Chevy & GMC Vans

getting the 88 shorty ready for Pull-a-part, yesterday, I emptied all the RV parts I had been storing in it (old broken vans make great mini sheds....) pulled the exhaust off, including converter and called it a night. This evening I took a sawsall to the rear hinges, pulled the back doors off, along with front seats (red/maroon? corduroy material) non reclining but nice condition, destined for either the 94 (sd2brv)(with swivel bases) or the 86 Class C yellowstone Cavelier (no place to swivel to, but current seat are heavily worn, armrests broken) also pulled the storage compartments over the wheel wells, along with plastic enterior trim (if anyones looking for some)

If its not raining tomorrow evening, I'll pull the driver door, sliding door and maybe starter and alternator. I think thats all for me, anyone looking for anything else, let me know before Fri afternoon, hoping to have it gone by then or first thing Sat Morning at the latest.

trybe13 wrote:Swapped out the passenger side dash speaker for one that doesn't have a short in it. Washed, waxed, polished rims, and drove it to the drive in for my Monday night @ the movies. Woohoo!!

what is this "washing' thing you speak of?

Grumpy: Played 3 distributor shuffle. Pulled the dist from 25% Off out. Installed Green's, test drove, and had the van return to just throwing the P0302 code. Decided the Green's dist wasn't any better than Grumpy's original, so I put Grumpy's back in. Whole lotta work for zero result.

Next step compression testing.

cleaned out 90% of the 'rolling tool shed' .. aka the 93 dumped everything into the basement to reorganize

got busy working and running errands for son and daughter.... didn't get anything done on vans.... just more thought about future plans for 94.....

changed alt pulley back to stock. is it possible to get a pulley smaller then the stock one?

I did a little running around the last few weeks, both short and somewhat long. While doing so, i've been monitoring my new trans temp gauge. As I mentioned a few months ago after my initial installation, it seems to take the tranny a great deal of time to register on the trans temp gauge, I'm not so concerned about that. What concerns me is once up to temp, it runs 30° hotter than the engine, especially around town. That doesn't seem correct.

On average, the engine is (guessing approximately) 165° and the trans is 195°.

Those temps sound right for 30" BFG's and 3.23 gearing. That combo adds a lot of stress to the tranny. I will bet your engine is running 195 to 198 as well if you have the stock thermostat. I know for sure the SPB shows around 165 and the engine runs right at 195 when looking through the ECM with a scanner.

I'm with Dean, that combo is on the luggy side of the equation, higher engine temps have to cool off somehow and transfer that heat somewhere which is going to be into the rad which in turn heats up the tranny fluid running thru the side tank, i know you are running a aux tranny cooler but if its plumbed inline then its efficiency will be reduced a little,but keep it under 200 and you should be o.k

looked at rear doors for the 96 Safari, one of the thousands of cash for clunkers..... 98 maroon astro conversion, body was real nice front and rear bucket seats, still in nice shape, it's a shame someone didn't just sell it, but if they got $4500 for a 98, I guess it was a good deal, except for the fact that the $4500 had to be spent on new vehicle.

rear dutch doors and hopefully the custom running boards will be off it tomorrow. I'll make an offer on the rims and tires too, but hopefully they'll hold them for a week or two, until some cash comes in.

pulled the front doors off the 88, leaving the slider and rest of the van... starter looked like crap, engine is locked up, so left it alone too.

would have pulled the rear benches out, but I really don't have anything to put them in.

boneyard is getting a good body (shell anyway), possible scrap motor, engine parts (started, alternator, water pump), no idea what condition to trans is in, stearing and suspension and that's about all that's left.

I need another wrecker run soon... just to wander. Jen calls the wrecker my 'candy store'

talked to my boss about some caprice wheels and tires that he had sitting in the back of the shop, they are now mine. they came with the 96 impala ss that he bought, then sold. he forgot to let the rims/winter tires go with it. pic below of the style, I think i'm going to put them on the 93 while I refinish the rims that are on it. hopefully, they bolt right up, bolt pattern is correct, just wonder about the hub diameter. two of the winter tires have around 45% and two around 98% tread. nice. might paint them all black except for the center caps... ?

crash if you happen to notice any 11 drum backing plates feel free to grab them for me

drove to work all is good..... for now.....

Green yesterday and today: Put everything back together w/ an O2 defouler hoping to limp it over to emissions and then renew it's plate. Got it back together too late for the emissions run thanks to quitting early last night due to rain and getting up too late this morning. Good news is, that it's no longer setting code due to the cat. Bad new is, I think the battery sat too long and is shot.

crash wrote:I need another wrecker run soon... just to wander. Jen calls the wrecker my 'candy store'

talked to my boss about some caprice wheels and tires that he had sitting in the back of the shop, they are now mine. they came with the 96 impala ss that he bought, then sold. he forgot to let the rims/winter tires go with it. pic below of the style, I think i'm going to put them on the 93 while I refinish the rims that are on it. hopefully, they bolt right up, bolt pattern is correct, just wonder about the hub diameter. two of the winter tires have around 45% and two around 98% tread. nice. might paint them all black except for the center caps... ?

the caprice wheels should bolt right up.

I checked the oil and coolant in my 92 today.

Drove 759 miles, and got 20.1 mpg. What a day. It's good to be home. Jim