"Daddy's Truck" 1st Gen weekend warrior project

oldestof11

Drag racer
Joined
Jul 17, 2007
Messages
9,084
So I have been working on this one for over a year. As I replaced parts, I upgraded where I could. It is a 1993 D250 club cab 2wd. Only saving graces are the working AC, captains chairs, and a Posi-lok rear end.

The name came from my daughter who is always asking to "ride in daddy's truck?"

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First thing to do was a transmission fluid filter and change. Fluid was darker and had some, what I considered 200k mile normal, fuzzy magnet. I adjusted bands and turned line pressure up by 3 full turns. Didn't do much but the shifts felt firmer. Went to the track and ran 17.7 seconds. Not bad for an all stock 1st gen. I also went to Byron Dragway's spring diesel event. Got 2nd in the ET bracket racing. Final pass my drivers side soft brake line sprung a leak. Fixed that. Yes, I oiled down the track and I offered to help clean it.

The rear main seal failed so Schrowang and I dropped the trans and replaced it. When we buttoned it back up, I added Travellers Tractor Transmission Hydraulic oil. Should have done that a long time ago. I went from 16mpg average to 19. I went back to the track, ran a 16.9 and this time, I had NO overdrive. Come to find out my TPS was going out and WOT it wouldn't shift. I ran most of the summer like this.

Then come end of August, with a bonus I got, I bought some things. I called up Eric Gilbert at The Hungry Diesel and ordered one of his custom piston lift pumps and Isspro boost and pyro gauges. Through some forum searching, I acquired a set of 370's for $100. I also bought a HE351 from Mark Nixon. Only thing that got put on right away was the lift pump as my stocker sprung a leak.

On the way home from work one day, I heard the tell tale sign noise of a turbo going. Once it built 2-3 psi, it sounded like a dremel. Off came the H1C, on went the HE351. Stock injectors and a poorly wired shut gate netted me 28psi of boost. I ran this setup until late January. Thanks again to Schrowang and his amazing welding skills to build me a HE351-intercooler charge pipe.

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Then I started having some starting issues. I called up Chris Luttrel at Ducky Fuel Injection and he put the 370 nozzles on to 1st gen bodies. Good thing I let him as 1 injector was toast and 2 were wore out. Got them back and installed them. Since it was winter, I didn't think much of the hard starts. That came to bite me in the azz later.

With that setup, I only hit 1300* EGT and 30psi of boost. Thinking something was wrong, found I wasn't getting full throttle travel. Fixed that and my EGT's became my RPM gauge! :hehe: I could peg my 1600* gauge by 45mph.

Found my wired gate wasn't working right. So I cut up a HX52 wastegate and bracket to install on my truck. Wastegate opens at 30psi on the dot without the solenoid being energized. I haven't wired that up yet as I am afraid of a blown head gasket or busting something else. This slowed the pegging of the EGT gauge to 65mph.

Then a month ago I dropped the truck 2" front and rear.

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Ran down to Dyno for Dex and put down 264hp.

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Last summer I bought some used but good shape 33x16.5x15 MT Drag ET's for $50. I finally spent the money on a set of steel wheels and got them installed.

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And this is where I am at. I found a boost leak from the AFC reference line and replaced that with AFC Live. Then I finally found my hard start/loping issue I have been chasing since March. My timing was too low. Added more timing and now the EGT's are more manageable. Now pegging at 80mph than 65. Also with the AFC line closed, I still hit 18psi and 1200* on a WOT run to 75mph.

Things to do yet this year: install the 3800 gov spring, build drive line loops, and build a set of traction bars.

I know I have a 2wd suspension tuning post but this is to document and get feed back on my whole build.
 
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How did you lower the rear, take leaf's out? Mine is sitting way to stink bug for my liking...

Looking good so far. You going with a timing spacer?
 
Every VE I've ever been around is low on timing...
 
How did you lower the rear, take leaf's out? Mine is sitting way to stink bug for my liking...

Looking good so far. You going with a timing spacer?
Lowering shackles for a 88-98 Chevy. I have a writeup on CF. Only thing it I had to do was drill the 1/2" holes out to 5/8".
You have another 100hp easy out of it.
I'm hoping so! But the 370s with IC pistons won't bode well with higher timing.
 
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33x16.5x15 Mickey ETs on 15x14 3.5" BS wheels. Went this route on the BS due to 15" wheels. Clears the drums just fine.

But I only had 1.5" of clearance at the top of the tire. So off came the stock flares, got rid of the rot, trimmed the flare, and trimmed the metal. OK, more cut but the bed is beyond trying to fix. Got me 4" total clearance.

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Dat stance!

Looks good man! I knew the outline of what was done, but nice job on the writeup.
 
Sub'd.. When you gonna p-pump it? :lolly: jokes man, get all you can out of that thing.
Just be ready for the imminent tranny explosion, that's what started my p-pumped 47RH 1st gen racetruck build.
 
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Those tires look massive for 33s! holy crap LOL I like it. Glad to see some more build threads popping up on here lately.
 
Sub'd.. When you gonna p-pump it? :lolly: jokes man, get all you can out of that thing.
Just be ready for the imminent tranny explosion, that's what started my p-pumped 47RH 1st gen racetruck build.
Don't you be putting sensible things in my head! I'm a VE ratard, I like them.

The trans has at worst 247k miles as of today. At best, nothing for the last 150k me and the previous owner have had it.
Those tires look massive for 33s! holy crap LOL I like it. Glad to see some more build threads popping up on here lately.
I did lower the truck 2 inches. That may be why they look massive. Next set of tires is going to be a 32x15x15. They will fit the wheels better. I really don't need them that wide but for $50, I couldn't pass these up.
 
Me and Schrowang lined up
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And my fastest slip of the day. It got hotter and more humid as the day went. Then I started having problems with the tire unloading at the 60'. Launched at 10-11psi, running 30psi out of the HE351
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I am ecstatic. Only other thing I did besides slapping on the tires and relieving all the extra weight was use Schrowang's spring clamps and clamping the springs behind the rearend. Seemed to prevent excessive axle wrap.

Also, I am building a set of driveshaft loops. I didn't know (and it is my fault) that slicks meant an automatic driveshaft loop requirement. I planned on it but this is now getting priority.
 
Got these Saturday. Going to use them to mock up and get started. Trying to decide between 4 link + Watts link or triangulated 4 link.

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Sub'd for your suspension... I'm leaning towards 4+watts link. It seems so much easier to do 4 link vs. triangulated 4 link.
 
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