1988 S15 GMC Build/Resto/BS

Well, Not much has been updated on the truck. I'm tying up the wiring now, made a new wiring diagram after hours of research. Been one hell of a headache trying to keep this EFI. Almost wondering if i should've gone with a Holley Sniper EFI unit, and been done with all the wiring i had to do.
Oh well to late for that now. Hopefully this week we'll be able to fire it off!

 

Picked up some bucket seats at the local wrecking yard. They fit great, just need to get them reupholstered.
Feels good to be able to start putting the front end back together.

To-do list:

-Talk with Black bear tuning to get my PCM running correctly ( a bunch of stuff needs to get turned off )
-Exhaust, from headers back.
-Finish up interior
-Finish tightening up the front end so we can set it down again.

that's the gist of it but, each one of those entail a lot of man hours..

 

Hole in the floor patched, and carpet laid in! interior is coming together.

 

Super slow progress on the truck. Been crazy busy at work, and just being generally unmotivated to work on it.

But we're back at it with full force. Just sent the PCM in for blackbear to tune it, Exhaust shop scheduled for next week to get the exhaust done.
Radiator is mounted in now, the 86 corvet rad I'm using required a bunch of cutting on the support so I could inset it far enough for the fans to fit and not hit the water pump pulley
Didn't realize how expensive fans were till I went searching. Amazon had the best price on a set of Flex-a-lite 420 fans + Free shipping.
Started my plumbing for my transmission cooler and lines.
This was an expensive week for me
Getting excited on the project again though, ready for it to be done

 

Some pictures of progress.

Also picked up another 1988 s15, slammed with a 4.3L 140k on the ODO runs like a champ, and is my new daily driver.

 

First time the truck has been on the ground in about 6 months. with the 3 " drop springs in the back, and the heavier engine in the front the truck sits exactly level all the way around.
I need to figure out how to drop the front 1" or raise the rear 1". I'd like a little rake, and i'm not partial to either lifting or dropping it.
Truck is also going to the exhaust shop today to duals put on.

 

Bit of an update on the truck.

-Exhaust got done, 2.5" duals with a magnaflow and no cats.
-Electrical is finished, truck is turnkey starting and running now.
-Rear roll-pan installed to get rid of that ugly diamond plate.
-Almost finished interior.

I was finally able to take the truck out and drive it around last Friday. I was dumb, and forgot to charge my Gopro so as soon as I took off the camera died.
This thing is absolutely crazy light in the rear end, traction is non existent at 1/4 throttle +, on take off.
This is the first vehicle I've ever driven with manual steering. At sub 5 MPH it sucks ass, as soon as you start moving it handles like a dream. At freeway speeds, I felt way more in-control than my power steering truck.


A few problems after my hour long test drive.

-I need to figure out a better way to accurately read my MPH instead of just my phone GPS. Kills my battery to quickly, and i'm not 100% confident in the accuracy.
The original gauge cluster had a manual speedo, and the 4l60E is electric. I've been looking around to see if someone makes a unit to connect the two, so my speedo will work.
looks like JEGS that run make an adapter.

-I had two codes thrown, one is for vacuum leak, and the other is for my Ignition control module.
-The seal on the tailhousing of the transmission where the driveshaft connects to is leaking, not badly but still enough I might as well change it for cheap insurance.

Next test drive, ill make sure my gopro is charged for burnouts
(picture is from when I dropped it off for the exhaust to get done. at the beginning of November)

 

First real test drive on the truck. Its running great, took it to work which is a 30mile trip from my house one way.
70MPH at 2380RPM, I guess time will tell what the MPG will look like.

I still have to swap over the new rims and tires, and finish the interior up. But I shouldn't have anymore mechanical wrenching.

 

I'm also debating now that I see how the truck sits to drop the front 2" with a spindle, and maybe 1" in the rear with a block or something. thoughts?

 

well the truck had a bit of a hiccup.
I forgot to torque the flexplate down when I was reassembling everything.
The truck developed a weird vibe which is how i diagnosed what went wrong.
took about 2 days and maybe 4-6 hours? Had to slide the trans back and it gave me maybe 3-4 inches to work with. I got a new heavy duty flexplate, and i got lucky that the dowel wasn't warped.
Trucks been running solid now for about 3 weeks since that mishap. I still need to go over every bolt i touched and re-torque it all.

I put new tires on the truck 2-18-21
I have 2" drop spindles to install and Belltech sport shocks
Also have a 1" block drop for the back. Should give me a 3/4 drop on the truck.

 

I liked it at stock height but it looks good lowered too

 

It definitely hugs the road now, and i have to be careful over speedbumps
I like the look, i wish my tires filled the fenderwells more for a more flush look.