Chevy S10 - $2017 Challenge and beyond

Cleaned up the garage a bit over the last week, and the S10 will be getting relocated to the driveway soon.  I have two cars I need to change oil on, and the Beetle could use an oil change, battery box install, and disc brake install.  After that, I can pull the Sierra into the garage bay and start stripping the front end in order to make it easier to yank the drivetrain.  I need to either borrow an engine hoist, or recover mine from Ashyukun for a while to pull it.  Then figure out how to get the carcass on a trailer/rollback. 

I had been planning on making some adapter plates for my small block chevy engine rollers, but found out a cheap set can be had for under $30.  I'd been looking at about $15 for the materials, and hours of cutting and drilling, so I just ordered a set. 

It looks like I might need mine to fiddle with the Excursion in the near term, but I really would like to have that little project completed before the Ides of March.  If that goes to plan (hahah), you're welcome to borrow my hoist.  Especially if you use your truck to come and pick it up.  I don't mind hauling it to you, of course, but the evil genius in me would get great satisfaction from watching your truck be put to work to enable its own disassembly.

In reply to eastsideTim :

If things go remotely to plan (again, haha) I hope to have the Infiniti back usable by the end of the week, and if the weather is remotely good may try and head up to Cinci to snag that dash cluster from the E46 coupe in hopes of having functional gauges on the convertible again, and if I did so could probably haul the hoist up if you need it. It's not going to be needed here until I pull the DMC's engine, which will likely be a ways along (summer at the absolute earliest, assuming I get started on it at all anytime soon...).

Yeah, I figure the Excursion is kind of top priority right now.  I'm guessing the engine needs to at least be lifted far enough to be able to pull the oil pan.  Let me know if you want some assistance when you start tearing into it.

Ashyukun, if you have the space to haul it, you are welcome to bring the hoist up if you like, but honestly, I like wae's better than mine.    Oh yeah, sadly, the Sierra will not be the agent of its own demise.  I figure I can fit the disassembled hoist in the 5 no problem.

Well, I found out last night that LKQ has a 2001 300Ci convertible- so I'm pushing a bit harder now to get the Infiniti back together so I could go up there and to Bessler's Hebron Friday morning (since Jeana also doesn't apparently have any Zoom sessions until mid-afternoon, which is a rarity). I'll keep you updated on it if you want me to bring it along and swing by with it. If you'd rather just wait for wae's, that's fine too.

In reply to Ashyukun (Robert) :

It would probably be a good idea to bring the hoist up.  I suspect wae's hoist may be in use for a while.  If I don't have one of my own to use, the odds go up that the Excursion repairs get more involved, because that's the kind of luck we all have.

In reply to eastsideTim :

OK, I'll try and aim to bring it up on Friday. I'll know more whether that will happen after this evening- I got an early start on work today so I could finish early and hopefully at least have the replacement metal cut to shape to bond onto the Infiniti if not actually getting them bonded so there's time for everything to cure before painting and reassembling it to be able to drive Friday. There's a slim possibility that I can talk my way into using the truck if I don't get things done fast enough, but that's a long shot since she already doesn't like me just taking it to the gym to swim in the morning since with the Infiniti down it leaves her without a car in the event something happens to me (since she has no interest in learning to drive a manual to be able to drive the BMW).

Just in case you need the pictures from the hydro-boost unit:

wae and I ran out to the junkyard today, and snagged a hydroboost setup out of a 92 Astro.  It may need to be rebuilt, but should give a bit of extra room in the engine bay.  We also pulled front spindle assemblies and the sway bar of a 2WD Brazer Extreme.  I probably won't do the spindle swap soon, and when I do, I may switch to a set of lowering spindles, but I now should have everything needed to move up to dual piston front calipers.

In reply to wae :

Thank you!  Should be useful for figuring out the routing of the lines and such

A set of Pontiac GTA wheels came up for sale nearby.  Debating how they'd look on the truck, at least they'd be period correct, and easy to get tires that will keep the stock diameter.

Went ahead and picked up the wheels.  Missing one center cap, so I'll either need to grab one, or just run without them.  I did find out that someone makes bowtie decals for them, so I may grab a set.  They've also been painted black, which I think will be a better look for the S10.  Might also paint them a different color.  Kind of wondering what they'd look like in gunmetal gray.  Having never had a set before, I was rather impressed with how light they are.

Stashed them in storage for now, they'll come back out and get cleaned up, and get new tires after the swap is done and running.

GTA wheels are awesome and actually can sell for some good money. They look really good on Volvo 240s

Nice score. 

OjaiM5 said:

GTA wheels are awesome and actually can sell for some good money. They look really good on Volvo 240s

Nice score. 

Thanks.  I ended up paying $300, which is the most I've ever paid for set of used wheels.  Kind of balked at it, since I can get newer Z-28 wheels for about half that price, but then I'd need to run 2-2.5" spacers, and I don't think they'd look as good.  May still need to run a couple spacers/adapters for the wheels with the most backspacing, but they won't be that big.

Got the Beetle out of the way, so this evening, moved the Sierra into the garage.  First, eastsideWife and I pulled the hood off, figuring it'd be a lot easier to do that outside than inside.  Then very carefully maneuvered it into its space.

There's not a lot of room to work with, but it should be enough to start pulling the front end apart.

It appears the coolant leak has gotten a lot worse, so I put a pan under where I think it'll drip.  I am hoping the headgaskets are good, I don't think I overheated it when I took it for a drive last night (topped off the reservoir before I went out).

The next step will be to fumble through HPTuners, download the ECU program to my laptop, disable the security so it won't mind not talking to the BCM, and I will probably disable the rear O2 sensors at the same time, at least for now.  Once the program is reloaded, and I confirm the truck will still start, disassembly will begin.

If all goes well, I want to yank the engine either this coming weekend, or the weekend after.  Rolling the truck back so the rear wheels are just about to go out of the garage should leave enough room to pull the engine/trans most of the way out the front.  Once it is clear of any obstructions, we can just roll the truck back into the driveway, then figure out how to dispose of it.

My first foray into HPTuners:

Decided to stick with just disabling VATS for now, and not mess with the O2 sensors yet, since I do plan on running a catalytic converter, just doubt I'll run the stock ones from the Sierra.  After I wrote the calibration to the ECM, I went ahead and read it back to make sure VATS was off, then started the truck up.  Fired up just fine.  Now it's open season on taking the front end apart to yank the engine. 

Today and yesterday have been teardown days for the Sierra.  Did about 4-5 hours yesterday, and a bit more this morning.  Hope to get out and do some more later.  All this work is being done in about a 2.5' space between my workbench and the truck, and a narrow walkway to the back of the truck

Other than pulling the grill, this is pretty much where I started:

Afterwards, yanked the bumper, and was reminded of why I try to buy projects out of the south.  Got coated in rust.  If this was anything more than a drivetrain donor, I would not have bought it.  Next, was draining fluids, and I screwed up with the radiator drain and got a bit of a coolant shower.  Also, while I was a mess, decided to drain the engine, and had the happy discovery that there is a drain plug in the transmission, so that got taken care of, too.  A/C was empty, which wasn't a surprise.  Also, tried to remove every cooler line that ran to the core support, but was not entirely successful.  End of day one didn't look like much had happened:

Several of the "quick disconnect" lines didn't want to quick disconnect, so this morning, I cut the remaining lines, and set about finding the  wiring connector for the core support.  Had to pull up the fuse box and unscrew it from there, but the real problem was one of the clips holding it to the truck.  It was damn near inaccessible.  If the battery tray hadn't rusted into place, I could have pulled it, and it'd be fine.  Tried yanking the ECU to get to it, but that was unsuccessful.  Eventually got it out after partially pulling the fender liner.  Once it was removed, I pulled the bolts for the core support that I had loosened the day before, and found about half a dozen wiring connectors and other items that were still hanging it up.  After clearing them:

One of the horns fell off when the core support came off.  I suspect it has been broken for a while.

Oh yeah, tech tip, if you have an open line that is slowly dripping, a finger from a used nitrile glove, and a zip tie are a great way to keep it from leaking:

I've started in on the wiring, and am going to try to get the engine harness removed today.  After that, it'll be time to start figuring out anything that needs to be removed to make getting the engine out easier, as I'd like to have the actual engine/trans removal go very fast.

Anyone need a GMT800 3/4 ton core support?

Disconnected and labeled the upper part of the harness.  Underneath the truck is a bit of a mess, with loads of kitty litter, and three different drain pans, so I left the lower harness be.  Also, pulled the A/C compressor to make it easier to remove the engine later.  I was a little short on empty oil jugs, so I cleaned up and ran some oil out to the parts store.  Tomorrow evening, I'll try to clean up under the truck and either disconnect the rest of the harness, or see if it'll just come out with the engine.  With a little luck, it'll be ready to pull by next weekend.

Last night, I chased down the last of the engine wiring harness parts that were connected to the chassis.  At this point, I think only the connections to the back of the engine and to the transmission are still there.  I'm planning on leaving them on, and just pulling the engine this way.  I also pulled the coils, so they won't get damaged during the pull.  I soaked the manifold-to-exhaust nuts with PB, and tried to break them loose, but no luck.  I'll heat them up with a torch next time, and see if they'll come off without having to cut the exhaust.

At this point, I think I have to do the following:

1. Unbolt the exhaust from the manifolds.
2. Disconnect PS connections between the pump/steering box/hydroboost.
3. Disconnect fuel lines (need a special tool, or just disconnect where a PO replaced rusted lines with rubber).
4. Disconnect heater hoses.
5. Disconnect the shifter linkage (may wait until the day I pull the engine, so it's easier to get the truck in and out of neutral to roll it back).
6. Unbolt the transmission.
7. Unbolt the motor mounts.

I'm also trying to figure out how I am going to connect everything to the picker.  Tempted to just run straps around the exhaust manifolds at the front and back.  Which reminds me, I'll be needing to extract at least 4 broken exhaust manifold bolts.  The front and back ones on both sides are missing their heads.  It turns out the driveshaft is a two piece, so I don't plan on keeping it for the S10.

Got the exhaust disconnected from the manifolds tonight, and all it took was a 15mm impact socket, a breaker bar, some extensions, an impact wrench, copious amounts of penetrant, a propane torch, a dremel with a cutoff wheel, a sawzall, and two and a half hours.  Gotta love the rust belt.  Disconnecting the fuel lines in 30 seconds with the tool I picked up yesterday was rather anticlimactic.

While under the truck, I hit every nut and bolt I could reach that I thought might need to come out with pb blaster.  If I'm motivated enough, I'll try to disconnect the remaining lines tomorrow, and maybe loosen some mounting bolts.

After running my weekly errands, headed out into the garage with eastsideWife and planned to get the engine out of the Sierra.  Took way longer than I had hoped, but less time than I feared.  Hit a lot of snags along the way, so there were a lot of stops and starts as we went along. 

Had to add some straps later on after this picture to lift the back end of the transmission to clear the crossmembers and steering linkage.  For the final removal of the engine, we had did not have enough room in the garage and rolled the truck back out into the driveway very carefully.  It and Beetle happen to fit on one side with inches to spare. 

We made quite a bit of a mess, and I burned through my remaining supply of kitty litter.  Made a run out tonight to replenish it.

But at least the engine is now out, and on wheels, so it can be moved around the garage.  The 4L80E is quite a bit heftier than any other transmission I've pulled.  Getting this combo into the S10 will be interesting.

Tomorrow, I am going to try to yank any pieces I need from the Sierra, so it can be hauled off as quickly as possible.  I'm up to two cars parked on the street, and I'd like to get that back down to just one soon, and eventually zero.  I also presoaked the remaining exhaust manifold bolts in Kroil, so there's a slim chance they'll come out on their own instead of breaking off in the heads.

Yesterday was the day to pull everything I wanted to keep from the truck, and try to "reassemble" the rest for when I get rid of it.  The plan was to pull anything out from under the hood that could be used in the S10 or used for mocking up new hoses, etc, and to pull the dash cluster, BCM, and some wiring from the interior.  I wanted to grab the cluster and BCM, as I have seen some videos online of them being wired up and used in other vehicles.  I'm not sure I can get the Sierra panel to fit in the S10, but it'd be nice to have it for experimentation.  I have seen someone use one from a Cavalier, so that may end up being a more likely donor in the future.  The Sierra's would be nice though, with all the gauges it has instead of idiot lights.  I also yanked part of the exhaust, including the cats, in case I use them.  If not, well, that'll be a bit of money recovered.

I really wanted to see about pulling all the under dash wiring intact, but I ran into a problem:

Practically every trim panel I pulled looked like that from behind.  That's not just dirt.  It's also a lot of cigarette ash.  Every time I pulled a panel a cloud of it was released in the air.  I am very glad I did not do more to clean up the interior, as it looks like the only way to have done so successfully would be to fully remove the whole thing.  Normally, I also pull a bunch of switchgear/fuses/relays for random future projects.  Not from this truck.  Everything was coated.  For the wiring, I did the next best thing, and just cut the pigtails for the BCM, cluster, OBD2 port, and the fusebox connection under the hood:

I also grabbed the cruise control module from under the hood, as it looks like it might also be integrated, if I have enough time and motivation.

On the engine, I hit the exhaust manifold bolts with some more Kroil.  This morning, I tried loosening one, and heard a bit of a snap, and it turned about 20-30 degrees.  I am hoping it just broke loose from the head, and hit it with some more Kroil and will let it soak in for a while.  I'll keep trying to carefully remove this one, and if comes out in one piece, I'll replicate the technique with the rest of them.  The rest of this week will mostly be spent cleaning up the garage more, and getting rid of the carcass of the big truck. 

Driver side exhaust manifold is off with no new broken bolts.  Once the first bolt seemed to be loosening up fine, I started in on all of them on that side, soaked them, waited an hour or two, loosened them until resistance increased, then repeated until they were out.  Starting the same on the passenger side now.

The end bolts, unfortunately, are broken off below the surface of the head.  Other than trying to drill at the center of them and running an extractor on them, got any ideas?  I really don't want to pull the heads.  If I do, that, the "while I'm in theres" will start.  Might as well pull the cam, check the cam bearings, and replace with a better cam.  Maybe pull the rods and pistons, and open up the ring gap for future boost.  And if the heads have to come off, since they are the "bad" 317 castings, maybe instead of spending money on them, I should buy a better flowing set of heads.  Then get a better intake manifold than the stock truck manifold, etc..

The passenger side manifold is now loose.  Looks like the broken bolts on that side are a bit closer to flush than the driver side.  I might be able to clean them up a bit, and weld some boogers on until they are higher than the surface of the head.  Not sure if I'll try that yet or not.  I looked at drill bushings, and I might be able to make some jigs that will make it easier to drill out the bolts.  I've got a bit of time to think about it and see if a better idea comes along.

Pretty sure indy guy nailed the lost exhaust stud removal a bit ago.

Might want to check his work