jeff i'll ask my GM tech what he thinks it is talk to you tommorrow

               rusty

 Thanks Rusty, any help / ideas are appreciated


 I'll check out the ign system (just to be sure) and check for vacuum leaks (I'll get a vacuum reading too) when I get home tonight.

 I had another strange thought pop into my head this morning though.  What if the fuel pump is making to much pressure ?  Maybe it cant deal with it at low RPM.  I'm fairly sure there is no way to check fuel pressure under the hood on this thing (or nobody around here had a fitting for it). I remember once before when I had a fuel pump issue I had to unhook the filter and put a gauge on it under the truck to see what it was doing.   I've had many many fuel pump issues with this thing, its always one of my first suspects when something isnt right.     

WOW, lots of info, thanks guys. OK let me try to answer all the questions.

 No coolant leak and its not low.
 Distributor, not sure where it came from, the original one broke (shattered its guts in the driveway one day) and I picked this one up (new) from my mechanic neighbor.  It was changed about 3yrs ago, but I do remember that the trigger system inside it looked different.  They told me its a design change because the older ones shatter like mine did. It plugged right in and ran fine after that.   
 Thermostat is a 190 (I believe) its been in there for many years, no signs of anything strange on the temp gauge.
 Timing is correct, they check that now during the smog check. And it passed.
 Not sure how the injectors are firing, but they are noisy. 
 Also not sure of fuel pressure, there is no place to check it on this truck.  If I remember right its a low pressure system, its supposed to be something like 12lbs I think.
 I replaced the base gasket for the TBI a few years ago too, forgot to list that, sorry. It had the high idle issue and ran like crap.
 Not sure how rich it is, it did pass its smog test (barley), but both the smog tech and the mechanic looked at the test sheet and said its rich. I think the only reason it passed was because it has 2 brand new cats under it.  The old cats, front one was hollow, gutted its self and plugged the rear one. Exhaust guy said running rich can cause that, burning fuel in the cat (??).
 There is a slight exhaust leak on the pass side manifold, goes away once it warms up. but the 02 is on the driver side (I think).
 It has 116 k miles on it.
 TPS sensor was checked and is in spec.
 I think I did see the 02 sensor switching with the scanner (looking over a shoulder), nothing occasional or random about it, looked like square wave signal. 
 There are no trouble codes, and it never turns on the check engine light no matter how bad it runs.

 Heres a little description of how it runs and what it does.
 Truck cold, hasnt been driven in a few days, get in start it and drive away, after a few blocks it will develop a slight stumbley miss at cruise speed, this goes away at full throttle. If I shut it off (once its fully warmed up) go into a store to get something come back out and drive home the truck runs better, not perfect, but better. If you dont shut it off, lets say you just jump on the freeway and drive, it runs like crap. It misses and has no power, sounds and feels like a lack of fuel (plugged fuel filter). But as soon as you hit full throttle it clears right out and runs good (no missing). Back to cruise and it starts all over again.    This is worse in the winter, not as bad in the summer.
 

WHAT A FRICKEN DEAL...HOLLY CHIT.........
http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/boa/1923141223.html

 Thats good deal Mouser, you should buy it. 

 I'm going to take a shot at this one. 

 First, how is your water routed ?  Does it go from the pump to the motor first then to the logs, or from the pump to the logs then to the motor ?

 If its going to the logs before the motor (to preheat the water), you might have a tuning issue with the new motor causing realy high exhaust temps now. That would cause the water to be overly hot before it even gets to the motor.

 just an idea.   

COOL 



 So tell me,  was it worth all the work to build it. 

Actually I do see a couple potential issues there.

 1.  You have a potential feedback issue with the bilge pump circuit.  If there is water and the float switch is active, and you happen to have the manual switch on, it will feed back power to the IGN circuit (you wont be able to shut the motor off).

 2. Not sure what your trying to do with that fuel pump circuit ??

 If it was mine, I would run the lights and other switches off ACC power (along with that bilge float switch). That way when the key is off, everything is off.  I have a bad habit of forgetting things on  . 
Another option would be to use a relay on the bilge pump. Output to bilge pump on terminal 30 of the relay, Batt on terminal 87, output of float switch (if its high current) on terminal 87a, output from manual switch (+) on terminal 86, ground on terminal 85.  In that case I would send Bat power to the float switch and ACC to the manual switch.  That way if the boat was sitting in the water unattended and it took on water the float switch could turn on the bilge pump. But thats just me. 

 I saw a 2nd place finish in one of the heat races from that "family" boat.   

so who is all going?

 1  Brad
 2  Ralph  ??
 3  Marcsrollin
 4  The beav + extras
 5  GT jets   on "boat bitch" duty   
 6  crewchief
 7  flytime
 8  Willow Wog
 9  Propless
 10
 11
 12
 13
 14

Well you gotta remember for the most part its pretty quiet up there and most of the visitors are spending time AWAY from the bar.. That leaves the locals. Nothing too scary until you hit the "Short Horn" after about midnight. Its a single wide mobile home turned into a bar right behind the gas station in town. Right near the pizza place. Out of like 15 trips there, atleast 10 ended up back at the trailer saying "What the hell just happened". These are a sneaky sort of people, always leave the banjos at home so you cant hear em comin.

 This would be a clue to most people,  and yet, you keep going back.   

 Call me Colt, to much to type.

 Jeff  559-270-1162

 http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff97/propless/V-drive%20boat/PICT0013-1.jpg

Yeah, I actually mis spoke...We were shooting for Kings Canyon N.P....Yosemite came up because the wifeepoo has never been...I know. I feel like a slacker hubby...

I believe Shaver is between us and Kings canyon...But been a while, thanks for looking out. I am creating an itinerary right now...Just sort of an experiment.

GT

 Well not really,  Kings Canyon is hwy 180, Yosemite is hwy 41, Shaver is hwy 168. You need to drop back down into the valley and climb back up the hills to get from one to the other. Unless you really know the back roads, most are very tight and twisty.  Shaver is kinda in the middle of the two.  Pineflat is (kinda) on the way to Kings Canyon, but its not much in the way of scenery.

We will be driving by there tomorrow to check it out, I'll try to snag a picture or six..

Going to Yosemite for the day and thought we would stake out some future ventures 

GT

 Umm GT, Shaver is not on the road to Yosemite. You can get there from that road but I wouldnt recommend it in a family truckster (great sportbike road though  ).  Eather way, you have to drop way back down into the valley and climb back up the mountains. Lakes that are close to the road to Yosemite (via 41), Millerton, Hensley, Bass lake.

 76, you will like it up there  .  Its a nice lake and a very relaxing place.  Get ahold of Mark (Sangerpete), he has a cabin up there and spends lots of time up there.  If you want to take a short trip one day head farther up the hill to Huntington lake, also very nice. 

 BTW, dont feed the bears !!!