1996 GMC 5-speed

[Barry Donovan]

quick rocker scab

---

went to grind and paint my rocker.. and remembered 6 years ago.
this area in the scribble was going to need a scab of stainless some day...symmetrical to passenger side.
the actual piece is much more precise than that. I am not an artist.

added it today with some weld.

sure enough, it cut back on the elusive door squeak...not a common noise, but I know how to make it.
I also remembered how much stainless steel this rocker custom gobbled up.
4 foot lengths, over 1 foot wide.
and my little pieces in the fancy curves as shown.

the flap disc could not get off my over ambitious undercoating type material I put on.. but I did manage to get to steel for the weld.

KBS rust paint is now the lower part of truck all the way around as well..
back to shiny.

expensive stuff..dad wanted me to use it up.

going to 40F tonight... I pick a great time for 48 hour paint.

[Barry Donovan]

oil change 388,104

---

filter spotless
oil no odors.. a little thin and darker, but synthetic
after injection fail.. gave it more cleaners than needed.
just getting to oil change now, 30 days later.

mystery engine.. not even speckles of poop in the stainless mesh.

cleaned billet filter with dish soap per original instructions.
I did use some spray bottle Zep heavy duty degreaser too.

all ready for winter apocalypse..as best i can anyway.
held up to kitchen light, all clean..back together.

mobil 1 high mileage. 5w 30 for the 26F below coming our way.
discount at o'reillys... 31 bucks 5 quarts

last oil change
nov 2020.
approx 6 k miles

[Barry Donovan]

inspection 26

---

the old dog got thru again.
I adjusted ebrake last evenng

significant as in maine this is antique now...
passing as a modern inspected vehicle.
I have never seen a realm of years go on this long with smiles.

1996 ..an automotive holy year.



still hammering a pretension I gave left side rail for the weld plate.. super smooth
prouder this year than last.

engine sounds awesome...

2021 summary

• 2 corten a588 plates, space between cab and bed, frame both sides (2 feet each)
  • removed rivets front hangers of rear springs to bolt conversion
  • large weld
  • strengthened gas tank crossmember
• EGR valve
• new spider injection assembly (TamerX of south carolina)
  • intake and injection assembly gasket (orange)
• floor pan welded in (actual factory replacement)
• exhaust tidy (basically straightened tail pipe angle)

expecting hellacious turn of weather onto winter.
I feel good about the old truck
388,091 miles

giving it oil change, mobil 1 of course, later today

[Barry Donovan]

dash cam acadia national park

---

just kidding about being bored with dash cam.. its the most fun I have with video

simple editing.
I am the same as where I began in 2006..
I don't even update my music.

[Barry Donovan]

acadia national park

---

saw the unusual heat warning, late august..90F
hardly any money right now.
feeling unrewarded for all the work done on the truck..don't even go anywhere really.

hopped in truck and headed for acadia.
got to booth..
30 bucks a day.
yikes.
I remembered the veteran offering.
handed license over with the label from the state.
my plates are also veteran too.. and owner of vehicle.



got a year pass for free.

truck did awesome, a/c working frigid
climbed the hills and down the other side.

got it all on dash cam..but i learned that is actually boring to sit there and watch it I guess.


first visit here, I was an awe inspired 15 year old with the family.

anyway,
I still found a spot, among all the people to be alone by the sea...as I have done since I was 17..first years driving.
right in this area...
31 years now. some years are missed to bad sickness, immobile...homeless or broke.
When i found my trail in dna.. all those french people.
D'entremont was my grandpa, and the mi'k maq indian my grandma..
400 years now.
he was the first governor of acadia.

before english went full retard like they do an afghanistan mission today.
or cromwell on a donovan rock pile.
anglo saxon be gone from america.. I pray I pray
just be a minority immigrant, fess up to the incest self decalred royal schizophrenia and leave our budget and leadership and military to actual real adult people.
I know who won america, france and spain and everywhere else does too..

this place still is not theirs.
hell, it will never be anyones,

I do daydream when I am here
aristocracy, privilege.. and who deserves what?


I believe i earned that pass... especially here.
God bless america and the troops..

may the 13+ lost today, be forever remembered..and family in peace.


imagine coming though that cold fog.. without sight.. for some time. then feeling the heat from a mainland.. the sents of living foliage, birds who spotted your ship and land on it making noise, full tilt to a nearly wrong way wind at best
..and seeing the cliffs of maine after 30 days or more thrashed against odds..
rocks stable in the bright sun of summer.

assume it a daydream.
but I still need to splash ocean on my face and hair and hands.. it stops the dandruff, and helps my spleen, the genetic sailors spleen and pancreas that keeps like a freshwater fish unless i manually fix the saline values myself with the salty sea.An odd opposite of diabetic.

[Barry Donovan]

the grain of steel

---

watching my favorite welder
IC Weld on the you tube..
he mentioned grain of steel.
it occurred to me , I align stuff subconsciously.
on my frame my plate is up down grain..best guess,
for angle movements.. shear movements not allowed.
as if to say grain up down.. long grain goes to the C...not the length

I mention this guy often n the weld groups I am in.

Hope he goes real big with subscribers.
been watching since he had 10k or so...at 65k now.
to me and real world, this guy is as real as weld is.

the work some of his jobs do is max weight tonnage for big rigs, bulldzers, etc.
he did a kingpin once for havey duty low boy. that is 60ton at least,
on that one weld.

heavy duty as it gets.
it is what he does with no words.. I can tell my own skill level.

like the grain, I never mention it... he even said it is pretty much a theory only anyway

[Barry Donovan]

no codes!

---

this is momentus.
I was pitter pattering a high voltage coil code and p0420.. but they always cleared themself...6 years now.


today I heard the little blend door motor or something in the dash as i turned my key and my blower motor got huge after turning a/c on

very very muggy out..
it got very cool quick in this slimy slop..outside of windshield has the layer of moisture

cab colder than outside by a long shot.
blower motor is massive right now...never been this big.
got home from my store run (16 miles) and checked codes.
none.
no codes.

vacuum = 20.9 inches. Impressive. This engine is even younger than I guessed.


I am now guessing high voltage coil code was an injector snapping electrons.
the cab shares the same ground point as the engine gadgets at back of head...ignition and spider assembly right next to each other.
must have bothered the hvac siwtches in the cab a little bit.. but not into dysfunction, just teasing blower resistor etc..
my stuff has always worked..
now I am finding long term gmt400 secrets .

another mystery solved. I had no problems with my blower motor.. but now its an ice box.. I turned it down.

this also goes with my rage against the machines for having no diodes on shared ground points...
you can bother other stuff by other stuff...manufacture still makes that sick ass mistake to this day.
pig sty of electric slob..

anyway, we got direct hit henri the hurricane coming, which i predicted exactly in May sometime on facebook publically.
I still think that is where my 1% native gene went...
time ahead on northeast usa.

my next prediction..
now that the tundra is slicked with heat and bad foliage crazier than a mt. st helens explosion...
this winter has a big wind for us all.

maine is going to be particular bad.




here is a current smoke map..
having 85% humidity and 85 degrees is not ever pleasant, even with all the trees.
add this smoke enough to feel it in your eyes.

Anyway. I hear the geese, and my backyard maple has some red orange emerging.

summer is done, even if it hits 90F as a freak before winter.

this may be the winter i fly away.
been wanting to do that since i was 15.
not my home.

not even a 500 year dna map has me surrounded by actual family (not kidding)
it begins in mass, and heads south...and over into canada... I am in a zone all by my retarded self..

[Barry Donovan]

new spider followup

---

jumpy random reverse and first.. gone away
start and stall after first startup (warm).. all done

in a 58F cold start (very warm summer this year) I monitored with obd2 scanner to full warm.. no codes.

my very first guess was fuel pressure regulator, must be 5 years now.

fixed a couple of things i guess..
there must have been an active vacuum leak not really measurable at the map sensor...but bothering the trucks startup after warm.

I did get very sick, incredilble pain in jaw that same evening after fixing.. I almost called an ambulance.
I have a crap ton of cleaners in the tank, so oxides will be flying vaporious nasty anyway.
I have since diluted it, now that truck is fixed.
I could taste something terrible.. like plumbers puddy and a used hospital bandage.. coming right out of my incredibly dry jaw line (I have mouth wash for that)
stayed up until 3 am.. I must have just passed out exhausted...dense head pain.

well
truck is like new... and they stay damn good even if they are not. I only proved it to myself.

did a lot this summer.
goals met.

I seriously have a bad prediction for this place in winter.. it is always bad..but something is going to be even worse.
glad to have this all done

[Barry Donovan]

new spider

---

took 3 hours. the m12 ratchet is a nice extra.


injector 3 blew her cookies... I had guessed correctly.
for electrical side of injector to fail needs an active conductor on the other side in the fuel.. I mean active and conductor. Well lit positive charged little monster
my weld smoke in the open fuel filler...
also exactly correct guess.

must be getting good at this. Maybe inspect military airplanes some day.




a surprise..
two broken cheap grade gaskets.. intake was pinched partly, not even in the seam.
the intake leaked all 6.5 years I have had this... did not even notice it.
even blasted engine at car washes.
only lost a point off the ultimate vacuum at idle number anyway

I gained a point in live data with new orange genuine gaskets.

5.5 psi... whatever the hell number that is. I gained some.

glimpse of new spider, courtesy of GM underhood light on a rewindable cable
swapped to LED 5 years ago.

I just realized new regulator too.. I swapped the whole assembly prebuilt

by TamerX (legit company)

something else to notice..this engine is young.
another guess correctly.

reset codes, burpity burped back to super smoothy.
still dialing in... but very nice.

the old injectors were very good. I notice nothing with the new ones..
just the error fixed.
trims are tight at idle.. subtracted a pitter patter (must have been leaky intake bothering them)
idle was still good these years.

young motors don't need to care so much.


my bad broke the injector..
happy friday the 13th.

onto the freakiest winters in 70 years (just guessing.)

due for another inspection AGAIN.. number 26.
seems like I was just there a year ago.

[Barry Donovan]

new spider

---

found this on ebay

15 reviews.. all good.
I killed one injector with welding (smoked the filler tube)..
I learned these should be replace as a set.

205 bucks. I keep my old one with 7 good injectors.
tried my best to clear the old one up.. it will not.

given the fuel mileage, power and perfect cold starts...the poor basturds weren't even very old.
my bad.
this is the second time I have agitated them..first one was welding near passenger side air inlet for engine a few years ago.
those go away easy enough..add cleaners.
but attacking through the gas tank is as numbskull as it gets (that is me)

I'll swap the bad injector out for 30 bucks some day.. have two sets.
for now, I'll just put in the whole new one.

this year has me at 46k miles...been very good adding up budget.
needed fuel pump first month in 2015 (dealer guy told me it would- he got the new tank installed, did not change the pump. He seemed upset at himself over it.)

miles is unknown on engine. that poppet stuck rocks the boat... vibration. engine bearings still sound healthy all over even skipping badly.

watching the friendly mechanics sharing this task on you tube, I have found the po300 series and random misfire is the bad injector.
my truck identified cylinder three exactly correct. (I am impressed)

a super bad injector will give a 200 series code (short circuit in the injector), mine is just bunged up to my own fault.

in live data at idle, bank one under misfire was adding 10%.. this simply means one injector. 9 something is the limit to a tuner. completely clogged is my guess..or no function When running good, it is pitter pattering around zero and single digits ( useful tip for the 96-99 owners)

another tip with no live data, but a code reader...simply plug a spark plug into the cylinder wire that is reading bad.. that will rule out ignition. mine is brand new, as documented here.. but I checked old school anyway.

[Barry Donovan]

details before inspection

---

on the way to garage.. hit a bump in the bangor area..they are repaving roads like mad men, all over the place..
must be a big budget

I hit a metal ridge, like at bridges.. pipe cracked a little more after muffler and engine started skipping.
I knew it was a poppet (injector end at head).


seafoam, techron, lucas, marvel, high test gas, and fuel filter. and it comes back at an idle after a minute or two..still hope for it.
checking live data, it verifies sticky, the trim suddenly goes to normal numbers when it is idling good.
Not a good time to need an entire injection set..
trying to tidy this up for another year
a cool note, the old obd2 nailed the exact cylinder skipping.. it was indeed correct. Cyl #3
po303.

swapped fuel filter.. the previous owner did something clever to keep threads slick.. swapped this out in minutes. Nothing stuck, little seals in great shape.
only thing I found was the clue that I am the idiot that bothered the injectors..
grindings...little metallics.
I left the rubber hose for filler wide open while welding and attacking the area at frame.
I must have oxided the hose.

my bad.
I may have to pay a hefty bill..




I also welded muffler up better with a new connector to tail pipe
whaddyaknow, this does have a proper angle. I thought I was working a faulty tail pipe these past 6 years...let it droop down into snow piles of icy pipe breaking hell.



also added a clever bolt and washer through the swiss cheese hole, it is welded to the bolt that was already there (has broken clip)
I can use this to hold the stainless break line and wires...two birds one stone.
I did not want to go too detailed here.. as I want to rip into that area on a full day.

but hanging on for now. I had done this before to one of the injectors..also welding related.
.. it did work its way back out.
it liked marvel mystery oil the most.

[SuperBuickGuy]

At the Optima Challenge, the inspector was - good naturedly - giving me grief for losing a point because I didn't have a radio in it. Before I had a chance to retort, the head inspector said "why would he need a radio, he already has stereo with the sidepipes?" I do indeed.

[Barry Donovan]

truck with a golden voice

---

a famous person got a giggle out of one of my off replies.
I am always off
if you remember Ted Williams story
found homeless in bad shape.
true definition of saved. I am a true fan.
I have never learned of the uniformed photo of him (I think he is a veteran)
been following ever since.
he is still doing radio work these days and has his own show.

one day after welding.
was not sure if I did anything.
on the way home yesterday, noticed nothing, even my drivers door trim still squeaks..

Now I am sure I have.

that factory brochure positive rake.
that area, front hanger of rear springs has to be a very dense hammer.
no flex allowed.

I am there.
even my transmission notices.
my new tires sound more tread in the back left.
I got a stronger foot to the ground,

I did set a pretension before locking that plate in.. that means just jack up somewhere in the middle of truck, let back end do its half ton flexing thing in a downward motion..
I got it just right.

this latest weld will get tougher and tougher through the winter.
I call it God's quench.

real steel is never overnight... or one day.
such is a strong life.

this marks the end of the back end serious plans. all four corners of suspension.
the ubolts, hellwigs
shock mounts
all hangers converted to bolts.
all cross sills worked over
tank bracket strengthened
a full boltable cover for gas tank cut out in bed
custom hitch
the laminations just knocked it right out of half ton category.. greater strength unknown.
I chose the exceed option of "meet or exceed" for inspections.

the little bits left should be ok with the inspectors I go to.
they know these trucks well.
that is the last problem left.. white glove fairy talers trying to tell me my own steel work.
maine has plenty of real inspectors going at the same chores anyway.

this month is inspection 26...my 7th year with it.

with all the gadgets i got for welding and making things.. I may wander off to a boat with my dad.
we have 3 trucks that can haul them today.

[Barry Donovan]

ugly and strong

---

hydro carbon errors, very old.
day two gas tank area.. the corten plate.

I opted to weld this side.. and there was some gas tank mounting fixes.

the frame was so content, it never smashed off its own hidden swiss cheese.
I left one swiss cheese hole.. it is triangulated (surrounded).. inbetween front and rear hanger anyway.
these trucks get away with nearly anything there...but right at the hangers is life and death most of the time.
this one just tanked. i like this frame

my photos suck today (got some debris in both eyes), but this nightmare of an area is all done.

you can see my fender nut above.. the gas tank cut out.
works great. have four of them.

ugly the way it deteriorated.. some gauge is thick, some down to thin..and golf ball sized holes.
I just grinded until a surface..welded...only 2 feet section. smashed with framing hammer find the hard and brittle stuff..

fixed a gas strap, revived the front tank holder bracket with some stainless..
and added a little extra to the dying crossmember. I want to be able to remove it - getting old.

this truck went full speed with the hidden dying steel...
I hate the gas tanks area, avoided it like a plague.

glad to get these two days in. most time I have in one structural little section,..had to leave truck at garage could not drive.
also a first for me. I time it to get a project done in one day and drive home.

not this time.

this truck will do beyond half ton now anyway, all four corners of the back end are laminated and bolts..
ugly and strong.
this one, you can see a nut with threads not coming all the way through.
that is what happens when your frame is half inch thick on oem tank bracket.

I did replace one.. and added a spacer for left two bolts, as new plate ends in between that tank bracket.


here is a blurry glimpse of the swiss cheese i left. little hole up top. it has the plate going by at a 45 degree angle, welded. And a rivet for crossmember, and the bolt for bed crossmember above..
its like an ebb and flow of corner of a river...like spot for spider web.

not going to worry about it.

another note.. the areas at the C part of the c-rails all stayed strong.. errors there are very small if any.
the corten plate is simply a new face to weld to the strong C part.


had the bigger welder going at it today
.035 wire and 105-110 amps

gobbled it right up.

[CoreyWelch]

start and stall

---

little longer term update on the coil, controller combo..
that start and stall problem is all done. It has been doing that for at least half of my 6 years with it.
I had guessed it correct all along.. but there is no books to back me up.

I shall continue with my crew chief ways after all.

..and i am shamefully down on fuel mileage.
it must really be thumping the fires now.. o2 trimming less fuel.
a.c working perfectly.. I have to remember it needs more fuel to run it as well.

zero errors..26 years old. ..387k miles.
never had an airplane like that.



worked with dad's truck today.
got brand new factory wheels back on the long studs.. this means the covers can thread on properly too.
those are new and so are the tires. looks nice.
I only share this as dad tells me once again today the truck is mine when he is done with it.

I told him i'll keep working on it for free.
1999 with 6 liter, 2500 (seems to be exactly HD.. need to check rpo codes)
14 bolt rear, wide springs, big rails. Found it is gt4 gearing in rpo.. 3.73
SLT trim.. this means leather extra goodies.. heated seats etc.

tires are same size as my half ton now. GM liked the 245 on their monster trucks..never did make any sense.
265/75/16 123/120S

not sure what the story is on the prev owner going cheap ass steelies..or even making this a plow truck.
came across as a whistlin diesel rich guy in a way.

lots of years left for regular people like me.
124k on an iron chevy.
all fluids serviced. Dad is getting into it as much as me.. he went and torqued every lug nut (those are new too).. all 32 of them
he just turned 70 last month.


another photo from front angle.
learning curve for both me and dad.. I had guessed this shipped with alloys.. SLT trim, some extra factory chrome trim (doors), long studs and fender flares..
all the evidence needed.
this filled out nicely.
the steelies in the foreground.. never did have hub covers...long studs on skinny flange of steel wheel would not allow them to fit. the cheap chrome hub caps had dangling loose sharp knife edges as a result.
Glad we did this today.

I recommend looking into Nitto Ridge Grappler tires because they work well on a variety of surfaces. These tires also include a stone ejector pattern that helps to prolong tread life by preventing stone drilling.