Longtime admirer of MPI finds new interest in TBI
I'll admit TBI wasn't my first choice, but the donor fell in my lap and ran without much effort. I drove the new to me 94 Suburban down the road with a new fuel pump, in a washer fluid bottle tied up under the body. The tank fared poorly in it's ten year hiatus from active service, which is a shame, because I had every intention of mounting it under the project vehicle, which came as a result of my inability to keep my mouth shut.
I bought my 62 C10 long bed step side at an Independence Day barbecue for $300 last year. I didn't really need it, didn't really have much space to park it, and didn't really need to empty my pocket that day, but I asked about it. It had a cast iron Powerglide but the engine was missing. Looked like they had pulled it for whatever reason and just never got back to it. The truck still had tools in the toolbox and misc stuff in the glove compartment. Seems like it sat since 1994 according to the inspection sticker. I brought it home, went through the bonded title process, and kept an eye out for a donor.
It wasn't too long before a seemingly ideal donor came along. I have many memories, some not so fond, of helping my father swap BOP engines into Chevrolet/GMC trucks. It was popular at the time to pick up a discarded land yacht for peanuts to repower your pickup. Scrapping the car usually paid for the engine. For another $300, I picked up an Olds 98 I knew had been swapped to a 425/700r4. With little effort, it runs and drives pretty well. Before I could get the engine out, I was hit with a terrible realization that should I crater that 700r4, it would cost more than the entire project to have it rebuilt. BOP and dual bolt pattern 700s aren't just sitting all over like they once did. I want to use the truck for it's intended purpose, as you might have noticed by now I have a habit of dragging up junk, so that one is pretty much out. I went back and forth but never unbolted anything, then my neighbor gave me another truck.
I expressed interest in the hood because it would fit mine. A few months later, he gave me the whole truck. Well, it was more like half of it. I think someone used the bed and back third of the frame to make a trailer. So it was the better majority of a 61 Apache, and it had a 283/SM420. Looking inside, the 420 was in excellent shape, but I didn't know how bad the engine was until I'd already harvested all the manual parts to do the swap. So I was looking for another small block Chevrolet, but at the same time, I wasn't excited about cutting the mid mount cross member out of the donor frame. It was of course welded in and made for a lot of difficulty pulling the engine and transmission as an assembly. The idea was to weld flanges onto it and make it removable, but I never got that far.
I guess I was holding out for something fuel injected with an automatic. Part of me wants it to be four wheel drive so I have a K20 long bed frame set aside, but I'm also pretty cheap. For $200 the Suburban will suffice, and should I encounter a K model automatic in the future, things might change. For now, I'll be satisfied with the original chassis and 2WD.
So now I'm here to learn. I have a 5.7/4L60E to pull and an ECM harness to simplify. I found the JTR speedometer adapter to use the original speedometer with the VSS, and I'd like to keep the cruise system. I intend to mate the late model AC system to a 1950s under dash unit, and locate the ECM behind the cluster. I'm keeping the original Powerglide column, and plan on welding up the old shift quadrant, then milling the appropriate detents for the 4L60E. That said, it won't have the Saginaw column to carry the cruise switches, but I think with a wiring diagram, I may be able to make it work via remote. Other than power brakes and steering, the focus will be on functionality, reliability, and economy, while trying to maintain as much original equipment as possible. At least an original appearance on the surface, if I can manage it.
So that's my introduction. I figure an intro post like "Hi, I'm Bill from Indiana" doesn't really tell much, and we're here to talk tech, so with any hope, I'd like to come out of this with a sub $1k antique daily driver.
With the resources I see here, the only thing holding me back is me. Thanks for reading, and I'll look forward to posting with y'all in the future. Until then, I'm just browsing.
