My next vehicles
One night I was in a big empty parking lot
in my 78. So I think to myself, "a burnout is in order here" and
away I go. For all of about 3 seconds when I hear a clang and the engine
sputters to a stop. Turns out the key on the crank snout sheered off and
bent 11 valves. So a new, cheap car was needed while the 78 was getting
rebuilt to a new, more powerfull version. I bought my friends moms 84
buick LeSabre for $1000. 135,000 mile olds 307, that thing was a dog! But
it did have the comfiest seats in any car, ever. Had that for about 4
months before I was offerd the chance to buy my friends parents caddilac.
Sold the buick for $1500 :-) Paid $1500 for the 87 caddilac, again with a
olds 307. At least it had a roller cam this time. Extremly smooth. Only
84,000 miles too. Only problem was it dumped coolant as soon as it warmed
up. I said nothing and drove 7 houses down to my house, bypassed the
heater core and drove it like that ever since. After selling that after
about 7-8 months at 103,000 miles [again at $1500] I also got a loan for
$3500 and went shoping! THE
TRUCKFirst thing I picked
up was a 1979 chevy c10 silvarado, 2wd [of course] with a tired 350, th350
tranny, and some minor body damage for $1600. Great start for a project
truck. Next was the sterio and alarm. Cd head unit, component set of
KICKER 6.5" and 1" tweeters, 12" sub and 5 channel amp. Had
some custom kick panels built. Also bought and installed a Black Widow
alarm system. Sterio was bumping, now I needed some reliability and power.
Purchased a brand new 99 vortec 350 from ebay. Vortec heads, roller cam
and 300hp stock. This fit the bill perfectly. Added a edelbrock performer
RPM intake and carter AFB 600cfm carb. Since the new engine couldn't use a
mechanical fuel pump without a cam change I also installed a carter
electric fuel pump. I bought some 2" ramhorn manifolds and a pair of
2.5" catco convertors and installed them along with 2.5" dual
pipes. The 40 series flowmaster mufflers are in the mail. I added a
aftermarket oil pressure gauge since the trucks origianl one dosen't work
and a tach. I purchased some Eibach 2" progressive rate drop springs
from a friend and installed them.
pictures of
my other vehicles
I was about to order the drop spindles and
flip kit along with the new lower profile tires when it happened. I was
driving down a twisting road in the accord when I came onto a turn much
too quickly. With no road signs to warn me of the turn I had no chance.
The car ended up on its side, off the road. It was totaled. Insurence
coverd most of the costs but I gave my mom my last $1000. So now Im back
to saving up. and yes if you've done the math I have a full kick'n sterio,
alarm, new vortec 350, drop springs, fuel pump, alternator, intake and
truck for a little less then $3500. NICE!
UPDATE:
Its october 17th, 2002. I just got smokin deal at the bank. Lowerd my payments and got another $3000 cash. Sweet! I started spending as soon as possable. First things I bought were a 78amp alternator [the 78 needed a new one so the just bought a couple months ago stock alternator on the 79 got transferd to the 78] new motor mounts, and wiper blades. I also orderd a 2004R overdrive automatic from bowtie overdrives [www.700r4.com] This is one SWEET tranny. I orderd the stage 2 tranny for $1020. It is supposed to take up to 550hp. With only 300hp on tap, this should last me a long time. And with a .67 overdrive, Im droping about 1000rpm on the freeway [from 3k at 70mph to 2050rpm] I also orderd a 2200rpm lockup convertor, tranny temp gauge, pressure gauge, and lockup kit. Within the week Ill have my 3" drop spindles, flip kit and c-notch, shock extenders, drop shocks and 255/60R15 tires. Im looking for a new bed and front clip, then Im going to sand and primer the truck. Last but not least Im fixing the heater and A/C. Things are really coming together on this thing! All I need now to finish it are the paint job, a 3/4ton front sway bar, new interior, 2.5" ramhorns, the cowl induction hood, a hard tannou cover, and the rest of the sterio. Im changing the setup some. Im added a 2nd 12" sub and putting both 12's in a ported box behind the seat. Then Im adding two 8" mid-bass subs in the doors. Im also going to add 6x9's in the bottem of the doors, and another amp. Can we say LOUD?!?!?
December 4, 2002:
As usual the plan comes apart as soon as combat is encounterd. Total for the 2004R setup was $1500. While installing the tranny, the cross member had to be moved back. It sat on top of the cat convertors and could not be bolted down. So back to the muffler shop it went to have the cat convertors moved. Tires are coming this christmas, abiet in the 245/60/15 size. The drop kit is waiting on the new tires before it can be installed. The bigger sterio is on hold, for who knows how long. The new front end and bed cannot be bought do to the fact I lost $700 in a buisness deal gone bad. They will come with time. Im building a custom gauge pod to hold the tach, oil pressure and tranny temp gauges. Im also thinking about rebuilding the QJET that was on the truck originally and putting it back on in search of better gas milage. Ill have to see how the milage is with the 2004R. turns out my 50mph cruise RPM is 1377rpm, with a little over 2000@80mph. Sweet.
January 11th, 2003:
Well, hasent my truck been fun lately. Turns out the flexplate was way cracked. Had to remove tranny and install new one. This ends up taking 1.5 months. Only a hour a day to work [if that], no help, 10 days in NY, it added up. In the time I never touched the engine. I finish with the tranny re-install, fire it up and am promply dismayed. The engine shakes like a deisel, wont rev up, wont idle. I cant believe this! Still trying to figure it out.
I just rebuilt the carter 600cfm carb. My 4 new 255/60/15 tires are waiting at the tire shop to be put on. I already paid for em. I bought a 1 1/4" sway bar finally also. Replaced the headlight switch so I have low beams now. I also bought a MSD in-cap coil. I am thinking about a MSD hei control module too. I got a tranny cooler from a friend [thanks eddie!] I installed one of my two new motor mounts. The other one is good enough and I was sick of messing with em so I left it. I also purchased a heater core. Thats not going to be fun installing, and I need to concentrate on getting my truck running/driving first.
January 27th, 2003:
Since my last writing much has happened. My truck caught on fire on the freeway. The switch that controls the manual lock up of the torque convertor shorted out. Not cool! I re-wired everything much better this time. I have two 10 gauge wires with inline 30amp fuses going to a fuse block inside the cab. The fuse block has 6 circuts. Each circut has a 20amp fuse and goes to an individual switch. One each for the fuel pump, automatic lockup, manual lockup and one switch for the tranny temp guage and oil pressure light. I re-did the timing [from 8* initial and full manifold to 10* initial and ported vaccum], idle mixture [leaner], and carb [installed missing check ball and weight] and have gone from 11mpg to 15mpg with the 2004R. I installed the toxic drop shocks on the front on my 79. Ride is much better, no botteming out or anything on bumps. I stripped out a fitting for the tranny cooler lines on the old radiator, so I bought a new 3 core and installed it. I also installed a external tranny cooler. Brought my temps down from 180* to 120* putting around town. Finally I also bought and installed the MSD hei module. On the way is a autometer 2 1/16" air/fuel gauge, install kit and mounting pod from swervin ervin. Now Ill finally be able to correctly set my air/fuel ratios at all RPM's. That gets installed as soon as my exaust is finished [getting re-welded higher up so it will clear when I lower the truck, also having a O2 sensor bung welded in] Ive been busy with the money pit!
January 28th, 2003-
I orderd 4 new greasable polyurathane bushings for my 1 1/4" sway bar. I am also stoping by the GM dealer and getting some vortec intake gaskets. Ive heard nothing but good things about these re-usable gaskets, so Ill give em a try. Other then that, no change!!
February 18th, 2003-
Since last time Ive: Installed sway bar [big, good change] the 3" spindles, flip kit and shock extenders. Somehow when I dis-connected the rear brake lines, they got messed up and Ive been banging my head trying to fix it. So far Ive replaced both front brake lines, the left side caliper, and replaced all the fluid. I just bought a new master cylender. If that dont work, I give up.
I also had the exaust on the passenger side re-done so it dosent hang so low anymore. While it was off the guy found the cat convertor melted completly, so he replaced that.
May 19th, 2003
I bought a new compressor and hoses for the a/c system. The accumulator I bought on ebay is not the correct one so I have to wait till I can purchase another unit. My second flexplate cracked. I got real fed up with this crap. I bought and installed ARP flexplate bolts and a TCI overbuilt, thicker then stock flexplate. I also used a friends torque wrench to make sure I was torquing everything correctly. Luckly I had much more time to work on it and it only took 2 days to complete the swap. While everything was apart I went ahead and replaced all tranny fluid along with the filter and pan gasket. I orderd a B&M TV cable adapter for my tranny. Aparently Ive been driving with the TV cable hooked up in-correctly since I installed it. There have been no signs of wear though. The tires chirp hard switching into second gear, line pressure raises as soon as the throttle is touched, and pressure is good at cruise speeds. But I want to be sure so I got it anyways. Im thinking of replacing the 2200rpm torque convertor with the stock 1800rpm unit. Behind my engine the stall is more like 2500rpm and this is a street driven, gas milage truck so I think I made the wrong call ordering the 2200rpm originally. This is my first time messing with any automatics at all, so its a good learning process. Almost forgot: I kept botteming out on crap that I shouldn't be hitting while driving. Finally I bought some new doestch tech shocks for the front. What a difference! SO nice now. To anyone reading: DONT BUY TOXIC SHOCKS!!!
July 30th, 2003-
Well I installed that B&M TV cable adapter. What a crock. There is no difference in anything. Also bought a new accumulator. Bought and installed a JEGS high flow water pump. The B&M tranny cooler I had on there started leaking, so I got a bigger one and replaced it :) I also installed a crane adjustable vaccum advance kit. 87 octane is no problem at all anymore, although I did loose a tint bit of gas milage. My fuel pump got heat soaked driving home the other day in rush hour traffic, how fun. I re-located it away from the muffler more, and bent some new hard fuel line. Im still waiting on my new front end. If only Jim had a place to take apart his parts truck....
In almost final news: my truck is for sale! While I really do love this truck, and I've gained tons of valuable knowalge working on it, its time to move on. Driving 2hrs a day to work and back has convinced me its time for that 99 accord v6 I've been wanting for so long now. Stay tuned, as I will keep tract of everything I perform on it here!
August 13th, 2003-
What a biotch! My fuel pump was too close to the muffler on the passenger side apparently, and died in rush hour traffic on the way home from work. Funny how my truck always chooses that time to die. Bought and installed new pump farther away from the muffler. Also bent some hard fuel line. Looks real good now :)
I also finally found a new front clip, for only $150, in perfect condition. I was very pleased!
August 15th, 2003-
This truck sucks ass. Not only did I get a nail in my tire, but now its making a knocking noise above 70mph. WTF? Shit that has less then 12,000miles is not supposed to give me this many problems. I can't wait till I get my accord.
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