1989 K5 - Gradual Learning

[imiceman44]

For better or worse, the intake manifold is back on.

View attachment 501547

I replaced nearly all of the old wire loom. The only old wire loom that I kept was on the driver's side of the firewall near the bulkhead. The wiring routes up toward the windshield but then goes back down beneath the brake booster. Right beneath the brake booster is where it transitions from the old wire loom to the new woven stuff.

I am really nervous about the intake because I am not sure whether I used enough RTV on the front and back surface areas. It was perhaps as thick as two or three credit cards?

When doing my final cleaning, I noticed a couple of things that I wanted to ask about...

First - when vacuuming everything for the final time, coolant got sucked out of this port (below). I didn't expect this to be a coolant port, because I assumed the coolant ports were the smaller ports at the front and back of the engine. I am trying to find diagrams online and am falling short somehow. Does coolant coming out of this port indicate a serious problem?

View attachment 501546

Second - this is much less significant but I found this small o-ring by cylinder #8 (it was sitting in some grime on top of the intake). I checked my fuel lines, and their o-rings are intact... I have no idea where this o-ring could go. If anyone has an idea let me know.

View attachment 501548

The port you indicated is an intake port and the only way to get coolant there is if you spilled some when you took off the intake.
It's good you sucked it out because it would have given you trouble during first start.
The oring could be an old one that dropped when they were working on it and couldn't bother to find it.
I wouldn't worry about it

 

[centexk5]

I wouldn’t worry about the coolant or o-ring. Some probably spilled in the port when you pulled the intake and the o-ring could be from who knows when.

As for the RTV, I do a 3/16-1/4” thick bead front and rear. As long as it squished when you put the intake on you should be good.

 

[Wes Harden]

As long as the rtv squished out some all the way across your good. O ring is dropped and not found fuel line oring.
Pull the spark plug on that cylinder, to check for more spilled coolant.

 

[mrk5]

I all looks really nice!

I always worry about having enough RTV across the front and back.

 

[shima]

Last night I realized that I forgot to put the throttle cable bracket on, so I had to remove the intake bolt closest to the firewall on the driver's side.

If this thing leaks when I fire it back up I am gonna have to take a mental health break for a while.

Anyhow, I managed to reconnect the coolant hose and put the distributor back in. Not much progress but a little bit.

Gonna keep trucking and I hope to fire it up within a few more wrench sessions.

 

[Wes Harden]

Got ask your method for dist install?

 

[centexk5]

Last night I realized that I forgot to put the throttle cable bracket on, so I had to remove the intake bolt closest to the firewall on the driver's side.

If this thing leaks when I fire it back up I am gonna have to take a mental health break for a while.

Anyhow, I managed to reconnect the coolant hose and put the distributor back in. Not much progress but a little bit.

Gonna keep trucking and I hope to fire it up within a few more wrench sessions.

One piece at a time. Progress is progress.

 

[shima]

Got ask your method for dist install?

I followed this video for the entire job start to finish. It's a GMT-400 truck so slightly different but mostly the same.

Distributor removal starts around 6:10 in the video and goes until about 10:30. Basically I put the engine at TDC and then marked the distributor base and the intake. Then I marked where the rotor was before removing it and after removing it.

Distributor installation starts around 23:45 in the video and goes until about 25:30. All it entails is putting the distributor back into place and verifying that the base lines up and that the rotor is back at the starting point it was at originally.

 

[Wes Harden]

That is a reasonable method,as long as crank didn't rotate wirh distributor removed your good

 

[shima]

Small victory tonight...

I had just a little bit of time to work... but I went out to the garage and put the distributor cap back on. I don't know how I didn't notice this before, but one of the two distributor cap bolts wasn't tightening up. I could rock the cap side to side and it wasn't secure at all.

Didn't take long to find the problem.

View attachment PXL_20250411_020618158.TS.mp4

I don't know if I caused this, or it has been there since the PO. Not sure. The threads are pretty worn down on that side.

View attachment PXL_20250411_020730500.TS.mp4

I keep Ziploc bags of miscellaneous hardware. Bolts, nuts, washers, whatever. I managed to find a small nut that would thread onto the distributor cap bolt.



Unfortunately, the bolt wasn't long enough to expose any threads for the nut to grab onto.

I go back to the miscellaneous hardware stash and I find a bolt that is just long enough to expose some threads.



Getting it on was a little weird because I didn't have a box wrench small enough to loop around the nut to hold it in place. Ended up going for a small vice grip and it worked out.



It's ugly but I am hopeful it will work. I tried shaking the cap again and it is all snugged up. I'm happy with it.

View attachment PXL_20250411_023407383.TS.mp4

 

[83ChevyK5Blazer]

How did the contacts inside the cap and the rotor look? Hit up harbor frieght and bend yourself a cheap wrench to use for next time once the tbi is back on.

 

[Blue85]

I think Jegs sells a distributor wrench for $9.

 

[shima]

How did the contacts inside the cap and the rotor look? Hit up harbor frieght and bend yourself a cheap wrench to use for next time once the tbi is back on.

I think Jegs sells a distributor wrench for $9.

Oh ya, sorry - my post above wasn't clear. I have a distributor wrench and got the distributor tightened down easily. I meant that it was awkward to tighten the distributor cap because I had to use a tiny nut on the bottom side to hold the cap down. It was like a 7mm wrench that I needed and I don't own one that size.

RE: The contacts inside the cap, there is a video on this post. It's a fairly new cap and rotor combo (3 years / 10k miles).

 

[shima]

I went out there tonight for an hour and a half... and spent about an hour of it scrolling through my phone to find the right photo that showed the right view of the engine bay.

It is so dumb but I was just trying to double-check how these brackets attached. Gotta remember to take photos of everything before I disassemble!

On bracket #1 do I have it right with the ground wire connecting at that point?

On bracket #2 I can't get the nut to thread on top, not enough threads are showing. Don't know what I'm gonna do. Might try and sand the bracket down so it is a little thinner or something like that.

 

[imiceman44]

I went out there tonight for an hour and a half... and spent about an hour of it scrolling through my phone to find the right photo that showed the right view of the engine bay.

It is so dumb but I was just trying to double-check how these brackets attached. Gotta remember to take photos of everything before I disassemble!

On bracket #1 do I have it right with the ground wire connecting at that point?

On bracket #2 I can't get the nut to thread on top, not enough threads are showing. Don't know what I'm gonna do. Might try and sand the bracket down so it is a little thinner or something like that.

View attachment 501758

What is under the bracket?
If it's a nut, put it on top.
This doesn't look right

 

[Wes Harden]

switch the two studded bolts the passenger appears longer in photo.

#2 is a better ground spot than T stat housing, which is how the factory did it, your good there.

 

[imiceman44]

switch the two studded bolts the passenger appears longer in photo.

#2 is a better ground spot than T stat housing, which is how the factory did it, your good there.

You're right I didn't notice the other one below

 

[flatland]

I just finished intake gaskets as well. My grounds were on the front passenger side stud. Agree swapping studs side to side may help. This my "before" pic from disassembly..

 

[6872xtc]

As @flatland posted, the ground goes on the passenger side stud.
This gives a ground path to the cylinder head, (partially) and then the support rod bolt has a better chance of staying tight without having the copper terminal there. As vibration could possibly work on the copper. (In my opinion)

 

[Wes Harden]

I only see the main battery ground on that passenger side stud, in Flatland's pic.
I do vividly recall the tbi grounds on a studded bolt right side thermostat housing. The top would never loosen,always the bolt with grounds. Had to use a wrench on the bolt while loosening nut, and of course it need to be thin and short wrench.