Duct tape masterpiece

And here it is in all it's glory... the DUCT TAPE MASTERPIECE:

 

More updates.

So I rolled the truck into the garage today (ok, I drove it, it's the only chance I get lately) and stuck 'er on jackstands and took the above lovely pictures (beautiful, ain't it??) before tackling the torsion rods. I yanked on those things for 15 minutes with a socket on the bottom and a wrench on the top. Nothing. I gave my friend Jeremy a call at his shop to see if I could use the lift. Seems he was alone today and was BORED! So I came over and we broke 'em free. Took us a little bit but MUCH easier on a lift.

While I was there I asked him about the Heddman header I was thinking about. he told me they use them all the time, and that they're not great but not bad. Says they last and they are sturdy... but for the price they charge they're a good deal. if I wind up keeping the truck I will probably swap this over... my stock exhaust is rusted and full of pinholes. Good ol' Northwest dampness!

 

This weekend... covered in oil.

What a day working on the truck. Had a couple of my friends over for beer and pizza to bribe them to help me with the truck. First we went to the upper control arms... and as I suspected the bushings fell right out. No effort required except to break the bolts loose. I think we did both sides in an hour with new bushings and we started on the lowers.

Pulled one torsion rod out, got the control arm free... and the bushing wouldn't come out for anything. So right now the truck is on jackstands with the passenger side spindle hanging from the ball joint. Oh well. I figured out a way to get the bushing out with a puller, just need to get to it tomorrow.

I'll have pics soon. I also have bushings for the strut rods to do and then hopefully it's on the ground! One task at a time, right?

 

Progress and VICTORY!

Finally got a chance to get at those lower control arm bushings! Basically used a contraption based around my puller. Used two bolts for the support, and the torsion bar bolt and nut for the puller. I had to take the thing off twice to put larger bolts on, but finally I got it far enough out to cut the rubber and it came free. This took me 2.5 hours total to get pulled! The first hour was just figuring out how the hell to do it! I scrounged thru almost my entire garage (which is now a complete disaster because of it!!!) to get the parts together... had to take the bolts out of my chin up bar (they just happened to be the right length!) to get it to work! What a struggle, but in the end about 11:30am today I won the battle! The front end will be going back together now.

Also, a couple weeks ago I pulled the spare tired hoist out, and mocked up the one from the '93 I got. There's room to easily fit this on the frame rail in the same spot, so Once the truck's back down on the groune I'll take care of that. After the front end, this will be a SNAP!

 

Progress!

Those LCA bushings are a pain. Took me a air chisel, a torch and BFH to get em out.

Good to see you got some work done!

 

More progress. It rolls.

Last night after work, bolted everything back together on the front end and installed the sway bar. Didn't notice that the ends are a little wider on the later bar, so the links were too short. had to leave out the top bushing (the one between the bar and the washer the bolt hits) to make it fit, but it'll work for now.

This morning I slapped the torsion bar back in and tightened them up temporarily so I could move the truck. Didn't tighten them up enough, the LCAs are resting on the bump stops. Oh well. I was surpised to find that resting on the bump stops the truck is only 1.5" lower than it was. Fender lip to the ground was 27" before, now it's 25.5". Actually looks really good there, so I'm gonna trim the bump stops when I get around to it and bring it down to an even 25".

The rear is still tall, 29" from lip to ground... but I'll lower that too when I get to the leafs. I'll just remove the center leaf and see what that gets me. I'll be happy if it sits in the 26"-27" range. slight rake, less fender gap.

Still runs like crap, but hey I haven't even touched that yet. I'm pretty much figuring in a 22R and Weber at this point if I continue past the suspension. If I had the money it would be a 4.3 Chevy with an Edelbrock 1404 carb, shorty headers and 2" exhaust... but I don't, so I won't!

 

Drove the truck!

Ok, well it was only 10 miles round trip, but I drove the truck!

We're redoing the bathroom in my house, and we filled the back of my Silverado with debris, and honestly didn't want to heave a 250lb cast iron tub into the top of the pile! So... it went in my Toyota. Went thru it with a wrench and double checked it all over, and found nothing to worry about... so I went for it. Ran like crap but it definately handled better! Needs an alignment but drives WAY better than it did. it's resting on the bumpstops, but it was suprisingly decent ride. It was a little bumpy but not bad.

I found a rebuild kit for my "Weber" and as a last resort with this POS I'm going to go thru it and make sure it's spotlessly clean, check all the jetting and change things if needed.... and if it's still a POS then all the nice new stuff comes out and it gets tossed. I can always put it into another DFEV if needed. No biggie.

I was going to pull the middle leaf but I'm kinda leaning towards those lowering leafs. $117 isn't bad. I think in 2 months I could handle that, that is if the "Weber" tunes and it doesn't run like crap. I'm also gonna swap in the EGR blockoff plates, heater pipe blockoff on the front cover and plug the intake heater outlet (the one for the water choke). Probably going to plug the other vacuum ports on the intake too, while I'm at it. I'm not using them, so why have all that stuff sticking out? Much more sano.

Ahh, progress. At least I got to use it for what it's for today... to HAUL stuff!!! LOL!!

 

congrats man!

i've had 2k pounds of ceramic tile, mortar, and grout in the bed of my 88 4x4. besides sagging it about 4" it rode nice, and pulled the load rather well.

 

Update, but not much of one....

Took a couple pics of the truck today since I had to move it back out of the back yard. You can see the front's lower now, still gotta finish the bushings though. That will be my project for the week after work. Still have one LCA bushing and the strut rod bushings to replace, and a new driver's side strut rod box to install.

Also finally took a pic of the truck representing the forum!

 

Update!

So over the last few days I got the rest of the front end done. Had to have the strut rod bolt loosened at my friend's shop since it just wouldn't move while it was on the truck. I stood on the breaker bar and it wouldn't budge. The box had some sort of impact at one point, so the whole thing was pushed to the inside bad, so the inside washer was flattened, and the sleeve wouldn't come off the rod. I wound up just cleaning up and reusing the sleeve that was on there. I'll probably just replace the rod before I get an alignment, it is probably bent.
With all the bushings done, all I have to do now is to tighten up the torsions and set it down. I'll do that tomorrow, it'll be nice to get it off jackstands. Next stop is the carb. That's gonna be fun, but I have some help this weekend so it might turn out ok. We'll see.

 

More updates!

Yea, I know, I've had time to actually work on my truck. I've had help.
So I got the thing down on the ground and set the torsions. It's sitting a little higher than I like right now (about 1" lower) but it's not bad. It's all tightened up and is all solid again. An alignment and I'm good to go.

Tore the carb off the intake today and rebuilt the whole thing. Bad power valve. needle / seat was leaking. Filter / inlet was loose and leaking. Cleaned it nice and put it all back together, and slapped it back on. Primed the bowl and it fired right up. Got it to idle pretty good around 900rpm. Found the vacuum leak, replaced all the carb gaskets, replaced the EGR with the LC Engineering blockoff kit, much better now. Pics soon.

So, seems like my truck will finally get some road time. I need to wait until my air cleaner gets here (the one the guy sent me with the carb is one for a DGEV, not DFEV like I have) until I can really drive it. Don't want to get some piece of dirt from the motor in the carb after all this!

Still have to do the block off on the intake for the choke hoses and the one on the front cover, but it's really close to being ready to go. Finally! Feel much better now that I know it's going to work.

Next stop - gotta find a non-EGR exhaust manifold. Byker didn't you have a couple? I'm going to post in the "wanted" section anyways.

 

New, improved, cleaner engine compartment:

 

While I was at it today I checked the build tag and found out my truck has a 4:11 rear end and a W50. Which means I have about the highest ratio rear gear. I'm seriously considering a W58 / 3:42 swap eventually. A guy here has 2 3:42's locally for $75 and it's tempting. I'd rather have the fuel mileage than the speed.... it's gonna go 36 miles each way every day and that might make the difference between 24 and 26 mpg.... the W58 will help even more.

Just some random dreaming now that the thing runs and drives!!!

 

nice! glad you finally got it running. you gunna keep it now?

 

At the moment it's looking good, but we're kinda buried in bills and with the truck teetering on costing more money it's been up in the air. I'm having to save a bit here and there now for anything I need.

Having a little baby really strains the budget... but she's worth it no matter what I have to do.

 

Update!

So I got the engine to run pretty good now, got the correct air cleaner, plugged the unused ports in the intake with the LCE kit, blocked off the water choke hose from the front cover with a plate, and to get rid of the whistle the thing was doing replaced the intake gasket. Wound up with a thermostat housing leak so replaced that gasket. Now my drain plug on the radiator is leaking, so I picked up a $2 new one and will slap it in tomorrow. I should be only an alignment away from rollin' to work in it.

From now on the plans are cleanup and mod, thankfully I think I might be finished for a while with the major issues. I still have to put the stereo in it, rewire the speakers, swap in the new door panels, grease the window tracks, swap in lowering leafs, trim the front bumpstops, and swap in the spare tire hoist. At some point the carpet will go and be replaced, and insulation will be added. May do that spray coating for the bed, but I'll have to strip the hole thing first and the tailgate is as holy as swiss cheese... so that's on the "eventual" list too.

I'm glad I got to this point, just wish it hadn't taken me over 6 months to get here.

 

nice!!!

 

Head gasket's leaking coolant, after all the little crap I've done to chase down the thermostat housing and drain plug on the radiator, the head gasket dribbles coolant under the exhaust manifold between 2/3. On Craigslist now, I'll never have time to tear down the whole motor again, barely can get anything done anymore on it. Oh well, I tried.

Probably gonna trade in my Silverado for a Taco. Gotta save some money and on gas / insurance. Bah.

 

damn the only luck you have is bad luck! thats too bad.

 

Tell me about it man... there's not much left I haven't screwed with... I guess eventually I'd run out of things to fix. Of course at the rate I'm going my daughter will be in High School when I get to that point!