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CK5
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'71 GMC K1500-The blue truck
- Thread starter Foureye71
- Start date
Going back the shenanigans started last spring when a coworker talked me into completely redoing the brakes just to get the truck moving again after a few years of sitting. I began by getting another master cylinder since the one in the truck had a tendency to bottom out and the truck would begin to push through the brakes.
The old master was full of rusty goo that at one point was brake fluid. After the old master cylinder was tossed into the scrap pile. I could have just swapped the master and called it a day, but after seeing the mess I had in the old master cylinder I was sure of what shape the original to the truck brake lines were in. To be on the safe side I ordered a stainless brake line kit and some cool guy wilwood dual piston brake calipers for the front brakes.
It was once I tried to test fit the new calipers with the 15" mickey thompson wheels the revival started to snowball. The wilwood's unsurprisingly didn't fit under my 15" wheels, so like any rational car guy I decided now is a great time to switch up the look of my truck since the black aluminum wheels had run their course in the looks department. I had seen a few guys on instagram running newer 17x10 aluminum slot mags on their 8 lug trucks and I dig the look so I went looking for a set with a 6x5.5" bolt pattern. I ended up gambling and ordered a set in a 17x9 us mags. The offset and backspacing was similar enough on the current set of mickey's I had and the new mags I ordered I figured they should have a similar enough fit and be able to clear the front brakes.
The slots did a lot to change the look of the truck for the better. Polished aluminum really complimented the bright work on the front of the truck more than the black wheels ever could have, looking back I'm not sure why I didn't get a set of polished mickey's instead of black but oh well.
The old master was full of rusty goo that at one point was brake fluid. After the old master cylinder was tossed into the scrap pile. I could have just swapped the master and called it a day, but after seeing the mess I had in the old master cylinder I was sure of what shape the original to the truck brake lines were in. To be on the safe side I ordered a stainless brake line kit and some cool guy wilwood dual piston brake calipers for the front brakes.
It was once I tried to test fit the new calipers with the 15" mickey thompson wheels the revival started to snowball. The wilwood's unsurprisingly didn't fit under my 15" wheels, so like any rational car guy I decided now is a great time to switch up the look of my truck since the black aluminum wheels had run their course in the looks department. I had seen a few guys on instagram running newer 17x10 aluminum slot mags on their 8 lug trucks and I dig the look so I went looking for a set with a 6x5.5" bolt pattern. I ended up gambling and ordered a set in a 17x9 us mags. The offset and backspacing was similar enough on the current set of mickey's I had and the new mags I ordered I figured they should have a similar enough fit and be able to clear the front brakes.
The slots did a lot to change the look of the truck for the better. Polished aluminum really complimented the bright work on the front of the truck more than the black wheels ever could have, looking back I'm not sure why I didn't get a set of polished mickey's instead of black but oh well.
After I got the wheels I took a bit of a break from tinkering with the truck since summer was coming and budget constraints really didn't leave me room to shop for a set of tires. Once fall came around a buddy of mine let me know his brother was letting go of a good running 283 for cheap so I decided to scoop it up since the 327 I had in the truck was beyond ready to be put out to pasture. That motor burned oil faster than I could put it in.
Once I got the motor home I popped open both valve covers too see what may be hiding underneath them, and was relieved to see clean rockers that had very minimal play in them. For fun I looked up the casting number on the block and stamped code in the front and confirmed it to be a 1965 283 from a chevelle. When I picked the motor up the guy I had gotten it from mentioned it had an oil leak from the intake and I should throw a set of gaskets at it, but after looking at the gooped on silly cone that was covering most of the through holes I figured whoever put the intake on last probably didn't put anything on the bolt threads to seal them.
Once I let my fall school schedule calm down some I got the truck loaded up to haul it over to a friends place to work on over the winter. Always have been a bowtie kinda guy at heart but that F-450 really drives nice for the size that it is.
Kinda nice to be in a shop and out of the weather for a change. Up until this point I had only been able to wrench in the driveway
Once I got the motor home I popped open both valve covers too see what may be hiding underneath them, and was relieved to see clean rockers that had very minimal play in them. For fun I looked up the casting number on the block and stamped code in the front and confirmed it to be a 1965 283 from a chevelle. When I picked the motor up the guy I had gotten it from mentioned it had an oil leak from the intake and I should throw a set of gaskets at it, but after looking at the gooped on silly cone that was covering most of the through holes I figured whoever put the intake on last probably didn't put anything on the bolt threads to seal them.
Once I let my fall school schedule calm down some I got the truck loaded up to haul it over to a friends place to work on over the winter. Always have been a bowtie kinda guy at heart but that F-450 really drives nice for the size that it is.
Kinda nice to be in a shop and out of the weather for a change. Up until this point I had only been able to wrench in the driveway
520 casting number definitely small vale power pack heads I have a set of those.
Figured it was high time to update this thread as I've made a good deal more progress the past couple of weeks. The next few pics are to get up to speed from a while back.
Old and busted next to slightly older but far less busted lol
Fresh rubber mounted on my slots. These are a set of destination x/t's in 285/75r17s they come out to a nearly 34x11. I meant to get these in a 285/70 but either I misspoke or the tire guy at costco fatfingered the wrong size when I ordered them, oh well.
Once I got the new wheels up to the shop I got them mounted on the truck and imagine my surprise when they barely cleared the front fenders, its almost like I had a lift already on the way.
About the lift, I got a 2.5" skyjacker kit from liftkits4less just the name alone had me skeptical, but talking with a couple of others who ordered from them I pulled the trigger. Shipping was beyond slow but they did provide updates along the way.
Surprisingly the front half didn't put up much of a fight in coming apart, reassembly was a breeze.
I figured with the bigger wheels a steering brace would be a good idea since my frame had no evidence of cracks and I would like to keep it that way. A bit of a fun fact every 1970-72 K5 and shortbed K10 got a brace riveted to the inside of the frame in the steering box area from the factory. In the last pic its a little hard to see the factory brace.
The rear half of the lift was the most unfun and had the least amount of pictures taken as a result. Every single bolt holding in the rear springs was seized solid to the bushing sleeves.
After the rear was buttoned up it was time to massage the new stainless brake lines into place and get to bleeding. My only hiccup was fitting the lines around the steering brace, which was to be expected with some aftermarket parts. Its hard to see but the one line nearest the steering box bolt actually has room for finger to go between the two.
Old and busted next to slightly older but far less busted lol
Fresh rubber mounted on my slots. These are a set of destination x/t's in 285/75r17s they come out to a nearly 34x11. I meant to get these in a 285/70 but either I misspoke or the tire guy at costco fatfingered the wrong size when I ordered them, oh well.
Once I got the new wheels up to the shop I got them mounted on the truck and imagine my surprise when they barely cleared the front fenders, its almost like I had a lift already on the way.
About the lift, I got a 2.5" skyjacker kit from liftkits4less just the name alone had me skeptical, but talking with a couple of others who ordered from them I pulled the trigger. Shipping was beyond slow but they did provide updates along the way.
Surprisingly the front half didn't put up much of a fight in coming apart, reassembly was a breeze.
I figured with the bigger wheels a steering brace would be a good idea since my frame had no evidence of cracks and I would like to keep it that way. A bit of a fun fact every 1970-72 K5 and shortbed K10 got a brace riveted to the inside of the frame in the steering box area from the factory. In the last pic its a little hard to see the factory brace.
The rear half of the lift was the most unfun and had the least amount of pictures taken as a result. Every single bolt holding in the rear springs was seized solid to the bushing sleeves.
After the rear was buttoned up it was time to massage the new stainless brake lines into place and get to bleeding. My only hiccup was fitting the lines around the steering brace, which was to be expected with some aftermarket parts. Its hard to see but the one line nearest the steering box bolt actually has room for finger to go between the two.
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Holy thread neglect batman! After I got the lift wrapped up, I got the truck back home so could get the small details like getting the motor fired back up after sitting, getting the accessories sorted back out, and some minor wiring fixes. Tracking down oem 71-72 short water pump pulleys and power steering brackets wasn't exactly easy
Figured the old battery cables ran their course and should've been replaced along time ago. Forgot where I got these cables from but they're pretty well built and didn't break the bank.
New dizzy and wires dropped in. Hadn't played with a small block without a center crank bolt up until this point so setting the engine to tdc was interesting lol. Not sure why I hadn't been making all of my plug wire sets before this set, its nice not having to deal with the parts store wire sets with what always seem like lengths that are picked at random. Building wiring harnesses for aerospace made most of the wiring I band-aided up a breeze.
View attachment 20241001_172259.mp4
Its alive!! Up to this point it had been over a year since the truck made any of its own noise.
Sidenote not a huge fan of the spin on adapter the motor came with. If anyone has any alternates I'm all ears
Figured the old battery cables ran their course and should've been replaced along time ago. Forgot where I got these cables from but they're pretty well built and didn't break the bank.
New dizzy and wires dropped in. Hadn't played with a small block without a center crank bolt up until this point so setting the engine to tdc was interesting lol. Not sure why I hadn't been making all of my plug wire sets before this set, its nice not having to deal with the parts store wire sets with what always seem like lengths that are picked at random. Building wiring harnesses for aerospace made most of the wiring I band-aided up a breeze.
View attachment 20241001_172259.mp4
Its alive!! Up to this point it had been over a year since the truck made any of its own noise.
Sidenote not a huge fan of the spin on adapter the motor came with. If anyone has any alternates I'm all ears
Now we're up to speed on where the truck is currently sitting. I'm wanting to get the th350 rebuilt as its probably time for it to be gone through again since it didn't have the best feeling shifts towards the end of its daily driver days. Before that can happen I have a couple of issues since getting the truck running, the biggest is the discovery of nearly zero brakes since replacing nearly every component in the system.
The master cylinder I have now is correct for 71-72 power brakes...... allegedly.
What I have now has the deep piston bore, I wasn't aware of there being two depths until a couple of weeks ago. I need to get my hands on a master cylinder push rod depth tool to really be sure, but with the research I've done it looks like the push rod in the booster is long enough for the master.
As far as not having brakes go I'll have to check how the rears are adjusted and give the fronts a look over. I have a suspicion the wilwood calipers may be a source of the problems I'm having. While I'm there might as well throw on a set of fresh rotors with the longer 1/2" wheel studs as the 7/16" stock ones aren't very confidence inspiring with an aluminum wheel.
I also need to pop in another set of gaskets for the fuel pump and valve covers. I also need to toss in the fancy edelbrock pump I have too. The one I have now is putting out about 12 psi, just a touch too much for an eddy carb.
The master cylinder I have now is correct for 71-72 power brakes...... allegedly.
What I have now has the deep piston bore, I wasn't aware of there being two depths until a couple of weeks ago. I need to get my hands on a master cylinder push rod depth tool to really be sure, but with the research I've done it looks like the push rod in the booster is long enough for the master.
As far as not having brakes go I'll have to check how the rears are adjusted and give the fronts a look over. I have a suspicion the wilwood calipers may be a source of the problems I'm having. While I'm there might as well throw on a set of fresh rotors with the longer 1/2" wheel studs as the 7/16" stock ones aren't very confidence inspiring with an aluminum wheel.
I also need to pop in another set of gaskets for the fuel pump and valve covers. I also need to toss in the fancy edelbrock pump I have too. The one I have now is putting out about 12 psi, just a touch too much for an eddy carb.
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Perks of working weekends and also being on spring break from school I had some free time to swap out my old mechanical pump for a shiny new edelbrock one. I was also able to fix an oil leak that sprung up from the fuel pump or the adapter plate while I have everything apart.
I'm not the biggest fan of how much rubber line I've got under the hood now but I can always bend up some hard lines later, but it'll do for now
While digging through one of my boxes of misc parts I found another return spring for the throttle, mas safer now. I one had one spring before
View attachment 20250324_175222.mp4
It runs lot better when the carb isn't being force fed fuel by a pump putting out over 12 psi. I'm sure the neighbors are getting tired of open headers lol
I'm not the biggest fan of how much rubber line I've got under the hood now but I can always bend up some hard lines later, but it'll do for now
While digging through one of my boxes of misc parts I found another return spring for the throttle, mas safer now. I one had one spring before
View attachment 20250324_175222.mp4
It runs lot better when the carb isn't being force fed fuel by a pump putting out over 12 psi. I'm sure the neighbors are getting tired of open headers lol
Not a huge update, but I got the wilwood calipers out and swapped in stock replacements. Going to give the master another round of bench bleeding just to be safe since the pedal still feels a little mushy.
The heater core also decided that after 54 years it no longer decided it wanted to hold coolant...yay. That can is going to get kicked down the road to late summer to get fixed.
Temporary hose reroute fixed the leak for now..
The heater core also decided that after 54 years it no longer decided it wanted to hold coolant...yay. That can is going to get kicked down the road to late summer to get fixed.
Temporary hose reroute fixed the leak for now..
Not much for an update, but in cruising the truck around the neighborhood I was reminded how near the end of its life my th350 was. So I decided to remedy that with this 1996 nv4500. No lower first in this one but it should be fine as I dont have plans to do much crawling in my old hoopty.
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