1991 C1500 in Florida

Scooterwrench said:

Pick up any goodies at the swap meet?

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Nah... not this time. I saw a lot that I wanted, though! Some decent deals on used Edelbrock and other aluminum heads, intakes, carbs, and stuff like that. I didn't bring a lot of cash (so I wouldn't spend a lot of cash... ). My brother and I don't get to spend a lot of time together, so this was more about hanging out and talking.

Last night i only had about an hour to spend in the garage. Got the replacement inner fender well and battery tray installed, put the right front wheel back on it, and got it back on all 4's. Then we had stuff to do...

Hoping tonight I can finish up the battery cable install, get some coolant in it, and then fire it up to check for leaks.

Well, I got the cooling system and battery cables wrapped up. Filled the coolant up through the heater hose that goes into the intake manifold in an effort to get as much in the motor as I could. Filled it until the radiator was about half full. Reconnected the heater hose to the heater core, got the cables done on the battery and fired it up.

I let it run in the garage, with the radiator cap off for about 45-minutes to an hour, until the coolant quit going up and down in the radiator. I was also running the AC the whole time. Once the level steadied out, I topped it off, put the cap back on the radiator, and filled the overflow to the HOT level. With the 195 degree thermostat in it and the AC blasting the whole time, it never got over 205 degrees on the Autometer gauge. I also noticed that it does seem to run a bit leaner at idle, at that temperature. The exhaust doesn't smell as rich.

I'm also happy to report, no leaks anywhere, either!

Here are some pictures:

The engine compartment all back together. I know... at some point I'm going to have to pull the left inner fender and repaint it to match the right one...


The fitting for the temperature gauge that pretty much started this last fiasco. Thank God it's not leaking!


The replacement battery tray is pretty hard to see. I replaced the positive cable and had to do some insulating and rewiring along with it. This is in preparation for the sub woofer that will be going in it next...


Here are the gauges after about 45-minutes of idling in the garage. Oil pressure and temperature are plenty acceptable to me. This is with the AC cranking too.


Tomorrow evening, I plan to run some errands with it and see how it does in traffic. I don't anticipate any issues. Maybe this weekend I'll see how my son likes cruising around in it, too.

FLGS400 said:

The fitting for the temperature gauge that pretty much started this last fiasco. Thank God it's not leaking!

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Secure that plastic oil line! When I was at the race track last month, a Ford Ranger came into the pits on fire. Their plastic oil line for the gauge had shifted and rubbed on the header. Fortunately we spotted it and they fixed it.

Don't trust it to stay where it's at, make it stay where it's at.

Thanks Erik, but that is actually just the sheathing on the water temperature gauge line. The oil pressure line is copper and is on the other side...

FLGS400 said:

Thanks Erik, but that is actually just the sheathing on the water temperature gauge line. The oil pressure line is copper and is on the other side...

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Good job man. Only use I've found for plastic oil pressure line is filler for the trash can. Did you put a couple loops in it to allow for engine movement?

Scooterwrench said:

Good job man. Only use I've found for plastic oil pressure line is filler for the trash can. Did you put a couple loops in it to allow for engine movement?

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Thanks! No loops, but there is plenty of room up top for a little engine movement. My Buick is set up similarly, with the same gauge/cup/line combination.

All the old cars and trucks that had factory mechanical gauges always had a few coils in both the oil line and temp gauge tube just like the coils in the brake lines. Those coils allow flex so the lines won't break off at the fittings. I found out the hard way on air boats. They vibrate and shake everything off.

Got the console permanently installed tonight. On one of my EZ Pull excursions I scored the rear mounting bracket and hardware for it. Since I purchased the truck, it's just been sitting between the seats. First I measured a lot on the console and floor, after I got the console positioned where I wanted it. Marked off the rear drill points first, on some masking tape, made sure there was nothing under it to drill through, drilled the holes, and mounted the rear bracket to the floor:



Once that was done I taped up the carpet where the front bolts would go, put the console in the bracket, centered it up, marked where to drill the holes, checked again underneath, drilled the holes, reinstalled the console, and bolted it in for good.


All in all, it was pretty easy to do.


After that was done, I started the installation process for the Sound Ordnance powered 10" sub. Had to drill another hole in the firewall for the amp power wires. That's as far as I got. Damn it's hot out there!

I really need to quit messing with this thing and drive it...

Man it looks awesome!! Haven't been here in a minute or 2, been working on mine, love the engine bay, the colors are great, the AutoMeter gauges are just killing it, love them!!!

Oil/Temp lines look great as well, glad there holding they're own and not trying to mark there territory every time you shut it off!!

You aint kidding HOT, we hit 104 again today!! Just zaps the energy right out a guy, wanted to finish the last little details on mine for the rear and then move to the front and get that done after work, but there's always tomorrow...

Did the seats come in the truck when you bought it? The material on them looks great!!