'88 K5 - Running Down A Dream

[jimmyleetn]

Dumb question is that 10° shim with or without the double cardan shaft? With the CV the pinion should be in line with the drive shaft.

So I talked to Denny from Denny's drive shaft and he said to go ahead and submit my order but wait until I had the pinion pointed just below the transfer case tail housing to do the measurements since they're going to custom make me some CV drive shafts. I currently have singles in the rear.

I then got on the Tom Wood's website and they have and axle leaf shim calculator for people that are going to use a CV style drive shaft. I used a digital angle gauge to plug in my angles and was able to determine the shim from there. Since I have a slip yoke it was a little tricky and so I tried a few different measurements and all pointed to the 10° shim. Technically 11 but the website says to go one below if it's an odd number.

Once the shims come in on Wednesday I'll be able to measure for the correct length drive shaft for the folks at Denny's to cut and make. I'm not going to worry about the front, it wasn't that bad anyways. Only needed about four degrees or less to be correct, I could probably keep the stock shaft up there but I figured I'd go ahead and get it too.

This was a long answer but I hope it answered your question. I probably could have just went with Tom Woods but I really liked Denny from a previous order. He's super helpful and took the time to talk with me about drive shafts and other drivetrain parts so he got my business. Sean from Tom Woods was a really good person to talk to as well. I don't think anyone buying driveshafts will strike out at either place.

 

[ZooMad75]

So I talked to Denny from Denny's drive shaft and he said to go ahead and submit my order but wait until I had the pinion pointed just below the transfer case tail housing to do the measurements since they're going to custom make me some CV drive shafts. I currently have singles in the rear.

I then got on the Tom Wood's website and they have and axle leaf shim calculator for people that are going to use a CV style drive shaft. I used a digital angle gauge to plug in my angles and was able to determine the shim from there. Since I have a slip yoke it was a little tricky and so I tried a few different measurements and all pointed to the 10° shim. Technically 11 but the website says to go one below if it's an odd number.

Once the shims come in on Wednesday I'll be able to measure for the correct length drive shaft for the folks at Denny's to cut and make. I'm not going to worry about the front, it wasn't that bad anyways. Only needed about four degrees or less to be correct, I could probably keep the stock shaft up there but I figured I'd go ahead and get it too.

This was a long answer but I hope it answered your question. I probably could have just went with Tom Woods but I really liked Denny from a previous order. He's super helpful and took the time to talk with me about drive shafts and other drivetrain parts so he got my business. Sean from Tom Woods was a really good person to talk to as well. I don't think anyone buying driveshafts will strike out at either place.

Denny's and Tom Woods are good to work with. I was just asking to make sure you were basing the measurements to run with the CV shaft.

So are you getting a slip yoke CV or converting the t-case to fixed yoke with a slip yoke eliminator?

 

[jimmyleetn]

Denny's and Tom Woods are good to work with. I was just asking to make sure you were basing the measurements to run with the CV shaft.

So are you getting a slip yoke CV or converting the t-case to fixed yoke with a slip yoke eliminator?

I talked myself out of a SYE. I did the measurements for one, would still take about a 6° shim. I could do it myself for under $200 easy I'm just not convinced it's worth it. I do need another tail housing, mines chipped by the output seal. Fortunately, part of Denny's warranty is that I can send it in and have my driveshaft lengthened if I change my mind in the future. For the amount of work I'd rather have the NP241. They're way better represented in the aftermarket.

 

[ZooMad75]

I talked myself out of a SYE. I did the measurements for one, would still take about a 6° shim. I could do it myself for under $200 easy I'm just not convinced it's worth it. I do need another tail housing, mines chipped by the output seal. Fortunately, part of Denny's warranty is that I can send it in and have my driveshaft lengthened if I change my mind in the future. For the amount of work I'd rather have the NP241. They're way better represented in the aftermarket.

Any time you can get a longer driveshaft it relaxes the angles. That being said, I went without the SYE on my 241 and had a custom cv shaft built for the slip yoke. With the correct measurements and shaft angles, I can vouch I have zero vibrations at any speed on acceleration or deceleration. If you got your measurements right I would expect yours to be ok at speed too.

 

[jimmyleetn]

Any time you can get a longer driveshaft it relaxes the angles. That being said, I went without the SYE on my 241 and had a custom cv shaft built for the slip yoke. With the correct measurements and shaft angles, I can vouch I have zero vibrations at any speed on acceleration or deceleration. If you got your measurements right I would expect yours to be ok at speed too.

Who made your's? I'm expecting mine to be smooth as silk. The PO did a 1in tcase drop for the old 4in lift I removed. I could tell he chewed up u-joints. Neither were OE and one was about to cause some serious damage. It vibrated horribly at 50+ mph.

 

[ZooMad75]

Who made your's? I'm expecting mine to be smooth as silk. The PO did a 1in tcase drop for the old 4in lift I removed. I could tell he chewed up u-joints. Neither were OE and one was about to cause some serious damage. It vibrated horribly at 50+ mph.

Mine was built by a shop in Denver.

 

[jimmyleetn]

You'll see where I had some ignition woes over in the injection section. My distributor came loose and damaged my rotor button causing the truck to barely run. It's running ok now, put the old button back on it. I think I need to just tune the whole setup. Upon further investigation, I discovered the PO used at least two different brand spark plugs and some are definitely older plugs than the others. It looks like they did the one side but left old plugs in the other. Also, one plug is so loose I can take it out with two fingers. Also, the plot thickens a little more. The PO said it had a GM crate motor. It's not. Definitely the OE motor. This is all fine in the end because I do have serious plans to drop a crate in a few summers from now but sheesh at all the lies I got told when I bought it. No regrets though.

 

[82355]

I would keep the TBI.

Martin

 

[jimmyleetn]

I do like it when it works. I can promise you this, I won't go back to a carburetor. I've been looking at a Sniper or Fitech for once I get to that point but I keep seeing mixed reviews on them.

 

[82355]

They are just dressed up TBI.

Martin

 

[jimmyleetn]

Found one the worst oil leaks. New felpro with seal for the cover.and a new oil pan gasket ready to go. Really hope the chain isn't loose. That harmonic balancer has seen better days so ordered one today. I was hoping just to sleeve it but a lot of rubber is gone or coming loose.

 

[jimmyleetn]

10° is steep. Should line up a lot better once I get it back on all fours. I've heard of people getting worried when you use this much shim that the pinion bearings will burn up from not getting enough gear oil but I really don't think that'll be the case if I top it back off because the ring gear acts like a paddle wheel on a riverboat so it should bathe the bearing. I did some digging online and was not able to find any solid literature that said this was bad.

 

[jimmyleetn]

Well... the mystery of this motor continues. A few posts back I discovered that it is not a GM crate motor but as you'll see in the pics below, it's been messed with for sure. That is not an OE oil pan gasket and the biggest question mark, what happened with the chain? It's got a ton of play, over 12°. I can squeeze it with two fingers no problem. Surprised I couldn't hear the slap when it ran. So my rotor button is pointed at cylinder #1 and read TDC on the tab before I pulled the cover. My timing marks are at 12 on the cam and 12 on the crank which I think is no coincidence. The motor ran. I have driven over 300 miles before I started my build this year and the PO drove it all over creation. When I replace the set should I put it back exactly like this?

 

[centexk5]

I’d buy a new chain and redo it the way you normally would.

 

[jimmyleetn]

I’d buy a new chain and redo it the way you normally would.

Well the way it's normally supposed to be set up from the factory is the crank at 12:00 and the cam gear at 6:00. I've been doing a little digging and I have found there are varying opinions on how to index a new cam but some people believe in setting it at 12:00 and 12:00. Which leads me to wonder if he put a little bit beefier cam in there which aided in stretching the chain. I think if it was 180° out of timing it would have ran like poo if it ran it all. As a side note, internal engine work has never been my forte because I've just never really needed to do it. I can do pretty much anything else aside from getting deep into a carburetor or transmission so I'm learning at this point. Has a bit of insurance, my neighbor has been helping me a little and he's rebuilt both Ford and GM small blocks. He also has a timing light. He looked over my shoulder while I took the cover off so I do have help.

 

[ZooMad75]

Well the way it's normally supposed to be set up from the factory is the crank at 12:00 and the cam gear at 6:00. I've been doing a little digging and I have found there are varying opinions on how to index a new cam but some people believe in setting it at 12:00 and 12:00. Which leads me to wonder if he put a little bit beefier cam in there which aided in stretching the chain. I think if it was 180° out of timing it would have ran like poo if it ran it all. As a side note, internal engine work has never been my forte because I've just never really needed to do it. I can do pretty much anything else aside from getting deep into a carburetor or transmission so I'm learning at this point. Has a bit of insurance, my neighbor has been helping me a little and he's rebuilt both Ford and GM small blocks. He also has a timing light. He looked over my shoulder while I took the cover off so I do have help.

I have never heard or installed a cam with the timing mark on the gear at 12:00. I've used a Cloyes timing set with multiple keyways on the crank gear to bump the cam advanced couple of degrees. That's about as far as I've taken one.

Most I've done typically get installed "dot to dot" and I've never had a problem.

 

[jimmyleetn]

I have never heard or installed a cam with the timing mark on the gear at 12:00. I've used a Cloyes timing set with multiple keyways on the crank gear to bump the cam advanced couple of degrees. That's about as far as I've taken one.

Most I've done typically get installed "dot to dot" and I've never had a problem.

I've been thinking about it and I talked to somebody else that's done a few motors. I could be on the exhaust stroke couldn't I? Those gears are at 2:1 ratio so if I spun another full rotation I could be dot-to-dot right? That seems like an easy thing to check for before I take it apart.

 

[centexk5]

I have never heard or installed a cam with the timing mark on the gear at 12:00. I've used a Cloyes timing set with multiple keyways on the crank gear to bump the cam advanced couple of degrees. That's about as far as I've taken one.

Most I've done typically get installed "dot to dot" and I've never had a problem.

Ditto.

 

[ZooMad75]

I've been thinking about it and I talked to somebody else that's done a few motors. I could be on the exhaust stroke couldn't I? Those gears are at 2:1 ratio so if I spun another full rotation I could be dot-to-dot right? That seems like an easy thing to check for before I take it apart.

One more revolution of the crank should put it dot to dot.

 

[jimmyleetn]

One more revolution of the crank should put it dot to dot.

That's what I'm gonna do once I get off Dad duty.