96 c-1500

[purplebomb302]

I made a thread over on gmt400 when I first got it. I like this place way better than there anyways. This forum reminds me of the mark vii club and w-body forum with its friendliness and family like feeling.

Anyways on to the truck. I took this thread from gmt400.

This is my '96 RCSB Chevy nicknamed Ron Burgundy, that I bought last week tuesday as my new DD. It's got a 4.3 with a 5 speed and has 116k miles. So far I've put about 200 miles on it since I bought it and I absolutely love driving it.

Here it is the day I bought it:



So far I've only had 2 problems with the truck. The first was the clutch master being low and causing a hard shifting problem. I added fluid and it's been shifting just fine.

The other problem I had was the OE radio wasn't keeping memory. I dealt with it until I put my own stereo in it and even then I had problems with it not turning on. I jumped the 12v power wire to the 12v constant power to get it to work. It still didn't keep memory until I worked on it today. I misread the fuse block and thought it had no power. Well it turned out that I was missing the fuse.



This is the stereo I put in:



It's a sony Xplod CDX-700hd which I like. My last stereo that I had for 5 years was a Pioneer and when I got my sub and amp for Christmas, the output for the amp didn't work so I took this out from my '88 Mark VII. I also put the Sony speakers I had from the dash of my '95 S-10. Hopefully this weekend I'll put the pioneer door speakers in this weekend.

The rear speakers I put today:



The old speakers I took out:



Here's some pics I took today before I went to work:









The tailgate has some clearcoat peeling on the upper left portion. There's also a Rust spot in the Chevrolet banner. Maybe before the fall I'll see about getting it fixed. Most of what'll be done to the truck will be on a tight budget.

Last week I had ordered new tails and they came in and got installed Thursday.





I also put in a new chime module from a 93 caprice but it left the seatbelt light on. So I got another from an 88 caprice in the yard that doesn't do that.

OE chime module



93 caprice chime module



88 caprice



I also installed the Camaro needles I had laying around from a 93 or 94. They required modification to go on. I think ones from a 96+ will work without modification but I'm not sure.



And the photo shoot I did last week Sunday when it was nice out.

[Ziggy]

Cool truck! I'm going to be looking for one very similar in the next year or so.

[Piece-it pete]

I like it!

Pete

[purplebomb302]

Cool truck! I'm going to be looking for one very similar in the next year or so.

Thanks! I've always liked Chevy trucks.

Right now I'm putting dual exhaust on it. The GM decided that I didn't need an alternator while I was running to get an exhaust part today. So I had to throw on the intermediate pipe on so I could get to work and get an alternator for the GM.

[purplebomb302]

Since I bought the truck I haven't had an antenna. Well I did but the mast was sitting in the cab and the rest didn't work so well sitting inside the fender. The truck was in an accident sometime before I bought it and whoever put the new fenders in never bothered to put the antenna back so now I have a hole in the fender where it used to be. It was a bitch to try and get up in there to put it back in the right spot. I couldn't do it without taking the fender off and said screw it.

So for Christmas I asked for and got this:


It works pretty well. Now when I travel farther than 15 miles I won't lose the radio. Also, I just figured out I can hook up a USB external HDD to the radio. I've got a 1TB seagate for my PC in the house. So maybe today or tomorrow I'll pick up another and load up the 13GB of music I've got.

[purplebomb302]

I bought a new shifter for the truck from a place called core shifters. I got everything for $250 shipped. I found out through the gmt400 forum that gm doesn't make the shift tower anymore. Core makes that part then gets the rest from hurst which is cool.

Here's what I got shipped to me:



My buddy has my truck now to put in the sway bar end links, put 2 new tires on the front, align it and inspect it for me. So I'll probly install it Sunday.

[purplebomb302]

Got the new shifter installed on Sunday. What a difference! Nice short shifts. Now the truck is fun to drive again.

Here's some pics of the install.









And the final result

[marquisman]

Much better!

[purplebomb302]

I bought some new wheels for the truck today and just put them on.



They came off of a Mark III truck which has the running boards and fender flares.

I haven't really done much with it in a long time. A couple months ago I made a harness for the trip computer I have that I got out of an overhead console from an S-series. I don't have a headliner in the truck cause it's a base model so taking the whole console would've been pointless. And I don't feel like putting one in.

Oh and last month I took it to the local shitty dragstrip for amateur night. Best I ran was 10.9 in the 1/8th mile. I made about 5 runs and was consistent with 11.3. Not bad for a 4.3.

[pantera77]

Those rims looks great!

[88Vic]

Good looking truck.

Here's mine:



It needs a lot of work. It has the TBI 305/5spd. Mine shifts rough, had the fluid changed and no difference, probably could use a new throwout bearing and clutch forks. It's also dead, alternator is shot so i'm waiting to get motivated to put one in. The old 305 runs fine but it's low on power, I put 3" single exhaust with a Magnaflow muffler on it and highflow Thunderbolt cat, and I think that killed it's low end. I'm thinking of putting a Thrush Welded on it to give it some low end back with the added backpressure.

Also if you like that body style, here's my 99 Suburban:



No the alignment isn't off, the driveway is slanted down and sideways.

[purplebomb302]

Those rims looks great!

Thanks!

Good looking truck.

Here's mine:



It needs a lot of work. It has the TBI 305/5spd. Mine shifts rough, had the fluid changed and no difference, probably could use a new throwout bearing and clutch forks. It's also dead, alternator is shot so i'm waiting to get motivated to put one in. The old 305 runs fine but it's low on power, I put 3" single exhaust with a Magnaflow muffler on it and highflow Thunderbolt cat, and I think that killed it's low end. I'm thinking of putting a Thrush Welded on it to give it some low end back with the added backpressure.

Also if you like that body style, here's my 99 Suburban:



No the alignment isn't off, the driveway is slanted down and sideways.

Those are both really nice.

I forgot to mention that I never put the summit racing exhaust on since the tails wouldn't fit. So I put a side exit exhaust on. It's a 3" from the cat back.

[88Vic]

Already got you beat son:



It's 3" and 2.5" dual out 18" Magnaflow muffler. I wish I had gone 2.5" single or gone with a Thrush Welded muffler, this setup flows too much for my stock 305. Also should have turned the tips sideways and made them flush with the side, oh well.

[purplebomb302]

I like that 88vic. I've got a 3" in/out thrush welded 2 chamber muffler. I love the sound of the thrush on my 4.3. I think it's got a nice throaty sound. I thought about putting a tip on it and having it flush with the bed but I didn't feel like doing it.

Next saturday I definitely have to do the pitman arm. With the wider tires I can feel how much worse it is than with the stock wheels/tires. If I have time I'll also try to get my trip computer installed.

[88Vic]

What brand are those taillights? Mine are pretty foggy and if those aren't too expensive i'll just replace rather than try to work on the stockers.

Also how are the brakes? Mine feel spongy, pedal goes down at least 1/4 before it'll start to grab. Being a manual it's not a huge issue since I engine brake a lot but I do want to fix it before it becomes an issue. I've changed the front pads/rotors and hoses plus a fluid flush. I still need to have the rears rebuilt, I had them done on my Suburban and the pedal became noticeably stiffer. I'm afraid I might have to replace the master cylinder and/or booster. Gonna try the rear drum rebuild first, have the fluid flushed and bled again and see how well that does. I just don't want the master cylinder to fail on me, pretty sure it's original and has about 210,000 miles on it.