What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

'72 K5 - Greg's @MightAsWellK5 Build

This is the build description. I will improve this later. (GB)
Overview Gallery Discussion
A couple more hours of careful sanding....

DSC03715.jpg


The sanding of the sides is going to take quite a while. The other cover was cleaned, masked and painted today also. Should be dry enough by tomorrow to do some detail sanding also.


:usaflag:
 
Never! :D I was surprised to even find that one in the box of "extras"...it's pretty bad.

My plan is to go with the larger-bodied CS144 (140A) style, and probably build a custom bracket to get it to sit in a similar position as the Alan Grove one that JDNobodi posted a few days back.

The CS144 come equipped with the capability to turn on a dash mounted indicator light (so you know when the alternator fails). Unfortunately, the Blazer doesn't have a spot for that in the stock cluster. My thought is that I might steal the "TEMP" warning light position (in the factory fuel gauge) and relabel it as "ALTERNATOR" instead. It would be good to know that the charging system failed before simply losing all power on a remote trail somewhere.

I'm also investigating the HOWE power steering pumps for the other side of the block. They apparently start with a Saginaw 142 pump (used in school bus and large truck applications), then modify it with a bunch of high-quality internals. It ends up putting out 6.5GPM @ 1700RPM and 15GPM max. I never had the type of low-speed, low-RPM steering response I wanted with my old 1.5" Hydraulic assist and modified factory pump. The "assist" never really worked at idle (not enough pressure or flow) so I never really got that whole 1-finger steering effect I'd always hoped for.

Unfortunately, I'm also reading that the HOWE pump is $1000.... :yikes: That figures.



:usaflag:
 
2010.08.24 - UPDATE! - A SMALL SPENDING SPREE...


It's really weird having my own "Might As Well" phrase used against me, but sometimes it's easier for you guys to see what needs to be done than it is for me to see it myself. I couldn't make forward progress on dressing the front of the engine with brackets, etc. until I solved a few issues dealing with my power steering and charging system.

I reluctantly called HOWE to talk about a setup that would support this build. I wanted high volume at idle RPMs, and enough pressure and flow to support a ram-assist too. I was bracing myself to hear the $1000 price quote for their "1650-series" pump....but was very relieved when their tech said that was WAY overkill for a non-racing, non full-hydro setup. The pump he suggested was their "1450-series" pump at a much more reasonable $245.

This pump is brand new (not rebuilt) and put out 3.5GPM at IDLE! That is plenty for the "one finger steering" I've dreamed about and a lot more flow than I've ever had in previous setups.

Howe210Pump.jpg


After some discussion about pulley configuration and sizes, he matched it to a 6" v-belt pulley. The background on this gets a bit complicated, but I've been learning more than I ever wanted to know about pulley ratios, and RPM limits recently. The simple version is that I'm driving the power steering pump with the innermost pulley off the crank (6.75") so I need to make sure that I keep the overall ratio as close to 1:1 as possible. With a 6" PS Pulley, my ratio is 1.13:1 which should be just about perfect. The two main considerations are that the pump is spinning fast enough at idle to produce the volume of fluid necessary for low-speed maneuvers, but also not overrev the pump at engine redline and burn it up. At a 900RPM idle, the pump will be spinning at 1013RPM, and at a theoretical 6500RPM engine redline, the pump will be spinning at 7313RPM.....well under the 8000RPM limit that their pump can handle.

It's a beautiful looking pulley ($80), I just wish the pulley didn't have all that engraving all over it... :doah:
Howepulley.jpg


Here are my 3M Green Tape fan belts! :D I was playing around with different configurations to see which crank pulley groove would drive each accessory. There are a few variations that will work....and many more that won't.

Ultimately, the innermost pulley will drive only the PS Pump.

The middle pulley groove will drive the waterpump and alternator.

The outer pulley groove will drive the waterpump (again) and the A/C compressor (not shown, but will sit low on the pass. side)

I also ordered up a CS144 Delco-Remy alternator, so I can start building a custom bracket for that as well. I can't keep using a long bolt as my "pretend" alternator...

DSC03738.jpg


Over the weekend, I prepped and painted the other M/T valve cover, so by last night it was dry enough to start sanding off the high spots. There's still quite a bit of more tedious sanding to do near the edges and around the sides but this will give a good idea of how it's going to look.

DSC03740.jpg


The Offenhauser covers finally arrived from eBay, so I put one of them on the engine (raw bead blasted) just to get a feel for the look. It's amazing what a different "feel" the engine has with this cover on it vs. the M/Ts.

When I get some down-time on other projects, I'll figure out a paint scheme for these and finish them completely for a more fair comparison.

DSC03736.jpg


That's about it for now..... parts are enroute and some may even arrive by this weekend.


:usaflag:
 
that looks very similar to the PSC pump I'm gonna run...


I'd just paint the whole vc, and mill the raised surfaces...
 
Those Offenhauser covers are SO cool. Those M/Ts seem a little more standard classic, and look KILLER, but I'm excited to see those Offeys - I think they'll be seriously BAD ASS. :bow:

That pump tech is great - i might want to do that for my rig. thanks for posting all that info.
 
man under $250 for that pump! awesome. sure makes it a better option the 1k+..

i did the same basic concept on my valve covers as well. you'll love the look. i know i do on mine. (diff colors tho)
 
Colby,

When you start looking into pulley sizing, it's amazing how much there is to know....

I guess if you keep everything "stock" it's pretty simple, just match what the factory did; but when you start messing around with custom parts it's really important to know how fast everything is spinning.

A couple more fun things I learned:

The waterpump pulley has two different diameter pulleys on it. A smaller 5.4" and a larger 6.125" size. They both are driven off the crank pulley, which means that they would spin at different RPMs.....except that the crank pulley has two different diameters aligned with those two pulleys as well. The smaller W/P pulley matches to a 6.75" crank pulley, and the larger W/P pulley is matched to a 7.625" crank pulley. The result is that both setups have the same identical pulley ratio of 1.24:1. If they didn't, one belt would be trying to spin faster than the other and it would squeal like crazy....kind of like having two different gear ratios in your front and rear axles.

The alternator v-belt pulley will be 2.375" and driven from the 6.75" crank pulley. This gives it a very high ratio of 2.84:1. At 900RPM (idle) the alternator will be spinning at 2558RPM, and at a 6500RPM engine redline the alternator will be spinning at 18,474RPM!!!! :yikes: I still find that hard to believe, but that's the correct pulley combination from what I'm being told.

The HOWE pump was surprisingly affordable, but there are a number of other parts to the steering system that need to be added to make the whole system work correctly and stay cool:

Inline fluid cooler - $70
Remote reservoir with spin-on filter - $170
Steering box modified with proper steering stops - $775 (no core)
2" x 4.5" Double-acting, single ended ram - $225
Aeroquip hoses to connect all these parts - ~ $375

The ram is the weird one. They prefer to use a larger diameter ram, with a shorter stroke and I don't fully understand all the reasons why yet. Obviously, it needs to be mounted much further down the steering arm than the tie rod to maintain the proper travel (my last crossover steering setup had about 6.5" of stroke at the ram). I'll have to get a more detailed explanation from HOWE later on when it's finally time to buy all these extra parts......later, much later.


:usaflag:
 
given that my engine can only spin up to 3600 rpm, you'd have to have a really strange reduction pulley set up to spin that pump faster than its limit! I could practically have it set up for a 2:1 and it would be fine! :D
 
2010.08.31 - UPDATE! - THERE GOES SUMMER....& PARTS ARRIVE

August 31st....wow. Heading towards Labor Day weekend and sadly another summer is winding to a close. I can't say that the build progress is as fast as I'd hoped this summer, but a lot of important things got done, and maybe if I can keep this pace through the fall and winter this truck will roll out of the garage by NEXT summer?? :thinking:

More parts arrived. The large-body CS144 (140A) alternator, and the HOWE 1450 pump & 6" pulley.

DSC03758.jpg


The business-end of the alternator....mounting tabs in this photo are horizontal, so you can get a feel for where the charging lug and weatherpack connector are located relative to the tabs.

DSC03761.jpg


The HOWE pump....it's so small it's almost adorable and cute.

DSC03759.jpg


The pump mounts in a rather bizarre way. There are two sleeved holes that run across the pump body (unthreaded). They appear to have been either 8mm or 9mm in size, because I couldn't get a standard 3/8" bolt through the holes (until I re-drilled them). Tsk, tsk.... I don't want no durned metric bolts on my 'murican truck. :D

The pulley has two holes in it. The reason why is so that you can feed the bolts through from the front side and have access with a socket to cinch them down. Pretty clever actually.

DSC03762.jpg


The pump will be a pretty easy install. There is a 3/8" hole in the block in a good spot, and with a small spacer behind the pump (~ 3/4") the alignment should be spot-on. After that, I just need to come up with a simple bracket to do the tensioning.... but I like the way the pump will tuck in nice and close to the block, and I like that the supply and return lines are pointing toward where they actually need to go. Plumbing should be straightforward.

The alternator on the other hand is going to be more of a struggle. The large case is deeper than the original so I can't get it down low where I'd hoped without hitting the engine block. The belt routing is also going to be really tricky with the lower radiator hose outlet, so I have a feeling that it's going to take a few tries before I get a mounting bracket built that gets the placement and clearances perfect.


:usaflag:
 
try figuring it all out with cogged pulleys.... :wink1:

working my stuff out now... brackets, pulleys, guides, etc.... think I'm gonna run PSC's version of that pump... I believe those are refered to as an N-style pumps.. but GM sure makes it confusing, GM type 2, type 3, saginaw, type N.....

this is what my ps and alt pulley will look like...

bg6108wc.jpg
 
2010.09.05 - UPDATE! - BACK ON THE RUN STAND...

I took some time to paint up the run stand and move the engine back over onto it. The engine stand has lousy casters that won't swivel when there is weight on them so moving the engine around the shop was a total pain.

Since it was looking so snazzy, I had to push it out onto my new driveway to show off both! :woot: Having a smooth, flat driveway is a great luxury as well. The old one was at least 40 years old and was riddled with potholes, anthills, and missing asphalt everywhere.

DSC03767.jpg


I'm still working on custom bracketry for the alternator and PS pump. My uber-assortment of GR-8 bolts is not much use for this project since my assortments only go up to 2" long. Buying longer bolts one by one gets tedious too (and expensive). I came up with a great idea yesterday... threaded rod.

Threaded rod is good because you can buy 3/8" and 7/16" segments about 3 feet at a time and cut it to a length that's somewhat close to what you need....thread it ALL the way into a blind hole and then build brackets, spacers, etc. A standard nut will hold everything in place until the end. Once finished, a simple tack weld will hold the nut in it's final position. When you remove the rod, you will have an exact length bolt for the application. Measure the length under the head, round the number down to the nearest 1/4" (to allow some clearance at the bottom of the blind hole) and then order up the correct ARP stainless fastener for the final assembly.

I was pretty proud of myself for figuring that one out. :D


:usaflag:
 
Very Sweet Greg....so you gonna have that rig running next year for BB11 right....the deadline is in.
 
2010.09.06 - UPDATE! - BIRTHDAY BRACKETRY....

Since I can't be at BlazerBash 2010, this is the next best way to spend my birthday.... building a custom alternator bracket for a CS144 alternator. :D

I wanted something close to a "mid mount" setup, with enough clearance for the lower radiator hose and also the eventual A/C compressor that will be mounted even lower on the passenger side.

DSC03782.jpg


The lower pivot bolt uses the lowest head bolt for a mount. The body of the alternator just BARELY clears the valve cover as it swings through it's travel range.

DSC03790.jpg


I fabbed up a small tensioning bracket to use the existing alternator hole, but moves the adjuster mount to a position that will allow better travel for setting tension...

DSC03795.jpg



A new "3M Belt" was installed, and everything looks nice and square. Astute viewers will notice that the alternator now resides on the outermost pulley set instead of the middle one. There was no way to get the alternator case any further back without going a lot further away from the block & head to get the clearance. The A/C belt is going to be really challenging when the time comes.

DSC03797.jpg




:usaflag:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom