Miller and Lincoln make nice hammers just for this scenario lol
CK5
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1989 Crew Cab Tow Rig Build
- Thread starter Kay86K5
- Start date
i have 3 lincoln hammers . small / med / LARGE 
....... i also have the removal tool it runs on 220v and dry clean compressed air .
....... i also have the removal tool it runs on 220v and dry clean compressed air .
See, my whole point. I have no idea on metrics.Good luck getting a 9/16" wrench on a 15mm, even with a hammer
Well for reference 14mm is the equivalent of 9/16".See, my whole point. I have no idea on metrics.
It's almost the same.
Ok, just read through your thread again to refresh my memory on what all issues you ran into.
So a couple questions:
1. How do you like your pedal placement? Do you think a 6.5 pedal swap would be easier?
2. How/what wires did you end up splicing into to get alt and oil pressure? Or was it a different oil pressure sensor?
I'm sure I had more questions earlier today, but this is what I could remember at the moment.
So a couple questions:
1. How do you like your pedal placement? Do you think a 6.5 pedal swap would be easier?
2. How/what wires did you end up splicing into to get alt and oil pressure? Or was it a different oil pressure sensor?
I'm sure I had more questions earlier today, but this is what I could remember at the moment.
I like my gas pedal placement. Honestly, it wasn't that hard to get the DBW pedal where I wanted it with a little cutting/welding and also mounting it on the firewall. To be honest, I bet it's not really that much harder than getting a 6.5 pedal and swapping wires to where they need to be to work with the DBW connector. Some purest get all butt hurt if it's not a "square body correct" looking gas pedal, but I could care less about stuff like that. To each their own. My choice was easier though as my pedal came with my motor package. If I didn't have that and had to find my own pedal, maybe a 6.5 pedal would have been easier, who knows.
Alternator wire was no different. The same wire that bolted to the alternator on the TBI 350, I just bolted to the alternator on the 8.1 and my gauge worked just fine. For the oil pressure, I bought the oil pressure sending unit/sensor that Larry recommended in the 8.1 swap page. I bought the sending unit and the connector that he recommends. It's a simple 1 wire connector. Then I just took the existing oil pressure connector that use to be hooked up to the TBI 350 (I think that one was a 2 or 3 wire connector) and simple found out which of those couple wires was the signal wire, and spliced it to the 1 wire on the new connector, and that was it. Was a lot simpler than I thought it would be. It makes me wonder why so many people pay a crazy amount of money for Dakota digital stuff when with a little bit of research, you can make your stock square body gauges work on the 8.1. Again, to each their own though
Alternator wire was no different. The same wire that bolted to the alternator on the TBI 350, I just bolted to the alternator on the 8.1 and my gauge worked just fine. For the oil pressure, I bought the oil pressure sending unit/sensor that Larry recommended in the 8.1 swap page. I bought the sending unit and the connector that he recommends. It's a simple 1 wire connector. Then I just took the existing oil pressure connector that use to be hooked up to the TBI 350 (I think that one was a 2 or 3 wire connector) and simple found out which of those couple wires was the signal wire, and spliced it to the 1 wire on the new connector, and that was it. Was a lot simpler than I thought it would be. It makes me wonder why so many people pay a crazy amount of money for Dakota digital stuff when with a little bit of research, you can make your stock square body gauges work on the 8.1. Again, to each their own though
Did you have any trouble with fitting your bilstien shocks. My rear stud measure out to a 14 and the bushings on the shocks measure 15 and the sleeves are like a 12. Just curious if you ran into this. My lift is the same as yours from ORD.
This setup never gets old to me
Love it dude.
That's exactly what I thought too.
(Chris Farley voice):
Blazer: I gotta go to the bathroom daddy!
Crew Cab: Not Now Damnit
So 53 pages later, I'm seriously considering an 8.1 for the accidental k30.
Did you ever get power numbers for the tune you've got?
Did you ever get power numbers for the tune you've got?
I've never had it dyno'd at all, so this is just my own personal opinion going off of what the truck felt like with a stock tune on it and what the numbers say from the factory for stock (340 horses and 455 ft. lbs.), but my best most accurate (and trying not to overhype the numbers) guess I can come up with after the tune is probably somewhere between 390-400 horses and 490-500 ft. lbs. That's the best guess I can give you based on what my brother and I have felt driving the truck pre and post tune. I've said it before that the 8.1 is chocked back a bit more from the factory tune than a 5.3/6.0. So you can get more gains outta just a tune on the 8.1 vs. LS. Also, the tuner who I had do it (who had done many 8.1's before mine) said he never had one dyno'd either, but his best guess are the numbers I listed above too. IMO, pretty darn good for a stock internals motor with just a $300 performance ECM tune.
I've given those numbers to some people before and they've called BS to me, but I'm telling you, this truck flat out hauls. Obviously I feel like having a manual 5-speed helps that I don't have a slush-box robbing more power, but also this truck is probably close to 7000lbs by itself too, so there is that. All in all, I've been very, very happy with the truck with an 8.1 in it. Sure a 12v/24v would get better gas mileage while driving it empty, but I've said it many times that this truck never has been, nor never will be a daily driver, so mpg's doesn't really bother me at all (especially cause towing mileage is virtually the same with a diesel). I've also said this (and still feel it's true) that if you really want to build a big block for bigger power (450 hp + type of power) then just get a 454 and build them cause you can buy one and build it for way cheaper, but if you are looking for really good, dependable big block power that will go for a very long time with very little issues (and any issues can be fixed crazy easy in your driveway) then the 8.1 is probably one of the best options out there, IMO.
Hope this helps
Oh, and I don't get on ck5 as much as I used to, so what's this accidental k30 you're talking about?
Very helpful. A diesel swap has its place but so does a nice big block. The 8.1 seems like it would check all the boxes except for cost. I bet I'd be 5 grand deep into it.
Bought a k30 out of the weeds sight unseen. One owner 84 Silverado single cab. Black with black interior. 454/465/205 single wheel with 4.56.
Motor was yanked about an decade ago and it sat.
It needs something in it and I'm heading down the 8.1 rabbit hole and you were the first stop lol
Greg's thread is next.
Bought a k30 out of the weeds sight unseen. One owner 84 Silverado single cab. Black with black interior. 454/465/205 single wheel with 4.56.
Motor was yanked about an decade ago and it sat.
It needs something in it and I'm heading down the 8.1 rabbit hole and you were the first stop lol
Greg's thread is next.
Haha, gotcha. You're "accidental k30" sounds a lot like my 84 k30 "parts truck" that I bought about a year ago. As you can see from the pictures below, the first is when I bought it (again, the original plan was just parts truck for the projects my brother and I have...and turned into it's own project, haha), and the second is it's current state. I thought very heavily about going 8.1 on that one too, but in the end I actually plan to build the motor to hopefully about 450 hp and 550 ft lbs, so in that case I bought a 454 and will be building it later on down the road (just gonna get it running virtually stock right now, but will build it later).
The 8.1, though a little more money than a factory 454, is an excellent option. Sure you can build a 454 to produce a bit more power than my stock 8.1 with a tune on it, but in all reality, to build that 454 to produce that power isn't going to be that far off cost wise than the 8.1 swap (and I'm talking about just a top end kit rebuild style on the 454...when you really start pricing everything out). So when you're talking about stock(ish) big block power, the 8.1 has the best numbers, even with a stock tune on it. So it just depends on what direction you wanna go with it
beags86
Eastbound and Down
Whats your plan? You keeping this long term or selling it?
Why not a 292?
hehe. Anyway i would go 454, a stroker crank is only 300 bucks. Then you could rebuild it and not be stuck with the crap head bolt situation.
You can use some good heads and cam and chose your efi.
Like @Kay86K5 says. If your wanting to mod it for big power the 454 is the way to go.
Personally, I want to take an L29 and dump a stroker kit in, cam, and run the factory efi off a holly ecu.
I haven't seen that done that and I think you could build big power and do it cheaper then the " STANDARD" 8.1 SWAP.
Not knocking the 8.1 swap, but i think your limited for those bigger numbers that a fat block can give you, if you ever go that route.
I'm not entirely sure yet. I do know it's getting about a 10" and 39" bawgas. If this motor has enough nuts I'm gonna nv4500 swap it so I can use od. Keeping the big block since it's an original 454 Silverado.
But I like the simplicity of a vortec 454 with a cam and a carb. But I am getting pretty tired of carburetors. Spoilt. Just really depends on what I find I guess.
But I like the simplicity of a vortec 454 with a cam and a carb. But I am getting pretty tired of carburetors. Spoilt. Just really depends on what I find I guess.
Whats your plan? You keeping this long term or selling it?
Why not a 292?
Anyway i would go 454, a stroker crank is only 300 bucks. Then you could rebuild it and not be stuck with the crap head bolt situation.
You can use some good heads and cam and chose your efi.
Like @Kay86K5 says. If your wanting to mod it for big power the 454 is the way to go.
Personally, I want to take an L29 and dump a stroker kit in, cam, and run the factory efi off a holly ecu.
I haven't seen that done that and I think you could build big power and do it cheaper then the " STANDARD" 8.1 SWAP.
Not knocking the 8.1 swap, but i think your limited for those bigger numbers that a fat block can give you, if you ever go that route.
Funny you guys reference the L29 as that is the exact motor I picked up and is now in that green crew posted above. I decided to ditch the factory fuel injection and put a carb intake with an HEI distributor. I'm planning on running aftermarket EFI (either FItech or Summit racing brand, haven't decided yet). I mainly did that because I want to get this setup so when I do a top end kit on it, I don't have to change anything except heads and cam and that's it. So I'm gonna get it running like this first.
My big thing about the factory vortec 454 injection is you'd probably need to upgrade the factory fuel injectors to something that can handle more fuel, and those things are freaking expensive (I remember paying for factory replacement ones on my old 96 K2500 with the L29, and at the time I looked at upgrading and the price was crazy high...I was pissed at how much factory replacements cost). So that made it an easier choice for me to do carb intake with aftermarket injection...plus, I want this to be as simple as possible with wiring...minimal wiring really, so I didn't care to have a factory L29 wiring harness re-worked like I id on the 8.1 swap.
Again, I'll agree totally with beags86 that if you wanna build it at all, go 454 (of any generation really, L29's have some nice advantages to start with like factory roller cam, and better oiling, but really any 454 will do) since the aftermarket is huge which means it's affordable to make big power. If you just want a factory big block for simplicity and cool factor, then 8.1 is an awesome choice as in factory trim its rated higher than any other factory BBC, plus it has a pretty cool factor with it too. Just pick your poison really
