Shop Truck refurb, code name Chaser

[RandyP]

See it, that thingy right by the water neck. Has two wires running off and a ground wire that goes right to the intake. I'll get one of them and make sure my guy chases the wires to be certain they are not broken or anything, and getting a good ground. It is grounded right on the water neck actually, and we sorta modified that area for an additional support bracket for the alternator.

One of these things has to fix it! Otherwise, might try one of the two chips I found this morning. Found the one that came with the truck, hypertech chip, and it appears my suburbans computer has an aftermarket chip in it as well.

Got the photos Joe, thanks!

[RandyP]

Ok, new 02 sensor wired in, new MAP sensor, new EGR valve, new knock sensor, fixed a leaky valve cover, fixed a leaky water neck, tightened the headers down (again), replaced the bosch spark plugs with autolite plugs (new bosch plugs fouled out with a hour run time and just a few miles, that's how bad it was running at first) and got all the bad vacuum lines fixed.

Runs like a champ. He had to bump the idle up a little, then a little more, but he took it out for a decent spin of 10 miles city and a few miles highway. I seen him blow by on the highway doing about 80, sounded goooooooood. I will take her out this weekend and put even more miles on the odometer. Might go out to Coweta and look at a used grille and head light door set a guy has on CL. I'm really going to try and do a proper break in of about 500 miles with a wide variety of driving in the city and on the highway. The temptation of taking it out and just shoving the gas pedal through the floor to see what it'll do... is about to get to me.

Stayed late last night and got my dash and instrument cluster all buttoned back up. Finally got the nice radio and speakers all hooked up and working, and my new horn button installed, put bulbs back in the interior lights... I plan on driving it for a few months at least as is before we start in on the body work. I can live with a primered hood that long I think.

[joe231]

Right on!
Feel free to cruise on down here, Scott and I are gonna be working on my truck this weekend

[RandyP]

Thought about a quick trip to the City area, but my weekend time is running in the negative right now. Got some junk I need to do here at the shop as well as at the house, and have no excuse now that it is getting cooler! We don't have the A/C charged on it yet (might actually do that here in a bit though), won't bug me just running around local, but would going on a few hour trip.

Maybe here in the next few weekends I'll get some time and head over. Can bring you this other door, better for you to store it than me.

[joe231]

Sounds like a plan!

[RandyP]

Well, drove it home. Went out after dinner and put about 15 miles on it, city and highway. It dies at every stop sign/red light, that's the only real issue. Seemed to do a little better w/out the A/C on, but was a sure fire thing after coming to a stop with the A/C on, after about 5 seconds at a complete stop, it would stutter and die.
I think the idle might need to go up a hair, might help it. After one test drive earlier by my tech, he lowered the idle cause it was going a little faster than normal, but then after a restart it was too low. It's almost like the computer is having a hard time with something. Getting an occasional CEL as well.
Maybe I need to toss in that other chip I have and see what it does. About at the end of my rope, but I hate to pay someone to get the final little thing done, but it needs to be done. Starting to tick me off having to restart it so often, but at least it is starting back up!

[Jonboy]

Sounds like the TPS may be out of adjustment. Hopefully it's something easy like that. Also, did you disconnect the tan wire when setting the timing?

[mcbassin]

Randy,
You should really post your problems in THIS THREAD.
There are some guys that monitor it and they can nail your problem down pretty quick I'm sure. I'm glad your getting to drive it too!

[RandyP]

Originally Posted by Jonboy

Sounds like the TPS may be out of adjustment. Hopefully it's something easy like that. Also, did you disconnect the tan wire when setting the timing?

Tan wire? No... we removed the vacuum line on the brake and I think that's it. I'll inquire though with my tech. I'll have to research what tan wire you're talking about.

Mcbassin, I'll read through that thread. I did not do a TBI swap though, truck has always been TBI.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by RandyP

Mcbassin, I'll read through that thread. I did not do a TBI swap though, truck has always been TBI.

I understand you didn't do a swap, you did upgrade your tbi? right? maybe you could post your prob on the last part or pm some of those guys on there? just a thought! RFMaster, 68TT, and Cableguy0 just to name a few are experts at TBI problem dianostics.

[RandyP]

Well, just talked to my body man, and no they did not unhook that wire by the brake booster. So that could be a lot of the issue. The truck runs like a bat outta hell, only real issue is the dying out when you come to a stop and the idle going up and down and up and down.

After we get it retimed I'll see what direction we need to go, might post in the TBI thread and get some advice. If it goes that far, I'd be certain it needs to be chipped/tuned.

[RandyP]

Drove it back to the shop this morning, actually ran very good, never died on me. I know it still needs timed correctly, but was fun driving it for a little bit. Jumped it on the highway and goosed it for a few miles, ran out nice. It does have a decent drive line vibration at about 55 and up, might need the drive shaft balanced or something, who knows.

Spent the day at the shop organizing my little parts room I have devoted to the truck (I think Joe went in there once when he was here). I drug all the stuff out, went to Lowes and bought some shelves, put up some cabinets that I had left over from our office remodel (old stuff), tossed up some peg board I had laying around. I filled the shelves, but at least now you can walk in to the room and sort of see everything. I'll grab some photos of it tomorrow if I remember, some will be jealous and others will go "that's all you got?".

Some of you might have been following the 7" wheel search that Joe and I were on. Joe got lucky and got his hands on some, and I knew where some were. My helper had a set on his parts truck he recently sold, so I was tracking the guy down who bought it, I actually went to high school with him. Well I had left him a few messages, but never got in touch with him. I knew he was dodging creditors and DHS, but really thought he'd call me back and take me up on the offer to swap 7's for 8's. Anyways, got word today that he actually committed suicide last night. Seems his debt, child support and his new wife and their arguments finally got to him and he ended it. So... the search is on again for me on that. I am not upset about his suicide, other than for his mom and dad, the guy was not a real good person and had led a very bad life as a human being, but I'm sure his parents loved him regardless and are heart broken over it. I will pray for them.

[joe231]

um, i do not recall ever entering a fore mentioned "little parts room"

dang, suicide, that is crazy! It is the ones left behind that suffer....

I'll keep looking for some more 7" rallys
are you interested in the 6.5' also?
I bet once you get it timed correctly it will make tons of difference.

[Stitch]

Suicide is so selfish. Joes right the ones left behind are the ones that suffer.

[BGRAFX]

Damn that a crazy story, I've got plenty of debt and pay outrageous child support but suicide doesn't fix those problems. Anyway, I bet his parents will want to sell the truck quick.

[RandyP]

I'm sure all the trucks are at his house, and no telling what his wife will do with them. He bought the stuff for his 14 year old son, so they'd have a project. So who knows, maybe the kid will want to keep it all as a keepsake or something. I refuse to call out to the house though and inquire about a set of wheels during a time like this. So see, I do have a few morals.

And, pics of my "square body parts room", little bit of everything in there! My two hoods, left and right doors and core support are out back behind the building. The birds need something to poop on I suppose.

Think I can build 3 more cluster assemblies, one with a clock, have 4 cluster bezels, two are wood grain with big square factory radio hole, front springs, intake, bumper guards, air cleaner assembly, two sets of dumbo mirrors, serpentine complete setup, two sets of rally trim, factory manifolds, tail lamps, stock 87 grille/bezels, 5 radios, factory fender antenna setup, head lamps.... and it goes on and on and on and on. Someone needs to convince me of how easy paypal is to do, and how easy it is to box stuff up. I'd make a few bucks selling some stuff then I bet.

[joe231]

nice man!
that looks way better than it did when i saw it...er, I mean , uh....I plead the 5th
oh looks like I forgot to get my new tail light lenses when I was there

[RandyP]

They must have been hiding under something when you were not in there.

Sorta nice to be able to see what you have to work with. I thought I only had two cluster bezels, and found 4! Now to take one of my boys laptops and get it down there. That way, I can veg in the little room and have access to my Mitchell stuff and the internet. Seems everyone had a private area there at my shop, except for me... the guy who owns it all... odd huh?

[RandyP]

Ok, I think we've reached our limit on what we can do with our knowledge. It'll start and run fine in the morning, sit and idle like a kitty for about 30 minutes, then drops down to probably 300-400rpm acting like it'll die at any second.

I've talked with a few mechanics in town, found the smartest one. He works for our local Chevy dealership, and they'll let me get side work done 'under the table' down there. I'm taking it to him on Tuesday next week, see if we can get it all done and running decently.

On a brighter note, looks like a semi local guy who parts out 89-91 suburbans all the time has two fresh trucks. I'm going to head over there on Saturday and see what all I can buy. He's usually pretty good at having decent stuff at very cheap prices. Maybe Joe should put his order in with me now.

[Jonboy]

Randy, if he has a nice set of tan buckets witha console, I could really use that. And an overhead console with bracket, too.

On your truck, is the TPS adjustable? Sounds like it may be off, and causing an idle problem once the truck warms up, and looks for the TPS reference (I think). Seems like when it is cold, it runs off of a preset parameter, and will look to the different sensors after the truck warms up.

[joe231]

Randy,
Check on a grill for me please

Jon, That is correct, when its cold it is in open loop. It runs off of a preset program. After it warms up it goes into closed loop where it uses feedback from the multiple sensors to tune it's self to the optimum levels. I know the stock TPS is adjustable, not sure on his aftermarket throttle body though, I would assume it uses the stock TPS.

Randy, do you still have a stock Throttle body? Have you tried swapping to stock to see if it helps?

[Jonboy]

The reason I ask is that later TPS is non adjustable I know this is on 91 for sure). My 87 had a really strange surge and bog when the TPS was out of adjustment. If it IS non adjustable, maybe swapping a later ECM might fix the problem?

[RandyP]

Just called out there Jon, he said he had a set of blue and tan, but both sold within hours of him getting them home. He has a standing order with people it seems for the buckets/console and floor brackets.
I guess he hauled one off yesterday dangit, but still has one 91 sitting there with a cluster assembly in it, I'm gonna grab that since they seem to be sorta hot around here. Also going to check in to the grille/bezels he has, might be good enough for me or Joe. Heck the grille I have is probably good for Joe, just needs the inserts painted to make it look pretty darn decent.

After reading a ton last night about the TBI, I'm not sure of anything. We did set the TBI like the instructions said, which was pretty much a "should be self learning", but now I'm wondering if the IAC or CTS could be bad despite being new. Same with a possible vacuum leak that we missed. Also I noticed this morning the temp gauge never got remotely close to 210, was hovering at about 140-150, so I'm not sure if we got the correct 195 thermostat in it or not.
My tech has reached his wits end and is tired of dealing with it, I can just sense it. He has done me an awesome job getting the hardware all in and looking good, just have to finish up the TBI issue with someone that knows more about them. I'm more than happy with the install and how it turned out, now to just get her running better. Should not cost me but maybe $100 and a day or two down at the dealership. I'll feel a lot more comfortable with it that way too.

With any luck I might be able to come to OKC next weekend in it! Joe will need to get me a good list of what he is wanting and I can get some of my junk cleaned out.

[JohnC]

I can't offer you any insight into the TBI issue. All I can do is give you for the job, info, and pics so far!

[RandyP]

Once I get it going and am happy that it is "done" engine wise, I'll try to sit and compile a list of what all we did with part #'s and such from GM and O'Reillys and Advance Auto. I really don't want to do that, I'll probably fall over, but it might be helpful to someone else.