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73' K5 Hybrid Buildup

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whiskey bent

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Location
Alabama
PICS MOVED TO BOTTOM OF POST AS ATTACHMENTS
(they are in the correct order of the buildup)


Well it all started as a $250 1973 K5 (350/208/d44/12b). The 350 was nothing more than a decent boat anchor. The body was rusted beyond repair and we don't like sheetmetal anyway, pulled the body off with a chain, budweiser, and my truck, it was pretty interesting. I have pics of it, but not digital, and no scanner. Anyway we got the body/bed off and got started.



Next we started cleaning the frame for the paint eventually, had a 30 year old mix of rust, cheap undercoating, and mud. Also pulled the bumpers.



Then we scored a $300 74' Chevy 4x4 donor truck for a 4" lift, hubs, truck cab, trans, converter, and various other parts.



I also went and blew a credit card on some much needed new tools. Cherry picker, and a engine stand also.



We rolled the cleaned frame into the garage and cut off some unneeded parts.



Also scrounged up a 305 to run for a few weeks while we worked out the bugs and built the 350.


Got it outside and presure washed it and preped for paint.



Lots of bench racing and budweiser.



Droped the 305 in, 4" springs in front, and the 4" steering arm.



Threw on some flat black enamel.



Drank more beer and huffed some paint fumes.



Then we rolled the truck cab off the donor.
 
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Part 2

Painted it and put it in place.



Put on the core support, some temp. bracing, radiator, wiring, guages, etc.









Ok, done, right?
Time to test it?

We play around the yard a bit on some ditches and small hills. It's running great and performing better than expected. So we trailer it to the trailhead and unload. Get a few friends up to hit some coal roads to just put a few miles on it before we continue with the rest of the mods.

Hit the pavement to go the ~1 mile to the turnoff and the th350 doesn't shift out of 1st to begin with. After we tach it up to 4kish it starts shifting fine, we figure it was just cause of it been sitting for 5+ years. Then the engine dies, and refuses to start back up. I guessed it was from the headers being so close to the starter and getting some serious heat-sink. But we hadn't had that prob in the yard. Finally we get it started and it sounds like nails in a blender. Spun bearing. Load it up and take it back to the garage, lucky for us we had a fresh built 97' 350ci Vortec with some nice goodies on it and a 257/269* solid cam with 493/.512 lift (gm #12364053). Now we're talking :deal:.

Out goes the 305, added to the boat anchor pile.



Droped it in and added a holley fuelpump, regulator, accel coil, msd wires, and a edelbrock 750cfm carb with mechanical secondarys. Adjusted the valves and started buttoning it up. Really needs a 2k-2500 stall, but we only have a 1500, so going to hope for the best.


Need to paint the valve covers.







And the somewhat finished truck.






We are going to pick up the 35x9.5-16 Titan R1 Tractor tires tomorrow morning and take it out for the first time to some coal roads, maybe some light wheeling. Only been playing in the yard so far.

Here is the winch we are going to try to use, that is a 5 gal bucket for size referance. It is military surplus out of an old b52 bomber, used to lift the bombs into the bomb bay. I have no clue what # it is, but I think it will suffice.



Before you bash/flame, note that we are far from finished. Some of this is just temperary to break-in the motor and see if we run into any other issues.

-longer brake lines
-weld rear & detroit in front.
-narrow core support & probally dovetail front fenders
-get a 2kish stall
-fab up some better braces for the core support.
-install 15gal fuel cell
-move radiator & battery to rear
-flatbed
-full cage & 2 racing buckets
-mount winch
 
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Part 3

I have a couple of movies I will post if all these pics don't eat my freebandwidth.
 
winch.JPG


WTF! :rotfl: What a monster! that should work but it will cancell out any lift you have. Its a good start, you going to put fenders and hood on it or make some kind of tube flat fender creation??
 
that is not a 241 transfer case, it is an NP203 transfer case, just FYI. 2:1 lowrange.

Looks like a cool project though.

Harley
 
Ya it is a 203, not sure why I was thinking 241. The horn is off a old boat. We are probally going to put the front fenders back on after we narrow the core support. Probally some type of dovetail.
 
Yeah This Hoist Was Used To Lift Ammo In The Ammo Bays When The B-52 Use To Have A Gunner Good Luck Trying To Run That In Your Truck If Its A Hydro One Then Its Going To Take 3000 Psi To Be Fully Functional If Its Electric Its Going To Take Atleast 28 Volts To Work. Im A Crew Chief On The B-52 I Work On Them Everyday
 
Looks like a lot of work,keep the pics coming. How do you like your Husky roll-away?? Looked at one the other day.:thumb:
 
whiskey bent said:
Before you bash/flame, note that we are far from finished. Some of this is just temperary to break-in the motor and see if we run into any other issues.
Click to expand...
fear not my friend, this ain't pirate. We're not arseholes and we appreciate a good build up thread, keep the pics coming! :)

j
 
JIMMY76 said:
Yeah This Hoist Was Used To Lift Ammo In The Ammo Bays When The B-52 Use To Have A Gunner Good Luck Trying To Run That In Your Truck If Its A Hydro One Then Its Going To Take 3000 Psi To Be Fully Functional If Its Electric Its Going To Take Atleast 28 Volts To Work. Im A Crew Chief On The B-52 I Work On Them Everyday
Click to expand...
couldent you loop two or even 3 bats togeather to run that monstrosity?
 
We are in the process of wiring up a voltage converter of some sort, with 2 batterys, to run the winch. It is 28 volts, it seems to work fine with 2 batterys, we just have to work out the bugs for the charging system.

BTW, all my free bandwith got ate up, going to try to repost the pics as attachments.
 
walla2k5 said:
Looks like a lot of work,keep the pics coming. How do you like your Husky roll-away?? Looked at one the other day.:thumb:
Click to expand...
I am VERY impressed with the Husky tools and toolbox, it is a full ball-bearing slide drawer. It compares to some Snap-On boxes I have had in the past that cost 3x as much. I also got all new IR air tools and a CH 30gal compressor that day. I would recommend the Husky tools and toolboxes to anyone. They seem to be really high quality.
 
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