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.

76 K5 Build; More Parts....Trucks

Overview Gallery Discussion
My goal of having it running today was reached.

Started the morning by getting the driveshafts figured out. From my stash out in the shed I was able to get something together for the rear. Had to mix and match some u-joints/caps but I got it done. The front turned out to be long enough, just barely though. Before I go out wheeling I'll cut and lengthen it.

Since I didn't get any battery cables I made my own. I've already got the crimper, ends and shrink tube just had to buy some cable. Made one positive and 3 negatives (battery to motor, motor to frame, frame to body).

I bought a couple gallons of gear oil because when moving the trans/t-case nothing came out the several times it was tipped over. Pulled the drain plugs and much to my surprise it had fresh oil in both. So I just topped them off. I'll use the rest for the axles (no clue what this thing has for gears or if they match).

Stuck some new plugs in, along with the wires that were on the motor while it was in the van (just had a tune up before my uncle passed away). The carburetor I used needs a rebuild badly. It came off one of my Camaros about 5 years ago. It's been sitting on a shelf in the garage since I took it off. In that time I've painted about 7 cars and gone through countless grinding wheels/cut off discs. To say it had a layer of dust on it would be an understatement. Did a quicky clean on it and hoped for the best. I'm pretty sure I took it off the Camaro years back because the accelerator pump was on it's way out...it didn't get any better. I'll look for a rebuild kit for it tomarow. To get me by until I can get a better one, I installed a cheap electric fuel pump back by the tank (block has the boss but no hole drilled for the pushrod).

Hooked a battery up, powered up the fuel pump to check for leaks (none), crossed my fingers and turned the key. Motor rolled over a few times then fired right up. Seemed to run smooth (despite the junk carb), just wouldn't accept much throttle (or quick changes) without dieing. Didn't check the timing with a light, but from the way it started I couldn't have gotten it too far off. I found the factory gauge wiring tucked up out of the way. Took a gamble and hooked them up instead of the Sunpro gauges the PO had under the dash (I hate them down there). The volt meter started working but neither the water temp or oil pressure work. I'll probably put the aftermarket ones in the stock cluster like I did in the 86 K10 that I had. I did find out what the switches do, one is for the heater blower the other for the electric fan. The push button is for a washer pump that has nozzeles in the grill, I don't know WTF that is about.

Reattached the core support and got everything aligned (except for the hood). I'm not 100% positive but I think the headlight trim is from a 79/80 truck. I used a set of clear lenses for the front parking lights (what I had in the shed, didn't get any with the truck). Going to try to find some amber ones, I think they'd look better with the white. And on that subject, I think at one point the truck was painted with appliance paint, at least the lower valance panel was. It has a striking resemblance to the finish on my early 90's Magic Chef stove and my late 80's Amana refrigerator. When checking the lights I broke the turn signal switch.

Still have a lot of loose ends to tie up. Need to run the wiring for the fuel pump (just have a temporary wire ran), dig through my pile of radiator hoses to find some that fit, take the single electric fan off and install my dual windstar fans, exhaust (plan to use the pipes/mufflers from my 85 K20) bolt the floor hump back down, shifter boots, bend the trans shifter more towards the drivers seat, fix the turn signal switch, neither power window works, align hood, fix the wiring under the dash/add relays for the fans and lights, get some kind of trailer hitch on the back (have one that may work), maybe throw the factory tow hooks I saved from my 77 K20 on the front and probably a few other things I'm forgetting.

It was a rain/snow mix most of the day so I didn't get the camera out, and my phone doesn't like to take pictures when it's cold out. I did get a few just before I called it a night though. Have to wait for another day for more.







 
Got a few pictures of some progress and did sort of a shake down run.

Here she is in all her glory. That fan shroud is off as I have my windstars mounted now.




Battery cable shot. I have the negative one marked up by the battery (blue zip ties).




Windstars vs. whatever fan was on there.





Took the carb off so I could pull the numbers to order a rebuild kit for it (be here Tuesday). Mounted my fans and got the radiator filled after finding some hoses. I even remembered to put my temp sender in for the fans before filling it. Decided I needed to put the carb back on so I could run it to bleed the air out of the cooling system. Put it back on and for some reason (maybe when I dropped it off the coresupport) it was working a whole lot better, actually driveable. Having no plate, insurance or even the title in my name yet, I didn't think it would be a good idea to take it out on the road. Figured I'd let the dogs in, open the gate and go for a quick spin around the backyard.

Now before I go any further a background story is in order...bear with me, it could get long.

My house has an in ground pool/hot tub, well it did. Had them filled in last August. The heater for the hot tub quit working about 12 years ago and one of the lines for the pool broke somewhere between the pump room and the pool. Best I could figure it was one of the ones at the bottom that suck water into the filter, because when you would run the pump the pool would drain and flood the yard. They both sat collecting water for a few years. New girlfriend moved in and did not like them there, figured it was time to finally do something about them. Called around and got a few estimates. Found a guy who said he'd do the whole job (rip out patio around, break up pool/tub, bring fill in and once that settled bring the top soil in) for $1000. Now this was quite a bit lower than any of the other bids I'd gotten so I jumped on it. He comes out and starts tearing up the patio, this goes ok. He tries to break the walls down but being 8" of solid concrete and rebar...they aren't moving. So we decided it won't hurt anything to chip off what we can off the top and fill it in. He brings in sand for fill, saying it will settle in a couple months and he'll be back with the top soil. Well come to find out he lost a ton of money on the job not to mention brought to much sand in (probably could have skipped the last 2 of the 15 loads he brought). Now I would have had no problem paying him more had he been up front about it and honest. But the way he handled it, he'll get no more from me. So fast forward to this spring and I'm getting ready to have some top soil brought in, but I've got way too much sand (about 40 yards too much). I had plans to haul a load out in my 85 K20 each day this last week but only got one in last Saturday due to all the rain, which would turn out to be a key point in this story. The one load I did get out left a big hole just off the end of my patio, which is about 8 feet from where the edge of the pool used (still is) to be. All this week the rain has been soaking into the sand and collecting in the hole.


So if you're still with me, on to the actual wheeling. I get to the backyard, hubs unlocked, and head over to the sand. Back up to the edge of the grass by the house, put it in second, rev it up and dump the clutch. Truck hooks up and takes off. No problems. Lock the hubs in and do it a few more times. I'm thinking, this thing seems to be doing alright...maybe I'll back down into that hole I dug. Back down into it and I'm able to pull right out. Think, that was too easy, I'll try two wheel drive. Back down in, start moving forward but movement stops. Shift into 4 and try again. Now keep in mind that I've got no exhaust on this thing yet, just open manifolds. Make it a little further but still not out and the hole is getting deeper with each try. Hop out for a look. My drivers side rear tire was hanging up on the old wall of the pool, and I'm pretty much burried there. So there I am, stuck in my backyard not 3 feet from my patio, giving it hell trying to get out. All this with open manifolds on a Sunday night as the sun is starting to set. Attempted to use the come along but that didn't get me very far. In one of the tries I popped a u-joint in the front axle leaving me in 2 wheel only. Ended up jacking the truck up (conveniently the pool wall was in a good spot for the jack to sit on) and shoving about two weeks worth of firewood under the tires along with the ramps for my trailer. I still needed a pull from a friend with his truck.

On to some pictures.

Give you an idea of what the pool used to look like.






One of the holeshots. My friends project off to the right.




And here she is, stuck.










There's a 38 in there somewhere.




What ended up working. You can see the wall that was holding me up. I probably could have made it out like this in 2 wheel, but the fronts had dug themselves some nice holes before the u-joint snapped.

 
Not any huge progress, but some none the less. Spent yesterday cleaning the garage and putting a new motor on my lawn mower.

I ended up pulling all the wiring out that the PO did. The way it was ran was really stupid, from the junction block through the firewall, behind the dash, then back into the engine bay. All while being full of splices and tape. I reused what I could of it.

Wired up my fans. The large one is on on a temp switch (think I stuck the 195* one in, also have a 185* I could use), the small one is on a toggle switch. Both have their own relay. One is a Painless setup the other a Summit or Jegs brand.


Upper fan mounting. Tried to get some pictures of the lower but the sun wasn't letting me get any shots.




Reused the switches/panel. The left is for the fuel pump. Middle used to go to a set of windshield squirters mounted in the grill, currently disconnected.
Right switch is a double throw. Up is for the heater blower (factory wiring and resistor are gone), down is for the small windstar fan. Eventually I'll make a new panel as I need a few more accessories powered. Once I get it on the road I'll worry about that, being as they are minor. Front off road lights (only one of the 3 works, will replace the 4 with 2 round ones), reverse lights, wipers (factory wiper wiring is MIA).




Center hump is bolted down along with the shift boots. Didn't get a trim ring for the trans stick though. Also put some shift knobs on. Trans is a 203 that I drilled and JB'd a nut into. T-case is a 205 knib I believe, I think my last one had the pattern on it though.




Still need to figure out the power window situation. Think I have a center counsel kicking around somewhere too. The crank for my rear window has the nub the bolts thread into broken off on one side. Good news is the window works very easy with the drive part stuck in a pair of vice grips. Grabbed my extra shaft out of the shed to fix the broken one. Have some new joints around here somewhere, probably toss one in.


Broken axle shaft and stub shaft. U-joint is laying out in the yard somewhere. Not too sure if it was the joint or one of the shafts that let go first. Nothing like broken parts with less than 1/2 mile on the rig. I'm on the lookout of a D60 so hopefully this won't be a common occurance.

 
82355 said:
Where are you going to mount your radio?

Martin
Click to expand...

Truck has one of those headliners with the speakers and radio mount. Has a CD player mounted up there. Can sort of see it here.

 
There are better places to store your ghillie suit.:D

Blazer looks pretty solid. Don't see them around here very often like that. Headliner looks pretty cool.
 
Update time.

I don't know where to begin so I'll just start putting it down here.

Last Wednesday the 700R4 in my K20 lost 3rd and 4th...so that was the end of that truck. It was going to be torn apart once I had all the sand hauled out, I've almost gotten what I needed to get rid of out. This was the premature nail in the coffin.

The next day I put insurance on the K5 and transferred the GMC's plate to it. Also swapped the exhaust from the K20 to the Blazer. I think that exhaust was originally set up for a short box truck, it was a tad short for the long bed and it's a hair long for the blazer. No big deal...headers/new pipes are in the works soon. It just dumps in front of the tank, need to get it run out the sides so I can roll down the rear window.

Fixed my power windows. Turned out to be a couple of bad grounds. Still went through and cleaned up the wiring that the PO had ran for them. The drivers window is surprisingly fast, passengers is stupid slow. This is my first C/K with power windows so I'm not sure on the factory speeds.

By the weekend I was starting to get a squeal from the belt. Pulled it off and gave the pulleys a spin. The alternator sounded a little gritty so I changed it out for one of my spares. That one didn't work (and the sound didn't leave). I pulled the one from my K20. Being a v-belt I had to change the pulley and make a bracket so I could use it in the serpentine bracket. This one worked, but the squeal was still there. Re-installed the original one. Thought maybe the delete pulley for the AC was the culprit. Removed that and put the K20's alternator there (after making yet another bracket and spacer). Still no change. That left the power steering pump. The fluid (although new) looked horrible all foamy and yellow/brown. After looking through my stash I could only find one that would work...from the van I pulled this motor from. Put that in and still no change in the squeal. For the hell of it I changed out the idler pulley, nothing. Turned out to be the dam belt. I figured since it only had about 3 months of run time I assumed it was still ok. Apparently it dried out or something in the 3 years it sat under the bench. So now I've got dual alternators and a remote resivor power steering pump. I'll change out the pump eventually. I was planning on dual alternators/batteries so no loss there.

Made up a hitch out of one from a 88+ truck. It's what I had laying around so it's what I used. Had to narrow it and add a drop bracket. It's tucked up nice close to the bumper and gas tank skid. Also added some tabs for additional reverse lights because the stock ones blow. Used two of the ones I took off the front, only one works but having only one back there looked weird.

Changed out the broken shaft in the front axle. I assumed from the age of K5 that it had a D44, but it's actually got a 10b. Used one from the GMC as my spare shafts are for 44's. Put a new u-joint in while I had it out. I haven't checked the gearing in the axles, but I've got a feeling that they might not be the same. Judging by the way it binds up (when I first tested it out in the backyard I was on loose sand so I probably didn't notice it). Next Wednesday I plan on pulling the covers and checking it out.

Other random bits:

Who ever wired the radio up did it in a weird way. The headliner has 4 speakers in it, they are wired each to a channel. While that sounds good in therey, in practice it sounds like ass. Having one speaker to a front channel and the other to a rear when you have 2 more right next to them wired the same makes for some conflicting music.

My mirrors aren't the same height. The passenger side is about 3" lower. Really pisses me off to have 10" of glass and only being able to use 3 of them. Probably going to change to the ones from the GMC.

Still have to wire up my wipers. I got them to work, just have to figure out a switch for them. I think the truck has a newer wiring harness in it. It'll most likely get changed to an Ez wire one though.

I think that's it for now. No pictures this time, maybe tomorrow if I get time.
 
Been away for awhile, still driving and wheeling this thing every now and then.

Little updates:

Gears were not the same front/rear. Rear had 4.10's front had 3.08's. Bought a set of 4.10's from a friend. He also had a locker so I grabbed that too. Welded the rear (was a Gov-Loc) and tossed the front parts in it.

Did up a panel out of diamond plate for a few switches. There was a spot on the headliner for them, but I didn't like the idea of dropping it to wire it up. So I opened up the area behind the plate for easy access. Currently only have two switches but have room for a few others.

Discovered an amp behind the drivers side rear panel, that was a nice surprise.

Built a hitch for the rear. Added some better reverse lights too...two of the square ones that were originally up front.

As I figured...the front drive shaft was a hair too short. Have the one from my GMC that I will cut down. Should get to that in the next day or two.

My motor, she be tired and leaky. Doesn't make a ton of power either, probably what's keeping it together. Leaks almost a quart over 50 miles, but only once it's up to operating temp. I can drive to work and it won't leak any. It get's the job done though.

I had a set of Bowtie heads fall into my lap. Will use them on a 400 I've got sitting under the bench. Probably won't be till early spring next year when that goes in. Figured I'd do headers and get rid of the crappy exhaust that is being held up only by the rear axle.

Couple random pics.

Front locker/gears.



Amp that was hidden.



Switch panel.



Baby tires on, moving the dump trailer around. Found out the 38's actually worked better for this. The ground was still soft when I was doing this, I'd sink in with the skinnys. Try 4wd but having mismatched gears didn't work so hot. The big tires let me keep it in 2wd.
 
y5mgisi said:
Hooray for FOUR wheel drive!
Click to expand...

I've never actually had a truck with the front end locked before. I must say that it feels so much better off road. I've made it places that I didn't think I'd come close, especially with the bald tires. Tires and a winch are on the shopping list.




Welded up a new drive shaft for the front end today and got that installed. Finally figured out my rear light issues. The brake lights were not working when the tail lights were on. Had a wire shorting between the tail/brake lights. Wire up my blower motor too. Still don't have any air flow through the vents though. I think it's because the truck is originally an AC truck, but has all of the non-AC parts (controls, inner box, outer box). The PO put a block off over half the hole in the firewall that the non-AC box doesn't cover. On my 87 I had to get the airflow to that side, probably same deal here. Also fixed the exhaust today.

Couple random pics.

Hitch. I left the side plates long. Have a set of hooks I'm debating on putting there. Figured they may come in handy for the times when I'm dragin something around the yard. The lights are wired to come on with the factory reverse lights, through an independent switch. Only one of the rectangle ones work...but it looks stupid with only one down there. It's still way brighter than just the stock ones.







Can see the new lights that replaced the 4 rectangular ones that came with it. Each one has it's own relay, one switch controls both. They are retartedly bright.

 
The girlfriend went to work and I was bored so I spent some quality time with the grinder. Shaved the ears off my front 10bolt (can see the difference from the pic's in posts 21&29) and the shaved the lip off the rear 14. Only went as far as the cover hung down as it's only the stock stamped one, don't want to peel it open on something. Took a few crappy pictures. Fixed my steering stabilizers too. The bushings fell apart when I pulled them off to swap in the locker. Also picked up my heads for the 400 I'm building...but I'll leave that for another post.








 
y5mgisi said:
Cool man! I have long wanted to shave the ears off my 10 bolt!
Click to expand...

It's not that bad to do. I used a cut off wheel to trim them, then went back with the grinding wheel and flap disc. Think I've got around 2 hours into the both of them.
 
Went out an ran a trail tonight. We had gotten a decent amount of rain the last couple days so figured there'd be some mud out there. Not so much. The ground soaked it all up. At least it wasn't dusty. For those not in the know, Michigan has some very sandy soil in spots. Tried to get a few pictures, none really turned out. Maybe my friend got some better ones.

About the only thing worth posting is where I backed onto a ledge.




Camera is held level in this one.

 
Update time:


I mentioned earlier about getting a 400 together for this thing. Well I stopped talking and started doing something about it....my bank account hates me now.

Started with a 1976 2bolt 400 block. Standard bore, crank turned .010/.010. I bought this motor from a friend of my dads about 6 years ago with the intentions to rebuild it and stick it in one of my Camaros. Well the motor in my Blazer at that time tossed a couple rods out the side of the block. I decided to put this one in it's place...as is, just how I had bought it. It supposedly ran good and had only been pulled because they were scrapping the truck. It did run and even made decent power, but smoked like a fiend. Like couldn't see the car behind you in the mirrors. Chalked it up to bad rings/valve seals from sitting and pulled it back out and built a 355 instead.

When I tore it down a few weeks ago I finally found out why it smoked so much. 5 cylinders had broken rings, 3 of those had both the top and second ring broken. The bores looked good and measured to be within spec. So a light hone was all I did. Pistons were stock replacement SpeedPro hypers, a trip though the dishwasher at work cleaned them up nicely. I bought some ARP rod bolts for way this back when so I had them pressed in (and the big ends checked). Rings are nothing special, just moly faced SpeedPros. Clevite bearings round out the bottom end.

What really pushed me into this build was a set of heads that I came across. Some aluminum Bowties, phase 6 I believe they are, 2.02/1.60 valves. They've got some work done to the intake and exhaust ports. Got them from a guy who had them on his 377 circle track motor (so I've already got steam holes). Not the most current thing out there as far as port design, but they should run well for what I want to do. I had to buy some rocker arm studs and guideplates. ARP studs and Gm guideplates. Budget doesn't allow for roller rockers at this time, so stock style for now.

Cam is a Lunati Voodoo. .489/.504 lift, 268/276 duration (227/233 @ 050), 110 lobe separation. I've never personally run a Voodoo cam, but I've seen them run before and have been impressed. The monster solid roller valve springs that were on the heads got swapped for the recommended ones. Pushrods are hardened Summit brand (re packaged TrickFlows). I was able to get away with standard lengths.

Compression comes in at 9.55 scr and 8.68 dcr. The static is a up there. But I'm hoping with the aluminum heads and a good cooling system I should be okay with pump gas.

Oil pump is a stock replacement Summit (reboxed Melling). Balancer and flywheel are new, maybe 100 miles on them, from when I tried using this motor the first time.

Intake will be what's on my current motor, Edelbrock Performer RPM Q-jet. Carb (Q-jet), distributor, accessories will also be reused.

The exhaust will be all new. Currently running some stock manifolds and some crappy crush bent pipes with cheap mufflers with no tailpipes. I've got some leaks at the downpipe connection the mufflers have been know to bounce off the driveshaft when the suspension cycles. I picked up some Headman 69230's, a pair of Flowmaster Supper 44's and a bunch of mandrel bent bends. Size is 2 1/2". Also have an H-pipe I pulled off a Mustang I scrapped I plan to fit in there some place. I know I'm probably leaving power on the table...but I don't care. I like the way the 44's sound. Not too worried about drone, I had 44's on my last K5 and it wasn't that bad plus the H-pipe should help there.

Onto some pictures:
















More in the next post.
 
Last edited:
I grabbed a couple pictures of the headers on the motor. Mainly because the subject of headers comes up frequently and figured these might help. They tuck nicely to the motor and from what I've read do not come close to the shackels.


Passenger side




Drivers side




Drivers side from down low. Stock oil pan hangs lower.




Passenger side lower




I was mildly concerned about clearance around the plugs. My heads are angle plug and these headers state "Not for angle plug heads." I figured they should be close, turns out I didn't have much to worry about. #3 and #4 look to be the worst. A shorty plug will probably give me all the clearance I need with out dimpling the tubes. Disregard the rusty plugs, pulled them out of a motor under the bench....I haven't bought my new ones yet.

#'s 1&3 Oil is from when I pre-lubed.




#'s 5&7




#'s 2&4 Number four is the worst for clearance.




#'s 6&8





The plan is to start pulling the old motor next Tuesday (12/3/13). Hope the have everything cleaned and transferred to the new one that night. Then drop the 400 in Wednesday. Finish the exhaust Thursday, fire it up and break in the cam. All of this is weather permitting. It's been staying in the 20's lately and chances of snow happening are getting greater everyday. I don't mind working in the cold (Blazer isn't even close to fitting in my garage), but if it's windy and rainy then it's going to slow me down.
 
Last edited:
be careful with that dynamic compression, when i built mine i recall reading that you dont wanna go much over 8.5 on pump gas. I think youll be fine, but i would listen careful when you first start getting running and its under load, because thats when youll hear it pinging if you are too high.

Also, for static compression you are in a good range, 9.55 is plenty safe for pump gas, with aluminum heads you can go up to 10.5ish and still be safe on 93 octane gas.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom