Henry - 1984 C10

[aggie91]

Great progress yesterday with some swearing, deep thinking and hard work. I got home from work, Korbin had just gotten home before me and got the garage opened up and was making a snack. We discussed what to work on first and we dug in. He started on converter bolts and I started on PCM wiring. After a bit of head scratching on why the engine would not turn over he got the bolts in and moved on to the shift linkage. Korbin worked under the truck to button up those open issues and I stayed top side on the wiring. Once Owen got home from football, we kept at it. Finally around 11:30pm we fired it up. All the wiring was good and the fluids topped off so that we could get it on a trailer to the muffler shop this morning. Still a lot of work to be done, before Monday, but it runs and will have new dual exhaust later today.

Pictures are from this morning as I dropped it off at the muffler shop. As you can see in the engine bay, there is still many things to be done.

[SCOTI]

Nice progress! Chipping away still gets it done.

[LT7A]

That's a great picture of the brothers working together. I have some times like that with my brothers, but no pictures. No cell phones at the time, and our folks weren't inclined to come out and see what we're doing where they might have snapped a photo. Time goes by fast, and those guys will be looking back soon and they'll be twice the ages they are now. As a dad you got to be proud.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by LT7A

That's a great picture of the brothers working together. I have some times like that with my brothers, but no pictures. No cell phones at the time, and our folks weren't inclined to come out and see what we're doing where they might have snapped a photo. Time goes by fast, and those guys will be looking back soon and they'll be twice the ages they are now. As a dad you got to be proud.

Well said.

[aggie91]

Thanks, I am proud of how they work together. I told Owen that he wanted Korbin's help, he had to ask for it, I was not going to do it.

Well, got the truck back from the muffler shop on Friday and its been somewhat good and bad since then. They did a good job and I got what I asked for them to do. I wish a few details where different, but this is a street truck not a show truck. Sounds good and it is quiet at idle.

Got it home and finished up the few items to take it for a test drive. That did not go well. Found a bad sensor, we have a water leak and the drive line angles are out of wack. Got the sensor replaced, wires cleaned up, and the drive line angle corrected. Still has an issue what we think is now the programming in the PCM. We are in the process of removing the VATS and adjusting for gear ratio and tire size on another PCM that has a stock tune for a 5.3/4l60e combo. We decided to get back to a basic set up and then work from there.

Stay tuned, more to come.

[aggie91]

Well after working on this thing and not making any headway other than thinking I repaired the water leak, I was frustrated and took it to Nathan at a local shop, East Texas Street machines that does LS Swaps and has more experience with the software side of this than I do.

Nathan found a few issues with the tune and fixed those but also found a misfire issue that has to do with #1 & 5 injectors. I picked it up to swap injectors and figure out the injector circuitry trouble code. Other than that, it runs and shifts fine now.

I have another water leak, looks like a pump gasket on the other side in the new gasket that I just put in...

More to come...

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Well after working on this thing and not making any headway other than thinking I repaired the water leak, I was frustrated and took it to Nathan at a local shop, East Texas Street machines that does LS Swaps and has more experience with the software side of this than I do.

Nathan found a few issues with the tune and fixed those but also found a misfire issue that has to do with #1 & 5 injectors. I picked it up to swap injectors and figure out the injector circuitry trouble code. Other than that, it runs and shifts fine now.

I have another water leak, looks like a pump gasket on the other side in the new gasket that I just put in...

More to come...

My friends would call this ScotLuck…..

[aggie91]

Yeah Scot, I feel you on this one. I think this truck has become a symbol for Murphy's Law here lately.

I looked with a flash light more around the area I see the drip, now I am not sure it is the gasket area. I will need to get under it and see if I can find the source of the leak before tearing into it. My goal is to get it repaired, figure out the misfire issue and make it to C10sITP in two weeks.

[aggie91]

Well, I spent some time on this thing and was able to fix the P0200 code, turns out the connector in the harness for the #1 and #3 injectors had bad crimps on the wires. I replaced the connectors and cleaned up the wiring to the MAF and it runs great now. Moved on to the water leak, it ended up being a bad water pump. Replaced that and new gaskets and all is good. Drove it a little yesterday with Korbin and did some data logging and it all looks good. It won't go to 100% throttle opening, but for now that is a good thing for Owen, its my own built in speed limiter..

Now, a few more clean up items then a good bath for this thing and it will be C10's in the Park ready! I drove it to work today to see it highway manners and I am very pleased with how this has turned out. 80mph on the interstate is 21% throttle and 1940ish RPM. This is going to be a great cruiser once we have the AC back in, the power windows functioning correctly and add in cruise control!

[aggie91]

I would like y'alls opinion on something...

I have a new front bumper coming as this one is tweaked on both sides...

Should we leave the bumper guards or take them off?

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by aggie91

I would like y'alls opinion on something...

I have a new front bumper coming as this one is tweaked on both sides...

Should we leave the bumper guards or take them off?

I'm not a fan of them except on HD trucks.

[nlped]

I’m not a fan of the bumper guards either.

[aggie91]

A little work happened over the weekend on Henry. Still trying to trouble shoot the power windows. I ordered a new window lift motor, should receive it today.

So while that task is on hold, we switched to the grille and front bumper.

Got the china grille outfitted with the OE trim and emblem and installed it along with new headlight bezels. Big improvement. The china grille is not "correct" but for a daily driver for an 18 year old it is perfect.

Painted the back of the new front bumper with a satin black and painted the brackets too. Cleaned up the factory bolts and will reinstall the bumper tonight.

[aggie91]

Finished Henry’s nose job yesterday. New bumper in place. Looks good to me.

Tonight, in the rain, I worked on the power window issues. I ended up removing the splice kit for express down I got from a vendor on here and wired back in the factory wiring for the switches. Well low and behold the damn windows work like they should. For now, I’ll leave well enough alone and get the door panels fixed up and reinstalled.

If it stops raining, we’ll get the truck cleaned up before leaving for football. Plan is to be at C10’s in the Park Saturday morning!

[aggie91]

Owen has been driving the truck everyday for since C10's in the Park. I have gotten to drive it once to work and once to the grocery store. This thing is nice to drive. By far the best one we have done so far as a driver.

Owen and Korbin did a little maintenance on it yesterday. I had noticed a gas smell around the truck after Owen had come home from school one evening. Owen did some investigation and found a leak around one of the injectors. They pulled it apart and the oring at the rail connection of the injector had a small cut. Swapped in another good oring and no more leak. That should take care of the smell and also might be a reason for the poor fuel mileage...

Anyway, This has been a great truck since the swap and next on the list is the seat and interior to hopefully have done by LST.

[jkeating1]

Great experience for a young man, diagnosing and repairing his own vehicle.

Are you still working on the LST challenge truck?

[rodstored-72]

Karl, as always the truck and stories are good. I was wondering if you would share what you guys decided to do related to cooling; radiator fans ETC? I am running a 4.8 (all stock) I am not sure if a HD 2 core radi. and cooling fans would be enough for the newer motor combined with our heat here in the desert??

thanks

P.S. I am with ya on the whole crawling around at 51 yrs. thing... I am also 51 and I told my wife the other day that this feels different (harder) than it did 8 yrs ago when I built my yellow '72!

[Low Elco]

Glad to see you and the boys are still kickin' Karl! anything going on the 65?

[aggie91]

Originally Posted by jkeating1

Great experience for a young man, diagnosing and repairing his own vehicle.

Are you still working on the LST challenge truck?

The '65 is back on the back burner. The LS that I had swapped into it, is the exact same one we put in Henry. I have to finish a bathroom remodel and clean up my carport. I have been doing the bathroom for almost a year now after I moved into this house after my divorce. I have a '75 that I might throw together real quick for LST 2020 if I get the bathroom finished in the next few weeks.

[aggie91]

Originally Posted by rodstored-72

Karl, as always the truck and stories are good. I was wondering if you would share what you guys decided to do related to cooling; radiator fans ETC? I am running a 4.8 (all stock) I am not sure if a HD 2 core radi. and cooling fans would be enough for the newer motor combined with our heat here in the desert??

thanks

P.S. I am with ya on the whole crawling around at 51 yrs. thing... I am also 51 and I told my wife the other day that this feels different (harder) than it did 8 yrs ago when I built my yellow '72!

We used a Spectra Premium CU730 radiator and the stock 5.3 mechanical fan. We have a tough time getting it to get hot, runs right at 180-190 all the time.

[aggie91]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Glad to see you and the boys are still kickin' Karl! anything going on the 65?

Thanks! See above response to jkeating1.

I'll get to it soon, I hope...

[rodstored-72]

Karl,
thanks for the reply, so if I understand right that radiator is roughly 37.5 inches wide and the truck's radi. core opening is roughly 28-29 inches? so the spectra radi. has abour 4-5 inches (each side) that is not getting air because of the radi. support opening size?
i ask this because I currently just mounted a 2013 4.8 with 4L60 in my '86 and a friend was concerned that my idea to run a BB 2 core radi. and elec. fans would not be "suffecient" to cool the newer motor???

thoughts??

thank you again for your time....

[aggie91]

Originally Posted by rodstored-72

Karl,
thanks for the reply, so if I understand right that radiator is roughly 37.5 inches wide and the truck's radi. core opening is roughly 28-29 inches? so the spectra radi. has abour 4-5 inches (each side) that is not getting air because of the radi. support opening size?
i ask this because I currently just mounted a 2013 4.8 with 4L60 in my '86 and a friend was concerned that my idea to run a BB 2 core radi. and elec. fans would not be "suffecient" to cool the newer motor???

thoughts??

thank you again for your time....

On this '84, the opening in the core support is wide enough that the entire core is exposed to the air flow. The CU730 has a 28-3/8 in. x 20-1/4 in. x 2-1/4 in. Core. This radiator is the replacement for the OE HD cooling radiator for the BBC.

Are you working on a '72 model? The core support opening could be different. The Spectra Premium CU369 (replacement BBC radiator) would be a bolt in for that model and has a core size of 28-3/8 x 16-7/8 x 1-3/4.

[rodstored-72]

karl,
thanks for the reply, I will probably go with your setup as well (spectra CU730)… the truck is a 1986 2wd swb plain "Silverado". I recently mounted the 2013 4.8/4l60 using dirty dingo mounts. I initially thought to run a 2013 radi., but that was when my cohorts looked at the measurements and started thinking that a '86 radi might not be enough cooling... BTW I do have a build thread on here if interested in "reviewing it" and giving any insight as well...

thanks!!

thanks again!!

[melks]

Very nice!