90 chevy 4wheel steer/4wheel drive/4wheel independant suspension

[MILKTOST]

Hey, cool rig! It's great to see new ideas like that.

I'll try to help with your dist, questions, yes the distributor turns when the crank turns,
if there is a gap at the bottom of the distributor, two common causes are, 1 it is
not aligned to the oil pump properly, 2 the block and or intake have been milled.
Milling changes the height of the assembly, and the distributor winds up too tall.

If it is small gap, say the thickness of ur dist  gasket, u can double up the gaskets.

Timing ur dsitributor takes a bit of luck.
When the timing mark is lined up on the balancer,
u drop in the distributor, the rotor should point and the #1 cylinder.
This is the front cylinder on the drivers side of the engine.

This is where u need to be lucky, first, the distributor needs to engage
the oil pump driveshaft, if it does not, dist wont seat on the intake.
If this is happens, use a long screwdriver to reach down to the oil pump
and turn the shaft as needed.

Once the dist is seated,
there is  50 50 chance the dist is 180 degrees off.
U will know this when u crank the engine and beautiful , yet dangerous,
fireballs spit from the throttle body.

If all goes well for you the engine should start.
Are u still  running EFI, or Carb?


If efi, there is a specific way to set timing.
If I didn't confuse ya too much, i'd be happy to try to help w that too.

Oh yeah, torque converter, it stays on the transmission.
Make sure it is also seated properly in its oil pump before u bolt
the trans to the engine. The converter should spin as u are torquing
down the bellhousing bolts.

Bolt it to the flywheel after the bellhousing bolts are in.


Good luck,

[Hammerlane]

Yea, what MILKTOST said.  A word of caution, on older chevy motors the oil pump is driven by the dist. shaft, if the dist. is not seated on the oil pump shaft properly and you fire the motor 2 things will happen.
  1. no oil pressure
  2. you could damage the pump shaft rod, and have to replace it

Good luck

[lapeer20m]

This is where u need to be lucky, first, the distributor needs to engage
the oil pump driveshaft, if it does not, dist wont seat on the intake.
If this is happens, use a long screwdriver to reach down to the oil pump
and turn the shaft as needed.

If efi, there is a specific way to set timing.
If I didn't confuse ya too much, i'd be happy to try to help w that too.



Bolt it to the flywheel after the bellhousing bolts are in.


Good luck,

thanks for all the help....that's a great tutorial!  I bet the dist isn't seated on the oil pump.  I couldn't figure out how to get it aligned.  I think the dist is solved.

what needs to be done differently when it comes to timing a motor with tbi....I left the throttle body bolted to the intake from my old engine and transfered it all over to the new block. 

thanks so much

[Boggen Joe]

sweet

[MILKTOST]

If I remember correctly, the truck was a 1990?

To set the timing on this engine, you need to bypass the
esc, Electronic Spark Control.

If this is a 1990 model year, there is a tan wire w black stripe that
runs from the distributor to the ecm. Electronic control module.
The ecm is behind the glove box.

There should be a black plug, about 12 inches from the distributor, in the tan wire with the black stripe.

It usually is behind the black plastic cover for the relay pack/breakout box,
on the passengers side of the firewall.
The plug can also be in the harness that runs near the blower motor in the cab.

This connector must be unplugged to set base  timing!
Base timing should be set to zero.
I like to set it at 2 degrees btc, For a little more performance.

The ecm is able to control advance and retard of the timing to around 30 degrees.

So if you try to set the timing like a carburated engine, by just turning the distributor,
and using a timing light, the ecm will adjust the timing electronicaly to override your setting,
the ecm does not know u are trying to set base timing, and u will see it happen. The timing
will change before your eyes.

By unplugging the tan wire w black stripe, u elimintate the ecm's abilty to adjust timing.
Turn the distributor to 2 degrees btc, and lock it down.

Does the engine u are installing have a EFI camshaft?
Sorry to say if it does not, it will never run well, unless u carb it.
Might want to check this out with the engine builder before u get
too far along. U may just want to carb it.

Again,  good luck.

[lapeer20m]

excellent post....thanks so much for the info. 

i should have had the motor in the truck already, but i got hijacked and ended up in tennesee and mississippi for a week....i just got back, so i'll get working on the truck again tomorrow.  If all goes as planned the motor should be in and running.......

[lapeer20m]

Got the motor in, turned the key......and she just wouldn't start.  Had good spark, i could see the injectors spraying fuel.  Turns out there was a significant amount of water in my fuel tank.  Replaced the bad gas, turned the key, and she fired right up.  She seems to run good. 

  Swapping engines sucks!  well...the labor part of it.  having a new motor is definately worht the pain. 

anyhow.....Everything seems good except as luck would have it the freeze plug behind the motor mount is leaking.  I think i can get to it if i unbolt the motor from the mounts and lift the engine up a few inches.  GRRRR

she's almost there

[Bigdaddy]

thats cool

[Eroq]

both frezeplugs on my motor behind my motor mounts have a tendencey to pop out since the coolant in there froze this winter... its just big enough to slip in a large screw driver and hammer it in...  theyve stayed so far..

[lapeer20m]

I spent a lot more time than anyone should trying to get the old freeze plug out!!!  It had rusted right through. 

Finished installing the motor today, finally got to test out the new lockers.  It should be a lot more difficult to get her stuck with all 4 tires driving. 

Learned a new lesson:  The 1998 and newer front axle actuators are not the same as the 1988-97 actuators.  If you look at them, they are different, but they both screw into the same hole. I thought the older one would work fine.   The problem is that the older style actuator is about 1.5 inches longer then the newer one.  Long story short, the older style actuator in the newer style axle keeps the hubs locked in all the time...GRRR  Now i need to spend the money for a new newer style actuator.  Anybody need a brand new only used once older style actuator? 

[MILKTOST]

What ya need to do is get a "new style" actuator for a 88-98 chevy, they are the plastic, electric motor driven units,
but they are shorter.

They are part of a "kit" u get a solid steel puck w/actuator, if it is too short, use the puck,

U will prolyy need the harness kit to make it work properly. It is very easy to install,

But too long, ur out of luck.

[lapeer20m]

here are some more photos i found:

look at the ground clearance the IFS has




i need to pad that roll cage.  I've banged my head on it more than once already. 



this last photo is of me and the truck. 

[Eroq]

that things hillarious lookin...


i love it

[lapeer20m]

videos!

the trucks first youtube video

if you listen carefully you can hear the sound of that new gm diesel...or maybe that's just the rods about to shoot through the oil pan.   (youtube sais you still have to wait a few minutes until you can view them....i'm sure they'll be available soon



here's another clip of the truck utilizing her new lockers



this last one has no action, but shows the chain drive and also addresses ground clearance.  I thought she had almost 20", but this test only showed 16.5.  Perhaps i'll try it on level pavement sometime. 

[Bigdaddy]

[lapeer20m]

i forgot one

[KORNBREAD]

those were awesome!!!!!!!!  youve done a real good job with your project. keep it up man.

[lapeer20m]

I DONT' LIIKE MY CHAIN DRIVE!!!   I wish i could hook up a driveshaft.  I'm going to start a "driveshaft feasability sudy" which includes pricing a new ring gear....think i need a pinion too?  I need to change from 4:10 to 3:73.  (I know 4:10's would be more desirable, but i refuse to attempt to crack the front axle housing with the motor installed.  That was a miserable project when the motor was missing!)  The truck was never supposed to turn out as nice as it did.  Now that i have a new motor, and invested $1,500 it's kind of worth keeping. 

Here are the options in no particular order, none of them are easy:

#1.  Remove the axle, turn it around so the pinion points toward the trans.  I'd have to re-weld the mounts that hold the axle as they are not symmetrical from L/R.  The biggest problem with this is that the steering (drag link?) would be directly in front of the pinion so the steering would have to be reworked.  I'm very happy with the current steering setup and would not be excited about changing it.  The folks at GM are much better at engineering steering systems than i am. 

#2  Buy a "new" rear axle/frame assembly, cut off my current one, and weld the new one in place.  This is probably the least labor/engineering intensive method, but also the most expensive.  I can't use my current setup because the frame has been shortened too much. 

#3 Use a transfer case in place of the current chain setup.  I think that's pretty self explanitory.  Not too difficult, realitively cheap, but a lot more moving parts than the other two options, which would get getting away from the KISS theory.  (keep it simple stupid!)  It could make for a low low range in 2wd...not really sure why i'd need that. 

The current chain setup doesn't seem to fail, but when you really get on the throttle it clanks a bit which i'm sure is the chain slipping a notch or two.  I'm sure the chain drive is the weak link in the system. 

[Smithingell]

ring and pinions are sold as a matched set, and should only be replaced as a matched set...the gears are mated to each other, so you really cant replace just the ring gear without also replacing the pinion...

I would say your right thinking the chain drive system is the weak link, and I would suggest running a driveshaft straight to the pinion...

[lapeer20m]

HERE IS A NEW VIDEO, THIS ONE IS ABOUT 6 MINUTES LONG.  It's difficult to grasp just how capable the truck is in the mud.  The lockers are unbelievable!  I wish there was another solid axle truck out there that had similiar size tires just to give perspective on how well the IFS really performs in deep mud. 



I went to the junk yard today looking to swap my gears and find a random t-case.  I couldn't find those two items for under $400.  Certianly the parts are worth that much $$ to the right guy, but i'm far to cheap.  I think instead, i'm gonna keep the same concept, of using a t-case, but i'm gonna build my own using #60 chain and sprockets.  The problem with my current setup is the inability to align the sprockets.  If i build both sprockets into a single housing then the sprockets will be perfectly in line and i can still correct my gear ratio.  I'll connect to the new chain driven t-case with driveshafts.  I'll take photos along the way.  I really wanna get the truck done right.  I"m very annoyed by the current setup. 

I have to finish the truck project soon.  I'm going to be building a jacuzzi bus for a client starting any day now.