1992 Chevy basket case

if you go leaf under axle thats a 6-7" drop on its own witt stock shackles and hangers, no block needed

well if its any consolation, i bought mine a year ago and ran into issues like yours. it ran rough so i went to replace the distributor plugs wires etc. well after the tune up it wouldnt start. no spark but fuel, next day no fuel but spark. looked under the dash and found the whole harness was fried. sent it off to chevy to have it rewired since they dont make the harnesses. also replaced very electrical companent as well due to everything being shorted out. got it back a year later. ran great happy to have it back. ran it to work, and on the way home got about 1/4 mile from the house and had a rod start knocking. great way to kill my buzz. replaced the motor with a reman, all new everything damn near. now i drive an hour to work, and my o2 sensors took a dump plus i had to replace all six tires at about $200 a pop. ive had the truck a year and dropped about 12k and still need to replace all of my bushings on it and redo the exhaust and o2 sensors. it feels like a money pit to me. plus i just repainted it due to the cholo style lowrider paint job on it doesnt fit me too well as a white boy in el paso tx. i did the paint and body myself after the guy i got it frm owned a paint shop and put about 5 gallons of bondo into the truck. funny thing is, the technician who worked on my truck at chevy was friends with the original owner, and when they pulled the vin up it still had his name. he was upset at the overall state of the truck when he had seen it. slowly gettin it back together and good to roll across the road and not be nervous about breaking down. gonna throw a new tranny in there, replace the u joints etc this summer. stay positive and just put a few bucks into it from time to time. they are good trucks if you stay on top of the maintenance. good luck and god speed to ya.

man it sounds like you're truck used to be a mess! do you have any pics or a build thread or something? it'd be cool to see it!

just for giggles, here's another picture of my truck as it was when I bought it.

The rebuilt transmission goes in today, and once all that's done, measurements are going to be taken for the driveshaft, then both driveshafts and a stack of brand new u joints are heading off to my buddy's drive line shop to get chopped, welded, balanced, and new u joints installed. Hopefully that's the last step in getting this truck back on the road. Of course it doesn't stop there because I have to get my new set of tires mounted and balanced, and make sure the front end doesn't need any work. I'm going to have to putt around in this thing for awhile before I can start doing any major modifications to it.

Oh I almost forgot, today the upper shock mount on the passenger rear is getting replaced, as well as the new belltech drop shocks being installed. The rear passenger shock had blown the mount, and was rubbing on the bed floor! That is definitely getting fixed today. The exhaust is getting completely welded up today, with the new Thrush full weld stage 2 muffler. If everything goes well, and no more surprise repairs grace me with their presence, then I'm going to get new cab corners welded in pretty soon.

I wish I could take more progress pics, but I'm having a lot of friends help me with this, and they are doing a lot of work to the truck, while I'm actually at work at my job. Once all these current major repairs are done, I'll be doing most of the repairs/modifications/upgrades myself. Then I'll be able to take more pictures.

the first two are the most recent ones. the last one is an old pick. got a few pictures with the new motor in it, but its just painted. nothing special. thinking about yanking it out and throwing something different. 2nd 454 and not thoroughly impressed with it.

I don't know that I agree with wanting to get rid of the 454, but I definitely agree with wanting something more or different. I REALLY want to rebuild my engine, slap in a better cam, do a little head work, etc. I can't do that as long as this truck is my only transportation, I need the mpg's! For now I'm going to settle for some bolt on power adders. Do you have an engine for sale?

I've had my truck on the road for about a week now. runs good, shifts great, drives like crap. alignment shop wont touch it because it needs all new ball joints, a pitman arm, power steering gear, and tie rods on one side. AAAANNNNDDD at least 3 of the tires I had put on it are trash, with one humming and hopping so bad it feels like the driveshaft is out of balance. So, there's still plenty of work to be done. I'm getting new front doors for it tomorrow, and hopefully all my new front steering/suspension parts will be here soon too. I ordered all Moog chassis parts. I also order a set of late model Chevy dually center caps. I took my simulators off and painted my steel wheels black. I don't know what it is about duallies, but ever since I painted my wheels black, I get people at work coming in and commenting on it all the time. I'll post some pictures over the next few days. This week will hopefully see the truck with new doors, mirrors, and all new steering parts.

I have a project trailer too, which I dropped off at our local high school to have the fenders and sides welded up. Everything is tack welded into place, and I kept breaking welds when I would hit bumps in the road. I'm also wanting to paint the trailer, it looks ugly as hell like it is. Eventually the truck and trailer will both sport the same black paint job.



It feels like I'm taking baby steps, but I cleaned up a few things on the truck today. A couple days ago I pulled the window tint off. It was the static cling kind, and it was glaring on the inside of the windows, and making it hard to see out the back. Plus it just looked wonky. I also got the Browning and John Deere stickers off the windows, and slapped a little spray paint on the some of the rough areas of the body, to make the truck look a little less ghetto. Even though the changes weren't major, it made me feel a little better about the truck. I desperately need to get the ball joints, pitman arm, and tie rods put on. I also need to figure out how to afford six brand new tires. Here's how the truck looks now. I took this picture this morning. I can't wait to get all the steering and suspension issues fixed so I can focus on bringing that big ol rear end down. It's sticking way out there!

I broke out my driver side window a few days ago. The drivers door was junk anyway. The pins and bushings were way beyond wore out. I had to slam the door just right to get it to shut. The outside of the door was beat up really bad, and the window regulator was broken. I really just needed a whole new door. So, I was messing around with the truck in the driveway, and when I was done, I went to slam the door shut, and the window exploded. It was my fault. I just so happen to know where there were some good doors on craigslist. I got a hold of the guy, and made a deal to pick up the doors the next day. I paid $40 each for two good doors. Everything on them works, there's no body damage sans some minor rust, the windows, handles, and all the electronics work and are in good shape. I made out pretty good on the deal. I'm going to replace the passenger door next week when I get some more time. Once I get the other door on, I'll put my new mirrors on, and I'm going to try and source a driver side fender, as well as hopefully a hood, and then I'll throw the whole cab and front clip in primer.

I'm still saving and scrounging for front end parts. I'm going to put a whole new front end on it, everything will be Moog, or Belltech. I'm going to redo the static drop at the same time, so the truck will have all new ball joints, tie rods, idler/pitman arm, power steering gear, shocks, spindles, and coils. The rear suspension will get notched, with a flip kit, new leaf springs, new shocks, new upper shock mounts, and if I can swing it, some air helper springs. I found a local tire shop to get a brand new set of 6 tires on layaway, which I'm going to pay the deposit on next week. I already have the pitman arm, ball joints, rear shocks, shock mounts, so I have quite a ways to go to get the rest of the parts rounded up. The brand new tires are gonna set me back quite a bit, but I put good used Michelins on it after I got the new transmission installed, and two for sure, but I think 3 of the tires are bad. The truck rides like the tires are egg shaped. They probably are...lol

The baby steps I'm having to take are excruciating. I wish I could afford to just buy a nice truck and then lower it the way I want. But, by doing it this way, I'll have a nice older truck that I fixed up, and it will all be practically brand new anyway!!

Here's how she sits now