76 K5 Build; More Parts....Trucks

[toomany]

toomany submitted a new Build:

76 K5 Build; More Parts....Trucks

Finally got back into a K5. After parting out my 87 a few years ago, then selling my 86 K10 a while back to buy something else, and not wanting to stick any time/effort into my current 85 K20.

I've been keeping an eye out for a clean/solid somewhat rust free (rust belt people know what I'm talking about) K5 for a DD/wheeler. About a week ago I saw an add on craigslist for a 74 K5. Talked to the guy on the phone, he said he wouldn't be home till late and didn't plan on pulling it out of the woods till the next morning when the ground was still hard but I was more than welcome to and look at it. My friend and I head out there when I get out of work. From a distance it looked ok, body was fairly rusty and the roll cage was poking through the floor. His add said it needed the frame fixed where the steering box mounted. I'm thinking no big deal, common problem with these trucks might even be able to use that to drive the price down. I get around to that side and look, it was held to the frame with some wire and zip ties and had a hole the size of my fist in the frame. About this time the guys roommate came out and said someone had just come bought it for $850 (asking $1200) I said good...he can have the rusty pile. A little bummed out we headed back home. Being somewhat close to another friends uncles house we thought we'd give him a call being he usually has a good inventory of square chevys. He didn't have anything but led us to a guy (Brian) with this 76.

Start taking to Brian, it was his stepsons and he was selling it for him. Looked it over and it was very solid, very little rust for the year. Good floors, rockers, tail pan, tail gate. Had 3/4 ton axles already and a set of 38's. Looks like 8" (judging by the front springs and rear springs/blocks) of suspension plus 3" of body lift. No motor but came with a Th350 with 203 case adapter plus a 465/205 but no clutch pedals. Not that it was high on my list...but a good, non cracked dash pad (wood grain trim even, lol) with some sweet 70's upholstery on the seats. Asking price was 2k, I countered with $1500 settled for $1800. A little more than I would have liked to spend, but it was a clean tub and had a decent start on a build already.


Here it is loaded on the trailer.

More pics and plans in the next post....dog is bothering me to go for a walk.

View attachment 230865

Read more about this build here...

 

[toomany]

Pass floor and rocker.

Driver floor and rocker.

Interior

 

[toomany]

Misc pics


Tailpan

Rear support towers

Rear bed floor

 

[toomany]

Plans are to swap the motor from my 85 K20 in, along with the 465/205. Take the body lift off and find some real body mounts to get rid of the hockey pucks. Have a set of Windstar fans that will eventually find their way in. Probably ditch the blocks and do a shackle flip, some rear discs while I'm back there too. I hope to have the motor/trans in within the next week or two.

 

[max 02]

That looks good.

 

[magik235]

That looks good.

 

[toomany]

Got it unloaded off of the trailer this morning. Hooked it to a tree and pulled the trailer out from under it. Changed plans a little bit, instead of pulling the motor from my GMC, going to use the one I had saved for another project. That one came of my uncles van. It's got high miles, but I know the history. Picked up a clutch/flywheel today too. Managed to get the core support out to make tossing the stuff in easier.

For once I found a PO who didn't totally f-up all the wiring.

Trans/t-case front drive shaft. Probably end up cutting and lengthening the front shaft as they never had this combo in this truck. Might twin stick it while it's out.

Van motor. One piece seal 350. Somewhere around 160,000 miles. Was planing on sticking it in a Camaro I picked up to flip, but got an offer too good to refuse on the body. Intake it a Performer RPM Q-jet, not the best for this application, but it'll do. No hole for the fuel pump pushrod, so an electric pump it is.

 

[russgt]

Looks like a great project, but I guess I dont understand the comment about the 465/205 not being available in the K5?

 

[toomany]

Got some more progress done the last two days. I've had a u-joint steering shaft laying around for a while and figured now would be a good time to put it to use. It's for a later (77?) column/steering box, and since I had to change the box anyway to use the power steering lines that match the pump I'm using, it wasn't a big deal to pop the snap ring out and change the slip end. Used the box from my old K5, I saved the front frame/engine crossmember out when I got rid of the frame so I had a metric box. Pulled the body lift out, but didn't think to get any pictures. Managed to get the motor/trans/t-case dropped in. Will add the accessories and hook the wiring up Tuesday or Wednesday, also plan on going hunting for some clutch pedals one of those days too.


Spline vs. D-shaft

U-joint shaft. Pulled it out of a parts truck I bought for the D60 a few years back. Had a guy offer me $1300 for the truck, I only paid $800 for it so I sold it.

New vs. old motor mounts. Had them for that Camaro, figured while I was in there...

Everything bolted together

Good way to piss off your cherry picker. And yes I know this is way overloading it...

Going in

Couple really bad pics of it in. Sun had gone down by the time I had everything cleaned up and put away.

 

[toomany]

Looks like a great project, but I guess I dont understand the comment about the 465/205 not being available in the K5?

I meant that particular combo (465/205) was never in this truck. Add in the lift and the front shaft that came with it is probably not going to fit. Judging by the length of it, it looks to be a stock drive shaft. I know you could get the 465/205 as an option in a K5. In fact the crossmember holes were in the correct spot on the frame from the 350/203 that was factory in this truck.

 

[russgt]

Ah, makes sense my stock front shaft is pretty stretched with the 4 inch in my 76.

 

[toomany]

The weather really isn't wanting to play along, it's been raining non stop for the last two days. Still...I got out there today and installed the accessories and exhaust manifolds. I'll step up to some headers later down the line. Nice thing about it being so tall and the front open is I can almost stand up with the hood closed, shielding the rain. Just before I went in the rain let up so I tossed the starter on. It's a mini starter that came from one of my Camaros, the motor is out of it currently so I figured why not.


Accessories, think I pulled them from a 94 S10 Blazer I scrapped. But should be the same as the IFS full size TBI stuff.

Couple side shots, my K20 parked behind it.

Mini starter. Believe it's a Jegs house brand.

 

[82355]

That front drive shaft should still work just fine in that Blazer. Doesn't matter if it was a pickup, Blazer, Suburban, whatever, The transfer case is still the same distance from the front axle.

You mentioned ditching the body lift. I would agree, because I hate 3" body lifts, but I would recommend getting a 1" body lift from ORD. They make it nice to work on the vehicle underneath, and give a little tire clearance.

Martin

 

[toomany]

Went to the junk yard yesterday in search of clutch pedals, pushrod and bell crank. Ended up pulling everything from an early 70's Suburban. Couldn't get the bracket that is rivitted to the frame, didn't even think to bring something to cut the rivits. I didn't notice it at the time, but the leg that the adjuster hooks into was cut off. Had to weld an new one on. Not sure if it's the hockey puck body mounts or what, but the pushrod wasn't quite the right length. Instead of making that longer I modified the leg I built. It functions just fine and I have a good room of adjustment from my adjuster. I made the frame bracket out of a piece of angle iron.

This is what I ended up with. The 3 holes I drilled before I realized things weren't lining up, after that I added the tab. I hope to toss it in tommarow if it isn't raining too bad.

 

[Mr.Clean]

I'm really surprised how solid it looks for being an older Michigan truck. Looks like a really good start

 

[y5mgisi]

I dont know if it matters to you but that belt is routed wrong.

 

[toomany]

I'm really surprised how solid it looks for being an older Michigan truck. Looks like a really good start

I'm pretty sure that both floors have been replaced before. The rest looks to be stock though. I figured it would be awhile before I came across another one this solid so I jumped on it.

 

[toomany]

I dont know if it matters to you but that belt is routed wrong.

Really? It's been a while since I pulled those accessories off, so my memory could be fuzzy on the routing. I'll have to look up the routing when I get home. Although I think everything would be turning the correct was as is....and the belt fits like it should. Now that I think about it, I rember I had it wrong once before and didn't know it.


Edit: I see what I did wrong. Should go from the crank to the water pump, then to the power steering. I'll have to fix that tomarow. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[454Sub]

Just going on a limb, but if that belt was shorter that routing will work just fine. As long as the belt is on the right side of the pullys it will not matter. All the accessories will drive the right way. As long as ribbed pullys are riding on the ribbed part of the belt, and vise versa, your golden.

And technically, the more you can go around each pully, the less chance there is of slipping. So that one might actually work better than the factory routing. The crank pully isnt wrapped up much, but it doesnt have the drag of a p/s pully when you turn the wheel and it squeals for example. V-belts were notorious for squealing when turning the wheel, which is why alot of people run dual p/s belts. Which makes no sense as dumping that pos v-belt design and running a serpentine belt is so much better, but to each there own.

Edit: Make sure you are using a waterpump that is designed for use with the serpentine belt system or it will not cool. Using the newer alternator also wouldnt be a bad idea, as it puts out more power to charge your system better. Not to hard to wire in either. Just a thought.

 

[toomany]

Don't think I mentioned earlier, but I did get the clutch pedals in on Wednesday. Installed z-bar and adjusted the clutch today. Also put the steering shaft back in.

Just going on a limb, but if that belt was shorter that routing will work just fine. As long as the belt is on the right side of the pullys it will not matter. All the accessories will drive the right way. As long as ribbed pullys are riding on the ribbed part of the belt, and vise versa, your golden.

And technically, the more you can go around each pully, the less chance there is of slipping. So that one might actually work better than the factory routing. The crank pully isnt wrapped up much, but it doesn't have the drag of a p/s pully when you turn the wheel and it squeals for example. V-belts were notorious for squealing when turning the wheel, which is why alot of people run dual p/s belts. Which makes no sense as dumping that pos v-belt design and running a serpentine belt is so much better, but to each there own.

Edit: Make sure you are using a waterpump that is designed for use with the serpentine belt system or it will not cool. Using the newer alternator also wouldnt be a bad idea, as it puts out more power to charge your system better. Not to hard to wire in either. Just a thought.

I fixed the routing today. It would have worked the way it was before, I think I ran it the wrong way before without any issues though.

The water pump is new. When I originally used this setup on my 87 K5, I used the stock water pump from the 4.3 I pulled everything from. Worked fine till one day the water pump bearing decided to part ways with the pump. Spent about an hour looking for the pulley on the side of the road, gave up when it started getting dark. Figured it was gone so I parked the truck until I could get another one and a new pump. Two days later I was heading down the same road on my motorcycle when I spotted it up on someones lawn. Lucked out on that.

The alternator is from a 94 S10 Blazer. While it has more amperage than the stock one, with everything running it really taxes it...especially at idle. I've got a 94 Formula parts car that has a 140 amp alternator on it, going to look at putting that on. Or, and probably the route I'll go, use the passenger side accessory bracket from the van motor and run dual alternators/batteries. That one has the alternator and an idler pulley on it. Dual alternators would give me better idle/low rpm charging. But that's a project for later down the road.