CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

'89 R3500 Crew Cab 2wd to 4wd conversion & beyond

Started out with 2wd TBI350 with SM465 to current 4wd with 454, 700r4, NP241
I haven't posted an overview of my accessory wiring setup that went in along with the dash.

I've used these power distribution blocks:

2015-07-14%2020.03.33.jpg


They use set screws to clamp the wires in place and then there are fuses to complete the connections.

2015-07-14%2020.03.41.jpg


I'm using it feed the ARB compressor, accessories through the dash, and cooling fans. I have one more power tap to add and then I'll use some of this to help prevent corrosion.

81SlnwskFWL._SY450_.jpg


From the power block it feeds to a bulkhead pass-thru with a 2ga wire. Plenty of wire for the load which will be less than 100 amps.

2015-07-14%2020.03.27.jpg


Power comes into a distribution block from my old military blazer and up to a fuse block.

2015-07-14%2019.57.40.jpg


If you look I number the fuse locations you will see they are goofy. The numbers are associated with the switches. #1 is the first switch, #2 the second switch etc. Unfortunately I didn't think of this when I wired the switches to the fuse block so I'm stuck with order of the numbers on the fuse block not making any sense.

From the fuse block to the switches.

switches.jpg


Then behind the flux capacitor cover is a homemade junction block. The power from the switches feeds in from the top and then the accessory is wired in from the bottom.

2015-07-14%2020.00.37.jpg


The concept behind all this was to make it easy to add fused power for accessories.
 
I replaced the crossbar between the front shock hoops. I had trouble with it hitting the temperature switch for the fans and breaking the switch. Notched the crossbar to fix that and then realized a couple of weeks ago that it had also hit the ESC. Broke the mounting tab for the ESC but luckily didn't ruin it.

So I made a new one that would clear both the temp switch and the ESC.

2015-07-18%2016.36.56.jpg


The mounting tab for the power steering reservoir ended up angled a little but not as bad as it looks in the picture.

The catch to all this was that the air cleaner needed to be raised about an inch to clear the cross bar. The easy answer would be to put a spacer in but I have a power charger/salad bowl below the air cleaner. The spacer would defeat the purpose of having that.

I realized the power charger sits in a recessed area of the air cleaner base and if I made the base flat bottom, I could gain my inch. In the picture below the area between the blue lines is where the bottom needs to span to be flat. The area between the green lines is the recess where the power charger sits.

b91ba7f6-714a-4c98-89e9-91d133e72036.jpg


I have mentioned before our business uses aluminum a lot so I'm fortunate to have lots of drop (left over) pieces to use for side projects. I took some measurements and cut a ring out of 3/16" aluminum plate with the CNC router.

2015-07-18%2011.48.05.jpg


I also decided to cut out the center of the air cleaner base to match the top diameter of the power charger.

2015-07-18%2012.22.47.jpg


You will notice in the picture above I have sanded the outer perimeter of the housing. I also sanded the aluminum ring.

2015-07-18%2012.22.55.jpg


This is in preparation to "chemically weld" the 2 pieces together. We've been using this very strong glue for over a decade now to glue aluminum panels to steel and aluminum frames.

2015-07-18%2012.29.44.jpg


It is a 2 part product kinda like JB weld but it flows like caulk. The nozzle has blue baffles that ensure the proper mixing of the 2 parts. Here's the glued together base:

2015-07-18%2012.51.36.jpg


You will notice a ring recessed in the center, that is for the power charger to sit into and keep the air cleaner properly centered over the throttle body.

2015-07-18%2012.51.54.jpg


2015-07-18%2012.52.54.jpg


Then I painted it all black.

2015-07-18%2012.58.33.jpg


The last thing needed was to make the stud longer. Since it has a bend in it, you can't just get a longer stud. The threads that go into the throttle body are 1/4-20. I cut the head off a 1.5" bolt and used a union nut to join it with the air cleaner stud.

2015-07-18%2012.48.03.jpg


2015-07-18%2012.48.20.jpg


Could have made the add-on stud shorter. It bottomed out in the throttle body before getting to the union nut and I have plenty of stud sticking out of the air cleaner lid.

Here's how it sits on the throttle body.

2015-07-18%2016.37.11.jpg


You can see the ESC is kinda angled up and the wires are smashed down. I'm lucky one of the wires wasn't ruined.
 
Good execution of the solution!

Hey I found a burb in the pick-n-pull with the factory tinted windows I learned about in your thread. The bad news is, one window had already been pilfered. I'm still planning to go back and get the 1 window still there.
 
I had a 4hr drive home after a trail run Monday. There is one 4 mile climb on I-70 to get up over the continental divide. The truck was pulling hard and had just down shifted to 2nd pulling about 4000 RPM when it started dropping out or stuttering on me. I let off the gas and it mostly went away but it did do it once or twice more before the climb was done.

Following that was a long stretch of downhill driving where there's not much engine load so nothing seemed to be amiss.

Once I got back on flat land it would miss or stutter occasionally under steady state driving. Then when I got to the areas with frequent stop lights I discovered it was idling rough. It is a constant miss or hiccup. It idles fine, doesn't try to die, but it has a miss. Almost like one cylinder isn't firing. You can hear and feel it as the RPM revs up until basically the RPMs are high enough to kind of mask the miss.

I did some initial quick checks last night to make sure there aren't any burnt plug wires and also check the injectors. No luck.

Tonight I pulled the plugs to check for a fouled plug and found the problem. Previous owner installed this little beauty in the #6 plug:

2015-07-29%2019.15.49.jpg


2015-07-29%2019.15.43.jpg


2015-07-29%2019.11.56.jpg


Had to do some Googling to figure out it's a "spark plug non-fouler". When I went to pull that plug it was loose and barely in the hole. Plus the plug boot looks like this:

2015-07-29%2019.11.44.jpg


That boot only has a couple hundred miles on it. From what I was reading it sounds like the non-foulers can get really hot and blow out. I'm guessing this one got really hot and blew part way out and toasted the crap out of the plug boot.

It also didn't do a good job of being a "non-fouler".

a2d2ffad-317b-4c2d-87b5-8cc3c40f7e09.jpg


That piece was slagged to the electrode. I had to use pliers to work them apart and pry that piece off so I could test fire the motor.
 
Oh and I found another problem:
2015-07-29%2019.39.12.jpg




If you don't see it maybe this will help:
ba2f90a6-7865-4cd9-8f19-09a59654b299.jpg


No bolts holding the passenger side motor mount to the block. Not sure how long that's been going on.
 
Put it back together yet?

Martin

Enough to know it seems to have things fixed. Still a little rough I'm sure due to the bad plug that i didn't really set the gap on and the bad plug wire boot.

Can't test drive til I fix this:

rear%20driveshaft%20damage.jpg
 
Haha.

Not noticeable?

Martin

I knew something was up but figured it was just worn out motor mounts. Not full blown, absent. Really trying to to spend too much effort and money on this motor with the 5.3L swap plans for the winter.
 
Yes it's 2 piece. I would like to move the carrier bearing further back to get the rear shaft further out of the way. I had the rear axle in my K5 moved back 4" and with the SYE, the angle was about perfect for driveline stability and rock protection. I'd like to move the carrier bearing so the rear most half is about the same as what I had in the K5. Gotta figure out if that will work with the frame.
 
When I look at the profile of the truck, I'm always pleased with how clean and tucked up everything is. Until I get to the rear driveshaft. I feel like it sticks out like a sore thumb. Haha! I guess it IS a sore thumb now!

48f990a0-8c53-4ef6-822a-1b76298e5cfe.jpg
 
Top Bottom