Lipstick on a Pig- refreshing a 1983 GMC High Sierra

Woo random truckupdate- Fought with header collector leaks this weekend (and changed oil) and seeing as I had the y-pipe off I decided to paint it. Beautiful I know.

Collectors still leak, but less than they did. If I had my way I'd pull it all apart and v-band them so I could avoid those 3-bolt collectors. Maybe in the future.

For now here's a picture of my pretty painted exhaust!

Still in love with the 1 ton springs SkinnyG recommended. And I sold my lowering springs, so it was basically an even swap. I'm happy with that.

Been thinking about re-mounting the rear swaybar I took off last year, also been daydreaming about a set of 17's for the truck. I like the look and price of the soft 8's, but I really dislike that they aren't hub-centric.

I'll update when I come up with some other goodies!

And there was much rejoicing!

I've been chasing berkeleying collector leaks for a couple weeks now. As my last post from 2 weeks ago says. I think the red high-temp goop finally did it. I'm not sure how permanent a solution it is but for now it's much better than even the "soft" aluminum ones I had in previously.

Beyond that I've just been trying to really get maintenance up to date on the old girl as I'm planning on covering some ground at the start of August. The honeymoon will be had in this vehicle and we intend on basically just driving northern Minnesota/Wisconsin/Michigan possibly. Stopping at some parks, camping some, getting a hotel. Basically just taking it easy after the stresses of wedding planning.

Since my last update I've replaced the collector gaskets again, changed the trans fluid & filter, and replaced the cracked detent/kickdown cable. The detent cable wasn't a particularly bad job, but of course I berkeleyed up and ripped the gasket that goes into the trans, so there was a fairly sizable puddle under the truck last Friday when I finally parked it on the concrete pad. SO apart it came again to replace that seal. Good news is it isn't leaking any longer and I finally have the collector gaskets sealed up.

This is officially THE most up to date I've ever been on maintenance on any vehicle I've owned thus far. Which is kind of strange as this is definitely not the nicest vehicle I've owned.

Hopefully I'll have some fun pictures after the honeymoon instead of just boring maintenance shots.

I'm going to say something blasphemous for a car forum.

A pair of exhaust manifolds and a fresh 2 1/4 dual exhaust system would be what I did. The slight added power from headers in this case is not worth the hassle of repeatedly having to screw with exhaust leaks. I like to have my muffler guy run a brand new dual system off of manifolds and not have to work on it for a couple of decades.

In reply to Cousin_Eddie:

No blasphemy there- I don't disagree. What I should have done honestly is used the left-over rams horns I had because those flow pretty good and don't cause much distress. But, these headers were free so on they go. I'm glad I didn't spend a couple hundred dollars on them, that's for damn sure.

Although we're talking about a bunch of used garbage with likely already warped flanges- I had headers on my Nova and once I switched to the aluminum gaskets at the head I had no issues.

Cousin_Eddie wrote: I'm going to say something blasphemous for a car forum. A pair of exhaust manifolds and a fresh 2 1/4 dual exhaust system would be what I did. The slight added power from headers in this case is not worth the hassle of repeatedly having to screw with exhaust leaks. I like to have my muffler guy run a brand new dual system off of manifolds and not have to work on it for a couple of decades.

Exactly what i did on the elky. Because i have always had the same troubles with headers. After 25k HARD miles, sill quiet and leak free.

Not much of an update but I did go through and fix ALL of the pictures (switched to Imgur- hopefully they don't go the route of photobucket in the next month) in this thread. That was a lot of work.

And in the spirit of not boring people to tears, here's a picture of the truck next to a bicycle that was given to me- I've since switched this to a bananna seat and it's my parts runner in the summer. Sits next to the garage and I can just jump on it anytime and bike the 4 blocks to the parts store.

And here's a throwback to last year before I re-did the suspension outside of a great liquor store in South Minneapolis with some neat artwork.

Thanks for looking!

As mentioned in the Shart thread this has now taken the main seat in the garage as the "project car" although I'm trying to keep it tame. I definitely want to get to the dragstrip with it this year (it went like 17.40's last year so I'm hoping to improve upon that) and I will be taking it on a week long honeymoon roadtrip at the start of August.

I should have some interesting stuff to share soon!

Well, I ended up sneaking to the drag strip this morning for a little no-prep event and took the truck out there for some runs. It was hot as a motherberkeleyer but I still had a good time, and best of all I went out, ran better than last year, and drove home. Success!

Last night I did a basic tune-up; new plugs, wires, cap, and rotor. Truck was running well after that so I packed up some tools and made the 90 mile trek to the track today. I got there a little earlier than I had anticipated, and I think the threat of rain combined with the heat kept a lot of people home.

Here's a picture when I first got to the track- I've never seen the staging lanes completely empty!

I paid for my tech card, passed tech easily (it's mostly stock, there's nothing for them to gripe about) and unloaded my small supply of tools and water. I immediately made my way to the staging lanes and I think I was the first person down the track. Because I was first out I got a bye run so I took a little video of the slowness just to have something to share. My little suction cup phone mount worked good.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/vQfAVQc9q8Q

By the end of the day I had 10 passes under my belt (for $40... not bad) and I was able to pick up 6 tenths from my last outing last year. So it went from running 17.70's to a best today of 17.10. I'm pretty pleased with that! I mean obviously it's slower than molasses, but to pick up 6 tenths with a tune up and headers feels pretty good. The nerd/engineer in me is excited to try individual speed parts and see what effect each one has.

What a nice weekend with the truck - had fun drag racing on Saturday and Sunday I spent the entire day detailing/cleaning/buffing/general turd polishing the thing. Weather was good, some people stopped over and had me weld some stuff up for them, it was a really relaxing day doing a lot of nothing specific.

I cleaned years of neglect off my center caps with some 0000 steel wool- they were so scuzzy before and they're bright and shiny now.

While I was at it I painted all the bolts that hold them onto the wheels.

Before- old and rusty

After- painted!

Now I want to get a set of GMC logos for the center of the caps so they match the truck.

It felt really nice to feel like I had the time to just painstakingly clean the thing- even though it's a beater I find it pretty relaxing to just sit and go over things. There's something therapeutic about it because none of it HAS to get done, and it can take a really long time if you want it to.

Nice little mental vacation from all the pre-wedding stress.

I clean my flat black car alot so i understand it! Sometimes the little simple stuff just makes a big diffrence.

In reply to dropstep:

I've always been a supporter of keeping your stuff clean, even if it's kinda ratty/has bad paint/whatever. At least if it's clean it looks like you care, versus just looking like some old clunker. Kinda the 'best foot forward' train of thought.

Well, honeymoon's over, what's next? SPEED adders?

759NRNG wrote: Well, honeymoon's over, what's next? SPEED adders?

I've actually spent the last couple days contemplating that- I would like to add a little more juice to the old gal, but I really want to keep it tame enough to take on trips like this when I want. The list of speed in my head goes like this, and I'm interested to hear peoples input.

-Turbo the 305. Blow through carb, eBay turbo & intercooler, walbro 255 pump, maybe MSD ignition to pull timing with boost. Simple setup, probably make decent power on 8 pounds and be pretty safe (assuming I can get the carb to work right). I have some of the pieces already in stock to make this a reality (intake/carb/wideband). This strikes me as the least reliable and most interesting setup. Also potential to make huge power down the road.

-Build a mild 350, I need the engine but I have a cam, rockers, intake, and carb that would make modest power. Would need to get a converter and figure out how to make the space to pull the engine in the garage. This is probably the most reliable and simple operation. Old engine out, new engine in. This is probably the most practical solution.

-Ever popular LS swap. Playing with fuel injection would be fun, and in stock form a 5.3 would probably perk the truck up plenty. Add a cam and springs later and I'm sure it would be a blast. This would involve the most 'change' to the truck in form of wiring, engine mounts, etc. Probably the most fuel efficient option, and probably the most expensive. I also am not a fan of "ls swap the world" so there's a mental hoop to jump through.

When I write it down like that the turbo 305 seems the most do-able in my modest garage just due to space. Winter is coming up and I don't really have anywhere to put an engine hoist in my garage, so it would be a couple of very cold weekends swapping an engine. The turbo kit I could build with the engine in the truck which is appealing. I've also always wanted a turbo v8. It would however likely mean hurting that engine [eventually when I get greedy and turn up the boost] and pulling it out at some point, so that's a consideration too.

I went out and finished up some tinkering last night- I finally painted the new floors I welded in on Tuesday night, and it was dry enough now that I pulled the truck out of the garage and put the rubber floormat back in.

But not before this!

Sound Deadening! Insulation! Luxury!

Actually this is just some very cheap stuff I've had lying around for about 8 years. I put it in "because I had it" and a short test drive last night made it actually seem worth while!

Seat blanket rocks!!!

759NRNG wrote: Seat blanket rocks!!!

Thanks! Now if I could just make it stay in place better.

If anyone has a good solution I'm all ears.

Spray adhesive works good on holding the floor insulation down. And makes it a more effective sound deadener.

In reply to Dusterbd13:

That's a good idea- it seems to be staying down OK so far but if I have any issues I'll pull it up and glue it down.

My real issue is keeping the seat blanket square on the seat. That thing moves around plenty.

Car Craft just started a build/compare article on the Tuned Port Injected 305 vs. the Fox 5.0. Both have been baselined using stock injection for the most part; some Holley smarty box driving stock injection setups although the 305 got much larger injectors as the factory parts were badly gummed up.

In any case, I think I'd be watching their build pretty close. TPI seems like a great upgrade for a whole lot of street vehicles. Blow-thru carb setups don't seem like a good time in comparison.

I'm running the edelbrock multiport EFI manifold with a gutted TBI and their headers thru a 3inch Gibson cat back in my 91 extcab 1/2t 350 5spd. With over 225k on the odo and no cam, saw 230rwhp on the dyno.

pres589 wrote: Car Craft just started a build/compare article on the Tuned Port Injected 305 vs. the Fox 5.0. Both have been baselined using stock injection for the most part; some Holley smarty box driving stock injection setups although the 305 got much larger injectors as the factory parts were badly gummed up. In any case, I think I'd be watching their build pretty close. TPI seems like a great upgrade for a whole lot of street vehicles. Blow-thru carb setups don't seem like a good time in comparison.

Yeah the blow through carb thing works well, but I don't think the driveability and part throttle response are there. I've always kinda ignored the TPI stuff but you've piqued my interest. I read the Car Craft article and will be looking for more.

759NRNG wrote: I'm running the edelbrock multiport EFI manifold with a gutted TBI and their headers thru a 3inch Gibson cat back in my 91 extcab 1/2t 350 5spd. With over 225k on the odo and no cam, saw 230rwhp on the dyno.

Not too shabby, same with the TPI though I've always just ignored the TBI - I've never had much of an issue with carbs, and haven't seen anyone make any real power through either style of GM factory fuel injection.

Now, for this particular vehicle I think I'm more interested in driveability than horsepower, so maybe I need to re-think what I'm going for.

Gunchsta wrote: In reply to dropstep: I've always been a supporter of keeping your stuff clean, even if it's kinda ratty/has bad paint/whatever. At least if it's clean it looks like you care, versus just looking like some old clunker. Kinda the 'best foot forward' train of thought.

Completely agree. My junk may be junk. But at least it's clean junk!

I enjoyed the honeymoon thread

Gunchsta wrote:

pres589 wrote: Car Craft just started a build/compare article on the Tuned Port Injected 305 vs. the Fox 5.0. Both have been baselined using stock injection for the most part; some Holley smarty box driving stock injection setups although the 305 got much larger injectors as the factory parts were badly gummed up. In any case, I think I'd be watching their build pretty close. TPI seems like a great upgrade for a whole lot of street vehicles. Blow-thru carb setups don't seem like a good time in comparison.

Yeah the blow through carb thing works well, but I don't think the driveability and part throttle response are there. I've always kinda ignored the TPI stuff but you've piqued my interest. I read the Car Craft article and will be looking for more.

759NRNG wrote: I'm running the edelbrock multiport EFI manifold with a gutted TBI and their headers thru a 3inch Gibson cat back in my 91 extcab 1/2t 350 5spd. With over 225k on the odo and no cam, saw 230rwhp on the dyno.

Not too shabby, same with the TPI though I've always just ignored the TBI - I've never had much of an issue with carbs, and haven't seen anyone make any real power through either style of GM factory fuel injection. Now, for this particular vehicle I think I'm more interested in driveability than horsepower, so maybe I need to re-think what I'm going for.

I went with a stock 1990 350 tbi in my 64 el camino for drivability. Only changes from stock engi e are : ultimate tbi mods, edelbrock tbi intake, ported and polished (mild) 305ho heads, and v8 chevelle exhaust/manifolds. Also bumped the timing a few degrees. After 15k on tbe truck, including towing and being way over capacity, i still think i made the right decision. Its not a rocket. But plenty of torque to be fun on tbe street, and utterly flawless drivability.

In reply to Nick (Bo) Comstock:

Clean junk looks loved, or in progress, or at least maybe loyally serving. Dirty junk just looks like junk.

I'm glad you enjoyed the honeymoon thread, I enjoyed going on the trip! And getting married of course :)

In reply to Dusterbd13:

That sounds like a really solid usable setup, and pretty similar to what I envision for this truck eventually. However, do you think it's worth it to go from a carb to TBI? I'm planning on staying with a Quadrajet over a Holley to retain some fuel economy, but the TBI thing seems like a lot of additional work for very primitive fuel injection.

I realize it's subjective, but is TBI better than a carb? I've never had a particularly responsive TBI setup, and I am not afraid of carburetors.

I had a brand new holley that i converted to tbi. Worth every penny and aggravation in diing it with the payiff of drivability and economy.

A mildly tweaked tbi setup like mine is plenty responsive fir autocross and general hooning.

Dusterbd13 wrote: I had a brand new holley that i converted to tbi. Worth every penny and aggravation in diing it with the payiff of drivability and economy. A mildly tweaked tbi setup like mine is plenty responsive fir autocross and general hooning.

Hmmm. I'm going to seriously look into this. I know my 305 already has a knock sensor and one of the 7 pin HEI distributors, from a quick google it doesn't sound like I would really need to add much else. I think the TBI units can still actually be found in junkyards up here, and they go for $22 bucks.