Project "Locomotion" '82 LWB Diesel

[HanSoloWS6]

Here is my project post. I'm going to be one of those slow ones, so bare with me lol. My family comes before the truck.

The truck is an '82 1/2 ton Silverado, LWB with 6.2 diesel and 4 speed trans.

My plans include:
Air ride with Porterbuilt and KP parts
Rebuild or replace the engine and trans
Shave everything
Suicide doors
Leather or leather like (lol) interior
LED tails
And other things as I go.

[tvblazer78]

Cool!!

[schoolfire]

Oh man! I'd love to see a chevy diesel taken apart... if you end up rebuilding it take lots of pics? Sounds like a wonderful project though!

[HanSoloWS6]

I'm sure I'll probably take enough pic's to wear out my camera lol. I'm in Ft. Myers now, for the next 2 weeks, so it'll be April before I can officially get started. If I can't get it running within a few days of getting started, depending on weather, then I'll just start on the tear down. I just hope that if we do in fact move, that it's before I have the suspension ripped apart lol.

[thirdstreettito]

Cant wait! Keep it a diesel! I've always wanted to do a custom diesel 1/2t 2wd.

[84 400]

vey cool. a oil burner with a 4 speed on airride . That is a great Idea. sets you out from the rest with the 6.2 under the hood

[HanSoloWS6]

Well, change in plans. We've been in Pigeon Forge for the last couple days, and we're going home tomorrow (3/25). So, I might work on the truck this weekend, if I don't have a million other things to do at home lol.

[HanSoloWS6]

Well, we got home last night around 5, finally lol. Today, I got the charger back on the batteries so I can attempt to get the truck running. I was over at Diesel Place trying to find a solution to why it's not running and got some new info. So I'm hoping I can try to get it running this weekend.

I need to quit following these build threads here or I'm going to end up out in the barn for hours on end and really upset the wife lol. I'm itching to get my truck stripped right now.

[HanSoloWS6]

Well, I worked on the truck today to try to get it running. No luck. I saw a thread on DP that said to pinch off the return line to try to get it to fire, but nothing. So, on to do more research or just pull the motor for a rebuild.

[schoolfire]

Originally Posted by HanSoloWS6

Well, I worked on the truck today to try to get it running. No luck. I saw a thread on DP that said to pinch off the return line to try to get it to fire, but nothing. So, on to do more research or just pull the motor for a rebuild.

Yay! Rebuild time!

[HanSoloWS6]

You know, I could get the fool of the day award, if my assumption turns out to be right. I never thought about it until a day or 2 ago, but it's very possible my fuel pump is shot (hopefully not the injector pump). But when I cracked the lines to my injectors, I don't even get any weeping like I'm supposed to when getting the air out. So, if it is, there's a $20 fix I could/should have done forever ago lol. But I never thought about it since the truck was running good before I parked it. Except the last day it ran, it was hesitating and stalling.

You'd think as long as I have been around cars and working on them the last 18 years, I would have thought of this lol.

[84 400]

Originally Posted by HanSoloWS6

You know, I could get the fool of the day award, if my assumption turns out to be right. I never thought about it until a day or 2 ago, but it's very possible my fuel pump is shot (hopefully not the injector pump). But when I cracked the lines to my injectors, I don't even get any weeping like I'm supposed to when getting the air out. So, if it is, there's a $20 fix I could/should have done forever ago lol. But I never thought about it since the truck was running good before I parked it. Except the last day it ran, it was hesitating and stalling.

You'd think as long as I have been around cars and working on them the last 18 years, I would have thought of this lol.

Ahh I have done that kind of thing too. Mostly on others cars because I know my own junk better. My mind is always jumping to some complicated problem when there is a simple problem. Guess it is just how my brain works..............

[HanSoloWS6]

Originally Posted by 84 400

Ahh I have done that kind of thing too. Mostly on others cars because I know my own junk better. My mind is always jumping to some complicated problem when there is a simple problem. Guess it is just how my brain works..............

I'm the same way lol. As you can see, lol.

[flamingbig10]

cool project

[HanSoloWS6]

I did some moving in my Photobucket acct, so the pic's have been moved to here http://s59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...tive/82%20C10/

[thirdstreettito]

Updates?

[HanSoloWS6]

Nothing new yet. Still haven't gotten it running. I've narrowed things down to the injector pump. So, probably $325 to fix it.

[thirdstreettito]

Updates?

[HanSoloWS6]

None yet. I haven't had the time to work on it with other projects at home and work taking priority. Now we're throwing looking for a bigger house into the mix. But, hopefully the new house will have more space so I can tear the truck apart.

[HanSoloWS6]

So, the only updates I have are the plans for the build, lol. I am researching doing a Duramax swap instead of trying to rebuild the 6.2. It'll cost almost triple to get the same power I can get from a D-max swap and tuning. So I'm looking at buying a running wrecked truck with an LB7 so I can make sure I have everything I'll need, then part the donor truck out and make some money back to put into the '82.

The suspension will be built using Porterbuilt front and rear Dropmember set-ups. The trick with the front will be figuring out motor mounts and position of the engine and trans before ordering.

As for wheels and tires, I would love to try to stuff a 24/26" combo under this thing without having to do too much relocating of brake, steering and other underhood parts I won't be able to fit in the cab. I'm either going to keep the original Hydraboost system or use one off the wreck if it has it, just depends on which has better clearance. The wheels I have first on the list are 22/24 Boulders, but the price for the size I want hurts lol. I'll probably go with some variation of a classic 5 spoke design in a 24/26 combo. Something to go with the railroad theme I want to do.

The interior is going to stay simple with tweed and/or leather. I might build some things from metal and fiberglass and paint to match the body, but I'm not sure yet. Also to go with my theme, I must have a train horn lol. And it'll be a true horn from a diesel locomotive, a Nathan or WABCO if I can find a good one. If not I'll get one of the other sets on the market.

Everything else I mentioned in the first post is still happening, so I won't get into it. Any questions, just let me know. And if you're a diesel guru and would like to help get the 6.2 running, please do lol.

[thirdstreettito]

You could also do a 4bt Cummins swap. 30-35mpg and 200hp/500tq if tuned.

[HanSoloWS6]

Well, I did think about a Cummins, and I still am lol. Depends on what I find when I get the money together I guess.

[HanSoloWS6]

A little update:

As soon as our tax refund is deposited and we pay some bills, what's left is going into my truck. With that being said, the Duramax swap will have to wait and instead I will either drop in a 6.5 and NV4500 or rebuild my 6.2. I'm pushing for the 6.5 swap since it will all be pretty easy to do, I have some access to just about every part I need, and it has a turbo, yay lol.

So, I'm hoping I will be able to post some progress in the next month or so. I'm crossing my fingers, lol.

[HanSoloWS6]

6.5TD should be going in a few weeks from now. I just have to wait for our tax refund, snow to melt and the ground to freeze so I can get my truck out of the barn. The motor will be gone through before dropping it in to make sure it's still in good shape. It should be OK since it was only used for bench testing of other parts. I am still trying to decide if I want to paint the engine Detroit Diesel Alpine Green, or paint to match the final body color that the truck will be, a copper/orange color, before I install it or just leave it alone until I get the the paint and body work.

Since the 6.5 isn't the best engine for high HP numbers, which is fine for this project, I don't have to have a $10K engine budget lol. I'm more interested in getting the best MPG possible, which 25-30 shouldn't be too hard to get, but I'm going to try to get closer to the 31-35 my 6.2 got. Only time and tuning will tell.

[HanSoloWS6]

OK, it's March 14th and my truck is still in the barn, lol. The guy who is helping with the 6.5 swap got hurt at work, so I'm waiting until he's ready. What's going to happen is we are going to use the 6.5 in a N/A form. The engine is a 2000 Humvee powerplant, built as a N/A motor, and I believe having about 300HP as it sits. He's going to change the heads from the Humvee style to a standard truck version because of the angle of the exhaust side. Also, we will be using the Humvee intake and exhaust manifolds. It's projected to get at least 27MPG. But, we might be able to tune it to get better than 30MPG.

I've also been kicking around the idea of instead of a body dragger, go with a pro-touring suspension set-up. More on that as I do some other research.