Refreshing my daily driver

[75ChevyGuy]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

I'm slowing down a lot as I get older. I worked about 5 hours today on the back of the truck.

-Belltech C sections installed
-DJM lowering shackles installed
-Belltech shock extenders installed.

It's low.







I still need to work on it some more tomorrow. It feels like I need to bleed the front brakes some more. I also need to trim the gutters on the lower control arms because they're rubbing the wheels under hard turning. It also sounds like the rear shackles are thumping the bed a little. It's all in the details.

Truck looks damn good! I wish mine looked as good as that!

[jb1016]

Nice stance sir Obviously, I'm a fan of the Sport wheels, and I think they look good on any 88-98. But I really do like those rallies -- something about the fresh gray powdercoat with the blue/white paint scheme. I guess what I'm saying is you can't go wrong either way.

[Tx Firefighter]

I really appreciate the kind words. My buddy couldn't get any free time Friday so it's due an alignment in the morning. He's one of my oldest pals and does my alignments with me in the truck to compensate for the driver's weight affecting the alignment. Thorough, he is. I usually do my own alignments on the older trucks which use shims, but these newer ones with the control arm eccentrics are such a pain to do at home.

[19723DR]

I really like the two tone light blue & white with the rallies, it give it a classic feel. Good look'n truck.

[Tx Firefighter]

I started phase two of the project today, the engine.

The previous owner overheated the engine badly a few times and since then it's always burned a ton of oil and uses coolant. I'm sure the headgaskets are leaking. I started keeping track and it uses one quart of oil every 300 miles. All my life, I've heard the oldtimers say that an engine that's been overheated will burn oil because the rings lose tension and collapse. I guess that's what's happened here.

I looked at building an engine for it and priced all the machine work and parts from various places. How frustrating that can be. Fortunately, I have a good buddy that works at a GM dealership in the parts department who really cut me a close deal.

This is what I ordered through him. It's coming from the main Texas warehouse tomorrow.



He sliced me a better deal than the mail order houses would and it feels much better to buy locally when possible.

Now to start saving for the ancillary stuff that I'll need...

• oil
• oil filter
• cam break in additive
• water pump
• plug wires
• thermostat
• hoses
• belt tensioner
• spark plugs
• intake gaskets

This is strictly a pay as I go project so I get to bite a bit off the list every two weeks when I get paid. I'm not touching my savings or using a credit card. I actually don't even own a credit card. It sucks to see everyone hemorrhage money on their projects while I keep whittling away on mine a hundred bucks at a time, but such it life in my world.

[LEEVON]

I love this truck!

[jb1016]

I can relate to spending $100-$200 at a time on a truck, or struggling for a couple months to save up $400...it sucks sometimes, but it for sure beats spending money you don't have.

So is that just a stock 87-95 TBI 350? Stock cam and heads?

[Tx Firefighter]

JB, thanks for the words. It's comforting to know that there are others in the same boat as I am with the money deal.

On the engine, yes, it's a bone stock OEM replacement 350, just like the one in the truck now. I'll do some powdercoating on the various engine parts to spruce up the looks a bit and will ceramic coat the exhaust manifolds. Other than that, it will be all factory spec.

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by LEEVON

I love this truck!

I can see where you'd be partial to a blue and white short bed truck. I've thought many times how I'd like to have yours.

[hopped up]

im the same way,i dont have a credit card so i couldnt use it for my truck even if i wanted to. truck looks good, great stance
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[Tx Firefighter]

You know the funny thing is, this truck burns oil so bad that I save the used oil from my Honda oil changes and pour it into the truck. I've never seen a small block burn so much oil and not smoke very badly. Every tank of gas I have to pour a quart in. That new 350 is going to be real nice.

[ChevyTruckGuy]

Cool stace. My 96 original 5.7 goes through 1 quart every 2500-3000 miles or every 13 work days. I had to up my oil changes from every 5k miles to 3k now since it just rolled over 300k miles. If only mine was a cool shorty like yours but its clean and runs good..
Cant wait for you to get all the new parts, Have fun.......

[Tx Firefighter]

Well it's a slow news day but I did get to stop by the dealership on my way home from work this morning.

[SBTork]

Clean truck, it looks like a fun project.

[LEEVON]

I wouldn't call that slow news! There is something extremely rewarding about freshening up a TBI truck engine.

[grayharville]

Its always nice to have a shiney new smallblock in a crate!

[Tx Firefighter]

While I'm waiting for the money tree to bear fruit, I went ahead and started detailing some parts.

First step is to gather the greasy parts and some cheap dollar store oven cleaner.


Cleaned, bead blasted and powdercoated semi gloss black. There will be a lot of this as I go through this phase of the project.




I took the fan clutch and soda blasted it clean.







Cleaned fan clutch, powdercoated fan, cleaned bolts and loctite then reassemble.

[benoit454]

this build is getting awesome now, love the lowered stance and can't wait for some more tear down and painted up parts.

[LEEVON]

You must know a good powdercoat man who works really quickly

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by LEEVON

You must know a good powdercoat man who works really quickly

He does okay, but he's a grouchy bastard.

[project 67 sub]

lmao

looking good Tx Firefighter
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[Tx Firefighter]

I plugged away on a bunch of little details today.

My order came from Summit. I tried to buy all quality parts. Felpro and Stant are still made right here where they belong in the USA. The belt tensioner is made in Canada.



Fortunately, I had an extra intake manifold in my parts pile so I coated it and used it instead of the greasy original one. The thermostat and housing showed signs of previous owners lack of craftsmanship.


New Stant Super Stat and Felpro Printoseal neoprene gasket.


Everything all installed. Some of the parts I powdercoated, some I just cleaned up.













I've got to look around and find some new studs and nuts for my exhaust manifolds. The old stuff is pretty beat up. It's gonna take about half a day to repair all the mess and get them back where they ought to be.

[jb1016]

So that's what my engine looks like under 19 years of grime...

[Tx Firefighter]

Except mine has the crappy serpentine setup and yours has the good one.

[3strats]

Doing some fine work there sir. Love all the little engine details. Great looking truck so far.