1980 K5 Project

[Craddock]

Bought this 1980 K5 yesterday. Owners seemed nice but didn't come across like they knew much about cars. Said they'd had it for 5 or 6 years and never started it. When we were talking about it I realized my buddy that helped me pick it up knew the last owner.

My buddy text the last owner before the one I bought it from and got this response:

"It’s got a built 350 in it. (Guy) at performance engine in (town) built it I believe. The engine will need work. It’s got a blown head gasket at least. Last time I drove it it overheated out of nowhere real bad. I limped it home and didn’t tear into it. The internals I’m not sure about, but it has a ton of power. When I had it, it would burn the 35’s. I only had it for a short time so I’m not sure about all the fine details though."

When it warms up I'll be draining the fuel and refilling with new, replacing at least one of the batteries (it's got two) and see where I stand at that point.

I'm sure I'll be a regular here. I started with 3rd and 4th gen f bodies so I'll have a lot to learn.

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https://postimg.cc/f3bwQFfK

 

[nvrenuf]

Welcome! Square headlights for the win!

 

[stump_puller]

Welcome. hopefully the motor is hurt too bad.

 

[Craddock]

It's been nothing but snow and cold since the day we got it, but we've been outside here and there when we got a chance.

So it's got two batteries under the hood. Hooked jumper cables up from my truck to driver side battery and the accessory lights work. Also the rear window tries to work. It runs, but no movement like the motor isn't connected.

Hook the jumpers up to the passenger side battery and the rest of the truck has power. Gauges come alive, headlights work. Tried to turn the key to see what the start will do and it just clicks.

Once it warms up enough to be outside more than a few minutes I'm going to try to turn the engine by hand and see what we've got.

 

[Craddock]

Finally got a chance to work on the K5 today. It's the first week since November that we've been able to see our yard and I had to use a pallet to stay out of the water when I was under it.

So I started with changing out the oil. Previous owner used a Bosch oil filter and gave me another one. I just used cheap Dexos approved Quaker for now. Old oil came out like a brown coffee, not even black. Was regular viscosity from the look and feel of it. No metallic sheen to it. The oil filter had some black sludge in it, but again no metallic sheen.

Went up top on the engine and tried to turn it over by hand with a 3/4 ratchet and got nothing. Didn't try too hand cause I didn't want to break the bolt. I even tried to take the belts off and turn all the accessories by hand and they all turned easily.

I checked the radiator and it's pretty well dry. The last owner that had it running said he thought it overheated the last time he had it. Apparently he turned it off and never drove it again. We come from an area that's blessed with great paying jobs so it's not surprising on that end.

I've never worked on an engine in a condition like this. Would any of you care to give me suggestions on where to go from now?

Thanks

 

[Gibby56]

If it were me I would go one of two ways.

1) pull all the spark plugs and see if it will turn by hand. If it does, you could get a compression tester and see which cylinders are dead. This will be another point toward the issue being the head gasket.

2) pull it out and rebuild it. You know there’s issues somewhere. Depending on how long it was driven when it was overheating it could have made a mess of other things. Might be good to start fresh.

 

[fourwheelerjeff]

Hook the jumpers up to the passenger side battery and the rest of the truck has power. Gauges come alive, headlights work. Tried to turn the key to see what the start will do and it just clicks.

you may already know this but the passenger side is the factory location, so that is why the rest of the truck has power from that battery

 

[Craddock]

Most of my experience has been on F bodies and 99+ Sierra's. My wife wanted this one for a fun project. I'm also working on a 78 Z28 with my kids and wife too.

 

[Craddock]

I'll pull the spark plugs and try turning by hand tomorrow. I've read it before plenty of times over the years and haven't thought of it on this.

Rebuilding is an option, but I'd like to see what it has already done to the engine if I can save it for the time being.

 

[max 02]

If you have or know anyone with a camera that you can look in the cylinders with would save you a ton of time and frustration. If the cylinders are full of rust she’s not worth trying to get running.

Just going by what you were saying about it not turning over. I’ve never had much luck with locked up engines. Might run but probably not going to run great for long.

 

[Blue85]

It seems unlikely to me that a cylinder could be hydro-locked for 6 years without any water in the oil (although somebody could have changed the oil in the interim). I would squirt some oil down the plug holes before trying to turn it again - in case it's just very light rust.