Pseudo-Resto 96 K-1500…Um, when was this a good idea?

[btfarm]

[QUOTE="Paveltolz, post: 503226]...
Besides, one more ride in a certain 06 LBZ will probably get the thing drug out of the garage on the hubs to the yard to make room for one of my own...yeah I've been looking around....[/QUOTE]
Do tell...

 

[Paveltolz]

SSForce, being young and impressionable by moderators here at the Truck Stop (btfarm) decided to upgrade to a known to him 06 LBZ. As I had loaned him the ATT and other parts to try out on his 6.5 he brought them by in the new to him Duramax. Now his 6.5 is / was (he's sold it I think) very impressive already, much quicker than mine and you'd think being older and supposedly wiser, I would know better...nope! Being proof positive that growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional, I was foolish enough to willingly hop in the new truck for a ride.

WOW! I haven't ridden in a Duramax in 10 years so I wasn't ready for the first impression of this one. I knew they were 'better' but I had my expectation management calibrated to low so the results were that much more noticeable. I'm pretty sure I didn't squeal like a little girl but I wanted too. To put that much power down, to move out that quickly and to do both virtually smoke free! I'm glad he didn't have the tuner set to MAX or I'd have soiled myself.

So, having tempted me into a few upgrades to my truck to include the ladder bars etc. I was thinking that I should have commanded little Satan (poke at SSForce) to 'Get Behind Me." Instead, I'm now trying to resist the temptation to quit upgrading parts and just go for the whole system. Pricey though and I'd have to dump the Passat, the Tahoe, the surplus army gear, old ski's and such to make the whole thing a smart purchase and finish the 6.5 and sell it. In the long run, it would be be less expensive day to day to do so. Probably put a big dent in my friendship with Bill too (not really). Still....

 

[btfarm]

You could have taken a few other rides along the way - with me for one - and you would already have been in the LBZ every day.
Seriously though, you have a great truck and it has been a good bit of fun for you

 

[SS FORCE]

SSForce, being young and impressionable by moderators here at the Truck Stop (btfarm) decided to upgrade to a known to him 06 LBZ. As I had loaned him the ATT and other parts to try out on his 6.5 he brought them by in the new to him Duramax. Now his 6.5 is / was (he's sold it I think) very impressive already, much quicker than mine and you'd think being older and supposedly wiser, I would know better...nope! Being proof positive that growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional, I was foolish enough to willingly hop in the new truck for a ride.

WOW! I haven't ridden in a Duramax in 10 years so I wasn't ready for the first impression of this one. I knew they were 'better' but I had my expectation management calibrated to low so the results were that much more noticeable. I'm pretty sure I didn't squeal like a little girl but I wanted too. To put that much power down, to move out that quickly and to do both virtually smoke free! I'm glad he didn't have the tuner set to MAX or I'd have soiled myself.

So, having tempted me into a few upgrades to my truck to include the ladder bars etc. I was thinking that I should have commanded little Satan (poke at SSForce) to 'Get Behind Me." Instead, I'm now trying to resist the temptation to quit upgrading parts and just go for the whole system. Pricey though and I'd have to dump the Passat, the Tahoe, the surplus army gear, old ski's and such to make the whole thing a smart purchase and finish the 6.5 and sell it. In the long run, it would be be less expensive day to day to do so. Probably put a big dent in my friendship with Bill too (not really). Still....

What can I say I'm impressionable. Had I known it was ten years since your last D-max ride I should have made you drive it . BIGREDD was a beauty queen but yours has the new power plant and you're skills to make it an amazing rig. Don't get me wrong I would love to see you being taken care of by an LBZ, but your rig is great and you're to the point of ironing out all its wrinkles.


If you are ever looking for a little bit more persuasion I am sure another joy ride can be arranged. Aren't I such an angel haha

 

[btfarm]

He shows up in Illinois again and he's driving.

 

[Paveltolz]

What can I say I'm impressionable. Had I known it was ten years since your last D-max ride I should have made you drive it . BIGREDD was a beauty queen but yours has the new power plant and you're skills to make it an amazing rig. Don't get me wrong I would love to see you being taken care of by an LBZ, but your rig is great and you're to the point of ironing out all its wrinkles.


If you are ever looking for a little bit more persuasion I am sure another joy ride can be arranged. Aren't I such an angel haha

He shows up in Illinois again and he's driving.

I get the distinct feeling I'm being stalked!
Thanks for the compliments on the 6.5...I'll just pretend to be patient and work it all out.

 

[Paveltolz]

No real progress on the truck other than deciding not to get another truck to drive until the truck is ready to drove. That and we are no longer a spark plug vehicle owning family. Traded the 95' 5.7L Tahoe for the Tax, Tag, Licensing and dealer fees and then dumped the Passat (TDI) as well for a 2011 VW Touareg w/ the 408ft lb torque V6 TDI. Still had warranty from factory and goes like a stabbed rat. No more vehicular coin flips, gas vs. diesel, should drove the ________ given the happenings of the day etc.

Old Newer car on the left, Older "new" vehicle on the right. I will miss the color of the Passat though.

 

[btfarm]

Very nice - ummmmmm cars. I would - certainly think TDI if I was getting a - car. But I just don't like driving a - car. Especially trying to get in and out.

 

[Will L.]

I agree,my wife and I both like the lil IDI Benz we have,
But any excuse to use the suburban and we drive it instead. More room and ease of in n out, also vision of road and traffic

 

[Paveltolz]

Getting in and out of this one is much easier than a real car.

 

[WarWagon]

Now that I have a real 6.5 IP sitting on the shelf you should stop by and take Patch for a spin with the high stall converter.

Nice predictable throttle (no electric second guess you electric BS) and rattles plates off the walls in residential neighborhoods.

Even the AC is working decent this year in the 111 degree weather.

Don't forget an injector set for a 6.5 is under $600.00 where Duramax is per each...

Next time I would take the 1993 ANY DAY over a LLY Duramax through Death Valley.

 

[Paveltolz]

Been accumulating parts so I can make some progress one of these days. I've had a piece of RaaMat BTx sitting on the motor for months waiting to go on the firewall so I did that.
Decided to go after the fuel line which I haven't liked the routing I did nor the fuel pressure sender juncture I had in there.

In 2013 with the new motor install I had rubber 3/8 running straight to the IP with a juncture made of brass pieces from Home Depot. T-Block threaded 1/4"NPT with two nipples for in and out and a 1/4 to 1/8 NPT neck down for the Pressure Sender.

Note the lower intake is tapped for boost and AIT sensors in front and boost and AIT gauge senders in the back.

In 2014 I dressed things up (hey, it's me) with Stainless lines...

...and -6 AN fittings only replacing one of the nipples on the brass juncture with a 1/4NPT to -6 AN 90* piece. Looked good but the routing was odd in retrospect (over the top of the wire loom and GP Relay) and the juncture was bulky.


Today I replaced the brass juncture with an -6 AN Male to Male juncture tapped 1/8 NPT for a fuel pressure gauge. $10 from Summit. I used an -AN 6 push lock female connection on the rubber line from the Air Dog. Prior to assembly I re-routed the rubber line under the main wire loom so it now comes up through the valley rather than over the top as before.



I'll put a 10mm stud in the old FFM mounting hole with a rubber hose keeper to steady it all and keep the braided line from removing the powdercoating from the lower intake manifold.

 

[SS FORCE]

Very clean looking. When do you think you'll have it back on the street?

 

[Paveltolz]

Very clean looking. When do you think you'll have it back on the street?

No schedule so no rush. I'm getting a bit antsy to get it done though so I'll pick the small projects like the fuel line and knock them out until time to address the paint which is what started this fiasco in the first place...been bugging me since 2007!

 

[Paveltolz]

Back from supporting another exercise only this one lasted about two months. Ended up in Texas for awhile but no time to visit folks. Maybe next time Leroy. I was in Mississippi for a bit too and tried to link up with TurbineDoc but my schedule wouldn’t permit it there either...260 hrs of overtime... Love and hate this job at times.

Some progress on the suspension. Replaced the Steering Sway Bar Stabilizing Links and Bushings and, of course, ‘since I was in there anyway,’ swapped out the Rough Country Aftermarket Control arms for OEM units with Moog Upper ball joints.

The Sway Bar lings and bushings were a pain given the upper control arms from Rough Country made access to the bolts impossible, That and they were original units so had been on the truck for almost 10 years. So to access the links I had to pop the up ball joints which, of course, messed them up. The bushings were easy enough to remove. After an afternoon of wrangling things around with crows feet, universal joint socket adapters etc. they were out and the new ones in. One of the old links simply twisted in half. Next time, as if, I'll use a saws all and lessen the pain.

Just one question, how tight to get the Stabilizer Links? Does one measure or what?. Answer, look it up! 13 Ft. Lbs. Easy enough. Picture was taken Pre-torque.

The Control Arms were pretty straight forward having replaced the bushings a couple of years ago.
Old Unit, left side:

Moog makes a complete unit with ball joints so it was much easier than the sway bar links. Simply Pop the old ones out, put the new ones in.
Side by Side of the OEM unit vs the Rough Country.


Installed, the right side looks a lot better given the fact that I’ve addressed the frame during this project.



Shocks will be replaced later given they've been in service for too many years.

 

[Will L.]

Alright. Good to see progress.

 

[Burning oil]

Next time. IKWYM about not having enough time.

 

[SS FORCE]

Looking good Paul. Nice to see you here again . I thought you were supposed to be retired??? Either way looks like some good progress. I can't wait to see your rig rolling under its own power again. I'm missing the old 6.5

 

[Paveltolz]

Looking good Paul. Nice to see you here again . I thought you were supposed to be retired??? Either way looks like some good progress. I can't wait to see your rig rolling under its own power again. I'm missing the old 6.5

I keep telling myself I'm supposed to be retired but the job is paying for some needed home improvements and quality of life stuff. As for missing your old 6.5...yeah, right! Unless you've had LBZ repairs to do that required a loan where the same work on a 6.5 wouldn't.

 

[Paveltolz]

Tie Rods today. The old ones are fine and the only thing I needed to do was replace the boots on one of them. I notice grease squirting out of a cracked inner unit so decided that if one had failed I might as well replace them all. Only thing I hated about it was breaking them loose from steering knuckles and the center link. Well, last time I did the job I used anti-seize on the threads and lined the contact surfaces. Also, I torqued them rather than 'going for the gusto' like so many shops do so they popped out without too much of an argument.
Of course the 'while I'm in here' bug bit me so I cleaned them up a little.

The boots are from Energy Suspension and can be had at O'Reilly's for $7 a pair. Beefier than the ones that came with the units which are Moogs.

Doesn't look too bad once its installed.


So, the front suspension is done for now.

Just need to find a replacement front differential (again) and jack that into place with new CV Axles then get the sucker to an alignment shop. Of course, there's the getting it running again thing. I'm going to have to address the fuel left in the tank. Wasn't planning on being down for a year so I neglected to add stabilizer. Probably too late and I'll have to drop the tank and clean it out to keep algae from infiltrating the system. Did I remove the sock last time I was in there....

Looking at plumbing in the FS 2500 filtration system for the transmission since the fender is still out of the way. Anyone know what size the fittings are at the radiator and Auxiliary transmission cooler? I want to use AN-6 all the way through and need the correct thread pitch to purchase the ___ to AN-6 fittings. I understand the fittings at the Transmission are 1/4" NPTs but not so much at the radiator (I have a spare downstairs for checking stuff without making a mess). It isn't 3/8 NPT nor 5/8 non NPT. I have a fine thread 5/8 ish that doesn't work. Another 'Automotive Specialty Part' I'm guessing.

Leroy, I know you'll have an idea.
On edit I got out my tap set and it looks like it may be 5/8th NFI. I'll get a plug at Home Depot and check it out