New Syclone Owner....Old Problems

M

MAK

New member
I just inherited a Syclone from my father after his passing. I am familiar with what has been done to the truck and what it needs. I am NOT familiar with all of the "ins and outs" of tuning and modifying the truck. After reading through hundreds of posts I still have some concerns on what I should do to get this truck running as smooth as possible without going crazy with add ons and performance upgrades. The complexity of these trucks has me leary of just buying parts and throwing them on. For reference, the truck is stock with 128k miles and has a new turbo. The items below are to be addressed:

- Original air intake cracked and killed the last turbo. I want to get an improved cold air intake. I see the RPM CAI (factory battery location kept). Is this a good replacement over stock without requiring other modifications?

- Original exhaust has a leak. I want to replace the stock exhaust (including cats) from the cats back. What is the most effective, common method of doing this? Gaining performance here would be great, but again, I do not want to be forced into modifying too much because of the exhaust changes.

I know some of this has been covered in the past but it seems most trucks have had many modifications and may not necessarily be the best scenario to base my upgrades on. I love this truck and I want to make it great again so any advice on the above (and anything else) would be much appreciated. By the way, I did read the "sticky" on the new members thread and have done a lot of that already. Good information on there.
 
bezerk

bezerk

New member
Re: New Syclone Owner....Old Problems

hello there, sorry about the bad news on your dad.

the good news., the 3'' RPM catback is great, the cold ait intake i don't know. but i think you need to move the overflow bottle.

These trucks are fun,, and addicting.

good luck!
 
M

MAK

New member
Re: New Syclone Owner....Old Problems

Thanks Bezerk and SY2455 -

So I take it RPM is the way to go for exhaust and CAI. There seems to be many options for the exhaust - cat back w/ or w/out mufflers, down pipes, etc. - I will need to do more research to see which will be best for my stock truck. Hopefully I do not mess something up.

As for working on it myself, I can do basic fixes but I have never worked on turbo-equipped vehicles. I hope I can find everything I need in here. There are NO shops withing 3 hours of me here in North Dakota so I am screwed if something happens.
 
SY2455

SY2455

70's Veteran
Re: New Syclone Owner....Old Problems

MAK said:
Thanks Bezerk and SY2455 -

So I take it RPM is the way to go for exhaust and CAI. There seems to be many options for the exhaust - cat back w/ or w/out mufflers, down pipes, etc. - I will need to do more research to see which will be best for my stock truck. Hopefully I do not mess something up.

As for working on it myself, I can do basic fixes but I have never worked on turbo-equipped vehicles. I hope I can find everything I need in here. There are NO shops withing 3 hours of me here in North Dakota so I am screwed if something happens.
Click to expand...

If you can work on a non-turbo vehicles, Then you most likely can work on these trucks. If you don't have them, see if you can find a set of the factory service manuals. They will be useful to any and all work on these trucks. You can find them here.

http://www.helminc.com/helm/product2.asp?Make=GMC&Model=SYCL&Year=1991&Category=&class%5F2=GMC&mk=GMC&yr=1991&md=Syclone&dt=&module=&from=result&Style=helm&Sku=X9176K&itemtype=K

Do you have the basic tools, and jackstands and a floorjack ? There are times that you will need them :rotf::rotf:. Some of the basic things that you should think about just to make the truck more reliable are the following. Fuel Pump, Adjustable Fuel Pressure Req. Maybe your truck has these already if you know the history of your dad truck. There are a great group of guys here that are willing to help, use the search button often. You will most likely find out that the question you are thinking about asking most likely has been ask already. After searching and not finding it. Post up and you will find the help you need like they are next door to you.:tup: That is one of the really neat things about this site.
 
Don W.

Don W.

Stab it and steer it
Re: New Syclone Owner....Old Problems

First, I'm sad about your dad. Mine died in 1982. Yesterday was his birthday.

Welcome to a very unique fraternity.

Now my :2cents: Do a basic service now (unless you have records). Crawl around underneath, proper jackstands or don't do it. Just get used to where things are and so-forth.

Good first thing might be to check the timing. Let us know when you find the dist. hold down bolt.:roll: Take the radiator cap off first thing in AM before a start. Is the radiator itself full? Mayabe change the coolant.

Anyway what I'm suggesting is to just look things over carefully. Hoses OK? Leaks anywhere? Does it start and idle fairly smooth? changing plugs will get you used to the tight spaces. Fill-up with the best, high octane, gas you can get and go out and do a boost launch to whatever speed you like. How does it run? Dose it miss at all? Rotor, cap, and wires are another fairly easy, early owner project.

See where I'm going here?

Was your dad a mechanic? If so, or even if not, think of him and smile when you bloody the first knuckle.

Here's some more reading material for ya:

http://home.swbell.net/loeryder/

http://www.sytyarchives.com/

http://www.sportmachines.com/maintenance/beginner.php
 
M

MAK

New member
Re: New Syclone Owner....Old Problems

Thanks for the tips, Don.

My dad was not a mechanic - a genius in many ways, he just did not mess with cars after he could afford to get thework done by a professional. The truck is in a performance shop in NC right now and they are doing all the tune up work (plugs, wires, rotor, cap, oil, tuning, etc - HOPEFULLY) When I get it back in May I will be sure and go over it good. He kept all of the receipts for work done so it will help me keep track of everything it needs. When I drove it last month it ran rough at idle but hopefully the shop will take care of that. We both bloodied our knuckles on the truck years ago so I will think of him every time I do it in the future...for some reason I think it might be often...:tup:

95extreme - I am near Portal, ND, south of Estevan, SASK.
 
SY2455

SY2455

70's Veteran
Re: New Syclone Owner....Old Problems

What do you mean rough at idle ? The Syclone was known to have a strange idle, sounds like a miss.
 
Don W.

Don W.

Stab it and steer it
Re: New Syclone Owner....Old Problems

Let us know when you get it back and tell us how it runs/performs and so on. Has this shop seen Syclones before?
 
M

MAK

New member
Re: New Syclone Owner....Old Problems

Don - Yes they have. My dad took it to them before. I will be sure and post up when it arrives. The sooner the snow goes away up here the sooner I can get it back. There is a lot of stuff I need to move in my small garage in order to get the truck in and there is too much snow on the ground still.

SLPCAMAROSS97 - Truck number is 1656. The body is in very good shape, other than a bent bar behind the front bumper where dad bumped a car and a few small door dents. It could use a good wax and buffing, of course. When the truck gets back to me I will be sure and post a few pictures.
 
M

MAK

New member
Re: New Syclone Owner....Old Problems

Sorry SY2455 - I missed your question......and thank you for your advice, as well.

It is at idle. It seems to go up and down a lot until it gets warm. Hopefully the tune up will take care of it. If not, you can bet I will be looking in here for some quick answers.
 
SY2455

SY2455

70's Veteran
Re: New Syclone Owner....Old Problems

MAK said:
Sorry SY2455 - I missed your question......and thank you for your advice, as well.

It is at idle. It seems to go up and down a lot until it gets warm. Hopefully the tune up will take care of it. If not, you can bet I will be looking in here for some quick answers.
Click to expand...


1 of the 1st things that you should check is the vacuum lines. On my truck when it was doing the high /low idle, I found a large plastic vacuum line that run down the pass side of the intake was just barely into a 90* rubber elbow at the front of the intake manifold.
 
M

MAK

New member
Re: New Syclone Owner....Old Problems

SY2455 - I read that the vacuum lines can be troublesome. I will be sure and check them all out. Is there a kit available to us to replace all of them at once? I will check into this. That would be a good way to eliminate THAT potential problem.
 
turbodig

turbodig

Active member
Re: New Syclone Owner....Old Problems

Personally, I'd stay simple with the exhaust... the fewer drastic changes you make, the better the stock boost control system will be able to deal with it.

We should really get the gang together sometime this spring...
 
M

MAK

New member
Re: New Syclone Owner....Old Problems

I am up for a "get together". Sounds fun. The only problem I can see is my work schedule. We do some crazy hours.

As for the exhaust, I do plan on keeping it simple. I am going to check around and see what the most effective and reasonably priced system would be. It is a stock truck but I need to find out if another stock exhaust would be best or if some other aftermarket system would be better for a stock truck with a RPM CAI (once I get the CAI).
 
SY2455

SY2455

70's Veteran
Re: New Syclone Owner....Old Problems

I'm not sure, but if I recall correctly Mike at RPM is the only one making a cat back system for these trucks. He used my truck for the 1st one as it was 99% stock and still had the stock downpipe at the time. You may take a look at his exhaust system.
 
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