81 k5 LSX swap: haggard paint job

[Rat_Crispy]

Rat_Crispy submitted a new Build:

81 k5 LSX swap: haggard paint job

Hello everybody. Last year a buddy of mine gave me his K5. It's a little rough around the edges but it's definitely solid, and worth putting some elbow grease into. Anyway, these have always been my favorite trucks, so Ive been working on putting a 5.3 LM7 "LS" engine In it. I still have plenty of work to do, and if anyone would like to see anything in particular I'll gladly oblige!
*The truck is an 81'
*The engine is a 02' DBC 5.3 completely rebuilt with a high volume oil pump and ls7 lifters.
*its sitting on DIY4X swap mounts
*factory PCM with an LSX specialties custom built standalone harness.
*I'll be running a turbo 350, and NP208 for now.
*It'll have 4" of lift and 33x12.50x15's under it.
Here are a few pictures, if it doesn't work I'll try again on my laptop later on! I love the website and can't wait to see what I can learn and maybe contribute. Cheers everybody!

View attachment 210832

View attachment 210833

View attachment 210834

Read more about this build here...

 

[Rat_Crispy]

A little before and after of the wiring under the hood. Fixing what looks like wiring hack jobs that could have only been performed by meth heads.

 

[Rat_Crispy]

The factory suspension is clapped out. Not to mention its sitting on 3" blocks THE WHOLE WAY AROUND! Blaaah! So gross! But it'll be sitting a lot happier on the 4" kit I'm gonna put on it.
No, the truck won't be a mall cralwler or a serious off-roader. Just something to cruise around in that I can take through the woods every once in a while.

 

[Rat_Crispy]

Some idiot drilled big ol' water leaking holes in the A pillars for spot lights. They had to go, along with some other various holes that were drilled over time.

 

[Rat_Crispy]

I'm a sucker for factory rally wheels
And I also scored a straighter cleaner front clip and hood off of a friend of mine for super cheap too!

 

[NorCalAnthony]

Nice looking project so far

 

[Phil513]

Huh. A Blazer with clearance lights. I kinda like that.

 

[Rat_Crispy]

Huh. A Blazer with clearance lights. I kinda like that.

Evidently they were a rare factory option, they are in the schematics, and they still work! Although I'll be replacing them with new ones from LMC later I'm sure.

 

[sreidmx]

Nice work, that cleaned up pretty good. Curious how the th350 is with that motor.

 

[Rat_Crispy]

Nice work, that cleaned up pretty good. Curious how the th350 is with that motor.

Me too, the transmission has been freshly rebuilt right before I took possession of the truck. It shifted like a dream. So I'm hoping it'll be a good one.

 

[Rat_Crispy]

I had to cut my bumper off with a torch so I could get my gas tank out. What fun!

 

[rpcraft]

Nice touches so far. Just curious how much that LS harness is setting you back. Looks like that fellow does great work but I didn't see any pricing so far as I could tell.

 

[Rat_Crispy]

Nice touches so far. Just curious how much that LS harness is setting you back. Looks like that fellow does great work but I didn't see any pricing so far as I could tell.

Andy Bryant is the fellas name. His company is LSX specialties. He's out of Medford OR. He and I worked out a deal, but if you're interested in getting him to build you a harness I'd say give him a shout!

https://www.facebook.com/LSX-Specialties-386918908161680/

 

[Rat_Crispy]

heres a pic of the harness

 

[rpcraft]

Looking at that makes me think it should be easy to do but I know better, lol..

 

[Rat_Crispy]

If you're a do it yourself kind of guy there is a ton of good information and a lot of very supportive people out here to help you on your way. I wouldn't dare discourage you from trying it! The reason I chose Andy to do mine is because he's a very close friend of one of my very close friends, I wanted to show him some support and he was willing to work out a deal with some DBW ecu's and harnesses I had. He's a super cool dude!! Plus my harness needed converted from DBW to DBC. I'm fairly competent when it comes to electrical stuff, I spent 6 years working on aircraft avionics and so far an additional 3 working on locomotives. All the while I've worked on cars, trucks and motorcyes! but after seeing his work I knew I couldn't parallel it. He'll forget more than I'll know so, I figured I'd let a pro handle this one!

 

[Rat_Crispy]

I built a rear bumper from 1/4" plate, 2" .120 DOM tubing and 1" Clevis shackles from Barnes 4x4.
I've also started cleaning up this different front clip and fogging the inside of it with some flat black paint!

 

[Rat_Crispy]

I finished cleaning up the inside of the front clip and fogged it with some flat black rust converting spray paint.
It's far from perfect, but it's much better than what it was.

 

[K85 Octane]

Does the th350 use a TV cable or what?

 

[rpcraft]

TH350 uses a standard kick down cable that you can probably adapt much easier than the 700R4 and you can experiment with getting it right without roasting the trans like you would with a 700R4 or gen 1 4l60 (non-e).