CK5
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1989 Crew Cab Tow Rig Build
- Thread starter Kay86K5
- Start date
Pedal swap really is a crappy job.
Another good long day put in on this pig. Pulled the entire drivetrain. Motor, tranny, tcase, exhaust...everything except axles. This thing was a freaking dirty greasy mess, so that added to the fun of pulling all this out, but this was a good step in the build.
As you can tell in the pics, I just unhooked all the wires and left them on the truck right now. My plan is to first de-grease and clean everything under the hood/truck to make it nicer to put the 8.1/NV4500 in. And also I will go through the wiring harness and pull out anything that belongs to the TBI350. Really the only things I want to keep on my rig under the hood is wires for my gauges/ignition/starter and such. Since I will have a full stand alone harness on the motor, will be minimal wires I need under the hood that are currently in there.
As you can tell in the pics, I just unhooked all the wires and left them on the truck right now. My plan is to first de-grease and clean everything under the hood/truck to make it nicer to put the 8.1/NV4500 in. And also I will go through the wiring harness and pull out anything that belongs to the TBI350. Really the only things I want to keep on my rig under the hood is wires for my gauges/ignition/starter and such. Since I will have a full stand alone harness on the motor, will be minimal wires I need under the hood that are currently in there.
You should have bought this when you were going to put TBI on the Blazer!
Martin
Martin
Haha, I literally said that when I was pulling the motor out yesterday. Back then I only had two kids and my 96 pickup was doing fine though. It's all good though. As of right now my older brother (with the blue blazer) wants to take all the TBI off this and put it in his, so it will go to good use no matter what.
Good!
Martin
Martin
More and more jealousy coming from me the more I read.
Spent most of the day just cleaning stuff off on this thing. I cleaned the NP205 up. It's not perfect, but a heck of a lot better than it was
I also cleaned up the trans cross-member and skid plate. I will be reusing this cross-member. I think I scraped off about 10 pounds of grease/dirt/who knows what else
I then removed the factory engine cross-member. For anyone who has done this, you know it really sucks. And I had the engine out of the way and it still sucked...
Empty engine bay with no cross-member
I then installed an ORD bolt on steering box brace. My frame isn't cracked, but this was just good insurance, plus it's a lot easier to do with everything out of the way. In the pic below you can see it installed
And then I installed the ORD big block style engine cross-member. You need this with an 8.1 swap or else you have clearance problems with the factory crossmember
Sorry for the crappy pics, they were taken with my phone and there wasn't good light because it was butt cold today and snowing, so I had all the doors closed on the shop. But I have new motor mounts on the way right now. Once I have those I can actually bolt the motor/tranny into the truck. So within the next few weeks I will try and get that done
I also cleaned up the trans cross-member and skid plate. I will be reusing this cross-member. I think I scraped off about 10 pounds of grease/dirt/who knows what else
I then removed the factory engine cross-member. For anyone who has done this, you know it really sucks. And I had the engine out of the way and it still sucked...
Empty engine bay with no cross-member
I then installed an ORD bolt on steering box brace. My frame isn't cracked, but this was just good insurance, plus it's a lot easier to do with everything out of the way. In the pic below you can see it installed
And then I installed the ORD big block style engine cross-member. You need this with an 8.1 swap or else you have clearance problems with the factory crossmember
Sorry for the crappy pics, they were taken with my phone and there wasn't good light because it was butt cold today and snowing, so I had all the doors closed on the shop. But I have new motor mounts on the way right now. Once I have those I can actually bolt the motor/tranny into the truck. So within the next few weeks I will try and get that done
Looks good.
Always amazed how much crud can build up on those crossmembers.
Always amazed how much crud can build up on those crossmembers.
I did mine without pulling the case apart, 1975 case from behind a TH350.
Yeah you don't need to tear the case down for those two seals. JB fab has an excellent tutorial on YouTube for his shift rail installation that would provide more insight if you need it.
I watched JB fabs Youtube video on shift shaft seal replacement, and if I tried this, it would be just my luck to have something go wrong trying this. I know if I really wanted to do this I could, but I am not motivated enough right now to push my luck on it. Thanks for the post on this video anyway, it was very instructional.
I just did it a couple weeks ago, incredibly simple in my opinion. Honestly the hardest part was trying to find one of the roll pins.
Got some good work done this weekend
Installed new crank sensor. These are very prone to failure on the 8.1, and with this motor in a square body, they really suck to get access to. So just decided to change it right now
Installed my new 8.1 specific flywheel (for anyone who cares, you can see the part number on it).
Installed the pilot bearing
Installed the clutch onto the flywheel. You can see the clutch alignment tool sticking through the middle of the clutch in this pic
I removed the pickup version crank pulley. I just used a normal 3 jaw puller to get it off. I have the workhorse style crank pulley, but it takes a special tool to install it. I have a friend who has the tool, just need to take some time to borrow it from him (he said I could, haha)
New crank pulley next to old
Installed new crank sensor. These are very prone to failure on the 8.1, and with this motor in a square body, they really suck to get access to. So just decided to change it right now
Installed my new 8.1 specific flywheel (for anyone who cares, you can see the part number on it).
Installed the pilot bearing
Installed the clutch onto the flywheel. You can see the clutch alignment tool sticking through the middle of the clutch in this pic
I removed the pickup version crank pulley. I just used a normal 3 jaw puller to get it off. I have the workhorse style crank pulley, but it takes a special tool to install it. I have a friend who has the tool, just need to take some time to borrow it from him (he said I could, haha)
New crank pulley next to old
I then pulled the truck out of the shop and took a powerwasher to try and get as much dirt/grease/grim out from inside the engine bay/under the truck as I could
Much better
I also installed my DIY4x motor mounts as you can see in the pic below
Much better
I also installed my DIY4x motor mounts as you can see in the pic below
Just ordered a set of those mounts yesterday! Your install off them looks like less of a mess than mine will be 
This thing is going to be awesome, maybe I missed it but when is your timeline for getting it fired up?
This thing is going to be awesome, maybe I missed it but when is your timeline for getting it fired up?
And then...the good stuff happened 
Sorry for the couple crappy pics....the shop doesn't have good light and usually leads to crappy pics...plus the camera on my phone sucks
Sorry for the couple crappy pics....the shop doesn't have good light and usually leads to crappy pics...plus the camera on my phone sucks
Just ordered a set of those mounts yesterday! Your install off them looks like less of a mess than mine will be
We usually go water skiing over the 4 of july somewhere....my hopes is to at least have it running and drivable to go to that....so I have some time, right?
We usually go water skiing over the 4 of july somewhere....my hopes is to at least have it running and drivable to go to that....so I have some time, right?
Hopefully not like I used to be really bad about doing. "Oh I've got about two months" and then last minute scramble up until 3 am for a week straight to get things ready
