CK5
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1989 Crew Cab Tow Rig Build

How much 3.5" pipe you end up using?

From the Y pipe, it's a full 4' section of 3.5" to the muffler, then I used 2 45* bend 3.5" tubes to a little about .5 ft straight section, then another 45* bend to about a 2 ft straight section which gets its to the 4.5" tip. I hope that helps ya...I think with that description looking at the pics above can have it all make sense for ya
 
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Yep that helps a lot, thanks.

Another off the wall question, did you keep the TBI fuel filter in the system feeding the 8.1? I'm still tossing around aftermarket EFI and thinking about fuel system requirements that would entail. Wondered if the TBI filter can handle higher pressures.
 
No, I got an aftermarket fuel filter that was designed to work with my flexible fuel lines that I ended up running. The filters were a little more money then a stock one, but I just bought two at once and have one in my glove box to change after 30k miles or so (with how much I'll drive this thing...that will take a while, haha)

Edit: Here is a pic showing the flexible braided fuel lines I ran on the outside of the frame rail and you can see the fuel filter there too



Since I converted the whole system to work off -6an stuff, this was the easiest to go

And this was the fuel filter I went with:

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/rus-650133
 
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Didn't have much time this weekend to do a lot of stuff, but got a couple misc things done.

Finished installing the sway bar disconnects. I probably won't ever disconnect them, but this as the easiest way to keep my sway bar connected (which is what I wanted) with the lift. I haven't cut my u-bolts yet.



I installed the ford shock towers and modified them to where I wanted and then installed the bilsteins on the front



The only thing I have left to do is install the new brake lines (you can see the stock one stretched out a little bit). But I want to wait until the truck is running to change those out.

I only had some time to do some misc things left this weekend. So I replaced all my tailgate lights as only two of them were working. I found a whole replacement kit on amazon for $30. Now all of them work...in fact all the lights are working on the truck as they should



I mounted my tach...it's not hooked up yet, but at least its mounted where I want



And for those who might ask, no the shifter doesn't touch the tach. In fact, here is a picture of the shifter in 1st gear (3rd is the same distance) and it's not even close to the tach. The short throw of the NV4500 is very very nice



And I repainted my grill and headlight bezels as they were supposed to be black but were faded. It's amazing how much of a difference it made. I normally don't do stuff like this on my trucks, but I really want to make this truck nicer inside and out





And just a couple more back up shots just for good measure





Next weekend is hosed up for me with elk scouting, but after that it's back onto the motor to finally get it started and get this thing on the road


I like that amount of lift and wheel combo! My ideal set up would be 2inch lift and then 35's, my 37s work well cuz they are so cheap, but not the smoothest.
 
I like that amount of lift and wheel combo! My ideal set up would be 2inch lift and then 35's, my 37s work well cuz they are so cheap, but not the smoothest.

Yeah, I like the way it sits right now...was thinking of a way to not burn up my nice new BFG's all the time, and since I have the extra 16.5 aluminums hanging around, was thinking how I could use them on the crew cab. That's why I thought about the military 37's and just a run around town tire...who knows what I end up doing. Apparently Interco is making a new radial tire (more of a street tire/all terrain tire) in a 16.5" rim....they make it in a 35" too...I may end up getting those.

You all done moving yet so you can get some more work done on this?

:deal::popcorn:

Pretty much all moved in...been doing work on it since I got here (built the entire exhaust...which since this thing is a freaking land yacht, that was quite a bit of work :flipoff6:), haha

But I have planned this Saturday to meet up with Josh West for us to do some more digging...so we will see what this weekend's events net us

that poor old 8.1 is probably seized up from sitting so long :whistle:

:rotfl:

Hey now...it's turned over quite a bit since August...just never actually fully started :flipoff7:
 
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@stockk5 this is the tire I was talking about:
http://www.intercotire.com/tire/141
I've seen some good reviews on it, and it's made in a 35x12.5x16.5...could be a good option for guys who still have/want to run a 16.5 on a more street able tire...

And as a small update for everyone else...I did order up one of these bumpers for this thing:
https://www.rlcweldfab.com/collecti...m-winch-bumper-for-chevy-gmc-trucks-1973-1987

I was going to build one, but when I found this bumper, it was perfect for the look I wanted on this thing. And the fact its free shipping to my door (no clue how he's doing that, but I'm pretty happy about it), I realized I would be more than half of that price just in materials, let alone my time to build it, so said screw it and ordered it up! Hopefully in a few weeks it will show up.

And as I mentioned, I have planned to meet with @Team208Motorsports on Saturday and we are going to try and do some more digging to see what's going on with the no start. Josh has been REAL busy with KOH and other things since the beginning of the year...so since he's back home this week, gonna try to fit some 8.1 love into the picture.

We will see what happens.
 
Woohoo, pulling in the big guns!

Hopefully it comes to life...

That's about where I'm at with it....I already met with Josh at the end of December the weekend after I moved here and we did some diagnosing...he agreed that it was a weird electrical issue going on (which made me feel better that I'm not a dumb a$$ that just jacked something up, haha). He ended up purchasing a nice tool that should aid in us figuring out what's going on...just been waiting for a time that he's back in ID and our schedules lined up.
 
I'm just going to leave this little video right here:



Finally got the thing to start up and run for a little while. Josh over at Team 208 Motorsports was awesome enough to help me do some diagnosing. Ending up finding that my "new" crank sensor I installed on the motor before even doing the swap was not working properly and giving erratic signals to the computer. So I replaced it with another new sensor I had (BTW, I've read over and over again guys say you can't change the crank sensor on an 8.1 when swapped into a square body...I'm here to tell everyone that's bull crap cause I did it in about 10 min just fine). Once we had that working correctly it still didn't want to fire, but after some more searching we found my injectors to be complete crap and clogged like crazy. In this video we were just manually keeping it running with starting fluid in the TB, but now we know for certain I just need to replace the injectors and we are good to go.

So I had a few weird things going on, but man was this a monumental moment to hear this thing run (even if it was being done manually). Plan is this week to replace the injectors and finally get this thing of my poor trailer, haha
 
Saw some posts from team208 today and I was hoping it was your 8.1 he was working on.
 
Saw some posts from team208 today and I was hoping it was your 8.1 he was working on.

Yep, all that stuff today was my junk...you have no idea how happy I was to take that short video of this thing running...like a fat kid in a candy store! New injectors are already ordered...once the show up they are going in ASAP!
 
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