In the spirit of replacing every accessory, today we put in a new alternator. At the end of the last video I turned off the truck and then realized I could back it up another foot. Battery was dead. In addition to the alternator we put the heat shield on the passenger manifold and checked out S&S Exhaust that pimpm3 recommended. I was impressed with their professionalism and their quote was $50 cheaper than the other shop. Need to fix the brakes before getting it to them.
We're back! Plan was to get the brakes working and get the exhaust done last week. A little wind and rain delayed those plans but this afternoon we got on the brakes. I bought a booster/MC combo but we just put in the booster for now as that's why we didn't have brakes. At one point I said something about getting my hand to fit behind the booster and Lil Stampie jumped up saying he'd do it. Here's the proud Daddy picture but obviously I have work to do since he wears socks with sandals.
We did a ride around the block and then to celebrate we set off airbags. Josh is the one in the background giggling like a little school girl.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/3MboA5axyQw
https://www.youtube.com/embed/CVsy-qaiESA
https://www.youtube.com/embed/vh6nD7m_ExE
We got up bright and early this morning. I was out at 6:30 with a flashlight ziptieing the plug wires up. Lil Stampie and I hit the donut shop and we were off by 7. The trans is acting like there's no vacuum. It doesn't shift out of first until really late and didn't down shift at stops. She cut out twice on uphills.
We got to the shop 30 minutes early and first in line. Had a little laugh as they had to move a limo off their biggest rack to put her up. We looked at everything and decided what to then came the bad news of they didn't have the right flanges in stock. They'll order them Monday and do the exhaust Tuesday. We had a sad bus ride home.
Stop being rude and update us already!
Sorry I should have. Basically I got the exhaust done but the shop said it wouldn't start for them. We towed it home and found the coil totally fried. Replace that and still no fire. Figure it needs a control module also. I'm so berking behind on the Challenge car that I haven't touched it since.
Damn... Sorry I brought it up. 
Trust me I look at it every evening as I walk over to work on the Challenge car. Just need a spare 30 minutes to work on it.
So time to bring everyone up to date. Leading up to the Challenge I started having vehicle issues. First the K30 died as noted above, next my Miata started leaking coolant at a rate of pints per mile. No big deal as I still had my 99 Silverado. I was so focused on getting the Q45 ready I just parked them as they died . The Silverado started having issues 6 miles from the Challenge. It finally died a week ago Friday. I woke up that Saturday morning owning 8 vehicles and not a single one capable of going on the road either legally or mechanically. So last Saturday we replaced the devil hose on the Miata at least giving me one.
Friday I dropped Lil Stampie of at school and went to put in the ignition module in the K30. That's when I discovered the capacitor/harness fried. Got one of them but still no go. Figured it must have fried everything and the magnetic pickup must be bad also. Guess what no one carried locally? Yesterday evening I got on CL and found a guy selling HEI distributors for $20 each. We drove two hours and grabbed three. One is an aftermarket billet one. Two have the vacuum advance locked out. One of those had a GM module. When we got home we threw it in and she started right up. I did stall leaving Chris's and that's when I discovered that somehow we don't have a neutral safety switch. Still need to adjust timing and idle but she drove the best that she's done since I've owned her.
In reply to Stampie :
Nice! Any idea what's up with your Silverado?
Pete Gossett said:In reply to Stampie :
Nice! Any idea what's up with your Silverado?
Makes two if us. Been wondering since the challenge, just haven't asked.
It got put down to the bottom of the list but Lil Stampie I spent a few minutes the other day to pull the fuel pressure regulator. On cranking we didn't get any fuel pouring out the hole so I'm assuming fuel pump related.
In reply to Stampie :
Is it an in-tank pump?
Yeah ...
Stampie said:...and that's when I discovered that somehow we don't have a neutral safety switch.
I recently learned that a lot of GM stuff of this era doesn't have an actual neutral safety switch. Rather, the linkage in the column is supposed to mechanically prevent you from being able to twist the tumbler far enough to get to the start position when in P or N. I don't remember all the details, I'm not completly sure it applies to your K30 (but I'm guessing it probably does), or even what the implications would be if it does...but just an odd fact that might be handy to know.
In reply to ClemCougarSparks :
That's what I found last night as I was researching it. I'll look into it more but hopefully an ignition switch cures that.
Today was a good day in the K30 neighborhood.
After dinner Lil Stampie and I went out to spend a few minutes on the K30. Goal was to get working headlights and brake lights. You know the basic things you should have when driving around. Main goal was brake lights first but that involved me getting my fat ass under the dash so instead I pulled the headlight switch. Nothing, switched to high beams, got light, switched to lows, got light, wtf? Ok easy enough.
Onto the brake lights. Once I got under the dash the first thing I noticed was the brake switch unplugged. Guess we forgot that when switching out our pedals. After plugging it in I noticed that it was way off on adjustment. Several minutes of Lil Stampie yelling "ON ... OFF ... ON ... OFF ..." from the rear of the truck and we were all done. Nice easy 20 minutes of success. Think we'll celebrate with some left over Halloween candy.
Almost forgot. At the end we tried the headlights again and they didn't work until hitting the column switch. I'm thinking either it or a relay might be sticking.
Spray some comtact cleaner in bothe the headlight switch and the dimmer switch. They love to corrode the points and do wierd things.
In reply to Dusterbd13 :
I'll probably replace the headlight switch as the dash lights don't really dim. They're more of all bright or off. I'll spray the column switch.
As soon as Lil Stampie got in the car at school he asked if we could work on the K30 and take it for a drive. So what's a Dad to do but work on the K30 and take it for a ride?
I ordered a rpm test guage but it won't be here until next week so we decided to adjust the carb by ear. A little screw here and there plus a ear adjustment on the timing and she's much better. Starts instantly and no stalling coming down to idle or going into gear. I think it's slightly high but we can revisit it next week.
We drove the two blocks to pick up Chris and went for a little drive. Temp came up a little higher than I liked but most of the drive was low speed so not worried yet. The tired old 350 actually picks up pretty well.
I starting to love to hate the K30. We took her out for a few runs around the neighborhood this week. Friday morning I cleaned her out and put another throttle return spring on with plans on picking up Lil Stampie at school in her. He's been looking forward to that every since we got her. Drive there went fine and afterwards we went to a funeral for a friend's grandfather. I never met him but from the effect he had on others I wish I had. Sad occasion but once we left there we headed towards a junkyard that would let Lil Stampie in with me. We got a couple of miles down the road and all of a sudden a rattle hit with a sudden loss of power. We turned around and got to a convenience store cause I could see a wait for a tow truck. We got snacks and I started checking it out while we waited. No windows in the block so that's good. The rattle, now knock, was irregular and seemed to come from the top end on the passenger side. I pulled the valve cover and a quick feel showed all the rockers but one on that side loose. I didn't go any further but we kinda remember that the kid I got it from had taken that valve cover off. I wonder if he took the rockers off and just didn't adjust them back. Honest I'm disappointed and need some time off from her so I'll start with adjusting them later.
Note to self: old unknown 350 from random CL dude swapped straight up for a broken block 6.2 diesel may frustrate. Got it.
Besides that, this is a really entertaining journey with a great writing style. So much so, that I'm going to look for more Stampie stories to entertain me when I should be doing something.
It's been fun to meet (through your words) the characters in your life. I will look forward to the continuation after the necessary pause to reset/focus on other things.
Good luck with the truck.
Well...I sure hope it's something as simple as getting the rockers adjusted and not something catastrophic. I was working on my Suburban yesterday and am, once again (for the 3,542nd time in my life) frustrated with drum brakes. Off I go to Google to search rear disk brake swaps for 1/2 ton squarebodies ;).
I'm looking forward to seeing some photos of yours in its natural habitat with big grins all around!
In reply to OHSCrifle :
I guess my frustration is that it wasn't an unknown engine. I actually sold the kid the truck it was in. I'm frustrated that he decided to pull things apart way more than I thought. Pulling valve covers to check head casting numbers I can understand. Pulling rockers on a good running engine I don't. I really should have double checked everything but I didn't so I'll deal with what I have. Worse case is it gets a Cadillac 472. Best case is I adjust the rockers and move on.
Oops. I do remember reading that now.
Regardless, I am in awe of the obvious "mechanicalness" you possess and have confidence this will be figured out soon as you get some donuts and a nap. Or whiskey.
In reply to OHSCrifle :
I don't think I have any special abilities. Fixing most things is just nuts, bolts, and a YouTube video away. The biggest thing I think I've learned is it won't fix itself so you might as well try. But I do think I deserve a whiskey tonight.
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