1989 V3500 - The 1Ton SSB

[K5chevyLQ4]

K5chevyLQ4 submitted a new Build:

1989 V3500 - The 1Ton SSB

Welcome to the build. This is my second squarebody build and my personal dream truck. I have built this truck in my head since I bought my first K5 almost 14 years ago. I am self taught and have been learning/lurking on CK5 and pirate since 2005. Anyways, on to the truck...

I will try to keep the words to a minimum and the pics kinda in order.
I bought this truck in 2014 with a blown 6.2 diesel for $1K. It had all the goodies. Th400, round pattern np205 with fixed yokes, 1 tons with 4.56 gears.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Read more about this build here...

 

[K5chevyLQ4]

The day I brought it home. $1000 with a blown 6.2





The front bumper was the first to go. Had to weigh 800 lbs!

Sold the flat bed for $500 and made half of my money back!

 

[K5chevyLQ4]

Picked up a set of 42” iroks. At the time I was building a rig with the intention of towing it to off-road parks.



First thing was getting the wheelbase cut down to short bed length and converting the DRW Dana 60 hubs converted to SRW. A trip to the local machinist had that complete.

 

[K5chevyLQ4]

B52 kit installed and my K5 donated the 52s

 

[K5chevyLQ4]

Here’s what happens to a 6.2 diesel when the air cleaner rod falls down the intake.
To the scrap iron pile it goes.
My K5 donated the small block 350 until I could get something else built.

 

[K5chevyLQ4]

Small block in. On to the rear.
Mocked up the rear hangers for 56” springs originally. They were too flat and stiff so I picked up a new set of ford 57” springs. They were much softer and lot more free arch.
Chopped off over two feet of frame!

 

[K5chevyLQ4]

It was around this time that I broke my leg, moved to a new city, started a new job, and became a daddy to a beautiful little girl. Needless to say but the truck wasn’t touched for over a year.

 

[K5chevyLQ4]

So a year or so later I finally get a chance to get back to work on the truck. Spent a lot of time collecting parts and researching.
Converted it from diesel to a small block on propane.
I tried to make a Qjet work off-road on my K5 and quickly found another option.

 

[K5chevyLQ4]

Finally got it running so the first thing I do is drive into the ditch to see how flexy it is.

 

[K5chevyLQ4]

Next was the bed. I bought a mig welder and started teaching myself to weld and practicing on smaller projects.
This was my first big attempt at fabing/welding. I wanted an off-road flat bed that didn’t weigh a ton and allowed me to mount bed sides. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

 

[K5chevyLQ4]

More flat bed

 

[K5chevyLQ4]

Here is a few pictures of the bedsides being cut down. Took exactly 12” out. First time welding sheet metal









A little bit of body filler and paint



And to make the bedside easily removable I wired the tail lights with weather-pack connectors. Turned out awesome.

 

[beags86]

Here’s what happens to a 6.2 diesel when the air cleaner rod falls down the intake.
To the scrap iron pile it goes.
My K5 donated the small block 350 until I could get something else built.

View attachment 305500

View attachment 305501

 

[K5chevyLQ4]

I loved the look and functionality of Kurt’s aluminum dash but couldn’t justify the cost. I didn’t want to patch/hack up the factory dash to make aftermarket gauges fit so I decided to build something of my own.

 

[K5chevyLQ4]

I wanted something completely modular and easy to access. It’s modeled after a 1st gen blazer dash. Im still not finished with it but it’s operational. It mounts in the factory location. Let me know what you think.

 

[Fastereddie]

Hell ya man, looks great!

 

[K5chevyLQ4]

At some point along the way I decided that if I’m going to build my dream truck then it want to be able to drive it wherever I want (not just a off-road wheeler). So the build took a small turn.
Sold the 42s in favor of a set of more street friendly 38” Toyos.
Can’t run propane very easily on the street so that had to go as well.
No way I’m going back to a carb so fuel injection it is!

And now I really start dropping some cash in the build.
Fuel injection = LS swap

Pictures are coming

 

[K5chevyLQ4]

Building the engine was definitely my favorite part of this build. I picked up a locked up 6.0 lq4 from a buddy of mine for $300 bucks.
I didn’t intend on doing anything with it for a while but I couldn’t wait to tear into it.
WARNING... LS carnage ahead.

A little bit of rust in a couple cylinders, no big deal.

Hmm this lifter is not coming out....


Well that might be why lol

 

[K5chevyLQ4]

The crank was also seized and wouldn’t budge. Dropped all the pistons that I could easily reach and it still wouldn’t turn. I really thought I was about to scrap the whole engine. I eventually got it torn down after some trick wrenching and a lot of cussing.















And off the machine shop it goes.

View attachment 305621

 

[K5chevyLQ4]

The engine numbers indicated that it was a 2006 motor and the rods were the second generation with the floating piston pins
The machinist honed the rods, bored the engine 20 over, align honed the mains and checked the new crank balance for me.
While all that was getting done I was cleaning up parts and ordering everything I needed to finish the rebuild. I think the mail man hated me after this month