'83 k30 Project

[greatwhitez71]

So I've been swinging in the dark trying to figure out what belt size I needed... turns out I completely missed it in the Instructions for the kwik brackets...
Idiot moment of the week..

 

[greatwhitez71]

Some slight progress today. The 350 is out and should be gone tomorrow. Now I can spend a little time cleaning up the engine bay a little. Considering tossing an Hd offroad design engine cross member in there while I'm messing with it. Also, my firewall needs attention and so does almost all of the wiring...

Not sure if I mentioned it but I think I've decided to go fuel injection as well on the new motor.

 

[greatwhitez71]

Wanted to bump this for a small update. Several things have happened in the past few months so the truck will take back seat for awhile sadly.

The short of it,
-After dads stroke he was left financially in a pickle. So his house (where the truck was stored and where I worked on it) is being sold.
-The truck is motor-less, I had pulled the 350 in anticipation of using this big block that he had built because this was supposed to be somewhat of a father son project. That's not likely to be the case now and I told him to feel free to sell the big block and recover what he could money wise.
-my current job of ten years was starting to wear on me and I needed a change of pace. So I relocated towns to be with my hopefully soon to be fiance and found A new job.
-I'm in an apartment for at-least the next year or so, so I have zero room to work on the truck until she finishes nursing school and we find a house.

That said I've decided to sideline any actual work for the time being.
I still have several parts stashed for the truck and recently picked up a first gen nv4500 that's in great shape to swap in when I finally get my hands on a motor.
-At this point i'm leaning heavily towards an 8.1 swap since its a little more straight forward than an LS based motor and since I was pretty set on have some big cubic inches.

I want to restore the truck as much as possible. The cab has a few rusty places that will be tricky to fix and I want to update all the wiring and the A/C when the motor swap takes place.

Anyhow...that's all I really have for now. Ill try to snap pictures of goodies as I come across good deals in the next year or so and I'll likely keep lurking here and there until some actual progress comes along.

 

[greatwhitez71]

Made a run to the local “You pull it” yesterday after working my last night shift with the company I was with.

I knew they had a 91 suburban in the yard but I did not know it was a 4x4.

Lo and behold, someone had pulled he motor and transmission and left the 241 sitting right next to the truck.

Picked up the transfer case, shifter and the crossmember for $180. Felt good finally getting a decent score from the yard

 

[greatwhitez71]

Update. Still no real truck progress at the moment.

I am Currently engaged now, ( for some reason she said yes) and life’s moving along, in the mean time, the poor k30 is just sitting and waiting. But hoping that’s gonna change in the next few months.... hope being the key word.

I have been hoarding a few small parts that will come in handy down the road since I’m stuck without a place to do any real work.

Picked up a decent deal on an older warn 8274 that I’d like to make a little refurbish project out of. (Paid $160 locally)

And the latest good price score, a hardly used (never ran from what it sounded like) ORD Hd engine crossmember AND the motor mounts for a big block.

 

[greatwhitez71]

Slowly but surely here.

I was lacking two orders of parts to get the motor ready to roll and in the truck. One from rock auto and one from summit. Most of the rock auto one has arrived. (Minus the return power steering hose)

Were closing on a house in a couple of weeks and have some moving to do. But after that I’ll shuck out the rest and make my summit order.

 

[greatwhitez71]

The rest of the goodies arrived yesterday. Decided to go ahead and bite that bullet before the moving started.

As of right now I’m considering building up some sort of engine run stand since the motor has sat for so long.
I would feel a lot better to run it and break it in so any issues can be figured out prior to dropping it in.

 

[greatwhitez71]

So for anyone following, I’m having a slight delimma with how I’m going to run the motor on a break in stand as it currently sits.

Normally one would eliminate the pulley accessories and have just the crank pulley and the water pump on an engine stand.

This motor I won’t be able to do that. The serpentine crank pulley won’t mesh up by itself with the smooth reverse rotation water pump.

So do I leave all the accessories on the block and just figure out a way to loop the power steering pump?
Or should I find a used v belt crank pulley and a v belt water pump just for break in purposes?

 

[78K30]

A cheap used water pump and V belt pulleys may be a solid way to go to keep things simple

 

[imiceman44]

Slowly but surely here.

I was lacking two orders of parts to get the motor ready to roll and in the truck. One from rock auto and one from summit. Most of the rock auto one has arrived. (Minus the return power steering hose)

Were closing on a house in a couple of weeks and have some moving to do. But after that I’ll shuck out the rest and make my summit order.

View attachment 294118

So you didn't sell dad's engine?

 

[greatwhitez71]

It was never mine to sell. But no he never sold it. He sold his house and moved and I found out over the past holidays it was still sitting in a shed outside.

It hit me one day recently that in his condition the only way he may ever see that motor fire up and run was if we stuck to the original plan and put it in this truck.

So that’s where we’re at. I’m in the midst of relocating again so progress is a bit spotty still.

 

[HI truck]

Just found this thread and subscribed. Pretty scary how our builds are alike. I have an 85 k3500, 454, th400, np205. Main difference is all my parts are still in my closet, so your build is going to help out incredibly. If you don't mind, I have a few questions. Did you move your rear axle forward or is it centered? Did the driveshaft angle work out or did you change perches or shims? Did you do the shock inboarding due to the tank relocation? I also noticed your truck doesn't have hydroboost brakes. I thought that was pretty standard on 1 tons. Anyway, keep up the good work!

 

[greatwhitez71]

The rear axle is centered, used a zero rate set on the factory springs.
Yes, The shock inboarding was due to the tank relocation. ( speaking of which I still need a proper fill neck)
The driveshaft angle in the rear probably isn't ideal but I haven't seen where it's hurting anything. My t-case is also a slip yoke rear and a single piece rear shaft. so not sure if that makes a difference helping with angle.
And yessir it's vacuum boost, another thing I'm working on deleting in favor of hydroboost (probably will happen when I go hydro clutch)

Hope that helps ya some. Any other questions just ask

 

[imiceman44]

Just found this thread and subscribed. Pretty scary how our builds are alike. I have an 85 k3500, 454, th400, np205. Main difference is all my parts are still in my closet, so your build is going to help out incredibly. If you don't mind, I have a few questions. Did you move your rear axle forward or is it centered? Did the driveshaft angle work out or did you change perches or shims? Did you do the shock inboarding due to the tank relocation? I also noticed your truck doesn't have hydroboost brakes. I thought that was pretty standard on 1 tons. Anyway, keep up the good work!

It's a myth that all 1 tons are hydro boost.
I think in the late 80's that happened but in earlier years it wasn't the case.
Even p30 step vans have vacuum booster systems

 

[greatwhitez71]

It's a myth that all 1 tons are hydro boost.
I think in the late 80's that happened but in earlier years it wasn't the case.
Even p30 step vans have vacuum booster systems

Yup, I’ve opened several hoods of the vans in the junkyard and was surprised that a few of them are vacuum boost as well.

Finally have a day off from work today so going to go poke around the pull a part and see what new vehicles they have

 

[greatwhitez71]

Some days I really question if I will ever get back to working on this thing again.

Current status.
Moved all household stuff into the house but I’m currently back and forth between there and where work. The shed on the property was loaded with junk and trash, so I’ve been trying to get it and the tiny garage cleaned out so I could move the truck and all the parts I’ve been hoarding there and eventually get some real work done when life/work will allow.

I do believe since the motor is out I will most likely be pulling the tcase and the tranny out since at they bare minimum they need a good reseal and the underside washed. Plus I finally have the front output parts I need to ditch the Syncro stuff and twinstick the 205.

 

[greatwhitez71]

Sorry for the lack of any pics. I know that’s the part everyone likes about builds.

But parts are scattered all over at the moment so not much to see.

 

[skunked]

Once you get the truck inside it's easy to spend an hour here and there getting stuff done.

 

[greatwhitez71]

That’s what I’m banking on. The initial move and having to clean house In the shed where I’m gonna store it really threw a kink into things.

 

[greatwhitez71]

Well, drug the old tin can out of hiding this afternoon. Luckily my brother-in-law was up for a challenge because it wasn’t fun. using the come along to drag it up on the trailer with some junk rollers on the front so it would fit was actually the easy part.

Pushing it off the trailer on a half gravel half concrete driveway and into a yet to be lit shed with a dirt floor was a beech.

 

[greatwhitez71]

When you go looking for a 32 spline SM465 mainshaft...it’s generally just as cheap To get the whole thing. Seller was even nice enough to toss in a few spare square body goodies he no longer needed with it.

And yes, early model nv4500 next to it.