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'89 R3500 Crew Cab 2wd to 4wd conversion & beyond

Started out with 2wd TBI350 with SM465 to current 4wd with 454, 700r4, NP241
Overview Gallery Discussion
I've driven the pickup to work and back 3 times now. Mostly highway driving for 30 minutes each way. My observations:
  1. One difference between the Sniper and factory TBI with an automatic. The factory TBI would idle at around 750RPM in park and then drop down to around 500-600RPM in gear. The Sniper will hold the same RPM regardless of whether it's in gear or in park/neutral.
  2. The throttle return spring is pretty stiff without adding one like you would with a carb. I'm probably going to add an extension to gain a little mechanical advantage. Otherwise I'm afraid it will be hard to feather the throttle on the rocks.
  3. The Flowmaster 50 series big block muffler lives up to their claims. They say it is the quietest muffler they make and it is definitely quiet. Every stop light I'm looking at my tach to see if the truck is running. The noise does come on with throttle but not a lot. Certainly is not the drone I've had problems with on the Super40s.
I'm anxious to see how timing control will affect the idle. I'm not going to have money for that until next month tho. I'm thinking I will use Holley's dual sync distributor and put the MSD I'm running now in the '66 C20.

I am bummed tho because we were supposed to be going camping and wheeling this weekend but that has been cancelled. We've been getting rain since 4PM yesterday and isn't supposed to stop until tomorrow afternoon. The mountain area we were headed to is supposed to get anywhere from 12" to 36" of snow. I was looking forward to be being able to post some wheeling pics/vids with the new motor. :(
 
mrk5 said:
The throttle return spring is pretty stiff without adding one like you would with a carb. I'm probably going to add an extension to gain a little mechanical advantage.
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You could try adding spring the other way too, at least temporarily to gauge how light you want it to be.

We've been getting rain since 4PM yesterday and isn't supposed to stop until tomorrow afternoon. The mountain area we were headed to is supposed to get anywhere from 12" to 36" of snow. I was looking forward to be being able to post some wheeling pics/vids with the new motor. :(
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Yup, the storms have been rolling through here every few hours for the past few days too. We got an inch or 2 of snow on the valley floor (4200ft) 2 days ago. :(
 
some of the guys have modified the spring on the FiTech's, might be worth a look.
 
mrk5 said:
Same experiences? Interesting the 2 units would share that.
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Like you mentioned already, the geometry variations, cables, linkages etc. play a big role in all of this. I would think FiTech and Holly are going to cover their asses and provide a little extra return strength to make sure the throttle returns.....my $0.02.
 
Had an interesting thing happen today while driving home. I decided to turn the ARB compressor on to make sure it was still working alright after all the work that had been done. I was stopped at a light when I did this and when I accelerated away I heard a weird squealing noise. I thought it was the Sniper doing something weird but then I noticed the voltmeter reading just a touch over 12V. I knew I was running on battery only. Sure enough when I checked, the alternator belt was gone. I guess that was the noise.

At first I was thinking maybe the pulleys were misaligned, but they look lined up well enough. It occurred to me maybe the alternator seized up. It will spin but it squeaks and I don't remember it doing that before. I think I will put another belt on and see what I can figure out.
 
Actually I think I may have over tightened the belt. I levered on it pretty hard. I have a problem with over tightening; my father-in-law was just chastising me the other day for over tightening the collet on our cnc machine.

Think I'll buy one of these along with a belt.

RKR11339285352.jpg
 
Alternators typically squeak when you spin them by hand. It's the brushes if all is well. You just have to listen to them when running under a load.
I have had a bad belt do that.
 
I would just assume it's a belt issue of it wasn't for it happening right after turning on the ARB.

I did consider serpentine but I had to draw the cost line somewhere.
 
I browsed the local yard for a couple months but they didn't have any 454 rigs come in. I do know there's a company that makes a cheaper setup that uses a small block setup plus a few new components. I think it would be better to wait until we get a/c in the truck anyway.
 
No doubt. Also noticing fewer square bodies showing up in the local yard these days.

I put another belt on the alternator today and all seems well so I don't think there's a problem with the alternator. On closer examination, I do thing the water pump pulley needs to be spaced out further. Luckily I have a set of spacers to try out.
 
Hopefully you have found the problem.
My son got a water pump for his that the flange wasn't on far enough. It could be a problem these days of not getting things right for the old stuff.
 
I also had to buy new water pump pulley and crank pulley and they ended up being different brand; ACDelco on the water pump and Transdapt on the crank. The power steering pulley is factory and the alternator pulley is Powermaster. So that might contribute as well.
 
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