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84 K20 "Ethel" Not an Sbc/NV4500/241C

Semi restoration of a 1984 K20 pickup. 5.3 LS, nv4500, np241c.
Let me preface this with the fact I have never done any sort of body work ever aside rattle can paint jobs.. I don't even know how to apply Bondo properly.. nothin..
I asked for some body hammers for Christmas this year and got em, mother in law is great about tools for gifts.
I watched a few you tube videos on the proper way to use them and decided yesterday afternoon that I would give it a go.
The po of Ethel must have backed into something or I dunno what and munched the fender and pretty bad, here you can see the extent of the damage.
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Before I started to work on this, I had no idea the extent of the real damage, there was a layer of Bondo on there that was at least 1/4 inch thick from some other previous attempt to repair it.
I did not have my phone so I didn't get during the beat down pics lol.
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This is after 3 hours of pounding and bending it back. It was too late to work any more without having neighbors more annoyed. IMG_8563.JPG
This pic is before I realized the lower section was tweaked to much to bolt on, I checked the other side and tweaked it accordingly and it bolted back up.
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It's still depressed but I'll get a bottle jack in there or work on pushing it out some more.
Once I sanded off the Bondo I realized how much more work it is going to take. But this was a good project for the afternoon, I also feel like it's a lot better!
 
Since my daily decided to pop a tire, and I'm lazy and I wanted an excuse to drive Ethel.. she's on daily duty Tommorow. Gonna look at a 6.5td van after work also, could be a decent candidate for salvaging some parts, 80k miles 4l80/14 bolt maybe full float?? Anyways I figure worst case if its affordable I'll buy it and strip anything I need off it and sell the rest.
 
Since my daily decided to pop a tire, and I'm lazy and I wanted an excuse to drive Ethel.. she's on daily duty Tommorow. Gonna look at a 6.5td van after work also, could be a decent candidate for salvaging some parts, 80k miles 4l80/14 bolt maybe full float?? Anyways I figure worst case if its affordable I'll buy it and strip anything I need off it and sell the rest.

Sell me the serpentine setup. :pimp:
 
Well this van, was pretty railed.. my buddie is 3k into this, which I would not pay as its condition is so far gone.. but it did have a full float 14, and said turbo diesel with the mid mount turbo.
The thing I cannot find if anyone has made this style turbo fit into a square body. I get a dmax has the same setup so it's possible I'm sure but how much work are we talking?
 
Before I started to work on this, I had no idea the extent of the real damage, there was a layer of Bondo on there that was at least 1/4 inch thick from some other previous attempt to repair it.

it lurks just beneath the paint of more panels than one would ever believe
 
Well this van, was pretty railed.. my buddie is 3k into this, which I would not pay as its condition is so far gone.. but it did have a full float 14, and said turbo diesel with the mid mount turbo.
The thing I cannot find if anyone has made this style turbo fit into a square body. I get a dmax has the same setup so it's possible I'm sure but how much work are we talking?

I was talking to @AgDieseler about this a few months ago. I can't remember if he said he actually ran such a setup or if he just has the intake parts hanging on his wall for the cool aesthetic. But he was talking about it like it was doable. :dunno:
 
I can't remember if he said he actually ran such a setup or if he just has the intake parts hanging on his wall for the cool aesthetic...
The van/HMMWV turbo intake manifolds are the only ones I haven't collected....yet.
Gonna look at a 6.5td van after work also, could be a decent candidate for salvaging some parts, 80k miles 4l80/14 bolt maybe full float?? Anyways I figure worst case if its affordable I'll buy it and strip anything I need off it and sell the rest.
Depending on the year, those are really neat engines. I haven't taken one apart, but you can see their intake manifold studs sit nearly vertical (like an LS), which would make those heads unique to van and later HMMWV turbo engines, or at least require the use of the unique split plenum van intake if swapped into a truck. The turbo is a GM-X pedestal in-valley setup laid out similarly as a Duramax, and the exhaust manifolds are slightly different to accommodate the two up-pipes. It's a very compact and neat setup, but while the top end would interchange onto a regular truck block, it has to swap as a whole.

I would like to see a diesel powered Mystery Machine. Please proceed.

David
 
The van/HMMWV turbo intake manifolds are the only ones I haven't collected....yet.

Depending on the year, those are really neat engines. I haven't taken one apart, but you can see their intake manifold studs sit nearly vertical (like an LS), which would make those heads unique to van and later HMMWV turbo engines, or at least require the use of the unique split plenum van intake if swapped into a truck. The turbo is a GM-X pedestal in-valley setup laid out similarly as a Duramax, and the exhaust manifolds are slightly different to accommodate the two up-pipes. It's a very compact and neat setup, but while the top end would interchange onto a regular truck block, it has to swap as a whole.

I would like to see a diesel powered Mystery Machine. Please proceed.

David
A multi fuel mystery machine would be cool too... what's that thing running on today??? It's a mystery...


Ok that was dumb but we all have our moments. Carry on...
 
I guess we must have been talking about the van turbo setup while looking at the N/A van intake.
Yep. Of the 5 intakes I've run, the low profile HMMVW intake was only for a minute, and didn't work for my setup at the time. Oddly enough, I have two of them.

David
 
That damage appears to originate from a blow-out. When I was a kid, my parents had a 76 Chevy C20 6 pack. It had a rear tire blow out on the highway with an eleven foot camper on it. It suffered nearly identical damage ahead of the tire.
 
This weekend went really well, Ethel has tow pig duty so I serviced the engine and made sure all other fluids looked good. Checked the normal stuff and also installed a brake controller.
The trailer I pull with normally is a friends but I maintain it because I use it a decent amount so greasing wheel bearings and checking brakes etc all had to happen. Towing the empty trailer up the hill gave me a bit of a preview of how my day was to go.
This is a decent grade maybe 5% and kinda long but usually I can maintain 45 till the very top where I shift down a gear then run the rest of the way up it. I created the top of the hill at 30mpg..... empty.. 2200lb trailer.. oh boy!!
Once I picked up the truck I think I am pulling 7-8k total which should be in the range for this truck.
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The trip was uneventful but the truck would not pull third on any sort of uphill at all. And on flat ground the speed limit was no problem. The brakes felt right at the limit..
basically just wasn't up to the task of this much weight.
Kind of disappointed but I should have been more prepared for the fact that this is a worn 6.2..

After much deliberation and almost selling her off, I think a big block is what the dr ordered.
 

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