My 88 Silverado
 

The First picture is the truck back in 2006, had the truck painted "professionally" and got a barely passable paint job. Non the less I love my truck and in this thread I'll go about sharing some pics and builds on my truck. Comments and suggestions would be appreciated. :chevy:

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

The SS bowtie was the first thing I changed.

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

I like them wheels got a set outside in 14 inch version for gm cars and s-10's.

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

i love em my dad bought them for me a long time ago, although I am going to put the stock rims back on, maybe paint them black, with the chrome beauty ring

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

aaww man no way I'd leave them on it for sure, if anything strip em, sand em, and polish em.

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

we'll see what happens, hopefully i make the garage room to bring the truck and work on it here

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Been a while since I've done anything to the truck but I'm slowly getting it done lol. I had a transmission leak and a oil leak, have no clue where the oil leaks coming from yet, but i found the transmission pan had a missing bolt, I replaced the bolt that was missing and so far no more trans leak, i did find that most of the tranny bolts were loose so i tightened them a bit. i found this crack and missing bolt, dont know if this is bad, anyone got any input.

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

that's your flexplate/flywheel dust cover and uses a bolt to hold it on. I don't see it being a big deal unless it rubs or something.

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Thanks Chris, no rubbing its just cracked and missing a screw there, by any chance do you know the size?

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

sure don't, I saw it online once but I forget what it was.

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

HEX (1/4-20X1/2) I believe thats the size for it. Thats what the GM EPC is telling me.

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Thanks 75ChevyGuy! I should be heading to autozone soon and buy a couple of them.
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Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Was that the right size for you?

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Yes it was, thanks 75chev, now a piece of mind my cover won't fly off and hit some motorist lol. Update: well I posted this in another thread but here it goes, my wife and I had problems with the stereo speakers, had to bang on the dash and the rear pillar to get some speakers to work... As annoyed we were, I decided to gut the radio and left everything hanging, my wife soldered and "harnessed" all the connections. We had some of that red wire loom you can find at autozone and decided to tape it on the wires, similar to what the stock tail lights look, making sure no wire is pinched or nicked when sliding the stereo in, I'll post some pics of it when I transfer the pics from the camera. Wife was in a soldering mood, so she also soldered my rear driver tail light harness, had to buy a junkyard comnector, the ground wire was cut close to the plug. Now my stereo sounds like new! All I need now is to put a fuse on my amp and get a proper battery terminal for the amp, its disconnected as I type to "save battery". I also had a horn problem thanks to my grant wheel. The shoulder bolts that hold the horn stripped or something... Now i need to find out ehat size they are to reinstall the horn button, that will be on for decoration since i installed a horn bypass button. Now I need to learn how to read a multi-meter and find a little nasty electrical gremlin... Lol some update :p
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Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Pretty cool little rig! We all love interior and motor pics, post em up. I've always like the split headlight trucks.

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Any updates on this project?

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

hey guys, i hope everyones thanksgiving went well! had some problems with my internet service, but im back up, some updates to the truck have been new stock taillight housings, bulbs and circuit boards fixed the front passenger headlight that went out.

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Hey guys heres one of my engine bay. the chrome trim was lifting and tearing on the top part of the grille. i was thinking about getting a paintable one and paint it black. i would like to paint the air filter canister with some rustoleum and paint some of the engine bay.
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/PA158965.jpg

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Took the truck to a friend of my dads to install the aftermarket radio back in the early 90's i think. well a friend and i had messed around with it after to install a new one but we didnt know what we had done and "patched it up" as best we could. Well I had mentioned before my wife soldered all the radio connections, and here are a few before and after shots:

Before:

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...PA108812-1.jpg
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...PA108813-1.jpg

After:
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...PA108819-1.jpg
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...PA108823-1.jpg
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...PA108829-1.jpg
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...PA108842-1.jpg
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...PA108846-1.jpg

The radio has worked perfectly since after getting the wires soldered.
I also installed an RCA AUX cable(not pictured yet) for the old pioneer to work with my iPhone 3g(glorified ipod).
In the current sub setup(wired just not powered), I have 2 10in polk audio subs(not sure on model) and a 1000 watt jensen amp. The reason its not powered is because the amp wiring i have is 10awg(had a 300watt before) and the fuse thats close to the battery is missing. i was going to upgrade the amp wiring to power the 1000watt. anyone have experience with sub amps and wiring? lol id like not to mess up the trucks electrical system due to lack of information or improper installation, cant trust the best buy here in my city... they do horrible jobs :|

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Looks great , a few links of heat shrink slid on before the excellent solder job would have worked also .

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Thanks hotrod, we kinda did this last minute, that was her first time soldering anything :) we tried it because there was a parasitic short somewhere and i had assumed it was the nasty patch job i did with the radio. we noticed the reverse light wouldnt light up on the driver side and the battery seemed to drain within 2 days, and found the tail light connector ground wire severed and exposed(as if it were to be yanked but most likely it was melted by the triple digit heat here in texas). so we went to the junk yard and found the connector with pigtails and we soldered the new tail connector. Luckily that seemed to stop the parasitic drain, must have been making contact with all those bumps on the roads.

Edit: We were thinking about upgrading the radio receiver to a newer one, wife liked the idea of heat shrinking the new soldered connectors for the new headunit. She said it would be a more professional install and make it a permanent addon.

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

All my outside and exposed solder joints get a spot of dielectric grease before heating the heat shrink and squeezing it out to prevent corrsion . Nice build .

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

thanks for the tips. i should do that to all my exposed cables. i know the electric tape will melt off eventually. i really wanna keep it as professional and thats a tip that ill be trying soon :D thanks again

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

well its been a while since ive posted in the forum or really done anything to the truck. still need to prioritize on what needs to be done to the truck. i had mentioned i was going to buy an amp kit for the truck and i went ahead and did that. its a "4 gauge" wire but looks more like an 8 to me... lol well it should be enough for the subs, i dont have hardcore subs or a competition amp that requires alot of power. im just waiting for the rain to stop so i can bring it in and start working on it. i had bought some red wire loom for the truck and used it when my wife and i soldered the radio harness to make our own shielded harness. i wanted to replace most of the looms in the engine bay cause the majority of them looked toasted and broken hehe. hopefully i can get some pics up soon of the progress ill be making.

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

also forgot to mention, i need to buy primer and black paint(or maybe black primer) to fix my hook, the paint stripped off and its bare metal is exposed, already has a tiny rust spot, i need to sand it off before it spreads, anyone know what kinda grit to use in preping it?

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

LOL totally forgot to mention, had problems with my tail lights, so i bought new taillight housings with circuit board and bulbs for 55 bucks on ebay. heres the lights already installed on the truck.
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/0aca2394.jpg
heres a pic of my engine bay. needs alot of tender loving care, but slowly its getting there :), anyone got suggestions on where to start with this enigma :p
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...y/PA158931.jpg

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Heres one of the trucks taillights at night, i need to take better pics, but its what i had at the time :)
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/3f4ccacc.jpg

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Recent Updates:

Feb 27 2012.
My wife Liz and I parked the truck under the garage port and cleaned it out. She washed all the floor mats then swept the cabin carpet with a hand brush. I dusted the dash, doors, rear window with a fabric duster. We dusted and organized behind the bench.

Feb 28 2012.
Inflated all of our vehicles tires with a small compressor. Cleaned my trucks glove box, wiped it down and took some pictures of the parts sticker, lol I took the pics cause you never know when you're gonna need it :). Removed A/C blower motor and cleaned it with a rag and wet towel, it looked pretty clean, just dusty. Cleaned out the core? lol there was some leaves and other stuff in there that needed clearing, haven't tried the a/c yet I hope it made a difference. With the air compressor i dusted the ac vents, dash, behind the dash, doors, bench, and a lot of nooks and crannies. I also emptied out my glove box from any old receipts and junk papers.

Feb 29 2012.
Removed the driver side door sill protector to clean it and to install the amp wire. I replaced the sound system wiring with 4 gauge(looks like 8 gauge) and fine tuned the head unit. I also installed a small black split loom that came with the amp kit. After fine tuning the radio, i took pictures of the settings and uploaded them to photobucket, cause it sounded awesome...... lol and usually the battery gets removed or something happens that I lose the settings :(. I cleaned behind and under the sub box, and reorganized a lot of the stuff that was there.

Mar 1 2012.
There was a missing screw on the heater core cover (I think that's what its called lol) so I replaced it. I have a small center console that Liz bought me on the transmission hump, so I decided to remove it, empty it and washed it, and dried it. Took pics of the trucks interior.
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...1000000860.jpg

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...1000000859.jpg

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...1000000855.jpg
This isnt a recent picture of the engine bay, need to get them out of the camera. sorry for the blurry pics lol. well in the engine bay i put red loom on the electrical wires(the stock one was toasted and fell apart) and on the a/c hose :p just cause lol

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Pictures: here are some of the pics I was talking about.
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...l/P2289708.jpg
This ones the mess still in the back hiding from me lol

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...l/P2289704.jpg
Super dirty kinda reminds me of clay lol

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...l/P2289715.jpg
Cleaned out sorta... Still need to clean it out some more later, i know theres more leaves in there :p

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...l/P3019762.jpg
Here's a pic of the headunit(Pioneer DEH-p7300) and the aux connector for the iphone, and the center console.

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Honestly I'd start with a rattle can on the air filter housing. It's the first thing you see when you open the hood, so making that look nice and clean will really clean it up.

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Thanks for the recomendation, is there any paint in particular that I'd need, any special high heat primer? What paint would you recommend? I was thinking a gunmetal color base and an orange lid. I have plans to paint my block chevy orange and thought a matching lid would look nice.
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Re: My 88 Silverado
 

any paint would work, reg enamel or high heat/engine enamel.

I would sand it with say 400 grit wet, make it smooth and perfect all over, wipe down with grease and wax remover, then paint. Any bare metal you should hit with self etch primer first, let dry and wet sand it with 400 or 600 grit.

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Thanks Chris,Should I spray a clear coat over the paint and should I wet sand it also? Sorry bout the newbish questions.
Quick update:
I bought a fuse cover in charcoal for the truck, waiting for delivery :)
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Re: My 88 Silverado
 

you can but you don't have to.

As for wetsanding after paint, only if you are going to buff it. As for paint, then wet sand then clear, yes. wetsand after it's had alot of time to dry, I saw a week or so in the 60's or higher, then wetsand and wipe down again, then clear it.

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

thanks chris, it will definitely be on one of the top things to do. I need to do a tune up and oil change, possibly a coolant flush :( lol

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Mini update:
Got the charcoal fuse cover in the mail today, installed it and looks better lol :) I'll post pics when I get on the computer :) also going to autozone tonight to buy stuff for a tune up. I hope that ts the fuel filter that's causing my rough idle and not the fuel pressure reg. I need to find out how much oil dip sticks cost and how hard are they to install. Also, is there a cable that goes from alternator to battery? My alternators cabl goes into the power block on the firewall, and a different cable from the power block to the battery, although its connected to that little 10 gauge wire that's part of the battery cable, should I connect it to the battery with it's own terminal as opposed to having it connected to the little hang on wire? I noticed my volt gauge would bounce with the blinker, maybe it's related. Anyone have any input?
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Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Hey guys I did some searching and put up another thread asking bout the electrical issues and have gotten quite a few hits. What I'm doing is adding additional grounds and relocating some others. I did do a tune up and oil change, along with new battery cables. Got a new battery as well from autozone to allow more power flow through the new terminals. Well once the cables were replaced I noticed a significant boost of energy when starting the truck. My previous cables were 6gauge and my new ones are 2gauge... and what a difference! This seemed to take care of the rough starting, and I also added a 10gauge lead from the negative terminal to the frame and a smaller one going to the fender at the headlight ground scew. cataclysm80 mentioned he moved his HL ground to the battery tray bolt on the wheel well, so I might give it a try. After I added that extra ground cable from battery to HL ground and frame I noticed that the battery gauge wouldn't dip as far... Obviously there's a grounding issue somewhere in the truck that makes the battery gauge jump around, so I'm sure adding some extra grounds to a 23 year old wiring system couldn't hurt.*
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Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Just received these 2 bolt extenders from rockauto for $8 shipped.

http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/a...2/82eff513.jpg

I need to buy a 2 or 4 gauge cable with two eyelets and bolt it as a frame to battery ground. The neg(-) lead 10 gauge I have, I will be running to the battery bolt tray along with my headlight ground to give it a better body ground. It's been hot and humid lately; when it gets cooler I'll be working on it and posting pics as I go along.
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Re: My 88 Silverado
 

not a bad idea on them extenders, they have some at autozone and are like $6 a piece, where did you find them at rockautos site I may get some for as many accessories as I got wired into my truck.

You can do the big three upgrade, big cable from alt. to battery, big cable from battery to junction block if you have one or distribution block some call it. Big battery to frame, frame to body, engine to frame or body etc. I thought about doing this myself.

I bought 2 gauge wire from advance for like $1.88 a foot and redid my battery wires. I got a crimp tool to crimp ends on as well.

As for your wire with double ring ends, make it yourself. They have the big crimp tools on amazon cheap, you just use a hammer and beat them down. Or you can use a torch, and solder for them.

Re: My 88 Silverado
 

Hey chris, the big 3 is what I was trying to go for but lack of moneys slowin me down, so i gotta take it cable at a time lol. I got the bolt extenders by searching google and got part number (dorman 84399) to come up on rockauto. They were the last two in the clearance drop down option but they have some left for like 3-4 bucks. Here's the coupon code that worked for 5% off parts, 7EB3CCC67254. Type it without the . in the "how did you hear about us" and it'll discount the parts only.

I have a wire stripper that has a section "bat. terminal" I think... Maybe it'll work... I have 2gauge battery cables now, negative goes to front of the block, and ground strap from same block bolt to frame. The double end cable i would like to use as a battery to frame and have it be 2gauge like the battery cables. The 10gauge (-) lead I have right now is a temp batt. to frame. It'll be shortened and grounded with the stock headlight harness on the battery tray bolt. I want to buy the lead cable for my battery to junction and alternator to junction block but don't have funds for them yet. When I do I hope that all these electrical updates help the truck. The cables I have from the alternator/battery to junction block right now are probably 8gauge or so... Looks kinda puny, lol.