Jsdirt

I'm still paying $3/gallon for high test. MA taxes for ya ... and to add insult to injury, most of it is diluted with anywhere from 15-20+% ethanol.

Oh boy you're gonna make me use my brain now ... '72 ,'78, '81, '85, '86, '89, and '94 - might have missed a couple there too ...

I used to run 20w-50 in my V8's all year round - beat the snot out of all of them, and never had one engine problem ever. Only engine I've ever blown up in my life was in my '71 C20. Someone tossed a POS 305 in there to sell it, and I was spinning the thing around 6k on the highway (4.56 rears - throttle pinned) one day when it violently spun a few bearings towards the back side of the crank. Who knows what the previous owner had done to it prior to me buying it. Wasn't long after I bought it, so it probably got bearing slapped as I was on my way to pick it up.

That's what I was driving before I bought the '07 - a '94 K1500 with 266k+ miles. If I wasn't working 60 hours a week and had any sort of time to iron out the awful suspension, I would have kept that truck forever. I think someone before me screwed with the torsion bars. Thing rode like a rigid-frame Harley. Got old after driving a recycling route 12-15 hours a day in a loud, bouncy, POS Volvo cabover, then hopping in the '94, dead tired, and getting the snot knocked out of me some more the entire 45 minute drive home. In hindsight I should've kept that damn thing.

This is what they tell us is "progress" .... The only common denominator I see in all this is, it "costs more money" ...

Well, you'd think for $30-$40 LARGE the FACTORY would just build them so this cannot happen. We've only been operating motor vehicles in MA for 120 years or so - you'd think we'd have learned a thing or two in 12 decades! God forbid they sell vehicles on merit instead of sleight of hand ... Of course my favorite solution is to just pack it all in and move to the desert southwest ... kill 3 birds with one stone. Fixes the vehicle problems, polticial problems (as long as I avoid CA), and the self defense problems, all in one fell swoop.

HA! When my dad brought this home from the dealership in '01, he cleaned that thing every single year with a TOOTHBRUSH up until my brother bought it in '08 or so. I've been painting and oiling the undercarriage of my '07 since it left the lot - still covered with rust, and now my rockers are just starting where the seam is underneath. 10 years is all you get out of vehicles down here.

My brother's 2500HD barely crossed 200k. Now the body is rotting out, frame braces in the rear have rotted in half, hitch and spare fell off, doors leak like sieves, and now it sits dead due to an electronics failure - some magic box that controls the injectors. Not to mention the 5 window regulators it's been through, the fire that nearly totaled it 4 years ago, and all the other failures that have already been fixed. Million miles my ass! It's the pewter/copper colored one with the tarp over it, waaay in the background ...

All looks good to me! Except for that light bar ... good Lord! Been trying to find a set of raised white letter tires for the Silverado, and my '74 Yamaha RD350. Really difficult to find these days, wtf. RWL, FTW!

Yeah, you can't win these days. Everything from toasters to trucks is a POS lately. I'm pretty tired of it all ...

I stopped running those because I got tired of the cleaning/oiling procedure. The one I had in the truck was fine. Later in it's life I put one of those prefilter socks over it. Eventually sold it on eBay with about 40k on it, and replaced it with an Amsoil air filter. They're being phased out, so I bought a stockpile of 4 - that should last me until some catastrophic failure, I figure. I noticed that K&N's let a bit of grit past them - I always see it in the intake of ATV's, motorcycles, and also in my truck. That extra horsepower from a freer flowing filter has a trade-off ...

After 15 months of sitting around dead, I finally got our '93 Volvo 940 running. Had to rewire the pump to the sender, and then from the top of the sender to the vehicle harness (previous owner shorted the pump power wires and started a small fire in the trunk, LOL). Also installed a new water pump, and cobbled the exhaust together, stealing some rubber hangers off my other 940 (dropped a tree on that one ... so it won't be driving anywhere ever again). Also had to drop the tank to replace a couple rubber fuel lines that were hard as a brick. Once I got the tank back up, I installed the sending unit assembly. See, Volvo actually makes compartments for easy pump access through the trunk! Hey GM ... WTF!!! All the bolts came right out, and this thing has been owned and operated in New England it's entire life, too! I'm impressed with these cars. Not so much with the newer ones, though - even Volvo caught the CHEAPOUT virus starting in '96 ... Took most of the day to get it up and running. Brakes were SUPER rusty! One was locked solid when I dragged it into the driveway 3 months ago. It sat all winter completely buried in 7' of snow! Couldn't see the car at all for over a month. Anyway, the rears broke free as soon as I threw it in drive on the jackstands. Took her for a blast around the 'hood. Tranny shifts mint, engine runs mint! Just need to dump that 2 year old oil - boy is she tickin' ... One more running vehicle to add to the fleet. That's my redneck tank strap ...

One extreme to the next out there in Cali!

Hauled a 'Vette up to NH.

GM trucks, yes I agree. Welded many a C-channel after rotting in half. I would never own a '73 -'87 truck - mainly because I hate the look, but also due to the way the frames held up (which wasn't good, at least around here). My '72 El Camino took a drunken 20mph trip in reverse right into a concrete shopping mall light support, not even dead center - was off toward the passenger side, as I was turning - and barely bent the tailgate hinge 1/4" inward. Stalled the engine (auto), and if not for the backrest my head (and probably my passenger's) would've blew the rear glass out. No damage whatsoever to frame, which was right behind the chrome bumper, which also only bent 1/4". My Silverado went on a frame machine to straighten the box out, for an impact going 75% SLOWER.

That's one of the main reasons for me getting away from automotive work these days. Everything ends up an all-day pain in the ass affair. Especially the damn electronics. Wow Brandon, glad everyone walked away from that one! Yeah, they don't build vehicles like they used to. My truck had to go on a frame machine after backing into a small maple sapling at less than walking speed. It hit the passenger-side rear of the bumper, and folded the box in half all the way up over the wheel! What a joke. I would guess that truck is totalled just based on my experience with a very minor impact. Everything is designed to crumple like a tin can and cost you the most amount of money. The safety of all that is debatable .... maybe at 50 mph head on, but at slow speeds it just costs us all money.

$115 per hour ... YIKES. I remember 15 years ago nearly falling over in disbelief that the bike shop that I had just got hired to in Glendale, AZ got $99/hr to work on boats. Now that's cheap by today's standards.

21st century customer service!

Those friggin strut springs on the 07 up Silverados are INSANE. The wire size is fatter than anything I've ever seen for a half ton, and the spring tension is enormous. I have a heavy duty (but chinese) spring compressor that bent trying to compress mine, and it didn't flinch 1mm! Nobody around any automotive shops had a press that would handle these. Had to go to the dealer with the strut assemblies, and have them install the 2 Bilsteins for $90. I'd imagine this spring under tension would be like a small IED ...

Thanks for the info. I guess I'd better start spending some money on this thing ... as if I haven't already. My brother has an EFI Live setup he wants to sell me ... but damn it's expensive ...

Ahh ok I can see that one. The way your other post (# 1086) sounded, I thought it was supposed to have a pic with it. This means my computer might make it throught it's 6th year without getting shot. Thanks.

Ahh ok, I guess I've got some time to do the AFM delete before things begin self destructing. Mine just turned 77k miles today.

How many miles on that one Zach?

Did you post a pic Ryan? I can't see one. Been suspecting this has been happeing across the forum on this computer ...

Wow that's some serious miles! Didn't think anything built this century could make it that long before busting in two ... Latest haul. It's the worst (IMO) generation as far as looks go, but this one actually doesn't look too bad. Pay no mind to the GM junkyard in the background there ...