1986 GMC S-15

[Andrew_S]

It was a great trip^

Well with a massive drought, campfire ban and really bad air quality we decided to forgo camping this weekend.


On the plus side, I got the rest of the engine parts in. Custom ground cam, lifters, rings, tb adapter and some other misc stuff.


I've been trying to find a newer parts truck for the frame for 2 years now. Decided to finally pull the trigger on this one and got started yesterday.

5-6 hours totally solo, made it happen. '84 is going awd & LS here in the future.

 

[Buddha.]

Looks like a good salvage yard.
I don’t know if you know but blazer brakes and sway bars are bigger than the p/u parts and they bolt on.

 

[Andrew_S]

^ Thanks for the suggestion. I did the blazer brake swap on the '86 a little while ago. Even better then the blazer bars are the ZQ8's set ups.


The '86 always had a bit of an exhaust leak on cold starts, lately it had an exhaust leak all the time.

Drivers side manifold was almost in 2 separate pieces.

New unit.

It looked like they cast it in rice... Left quite a bit to be desired.

15 mins with the die grinder got it all cleaned up

Still cleaning up the wiring on the camper, simplifying and prettying it all up.

Testing the planar with the battery monitor.
At min draw it only pulls about 0.5 amp/hr

That equates to a staggering 150+ hrs of use with our little 85 amp/hr AGM.
We only ever run it on min because it heats up the small space so quickly.

I was pleasantly surprised on max draw it only pulls 0.7 amp/hr

Which is 110+ hrs

The '86 put in some work yesterday. I never want to go back to a short box. Full 4 piece sectional in one trip.

and an hour later, picked up this smoking deal of a new box

This was the cheapest 92" set up I could piece together. The sad thing is they are both almost full already....

Bonus* It's blackberry season

10lbs into the freezer

 

[frink84]

Berry good update!

 

[Todd n Natalie]

^ Thanks for the suggestion. I did the blazer brake swap on the '86 a little while ago. Even better then the blazer bars are the ZQ8's set ups.


The '86 always had a bit of an exhaust leak on cold starts, lately it had an exhaust leak all the time.

Drivers side manifold was almost in 2 separate pieces.

New unit.

It looked like they cast it in rice... Left quite a bit to be desired.

15 mins with the die grinder got it all cleaned up

Still cleaning up the wiring on the camper, simplifying and prettying it all up.

Testing the planar with the battery monitor.
At min draw it only pulls about 0.5 amp/hr

That equates to a staggering 150+ hrs of use with our little 85 amp/hr AGM.
We only ever run it on min because it heats up the small space so quickly.

I was pleasantly surprised on max draw it only pulls 0.7 amp/hr

Which is 110+ hrs

The '86 put in some work yesterday. I never want to go back to a short box. Full 4 piece sectional in one trip.

and an hour later, picked up this smoking deal of a new box

This was the cheapest 92" set up I could piece together. The sad thing is they are both almost full already....

Bonus* It's blackberry season

10lbs into the freezer

Nice addition to the shop!

How are the fires in your neck of the woods? My folks are saying ash is falling from the skies now. (They are in the Okanagan)

 

[Andrew_S]

Berry good update!

Beauty comment hahaha

Nice addition to the shop!

How are the fires in your neck of the woods? My folks are saying ash is falling from the skies now. (They are in the Okanagan)

We are very fortunate to not have been effected by the fires as of yet. Just 20 km to our north 80 homes burnt yesterday.... I've got a few friends and co-workers who are evacuated or on evac alert. It is an incredibly bad year for fires here in BC.


Quick update on the camper,

Got my power/ground ran into the camper.

Picked up this connector for easy disconnect. Now when I pull the camper off, I just unhook this and a deutsch plug for the daylighters.

I'm not really stoked on the marine terminals but it's an easy way to hook up my winch & dc/dc wires.

The victron blue tooth set up is really awesome.

It took all of 2 mins to set up the charging parameters.

Battery monitor is working flawless as well. It's rewarding to see the draws and gains in real time with estimated operating hours.

We went out on a quick trip this weekend to try out the new gadgets, and with hopes of escaping the smoke.

Hiked into this nice little Collier lake.

The new chuck box was an absolute friggin treat. It consolidated food bags, our old tote and some other misc stuff into one organized spot.

Absolutely love the upgraded pathfinder cookware as well. Beats the hell out of the hand me down kitchen pot & pan we were previously using.

Some breakfast guests, pretty typical "wildlife" around these parts.

Given the bone dry and smoky conditions, we set out for a swimming hole along the Kettle River.

First stop was this beauty of a rec site,

Fishing is closed for all rivers and streams in our area at the moment. The drought conditions and extreme heat are pretty tough on the remaining stock as is.

Stayed at this beautiful spot and enjoyed the sun and sand.

 

[Andrew_S]

An evening paddle on Nevertouch lake,

We came across 20+ grouse on this short trip and a few very braves bunnies.
Hunting season is right around the corner, these chicks better smarten up in a hurry.

We stopped at Winifred falls again this year. What a gem of a spot.

There are two pools at the top of the falls worn into the bedrock. The one puts you right on the edge of the water fall.

Stopped for a quick dip in Okanagan lake on the way home and watched the bombers hitting the white rock lake fire.

A coworker sent this to me of his camping trip just North of where we were. This was taken at 5:00pm.

 

[OverlandNA]

Maybe more your flavor for battery terms- https://www.sonicelectronix.com/ci256-battery-terminals.html

 

[ITTOG]

Wow, your coworkers pic was crazy! Looks like he completely overstayed his welcome.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Andrew_S]

Maybe more your flavor for battery terms- https://www.sonicelectronix.com/ci256-battery-terminals.html

100%, thanks for that. When the time comes I'll definitely be going that route.

Wow, your coworkers pic was crazy! Looks like he completely overstayed his welcome.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

Yeah looking back at this, it's a testament to how bad the fires were this year.


Lots of different pic and randomness in this post.

Started messing around with the 3500 heads, disassembled and start smoothing out the exhaust side.

Going to have to relocate the alternator to a lower position

At a buddies, admiring his old Dodge panel, check out this kids seat!

First rabbit of the season

Went out for a scouting/fishing trip 2 weekends ago. 5 nights. some pics from that adventure.

Tough to see but that's a cow with a bull knocking off his velvet

First night,

Surf &Turf

Along with hunting season, comes mushroom season!
First pine of the year.

Bolete

Something plucked this grouse clean and left it's one leg like a shrine.

Friggin love these unique trees

 

[Andrew_S]

Drove through a recently burnt area, pretty devastating damage.

couple nice moose rubs

Camped at a lake experiencing an algae bloom, looked like toxic sludge.

The fishing was great despite the bloom

Whiskey jacks were right in the mix of things

How's this for firewood? Go figure there's a campfire ban...

So pleased to report this chuck box has been a total game changer. Build one for yourself, you won't regret it.

The drought this year has made for a bumper grouse stock. These 2 were an arms reach away.

The road into the previous site was littered with these tank trap style bogs the entire way.

This little guy was there to greet us on our way out.

 

[Andrew_S]

Moving onto another area, scouting some new crown land for hunting.

Lots of wildlife in this area.

This fire occurred 3 years ago...

Spotted this Giant Cow

and this tiny toad

This nice white tail doe with a buck

More grouse

Found this moose shed which is now our toilet paper dispenser.

Pictures don't do this justice.

Short paddle exploring a small lake and it's tributary.

This is when the old Grumman shines

Very low pressure lake, caught about 50 in 2 hours and kept these foul hooked ones for breakfast.

View as we left the area.

 

[Andrew_S]

Started that afternoon with another snow shoe.

Stayed at this little gem of a brookie lake

Lost track of how many brookies we brought in almost immediately.

Up on the lookout,

Giant toad hanging our around camp.

On the way home the wife stocked this bear to 25 yards and dropped it. I was pretty impressed, great shot, quick clean kill. Lots of great meat in the freezer.

Picked some apples from a not so secret tree to have with some choice cuts on the drive home.

Everything on this bear will be utilized, the heart, liver, kidneys, tongue, hide, fat, bones, and most importantly the meat.

Thermal bridging has always been a problem with the aluminum construction of the camper. Basically any exposed aluminum surface on the interior, that is also subject to the cold exterior would sweat during the below freezing nights. Previously we combatted this by typically cold camping and not running the heater. This was not the long term plan.

To combat this I wrapped every tube with neoprene tape. I found a local supplier who cut to specific widths and charged pennies on the dollar.

Super tedious work.

It also involved re-cutting every single piece of insulation

I even did the bed tray as we found it was building condensation as well.

Done the top box and some of the bottom. Leaving for another trip, not enough time to finish it all.

 

[Andrew_S]

Picked up this nice little tig set up for a screaming deal.

Next trip out, Shaggies are jacking up the roads.

Scouting some new cuts

Camp that night,

6am opening morning of deer season. Sitting in the cut where I spotted the white tail buck a week prior.

No deer that morning, wifey walking up on a grouse party.

Limited out on grouse in 30 minutes

Plucking birds while breakfast is cooking

We have these nasty black & white wasps here that could carry away a small child, finally found one of their nests

Another contender for the smallest amphibian

This road doesn't see much traffic

Beautiful country

Set up a game cam in the swamp

 

[Andrew_S]

Last one,


Next morning, too bad I don't have a moose tag this year.

No bucks again this am, but another limit of grouse

Birth defect or predator?

Brought home 24 grouse this trip and a bag full of shaggies.

That's all for now.