What have you done to your square lately??

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

foamypirate

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2010
Posts
3,302
Reaction score
456
Location
Central TX
First Name
Jake (Mr. Wilson)
Truck Year
1980
Truck Model
El Camino, baby!
Engine Size
5.3L/4L60E
That sure is a nice looking Suburban!

Meanwhile.....

My starter died an instant death. Started the truck, drove it 2mi. Shut it off, went to start it less than 5min later, and got nothing. Smacking it with a hammer wouldn't revive it, nor would jumping power form the battery connection. Actually had to have it towed home, which pissed me off. Did a few electrical tests because I simply couldn't believe it was "just" a bad starter. Then pulled it and replaced it. Installed a new knock sensor at the same time, because I was coordinated enough to smack the original one with the starter and break the connector off it. Real friggin' nice.

Anyway, all back together and the new starter just flings the engine over.

That is definitely a bit weird for it to just keel over dead like that with no warning, slugishness, and no hammer-beating temporary workage. :D
 

Stepside Billy

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2015
Posts
166
Reaction score
2
Location
Lake Carmel, N.Y.
First Name
Billy
Truck Year
1987
Truck Model
1500
Engine Size
350
Fired up the air compressor and gonna take the bad wheel bearing out. Hopefully no surprises!
 

HotRodPC

Administrator
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Aug 29, 2010
Posts
47,128
Reaction score
9,299
Location
OKC, OK
First Name
HotRod
Truck Year
85 K20 LWB
Truck Model
Silverado
Engine Size
454 - Turbo 400 - 3.73

RangRayy

Supporting Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Posts
647
Reaction score
240
Location
Kansas City, Missouri
First Name
ryan
Truck Year
1987
Truck Model
r10
Engine Size
350
Pulled the seat out and started tearing out the carpet. Surprised at what I found under the carpet.....clean and rust free. Going to save time and some money.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    24.6 KB · Views: 120

foamypirate

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2010
Posts
3,302
Reaction score
456
Location
Central TX
First Name
Jake (Mr. Wilson)
Truck Year
1980
Truck Model
El Camino, baby!
Engine Size
5.3L/4L60E
Upgraded my fan shroud to use rivnuts for ease of removing the fans, and ordered LT1 Camaro fan motors. I pulled my fans from a 3.8L V6 Camaro, which apparently have a different motor (same physical size, different internals). Having now had hands on with both V8 and V6 fan motors, the V8 motors definitely have more RPMs and thus more airflow.

The rivnuts will make my life easier. As it was, I had some M6x1 bolts with nuts and lock washers to hold the fans to the shroud. Downside was that I had to remove the entire shroud and upper radiator bracket to get the fans out, since I have to get to the backside. With the rivnuts, I just pull the bolts out and the fans pop right out.

attachment.php


attachment.php


attachment.php


attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • IMG_3105.jpg
    IMG_3105.jpg
    86.6 KB · Views: 219
  • IMG_3099.jpg
    IMG_3099.jpg
    92.8 KB · Views: 228
  • IMG_3101.jpg
    IMG_3101.jpg
    85.6 KB · Views: 245
  • IMG_3102.jpg
    IMG_3102.jpg
    85 KB · Views: 232

austinado16

Full Access Member
Joined
May 25, 2012
Posts
611
Reaction score
222
Location
Central Coast, CA
First Name
Todd
Truck Year
1990 w/307k miles on the clock
Truck Model
GMC V1500 Suburban SLE
Engine Size
5.7L TBI/4L60/3.42's
Welcome to the world of crap quality parts. There probably wasn't 50k on the NAPA starter that just went out on me, and their P/S pump that's 10mos old and probably doesn't have 5k on it, clicks rapidly when the steering wheel is fully left or right, and appears to have a squeal in it for about the first 30min of each drive.
 

Stepside Billy

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2015
Posts
166
Reaction score
2
Location
Lake Carmel, N.Y.
First Name
Billy
Truck Year
1987
Truck Model
1500
Engine Size
350
Welcome to the world of crap quality parts. There probably wasn't 50k on the NAPA starter that just went out on me, and their P/S pump that's 10mos old and probably doesn't have 5k on it, clicks rapidly when the steering wheel is fully left or right, and appears to have a squeal in it for about the first 30min of each drive.

It really sucks how bad some of these parts are. I have a little less than 4K on this caliper and that's why I thought it was the wheel bearing.
 

austinado16

Full Access Member
Joined
May 25, 2012
Posts
611
Reaction score
222
Location
Central Coast, CA
First Name
Todd
Truck Year
1990 w/307k miles on the clock
Truck Model
GMC V1500 Suburban SLE
Engine Size
5.7L TBI/4L60/3.42's
Yep. And it's not just the crap parts and the time wasted at face value, but also the time you waste diagnosing because you're think, "It can't be that, I just replaced that." Like me last week; can't be that low mileage NAPA starter that just worked perfectly 1 mile and 10min ago, and has been working flawlessly since '05/'06 when I put it in.
 

87scotty

Full Access Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2015
Posts
1,087
Reaction score
319
Location
Central il
First Name
Andrew
Truck Year
1987
Truck Model
V20
Engine Size
5.7 for now
10 years out of a starter doesn't sound to bad lol but I feel ya but nobody would go to the dealer and pay 10x the cost of the cheapos
 

foamypirate

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2010
Posts
3,302
Reaction score
456
Location
Central TX
First Name
Jake (Mr. Wilson)
Truck Year
1980
Truck Model
El Camino, baby!
Engine Size
5.3L/4L60E
It really sucks how bad some of these parts are. I have a little less than 4K on this caliper and that's why I thought it was the wheel bearing.

x2.

I just went through a circus with a brand new brake drum on my 14-bolt FF (and if you've ever worked on a 14-bolt, you know it's not a cake walk to change drums...). I did one side with all new shoes, hardware and new drum, and drove it, and everything was great. Did the other side the next day, and took it for a drive, and thought the truck was going to fall apart. The new drum on that side was so far out of round it was grabbing hard enough with each rotation, that it felt like the truck was wheel hopping.
 

austinado16

Full Access Member
Joined
May 25, 2012
Posts
611
Reaction score
222
Location
Central Coast, CA
First Name
Todd
Truck Year
1990 w/307k miles on the clock
Truck Model
GMC V1500 Suburban SLE
Engine Size
5.7L TBI/4L60/3.42's
10 years out of a starter doesn't sound to bad lol but I feel ya but nobody would go to the dealer and pay 10x the cost of the cheapos

Yep, I can't bitch too much that a starter lasted 10yrs, except for the fact that it's had so little use....and had I had a properly working VOM, it would have been a 5min diagnosis, instead of the event it wound up becoming.
 

HotRodPC

Administrator
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Aug 29, 2010
Posts
47,128
Reaction score
9,299
Location
OKC, OK
First Name
HotRod
Truck Year
85 K20 LWB
Truck Model
Silverado
Engine Size
454 - Turbo 400 - 3.73
Crappy Reman parts and all the horror stories I hear, is exactly why I prefer to look for rebuild kits and reman my own ****. Though I am sad to hear Napa parts are losing quality too. I notice Napa isn't as expensive as they used to be on many things. It must be that the Discount Auto Chains were hurting them because don't shop quality, they shop price. In turn to stay in bidness, Napa probably is going down the tubes in quality too to get their prices down.

MOST, not all, but most of these Discount Auto parts reman stuff is just replace what it needs and put it back together. Or, it's done in high speed volume where tolerances aren't checked on cores and the housings are used anyway when they should have been tossed. Almost just makes me want to suck it up when I can afford it and buy brand new.

For our old trucks, as far as starters go, I'd rather take my chance and go to a DIY Pull A Part and get a starter off of a GMT400 95 or later truck and get the high torque starter. If and when it goes bad, then you at least have the high torque core to either build yourself or trade in for a reman.

I hear lots of horror stories on reman steer gear boxes. I think I'd rather take my chances getting a used one from a DIY yard also. Like a *******, I've scrapped a few power steer boxes with the truck bodies I've gotten rid of and I know for a fact at least 2 of them worked perfect and didn't have any slop. I hope I don't regret that someday.
 

silverscottsk10

Full Access Member
Joined
May 8, 2013
Posts
2,680
Reaction score
1,069
Location
trafalgar indiana
First Name
mike
Truck Year
1985
Truck Model
k10
Engine Size
350
Not a thing [emoji22]
I have yet to get a rebuild kit for the 350....I miss my truck
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
44,168
Posts
950,779
Members
36,283
Latest member
Cantrell299
Top