Shop Truck refurb, code name Chaser

[JohnC]

Now's the best time to clean it.

[joe231]

Nice progress!!
Now somebody shut those doors, or are you trying to cool down the state?
bet you are standing at the fridge with the door open too, ain't ya

[RandyP]

The pictures of the shop were from this morning, usually wait until about 9 or 10 to kick the AC on.

Now I'm trying to find a bucket big enough to soak this intake in.... OMG it is no wonder the truck ran like crap. Talk about neglect.

OK, taking the intake off my 'burban, so far it looks to be in muuuuuuuuuuuuuch better shape. Despite having 385k miles on it, proper care might have happened with any luck.

[justpball]

wow, dirty!

[RandyP]

My truck has ~160k on it, the burban 385k, the difference... I'm still amazed. The 385k mile motor still has lots of life left in it, really drives home the fact of taking care of the inside as much as the outside.

Anyways, intake from the burban is soaking in degreaser, will clean it up really good tomorrow and make it look new. Hopefully the degreaser will still have enough bite in it to clean up all the little brackets as well and get them painted new, along with the headers. I'm getting excited! Like a 17 year old on prom night excited!

[Jonboy]

Make sure you pull the thermostat housing. The one on my '87 was corroded through underneath. That wasn't a really pleasant suprise. Also, you might throw front and rear seals at the trans while you have it out. That and the dipstick tube seal should pretty much cure any leaks.

[joe231]

Originally Posted by RandyP

My truck has ~160k on it, the burban 385k, the difference... I'm still amazed. The 385k mile motor still has lots of life left in it, really drives home the fact of taking care of the inside as much as the outside.

Anyways, intake from the burban is soaking in degreaser, will clean it up really good tomorrow and make it look new. Hopefully the degreaser will still have enough bite in it to clean up all the little brackets as well and get them painted new, along with the headers. I'm getting excited! Like a 17 year old on prom night excited!

[RandyP]

Sadly, the suburban is now 'undriveable' now. Have to yank off the serpentine stuff and see how I want to butcher the wiring harness, probably just cut it at the firewall unless someone chimes in with a better idea.
Only a few items left on it to remove and we'll start piling scrap iron inside of it and haul it off. Sorta wishing we had it loaded down right now, scrap is fairly high at the moment.

[joe231]

Hey Randy,
I'm planning a trip up there next weekend, if it's cool with you

[RandyP]

That's fine, no plans that I know of. Were you to be there this weekend it'd be a little easier since I have it backed on to the frame machine. But we'll get it back inside next Friday before all my guys leave. At least have it inside where we have air tools and jack stands, and shade and two big fans.

Let me know if you need directions or anything, I think you have my cell, if not lemme know and I'll pass it along to you.

[JohnC]

We don't want to see pics of the old engine man! We want shots of the new one!

[RandyP]

New one is still sitting there wrapped up in plastic! I spent several hours today cleaning on the 'good' intake, finally come to the conclusion (and wifes blessing) of ordering a new one. Looks like the Edelbrock 3704 is the winner. Actually looks like about my only choice with the TBI. Someone correct me if I'm wrong there.

Came to the shop tonight to try and work while the sun is down. Still shows 98 degrees but hopefully it'll get cooler before I fire up the booth and start spraying these parts black. Been here about two hours, already went through 3 tshirts (I'm weird about that, they get drenched and I gotta take them off, dry my body, take a break and put on a dry shirt). I did get the used headers sprayed and got all my parts degreased and washed them with a scotch brite and soapy water. One more time with the wax and grease remover then I'll hang them and start spraying some black. I have some single stage black enamel left over, and I got some straight black in bc/cc I can use, along with some cheap finish line clear. I'll probably bc/cc so it'll be a bit more durable, or I might get fed up and just undercoat all the junk and go home.

[Jonboy]

How glossy are you doing the parts? I shot my frame (just the back half for now, since the bed was off for the c-notch), inner fenders and a few other brackets with a catalyzed base and no clear. It left a nice, semi gloss appearance.

[BGRAFX]

Man I'm on my 4th shirt since 9am lkol its blazing hot and humid here also.

[RandyP]

Oh I like things shiny. I almost got mad at the spray bomb paint for the headers, then realized it was a flat black. I can not tell you how close I was to buying the red, but thought that would look rather silly.
The wheel houses came out pretty slick. I almost felt like I was just wasting material painting them, they both have a decent sized patch of rust on them. Same with the battery tray, I'm just to tight right now to spend $50 or whatever they are on a new one. All the other brackets came out real nice too. I mixed the degreaser so strong it was taking them to bare metal pretty much with a few wipes of the scotch brite.
And a teaser to show Joe how easy it would have been this weekend yanking stuff on that burb. Next weekend we'll probably just be on the shop floor with jacks and stands.

On a side note. I have just under 300 photos in my "87 Silverado" folder now. I think I have more photos of this truck than I do of my son.

[RandyP]

Oh, and let me tell you. I hate bugs. I used every trick I know to keep bugs out of the booth tonight. But being dark outside, and a light on inside... here buggy buggy buggy. I left one row of lights on at the front of the shop bays, opposite end of the booth. Then the booth lights were on. Every entry and exit to the booth was a mad dash as well. Still ended up having to chase one flying critter down with the sealer. He died a horrid sticky death. Almost took a shot of me after I washed my hands, had my mask around my neck hanging, bandanna around my forehead and my shirt was drenched.

I think it's time to go home and veg for a little bit, maybe a quick shower. Still need to jamb my fenders, but that'll have to wait until tomorrow I guess.

[JohnC]

Originally Posted by RandyP

Oh, and let me tell you. I hate bugs. I used every trick I know to keep bugs out of the booth tonight. But being dark outside, and a light on inside... here buggy buggy buggy. I left one row of lights on at the front of the shop bays, opposite end of the booth. Then the booth lights were on. Every entry and exit to the booth was a mad dash as well. Still ended up having to chase one flying critter down with the sealer. He died a horrid sticky death. Almost took a shot of me after I washed my hands, had my mask around my neck hanging, bandanna around my forehead and my shirt was drenched.

I think it's time to go home and veg for a little bit, maybe a quick shower. Still need to jamb my fenders, but that'll have to wait until tomorrow I guess.

Take that fly!

The parts came out nice man. The truck is going to look slick when you get done.

[RandyP]

Got the new intake in this morning. Going to have to modify two holes and drill/tap one more for a bracket on the front of it. It has the hole but it is not threaded nor deep enough.
Fenders came out nice. Got to use my new 1.7 (ElCheapo brand) clear gun, I gotta say it hoses the material. Had to crank my air pressure a little higher than I like but they came out slick.

We're wearing out a path from my shop to O'Reillys and Advance. Dipstick, header gaskets, temp sensor reducer bushing... Every time I turn around it seems we're finding something else that is needed.

[BGRAFX]

You should put a parts list together incase you or anyone else wants to do the swap in the future

[RandyP]

Will be easy since I'm keeping all the invoices, so I'll be able to see the 1000's I spent...

And, just as I knew would happen, we're in the middle of this engine swap now and I have taken in a lot of work. So... we're making $$ instead of working on the truck. Now to just talk my guy in to working a weekend or two.

[JohnC]

Making $$ will make it easier to work on the truck!

[RandyP]

My tech was about to do a little more to my truck today... but... We have a big dollar hit on a truck in the shop right now, doing a frame swap even. Well the frame showed up for it this morning, so sadly he is elbow deep on that one now. We have the bed off of it and the front end off, unhooking the engine bay stuff so we can yank the drivetrain. Will probably take him a good 3 or more days to get that one done, plus tomorrow is a bunch of "put togethers" so we can send them home (and collect the $$$).

It'll get done. Just might be a little bit. I doubt I can talk him in to any weekends to be honest. I hinted around a little about it and he did not bite.
I did go ahead and get a new TBI for it. After reading up about the Holley 502-6 and then shaming O'Reilly in to price matching the Amazon.com price, I couldn't pass it up. What's another $400 at this point, right? Plus the wife won't see the bill until the end of August (had them delay bill it, wheeeeee).

And, some pictures of the frame swap. He really does have it down to a science, just takes a little time and about 3 stalls in the shop.

[spudz]

I,m surprised that truck wasnt totalled.. Around here it would have been.

[RandyP]

It was totaled. Owner retained salvage. He bought it brand new in 1999, it has 25,000 miles on it. They gave him $5,000 and he kept the truck (charged him 2k to retain). So, he figured he could not go replace the truck for $7000 and get anything remotely close to what he had. Putting a frame under it (used) and all the rest OE parts, bill is going to be about $10,000 total. Even for 10k he could not go buy something with the miles his has. And I'd just as soon make some $$$ and keep one out of the bone yard.

Normally I will really talk people out of retaining salvage, but in this case, I think the old man is right in doing what he's doing. Clean old truck, minor body damage, and a frame swap is really not all that hard to do on a regular cab 2x4.

[Jonboy]

I miss replacing frames. We used to be able to do that until about 2001. Frame = total loss now.