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'92 Chevy 1500 - flip truck or kids beater...

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  • '92 Chevy 1500 - flip truck or kids beater...

    Friend of mine from a previous employer propositioned me at a school event the other day (our boys all go to the same school so we keep in touch that way).

    I had noticed that his red pickup hadn't moved from its spot in about 8 years. He's also a neighbor, so its not like I was stalking his truck - I literally pass his house twice a day or more.

    He made me an offer I couldn't resist, so last Friday I borrowed the tilt-trailer (with a power winch, woohoo!) from work and hauled it the 2 miles to my house.

    This purchase gave me a good reason to buy a new battery for my van (10 year old OEM original) and use the still-good battery in the truck. Tossed it in and after listening for weird noises and checking for released smoke it fired right up like it had been run an hour before.

    8 years and fire right up? Impressive!

    Right rear brake was stuck (remember that power winch on the trailer? Yeah...love that thing....and unloading non-rollers with a tilt-deck is simplicity incarnate).

    Couple of tries rocking with the clutch and the brake popped loose. Winning so far.

    Brakes were non-existant.....I knew the right front line was bad near the flex-line. Turned out the rear line was also bad, rotted under one of the plastic clamps down on the frame near the front.

    Found a ground cable broke in half on the frame to cab circuit.

    It already has new tires, new shocks, exhaust. BONUS!

    For $27.69 at the parts store, and a few hours laying under the truck on a nice sunny Saturday I am rewarded with a drive-able pick-em-up.

    Went for a little ride up to 50mph down the road and back. No drama, just a bit of clutch-lining smell that might have been the brake lining instead, from sitting so long.

    (Now needs a date with the pressure washer....mossy and dirty. Well, mossy for Ohio anyways. I've seen Northwest mossy, eww!)

    Taa-Daa.















    See the 4.3 V6 above? Ironically, this truck is nearly identical to the '94 I parted out last fall, except for the auto-trans and no-title of that one. The flywheel in this one would have been handy to have for the Willys project.

    If nothing else it will be fun to have oldest son drive stick in this one. He has only driven tractors and Beetles so far with manuals, the feel of the hydraulic clutch will be good for him to experience.


    Of all the paths you take in life - make sure a few of them are dirt.

  • #2
    chop it up to make your Jeep run, think of it as the innocent lamb of the Bible that is sacrificed for your sins of failure-to-finish-your-heep (FTFYH). Though, from your son's perspective (which is kind of funny because if you said "x" son gets this, I'd almost believe it was for him - since you're nebulous as to whic son, I'm thinking this is your truck) as this one runs and the Heep isn't likely to move any further than another web posting about how someone found a Jeep in a barn that hadn't been moved since the 'teens, he should go with what runs now. I'm waiting for the article - bet he gets front-page-news for that one....

    and please, tell me where I'm wrong in that ;)
    Last edited by SuperBuickGuy; May 2, 2016, 09:52 AM.
    Doing it all wrong since 1966

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    • #3
      Groovy! Pretty good looking truck. GREAT truck for a first driver. Not too much power and he can get used to a manual. Yes, it needs a bath, wheel, and wax.

      Dan

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      • #4
        +1 for Beater
        Neal

        Drag Week 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013

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        • #5
          Keep it for the kids. Check out those tires then keep an eye on them, 8+ years old....
          http://www.bangshift.com/forum/forum...-consolidation
          1.54, 7.31 @ 94.14, 11.43 @ 118.95

          PB 60' 1.49
          ​​​​​​

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          • #6
            Originally posted by SuperBuickGuy View Post
            Though, from your son's perspective (which is kind of funny because if you said "x" son gets this, I'd almost believe it was for him - since you're nebulous as to whic son, I'm thinking this is your truck) as this one runs and the Heep isn't likely to move any further than another web posting about how someone found a Jeep in a barn that hadn't been moved since the 'teens, he should go with what runs now.

            and please, tell me where I'm wrong in that ;)

            Ummm....well there is....actually you'd be wrong in......it may come to pass that......

            Aw shoot partner. Ya gots me.

            By the way, that's an impressive run-on sentence you penned there. Trying to give my wife a run for the trophy?

            Of all the paths you take in life - make sure a few of them are dirt.

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            • #7
              It made its date with the pressure washer. Seems to have a little bit less clear-coat on it now. Hope no one tracks the pinkish paint chips to me.


              Now to fix the wobbly tilt steering column thingy. Thinking of swapping in the non-tilt column from the '94 parts truck and keeping the tilt for the CJ2A Willys project.
              Of all the paths you take in life - make sure a few of them are dirt.

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              • #8
                Wobbly GM tilt steering is a common "issue" (um - problem). All it is is the screws at the bottom of the basket come loose - Mutt had the same thing. I think there are pics in my build thread. I took mine apart and pulled all the guts out as I didn't need them for a race truck but it's the same process except you put the guts back in (turn signal switch, etc.). You need a wheel puller (of course) and one of those spring squisher thingies to get the circlip out of the steering column and release the lock plate. Then you pull everything between you and the bottom of the basket. I Locktited the screws and smacked them back in with the impact screwdriver. So far so good.

                Let's see if I can find those pics.......

                Sorry - no luck there.

                Dan

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                • #9
                  Before running dedicated columns in our cars, I duct taped the tilt part because they can and do come apart..
                  doubt the kid will aooreciate 1/4" of duct tape on his column

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                  • #10
                    Great for a kids first vehicle....That's the way I'd go.....
                    If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue

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                    • #11
                      good point on hydraulic and learning it.
                      the 4.3 mastered makes the v8 easy.

                      I was very troubled in my 96 for some time.
                      my first manual ride was a 283 tow truck, then onto dads rigs of the early 80s...
                      hydraulic? no. you will depress the 1650 foot pound clutch with both feet if you have to.

                      then , as odds have it, I got the last of mechanical.. a ten geared subaru.
                      A couple hundred thousand miles or more in manual clutches.. and the 1996 vortec made me a newb all over again.

                      I love it now, but it takes time.

                      instead of a rheostat, there has to be pause.. that is all I can describe of it as any errors.
                      manual clutch is way better, but that is for "tough" "old school" "scary" "guys with beards."
                      kids have to learn the hydraulic.

                      anway, the hydraulic captures the counterbalance shutters. that is when the pause occurs.
                      I have a very bad left leg, and go all day in cities sometimes.

                      hydraulic was future, still is.. I just had to get over it. Keeps my bad leg much better.
                      hope your kids have fun with it.
                      Last edited by Barry Donovan; May 2, 2016, 07:44 PM.
                      Previously boxer3main
                      the death rate and fairy tales cannot kill the nature left behind.

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                      • #12
                        Where was that truck when I needed a vehicle last week?
                        Tom
                        Overdrive is overrated


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                        • #13
                          You could turbo it like a Syclone/Typhoon...

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                          • #14
                            This truck came in handy when a deer took out my daily driver. Been driving it everywhere, and having fun being behind a manual on a daily basis again.

                            A few minor issues have popped up and been dealt with.



                            The original 11 year old battery from my van only lasted a few weeks. Once it turned cold that battery finally gave up the ghost. Bought a new one and motored on.



                            The brake light on the dash was lit dimly. That light has 3 stages of brightness with each stage indicating something different. Turns out unplugging the Rear Wheel Anti Lock harness at the module under the master cylinder renders the RWAL system inoperative, gets rid of the dim light while keeping the other levels of brightness functional, and gives the brake pedal feel a significant kick in the pants. The pedal feel is great now, actually feels like the system is not full of air, and all I did was unplug that harness.



                            The tilt column was floppy. Turns out, they don't tighten themselves back up. Weird huh?

                            Since it was a stick shift column with tilt (somewhat desirable due to no shift quadrant) I decided to keep it for another project, and swapped in the non-floppy automatic tilt column from the '94 c1500 I parted out last year.
                            Other than the "new" column having a gross steering wheel that leaked more gross-ness even after being cleaned extensively, it slipped right in and worked fine. $12 steering wheel cover fixed that particular problem.

                            Oh, and the park/neutral safety is now being overridden by the automatic part of the column instead of the clutch start safety switch working correctly. Funny, as all the connections were identical, no extra plug on the column for that part.




                            Anyhow.....it runs well enough that some very minor issues are becoming annoying.

                            Like the aftermarket Sony cdx-gt210 radio has something wonky with the antenna. As in, they don't play nice with each other. And its not just the factory antennae, I plugged in 3 other different antennas (2 factory and 1 aftermarket) and they all behave in a similar fashion. I tried all of the antennas with a different radio and they all work fine with it, so its not a powered antenna issue.

                            2 part issue. Sometimes there is simply nothing to be heard at all on the AM/FM part of the radio. Just like the antenna came unplugged. Nothing to be had, zilch, nada.

                            Then other times it starts to receive AM/FM............but FM reception is so sketchy that not even the local stuff is clear. Lots of static, as if I am trying to grab a station that is 80 miles away instead of 5 miles. And AM is actually worse, yet there is no alternator whine at all.

                            Along that line of thought, there IS some whine on the FM (when the thing decides to actually TRY to recieve anything). However, the whine is NOT associated to engine rpm. Instead, it is solely tied to vehicle speed. It is almost as if I can hear the VSS reluctor counting teeth,

                            CD, aux inputs work fine, and they actually sound good.


                            Then last Thursday the hydraulic clutch developed a leak overnight. As in it drove into the garage just fine, and in the morning there was NO pedal to be had on the first stroke. Puddle under the slave cylinder area. Maybe just a line? Weird how it didn't fail during actual use, but rather leaked empty while sitting. Thank goodness for small favors though!



                            Last edited by STINEY; May 11, 2017, 11:49 AM.
                            Of all the paths you take in life - make sure a few of them are dirt.

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                            • #15
                              Glad it gave out while parked!
                              Patrick & Tammy
                              - Long Haulin' 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014...Addicting isn't it...??

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