Chevy & GMC Vans

Thanks for the pics, Strover.

Today I greased all the zerks, and rotated my tires. My old man's air compressor didn't want to start up, and I fried two circuits somehow. Breakers didn't trip. Ended doing it by hand with a headlamp. I hate working on vehicles this time of year. It's cold as balls and there's very little daylight.

Did this a little while back. New brake rotors and bearings.

Look at that rust.. It was definitely time to change........


Untitled by leadtrombone, on Flickr


Untitled by leadtrombone, on Flickr


Untitled by leadtrombone, on Flickr


Untitled by leadtrombone, on Flickr


Untitled by leadtrombone, on Flickr

The rotor/hub off of the spindle. Cleaning up for the new ones.


Untitled by leadtrombone, on Flickr


Untitled by leadtrombone, on Flickr


Untitled by leadtrombone, on Flickr

There was still a ton of material on those rotors.

timelessbeing wrote:There was still a ton of material on those rotors.

And Pads too...

If it ain't broke...

Jim

You should paint all non-pad contact surfaces with flat black high temp paint. That's what I do and it keeps everything rust free.

The pics didn't show quite as well how pitted and rust filled the disc surface was.

The right wheel bearing had come loose before so i decided to do those before they went out. And i was a bit uncomfortable with the rustiness of the rotors...

Better to do it now when i have the chance then later on the side of the road eh...

But it was a fun job... mostly... and it only took me the quoted time that the local shop was going to charge me for it..


:P made me feel good..


Next.. on to the ball joints

Yesterday, I stopped by the junk yard and acquire a tensioner pulley and the hardware from an idler pulley, then combined the parts into a AC Bypass pulley and installed it on Green.

Don't know if I'll bother fixing the AC later or not.

I bought a roof hatch for it.

Found out that at least one of my vans will be driven to Alaska this year. My goal is to take Grumpy.

Had 2 new tires fitted at Firestone. Went with the PrimeWell PS850 205/75/15 at $67 each I had to!....I dont normally like doing cheap tires but I have to say, so far im very impressed with them. The van drives really straight, smooth and steers beautifully for an 1989!!...very happy I am, they seem to be better that the Hankooks that were on before.

Also I changed the oil/filter, decided to try some high mileage Pennzoil 10W40, normally i just buy the cheap Supertec from Walmart...so far all is well, running good. Wjile the oil was draining, i went around all of the grease nipples on the front end, wow what a difference in the steering!...those idlers really do love lots of grease!

Its pretty much looking like im gonna keep this van, its a "known vehicle" to me which is worth a lot.

Does anyone have experience with Maaco paint jobs??...good, bad??..

oldsmoker wrote: Does anyone have experience with Maaco paint jobs??...good, bad??..

Maaco did mine ten years ago, a fine job, $1500 to replace drivers side barn door and many dings, most from the inside out. The color was pepto pink so when I got a white van back I was pretty pleased.

Maaco paint jobs are sometimes a crap shoot... depends on the location and how well it is run. I have seen bad Maaco jobs and I have seen fantastic Maaco jobs. Ask the shop to show you some of THEIR work and be sure it was done by the prep team and painter that is going to shoot you van not someone who worked there 6 months ago.

a local Maaco did the paint on my grandmothers 91 Lumina that i repaired, did a pretty good job and the gave a good warranty on the paint.

see the Project Deer Slayer thread in "off Topic" for pics

thanks for the paint advice, chaps! Id kinda like to find a small independent place that is more personal about the whole thing, i find Maaco very much the opposite. Maybe i just need to try different branches and get a feel for them.

Just got back from putting a bone yard transfer case in my '04 AWD Cargo..As I'm driving along I'm thinking this thing is perfect, I've never driven one this smooth. THEN I think "Oh Crap, the front wheels probably aren't even being ingaged" so I pull off the road on some snow and HIT the gas. Of coarse it spun but at the rate I shot out of there the front wheels had to be doing their job. I'm a happy camper.