CK5
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'89 R3500 Crew Cab 2wd to 4wd conversion & beyond

Started out with 2wd TBI350 with SM465 to current 4wd with 454, 700r4, NP241
I'm afraid I'm not but I was thinking about next weekend.
 
I have always thought the cast aluminum valve covers with the raised CHEVROLET lettering looks really cool. However they are extremely expensive. So I decided to make my own using $80 cast aluminum valve covers:

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My email is [email protected] and the angry duck is kind of a theme with this truck given the hood ornament. So I came up with the ANGRYDUCK454 as a play on that.

I used a material we call "paint mask" to stick the letters on the bare aluminum, primed and painted them, and then peeled the letters off. The raised letters themselves are CNC cut from 1/4" thick aluminum. You can see the unmounted aluminum letters on the bench in this picture on the left side:

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We have an industrial two-part glue that I'm using the attach the letters. By masking the letters before painting it gives me a guide to line them up plus the aluminum needs to be bare for the glue to work.

So that's my bit of bling for the motor.
 
Considering your method of income, I first thought that you had made some stickers that were playing an optical illusion...
 
The covers are painted and the letters will be unpainted, essentially a sanded finish
 
Pulled the intake off today. Looks really clean. Seems to support the recent rebuild claims. At the very least it definitely received regular oil changes.

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Only thing I was wondering about is the cam. I was planning to avoid a cam swap to save money and also not have to deal with a cam break-in on a new motor swap. Here's a view inside each of the 4 "windows".

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Thoughts?
 
I'd be very happy with how clean that is.

Cam looks fine as well.

I assume you're going to change the main seals? I would probably pop the timing cover off and make sure the timing chain is in good shape. Should be fine but now's the time to take a quick peak at it.
 
I'd be very happy with how clean that is.

Cam looks fine as well.

I assume you're going to change the main seals? I would probably pop the timing cover off and make sure the timing chain is in good shape. Should be fine but now's the time to take a quick peak at it.
I was planning to pull the timing chain cover just to make sure it looks good. Even before pulling the intake I was pretty sure the motor had been redone but I figure the question then is how good of a job was done on it. So I figured I would double check what I could. Plus I have to replace the harmonic balancer because somewhere along the line the current unit had the threaded holes for the pulley bolt's heli-coiled - poorly. All three bolts were jacked up when I pulled them out.

I was debating about doing the main seals but I probably should since I will have it tore down that far.
 

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