Last summer taking the Scouts to camp I was pulling a trailer up a hill and shifted it down. I think I wound it up to much and busted a ring or two on the ridge wear. It started to seem like it lost some power and it recently started blowing oil out the dip stick. Checked the PVC valve and it was fine. But when I had it pulled I could see the puffs coming out of the valve cover and dip stick. So I'm pretty sure I have some busted rings. 267 K miles.

My neighbor had a half ton burb a year newer. It has a few more miles but is not burning oil. And I don't have the funds to build a motor right now. His wife, who is on some heavy meds, ran it through a juniper tree, so it wasn't road worthy anymore. Fortunately it only caved in until the fan and radiator met. It had sat for a year, but me and one of my scouts went and sawzalled the radiator and top of the support out. Pulled the mangled fan and put the bolts back in the water pump. Then poured in some gas and it fired right up. So that is the donor heart to the Zebra. Now I have to remove the old heart.


Got some of the smaller vessels and nerves removed today. Will get more serious Saturday. This isn't as fun when your in your 50's as it was in your twenties. And a have to job, vs a for fun build.

Being handy is the best lesson that scout could learn.

If the rad was pushed into the fan enough to put pressure on the water pump you might want to think about replacing the pump while you have it out.
I worked at a bodyshop and have seen many pumps look ok until they get a few miles on the tweaked shaft then whooossss.

Are both engines TBI 350s?

Yep. I think 94 was the last TBI. I was surprised at how difficult to get to the engine to trans bolts are in these. No visibility and little room. They put a body seam right there so you have this 3/4 inch lip that is in a poor spot for removing bolts.

I was thinking it might be a good idea to put a new one in. You may have pushed me in that direction. My first suburban I replaced the water pump at about 320K. I only put a couple K of that on it. It was high mileage when I got it. It still ran strong at 320K but was having fuel pump issues and I  wanted a 4wd. Why I have the Zebra now. I only paid about 1500 for it. If this will get me another 5 years I'll be happy. I only put a few K on it a year.

Water pumps are cheap, you can get a brand new (not reman) AC Delco GM on off amazon for $120 shipped.


TBI ended in 95.  To get those top trans bolts the easiest way is to unbolt the body from the frame and slightly jack up the cab

Brand new ones used to be $40 from Delco years ago . Holy price increase

Those are the chinese made Delco "lower end" ones.  if you want what came on it from the factory get part #89060527

Are those reversed direction? I hadn't really paid much attention to how the belt went. Already took it off.

I thought about doing some metal forming before going back together. AKA BFH style. I'm sure the Burb has a few more body mounts. But I will look at that as an option.

Got it out today. I wanted to get an early start but some other commitments  caused some delay. Then as I went to do one of the delaying projects, I found my wife's car had rear brake issues so my already behind project got pushed back. So instead of starting by noon it was closer to 4:00. But we got it out before 9:00 PM. Sorry no pics. Phone is dead. Will up load some later.

I did order my new oil cooler lines, and connectors.


It was in backwards. No wonder it wasn't running right!

The bare chest cavity.

I also decided since I'm already into it, I better replace the pitman arm and idler. Last inspection they said it was getting loose, and I could feel it.  So I started that. Boy that could be a pain with the engine in. I got my quick disconnects in for my new oil lines that should be here soon. Replaced the plugs in the donor. Just got the AC platinum tip version. Boy were the old ones bad. Some worn to .080 gap. Good news, none were oil fouled. Cap and rotor were pretty used up. Had to break the rotor off.   Used the plug wires off the Zebra, and cap and rotor too. Wires are newer 8mm.

So I hope some of you that have answered are still watching. I have a few questions on the TBI body. The 94 has a three wire O2 sensor, and the 93 has a single wire. So I am sure the computers are different. But the throttle body has the same connectors. The EGR doesn't though, and I switched them. Should the 94 TB unit be the same?? Also the distributors had different looking relucter and inducters, but both have the same 4 pin plug and 2 wire connection inside. The 93 has an 8 point on both sides and the 94 has 8point on the center and 4 on the ring. Same thing different design? Or do I need to switch everything over from the old motor?

swap all electronics over from original harness, will be easier that way.  Beyond that, should be pretty close to drop-in.

Like the above advice.
I would switch the original components to the replacement block for a couple reasons.
It keeps you from hacking up the harness. Another is you have a known good running engine with those components.
Any troubleshooting in the future will be straight forward.

The only thing that was different was the EGR harness and O2 sensor. The TB and dist, use the same plugs on both motors. No messing with wires. I was thinking they should work. I guess worst case would mean changing them out in the truck. I'll do some more research. I got some days to figure it out.

The 02 sensor extra wires are for a heated in the 02sensor. Gets the sensor warmed up and working faster.  I don't know what happens if the power/ground wires for the heater are not connected. Could effect the milliamperes coming out of the sensor. I'd guess it would work but I don't know.

The single shielded wire is the the data feed to the computer. The other two wires are power and ground for the heater.
Your old computer is only looking for its data feed wire.  

I am unfamiliar with the EGR system.

Well the pitman arm and idler arm showed up today. Got them in. I was going to try and take the old steering column out and swap in the 94 with a cruise control lever and the cruise control wires. I was really hoping to get cruise control. So I got them swapped only to find one is a push me start switch and the other a pull you. So I'm not sure I can do that. I have to check the plugs to see if they will cross over. If they don't, I wasted my time and will have to swap them back. I swapped the switches when I did it so I knew it would plug in ok. I just didn't know they had switches that worked opposite from each other. I also need to find out what the two white wires that come off the plug with the purple wire that goes to the brake switch goes to. I hate wiring.

I am guessing even though they aren't exactly alike, that the TB would be the same. It just controls fuel. It senses throttle position and feeds fuel accordingly. The newer 94 may have some different things but it still would run the same TB. and distributor. Just fine tune them a bit better. At least that is what it would seem to me, since they have the same plugs. The wiring on the 94 Egr has a different plug, and I think different number of pins in the plug. As long as the 93 computer can read/communicate with the TB and distributor, and I kept the 93 EGR, it should work. I think the issue would be if I were to swap computers.

Just jumped over to Ebay. I found you can do some research there. TBI listed there show from 88-95. Same with distributors. So I think I should be OK. Ignition switches, might be a bitches... Tomorrow is a new day. And I should get my oil cooler lines too.

I know more on the 96-98s than I do the 88-95s but..... around the early 90's GM was transitioning from PROM chips to OBD1 with 94 being the first year in most of their cars for OBD1 so as said I would use the long block from the donor and put anything electronics related from yours back on this new engine.

A scout is thrifty.

You're probably right. I may risk it though. I got some time to decide. Won't likely go back in until Tuesday next.

I got the ignition thing figured out. Not sure why but Chevy flipped the switches from 93 to 94. They use the same plugs but turn them over 180'. So I put the original switches back on their columns and just turned over the the connectors.  Good to go...(I hope)

Next question. Cruise control. The wires on the 94 have two white wires and one purple on the brake switch. The 93 has a purple going to the brake switch, but no white. There was an after market cruise control, that doesn't work, that was installed. It has a brown wire going to the brake switch too. So does anyone know what the purple and white wires run? I'm guessing that one kicks off the cruise, but what are the others for? Cruise dash light? Power fed wires or grounding wires? I think Chevy uses purple for power. What are the white wires usually for? Maybe I can get some pics up in the morning.

I got the new oil cooler lines and got them installed. Swapped the water pump. Switched the AC brackets. One had busted stops for the bolt heads. Hope to get some things done after work tomorrow. Get the flywheel swapped and get the donor heart on the hoist, and if I'm lucky get it bolted in place. Then when I'm off Tuesday, get things connected up. Hope to fire it by Saturday next. Getting time to work on it is the issue. I need to get a friend to heat up the exhaust nuts so I can get them off the studs that came out, so I can get them ready to install also. Fun stuff! Starting to see light at the end of the tunnel.

Flywheel swapped, got it off the stand and on the hoist. Tuesday is my next day off. Hopefully it will run by Tuesday evening. I'm not the fastest wrench in the ARF world, so if it's in and mostly hooked up I'll be happy.

Now the cruise control issue. Here is the connector in the 94.

The Zebra has the same connector, but it only has one white wire.  I'll cut the one out of the 94. And hook in my wires from the brake(the other white and purple) and see what happens.
OOPS! this is the 93.

Well I got time to work on the Zebra today. my trusty assistant surgeon "Cookie" helped out again. We completed surgery around 5:30 PM. We put the juice to the new heart and it rumbled to life. We let it run for a bit, put our instruments away. We then closed the chest cavity, AKA put the hood on. Test drove it down the road a mile or two, then by 6:45 were hauling scouts. It is still a high miles motor, so it doesn't run much better. But I can tell the difference. Doesn't take as much pedal to go up a small incline. Between scouts and it being my pick up truck too, I'm glad it's back to life.
My assistant, and the Zebra.


I still need some time to work the cruise control out though. Hope I can get it to go.

I didn't change the TBI and distributor, they are '94. I'm also going to see if I can swap the audio out of the 94. My front speakers don't work. Not sure if it's speakers or the control that's bad. And the 94 had a cassette player, I want to test it out too.

Yard work has gotten painfully behind, so the new stuff will be done after dark when I can't work in the yard. Not enough hours in the day sometimes.

Nice! now it's time for a 95-99 K1500 style grille and head lights to replace the W/T style front.

You could have just changed that boy into a can do type of man.
Learning to be handy changes life.
Nice to see the Zebra lives again

Hec no! I like my Chevy looking GMC grille. I think they got it backwards in the 90's. The Chevy's should have got the GMC grille with a bow tie. And they still have them wrong in 2017!

Before. GMC looking Chevy grille.



After. GMC grille (think 73 Chevy look) with bow tie.


And I like the glass head lights. No hazing and much cheaper to replace. The 92 I had before this one, hit a deer before I bought it, and I put an 88 GMC grille in it, with the quad glass head lights. The 95-99 are good looking, but I like the set up I have.

Funny sorta related story. We grabbed some lunch at the only place in town. The Chevron. When we left, there were these millennials (guy and gal) sitting in this old Ford Ranger with the hood up. So being Scouts we looked at it as a good turn daily opportunity.  Well we asked if they needed a jump. Sure? I told Cookie "I'll laugh if it's a standard." They had the cables already out. Not hooked up though. So I hooked them up and the starter would only click the solenoid. But it seemed to have enough battery. Starter wasn't cranking. So sure enough it was a standard shift. The thought never crossed their mind to push start it. So we put the chick in the drivers seat. Yes it was her truck. She was short and it had at least 4 inch blocks bolted to the pedals. I didn't think she was that short, but I guess she likes her knees in her chest while driving. I digress. So we push it down the little hill on the drive way and boom, starts right up and send them on their way. I think Cookie will be a little wiser than that dude was, if he gets in that situation.

Cookie learned a valuable life lesson.
That is how I've met all most all of the females I've dated. Mechanics rule the white knight round table.
Either rescued them from a broke down vehicles on my off time or at the Dealership service dept. during the day.
Rescued the wife of 20+ years from a broken down VW.

Ok So the cruise control.

So this was what I was looking at in the 93. You see the connector hanging down is out of the 94 cruise control harness. 3 wires, 2 white one purple. The 93 has one you see in the pic, white wire with the metal clip, female with one white wire. Behind it you see the 2 red splice connectors that the old aftermarket cruise was hooked into. The brown and purple wires were spliced into the orange and white. So I hooked into them(brown and purple) Via the cut from the 94 female connector. Tried it out and no worky. So I decided that they might not have got things right with the after market one, or it worked differently. So I looked at it again. The orange wire was hooked to the brown, and the purple into the white. So I figured I would match the wire colors from the 94 and spliced the purple to the purple you see(laying next to the red splice).  Disconnected/cut the orange/brown off and hooked the white to white. And the other white was spliced into the existing white plug in the 93. Tried again. Bingo! Cruise control. I have no dash light but I'm not really bothered by that.

That was part of today's work. I also swapped the wind-able trouble lite and the small hood light in. I also swapped in the stereo/radio, controller, 2 front speakers, and tape deck from the 94. The tape deck seems a bit hit and miss. I may have to find another one. Time will tell. And I also swapped in the instrument panel, It has a tach.  Just in time for my Son that came down from up North to borrow it to go camping.... Kids timing.... Oh well, the wife is still recovering from gall bladder surgery so we can't go try out our new kayaks for a couple weeks anyway.

And I must shamefully admit, after wondering why the starter seemed to drag a bit(I took the mini starter off the 94 too) I found the reason. I forgot to hook the battery ground back to the engine block. Found it hanging. Hooked it back up and for some reason the starter seemed to come alive. Glad I caught it before I burned the small ground wires up.

And now it's over due for registration, was up end of April. Hope the kid doesn't get pulled over. I forgot until after he left. He's not far from the house, so I hope he would just get a warning.

So I go to get her inspected and she has bad knees too. Front upper ball joints are bad. :-( Off to the parts store I go.... Start the process and also see that though still at a legal limit, the front pads are due too. They will wait till after June I think. Still cheaper than a new one I guess.