Hey guys, pretty soon I'm going to be more or restoring the outside of my 1990 RCSB. It was my father's so I plan on never getting rid of it. The interior is excellent. The outside is going to hell pretty quick because of that junk paint they used back then. It pretty much has all the options for that year as well: power everything, 5.7, 3.73, etc. My father had a company vehicle so this thing only has 68K miles on it. I'd like to get some more power out of this, but HP/$ for TBI is crap, and doing a Gen III swap is headache in Cali....

When I send it to the paint shop, I want to have them put on the sport mirrors instead of the stock stainless ones. Does anyone know if it's possible to add power mirrors, or would it just be too much of a pain? I'd be fine with manual ones though.

Just to give you guys some ideas...

This shot is about 5 years ago:










But I'm 99% sure I'm going with this color!

 

very sexy color. I can appreciate the love for a loved ones vehicle. Good luck with it.... Go LSx swap dammit!

 

Thanks. Yeah, I'll definitely post up some pictures when it's all said and done. I really don't have the time to do a LSx swap myself. I called up a few local places that do a lot of LSx/LT1 swaps and they said that I will probably have a giant headache getting it certified by the state, bastards... . - they usually do cars that are exempt from smog, but they said they could do if for me no problem if I want.

If I want to stick with the TBI garbage, I'll pretty much be tapped out at around 300-350HP. I read the hot thing to do is buy the GM 330/350 long block, throw on your TBI setup, and go. That or have someone build you a 350 roller engine with all the goodies. Eh, still a lot of cash for so little power.

Hell, if I had it my way this truck would have a LS7 in it with 4WD. . Everyone would get their daily recommended dosage of WTF guaranteed

 

thats a sweet truck, you gotta love the OBS, i think sport red would be nice too.

 

Nice!! Shoot a 6.0 would be nice in that!! I love those trucks especially with a set of billet wheels!!!

 

If it's a daily, just get a 5.3 and slap a 220 cam in it. If you wanna get stupid, still get a 5.3, some 317 heads, and a t70

 

LOL, a T70, how about two? I'll probably stick with TBI since the crazy smog rules out here. And I think the engine swap will be a bigger pain getting that approved. Anything will be better than the stock 200 HP

Yeah, if I could do whatever I wanted with it, I'd put in two smaller turbos - plenty of room in that huge engine bay

 

LS7 awd would be sick that body style!!


ah isnt it nice NOT to live in cali....lol

hey man theres alot of cheep bolt ons out there...shet ebay ss headers for around 150!! i cant wait to get them for mine...

 

Well, the truck is painted, jambs, the whole cab(behind the bed), etc, everything but the bed, I plan on getting line-x put on it. They rolled it a little bit over the rail. These pics were with my blackberry. It was getting late in the day. It really pops in the sun though. Freshly painted a couple days, not even wet sanded or buffed yet. Maybe another week or so and I'll have it back!

Yeah, how about LS9 AWD LOL? If I had that kind of budget for a LS7, why not?

 

The truck looks as if it is coming along nicely. I understand your issues with smog compliance and what makes financial sense, but while you will be limited with the factory style throttle body and PCM, you could still have a nice running truck going with the GM 383 crate motor. Of course you would need a Vortec style TBI intake manifold and have a chip burned, but that would be the least expensive route to decent performance. On the other hand, you could swap everything over to say like a '98 model and not run the TBI anymore. This route would not be too bad, especially if you could pick up a cheap complete vehicle. Besides the electronics / engine controls being better, the interior in nicer to boot and everything would work together perfectly.

Good luck with your restoration!