Recently Purchased a 2002 S10 Crew Cab!

[Bmaxcrewcab]

Hey, my name is Brian. I'm from ohio and just got an 02 CC! I'm nineteen years, this is my fifth vehicle and I like it very much. Other cars I've had were 84, 88 Pontiac fieros 5 speed , 02 Ford Ranger 2wd 4cyl auto, 01 Honda civic coup 1.7L 5 Speed. I now have this 2002 S10 Crew Cab ZR5.
I do lots of landscaping on the side and needed a truck. I missed my ranger but always wanted a crew cab so I could fit as many people as a car. Civic was amazing on gas but I don't want to choose what i drive by how much gas is. I love working on cars, repairing things and doing little modifications.
It has 164,000 miles, Blue with all the ZR5 extras.

The truck had a coolant leak at intake manifold So i replaced the gasket and it was fine for about 20 minutes. Something had to of gotten in the engine or distributor hole and stopped the cam from turning. Broke timing chain, but i didn't know it was that at first so I replaced distributor, wires, spark plugs and things like that. So pretty much after a week of having the truck, it was now dead.
I decided, rather than taking out the cam and finding what was wrong I'd go ahead and have the whole engine rebuilt! With 164k miles this is probably smart. Its being rebuilt as i speak at engine works inc. The transmission was replaced at 145k so after this the truck should be almost new under the hood!

After I get the truck back (a week or so) I will be replacing shocks with bilstein shocks and also be getting an alignment. Other than this, I will be looking into a hitch.. Thats about it.
I think this will perform really well for my landscaping needs, mostly hauling around stuff and pulling out stumps!

[HenryJ]

Very nice! Welcome Taking the time to rebuild the engine at that mileage was a good move.
Coming from the rigs you have previously owned the fuel mileage of this one is going to be a tough pill to swallow.
Check the RPO codes and see what gears that you have. There is a sticky on "Deciphering the RPO code list".

The truck is a workhorse and should serve you well. Are you setting it up to pull a trailer? If so an auxiliary cooler and a trans temp gauge would be high on my list. The ScangaugeII is a good investment for monitoring functions as well as reading codes.

Browse around , you will find lots of ways to spend that landscaping income.

[Bmaxcrewcab]

Yea, I lifted my ranger even though it was a 4cyl 2wd. The mpg went dramatically down after installing the lift and tires. The s10 i will keep stock for sure! I'm not going to be pulling a trailer all the time, if anything it will be a smaller 5x10 trailer. I cant wait to get the truck back! It was a great week of driving, before everything happened.

Does my truck have the overhead console that tells me mpg's and such? its the ls version.

[HenryJ]

...The s10 i will keep stock for sure!

Good luck with that!

...Does my truck have the overhead console that tells me mpg's and such?

Not likely. It was not an option for the crew cab. One can be installed. There is a thread on the harness needed and the module.
ScangaugeII is another option that adds even more functions.

[Bmaxcrewcab]

haha I know.. I was already thinking about a lift.. Its pretty short for a truck. Possibly just a body lift because i don't want to mess with suspension. I've never worked with torsion bars so I don't know much about them and what i can do. I saw I can install new keys to give it a lift. Obviously i could do shackles in the back. I don't want it to ride super hard though.
But I'd like to keep it as stock as possible.. lol
I just did a search on scanguageII. This looks awesome! and easier than doing the new harness and module for the overhead. Do you have experience with this? On how accurate it is and such! 159.99 too!

[HenryJ]

I loved my scangaugeII. I had problems with it in another vehicle, but that was related to a bad cable, or so I was told. There are a few more here running the scangauges, other than my problem in another vehicle, I have heard no complaints. It is as accurate as the vehicles systems. That is what it reads.

A body lift is good on many levels. Skip the keys. Those will do more harm than good. Shackles in the back are OK, but not if you plan on towing. They allow too much lateral movement. Hobie had them and while turning his driveshaft rubbed the fuel tank.
Go with BSW rear springs , add-a-leaf, or Roadmaster helpers if you tow.
I like the BSW kit, but it is pretty expensive now.

[Bmaxcrewcab]

Very true. I put a lot of weight in the back of my trucks. Should i just go pick something up from summit. They have pro comp, tuff country and skyjacker add a leafs. But what one is best? ha

[Bmaxcrewcab]

If i get this http://www.summitracing.com/parts/TFY-8 ... refilter=1
It says it lifts 3 inches. This would be way to much without doing anything to the front. Right?

[HenryJ]

If i get this http://www.summitracing.com/parts/TFY-8 ... refilter=1
It says it lifts 3 inches. This would be way to much without doing anything to the front. Right?

Right. The long leaf is preferable to a short stiff spring, but you will have the back WAY up in the air if you do more than 1.5"

Get your shocks on , correct the front Z height and drive it a while before you make a rash decision on rear springs.

[green02crew]

I have the scangauge and it works very well. Seems accurate as well as I compared IAT readings with outside temp readings and they were only about 2* difference.

I also have an add a leaf and longer shackles. With a heavy load in the back, meaning more than the truck is rated for, the drive shaft rubs on the fuel tank skid plate.

[Bmaxcrewcab]

I will buy the scan gauge, sounds like it works very good! I actually just got the truck back, took over a month long to rebuild my engine. The guy I took it to had to many projects at once and not enough people working for him. It's getting an alignment as I type this and their checking all my fluids (diff/tranny/4x4 stuff.) I'm looking at shocks and was wondering what you guys thought about kyb gas a just. I can get them pretty cheap.