88 K5 Build Thread - 4BTA Cummins Swap - 05/18 Dory is delivered to Alaska!!

[kdoske]

I have been working on this since the end of November but decided to share my progress as it goes. Below are picks of my k5 build--Enjoy

I live in a late 18th century neighborhood and my garage was originally built to house a horse and buggy so there's no way my blazer fitting in there. Sooooo, looks like i have to do this outside

Here is my 4BTA pulled from a Frito Truck with 177k miles on it. The 4BTA is a Cummins diesel that is identical to the Cummins engine in a Dodge, 6BT, minus 2 cylinders.





Getting her Cleaned up!

The engine actually got much more cleaner then this but for some reason this is the last picture I took of cleaning it.

mmmmmmmm Por15, it goes on so smooooooth! (2 hand painted coats)

Had to hang the after coolers Coolant lines to paint them...

More of my K5 story for those that care:
I needed a new car so I decided to go all out and instead of purchasing a new car I would rebuild one from the ground up! Well, kinda anyway. I'm in the military and I just found out I will be leaving to Alaska probably around May so this has really pushed this whole build in overdrive since I need to have it at least running by the time I gotta leave! Will I make it?!?!?! Stay tuned to find out!!!

 

[kdoske]

After all the Por15 coats I painted it Chevy Performance Orange with Por Engine Enamel. Now i know it's a Cummin's engine but its going in a Chevy so its just seemed RIGHT!

Then I decided to add a little BLING so I polished the fan hub. I planed on polishing the valve covers as well but the fan hub took it all out of me so I sent the valve covers off to be professionally polished. They are supposed to get to me on the Jan 25th so I will post the pics when they get here...

Painted the header and turbo with Por15 High Heat Paint. Then I remounted it back on the engine with new hardware

 

[kdoske]

Reserved......

 

[kdoske]

Reserved....asdfl;askdfals

 

[sixb]

I'll be watching this one for sure Looks like the k5 was originally a 6.2? Looking forward to see your motor mount setup. Did you get them ( motor mounts) out of the van, and do you think they'll bolt in the k5 frame? I'll be doing the same thing someday and already have the van with a 4bt/th400

 

[87BlazerBeast]

Subscribing!

 

[Stomis]

Nice.... Btw google killer dowl pin and fix it now while the motor is out!

 

[kdoske]

I'll be watching this one for sure Looks like the k5 was originally a 6.2? Looking forward to see your motor mount setup. Did you get them ( motor mounts) out of the van, and do you think they'll bolt in the k5 frame? I'll be doing the same thing someday and already have the van with a 4bt/th400

Unfortunately, my fab skills suck to much for me to really trust 900lb of engine support. So I bit the bullet and actually purchased the AutoWorld Cummins engine mount. It was really expensive but the engine mount wasn't something I wanted to skip on. Plus it gives me the option to upgrade to a 6BT later on down the road if I wanted to. I'll post pics soon.

Nice.... Btw google killer dowl pin and fix it now while the motor is out!

Its actually already been done. Thanks for looking out though



OK, so today I woke up this morning with the intention of getting my ORD Shackle flip kit installed. Long story short I never even came close. It took me all day just to remove the hitch, skid plate, and fuel tank. Oh, and apparently right before I started this project I filled my fuel tank! So, I had to run to harbor freight and purchase a hand pump. I ended up pumping out 20 gallons! After that was all said and done I started taking it all off.

Took over an hour to get the fuel tank out.

Finally its all out.

I had to stop there because I started to loose day light. Tomorrow I'll jack it all up and start removing the rivets from the frame to install the shackle flip.

 

[76zimmer]

Cool project, First off, thanks for your service

I don't know dick about diesel's but Cummins are kick ass from what I hear.

When cutting those rivets off, the best results I had are using a 4.5 inch hand held grinder, use a thin cutting wheel and cut the head off even with the frame and hit em with a punch and hammer.

Good luck on your time line. And if you plan on using those concrete pavers to put any weight on, DON'T...they will crack under pressure. You could use those on the ground then some 3/4 plywood or thicker on top of them, but don't set a jackstand directly on top of those pavers.

 

[jt512]

Very cool project , so are you going to use the 400 trans from the bread van ?
Just for some additional encouragement , if you have not seen it, check out this months issue of Diesel Power magazine. There is beautiful 85 K truck with a 4 bt swap featured.
Keep up the good work, and like others have said , thank you for your service

 

[kdoske]

Keep up the good work, and like others have said , thank you for your service

Cool project, First off, thanks for your service

Thanks Guys, that means a lot

Cool project, First off, thanks for your service
When cutting those rivets off, the best results I had are using a 4.5 inch hand held grinder, use a thin cutting wheel and cut the head off even with the frame and hit em with a punch and hammer.

And if you plan on using those concrete pavers to put any weight on, DON'T...they will crack under pressure. You could use those on the ground then some 3/4 plywood or thicker on top of them, but don't set a jackstand directly on top of those pavers.

Thanks for all the tips. Good thing I didn't place the jack stands on the paver's yet!

Very cool project , so are you going to use the 400 trans from the bread van ?

I'm actually going to use a 4x4 4l80E mated to an NP205. I'm usings Advanced Adapters--adapter. After a lot of reading and phone calls to a couple manufactures I determined I won't need the 32 spline short shaft from their kit, I only needed the adapter. This saved me about 300 dollars. I took me so long to figure this out I even made a chart to help others in the future that want to do the 4L80E/NP205 combo...

Original thread I posted this in can be seen here: http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=280124

 

[max 02]

Very cool on the swap and the info
One day I would like to put a 4bt in a Landcruiser or my 77, your info should come in handy. Way to go man.

 

[kdoske]

It rained today and is supposed to all day tomorrow--dumb

 

[kdoske]

My polished valve covers came in. They came out great!!!!

I had them polished at Buds Polishing. I can highly recommend them. I was only charged 14 dollars per valve cover.

http://www.budspolishing.com/

 

[supersize75k5]

This thread brings the awesome

-shawn

 

[87BlazerBeast]

Looks really good. Looking forward to seeing it all in

 

[kdoske]

Wow, ok, this shackle flip is kicking my @ss! I can now say with a passion I hate rivets. I can't believe how hard this one little thing is. Something i thought would take me one day is looking like it is going to take a week! Anyway I finally got the rear mounts off. Tomorrow I will drill out the holes install the extended brake lines and give everything a rust preventative coat of paint. Then hopefully on Sunday I will get to install the actual flip. On a good note, I do remember people saying that removing the shackles from the rear mounts was all but impossible. Mine popped right of with a hit or two of a 2 pound hammer.

 

[Stomis]

Rivets suck you're right on that one. Just wait til you do a 52 swap and you cant get at them with a 4.5" grinder. Then it really slows down...

 

[JDNobodi]

I always end up getting the torch out and burn the rivets off. I usually can't reuse the factory front spring hanger for a b52 kit. That thing gets all cut up just so I can get to the rivets.

 

[jt512]

The plasma cutter is my weapon of choice, but since it is not something everyone has access to , I have had decent luck drilling them out. I use some good sharp bits , center punch the rivet as close to center as possible, drill it through with a 1/8 then keep stepping up in bit size, ending with a size over the rivet hole size, don't drill all the way through, just up to the bracket. Then you "should" be able to punch out the remainder of the rivet and one to the next one. I removed my front hangers this way and I think start to finish it may have been a little over an hour.