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1987 K5 gets a LQ4

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CamVD

CamVD

Jeremiah 29:11
Joined
Mar 19, 2012
Posts
82
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Location
Cutlerville, Michigan
CamVD submitted a new Build:

1987 K5 gets a LQ4

Finally getting started on this thing after 2 years sitting in my garage collecting dust. Going back to the beginning, Picked it up november 2011 on base in camp pendleton California from a fellow marine at the public car lot on base. He purchased it in florida and it spent its early days as a pensacola fd truck. I got discharged in december and two of my buddies flew out from back home in Michigan to make the trek across the country with me. Made a few stops along the way, vegas, hoover dam, denver, and made it all the way back to MI with no issues except for the leaking heater core so we had to keep the coolant topped off. Used it as a dd for a few months till i had some extra cash. Everything on it was bone stock, so having no mechanical experience myself i naively took advice from my buddy who thought he knew alot. So i listened to him and put a 6” rough country lift on it that rides like a log truck, and bought brand new wheels and 35’ toyo ATs for it. Drove it on and off like that for a while till i blew the 700r4 at silver lake, then i had that rebuilt and 4.10s put in by another buddy of mine. Then dd’d it for a while again till the 305 started knocking real bad. Then came marriage, a baby and here it sits. Ive been wanting to do an ls swap for some time. So back in october a customer of ours didnt want to keep dumping money into his 2000 3/4 ton chevy anymore so i sprung on that opportunity and picked the whole truck up for a whopping $700. 6.0 ran great, 4L80E shifts just right and no SES on. Score! So i brought that sucker home and im in the process of transfering everything over. Hoping to have it done by April as thats when the next baby is due. My vision for this is to be a dd, be capable in the dunes, and take it on some mild trails up north. Maybe within the next year next on the list will be 3/4 ton axles and upgrade the suspension with a shackle flip and maybe 52s up front. Well see what happens. Trying to keep the cost down also, doing all of the work myself, reworking the harness with help from lt1swap. Already have a bunch of parts ready to go on, schoenfield 1302 headers, ord big block engine xmember, dirty dingo adjustable upper mounts, ep381 pump and new sender, new radiator, hoping to pick up a 241 soon with electronic vss. Moving slowly right now as im busy with work and other projects around the house but i will try to update as much as i can.
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Read more about this build here...
 
Not doing any improvements to the engine except for a few new gaskets that are leaking. Also im planning to add the AC on later, im hoping to reuse the compressor and accumulater etc...from the donor. Anyone ever done this? Im hoping the compressor will fit sonce im using the dirty dingo mounts. And im saving all of the wiring for everything.
 
CamVD said:
Not doing any improvements to the engine except for a few new gaskets that are leaking. Also im planning to add the AC on later, im hoping to reuse the compressor and accumulater etc...from the donor. Anyone ever done this? Im hoping the compressor will fit sonce im using the dirty dingo mounts. And im saving all of the wiring for everything.
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I am gonna figure out some conversion bracket because I wanted to keep the bad ass denso compressor also.. I’ll report back when the need arises. Good luck on the swap!! You got the right parts
 
I'm going to pop your bubble slightly. Not saying you can't run the a/c compressor in the stock LS location low on the block, but you'll be doing to negative things in the process. One, cutting the pass side frame rail for clearance. In my mind, that's no Bueno. Second, you'll have to slide the engine back so the adapter brackets clear the compressor. I used those exact mounts and can say without a doubt in the stock SBC location I don't have room to push the engine back towords the firewall. The drivers side head was touching the pinch weld on the firewall in mine.

You'd be better off using a holley bracket to put the compressor up high and on the same belt as the rest of the accessory drive. There's a way to modifiy a SBC mount for a R4 compressor and do the same thing too. Vintage air has a bracket too that will get the compressor off of the bottom of the block.

Beyond that I dig the build so far. Keep it coming!
 
Looks like a cool project so far. And like ZooMad mentioned above, there aren't a lot of options when it comes to keeping the AC compressor mounted down low that don't involve trimming the frame. For a stock/street driven or 2wd truck that might be ok but it's definitely not a good idea for a lifted tuck with the way these frames twist when you're off-road... How many miles are on the donor engine/trans?

Nice to see another Marine on here too. I was with 3rd Tracks (amphibious assault vehicles) out of Pendleton in 2002-06. Semper Fi
 
NorCalAnthony said:
Looks like a cool project so far. And like ZooMad mentioned above, there aren't a lot of options when it comes to keeping the AC compressor mounted down low that don't involve trimming the frame. For a stock/street driven or 2wd truck that might be ok but it's definitely not a good idea for a lifted tuck with the way these frames twist when you're off-road... How many miles are on the donor engine/trans?

Nice to see another Marine on here too. I was with 3rd Tracks (amphibious assault vehicles) out of Pendleton in 2002-06. Semper Fi
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Donor drivetrain has 171,000 on it, no knocks in the motor and i checked compression on all cylinders, everything checks out, and trans fluid looks pretty clean yet but ill still drop the pan and put a new filter in it at least for know. Semoer fi brother! Yeah i was a grunt with 1st battlion 5th marines as an anti tank assaultman from 07-11.
 
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ZooMad75 said:
I'm going to pop your bubble slightly. Not saying you can't run the a/c compressor in the stock LS location low on the block, but you'll be doing to negative things in the process. One, cutting the pass side frame rail for clearance. In my mind, that's no Bueno. Second, you'll have to slide the engine back so the adapter brackets clear the compressor. I used those exact mounts and can say without a doubt in the stock SBC location I don't have room to push the engine back towords the firewall. The drivers side head was touching the pinch weld on the firewall in mine.

You'd be better off using a holley bracket to put the compressor up high and on the same belt as the rest of the accessory drive. There's a way to modifiy a SBC mount for a R4 compressor and do the same thing too. Vintage air has a bracket too that will get the compressor off of the bottom of the block.

Beyond that I dig the build so far. Keep it coming!
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Alright thanks zoomad, ill look into that holley bracket. Id really like to keep that compressor but well see. Got a while yet before i meed to figure that out. Def not gonna hack the frame.
 
Wiring so far, have to do a little more trimming, put some loom on it, and build the fuse block yet. 1BD67B9C-FA48-420A-8660-96D95E83ECA9.jpeg
6.0 ready to get pulled, what a dirty pig. Donor used to be a farm truck. Bet i found 10 corn stalks stuck in various locations underneath and mud everywhere.
FA3AEB01-765C-4353-A81C-BD221D32B732.jpeg
 
5B50D51D-55DF-4C81-BBFD-555E5B99F8BA.jpeg 4DDDA1B9-1C65-46EF-987D-E931DAB425E9.jpegRight inner fender and the left front of radiator mount. Pretty much the worst rust ive found so far besides some bad spots under the front seats ill have to take care of soon. While im doing this swap im taking the rad support our anyways so ill order a new one of those and probly do both inner fenders too while im at it. Not looking to get rid of all the rust at this point but i figure nows the time to repair these sopts while i have the motor out anyways.
 
CamVD said:
View attachment 254631 View attachment 254632Right inner fender and the left front of radiator mount. Pretty much the worst rust ive found so far besides some bad spots under the front seats ill have to take care of soon. While im doing this swap im taking the rad support our anyways so ill order a new one of those and probly do both inner fenders too while im at it. Not looking to get rid of all the rust at this point but i figure nows the time to repair these sopts while i have the motor out anyways.
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Careful, this is how Might As Well (MAW) gets started. That snowball will get rolling downhill fast.
 
Alright so not much going on recently however today i went to a local yard about 40 minutes away to pick up a np241 that was out of a 1990 3/4 ton silverado. From what i have learned it should have been the correct t-case that i need, but it was a drivers side drop. So after seeing that, me and one of the guys working there walked around their barn with all of the cases there and none of them, even the half ton versions were correct. Pretty much what im trying to figure out is if anyone can help me determine what exatly i need. I know i need a 32 spline input shaft, passenger side drop, and i would like an electronic vss. Does anyone know what these came in so i can start looking for one?
 
The 3/4 ton part would have been the dead giveaway. Still, if you want a VSS equipped 241 with a 32 spline input you need to look for a 90-91 3/4 ton suburban or 1 ton squarebody truck. The Blazer 241 of the same years typically have a 27 spline input but had the same vss output.
 
ZooMad75 said:
The 3/4 ton part would have been the dead giveaway. Still, if you want a VSS equipped 241 with a 32 spline input you need to look for a 90-91 3/4 ton suburban or 1 ton squarebody truck. The Blazer 241 of the same years typically have a 27 spline input but had the same vss output.
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Alright, i wont be too mad either if i end up having to swap in a 32 spline input shaft. Heard its not too hard.
 
UpnAdam said:
I thought the one ton’s still got 205’s except the cucv?
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You are right, the 1 tons got a 205, but it too had the VSS speedo. Either one is a two year only item and that will make them scarce.

Of course when I found my 27 spline VSS 241 was fubar'd I called a local boneyard and they said they had one. Didn't realize until we put that together that the 2nd one was a 32 spline version. I ended up with a unicorn by accident and couldn't use it as it was. I ended up swapping the 27 spline input from the other t-case to make it work.
 
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