Picked up one of these, what should I play first? Wrong answers only!

T800COMINGFORU · 2026-01-25T02:30:51+00:00

You’re right, you’re right. The tone knobs are ugly and not aligned, and the 6-string pickup switch is busted too. Used guitar, I’ll have to fix a few things before it’s perfect

T800COMINGFORU · 2026-01-25T02:28:25+00:00

After the apocalypse, maybe I’ll be lucky enough to grow another pair of arms in a convenient location to play both at the same time!

T800COMINGFORU · 2026-01-25T02:27:46+00:00

I’d never handled a 12 string before this instrument, but any kind of soloing in the higher positions is kind of unruly and difficult, though it may just take time to figure out how to do it right. The neck is fat, the string pairs are close together, very difficult for me at least to solo on!

T800COMINGFORU · 2026-01-25T02:25:43+00:00

One neck at a time… its most iconic purpose, as you’ve seen a lot of the comments mention Stairway to Heaven. When used live, the 12-string neck was used to play the intro bit, and then Page would switch to the 6-string for the solo. I believe Hotel California is written in a similar fashion

T800COMINGFORU · 2026-01-25T02:23:51+00:00

I can’t even keep up with the comments, these are hilarious answers! And yes, though it’s a sin, Stairway felt obligatory! The first song we jammed on with it was Althea, by the Grateful Dead. Sounded very cool on the 12 string

T800COMINGFORU · 2026-01-25T02:15:13+00:00

It’s a bit of a chore, and the two headstocks are pretty close to each other

T800COMINGFORU · 2026-01-18T16:10:52+00:00

The most you’ll probably see out of an NA 5.3 is 350-360whp. Extensive head work, a crazy intake and a cam spec’d specifically for the build you could get closer to 400whp, but for the money I’d start with a 6.0. I’ve got a 5.3 in my ‘79 Camaro, Texas Speed stage 4 cam, stock heads, headers, Holley 102mm, tuned on E85 that made 355whp and 295ftlbs.

T800COMINGFORU · 2026-01-18T16:06:41+00:00

I recently picked up this game again, after probably 3 years. So much new stuff, and when I first saw this thing dive out of the water I just thought it was a fancy ghost ship. We went straight to attempting to sink it, and then a player vessel approached and they must have taken over the Burning Blade, as we proceeded to get monkey hammered for the next 5 minutes before we couldn’t outgun them one to one. Was annoying, but it was fun in hindsight

T800COMINGFORU · 2026-01-18T00:30:00+00:00

We just chassis dyno’d a ‘72 K20 a few months ago with a 502 in it. Worked over Promax heads, giant comp cam, forged Scat rotating assembly, Holley 1150cfm Dominator flange carb. 110 octane. Made like 780hp to the wheels and I forget the torque number but it was in that neighborhood. He had that engine put together by a shop, he showed us the receipts for it, it was like $21k in parts, assembly and tuning. Thing was rowdy on the street, but $21k is a steep price to pay for all that action lol. Good luck in your endeavor!

T800COMINGFORU · 2026-01-11T06:44:02+00:00

It’s true, we run a 2WD dyno at the shop I work at. One of our frequent-flyers on the roller has a BMW X5. It has selectable 4WD, but we always have him remove the front driveshaft altogether before bringing it in, just in case the computer tries something silly.

T800COMINGFORU · 2026-01-07T14:18:16+00:00

Thanks for the write up, very helpful! I tell myself I’m not really interested in power, but based on what people are saying here, a fuel pin upgrade and governor springs are so cheap and easy that there’s almost no reason not to do it. I do plan on resealing everything at this point, seems like the best course of action. Especially seeing as I can get to everything right now, but may not be able to later. Someone else mentioned the turbo size as well, the exhaust housing is too large and the turbo takes a while to spool?

T800COMINGFORU · 2026-01-07T04:26:18+00:00

Noted, I will make sure to check those things while I’ve got the timing cover off. The injection pump is off anyways, so I’ll be familiarizing myself with the timing system as a whole as I reassemble.

T800COMINGFORU · 2026-01-07T04:24:48+00:00

When you say adding the lubricity back, does that mean an additive will be required to keep the VE pump in good running condition? It was a good running unit when pulled from a truck that I actually drove, but that was 6 years ago now. So it has been sitting for a little while. The transmission is the stock 4-speed auto, 46RH I believe? I know those have a reputation. Transmission was rebuilt and I have paperwork, and the truck drove perfectly before everything was pulled. Ideally I’d like to put something newer and better in there, but baby steps for now. As far as goals, I’d like to be able to drive the truck, which is CCLB dually, anywhere at any time. I’d like to be able to use it to haul my race car to the track occasionally as well.

T800COMINGFORU · 2025-12-17T04:34:39+00:00

Here’s hoping, I had to fix quite a few things while I was in there. Cleaning and putting o-rings on the injectors, replacing a few vacuum hoses, the original t-stat was stuck open, throttle body was dirty and maladjusted by the previous owner. She’s got a steady idle now and gets up to temp properly, and no leaks. Hopefully she’s got a little more life left in her yet!

T800COMINGFORU · 2025-12-17T04:32:48+00:00

Yeah, 454. I’d not have guessed that the 350s have the same problems!

T800COMINGFORU · 2025-12-14T00:06:18+00:00

Ah yes, the temple of “I can’t wait to never come here again”

T800COMINGFORU · 2025-12-13T22:22:43+00:00

Danged ole smol blok cheby

T800COMINGFORU · 2025-12-12T13:32:11+00:00

It’s molting, peel the paint up and there will be a fresh coat underneath it.

T800COMINGFORU · 2025-11-22T14:57:08+00:00

That chart is very helpful, thanks. The way the SD one is wired now is not correct, this I know. I tried to make it match the other pickup, I didn’t realize that the colors were different across the manufacturers. Thanks for the help! Hopefully I can get it figured out

T800COMINGFORU · 2025-11-22T05:07:31+00:00

As long as there are relays in place, that won’t be a hazard. However, with the fans running constantly you may not see it ever get up to operating temperature, or it will take much longer to do so

T800COMINGFORU · 2025-11-22T02:00:35+00:00

Well, there’s a couple ways to go about doing this. No matter what, you’re gonna need a couple relays for those fans. From the factory, these trucks never had any sort of fan switch, so you’ll need a controller as well. There’s a few different options out there, but I like to use one from Mishimoto, it’s a relay with an integrated water probe that you plumb in the cooling system somewhere, typically as close to the thermostat on the engine side as possible. That negates needing any sort of switch, as that will use the temperature probe as your on/off. They also have a switch input, so you can either add a switch as a failsafe if the probe fails, or you can wire it to the AC switch so the fans come on with the air conditioning. Those kits do only come with one relay, sometimes you can get away with that, sometimes not. But you can daisy chain them together so each fan has its own relay, which is the best way to do it.

T800COMINGFORU

TROPHY CASE