thebeerman

I have a 2 volume set of these manuals and do not know if they very unique or not. They are very well maintained, like they were never used, and each volume is around 2 1/2" thick, loose leaf, with detailed parts breakouts in every section. Highly detailed to the point of show where body seams are located and how to replace panels, etc. I also have the regular red cover GM 1990 factory manual ST-364-90 that in no way compares to the detail in these two manuals. Are these anything special? I am looking to clean out my workshop and am interested in selling them. What would be a reasonable price?

kenpeindl

Can you post some pictures. I know of the red service manuals but not the other ones you mentions.

Ken

thebeerman

I have tried to come up with some differences by comparing a regular service manual (RSM) to the Initial Service Manuals (ISM) I have a found a few things. When I spot checked some of the pages they were the same, but there were some additional details and diagnostics in the ISM. For instance, in the drivibility and emissions section the rsm shows 62 error codes, whereas the ism has 65. The ism has several hundred extra pages of electrical diagnosis, things like that. And the ism is on heavier stock paper in heavy duty ring binders, as opposed to the very thin paper of the rsm. I took some pictures of the differences, they are attached. One shot shows the extra electrical diagnosis pages index, compared to complete manual, and the binders (2 volumes) compared to the rsm.

kenpeindl

Interesting as the only books I know for the 1990 are the earlier white SM and the final red SM along with the red electrical and LT5 books. I'm wonder is someone took the all books apart and hole punched them to put in a binder giving the size of the 2 binders. The going price for the red SM is all over the scale on eBay. It all depends on the condition and what the seller feels their books are worth. I got both the red SM and electrical book for under $60 off eBay.

thebeerman

I don't think the initials are the same thing just hole punched because they are a heavier card stock that any of my other manuals. I can't believe you got all that for $60, you got a great deal! I just sold a used Harley service manual for $125 and usually expect to pay around $100 per. In comparing the two different sets there are some extras in the initial set that aren't in the later set. I have looked everywhere I can think of with no success to find out the details of these. Thanks for your reply.

kenpeindl

Yes eBay is a funny place. I recently seen a 1990 red SM in great shape go for $28 + $10 for shipping. It's just a matter of having patience and checking at the right time. The LT5 book I got on eBay was $13.98 + $2.72 shipping from a liquidation company. You don't see that to often but I have seen them for under $50 recently. It mostly depends of the rarity of the item and the demand.