When I was a young pup I was working in a factory that had shut down years ago and the new property owners were wanting to get some temporary lighting going to show off the space to sell it. To help me see while I figured out how to get the power back on safely I brought some really raggedy 400 watt metal halide high bay lights to lay on the floor to light up some areas. The owners wanted to buy these lights thinking they could get them dirt cheap because they were beat up. They were astonished when my boss told them he would only sell them the old lights for his cost of a new light because if he sold them he would have to buy new ones. It was a good lesson that stuck with me years and years later. That might only be a 500 buck truck on trade in to a car lot but it would cost a lot more than 1200 bucks to replace it!

It runs, it drives, it looks decent, $1200 is a drop in the bucket when new trucks start at $45k! Great work Wes!

$500 would be an absolute steal on any running and driving 4wd around me, regardless of what kind of shape the body is in. That truck would sell for $2k within a day of being posted.

One of the tests of a good mechanic is "does he pay attention to detail even on the crap nobody wants to work on?" Love to watch you work. A true pro.

Good to hear that you and yours are ok. You guys took a heck of a kicking. In terms of the worth of the vehicle vs the cost of the repair, I'm a bit of a shitbox connoisseur so maybe I can shine some light on it. The issue isn't really that the truck is only worth $500, it's that for the $1200 you quoted him, he's not gonna get into a truck that's as nice as this when you're done putting $1200 worth of work and parts into it.

Warn your friends, family, and neighbors about the “storm chaser” construction crews that will be knocking on their door. They will offer to deal with your insurance company and charge you nothing out of pocket. They then sub contract the work out to out of state crews. They do very poor work with low quality materials. They then move on to never been seen again. We had a big storm here in Ohio a few years back. Many of my coworkers are still dealing with the poor quality work that the storm chasers did. Support your local construction companies people.

Storms like this make me a lot of money, setting right all the damaged telephone outside plant. It's good to hear no one was lost in such intense storms. And $500 for a running 4x4 pickup truck? SOLD! Seriously, in Southwestern Pennsylvania, that thing would get >$4,000 easy.

350 tbi- most reliable chevy motor ever made. Good torque, easy to fix. Nice thing on the tbi is the coolant next to never goes inside the engine like the vortec.

Wes and SMA on a saturday morning, great. Good job on the intake.

The correct torque setting is until strips and back a quarter!

I put 400k on one of those old TBI 350s. Great engine. Still ran great when it went to the scrapper. Body rusted away around the engine

I watch a lot of repair channels and you are the only one who CONSISTENTLY uses a torque wrench. Nice call on the intake leaking. Real PITA getting all those hidden clamps and connectors. Thanks for sharing.

"Windy Wonderful Wes" Glad you and "Smarty Pants" made it through the storm ok! That was funny when you blew the dust off the timing light case!! Your right not much call for those any more. I enjoy your work!

You had me laughing when you pretended to blow the dust off the timing light. Thanks for the great video Wes and of course the chuckle.

We're about the same age, when I was growing up, any truck that started and ran reliably that had functional four wheel drive was worth $2500 all day long. Could be leaking water, oil, coolant, etc. but as long as it ran and the 4x4 worked, $2500. Might have to search a bit, but you'd find a buyer. In the current market, bet you could get $4k.

Sorry to see such dreadful devastation in your area with the storm. Glad to hear nobody injured . Stay safe - you and all your family and friends. Best wishes from Scotland

When I took autoshop in 1973 we were taught to highlight timing marks with chalk which had to be repeated every time. When i got married in 1975 I snagged on of my bride's 'out-of-fashion' nail polish colors and started marking them permanently every time I worked on a car for anything here in the village. Still do it although I now buy the fluorescent nail polish at the dollar store because they are easier for boomer eyes to see even though we don't need them very often. Great videos, I especially like the way you explain what you are thinking at each step...

Great video brother. Here in Florida, after a hurricane, the eerie part is losing cell phone and internet/cable because you are cut off from the world, it seems. Back to basic radio. Glad you all are safe bro. Thanks for posting.

I’d rather pay someone reliable $1200 to fix a $500 truck and know what I have than pay $5k for a newer less rusty truck and have no idea what kinda junk I just bought

While the truck may not be worth much, kudos to the owner for keeping it on the road tossing some money into some simple repairs. Nice work Wes!

Hope You are safe. Best wishes from Scotland.

I live in northern Indiana; survived the same storm. I grew up with points and condensers. This was a nice trip down memory lane. Thank you for sharing.

The heat crossover port is used for what was known as EFE early fuel evaporation. When the cool fuel hits the floor of the intake the heat on the floor causes the fuel to vaporize . I always block them off as like you say it burns the snot out of the oil .

12:55 those "quick disconnects" for the heater core I usually find are so corroded from galvanic corrosion from reaction of the aluminum and steel tube plus the coolant that I just replace the whole thing. They are only about $12

It’s the same over here in Iowa just got power back yesterday afternoon. Thanks for taking the time to upload a video!

One thing among many thar impresses me about Wes is his use of a tourqe wrench wherever it would normally be advisable to use one. That's a mark of someone who's been well trained as a mechanic and is careful enough to do the job in a truly professional manner.

Did my 96 dodge 1500 a few months back. Had to change out the plenum plate. Went with the hughes 1/4 in plate works awesome and no more oil on top of the plenum.

brings back memories. was given a 1994 chev silverado. broke down on a friend and he towed it to my place and gave it to me free. did the entire ignition tune up, new starter. fired right up. got me maybe 2-3 years of use. then when I got a full-time job it blew the head gaskets a week before my starting date. wish it didn't do that. miss driving with that full bench seat.

“There’s one of your many problems Lady” nice job as usual Wes! Wish you were my mechanic! If I come to you for service from Maine can I get a room included? Wes bnb ! 😃 Stay safe!👍👍

For a 91, it runs remarkably smooth!

Had a '90 gmc sportside I bought in '92. Kept it about 14 years, changed every damn part on that truck including engine and transmission. I learned a lot owning that truck lol.

We lived in Huntley IL, near Rockford for 45 years the storms are scary, we now live by the Gulf in Florida believe it not it’s less scary. Be safe.

Sorry to hear about the storm damage by you, hope injuries and damage wasn't too bad. Camera shots are very clear 👍. Thanks for sharing and best regards from the UK. John.

Hey Wes, I’ve been watching your videos for a few months now, I am currently finishing up trade school for diesel and have grown up in the trade. For someone with no schooling you amaze me with the knowledge that you have and your diagnostic abilities that are right on par with any top level education you can pay for! Love the videos man keep it coming!

Glad your family came out of that storm safely. Hope they can recover from the damage. $1,200 may seem like a lot to fix an old crusty truck, but it's much cheaper than buying a new one! LOL! My timing light is older than you are.

Iowa got nailed by the Derecho as well. We had sustained 102mph winds and a gust of 112. It's unfortunate for sure but we all pull together none the less. We got power back today. Took 6 days but we're thankful to the crews. Glad to see you guys took less of a hit than we did.

Gee I wish you lived nearby to me!!! I'd get you round to "fix everything" for me too!!! (Sing out if you get to Brisbane, Australia!!!) Love your attitude and vids!! Cheers

Awesome video, cant wait till part 2 . Great fix.. first thing i did when i bought my new 1995 s10 was change orange coolant back to green, flushed with water 3 times then green.. Nothing like getting stuck on backroads at a store needing orange coolant.. even 25 years later convenience stores still dont have orange ..rub some bar and chain oil on the frame..

You really cleaned the inside of that lifter valley area. Looks nice now. You are a jam up mechanic.

Hope your having a good day Wes , please keep up the good videos can't wait to watch this one

Nothing but respect. Working your way through rusted parts and still fixing things on pure knowledge and skills is definitely gold. Keep up the good work!👍🏻👍🏻😉

I totally agree with Traffer, your attention to detail is what makes your channel more than worth watching. A true professional for sure.

We had similar carnage to all our trees here in UK in '87. took an age to get back to normal, hope the State helps out getting you back to normal. Great to watch on Saturday night, just love the absence of loud music when between chats. keep up good work.

That brings back some memories of an intake manifold gasket that I replaced on my '94 K1500 Chevy. It took me a lot longer to do that one than your work did. Enjoying the channel, Wes. Thanks for your no-nonsense way of explaining things.

Those derechos are bad news. We had two in the last ten years in the Mid-Atlantic states. Glad you and all the close and distant Wes family are okay. Weather has changed.

Sorry to hear about the storm

The Florida pool pump motor bearing repair guy When Service Calls Longwood approved ! that was good info Wes

Good job Wes. As a hurricane Michael survivor, those storms ain't no joke. Glad everyone was safe. Truck job went swimmingly

Wes thank you so much, I have the same 1990 truck. This will definitely be helpful to me. Great camera shots and explanation. Thanks to your assistant too.

Wes, I love the fact that you revive old stuff. In the modern age of disposable equipment you are the Dead Equipment Necromancer! Keep up the excellent work and post some videos of the grave yard recoverys.

Hey Wes stay away from downed power lines. I'm saying this as a firefighter. People can back feed the lines with generators and solar panels, and re-energize the line again. You don't want to get bit by one

Pleased to hear nobody was injured by that storm. We had a bad storm in 1988. Monty and I spent 8 straight days cutting and hauling tree and brush to a make shift dump. We did 40 loads of my Ford F150 pickup. We worked from 8am until 12:30pm my Mom or his wife would make lunch then we would work until 8pm and either my Mom or his wife would make Dinner. Those 8 days were dreadful. Luckily we haven't had anything like that because I would be worthless as I am no longer 17 years old.

Glad you and your family are OK, that throttle body injection is really a hybrid of old and newer thinking. Good to see it's still reliable.

You mentioned Eric O. on occasion, I'm from out west Mechanic from Montana, and the RUST you guys have to deal with is insane, I never saw anything the condition you see every day. I do have the skills you have dealing with rust issues, Good job young man.

Sometimes a vehicle can have more sentimental value than monetary. I had a '79 Chevy Silverado 2WD that threw a rod and I got rid of it. I still wish I had that old truck.

These gmt400's went to dexcool when the vortec motor was introduced in 96.

Sorry about the damage but god to hear everyone is safe after the weather event. Too funny...had to blow the dust off the timing light cover...BTW...nice timing light.

On those I usually run a 3/8" hose from the throttle body to the PCV valve since those elbows don't last long from the aftermarket. I've got a 1999 Chevrolet to do the same thing to. Keep up the videos!!!!! Thanks!

Great video!!! Cannot wait for part 2... In the meantime we will wait for Mrs Wes to upload her behind the scenes video...🤣🤣🤣

Here in the SE we have the same issues with strong winds and night time tornadoes. May you and yours be safe. I was the fortunate seller of a '91 Chevy Z 71. 350 auto short wheelbase. I sold it because of two things. Eight miles to the gallon and all the ball joints and tie rod ends and front bearings had to be replaced. I got 500$ for it. About a month after I sold it the new owner was in the process of replacing everything. The transmission went bad. He sold it for scrap.

You are a common sense mechanic, Great job your assistant is wonderful

There's something very satisfying about keeping an old truck on the road. Trucks made now will never last so long.

Glad you and the family are ok from the storms . I live in the south and we go tornado season two times a year, spring and fall.

That storm footage looks nasty....glad no one got hurt. I could see fixing/keeping the old ride given the crazy cost of new trucks and after that F-150 you showed, lots of possible hidden issues about used trucks too. Years ago, a teacher was tuning up his car by himself and spec was set Idle Speed in Drive. He figures in Drive, Parking Brake will hold it. Which it did until he reached over and gives the carb linkage a pull to see where Idle Speed settled down too....Parking Brake didn't hold that and two broken legs and crutches for the rest of the school year............

Oh what a trip down nostalgia lane. I have fond memories of my '91 Chev

Hope everything goes well for you and your family... Keep UP with the great vídeos 🔩🔩🔧👍

i'd keep a truck like that on the road as long as possible. money well spent. the early 90's trucks were the best america ever made.

This video brought back so many memories of working on my 1990 GMC I learned a lot working on that thing, but glad i do not have to do it anymore. best part was all the space in the engine compartment to work. just gave the timing light away last year since i run all diesels now

Oaks are usually the first to go because they have very little give. The farther they can flex the more they can withstand.

Your diagnostic skills are adirmirable!

We haven’t used a timing light since dad had his old fords from the 90s which was before I was even born. Now the timing light sits in the old toolbox in the corner waiting for me to restore my truck and actually get the timing right not just a screw driver in the spark plug hole and crossing your fingers it was the compression stroke

An old Chevy like that in my area in SC would fetch $2500-3000. Of course without the rust. But quality work. (like here.) isn't cheap.

A fairly simple solution to a big problem and it saved the truck for further use. Even though the cost of the repairs is more than the value of the vehicle, it is probably cheaper that buying a replacement for the same amount and have that replacement vehicle still needing work anyway. Better the devil you know. That's how it seems to me anyway. Cheers

Glad you and your family are safe. If it’s been a good truck, I’m sure there is some sentimental feelings also. Then putting money into it even if it’s $1,200 is cheap. You can’t buy another 4 wheel drive for that price and it’s cheaper than making payments every month.

I'm glad you and your family is ok after that storm. I hope you never have to experience one of those again. I lived thru 17 hurricanes living in Florida for 10 years. 2 category 4's, 5 were category 3, a few category 2's. I know how bad wind can hurt a home and the feeling you get while it's going on is pure powerlessness.

My buddy just took in an old Suburban at his shop. Gave the guy a quote of $3500. Guy said "fine". Truck not worth more than $800. But guy is old. Probably last vehicle he will own and he has a life of memories with it.

handle that antique timing light with reverence - they're getting more rare every day.

Glad to hear nobody was hurt from that storm. I liked that video for the truck repair. keep the videos coming

Regarding living in the country and power outages , out of personal experience, we went through every scenario to avoid install a a whole house generator, again 2 weeks ago we had power outage when working in our new shed , our shed was not have backup power hook up available , and yes we were freaking out that we could not due useful work , we had only cordless tool available to use. Their was Executive decision to add transfer switch to our electrical panel, so we could use a small generator .

also sealer on two middle intake bolts very important or you will have oil leaks

That storm was nuts.

Amazing how far this went I just got my power back 5 days later.....used trucks are like gold and they all look like that one lol

cross over is older than that, it was to heat the manifold faster on cold days, to help engine run better. Help make sure the gas turns to vapor, for better combustion. Will find cross overs on even some 1959's v-8s

Sometimes I miss working on the simpler ones. Same timing light I use except I have to hold the wire into the gun on mine lol

Glad you guys are OK out there. Hardly any storms here in Michigan this year. Our annual Woodward Dream Cruise would have been today, but was cancelled because of "reasons". Could probably rent out my old chrome Penske/Sears timing light. Still have the matching dwell /tach, Craftsman ignition wrenches, and GM distributor clamp wrench too.

Did my spring hanger brackets on the F150 - an air hammer with the pointy tip was my best friend when it came to pushing the rivets through the frame after grinding the heads off. Looking forward to your method of attack 😉

I had to laugh, "keep your foot on the brake" reply, do we have life insurance on you? was my first thought.

Glad there were no injuries due to the storm, but the devastation looked bad. Guess insurance premiums will be going up next year. Think people get attached to vehicles they have had for a long time, and go on throwing money at them when they are way passed their sell by date! Neat trick with the super glue, have always used sealant myself with the usual mess as a result. Looking forward to seeing the next part! Best wishes from the UK!

We had a derecho here in West Virginia in 2012. Some didn’t have power for over a week. It was catastrophic.

really enjoyed this video as someone who has owned his fair share of old GM trucks

I was in that bad storm too. We didn’t have power for most of the night and I know people around town that didn’t have power for almost a whole week.. your shop must not be too far from me

Your video production skills match your auto mechanic skills. I feel confidant that, after having watches this video, I could easily do this myself. I am in the video business, not auto repair business. So keep making videos on auto repair because you've got it down. Thanks

Nice job Wes, and lovely assistant also, happy Saturday! Sorry about the storm damage 😕

Truck is actually probably worth $2000 or so. Even with the bad cab corners. definitely savable. Glad the owner decided to put the work into it.

I owned a 2002 with the Vortec V6 that I bought new. I had to replace the water pump, do the intake gaskets and replace many, many ignition coils over 170,000 miles. Had to do the spring shackle job and all the fuel lines too. The symptom I noted was a dropping coolant level with no visible leaks and no steam in the exhaust. It was getting into my oil and sludging up my engine.

Hey that looks like my shirt you used on the intake valley there don’t forget to wash and fold it before returning...lol

Great Job... as always. Just a thought. If possible, I mark a spot on the crankshaft pulley, and do a quick base timing test. I know the timing will be all over the place, but... the base timing at idle will usually give you an idea of where things were. Great video.

I have an '06Silverado and I went back to regular green coolant at 113000 after having to install a new motor. Thank you Chevrolet for the service bulletin about the cracking oil return ports on the heads. (Sarcasm) They wouldn't cover a penny because it was a service bulletin. I have never been a fan of DeX cool. There was talk that the Dex cool was a contributing factor to the head problem. I have no idea if this was true. Great videos!!! Grwat info!!

What Quick Disconnect really means is Quick Connect for the factory to save assembly line money.

I'm happy to see you using a torque wrench. "RESPECT"