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‘86 K30 Crew- From Sierra to Silverado, & a Cummins

imiceman44 said:
6.2 would be ok at 2400, it can go to 3600 but it will tell you it doesn't like it by putting a hole in your wallet.
I have seen mileage cut in half by driving at high rpm
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Would definitely like to pull the best mileage I can from the thing, what with the price of diesel these days. Worst case I figure I'll just put a sign on the tailgate saying "Sorry, it doesn't go any faster" :haha:

I had a GM NV4500 in my possession not too long ago, but I turned around and sold it because I figured I'd be doing the Dodge drivetrain swap in the not to distant future. Looking back, that 4500 conversion would have needed some conversion parts of it's own, and probably wouldn't have been worth it
 
I sold a 4l60e that came with the engine I bought and I sold it because I was stupid instead of rebuilding it and putting it in the blazer.
 
Managed to knock a few things off the list this afternoon, got the interior all cleaned out and the door panels back on the inside, all the power windows and locks are a little slow, but they work, so that's cool. Found out half of my fuel gauge issue, followed the sender wires from the tank and found they rubbed through and were grounding out on a brake line. Added some loom and the right hand tank reads just fine now. I can hear the selector working, but when I switch to the left tank the gauge shoots up again. I'm happy with just the one tank for now, my new left hand box side doesn't have a fuel door anyway. Discovered the power steering pump belt was way too loose, and in the process of trying to adjust it my prybar slipped, hit the pulley and now there's a leak from the shaft seal. Whoops. New one comes in tomorrow, and that's a decent amount of the initial list done
 
Forgot how much I hate ATF and V belts, haha. Got my new pump sans housing and pulley. After making a huge mess on the bench, the thing is back together and back in. I don't think there was a single tight bolt in the brackets for the AC and power steering pump. Makes a guy wonder who was there last
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Also used the GM approved method (probably) of tensioning
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Took the opportunity to add an AC belt to the compressor to see if it works. It was missing for whatever reason. The system is pressurized, presumably with R12, and the clutch and pulley seem to be good. It would be a pretty decent score if the AC ends up working. Hopefully going for a drive tomorrow evening
 
centexk5 said:
I use a 3’ pry bar with a 3’ piece of pipe on the end of it for tightening belts.
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Wow, overkill.
I never needed more than my 18" probably.
I am afraid to do more in fear of destroying the belts. I always get the tension within the specs
 
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New rubber! Friend of mine had some half decent 35's lying around, so we swapped them on to my wheels. A tire machine was one of the best investments we've made. Drove it all around today. I have thousands of dollars invested into my Dodge dually steering and suspension, and this thing on a lift and stock steering handles and rides way better. Turns out the speedometer doesn't work, but my phone app speedo shows I can do a steady 100 without revving the crap out of it. Does pretty good on the flat, but any sort of incline, forget it. This thing is an absolute dog, haha
 
K30guy said:
View attachment 377435

New rubber! Friend of mine had some half decent 35's lying around, so we swapped them on to my wheels. A tire machine was one of the best investments we've made. Drove it all around today. I have thousands of dollars invested into my Dodge dually steering and suspension, and this thing on a lift and stock steering handles and rides way better. Turns out the speedometer doesn't work, but my phone app speedo shows I can do a steady 100 without revving the crap out of it. Does pretty good on the flat, but any sort of incline, forget it. This thing is an absolute dog, haha
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I like the H2s on it. Truck looks good!
 
max 02 said:
I like the H2s on it. Truck looks good!
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Thanks to your comment, I now know what these wheels are :haha:
Buddy of mine gave to me a few years ago, never knew what they were, thought they looked kinda cool. Still want to go to steelies, though
 
K30guy said:
Thanks to your comment, I now know what these wheels are :haha:
Buddy of mine gave to me a few years ago, never knew what they were, thought they looked kinda cool. Still want to go to steelies, though
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Lol!
Let me know if you want to sell them after you get steelies. We could use another set.
They fit really good on Duramaxs and Dodges.
But yeah steel wheels are my favourite on a square.
 
Knocked a few things off the list this weekend. Removed a broken stud from the mirror mount holes, installed the proper door lock cylinder into the driver's door, and figured out the absent speedometer. Pulled the dash pad and got the gauge cluster pulled out

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Turns out a few mice made their home back there. Actually, more like a whole brigade of mice. They tore the insulation off the fire wall and were camped out on top of the mount for the steering column and the HVAC box on the passenger side. That would explain the distinct odor, haha. There was a lot more than this, I pulled a half garbage bag full of the stuff from under there

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Turns out the little bastards pulled the speedo cable off the back of the cluster. So I simply clipped it back in, and it works. Little bouncy, I may take it back apart and grease it, but it'll do for now. I went for a drive to find the difference between the factory speedo and my GPS one, turns out at 100 km/h the gauge is reading only about 5 km slow. Pretty surprising, considering the 35" tires. Either way, it works now

Started doing some calling around to figure out what it's gonna cost to have my engine machined. I have a '93 block from my Dodge W350, I'm looking to have the block bored, hot tanked and decked, and the head decked, ported and polished. I'll probably have the machine shop install the rotating assembly, too. As for the pump, my 215 P pump I've been saving for this project needs a lot of work. For one, I robbed the 181 delivery valves for my 160 horse pump in my Dodge, and the governor springs are missing, as well as the governor hardware. So I'll probably have to pump some money into that, as well

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The p-pump conversion I did on my 24v was awesome. Had a 215 pump benched with some 191’s, a 4K governor, and the barrels turned and matched. Threw a 10 plate in and set the timing around 24*. Ran so much smoother and better than any VP pump I ever had.
 
Installed a check valve pre filter into the fuel system, in an attempt to solve my hard start and long crank time issues. Did absolutely no troubleshooting, but it had all the symptoms of a drain back issue. Starts like a charm now when it's warm, still needs to turn some when cold. Likely gonna put the glow plugs on a switch, as well

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After pricing out some machining for my block and head, I wasn't a fan of some of the quotes I received. Seems prices have changed since I last had some deep engine work done by a shop. So I started looking elsewhere. Ended up coming across yet another full donor vehicle. This one wasn't as much as a steal of the first one, but I'm still very satisfied with the price. It's a 1996 12 valve NV4500 4x4, one previous owner apparently. An old farmer fella who took meticulous care of the drivetrain, but not so much the body. Buddy of mine went in on it with me, he wants the 4500 for a build of his, a '79 Ford Highboy with a 12 valve. Suits me fine, the engine has a 175 horse P pump, I'm going to swap it for my 215 and sell the 175, along with a bunch of my engine parts I was saving for a rebuild.

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And before I get accused again of chopping up a clean donor vehicle, the other side is much worse. Pretty much every body panel on this thing is hooped :haha:

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Engine is clean, though, 336,000 km and the oil is clean as a whistle. No visible blow by, and no leaks that I could see. Should get it into the shop this weekend, torn apart and kicked back out shortly after. Gonna have lots of parts off it for sale soon. At this rate I'm gonna run out of room in the shop, haha. Guess there's worse problems to have
 
The second parts truck hitched a ride home yesterday, I don't think I've ever done a parts run when it hasn't been pouring rain or minus 40

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Took the rig out to our local sand pits today to do some target practice, was a real good test of the truck's off road capability. Until today, I wasn't even certain the two axle ratios were the same, haha. This engine barely had enough power to spin the wheels in second gear in some of the soft sand we ran into, and there were a few moments I wasn't sure we were gonna be driving out. The truck is a real hoot to drive as is, and if this 6.2 had just a little more oomph, I probably wouldn't even want to go through with the swap

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I'm sure followers of this are getting tired of seeing torn apart Dodges in the thread, and I'm honestly tired of having them on the shop floor. This, however, should be the last second gen I tear apart for this project, haha. Rolled the truck in, pulled the front clip, cooling package, bumper, and made room for the engine to come out. Disconnected the harness, fuel lines, P/S lines, pretty much everything that could hold this in short of the motor mounts. I'll be pulling the trans first, for ease of engine removal.

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The spare injection pump I have on the bench should be going to the injection shop this week to get a once over, depending on when the governor springs show up. Once this block is out I'm going to clean it up and reseal it, give it some nice paint, and get it ready for install. Can't come soon enough. The average fuel efficiency for the 6.2 has been 20L/100km over the last 2 tanks, which is atrocious considering it can't get out of it's own way :haha:
 
I like the second gen parts trucks.
I’m still in need of a cheep d70 with 355 gears that’s in decent shape?
 
That could definitely be this one, I have the space to properly part it out now and won’t have to sell the roller in one shot. Thing is, it’s a Dana 80 in this one
 
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