New 6.2 Ready To Improve

[trevmountain]

Hello everyone, new to this forum.

I've just picked up a nice 85 6.2 k10, it's the heavy half ton style gm produced. It's a 4 wheel drive with 3.42 gears 700 r4 and I'm running 33 12.50 tires. I would like to throw some money and time at her to help improve the performance, economy and longevity. Truck right now runs quite well however it does have a few problems. The glow plug light on the dash will only come on if the engine is cool and been sitting awhile, when it does come on it will flicker after about 5 seconds. Truck has always started though with no problems and runs well overall. Could this be a glich with the glow controller?

Aside from that the truck has an unknown amount of miles but based on the condition of the truck I have to assume it's under 150k. I would like to get the basics upgraded/replaced to really maximize the performance and economy. Wondering if doing some fresh injectors and pump might be a good idea being that I have no idea if they have ever been replaced. Also thinking about the J style intake manifold and building some type of cold air intake. Also looking at some headers from stans and a nice straight through exhaust, 2.5"?

Another issue as I stated earlier the odometer is not functioning so wondering if this is something that can be fixed easily or if I can buy something aftermarket. I would like to have a tach and odometer ideally but not sure what's all involved with making that happen.

This truck also has AC and quite honestly I will never use it and it's basically just in the way when trying to work on the truck. Is this fairly straight forward to remove? Do I need to plug off unused lines if I decide to remove?

Here's a pic of the truck, any thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.

[joeq]

Hello Trev. Welcome to the forum. I see this post is a couple weeks old. Doesn't seem to be a lot of interest in the 6.2 anymore. I have one, and like the simplicity of it, so I'm going through it again, as we speak.
Your glow-plug issue you speak of, sounds like it's operating normally. When my controller "used to" work, it would cycle through a couple times, (when cold) to help aid in starting. Once the eng. is warm, glo-plugs aren't needed.
Not sure what the J style intake is, but it seems you're trying to get more power out of it. I'm not sure how much of a benefit hedders are on a low revving eng. like ours. Honestly, mines a dog, but will pull what I need it to do.
Your odometer problem may be in the gauge itself, if your speedometer is working properly. If so, you'll just need to swap out the speedometer.
And I hear ya on the AC. I live in the North East, and never wanted a "specialty vehicle" with AC, because of all the plumbing, extra cost and weight. If it were me, I'ld at least ditch the compressor. the suit-case is a different story. Have fun on the forum. Lots of info to be had.
p.s. One other thing. You talk about about a cold air box. When I 1st got my truck, the A/C housing was open to the air. It's amazing how much noise comes out of these engines. I found the original silencer box and hose extension that connects the air cleaner housing to the radiator support, and installed it. Enormous improvement. If you don't have this, find one. They're well worth the money.

[MajMike]

With 33's you might consider deeper gears, at least 3.73's, and for power the Banks turbo is the bomb, it will come with their exhaust and cold air intake system.

trevmountain The J manifold is the no-emissions one, like with the CUCV's and Hummers.