barry G's 1996 gmc 4x4 5spd

GPGuy · April 13, 2015

Should be saweet once you get through it all.

barry G · April 14, 2015

Should be saweet once you get through it all.

I hope so.

I was looking up production numbers, and realized this does have some special traits to hang onto, for enthusiast realms.

the first vortec, and with that the first 5 speed 4x4 to go with it. GM was not out loud with this combo, but for a 4.3 engine. An owner had to speak up to order it.

I then found, the getrag/nv 3500 has a 32 spline transfer, instead of 27. nothing for us to notice, but interesting change to mention.

without an automatic tranny cooler, the radiator is that much bigger.

I found a few more tidbits for the doors, and going ahead with custom cross sills, most likely bed hacked off (I don't think those bolts are going to be friendly).

and another layer of rockers.

will update as summer rolls in.

barry G · April 20, 2015

car fax

by chance got one done. I am in awe.

since 2003, a dealer serviced every year or more than once.

the last list of lengthy changes was 2013, and then it went to the dealer I bought it from.

No lies anywhere.

it really is 345k miles.

Incredible.

the last dealer did something for the engine and mentioned clutch, rear end, and a cv joint.

Easy truck to like.

I added some weld to door pins, the splines do not hold them anymore. It is in that state where the hole is tough to hammer pin through, but not enough to keep it using the new bushings. Next step for those is a rebuild of hinges to tighten holes, or simply new ones. This tack job is tougher than factory, and it gains a little psi on the hinges.

70000 to be exact.

Volt gauge is back up to 14v, the fuel pump took quite some time to get into a free spinning. It was brand new, could have guessed it. I have not looked at a gm dash since 96, it all comes back..like riding a bike. The old setup is worth a photo, the sending unit was burned and still working, and the pump had that sleeve on that makes it too warm, even for maine. No regrets swapping the whole setup.

the gm fluid is just creeping in its new viscosity now, for the nv3500. Getting quieter, more of a synchro modern feeling. That took a few weeks after swapping the old stuff out. I remember this tranny from my days at a quick lube 20 years ago. It must have the real fluid...or else pay the price.

Edited April 20, 2015 by barry G

oldscsc · April 20, 2015

Nice work! Coming together quickly.

barry G · April 20, 2015

Nice work! Coming together quickly.

getting there. I know to go fast with steel measurements creeping their way around...headed for 20 years. I took in a 1980s 10 speed subaru when it turned 20..flalling apart. I wanted a beetle like project. Extremely difficult. This truck is a dream in how easy it is in comparison. for the tin can, 50 pounds of mig weld, my own framing within a unibody. Could stamp the body with my surname by now. I will not be doing a unibody again.

I remember in the 80s, my neighbor slapped a 100 dollar 327 in an 84 shortbox chevy. We was all kids learning it all at the same time. Manual tranny. Flopped over on its roof, a bit too feisty for the learning driver.. Looked like a disaster. In one week, backyard skills, it was back on the road. Chopped the crushed roof off, fixed the bed. Would not know it was a wreck.

My brother years later split a frame the long way, a 1990 3/4 ton. Welded in 20 minutes many times tougher than factory.

So glad to be back in a truck.

The doors on these years...big job to do. I started with those, to keep a shape for hardlines down low.

Now ready for cab mount rubbers and rockers.

I am looking forward to the bed cross sills, and the hatch for fuel with a full box , clever lid. I am thinking air locks like on airplane..but will probably end up going the easiest route. That should be a long day.

other than that, it is just like the modern realm. Looking at suspension upgrades, wheels and tires. For now, all will be fine to get through the tougher stuff.

barry G · April 25, 2015

roller pin and spring

what a powerful job this has. Opted to get it right.

dorman spring, new pin, and got a cheap spring tool.

At another forum, a member measured one from his k2500 with a potentiometer at 230 pounds.

creaking and little snaps, the first thing to notice at the window seam interior. this does more than I thought.

the driver side all fixed up with new pins and bushings for the hinges took 3 trips at 70 miles a piece.

passenger side had this broken roller and no spring at all.

I will be ready for my custom rockers soon enough.

the passenger side is now fixed, has not had a spring in quite some time..but responded right away into the right direction of whatever engineers were doing with it.

here is the top of new pin. this makes it easy for the next time around. they are normally pressed in. I am finding a tack weld on the door pins was necessary on the driver side, I will assume the passenger side will follow that eventually. I have always wanted an electric die grinder with the longer shaft, the tacked pins are a great excuse.

This spring has enough pressure to change grounds nearby. The interior foot well light is now LED in my truck, it had 4 of the 5 SMD cells working. The door spring somehow allows all 5 to light up. Could have been vibration issue, as LED is a small runtime.

positive direction no matter how i look at it.

Edited April 26, 2015 by barry G

barry G · May 3, 2015

1 rocker 2 cab mount bushings

I did not have much time, but got some things done.

made a rocker from stainless, and square tubing to fatten it up some at bottom of door.

one bad cab mount bushing, and swapped the B pillar spot for two new energy suspension version.

rough build up, and left part of a seam unwelded. I am gaining a small measure before tightening it in all at once and make it tidy.

keeping cab bushings perfect is the goal now. I had to order 2 bolts at 130mm.. for the very back bushings. Those bolts are barely alive, I am very lucky it came out. All else is in great shape for the bushings stuff. simply swapping all lower, except for the front. the front gets uper and lower when the time comes.

nice and quiet already, the one fat rocker.

Edited May 3, 2015 by barry G

barry G · May 7, 2015

6 main cab mounts

got all the main mount rubbers in. I am impressed with the factory uppers, they are large. Simply replaced the lowers.

New bolts are class 10.9 grade. The very back mounts needed 130mm..not the 120mm as most do.

Broke a bolt, that delayed 4 hours. Son of a.... welded itself right into the damn nut. Removed back seat for some room. An access panel and a cutoff wheel..added some water to cut down on heat. Shaved the nut down to one eighth tall and earthquaked the parking lot with one big hammer punch to get the old remains out. Right back together.

The back two mounts are the drama for this one.

Better than new. This one needed something more for a long time. My rocker repairs and some back plate refresh, will last a lot longer (aside from using stainless). This had a slight problem. Automatics slipping all that power away allowed for the squishy silly mounts. A manual tranny cannot play that game.

A truck ought to be one anyway.

Cross sills are still a go, and of course finishing off the rockers.

I cannot count all the things these mounts did. Now even the steering floats its ball to performance.

Smelling the system ground change was something I remember from trucks much older than this one. Those cab mounts got some mystery.

overall, the energy suspension lowers are perfect. the uppers are near worthless all the way around, due to dimensions.. will not even attempt them.

The lower mount upgrade is good stuff, for what measured right.

Edited May 7, 2015 by barry G

barry G · May 12, 2015

air conditioning

added some fluid today, check for leaks.

seems the pump is all done, and a high side valve.

excellent prices going remanned, so that will be up and running soon. The electronics in all aspects of this truck is errorless. Not a single error.

the old pump kicked right in, found the leak several hours later...right at the back of pump.

both rockers are now installed, today was the first rains to pummel them. It really needed something extra after all.

both stainless steel, with some overlaps and lamination. My maine version approved.

passenger side rocker has a long unique bend, not enough to tear into the whole thing and start over. My addons welded, more than made up for the old ones...getting old.

Really enjoy driving this. The steering is the old floating ball steering box, with cab mounts stiffened just right, it has a lot more performance. Not an old truck feeling anymore.

With the chores so far, I get on the highway a little quicker. Feels confident. This shoots to 80mph fast enough to giggle at.. 4k rpm and another gear to go.

you can see the rockers from a distance. I had no concern for smooth and beautiful as they get kicked and beaten from all angles. So flat black or a bumpy undercoating that hardens is next, to hide them some.

..and the next generation of the same tire has more of what I wanted. New ones when welds complete. I tend to light up everything during welding...tires do not like it. The cooper discovery at3 has a T rating, but the same 116 sidewall. the truck is limited to an S rating cooper now (80mph) the T rating should do it. I am leaning more towards highway superstar, as this one gets a 75mph speed limit on the fastest highway east of the mississippi to get to bangor maine from the north...70 mile round trips all the time.

Edited May 12, 2015 by barry G

barry G · May 16, 2015

air conditioning pump and switch

got new pump today, installed. Nice to see that clean object there. The engine bay for this one is very nice already. The a/c pump was actually a gross thing to look at. I am also old school and admit it sometimes. This is my first v8 with a serpentine belt. I chuckled out loud at how simple that is to remove and put back on.

I should have guessed the deal on ebay was a bit too cheap..

$109 with new accumulator. No safety switch in the back of compressor like my original does..they filled it with a removable slug.

No problem.

cutoff wheel did good. Gentle operation hacked it out of there.

I found the version of switch was 54 dollars. Half the cost of the new pump...itty bitty switch. I was determined to get it out of there, and knowing it works after testing for leaks. Those have a high and low value to monitor, allows the pump to run. The specific numbers on the factory version..

hard telling. There is very many different versions...and they ALL plug right in. I cannot find it anywhere written simply for us on the internet.

The old pump is still good, but needs the back cover. I did not hesitate to cut into it, a new seal on rebuild will not fix it.. it is warped. There is other parts to keep from it, so I kept the whole thing.

I should have got a photo of the switch.. I can't even find one on the net. Not exactly rare, it has 15 years of gmc.

I have found other versions at o'reillys. They ranged from 15 to 54. The 1 delco, or factory version listed on this truck was the top price.

up next is either refill at home, or go to a local place to do a vacuum and refill.

This one post is basically a savings tip to retrieve the original switch if you can...cut it out if need be.

I did find a photo..

ACDelco 15-50812 High Pressure Cut-Out Switch

This gets many machines. 1990 to 2003...and whatever else decided to use ht6.

the version in my truck is red, maybe color coded for something, and 44 bucks can be found with shipping included. jc whitney etc.

ebay $37.. they are out there. The cost is plain silly. Finding why mine is red is like explaining a true chevrolet ss tail lamps being purple tinted...all factory. From the 60s to to the monte carlo in the 80s..

I think they call that an "egg" a worthless thing to add, but for gurus to notice.

I did take note, specifically for my truck is 54 bucks. Looks just like the one in photo above. Must be pressure number changes, tolerances.

Edited May 16, 2015 by barry G

barry G · July 3, 2015

summer oil change.

4000 miles on the billet filter. You can take it apart see what it gathered, and then clean the stainless 10 micron mesh and magnet, put it back together.

Did not get a picture.. it was interesting.

road salt must have gotten in through pcv, very tiny amount. I determined salt as it washed away from a hard balck carbon appearance at first, disappeared in water to clean the filter.

a tiny amount of an epoxy looking stuff, just as thick, same color as the grey version.. that liked the magnet.

No bearing debris, iron minimal. Very impressed.

Used .5 quart in 4000 miles with 40psi nominal oil, near 60 cold...

Mobil 1 swapped in, 10w30. 39 bucks for 5 quarts. Yikes. the billet filter makes up for it. did not need to buy a filter. I had conventional in it as i have only had this truck 4 months now..did not know if it was going to use oil or not.

Worth the mobil one no doubt. Uses hardly anything. Very quiet engine.

Got passed by a chevy pickup today, the downshift of 2 automatic gears shreaking exhaust and remembering why my 42 year old self wanted the manual tranny v8 since I was 19.

What a dumbass display of power... I do not miss the automatics of many years. Why slip power away into single digits miles a gallon.. ridiculous.

I was eyeballing yukon/tahoe for my other vehicle, and changed my mind after that pass today by a fellow gm owner on my backroad home. As the tortoise and hare go.. I caught up to the same vehicle later on. I do not miss the automatics. I must have said that already.

I have so many miles with gm v8, it all comes back subconscious, and I am only older. almost 20 year gap inbetween with no v8. It all came back. Many miles a day.

I really like this 5 speed and the L30.

To give a clue fo the automatic formula 1 screaming tough guys... the same letter S rated tire on this truck would shred if I got after it with the efforts you dummies put on the throttle.

Kids and chevies... lets hope we all don't get the playpen of runted power at our helm because of them.

Given my local highway is 80 cruising legally (75 on the sign).. the S-rated tires have to go. I am also in need of a real balance on perfect wheels. this one only needs one wheel, figuring that to be lucky. The odometer is at 347k miles right now.

My tire of choice thus far is costly, but it is a good brand T-rated. I do not need LT rating, this is a light duty half ton. I only need a touring looking tread, normal sidewalls with a higher rating than "S". T-rated should do this good. My goal is highway superstar more than mud run. Remembering the smallness of this model 4x4 with the front drivetrain, I know not to break things like I was a noob with a chevy again. Today stuff is wimpy in the front part of the 4x4s. Touring tread will be nice to it.

they are white letterd, and found some great places for this trucks factory wheels. will get photos when its swapped over.

on a unique note.. my locale from january 1 to june 30 has an average temp of just 34 degrees. Two days ago was the first warm day to burn in a subaru engine I built in january. In contrast to a forest fire..this place is heck bent on staying arctic this summer thus far. This does not help tires that need heat either.

Edited July 3, 2015 by barry G

barry G · July 18, 2015

found a leak at the base of the shifter.. after hot day of towing a boat. Not unusual, this tranny is ventless. It has to choose up top.

I thought it got squishy especially for third gear downshifts. Hard to find almost. Hot day and streesing it out.

Awesome power , no complaints.

I got rummaging through ebay, and sure enough there was a brand new billet and stainless high grade genuine Hurst shifter, complete kit for the nv3500, c/k trucks my year.

Reduces throw by 23%.

Of course, I paid too much..but had to have it. I also got a sticker too.

will show the install when it is done.

Several other reasons.

My tall home made extension prevented anyone less than 5 foot 9 putting seat in a good spot.

The base is plastic, this started in 1996.. cost savings or something. This was the squishiness when things get warm.

The last reason was throw was very long. Shorter people do not like that either.

I admired this truck for my many miles in the different years of 305 chevy engines. This last year 1996 is amazing. I had it all..even my back yard hot rod attempt (300hp) . Including the rare H.O. found in a 1984 monte carlo. . I was saddened, as I learned my first vehicles are history until this vortec came along. A genuine hurst shifter on this modern truck.. it is way cool to me.

Edited July 18, 2015 by barry G

barry G · July 21, 2015

hurst installed

did not take long. this fixed problems I did not know existed. The old base spewed fluid, made of plastic, on ahot day. 5th to 3rd was difficult, again hot day only.

5th gear now seems taller, reverse is a cinch to engage. This triggered an ABS light, must be new statics. I felt it change the shape of the top of the case, being billet aluminum.

wow. miraculous upgrade. I am glad to have a need as well as want. Genuine hurst, complete kit for 93+ gmc nv3500. The short throw is very dramatic over oem. I slicked it up with gm fluid before install. Easy shifting.

I am adding a 4 inch extension, and calling this good.

I may flip the rubber grommet to the right direction as well.

no regrets in this purchase. the things it did is way more than classic hot rod short throw. It may have saved the case and 5th gear. Nothing was wrong now, but I sure do notice a change. even the temp gauge for the engine is down some.

barry G · July 22, 2015

obd2 scanner with aBS

I already have a maxi scan tool, cheap one for the ecm. ABS light came on, no blown fuses, the computer making its same noise as always..

plugged in the tool.. nothing shows ABS.

Had to buy another tool, went with maxi scan again.

ms609 has ABS reader.

I trigger to static more times than I can remember in the past 10 years.Ever since I opted to take on welding chores. My locale is quite notorious for doing strange things, being the darkest state in the country, and the coldest.

lightning on a sunny day.

So , will humor what code is triggered, clean stuff off according. I am hoping there is an actual reset. I am sure it would just stay off. Jut like the ECM triggering o2 sensor heater when it was 23 below.

No need of exceeding a nerds limits.

The ABS saved my life on a corner that had ice. A place called the alton woods. It is as if it turned the back end into a circus trick of limited slip, hard switching, and sending chunks of slippery road by my cab windows. Turned me right back onto the main path.

I am hooked on it, will be fixing any errors. That was incredible. Old school functions would have sent me into the forest to be found as a mummified popsicle if that ABS did not do what it did.

Edited July 22, 2015 by barry G

barry G · August 3, 2015

hurst followup

I rebuilt an old subaru, several times.. quite familiar with aluminum alloys changing, internal to external, oxides, amperage.. I have even broken battery negative internally. Sensitive game.

one thing they all did was get harder, and lubricity gains. Not to be confused for perversion.

The nv3500 is doing the same thing, similar time frame as buttoning up heads on a subaru ea82 engine. Good stuff.

The ABS light is not gone off, but have the scanner sailing from the other side of the world.

I needed a 4 inch extension, don't see much of a complaint in my internet wandering with the factory hurst. Must be me and my odd shaped self. I found in hurst history, the dodge at 16 inches is the biggest they made, never made a tall one for a chevy. As it turned out, the 4 inch extend brings it to 16.8 inches, as if to be a normal truck. I guess they were thinking of hot rodders with bucket seats.. up to us to gain a length. Not an unusual height.

also added a sticker, for someone that has not driven it yet.

A trick I am learning is not having to press clutch in hardly any to go between gears... as if to create a cross between dogbox and synchromesh. I have also noticed thermal changes are dramatic, revealed by noise of the bearings. I love it.

The throw is reduced by at least 60%, telling me the plastic base was gone mush box. Not the same as slush box, nowhere near a dog box.. and demanded a lot of slow syncromeshing.

This is my most favorite gm upgrade since a holley slapped on my genuine H.O. 305 monte carlo SS...almost 20 years ago.

Alot of gm is really good to go, I tend to leave stuff alone... unless hot rodding an engine.

Edited August 3, 2015 by barry G