My 1st 4X4

 Well I finally got something to drive in the winter so I can get my Firebird out of the salt. Should have done this a long time ago but anyhow....

 The story starts on Criaigslist about a month ago. 1998 GMC Jimmy SL in Georgia on a little car lot. 99k miles and looks pretty clean. Wasn't too far from my Dads place so he went to look at it for me. Next thing I knew:

$2500 bucks and I owned it. He drove it up to Michigan the following week without issue beyond needing a quart of trans fluid.

Carfax shows it was a owned by a government agency in Florida its whole life. There are remnants of "Department of Environmental Protection" stickers on the doors.

Once it was here, I was able to give it a good checking out. The Wal-Mart wheel covers went into the trash right way.

SL is very base model. Manual door locks & windows. No rear defrost, rear wiper, or cruise control. Does have A/C (which works), skid plate package, locking diff, and outside sparetire mount (which I took off.) The sun has eaten the trim and seals pretty bad, but as long as the windows don't leak I will live with it. There is some over spray here and there. All the sheetmetal still has the VIN tags, so It wasn't wrecked. Looks like the hood and roof were painted at some point. Makes sense for Florida.

Shockingly clean inside. The console lid is gone and the top of dash is in very bad shape from the sun, but a dashmat hides that. Radio only has one working speaker. Chased a bunch of wiring for an old GPS system and what I guess was vehicle tracking.

Under the hood: new alternator, new starter, new battery, newer P/S pump, evaporator has been done at some point.

Underneath new brakes (rotors-pads-rear calipers. Like new 2 weeks ago. ) new shocks, new ball joints and upper control arms. Idler arm, pitman arm, and a tie rod. Tires are old but have lots of tread.

Who the berkley spent all this money then sold it right way?!  I don't get it.

Now for my theroy. Its leaking everything from everywhere.  So far I've done intake gaskets, (valley was super clean when I opened it up). Both sets of oil lines, trans pan/service, even the radiator cap is leaking. How it made the trip I don't know. The skid plates had a coating nearly an inch thick of goo inside to be cleaned off. Spent another day replacing the right front wheel bearing and the leaking axle shaft seal for that side. Still need to replace the oil pan gasket but that will have to wait. I smeared a bunch of RTV around it where I could and cut the leak in half. (the whole front diff has to come out to get the pan down. To that you have to pull the shafts. To do that you have to pull the knuckles...)

Things I've learned:

When you pull out the right CV shaft, there is a short shaft in the diff that should not come out with it. Of course mine did. that causes the gear and washers on the end of it to slip out of place. Had to pull off the axle tube and reassemble everything. (now that's half way to getting the diff out, but didn't want to got that far at the time. I'll regret that later)

The trans pan is a very tight fit between the exhaust and crossmember. I managed to break one of the shift solenoids trying to shove the pan back in. Of course I didn't know it until it was all back together and threw a "Berk U" light. I pulled out the crossmember when I went back in the second time. Luckily the solenoid is easy to do and is just $15. Berkley you automatic transmissions.....

Other than the fluids, its clean underneath. A little evidence of slogging through some Florida swamps, but only a little.

There were a set of vent visors on it at some point. Broke off what was left of them. A trip to pick-n-pull scored window seals to replace the ones cut short for some reason. Also scored a nice leather steering wheel for later installation.  Some fender liners and misc under hood hoses rounded out the trip. Added some mudflaps too.

A quick trip through the car wash and here we are today:

This poor thing is gonna be in shock the first time it sees snow....

We had a 4 door version of this. Good ,dependable, boring appliance that served it's purpose well.

JEff bought an auto, Jeff bought an auto, lala la la la laaaaa

Cool ride.  Love the base model look.  Can't wait to see it.

I have a bravada front bumper with fog light holes that you can have if you want it

No rear defrost is gonna suck.  I can't believe that was an option!

I would buy a 55 gallon drum of fluid film and coat the bottom and anything else I could reach before the salt gets it. If you think new cars rust fast, wait until you drive a clean older southern car in the salt. Nice truck though, looks fun.

There are rear defrost kits online i have been looking at. https://www.frostfighter.com/

Anyone ever try one of these? I thought about getting all the parts from a wreck, but its getting way to cold for that much motivation. 

I did however get under there and adjust the torsion bars to level out the front end. The right side was sagging.

Yes Adrian, I bought an automatic. Yes, it sucks. Yes if I can find all the conversion parts cheap I would think about swapping it to a stick next summer.  When you are shopping the bargain basement you get what you can find. Yes I deserve all the laughter you can muster. At least it has the proper number of doors, pushrods, and the engine points the right way.

Luckily underneath seems well sealed still. I've seen alot of cars that have  bare metal under there from years of stones and sand wearing away the paint.

I can't find a set of hubcaps at a decent price. Paying $75 bucks for a chewed up set of plastic caps seems outlandish. Any suggestions?

I'd search the junkyards for a set of aluminum wheels myself, but that might be because I have horrible luck with hubcaps and like the look of aluminum wheels 

$15 bucks on a black friday sale. Now I have 2 working speakers (out of 4).

Hey, its progress..

The improvements continue.

The truck has DRLs and Twilight sentinel, both things I hate. Thanks to lightsout.org I was able to disable both and now have headlamps that function in the normal matter.

For the DRLs on my truck, it is a simple matter of unplugging a diode in the fuse block. Its even labeled as such.

The twilight sentinel is easy too. The sensor is in the right dash speaker cover. Take off the cover and remove the sensor. Now bypass it with a 1000 ohm resistor. Leave the sensor in the cover to plug the hole and done.  I think mine was having an issue anyhow as the lights were always on regardless of daylight.

found a console lid and a set of centercaps today at the JY. Not correct for the truck, but close enough and cheap enough.

tried to install the leather wheel I bought only to find its the wrong one. I forgot the airbag changed at some point ('01 I think)  So this wheel won't fit my bag. The question now is: Do I use the 'new style' bag to match this wheel, or go find an old wheel to match my existing bag?

Struck out on changing to the inside spare mount too. There are welded on brackets and nuts that my truck doesn't have. Sure, things could be fabbed and welded, but its too cold out to deal with that now. Sounds like a summer project.

Finally, the drivers mirror glass come off in my hand while adjusting it. The base was loose anyhow, so a new one is on order. $15 for a new import unit beats $20 at the JY for a worn out one.

Found that the new style airbag doesn't plug into my current harness. Not going to attempt cutting and splicing something like this so the hunt continues for a better wheel. The few I found in the yard today were too nasty  to use. Maybe try one of the kits from wheelskins? Put the new mirror on and now have 4 working speakers! Walmarts cheapest...

Just remember, 4x4 only means that you’ll get stuck further back in the woods.  The only good advice my uncle ever gave me.

Do you need a cheap radio to go with your cheap speakers? 

$11.99 New

$27.88 New

still using the OE radio. Had a Sony unit on the shelf but it wouldn't power up when connected. May have to pursue another option.

Been smelling coolant for the last few days, finally found the water pump was leaking from the back plate.  Not my first choice of projects on a 27 degree day...

Had it done in a couple hours. Work for a bit, go inside and warm up, go back out and work some more.

Another Saturday, another thing thing to do on the Jimmy.

Drivers door has been creaking. Not when opening and closing, but going down the road. Someone had replaced the door pins, but not the bushings. Whats with that?  Scored a pin and bushing kit for 99 cents at Autozone and set to work.  As usual I forgot to take pictures, or to do something interesting. Lets face it, door pins aren't that interesting. One trick I will pass along is this: before you knock out the pins, support the door from above  with a ratchet strap from the ceiling and put a thick towel between the door and fender.  This keeps the door fairly well in place and the paint won't get scratched.

I need to do those door hinge pins on my Sonoma project (that I need to put an engine in also).  They're so bad the door jamb metal around the striker plate is tearing.  At least I think the cause of that metal tearing is sagging door hinge pins putting undue downward force on the striker.

Yesterday was sunny and 40 degrees , a rare thing for mid December in Michigan. Off to another junkyard to see what I can find (and kill some time). Finally scored a really nice leather steering wheel that fits! The old one is losing it's coating, revealing the inner foam. Besides, I like the feel of leather. A cover for the spare tire and a knob for the radio rounded out the day.

I love the two door Jimmy/Blazers. I had a ‘97 5 speed that was a fun truck. 

I wish mine was a 5 speed. The 94-97 front end is much nicer too.

That’s funny because I like the newer one. I also owned a ‘96 four door and a ‘00 four door at various times. The 2000 was brand new and the ‘96 was my parents that they gave me in 2005 to use as a winter beater with 120k on it and it was still rust free and running well. I wish I still had it for a winter/daily beater as opposed to the 2006 Sonata I have now. Of course I shouldn’t complain because I traded it in for a new crew cab Silverado in 2006. Thanks Dad and Mom!!

A while back I noticed the front bump stops were missing. Maybe that's why the front end wallows so much? ( Suspension over traveling, causing bumpsteer too?) Put in a new pair of bumpstops and was surprised at the improvement. No sportscar for sure, but drives better. There is only 2 or so inches of travel before the stop starts to compress, and that's with the torsion bars adjusted properly.

Well the Jimmy has been parked for nearly a month. Weather is finally cleared up so I can daily the 2000 Firebird. The improvements continue however! Hit the pick n pull today for a cruise control system. Luckily the truck is most pre- wired. Got all the under hood part done, will finish the switch install in the next couple of days. Hope this works!

Cruise install went fine, truck saw little use over the summer. Runs to the lumber yard, junkyard, etc.

Now it's time to fix the leaky oil pan gasket before winter sets in. Front diff has to come out to make room to drop the pan. So the CV shafts have to come out. To do that the knuckles come off... 3 hours to get to the diff. 3 more hours wrestling with that. Now I can pull the pan. Remove 10 pan bolts and the 3 that go to the trans housing. Won't move. Pry and beat for 3 hours.....then the pan breaks! Come to find out there are 2 nuts INSIDE the bell housing...

Ordered a new pan and beat my head on the wall for not doing better research...

It sure feels nice getting ready for winter well before it starts to get cold, doesn't it?

You mentioned a door mirror earlier in the thread.  I'm curious where you found that and if it was acceptable quality.  I need one for my Son-of-a.