Interesting truck ad. It uses the name Big Dooley like a brand name. However, I've always written Dooley as Dually
Interesting truck ad. It uses the name Big Dooley like a brand name. However, I've always written Dooley as Dually
In This GRM thread Cousin Eddie adds TBI to a truck the same gen as yours, using all factory parts.
Thanks for the information everybody. I really appreciate it.
ShawneeCreek said:- Whenever the turn signal was on a musical tone would play?! Very simple, much like the music to early 8-bit video games. Then when you turned off the turn signal (no auto-canceling here) the musical device would loose power and die a sad, off-key death. I found it hilarious at the time, but knew it would drive me crazy by the end of the drive. I'll have to make a video to share before I remove it.
I finally got around to getting that video. 100 worthless internet points to the first person to correctly identify the song. And it's still funny the first couple of turns every drive, and drives me nuts by the end. Video on YouTube.
I also just replaced the power steering hoses. Once again, 40+ year old rubber. They were soaked in oil and giving me a little pool of fluid under the truck at every stop.
Next on the list is replacing the battery tray and repairing the rusted inner fender below it. I also need to do some research on getting the A/C up and running. I've still got the components of the stock system that ran on R12. But I feel like adapting components from a more modern truck with a R-134a system would be the best move. I'm hoping that will be possible. Until next time.
- Sean
Second gen 4.3 blazer serpentine setup with the sanden compressor. Also gets you a good alternator in the process.
Nice truck, one of my favorite body styles.
On the TBI, I put a 92 454 TBI in a 79 GMC Dually I had. Hate to break it to you, gas mileage won't improve very much if at all. After it was done, I wish I had just put a good carb on the 454, instead of dealing with all the wiring and fuel system for the TBI.
Update time. I repaired the battery tray. Nice new metal for the bottom and I cleaned and painted the surrounding structure.
Before:
After:
I got the truck registered with the historic plate. I think it looks nice. And it lowered my insurance nicely as well.
Memorial Day weekend the pick 'n pull junkyard had a 40% off sale. I took full advantage and spent about 10 hours there over the 3 day weekend pulling parts for the truck.
For a mere $340 I got:
I've got a few parts to order to complete the setup, but I got most of the major, expensive bits. Now I've got to start cleaning and sorting through everything.
Until next time.
Just joined this discussion, great truck!
My TBI 88 Silverado with a 350 gets about 16 MPG with a 300k+ mile engine and 700R4. You should do that well, maybe better.
My TBI truck was nothing special for gas mileage but it started much better in the winter.
Had to help a coworker did his car this weekend. This involved flat towing it to my house. We got it fixed ok, but I later noticed that the tears in the rear bumper got bigger. I definitely need to fix this before towing anything again.
Tonight I started tearing down the accessories on the truck to prepare for the swap to the new parts.
Until next time.
-Sean
More progress tonight, and a couple of roadblocks. First up, I can't use the truck's power steering pump with the serpentine setup. I'll have to get one from a Blazer/Jimmy to match. Once I removed that I test fit the power steering / A/C bracket.
I'll have to swap the thermostat neck and upper radiator hose for 4.3L because the current one points directly at the bracket. And I'll need to trim that boss off of the right side of the water pump that was used to mount the power steering. Both are doable.
The real roadblock is on the passenger side of the motor. The alternator/belt tensioner/idler pulley bracket mounts with three bolts into the head. I have only a single hole in mine. Pictured with the stud in it:
It should look like this:
I'm not sure what to do about this. Do I pull the head and drill and tap the holes I need? Is there even metal available in my heads to do that? Or do I punt and buy the heads from a mid-90's 350 to swap on? I feel like I should have bought a parts truck instead of piecemealing this. Oh, well. Too late now.
Until next time.
-Sean
The extra hole was optional on o e of my conversion. Never had a problem.
Water pump MUST be serpentine. It spins backwards of what you have.
Power steering pump: to use the later pump with earlier lines, swap the valve on the back of the old pump to the new serpentine
Yeah you need a tbi engine water pump. They’re probably $13 though.
ShawneeCreek said:ShawneeCreek said:- Whenever the turn signal was on a musical tone would play?! Very simple, much like the music to early 8-bit video games. Then when you turned off the turn signal (no auto-canceling here) the musical device would loose power and die a sad, off-key death. I found it hilarious at the time, but knew it would drive me crazy by the end of the drive. I'll have to make a video to share before I remove it.
I finally got around to getting that video. 100 worthless internet points to the first person to correctly identify the song. And it's still funny the first couple of turns every drive, and drives me nuts by the end. Video on YouTube.
In reply to minivan_racer :
Ding. Ding. Ding. We have a winner! The old turn signal clicker played Love Me Tender, by Elvis. Nice work. Now that I've replaced it with a normal one that just clicks, it feels weird.
Thanks for the heads up about the water pump guys. I'll add it to my Need to Get list.
First up, I really hate working with cooling systems. Coolant always gets everywhere no matter what I do. Case in point:
I'd like to add a drain to the block that I can connect to a hose and drain directly into a container. Added to the "for later" list.
More disassembly progress. I pulled the carburator off along with the associated fuel lines. Let's take a minute to appreciate all of the mechanical complexity that is a mid-70's carburetor. So many thermostats and linkages and things I really don't even understand. Amazing ingenuity.
Part of the original A/C compressor bracket was held down with the first exhaust manifold bolt. I started to remove it, slowly, with a breaker bar and it felt like I was about to snap the bolt at any moment. Fortunately, it spun out smoothly, but looked like this:
Umm... I'm amazed that came out in one piece. Looks like I'm adding a set of exhaust manifold bolts to the next parts order. I'll likely never have better access than I do now. Hopefully the remaining bolts behave.
Next, I removed the valve covers to see how things look and get the casting numbers for research. Pretty good for a 43 year old engine with 57,000 miles. A little bit of a film, but it wiped off easily.
Lastly, I bolted up the alternator bracket with the one accessory bolt I have available. Then I used a transfer punch to mark the locations of the other two holes. Results of that:
You can see the silver marks along the lower edge of the head. Reference the picture a few posts up as well. I'm uncomfortable using just the one bolt, even though the bracket can rest on the head mounting surface just above the water pump. I think I'd be ok with two bolts. Now which one to choose? I'm leaning towards the one on the intake side of the head. There is already a bolt nearby for the intake manifold, there is a nice, flat, machined surface, and it just looks more solid than the exhaust-side option. Opinions from the peanut gallery?
Overall state of the engine:
-Sean
I love this build. 
Without seeing the belt routing, I'd use the intake bolt assuming the belt force is pulling towards the crank. If it's pulling to the drivers side I'd use the exhaust side bolt.
Thanks. I'm enjoying this build as well :)
Belt routing:
Good news! All of the exhaust manifold bolts spun out cleanly. And the first bolt was the worst of all of them. I'm still planning on replacing all of the bolts as a preventative measure.
I got the passenger manifold out with it's thermostatically controlled valve. I'm assuming it's yet another exhaust emissions control measure. Interesting.
And yet another junkyard haul. Water pump, pulley, and clutch fan, power steering pump, pickup cruise control, and the instrument cluster.
-Sean
Some more progress tonight. I managed to remove the driver's side exhaust manifold.
It's really, really oily under there. I think the valve cover has been leaking for a while all over this side of the engine. Does anybody have a good way that I could use to clean the head and block? I don't think a pressure washer will be a good idea because I might get water in the exhaust ports. I'm leaning towards a bucket of soapy water with brushes, rags, and some elbow grease.
Speaking of the exhaust ports, I took a peak inside them. They look ok for now, but could probably be cleaned.
After that I cleaned and painted the new air cleaner. I'm planning on cleaning and painting as many of the parts as possible before putting them on the truck.
Until next time.
-Sean
They sell block off plugs for sbc exhaust ports.
I make my own from scrap. Rtv in place and pressure wash the thing.
Duster is right, time to work on those fab skills and make some plates.
What about cleaning around the ports, put some duct tape on them and bolt the manifolds back on. Then pressure wash or scrub away.
Also, that valve on the exhaust manifold (passenger?) is supposed to be closed when cold, forcing all of the exhaust through the intake manifold and out the other side, to help warm things up faster.
It is old emissions stuff.
I decided to start digging into the wiring. As a reminder, I'm starring with this:
I tackled the dashboard portion of the harness first and immediately discovered a problem to fix.
It seems the previous owner had wired in a security system. Thankfully it was only setup to cut out the ignition. No power door locks or fuel cuts or anything else. A couple of quick snips and a splice and it's gone.
Now the SRS (airbag) system wiring was more time consuming. The factory makes it a little easier by wrapping the wire bundles in yellow tape. It's still a lot of old sticky electrical tape, but it's gone.
Nicholas was not amused.
Next up is the engine harness. I need to remove the ABS wiring and finish identifying and labeling the connectors. It's amazing how much space car parts take up with they're not in the car.
I also got another handful of parts cleaned and painted.
Inching my way closer to a better truck. But man is there ever a mountain of stuff to do.
Until next time.
-Sean
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