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Another 2 door Tahoe for me

n8in8or

n8in8or

I never met a project I didn’t like
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Location
Kalamazoo, MI
I waited a week to post this because I knew the heckling I would get…..yep, another truck, but wait, this one’s different…..here’s how:

Back in January I was perusing the classifieds to see if there was anything I needed. I stumbled on this ad that @jrsavoie posted:

6.5L - 1995 6.5 diesel Tahoe

$800 as it sits. Has Fluidampr I drove it in the shed about 4 years ago for F intake, injectors and rocker buttons. It has sat ever since. I am starting to work on it now. I need it out of My way, one way or another. Kind of curious if it will start after I get it back together.. Will...
www.thetruckstop.us

I was intrigued, but I didn’t need it. Hmmm…well I do need a Fluidamper for the next build….then for another $300 I get a whole truck. Oh and I already have a 92, 93, 94, 96 and 97…. looks like I’m missing a 95…..guess I better contact him. So I started a conversation with him to find out more and let him know I’m interested. The more I learn about him and the truck, the more I’m interested, but what do I do with another truck? I knew it could be a runner with just a little work….ok, I can get it running and then let my dad drive it for funsies. The more I thought about it though, the more I wanted to drive it. Well it has been a drag driving the dually anytime I’m working on the Envoy, so this could be handy as a spare vehicle. Ok, I’m gonna get it. It took a few weeks for schedules and weather to work out, but I finally made the 6 hour round trip to get it last weekend. Here’s the first pic of it in the barn.

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I wanted to finish the maintenance that he started so I removed the intake, valve covers, injectors and rockers. I popped the injectors and they tested OK so I reinstalled them. Then I swapped a low mile set of rockers I had.

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I resealed the valve covers with The Right Stuff. Then on to installing a non-EGR intake. The turbo that came with the truck was a little tight, but I had a nice GM8 on the shelf so I installed that instead. Then it was just connecting the dots for the electrical connectors and what-not. The tensioner pulley was tight so I put a tensioner on that I got from @WarWagon. Finally yesterday it was ready to start. I put a couple batteries I had laying around in it and gave it a try. It cranked pretty slow. I hooked up the battery charger on start mode. Still slow. Battery charger and jumper cables. Still slow. I suspected the starter, but the maintenance notes said it was a newer rebuild. I decided to buy a new pair of batteries since these were questionable. It cranked better and longer, but finally the starter began to smoke (and yes, I was taking breaks cranking it over). I just happened to have a new reman starter on the shelf, also from @WarWagon so swapped that out. Now it was cranking good. It took a long time to purge the air, but finally it started. It runs good and carries good oil pressure!

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I’m VERY pleased with this purchase. I told Kelli I’d have it driving in 2 weeks, I was very happy to be able to do it in 1 week instead. And look guys, I CAN bring home a non-running truck and get it running without tearing it down to the frame first! It’s also been fun patching one together from the stash I’ve accumulated here.

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Oh and I forgot to mention that @jrsavoie has been a nice guy to talk to and get to know. I can also tell that he takes care of his vehicles based on what I’m seeing here and I definitely appreciate that.

Tonight I swapped the lights and grill for ones I had here that are a little nicer, they are a little yellowed so I will polish them soon.

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All the lights and the horn work, nothing major that isn’t working that I’ve found so far. Tomorrow night I’ll begin proactively replacing the front brake hard lines as well as all the brake hoses (the truck came with new brake hoses in the boxes even).
 
'What is the max weight weight we can ship?' because who throws a couple of starters in a box with other heavy items going nearly coast to coast? Yes more than one.

I am sure it's completely normal to have a couple of spare starters on the shelf when you own one of these Diesels.
 
WarWagon said:
'What is the max weight weight we can ship?' because who throws a couple of starters in a box with other heavy items going nearly coast to coast? Yes more than one.

I am sure it's completely normal to have a couple of spare starters on the shelf when you own one of these Diesels.
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I've definitely benefitted handsomely the couple of times I have bought things from you. I really appreciate the great deals you've made me! Thanks for helping me keep another one of these running.
 
I credit the good oil pressure at 300,000 0lus miles to using a bypass filter & full synthetic - Amsoil 5w30 heavy duty diesel engine oil in it, since I got it. - sometime before 2003.

I've noticed that in general my engines seem to carry better oil pressure at higher mileages than most I encounter. And that is on mostly 20,000 mile oil change intervals.

Happy and sad to see it running. A little sad that I didn't get it done. But happy it's out of the way and hopefully I can get the 94 in soon and sort the no revolving of the engine situation out.

I am guessing another starter situation. I have not had great results from the local starter rebuilder. The previous starter/ alternator builder I used was awesome. Everything was as good or better than OEM when he was done. At least he's just retired and not dead, like a lot of people I used to deal with.

I have one more starter on the bench that is from the current rebuilder, to try on the truck. If that is a fail, I will be ordering a powermaster or whatever the name is. I can never remember Powermaster or Gearmaster.
 
jrsavoie said:
I credit the good oil pressure at 300,000 0lus miles to using a bypass filter & full synthetic - Amsoil 5w30 heavy duty diesel engine oil in it, since I got it. - sometime before 2003.

I've noticed that in general my engines seem to carry better oil pressure at higher mileages than most I encounter. And that is on mostly 20,000 mile oil change intervals.

Happy and sad to see it running. A little sad that I didn't get it done. But happy it's out of the way and hopefully I can get the 94 in soon and sort the no revolving of the engine situation out.

I am guessing another starter situation. I have not had great results from the local starter rebuilder. The previous starter/ alternator builder I used was awesome. Everything was as good or better than OEM when he was done. At least he's just retired and not dead, like a lot of people I used to deal with.

I have one more starter on the bench that is from the current rebuilder, to try on the truck. If that is a fail, I will be ordering a powermaster or whatever the name is. I can never remember Powermaster or Gearmaster.
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I had a Powermaster on the first Tahoe and now it's on the dually. It works great - not only reliable, but also turns the engine over faster for easier starts. I highly recommend.
 
Spent the last couple nights doing front brakes. The pads were worn out so I decided to swap the Powerstop brakes from the black Tahoe onto this one - they only had a couple thousand miles on them and the black one is going to get a GMT800 spindle swap anyway, so it was nice to have a use for them. I did the front brake lines in nickel-copper….if you haven’t used this stuff, I definitely recommend you try it - it isn’t that much more expensive and it’s SO easy to work with, you can make pretty much any bend you want with your bare hands and bend it multiple times without kinking. I won’t use another brake line again if I don’t have to.

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I also found a factory engine cover while at the local yard so I cleaned that up and slapped it on for funsies since the intake is all stock still.

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n8in8or said:
Spent the last couple nights doing front brakes. The pads were worn out so I decided to swap the Powerstop brakes from the black Tahoe onto this one - they only had a couple thousand miles on them and the black one is going to get a GMT800 spindle swap anyway, so it was nice to have a use for them. I did the front brake lines in nickel-copper….if you haven’t used this stuff, I definitely recommend you try it - it isn’t that much more expensive and it’s SO easy to work with, you can make pretty much any bend you want with your bare hands and bend it multiple times without kinking. I won’t use another brake line again if I don’t have to.

View attachment 73070View attachment 73071

I also found a factory engine cover while at the local yard so I cleaned that up and slapped it on for funsies since the intake is all stock still.

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I sold all the covers that came my way. I never saw a practical purpose for them. LOL
 
n8in8or said:
I’ve never had one before so I thought I’d try it out for a change. Definitely not practical, just uniquely 6.5.
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I’d like to have one, even if it just hung on the wall. I just like things to be complete.
I dont know if one would fit with the turbo I now have on the engine, if not, as stated, a mighty nice wall hanger.
 
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