Nick's 1997 GMC Sonoma build thread

Ted's Owner

On to Integra number two!


Busy day tomorrow. Tomorrow is the only day for the next few days where the weather will be somewhat decent, so I'm going to attempt to get a lot done:

- Pressure test the coolant system
- Find and repair the coolant system leak(s)
- Flush the coolant system and convert to conventional green coolant
- Oil change
- Serpentine belt with A/C bypass
- Replace missing taillight bulb
- Put on the, 'Under Construction' decal

Possibilities

- Delete the A/C
- Delete the windshield wiper fluid reservoir system

New gauge cluster and blue LEDs should be in come Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm not sure when they'll be getting installed -- that kind of depends on the weather.
 
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Ted's Owner

On to Integra number two!
I got a lot of stuff done today.

Here's what I started with.


I changed the air filter.


This is only temporary. That eBay filter had to go. A custom-built aFe Pro Guard 7 filter will be added eventually.
Then, I did the serpentine belt. The non-A/C one wouldn't work without a non-A/C bracket and pulley, so I took it back and got the A/C belt. Here's the old one for reference.

After that, I changed the oil. As you can tell by the picture, the oil was way overdue for an oil change. It was as close to black as I've ever seen oil in a car, but luckily, there was no chunks, antifreeze, or metal shavings in the oil.

Then I did this and was swearing rainbows for about 5-minutes. I went in and started tightening intake manifold bolts thinking that they were the cause of my coolant leak and I over-torqued the second-closest to the front of the engine bay bolt on the passenger's side of the intake manifold.

So, needless to say, I didn't pressure-check the coolant system, drain it, flush it out, and re-fill it like I planned.
After that fiasco, I changed out two of the taillight bulbs (one was burnt, one was missing) and put my, 'Under Construction' decal on it.

Then, finally, I went around the truck, greased all of the hinges and fixed my hood latch so my hood closes the first try instead of taking 5-minutes trying to close it.
Productive day, not a ton of disappointment or problems, and a much better running truck.
 
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Ted's Owner

On to Integra number two!
Charly[horse];1306193 said:
Holy cow that belt was gone haha! Good progress!
Click to expand...
Yeahhh. I have it in the backseat just in case I need it.
And thanks! It felt good to get stuff done. :)
 


Ted's Owner

On to Integra number two!
MiketheDyke said:
Maintenance is the way to go! Nice job Nick :)

Sent from my phone
Click to expand...
Agreed! Thanks, man!
Next on the list is proper tires. Then, when it gets warmer, I'll address the intake manifold and cooling system -- intake manifold gasket, bolts, and studs, cooling system pressure test, leaks fixed, drained, flushed, and re-filled, etc.
 

Ted's Owner

On to Integra number two!
My new(er) gauge cluster came in today.



Installed


At night


Only 3/5 light bulbs work, so I have two more blue LEDs coming in, and the temperature gauge and fuel gauge still don't work, so I'm thinking there is another issue that I have to diagnose and fix, so when I pull the cluster out again to change the lightbulbs, I'm going to clean the connectors on both sides and see if that does it. I should've done that the first time, but I was crunched for time.
The GPS is doubling as my speedometer until I put the proper-sized tires back on it. 65 on the gauge cluster is 80 on the GPS, so I'll go on the safe side and follow the GPS because I can't afford another ticket, lol.

Also, after I got my homework done for the evening, I wrote up an overall plan for this truck. It's still a rough draft and will be edited as I go along (new ideas will be added, jobs completed will be marked off, etc.), but you get the idea.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tv0p0bkvxh8qzys/1997 GMC Sonoma, ‘Phineas’ to-do list.docx
 


Ted's Owner

On to Integra number two!
96LSteg said:
progress!!!!!!
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Haha. Thanks man.
I'm contemplating fixing my 3rd door and replacing my busted headlight after I get home from school today, but the high today is only 27 and the low is 9, so we'll see how adventurous I'm feeling.
 

Ted's Owner

On to Integra number two!
Ganyon said:
Move her car out, put truck in, work on truck, move truck out, put car back in. Done.
Click to expand...
If you saw how cramped the garage was for the work that I'm wanting to do, you'd want to do it outside, too.
I may be going to Verizon to upgrade my phone today, and then I need to get a little bit of drum practice out of the way, and then I have driving school at 6:00. I'm off tomorrow, so I may try and work on it then. 8)
 

MiketheDyke

My job is clean toilets
Driving school?

And you should defiantly post vids of you doing some song covers. I would enjoy seeing them cause I was a former drummer haha

Sent from my phone
 
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