barry G

lights and things I broke my new headlamps due to a frigid install, no thoughts on expansion. We only hit 18 below last year, but that is all it needed. I was driving home the other evening.. 34F rain, sleet, ice, thick fog. the brown shade of iron sucking incandescent is on its last legs. going to make an all LED setup for the lamps. Especially low beam. high beam blasts its way at 55w aready. Low beam is terrible. I am going with the DRL halo stuff wired to low beam only, and not parking circuit. Just my choice. Wiring into Parking seems to be the popular vote. I also ordered two hub centric spacers. My GMC is fat in the back after making cross sills my way. I had noticed this from day one of putting the fresh bed back on. The rear wheels are way inside the wells to me. my big booty GMC. I also found an old 305 chevy sticker that goes on air cleaners from the 70s. I put that on my back window. I have many many miles with the 305. The L30 is not the same as the old, being metric and injected (obd2) , it is actually a 306... but who is paying attention anyway.

rare moon 238, 855 miles away average of the time. 221,524 miles in this photo.

222 miles I have not gone on a longer road trip yet... until today. odometer hit 356k a few days ago. I brought a neighbor to the V.A. Togus, the oldest vet hospital in america. 100 miles of it was cruise set to 80 or so. shifting easy, my passenger is a 75 yr old viet nam vet. No problems at all. The fuel turned into the gas sticker on the window 20 years ago. 22mpg. Used no oil. pouring rain revealed passenger wiper was no good, stopped and got one. sailed by rigs with their clouds of water, sailed by a lot of vehicles. Like a rock. Being a vet myself, seemed a mission today. Truck is ready to go anywhere, rides smooth. Back end is stiff in the 40-50 range.. expected something from a half ton anyway in the range of speeds and rpms. the ladder bars have more than my imagination. Am making it a to do list, going ahead with it.

ladder bars I admit being a real builder makes people run away. Run. I don't care. 40 years of these trucks could not get past 300hp without chassis addons. That is also a way to know if an owner was boasting about false numbers. my own teeters at 300hp.. S-walking the diff has been a concern. P-rated tires are no longer an option. Not even factory gauge cross sills are a safe thing. I found ladder bars by tuff country, and may install those with modified frame side ends. Welded instead of tiny bolts. On short wheel base trucks this could make or break the hips, but being at 12feet I won't second guess strong and undoubtable. I may do this as a winter project, if I can fit the back end in the garage.. will see how this goes.

gathering the pieces brought my dads old exhaust from the dealer for him. he went with dealer installed borla catback. stainless. I drove it around, made a little video. a truck this young only happens once. The old iron block does have something to say.. I will always take one in. The new alloys is a new realm...future coming on. Will see how it does. Noticable things are.. a lot more moisture. the iron dries right up in any weather, very fast. The alloy also needs a good warmup to be full power, it is only obvious to the throttle man. will see how it goes in coming months and years. I am still learning my old truck, as the same approach to an old jet to a crew chief. This 1996 must have been a custom order. I did remove the DRL fuse, as it did nothing. this truck has no implementation of any kind. I am searching through RPO codes for a delete number.. but I don't think it has it. did you know the cold starts on these 96-98 has a 1500rpm increment for 2 seconds, a sudden switch down to 1000 rpm..and then the slow drop to full warm idle as it earns it? if not.. time to start dropping the pig called amps every where you can. The ECM is not getting enough. the automatic trucks, with DRL..the suburbans.. those will be quite a chore to get done. I'd still tackle one. this '96 is more robust than the brand new trucks.. the cold starts. Kaboom like start with confidence. The 1500 rpm cold start increment was found after swapping CTSY fuse down to a 5A (my interior is 100% LED). quite a mystery...

lost keys was at a lumber mill 115 miles form home. keys fell out while working a load. 20 years onward.. I went to a dealer, gave my VIN, and proof of owning.. new key from a database in minutes. that made my day. I learned I can even replicate the exact origin to stay in ties with the original database.. whole new ignition, setup like day one. This one is like new already, snug, no sloppiness. No record of it being swapped ever. I found that amazing given the problems of recent years. 20 years and 355k miles. No end in sight. A bit like that nv3500 I was "supposed" to be worried about.

playing with fuses after all the LED swapping.. i forgot i could downsize one more preload.. the fuse box. courtesy lights (interior..maybe cargo?) by factory was freakishly at 20A.. that is now a 5A the parking is getting dropped to 15A from 20. ..and illuminations is going to get a 3A mini fuse if I can find one, that is a 5A for now. Dropped that from a 10A. All battery side chores waiting to work affect cold starts...keeping that down is a direct impact on a more fabulous runtime.

I shared this elsewhere at the forum.. good spot for it here. my dads new rig. not just the 2016 pete.. my old one is off to the left. I use a Sony SLT a35. not to be confused for a gmc trim package.

dads new 2016 of course, I was an influence .. inadvertantly. but hey, I am sure the GMC dealer likes that too. 25 miles on the odometer,. beautiful truck. Drove it for a little while. The most silent 355 horses I have ever had my throttle foot on. Varney GMC, good people. A man named Jeff stayed very real to us..and ross..I got names mixed up. It was a quick 2 partial day interaction. we have been trucks trucks and trucks my whole life anyway. Sales people know that.. especially me and my dad together. my own with the hurst shifter had him asking some questions. Not a common model apparently. My dad mentioned 355k miles... it was a joke to be the king of the lot. As if we became natural sales promoters by being who we are suffering in nature. that must say a lot for american trucks in general. GMC is just a choice, I built my own smallblock when I was young. I made the 305 a champ, before this first vortec came out...mid 90s. I then felt a vibe that never let go... gmc is for me. A funny history unfolded for me. I took in a subaru as a hobby (I am a disabled vet).. the alloy is very troublesome. 1980s nightmares. I then read technical details on this new L83 in the 2016... they conquered every measure I was missing. I'd swear this prophetic stuff just keeps going on like dominoes. I will take in the all aluminum eventually, even in a maine ice fog. GM got it nailed. I also gave my dad a heads up, as carbon-dum-dum (forgive my words, I made it up from one of my subaru builds) builds up in the right places as a protector of the aluminum under fire, the engine will get louder... and of course inspiring to add performance exhaust follows. I know aluminum alloy engines, from brand new to nuclear. My 20th year this year. I'd much rather iron, but so would grandpa. I suppose I can take a dynamical leap one more time. First chance though: back to iron blocks for me.

idle through a dealership had some time, stopped by a dealer on hogan road , bangor maine. full of brandy new GMC. I had spotted a duramax canyon with extra trim while there with my father some time ago. My father is a nut and digs a hole into every sale. I knew not to wander form his side... So anyway. I am climbing their lot, and the salesmen are outside. I waved and idled by with the supercharger sound of the nv3500 in first. it almost wobbles an idle like a supercharger, I keep my foot on the throttle just in case. I waved and thumped through looking for the duramax. one sales guy caught up to me, and I told him what I was doing. they sell all they get, but he said he can order easy enough. So , I am off back to the real world, engine braking now down the hill by the salesmen listening to my iron oxide squeak on the water pump pulley and a supercharger sound of the nv3500 taking it easy. I look both ways and see all four lanes of hogan road are empty. Feeling as if I interrupted something, blippity blip over the bump at the end of the driveway and calmly hit second. To the floor it went, as it echoed to 90mph long before the redlight...at 6500 rpm and a vortec pop to third. I wonder how many salesmen remember older gmc. I am a fan enough to not forget. in one day, the same day.. the truck was an ambulance, an engineering workbench, parts getter. there is no chores left...you know what this means to everyone that knows it? found another GMC in the same state as the one in this thread..needing same chores. This one is white and a 1997 and it has the 5.7 instead of the 5.0.. I'd take it in and change throttle etc..a to do list quickly accrued in my head. stay tuned. I learned of the different models of the nv3500. there is an HD version and straight cut and oh my...I'd take in any if gm built it behind a v8. Those are all special somehow, someway. my dad and I went back together, and he got into a lease. 2016 double cab. Brand new. 5.3L the newer engine.. divorced water pump, etc. A real handle for the 4x4.. I'll get photos of 20 years apart. About the age difference between me and my dad. looks a lot like this one in photo.

dual exhaust continued I guess I had to come back down a few notches. analyzing this and getting advice..it was given some time ago. the cheap split at the awesome flowmaster for the win. I don't need to do anything more. I then have options to go back to a single pipe, or even run just 1 over to the left with a y-cap. not like the old days, this 96 year onward. Not even the cast manifold is a restriction. Far from restricted..this whole setup was confused for diesel sizing more than once. the hefty vortec 305. ready to go for the most part.. I'll just add dual exhaust the cheap way for sounds only. The factory tune is incredible. I have never had anything keep the same mpg as the sticker n the window for 20 years...while gaining in my own way.