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1989 Crew Cab Tow Rig Build

Overview Gallery Discussion
82355 said:
I forget, did you not pull it out of a running truck?

Martin
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Yes it was pulled from a running truck, but sat for at least two years without running...I've read a few guys who said they only let theirs sit for 6 months and their injectors clogged up too. Pretty common I guess

JoshHefnerX said:
Oh shit!! Woohoo! Sounds pretty badass for not being 'complete'.

:woot::burnout:
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It sounds so good in real life (speaker on my phone isn't that good.)
 
This feels like the end of a "b" movie. Has lots of good things going for it, but still kinda sucks ('cause the thing wouldn't run). But now it will!!!!

The main character has reached sweet, sweet, redemption. All is well.
 
Justin V said:
This feels like the end of a "b" movie. Has lots of good things going for it, but still kinda sucks ('cause the thing wouldn't run). But now it will!!!!

The main character has reached sweet, sweet, redemption. All is well.
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Weird analogy...but I understood it so it was successful :)
 
Kay86K5 said:
Ending up finding that my "new" crank sensor I installed on the motor before even doing the swap was not working properly and giving erratic signals to the computer. So I replaced it with another new sensor I had (BTW, I've read over and over again guys say you can't change the crank sensor on an 8.1 when swapped into a square body...I'm here to tell everyone that's bull crap cause I did it in about 10 min just fine). Once we had that working correctly it still didn't want to fire, but after some more searching we found my injectors to be complete crap and clogged like crazy. In this video we were just manually keeping it running with starting fluid in the TB, but now we know for certain I just need to replace the injectors and we are good to go.

So I had a few weird things going on, but man was this a monumental moment to hear this thing run (even if it was being done manually). Plan is this week to replace the injectors and finally get this thing of my poor trailer, haha
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Cool! Glad you guys got it figured out. That is good to know about the crank sensor! By looking at the crank sensors when nestled in a squarebody engine bay it sure doesn’t look like it would come out. Hell, the crank sensors are hell to replace on a GMT800 truck. Glad you found that is bull crap! Funny, the 8.1L I dropped in to my Suburban had the same injector issues as the engine had sat so long and the injectors were gummed up. When I pulled the injectors off the rail the varnished gasoline was green as antifreeze.

If you still need injectors there is a company on Ebay that sells take off 8.1L fuel rails with injectors for around $150. These were returnless fuel rails removed from new engines back when they were new for Propane conversions so they have been sitting around a long time, but it looks like they cleaned them pretty well before going into storage. Even though they are returnless fuel rails the injectors are the same part number if you are using the return type fuel rail. The Ebay seller is sae-auto out of Redford, MI. HERE is a link to a current auction. You can buy all 8 injectors for the cost of 1 new one.


Kay86K5 said:
Glad it has helped, that's what it's all about. Larry has given some great info...there was some stuff I couldn't find good info on throughout the web, so I've tried to include those details in this thread to help others out. If you have any questions, let me know and I can try to help
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Let me know what you found that we may want to add to the 8.1L resource thread. We want that to be the most accurate 8.1L information thread around. If you found any errors or missing things let me know.
 
Larry said:
Cool! Glad you guys got it figured out. That is good to know about the crank sensor! By looking at the crank sensors when nestled in a squarebody engine bay it sure doesn’t look like it would come out. Hell, the crank sensors are hell to replace on a GMT800 truck. Glad you found that is bull crap! Funny, the 8.1L I dropped in to my Suburban had the same injector issues as the engine had sat so long and the injectors were gummed up. When I pulled the injectors off the rail the varnished gasoline was green as antifreeze.

If you still need injectors there is a company on Ebay that sells take off 8.1L fuel rails with injectors for around $150. These were returnless fuel rails removed from new engines back when they were new for Propane conversions so they have been sitting around a long time, but it looks like they cleaned them pretty well before going into storage. Even though they are returnless fuel rails the injectors are the same part number if you are using the return type fuel rail. The Ebay seller is sae-auto out of Redford, MI. HERE is a link to a current auction. You can buy all 8 injectors for the cost of 1 new one.




Let me know what you found that we may want to add to the 8.1L resource thread. We want that to be the most accurate 8.1L information thread around. If you found any errors or missing things let me know.
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I actually talked to Alex yesterday over the phone and he was mentioning that ebay guy you bought yours from. I ended up going with another ebay guy who sells brand new ones for a really good deal considering. My brother bought these same ones last year to throw on his 6.0 (he built his 6.0 up and needed more fuel) and they have worked fantastic the whole time, so I ended up buying those...but may be worth getting some extra's to have around...thanks for the link!

I'll go back and look at any small details and I'll let you know for the 8.1L resource thread....most everything that is really important I think is already on it...but there may be some really small detailed stuff that we can add...I'll let you know
 
Did some work on this thing...picked up some N-Fab steps so the kids and wife can get up in it easier





And I also installed an EZ inch in the rear just to get the rear up a little bit. Ever sense I put the lift on, it sits just a tad higher in the front. And I knew when I put a load on it, it would squat a bit, so wanted to get a little bit of a front rake to it



I also picked up a new front bumper from RLC Weld & Fab. Was the look I was going for on the bumper and was an awesome price all things considered





Painted and installed with some new LED lights that I picked up for a great price (I picked up another set for my blazer too)





 
I know its only subtle, but the overall stance is much better now. Should be better once there is a load on it too







I will eventually get a rear bumper of the same style and throw it on this thing too. I haven't decided on what winch to put on this, but at some point I'll pick one up to throw on it.

We are under contract to buy a home up here that I'm pretty excited about cause it has a shop and some land...so after all that happens it will be back to work on this getting the motor all figured out, get some paint on this thing, and start using it
 
You should definitley get a rear bumper to match the front. Looks good regardless.
 
JoshHefnerX said:
Looks awesome dude! How's it running / driving?
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Well, the motor starting thing has been more of an adventure since I posted that video. I ended up getting some new injectors and tossed those in, and at the same time I double checked that my fuel rail was flowing really good (made a damn mess when doing that, haha) and did confirm that the injectors are getting a pulse while cranking which they are, however, still not wanting to start. But now, for the first time, I'm starting to get a code from the computer for weak crank sensor performance (never had this code before)...so it's at least good that I'm getting this now, but I have truly narrowed it down to crank sensor problems of some kind. What I think is happening is right when I crank it over, it tries to fire, but immediately the weak crank sensor code gets thrown, so the computer shuts off fuel to shut the motor down. When we took the video, like I said we were manually pooring fuel down the throttle body. I think this issue was going on when we did that, but since we were dumping fuel into it, even though the computer was trying to shut fuel down, since there was still fuel being dumped in, it was overriding the system and continuing to run.

So I really need to figure out whats going on with the crank sensor. I'm on my 3rd brand new sensor, so I don't think its the sensor itself. Need to double check that the ground/power to the sensor is good (most effective is with Josh's scope tool), and at that point I'm not sure....was thinking the reluctor wheel could have a problem, but I kinda doubt it, or possibly my ECM is just jacked up (Josh says he has a different ECM we can throw at it to see what that does). It's really, really, really getting annoying

mrk5 said:
You should definitley get a rear bumper to match the front. Looks good regardless.
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Yeah, now that the front one is on, the rear looks like crap, haha. Eventually I'll get one on. Trying to decide which one to go with...I like the DIY4x gauntlet one, but we will see what I do.
 
But, like I mentioned, we just went under contract to purchase a home up here in ID, which I'm pretty excited about...pretty nice home, some acreage, and already has a fully insulated shop with 220 and a wood burning stove in it :smokin2:...so will be a bit busy for a while getting that done and moving in, but any time I'm not doing that, it will be doing anything and everything I can possible to figure out what's the issue with the crank sensor on this thing
 
Thought you had it running.. sounds like it's not the crank sensor if you're on your 3rd... How hard is it to screw up those reluctor wheels?
 
JoshHefnerX said:
Thought you had it running.. sounds like it's not the crank sensor if you're on your 3rd... How hard is it to screw up those reluctor wheels?
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We were only able to get it running by poring fuel down the TB...but by doing that it gave us more info on what was going on. It's pretty hard to screw one of those reluctor wheels up. It's attached to the back of the cam. The only thing I was thinking is maybe the little notches on the wheel were gummed up from sitting for so long, so its giving a bad reading to the computer...but I'm thinking that is highly unlikely. I was able to talk to the guy who I purchased the motor from (as this motor came from his dad's truck he bought brand new that he wrecked) and asked him some questions about it. After talking with him, I don't think its really the reluctor wheel as he said even after the wreck, he started the truck up to get it out of the impound and put it up on his trailer to take home and pull the motor...and he said it was running 100% normal when they did that. And he never tore this motor down at all, just cleaned up and let it sit in his garage until he sold it to me. That's why I'm thinking maybe still a ground/power issue, or possibly my ECM is just jacked up too somehow...we will see

Truckman4life said:
Congrats on the house. Glad you found a good one with a shop and acreage.
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yeah, we are really excited about it...and got a great deal on it too...especially when comparing to CO from where we just moved...LOTS cheaper, haha
 
JoshHefnerX said:
You've been through the wiring harness several times - and even sent it back once correct?
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Yep...howell went through it about 3 times and said it all was correct...and Josh went through it too and said it was good
 
We had a similar problem recently at work with an impala. Ended up being some rust build up where the crank sensor mounts holding it away from the reluctor wheel just far enough to not read. So check that real well, maybe try to get a look at it with a mirror to make sure it's seated all the way.

Also with as much testing that you've done make sure none of the terminals in the connector are stretched causing a poor connection.
 
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