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1984 K10 | My $$$ Eater

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Well... Been awhile since I posted anything. No time/money to work on the truck. Teck helped me find new 3/4 ton front disc brake mounting brackets. Another friend did find a 14BFF for me, so I am saving up for that purchase. I think that I want to get the rear end in before I buy the front mounting brackets. The Spring Colorado ride is on the back burner. I may end up riding shotgun, just so I can go.
 
Again, it's been a couple of years since I posted anything about my K10.

Couple of life changes (new job, new home) and I'm trying to get back into my "build". To me, at this point, it's more of a "let's put it together so that it's dependable".

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I originally dreamed of going to an LS swap... but at this point, I just want a reliable vehicle.

So, I've changed some direction on several fronts.

Going to stay with a Small Block. I am upgrading to a Vortec 5.7. But with a couple of twists. (For now, it's still a build in progress)

I decided I was tired of my squeaky power steering belt, so gathered parts from the local JY, and used the serpentine belt step from the '94-'99 Vortec truck engine. (Yeah, it needs a good clean/detailing. Been sitting in the garage for awhile.)

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But I ran into a little problem. My passenger side head is not drilled for accessories. So, I've been dreaming up ways to mount the passenger side accessories without drilling the head. I've looked at what's needed to drill it, but I'm not completely positive where the other two holes can be drilled without causing damage. Been considering buying the '87-92 pass. side accessory bracket, because I know that the bracket bolts to the head and to the two bolts down by the timing cover. I think I can use that as a template to drill the holes in the head. It's sitting in my driveway, waiting for me to finish. Just had back surgery last week.

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When it's all said and done, I'll run the Vortec Fast Burn Heads and this...

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Followed closely by this...

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That's the 24x system by EFI Connection. It'll allow me to run cool per cylinder using the '0411 PCM from the third gen LS engines.
 
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Yeah, I know... with all of this, I could have already had an LS engine with tons of power and pretty easy to do nowadays... I really didn't want to deal with exhaust issues or transmission to t-Case issues.

I've at least solved half of these issues. I can run my 700r4 but won't have computer control. There's a $200 throttle bracket I need to buy so that my TV Cable will work.

But in the end, I think I'm going to very happy with this.

Oh, and my sister and I decided to paint the truck green (maybe Teal Green) since it was my brother's favorite color.
 
Well, this weekend, I "finished" the new (1998 Vortec 5.7) serpentine belt install. I ran into a couple of issues as I mentioned previously. I (with the help of a AutoZone manager) tracked down a perfect passenger pointing water outlet. This will be very important later when I move to the Edelbrock (7138 Pro Flo XT) intake.

I say "finished" because it is now at least drivable/dependable for it to be my daily driver again. I'm still not happy with the upper radiator hose. When it's running, the weight of the water causes it to droop into the path of the spinning fan. I'm planning on getting an upper radiator support from LMC. For now, I just bent some aluminum stock I had lying around, used an existing hole in the radiator support. This just keeps the hose out of the fan. Oh well... it's not Art... but it will work for now.

I'm not in any hurry to solder the alternator lead to the existing 1984 K10 wire harness, so I only used a wire nut for the exciter wire lead. At some point, as the EFI comes into play, I'll be using the lead from the ECM to control my alternator.

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Nice to see you got it running and dependable.
Yes you need to put a fan shroud on there so it will cool properly. That will support the radiator hose.
 
@Teck thanks!!! It's not nearly as beautiful as yours, and never will be, but I'm glad to be working towards it being dependable.

I am stumped right now tho... So, when I went thru my divorce awhile back, my ex ended up getting my truck for awhile. She needed a truck to pull her horse trailer... anyway, her boyfriend at the time put that radiator in it... I have no clue what it came from... it seems wider than stock and is a 4 row. I almost think that it might be a square body big block radiator. Is there any way to tell?
 
Yes. That is what I have, a 4 core big block radiator.
It does take different mounts and a different shroud then the 2 core that came in that truck
 
@Teck Cool! Looking at the top of radiator, do you think I have a Big block radiator? How can I figure that out? Are there specific measurements that I need to check?

Thanks!
 
Reason I'm asking is... LMC has the fan shroud parts and the rubber mounts that place the radiator in the correct place. But there are several different sizes depending on the radiator that you have. Looking at @Larry posts about big block radiators, has me thinking that I have a big block radiator. I'm not going to order those LMC big block parts until I'm sure.

Thanks!
 
IMG_0456.JPG Oh, I forgot to mention this little jewel I found at Autozone...

It's made of aluminum and fits the 2003 5.3 Silverado upper radiator hose. I had to drill out the mounting holes though. It's GM part number 12556593. It's the 2005-2014 4.3 housing.

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After reading thru @Larry 's post about his rearend swap, I decided that it's time to get rid of my weak 3.08 gears and track down a 14BFF.

I'm actually trying to find a decent 3/4 ton van rearend now. I've never like the fact that the rearend was tucked in the rear fender from the factory... so, that 70" WMS TO WMS will hopefully rid me of that. I'm going to follow @Larry 's recipe for success by sticking with drums. Gonna troll the local JY/CL for 13" drums and backing plates... but for now anything I can find will get me into a more solid future.

A Buddy of mine just bought a very cheap TIG welder... so, I've got some plans for the upcoming weekends!!! I have collected all the parts to convert my 10 bolt front axle to 3/4 ton. I bought front hubs, rotors, calipers, (from a local friend here in Arlington) and some brake supports from BlackBird Customs... I'll probably rebuild all the essentials (bearings, seals, and U-joints) while I'm at it.

When I was bleeding my power steering, I jacked up the front to get the air out of the system by running the steering wheel back and forth until I was wore out. It worked like a charm. (Thanks @Larry for your online tutorials). But I discovered another problem... it looks like the front driveline CV joint is dragging on the cross member... is that because (four inch lift) my crossmember is bolted directly up to my frame???

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In other words, I have these little @1" spacers that are currently positioned under the cross member. I feel like they should be in between the frame and cross member.

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Pardon my rusty exhaust...
 
That's because your mounts under the adapter are fatigued. The crossmember spacers should stay where they are to prevent stress cracks at the frame.
 
@obijuank5 HOLY COW!!! That makes way too much sense! It's easy to see that those mounts are toast in that picture. Thanks for that input!

Rob
 
treborjm87 said:
@obijuank5 HOLY COW!!! That makes way too much sense! It's easy to see that those mounts are toast in that picture. Thanks for that input!

Rob
Click to expand...
Been there done that. I eventually swapped to poly and they are holding up very well to alot of power and weight. I'd do it again. Make sure your motor and trans mounts share the same material.
 
All of the poly that I had on the truck disintegrated when it sat in the field in East Texas... I'm slowly replacing bump stops and shock bushings (and my Rancho traction bars, Go 1980's!!!) with Poly... time to add motor mounts and trans mount to the list!

Thanks @obijuank5 !!!

Rob
 
treborjm87 said:
After reading thru @Larry 's post about his rearend swap, I decided that it's time to get rid of my weak 3.08 gears and track down a 14BFF.

I'm actually trying to find a decent 3/4 ton van rearend now. I've never like the fact that the rearend was tucked in the rear fender from the factory... so, that 70" WMS TO WMS will hopefully rid me of that. I'm going to follow @Larry 's recipe for success by sticking with drums. Gonna troll the local JY/CL for 13" drums and backing plates... but for now anything I can find will get me into a more solid future.

A Buddy of mine just bought a very cheap TIG welder... so, I've got some plans for the upcoming weekends!!! I have collected all the parts to convert my 10 bolt front axle to 3/4 ton. I bought front hubs, rotors, calipers, (from a local friend here in Arlington) and some brake supports from BlackBird Customs... I'll probably rebuild all the essentials (bearings, seals, and U-joints) while I'm at it.

When I was bleeding my power steering, I jacked up the front to get the air out of the system by running the steering wheel back and forth until I was wore out. It worked like a charm. (Thanks @Larry for your online tutorials). But I discovered another problem... it looks like the front driveline CV joint is dragging on the cross member... is that because (four inch lift) my crossmember is bolted directly up to my frame???

In other words, I have these little @1" spacers that are currently positioned under the cross member. I feel like they should be in between the frame and cross member.

Pardon my rusty exhaust...
Click to expand...

Hehe, don’t give me all the credit for the van axle idea. I borrowed that recipe from @mosesburb

Yeah, what obijuan said about the trans mounts. Yours are hosed! They look like they are collapsing due to oil saturation. Better get fresh ones and fix the oil leak. If you don’t mind vibrations go for the polly mounts. I used them for a short while and took them out as they were too hard for my liking where I could feel roughness at higher RPM’s when shifting.

BUT... there is a bigger issue in your picture. See those ears on the front drive shaft that are about to touch the CV body? That is problem just waiting to happen especially if you move out here and start wheeling that thing…. A few years ago, I change the front tcase yoke from the old Saginaw style to the flat round flange. In doing so, I inherited the type of driveshaft like in your picture where I didn’t grind enough of those tabs off during the swap and the front driveshaft tried to commit suicide in the middle of Canyonlands on the way to the Doll House. Spent a few hours with a hand file at camp shaving more off. Fixed it for good when I got home and did the same to the Suburban at the same time. The pictures below are of the Suburban's shaft

Grind all of those ears down on both ends so they won’t interfere as the front-end flexes.
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In a perfect world the shaft probably should be balance afterwards but really, who drives 60 MPG in 4x4 down the highway? Mine are not balanced and never had a issue so far.
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This is the earlier style shaft without the ears. I think they called this the Saginaw flange and CV. These were a PITA to bolt the shaft to the tcase yoke with four tiny bolts. This style was used up until 1976 or 77??
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This sucked but at least the U-joints hadn’t completely pull apart…..we all took turns filing at this thing for hours….. Shave those tabs off to avoid this from happening
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Lastly, those spacers under your crossmember are there to allow for longer bolts. Think of a bolt as a spring. Long the bolts can stretch more to achieve a higher clamp load. That was the reason GM put them there in the first place instead of short bolts without a spacer. Those same spacers are on the bolts that fasten the steering gear to the frame. Those spacers should actually be on the top side of the frame but I have seen them on the bottom like yours is. Not sure if that is how they originally came in the 80’s or of there are just that many mechanics in the world that put them together wrong after doing trans work. Either top or bottom doesn’t matter….they just look better when out of view on top. Whatever you do, don’t ever put those spacers between the frame and crossmember. These spacers will work like a paper punch and start cracking the frame after a few hard-wheeling ventures.
 
Even this morning, I noticed vibrations that I hadn't before... "power of an idea"??? Seems harsh to me, but wonder if it was there all along or not.

Hadn't thought much about poly engine and trans mounts causing vibrations... I have to say that I had intended to go poly until this discussion. Ideally, I'd like to have this truck make no squeeks, no rattles, and no vibrations. (Is that completely impossible for a trail truck?)

Regarding that oil leak... my intake manifold is leaking from not only the front, but the back. When I swapped out the camshaft a couple of years ago, I used a cheap intake gasket set. Lesson learned. But, I will have a fresh engine to bolt in very soon... not an excuse to not fix this leak, but certainly a distractor that keeps me from fixing the lower hanging fruit.

Gonna have to tackle that CV soon. Would a machine shop be able to work those ears off and leave the more important metal in place better than if I took a file to it? Or is everyone filing them down?

I forgot to mention that I also picked up a flat top knuckle that I need to get machined for cross over steering. This truck does not do a five point turn very well. I'm hoping to get a better turning radius after swapping out the shorter drag link. I'm wondering if my 4X steering box could be modified by just swapping in the 2X steering shaft (to the pitman arm, I think it's called a sector shaft???). My 4X steering box is still pretty tight as I replaced it within the last 10 years.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for the input!!!

Rob
 
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