Green Beater

[Jeramy]

im tellin ya in the end i wish i had just done the ls swap

[Liltroy]

I actually weighed the cost of a new sbc and 700r4 against the cost of a LS swap and the benefits of each and came to the conclusion that a LS swap was the right path for me but everyone and every situation is different brother.

[Liltroy]

Of course the fact that I have no intention whatsoever of ever selling the truck played a big role in that decision as well. ��

[Matt Man]

If I didn't have to smog my truck I would consider a ls. I just don't have the funds for doing it the smog legitimate way, I would have to take it to a referee ect.

[Jeramy]

well going to pull the thm350 out tomorrow after work and rebuild it over the weekend. i have a friend that runs a transmission shop and he said bring it over saturday and he will walk me through it but i have to do the actual work myself

[Jeramy]

so my friend at the transmission shop lied. he didn't let me do a dang thing lol

trans is rebuilt and already back in truck. haven't drove it yet other than to back it up and clean up my mess at work. but i can say that reverse works a lot better lol. Wife is going to drive me back to work tomorrow so i bring it home..

told her that i guess i need to start looking for something to trade it for and she threatened to divorce me lol

[Liltroy]

thats gettin er done!!!

[Jeramy]

it is oh so nice to have a proper reverse gear again.
i also backed my timing off a couple of degrees and engine is running even better. still need to lean out carb a little but i am really enjoying driving my truck right now

[Jeramy]

truck is running good. headers are leaking, of course, so need to fix that. also need to get around to replacing turn signal cam and turn signal lever that have been riding around in my front seat for two weeks.

[Jeramy]

last weekend i tore apart the steering column to repair idiot damage by the previous owner.
ignition switch was mounted wrong making it where truck would only start with column straight and they took out and threw away the turn signal cancellation cam. replaced the broken turn signal lever while i was at it.

put in 2 new u joints today. as far as i could tell truck still had factory u joints and rear one had started popping/snapping.

[Hankster]

Factory u-joints? wow!

[Jeramy]

Been having some issues with the truck here lately. Mainly idle issues plus my brakes suck and i am going to admit why.

I chose way to big of a camshaft for the engine.
231 duration @.050 and .480 valve lift.
engine only has 9 to 1 compression.

I knew better and even told myself not to do it but i already had it so figured what the heck. Now i need to pick another cam and do a weekend swap...hopefully with out having to pull engine to do it.
Recommendations are greatly welcomed

rest of engine as follows
9 to 1 compression
stock bore
2 bolt main stock bottom end
1992 swirl port heads
dual plane intake
hei dist.
headers

th350 trans w/3.08 rear gears

[Jeramy]

truck sees mostly high way driving at "about" 55 with some light hauling.
i am eye balling the cs1014r cam or one near that spec

http://www.fme-cat.com/overlays/part...aft&brandId=SD

[bmchevy1979]

http://m.summitracing.com/parts/cca-12-234-2
I am running a comp xe256 in my 350 and it runs great and has a good operating range they say idle to 5500 but it's more like 1200 to 6500 I plan on putting motor in a 2wd when I get one but I have put nearly 25000 miles on it in a lifted 4x4 and had no issues with idle or brakes. I have had an auto trans and now have a 4spd behind the motor and it's likes both. Also it will work with all of your 4bbl carb options q-jet, holley, or edelbrock.

[SkinnyG]

Originally Posted by Jeramy

I chose way to big of a camshaft for the engine.
231 duration @.050 and .480 valve lift.
engine only has 9 to 1 compression.

That's a lot of cam for 9:1. Is that a Howard's grind?

I have essentially the same grind, 231°@050/0.470"/108LSA/104ICL, and had to do a world of changes to make it work: 10.9:1 compression, Full re-jet of Rochester, aggressive ignition re-curve, different valve springs, high-stall torque converter, deeper rear gears. It sounds awesome, but it's maybe not a truck cam.

Either of the two that were posted would be a LOT better, especially with the 3.08 gears and a stock converter.

[Jeramy]

i like the one Bmchevy posted better than the one i did. will start rounding up parts in next week or so to get this done. This time using my brain instead of my ego to pic a more compatible cam lol. this is one of those things going to be filed in my rather big DA file.

(da stands for yup you guessed it)

[Jeramy]

Cam swap went ok today other than having to buy a new radiator cause my old brass/copper one had split a seam. went with the cr1014r speedpro camshaft. truck runs smoother but still has a nice sound to it, the throttle response is much better at lower rpms now and it only takes one foot to operate the brakes. should have went this way to begin with. on a side note the truck is also quieter with a deeper tone.

[bmchevy1979]

Not to bad thats not far off the cam I mentioned should run good how's the power band on that cam similar to what I mentioned or does it taper off sooner
My truck is mild mannered noise wise until you lay into it then she comes alive. Pissed off alot of hondas when they want to race against a lifted 4x4 and they dont even get a car length on me before I start pulling on them Lol or they never get ahead those are the guys that think they have more top end and I'm already going 55 most of the time I dont even need to to down shift but when that big ass truck comes flying around them at 6000 rpm the look on there face is priceless

[Jeramy]

Originally Posted by bmchevy1979

Not to bad thats not far off the cam I mentioned should run good how's the power band on that cam similar to what I mentioned or does it taper off sooner
My truck is mild mannered noise wise until you lay into it then she comes alive. Pissed off alot of hondas when they want to race against a lifted 4x4 and they dont even get a car length on me before I start pulling on them Lol or they never get ahead those are the guys that think they have more top end and I'm already going 55 most of the time I dont even need to to down shift but when that big ass truck comes flying around them at 6000 rpm the look on there face is priceless

1500-4500 power band. only driven about 60 miles on it but already much improved. sounds really good when you stick your foot in it but quiet enough to put through residential areas at night without feeling guilty or talk to your passenger at a stop light.
hoping for a gain in fuel mileage too. time will tell on that one.

[Jeramy]

quick check in and few quick updates. none of which involve pictures sadly.

late in october i switched out the reman quadra jet for a new 670 street avenger holley. needs re jetted but still improved over the rochester in drivability.

replaced dash speakers as i blew mine. found pair of kickers on sale for 21 bucks. much better.

finally hooked up the lights on my mechanical gauges while i had dash apart to do speakers.

installed new rear brake shoes and resurfaced drums today.old rear shoes had less than 1/8th of inch left.

noticed that if you take my truck over 66 mph need falls to 80 and stays there until you slow back to 55-60. this will need to be addressed as i am in no need of a ticket right now.

[Jeramy]

ok so problem. rear brakes are inactive and can not get proportioning valve to recenter. going to have to pull it off next weekend and see what i can do

[Jeramy]

did not get to touch truck last weekend as planned. instead spent saturday doing brakes on my parents truck. will hopefully get to it this weekend. need to warranty out my starter too as it cranks really slow at times. optima battery test good at 967 cranking amps.

[Jeramy]

rejetted street avenger today. had 65s and 68s in it. moved the 68s to the front and stuck 72s in the rear. off idle bog is gone and partial throttle acceleration is improved. still feels like struggling at wide open a little. need to get a adjustable timing light and see if a distributor recurve is in order.

[Jeramy]

Hurray!!! I now have rear brakes.

I attempted to repair my rear brakes on the 19th but could not get fluid to them. I made sure to recenter the proportioning valve by pulling the light switch out and using a dart tip move valve to "neutral". I began disconnecting lines looking for my stoppage as I moved up stream but ran into a snag when the main steel line would not disconnect from the rubber line at rear axle. The nut had already been rounded by some one and pliers just would not get her done so i buttoned it up and made plans to repair latter. I have not had rear brakes for last year, so what is one more day right?

Well today I cut the end off the steel line and replaced the nut and rubber line.

Still no fluid to be found.

So I moved up front to the proportioning valve and pulled line there.

Nope nothing.

OK, next I pulled the line coming into the valve from the master cylinder off.

Nope nothing.

This made no sense as on the 19th i had bleed at the master cylinder just to make sure it would pressurize.

I put my vacuum bleeder on end of line down at proportioning valve and got nothing.

Finally, being fed up, I pulled the line loose at both ends.

What I found was a short sheet metal screw inserted in the brake line for the rear AT THE MASTER CYLINDER.

Once removed and all lines reattached it took only about 5 minutes to bleed out the rear brakes.

The truck now feels like will stop on a dime.

What I find amazing, besides me taking a year to fix this, was that some one would block off the rear brakes completely instead of spending 15 bucks on some rear shoes. I found receipts in the truck showing all new front brakes being done shortly before I traded for it. Also, I changed my cam for better vacuum because the brakes sucked and on way home today I began wondering if i had found this and improved the brakes would I still have changed cams?

[Hankster]

Glad to hear you got the brakes worked, I by passed my rears so I can't say anything... lol