace the pas side fuel filler hose, chang the tranney fluid, filter, replace the apply valve, and solenoid wiring, replace the dr power window motor, fix the AC, and replace the front shocks.

[makman1297]

Truck bed; now available with tailgate.

[Greenlee]

Looks good!
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[makman1297]

Thanks greenlee, I really have to thank my wife for putting up with this whole project. The last month was a little spendy getting this on the road and workring out the drivability issues with the EGR, TCC, Brakes, and Steering. This will be my daily driver soon as I am heading to South Carolina in April for schooling. It will be nice since i can take my bike with me too. I added extra tie downs in the box to make it easier to strap my bikes in.

[Greenlee]

Yep, it seems like the closer you get to finishing the more expensive it gets. I'm going through that right now with mine. Cheaper than a new truck though. And the coolness factor is way better than with a new one!
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[makman1297]

Yeah i know right. At least its down to fuel, insurance, and maintenance. Of course there could be some fun improvements comming. Its funny there are hundreds of these trucks on the road, but I get a lot of looks and smiles when I am driving it.

[makman1297]

I noticed the last couple of days that i have a slight surge at slow speeds like around 25, i can watch my lean rich guage and it coinsides with it. It has a slight speed up at the rich side and slight slow down on the lean side. I noticed my gauge bounces back and forth from lean to rich, but is normally more towards the lean side and i think its a little more lean now than it was when i set everything up. I guess the tranney and all the parts should be broken in now and maybe part of this. I will bump my fuel pressure up a bit and drive it some more to see what it does. It has been driving great, made a slight adjustment on the steering to get the wheel right in the center. I have not had any more EGR issues either, i ended up putting a BWD one in from orileys and that seems to work better than the AC delco ones. I noticed the vacuum hole on it is bigger than the AC delco ones and i think that with the aftermarket cam and a slightly lower vacuum the aftermarket one actually works just fine.