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89 CC K3500 Short bed.

bhays

bhays

1/2 ton status
GMOTM Winner
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Sep 28, 2005
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Location
Ridgecrest, CA
I have always wanted a older GM crewcab since we had several of them growing up on my parents farm in south eastern washington (Tri-Cities). I am very partial to shortboxes, even if they are not as practical. I recentely picked up an 89 CCLB K3500 from one of my friends. It is in pretty good shape considering it came from Missouri. I have already cut the frame and removed 14". Reminder measure twice+ and cut once. You'll notice that the forward part of the frame in clean and the rear portion is rusty. I cut too much out and did not consider my overlap distance when notching the frame.:doah:Fortunelty I had another frame lying around...My far future plans are to remove the BB and replace it with a 94 12V Cummins I have, Allision 6 speed, link the front, 64's in the rear, and bump the power up to 450 hp+ with injectors, delivery valves, plate, timing, head work and maybe a set of twins. Well see how long it takes. My son will probably graduate high school by the time it done!

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Have not decided if I am going to keep the side tanks of just use a blazer tank...any thoughts?
 
subscribed:thumb: this is my dream project. I had a crew cab to do it with but no time and space:confused: had to sell it for now. But I will have one:D
 
63chevyll said:
Use the long bed saddle tanks,20 gal each.

Appointed, how old I'd your son now?
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HE is two now and starting to help me out in the shop. He is definelty a gearhead. All of his toys are car and trucks and love watching the power block with me on the weekends.
 
THough about using all three tanks for extended range; especially, when I convert it to a diesel. Would be able to drive from SoCal all the way to Northwest without stopping!
 
do one sadle tank and one blazer tank and you would fill them both from the same side,it sucks to need to turn the truck arownd to fill both tanks,looks good keep up the good work !
 
bhays said:
THough about using all three tanks for extended range; especially, when I convert it to a diesel. Would be able to drive from SoCal all the way to Northwest without stopping!
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Depends how much work you are willing to do.
You already have shortened a frame so you could put the 20gal tanks, some crossmembers and body mounts will need modifications.
I am putting 4 20gal tanks on a crew cab long bed so I know you can put 2 on a short bed.:waytogo:
 
This is exactly what I had in mind for my crew! Why did you section the frame instead of moving the springs forward and cutting off the back? So the box would bolt on in the factory mounts? Did you weld on the back half of a shortbed frame? Thought the 1 ton frames were different?
 
thoersch said:
This is exactly what I had in mind for my crew! Why did you section the frame instead of moving the springs forward and cutting off the back? So the box would bolt on in the factory mounts? Did you weld on the back half of a shortbed frame? Thought the 1 ton frames were different?
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Actually I wasnt to worried about the frame mount for the bed. I really wanted to have the frame arc match the bed and I wanted it to look as stck as possible. The only way you can tell is the 3/16" frame bracing from the out side of the frame. You can hardly tell I braced the the internal portion of the frame with another 3/16" custom bent c channe which fits tightly on the inside of the frame. I was concerned about the stress through the cross section of the beam (frame), hence the shape of the outer brace. I did not want to concentrate all of the stress (casued by heat effected zone of weld and going from an thick to thin cross sectional area in one plane. So I tapered the plate to the centerline where the theortical stess in zero. I did say theortically zero, but it should be close. In a few years after using it for my shop truck I am going to tear it completely apart and box the frame for the Cummins swap.
 
:dunno:Just getting some ideas. I have been going back and forth on which transmission to use. I am really leaning tawards and allision 1000. The cheapest would be a 47RH or E, Been looking at a 4L80E option. Not much cheaper than a ally but would shift faster. Looking to make 600+HP 1200 lb-ft+ out of the Cummins with a modified P7100 and turbos. Any ideas? Anyone used a 4L80 with that much torque? I think the 4l80E and the 47RE are very close in size. However, there is alot of aftermarkert support for the 47RE.
 
bhays said:
:dunno:Just getting some ideas. I have been going back and forth on which transmission to use. I am really leaning tawards and allision 1000. The cheapest would be a 47RH or E, Been looking at a 4L80E option. Not much cheaper than a ally but would shift faster. Looking to make 600+HP 1200 lb-ft+ out of the Cummins with a modified P7100 and turbos. Any ideas? Anyone used a 4L80 with that much torque? I think the 4l80E and the 47RE are very close in size. However, there is alot of aftermarkert support for the 47RE.
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While the 4l80 is an awesome trans for that kind of power I would run a built 48RE. I have one in my Dodge that I got from Goerend transmission and its a beast. My truck is in the area of 350-375 rwhp and the trans isn't even phased by full throttle runs with an 8k trailer in tow, I only did this once and while the truck took it just fine it's not safe at all to do.. It just shifts hard and fast. It can shift nice and easy too which is good. It did cost me $6500 but that's with install at a friends shop and the 6 gallons of amsoil it needed :eek1:.

I was told it could handle 600 rwhp, just no boosted launches(I don't plan on any nor will I drag race this truck). I only got the billet flexplate and input shaft. For any power or serious racing duty the output and intermediate have to upgraded to the billet pieces.
 
bhays said:
THough about using all three tanks for extended range; especially, when I convert it to a diesel. Would be able to drive from SoCal all the way to Northwest without stopping!
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Wow man, you'll be eating a lot of peanuts for that trip
 
imiceman44 said:
Depends how much work you are willing to do.
You already have shortened a frame so you could put the 20gal tanks, some crossmembers and body mounts will need modifications.
I am putting 4 20gal tanks on a crew cab long bed so I know you can put 2 on a short bed.:waytogo:
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Wow ice, I would like to see how you did that on each side.
 
chaoticK5 said:
do one sadle tank and one blazer tank and you would fill them both from the same side,it sucks to need to turn the truck arownd to fill both tanks,looks good keep up the good work !
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I have been thinking about doing that direction. I am in the middle of putting the 32 gallon blazer tank in. I have another fuel door I got from a friend.
 
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