CK5
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79' GMC C15 - Spruce Caboose

79 GMC 1500
That's not too different than what the oil looked like coming out of my crew cab after the distributer gear pin sheared. Everyone talked me off the ledge on that one and so far it seems fine. My problem is normally don't look closely at the oil coming out so I don't really have a good measure of "normal".


We'll see how it is in 1 more change. If its still like that, then ill worry a bit or look around.. I swept my magnets through it for quite awhile and didnt pick up any sludge at all so its good. I was catching up on that thread on the weekend and saw that whole ordeal. I usually always check my oil but i almost never brake clean the drain pan first so i usuallu play the " was this in the pan or not " game for an 5 minutes and then move on
 
Got my disk/disk prop valve, finally got the brakes all buttoned up. I had a pain in the butt trying to find out what these capture nuts are for the brake hoses... They are 5/8 -18 thread 3/8 thick nuts. Had to buy ten but found them finally
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Also did a couple first light pulls with the base tune map I made. It's pretty harsh so far up to 4400rpm with the timing. I will have to get the table alot more gradual. It comes down from throttle alot nicer now though and doesn't choke and then come back up to idle. So progress is being made.


Its running at about 198F in the shop sitting still so that's good. New thermostat fixed the temp issues even though the stock ECM from Chevy is programmed to turn fans on at 220. Apparently these like to run hotter than the traditional sbc.

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well i havent checked ther oil yet, but the rods are still in the engine, but still not in my foot.. havent broughten it up past 4500 rpm ish. If i could smoke the tires off id have reason too..
 
Got the brakes all buttoned up with the jam nuts finally. Oil came out metallic again after only about 20 minutes of run time, not as bad as before buuuuut.... I'm going to assume it's still just moly lube.. even though it very well may be eating itself somewhere.. but If I get the rest of the truck done and it's just the motor, I'll be alot more motivated to fix it if it's not the motor, plus ,plus ,plus.... so on I go.
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I have calipers coming for the front and the rogue missing rear rotor is still out in neverland somewhere. Once that's done and the tires get mounted, I'll measure out a driveshaft and that should be all she needs for a test cruise around the property and look for all the stuff I forgot about.
 
The semester is over and I have a month off of school before I go back. I had sorta worked as hard as i could on the build, and then shut the door for 3 months... after a day of cleaning i could get back to it.

I cant quite afford to get some rubber for these wheels and i havent found any used tires in the 255-275/55/17 range. Covid has caused everything here on the island to get rare and tires are no exception apparently. I still have more i can do without spending money for now. I got the drivers side door hinge pins replaced and back on the doors. I will switch out the regulator next as i got the vent window out and thats all working. I never ended up selling those 73-75 nos door shells and im thinking i may use them to match the awesome wedding gift Rene is mailing me, a 74 gmc grill and head light surrounds. I got a set of oem brackets sandblasted, and coated off ebay from a shop in AZ.

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I also found a rebuild kit for the rear tailgate i forgot i had purchased before school started. The tail gate on the truck is fine but the hinge barely works and my friend who owned ths truck before me just slammed it harder until it barely worked. Cant wait to get that all sorted as well.

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I helped a friend pull a v6 vortec/nv4500 out of a chevy silverado and the guy had some bucket seats in there with some angle iron brackets. The truck was getting scrapped so i yanked them since they are in decent condition and ya cant beat free. i stuffed them in the jetta trunk and went on my way. Im going to pull the bench out while the doors off and see what mounting them will look like. I really want to have some sort of a consol in the middle with cup holders and room to hide a stereo as im not cutting up the OE dash and radio.PXL_20210731_172741673.jpg

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I also finally think i found my parasitic loss and then righty tighty turned into right loosey and now i need a new starter.. I was hoping i could just replace the one piece but it doesnt appear so yet..

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Got the new starter on today and wired up. Works good. Got the brake booster installed. I have a soft pedal but the pedal is returning now so that's a win, and the softness is due to leaks and needing to be bled again I'd think. I have a small leak at the prop valve ect..

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I also got to see what psi this system is running. Turns out to be about 74 psi at the rail... Way to much.. turns out after doing some digging. Aeromotive has a disclaimer saying any pumps over 250 GPH will be too much pressure for a stock style regulator/filter combo. So I ordered up the original plan... Which was the more expensive , but now cheaper option in the first place.. damn tuition! I ordered up a pressure regulator, gauge, and canister style filter that I'll Mount inline before the regulator.
After seeing that even some of the 50-60 dollar fuel filters are just a single mesh 50 micron screen.. I decided to go with an aeromotive canister style 10 micron fabric filter.

Im not sure if that might have done any damage to the injectors, but ill do some diggin into what damage that could do, if any besides a rough running motor. Itll be interesting to see what parameters the ECU will give me with 14 psi less fuel pressure.





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I also found two tires online , like new. So my tire hunt is halfway down. I saved enough on those tires to justify the 300 dollar fuel system upgrades...or whatever haha.


275/55/17 is the size I'm hoping for or wider on the rear but I want 4 the same.
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I also found the .5 amp draw that was haunting me. The original GMC set up had three wires coming off the starter I believe. Two to the alternator and one to the junction block. I had wired the extra alternator wire that was no longer needed inline with the resistor, instead of the brown wire 12v. I also then nuked the A side of my voltmeter by forgetting I was on amps, and touching my battery posts... So either way I got zero amp draw now!

Cleaned up some wiring also now that every has its place. Sorta.. new a new battery too because apparently this one is shit? Oh well.


Took the bucket seats off the scabbed frames the PO had made. And tossed them in there to mock them up. Shouldn't be too bad. Just hard enough I don't know how to do it, but not so hard it'll take me a year.. I'm hoping by Christmas but who knows.


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Still trying to find two tires but I think I'm gonna bite the bullet n buy two and get these mounted at the same time. Once I drop this thing down, I'll get an idea of where it sits since I haven't had the rear lowered on its own weight with the lighter leaf, and drop kit installed .


And no i don't plan on having the tires stick out that far... Ffs ... Not that there's anything wrong with that.. ha

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Renting my shop out during school to help make money but it help this is what the guys working on. I'm not saying I chose him because of this but i also chose him because of this.

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This was an Alberta truck brought to the island here in BC. Buddy paid 15k for it which is fair honest price ( not like so much of the stuff I see )

It has had a repaint in its life. Rust free box and just needed two front patches. Mild built 350. Beyond my advice ... he cut the frame and sold the box. And is made it a shortbox lol.

Nice truck though.
 
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Well the fuel filter showed up... Probably should have hunted for dimensions from the website... It sucks it's so big.. seems very well made though and apparently will flow 1500lbs/hour with only 1psi drop..

Overkill, but nice to get your money's worth


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I was thinking it would be of a size that I could mount it onto the firewall with the regulator.. scratch that plan.
 
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