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1986 K30 6.2 Diesel Truggy Build - "The Mule"

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Had some time this afternoon so I started by removing the V belt setup in preparation for the serpentine conversion. I also removed my hydroboost because I am shipping it to Vanco this week for high flow porting. The porting may not be necessary but it seems some people have issues with stock hydroboosts and full hydro steering and others do not. I am not taking any chances so I pulled it out.







Also pulled the steering box out and found no cracks in the truck frame. Then on to fit checking Kurt's DIY4X Orbital mount.





Looks like I may need to trim the rad shroud to clear the front fittings on the orbital but overall fits well and the factory steering shaft lines up. The only other issue I ran into when fit checking the new metric to -8AN fittings in the hydroboost it seems I was sent the wrong fittings.



Fitting on the left is the original with the O ring and the one on the right is what I received. It is the correct thread but I know that it will not seal.



I think these are the correct adapters so I guess I will get them ordered. Next up is replacing the water pump, block heater, harmonic balancer, and start bolting on the serpentine parts.
 
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Been slowly chipping sway at stuff. The rest of my front axle parts are ordered and expected Friday including a Yukon Grizzly locker, install kit, and Yukon hardcore locking hubs. Hydroboost was sent out to Vanco for porting. :waytogo:

I also spoke with Chris from ORD about the fittings for the hydroboost and it turns out that the fittings I have are correct. They are designed to seal on the taper and not the o ring. By eliminating that inner tube portion of the fitting they get more flow through this fitting than the stock o ring fitting.

Started mocking up the serp conversion. The serpentine setup I am using is from a 1993 6.5 diesel which is nice because it was a mechanical injection motor and has no vacuum pump. You do need the coolant crossover pipe too because it is different.



A/C compressor side



Alt / Power steering side.

All the brackets lined up with no issues. I still need to swap out the water pump for the serp style and the crank pulley and while I am at it I am going to change out the harmonic balancer for good measure. Also changed out the block heater while it was all drained out since the old one did not work.

Once my axle parts get here I will drop off my stripped axle at my old neighbors for gear setup and keep this build moving :burnout:
 
sreidmx said:
Is the water pump different or the pulley?
Click to expand...

The actual water pump rotates in the opposite direction because it is driven by the backside of the serpentine belt. So the the entire water pump and also the backing plate/timing cover have to be replaced the with 6.5 diesel version. I grabbed a new high flow water pump from the later 6.5s because they are supposed to flow better.
 
Well the serp conversion is (hopefully) finished. During the conversion I replaced the following things: high flow water pump, fan clutch using the newer 9 blade fan, 180 degree T Stat, harmonic balancer, crank seal, main crank serp pulley, block heater, belt tensioner, and all hoses.

I replaced the harmonic balancer because my old one was original and had some cracking in the rubber. Removal and install of that was easier than I thought. I also made this tool by cutting off the heads of the original balancer bolt and a 1/2 inch bolt and welding them together. I used the nut on the 1/2 bolt to press the balancer on the crank.



On to the pics of the final serp setup



Alternator side with the new PSC power steering pump below. New alternator all wired in with an idiot light in place to provide some resistance since I do not have one on the dash.



AC compressor side. I will be leaving in the compressor for a future project of on board air. In my old wheeling truck I converted an AC compressor for onboard air which worked great and I will be doing the same here eventually.



One thing I did not count on having an issue with was the top rad hose. I had a hose from the original truck and from the donor serp truck and neither one worked. The donor serp truck was the closest but was about a hose diameter off. It seems that the square body rad must be a bit wider than the 93 rad. So I improvised and cut the 93 rad hose an put a section of exhaust tubing in it. The exhaust tubing was a nice tight fit so I do not think there will be any issues.

Side note look at the coolant that came out of this truck



It was black and rusty (not oily) and possibly original to the truck as were all the hoses so I will be flushing the system out.

Also the truck tried to burn itself down this morning. I wanted to check the alignment of the serp belt by turning over the truck but not starting it so I pulled the wire off the IP and went to crank it over but the batteries were low and it barely grunted. So I jumped it out to a tractor. Cranked it over and the belt alignment looked good but I cant start it until I finish plumbing in the full hydro. Cranked it a few times and started to smell that rotten egg battery smell. Touched the one battery and it was super hot and could hear the boiling inside. I guess it decided to short out internally. Went to unhook it and burned my fingers. Finally got it unhooked and sat it outside to be safe but could have been much worse. Now I guess I have to add two new batteries to my need list. Waiting to get my axle back with the locker installed and my hydroboost back from porting so I can keep moving.
 
Nice work on the serp setup. I want to convert over to that some day. In my ignorant youth, I scrapped a whole setup one time. I'm still mad at myself for that stupidity.
 
Not much to report been busy with end of the school year stuff with the kiddos. I did get my newly ported hydroboost back from Vanco. Got a chance to get it installed earlier in the week.



Also grabbed some new batteries for the truck. We have a great local battery chain near me and I went in to grab a battery for my sons 4 wheeler. They also sell seconds or blem batteries so I happened to ask him if he has a nice pair I could throw in the truck. Comes back with these.



According to the guy these are re-branded Odyssey batteries 850 CCA 1500 hot cranking amps. He said these were factory seconds sold me a pair for $160.00 2 year warranty. Could not pass that up. People with a good eye will notice that the second battery is mounted in an aftermarket tray. The truck also has a factory driver tray that is currently not being used. I am going to remove the aftermarket tray and put the second battery where it is supposed to go on the driver side.

Question for the dual battery guys where did the positive cable originally run to get to the driver battery?

Across here in the clamps with the single low coolant wire?



Too hot today to do much so I spent most of the afternoon here



Happy Fathers Day!
 
I am still waiting on my old neighbor / friend to finish installing the locker in the 60 so in the mean time I started to plumb up the Full hydro. First I made a bracket that bolts to the alternator to hold the reservoir



Then I started making hydraulic lines. PSC supplies the kit with push lock hose for the returns and "field repairable" hydraulic fittings for the pressure side. The field repairable fittings are like AN fittings with the collar twisting onto the hydraulic hose and then the fitting threading into the collar creating a compression fit. I have heard mixed reviews on these fittings so I think once I get all the pressure hoses made I may take them to our local farm supply store that makes crimp fittings and get crimped hoses made and keep the "field repairable" hoses as spares in the toolbox.





The reservoir is a little closer to the master cylinder than I would like it to be but there is a over an inch of clearance front to back. That placement gave me the best orientation of the feed hose from the reservoir to the pump.

I got the oribital mounted. Ended up slicing the plastic rad / fan shroud just a little bit to get clearance on the two forward fittings in the orbital. It is hard to see but it tucks in there nicely.



Last thing I got finished was the install of the power steering finned log cooler.



Hoping to get he 60 back soon and in the mean time I am going to finish up some final tab / gusset work on the frame.
 
Making some progress just been slow to update the thread.

While I was waiting on the axle to get the locker installed I worked on the accent tubework on the front exo.





Was very happy how it turned out. Just tacked in for now and the worst part is I have to duplicate it on the other side LOL

Been helping out newoldscottsdale77 with his doubler install in my shop. Doubler is in and everything buttoned up. We were measuring for the front driveshaft yesterday. The forklift is super useful for that.



Finally got the axle back from my buddy and hit it hard today



Shock mounts and steering stabilizer mount off and ground clean



New lower bearings and races installed



Seems so wrong to do this but the taper had to be drilled out of the Reid Knuckles for the knuckle bolt kit. Could not figure a good way to do it so I drilled it out by hand. Was not easy but took it slow.



Knuckle assembled on the bench



Knuckles on



Mocking up the truss and steering ram



Going to have to come up with a better solution than the two jack stands I am working on. That truss and ram make it front heavy now and are not at a good height. guess I need to move it over to a bench. I have lots of measuring to do so I get the steering ram located in the right place. The ram mount also needs to be clearanced slightly for the U bolts. Anxious to get this steering stuff knocked out.
 
Time for a much needed update. First was a side project. @newoldscottsdale77 picked up a 1983 K30 for super cheap and decided to part it out. K30 dually 6.2 diesel with 80K on the clock SM465, NP205 tcase, dana 60 front, dana 70 rear.



Truck was pretty rusty worst of which was probably the rear frame that was completely rusted through.



I like to caption this next pic as "One must die so others can live!"



Nick already had a buyer for the motor/trans/tcase so we started stripping and saving anything we thought we might need or could sell. Due to rust the body parts and cab were scrap.



Forklift makes removing cabs super easy.



Cruising down the street in my '83 . . .

We made quick work of everything else and ended up just cutting the frame behind the trans cross member since we had a buyer for the engine/trans/tcase. I was able to set it right on the buyer's trailer as a package with the forklift.





When he bought the truck I was wondering if this could be a "red block" 6.2. After doing some research I came the conclusion it was not likely a red block because the truck was a 1983 not 1982. But low and behold when we pulled the cab I looked at the casting number and it was the 660 casting number and a date of 82 with some red coloring left in places. It was already sold at this point and I decided if my 6.2 ever died I would probably do an LS swap anyway.

I did score some sweet emblems and the drivers side battery cable I was missing (Thanks Nick)



Anyway to the real progress . . .

Artec front ram mount is all welded on and the steering mocked up.





Tie rods are just sitting there and need to be shortened and welded so there is adjustment. The knuckle bolt spacers need to be cut. You can also see Kurt's knuckle gusset shock tabs sitting there on top the axle. I need to get the axle back under the truck and then decide how I am going to mount the shocks to the truck. I am thinking some sort of universal weld on shock hoops. I already have a pair of 14" travel Bilsteins sitting ready.
 
Another thing I have been working on is a center console for the interior. I was going to build a custom console or fit a youth suspension seat between my two seats. After doing some measuring I found some inspiration in my 2012 Duramax. I have the jump seat in the middle of my Duramax that folds down and makes a console with cupholders and storage top and bottom. It also flips open into a seat. After taking some measurements I decided it was the perfect size and started looking for a used one.

For some reason people want crazy amounts of money for these jump seat consoles especially the black ones. Last week one came up on Ebay as a new take out in tan for a very reasonable $150 shipped. This console actually came out of a Yukon but is identical to the one in my crew cab Duramax. It was brand new with the plastic still on it. I have used the fabric and vinyl die before with good results so I plan to die it black eventually.

Anyway after trimming some of the plastic off the bottom it fits pretty well.



The height is perfect to rest your arm on and drive.



Top console storage. It is a little close to the atlas shifters but there is still about 1.5" clearance at the rear most of their travel.



Console flipped up into seat.

I plan to mount two tabs to the seat bars and use the console studs in the front. A small cross bar will mount the rear to the console studs. I will grab a smaller 4 point harness for this seat in case my son or daughter want to ride along.
 
So how do you plan on taking the front diff cover off? Let alone pull the carrier?
 
Chevy305 said:
So how do you plan on taking the front diff cover off? Let alone pull the carrier?
Click to expand...

So the diff cover can actually be snaked out with the ram mounted (I checked because I thought the same thing).

As far as the carrier, the ram needs to be unbolted and the truss from Artec has a removable skid plate that covers a cutout just large enough for the carrier to be removed

 
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