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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
Overview Gallery Discussion
mrk5 said:
I am hauling a camper as well and to places that often don't have fuel stations nearby. It's annoying when you have to start out the day finding a fuel station.

All things considered, fuel capacity isn't as much of an issue as the fuel slosh.
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I just don't care for the saddle tanks on any truck that see's the rocks.

Either way it sounds like you will be adding a tank in the rear which will solve the fuel slosh issue.

I would lean toward an OE tank setup just because of how cheap and accessible the stock tanks, pumps and senders are.
 
I dunno. Now that I've gone efi with the stock tbi tank in my K5 I've yet to have a fuel slosh/starvation induced stall ever .

If you use a 27 gal tbi tank I don't think you'll have any slosh or starvation either. As far as the side tanks just use what's in there. If you are transferring fuel parked or running on level ground the stock tbi stuff shouldn't have an issue there. Just don't transfer fuel on unlevel surfaces.

Keep it simple.
 
Tnsejed said:
I believe 4 walbros (1 with the hole) is fine for a Walbro 255lph pump. Anything more and you're toasted. Any less count on the pickups and your screwed there too.

For reference when I went to the new pump this year my walbros could not flow enough and were giving me problems. Not to mention my whole vent tube fiasco which compounded the problem in my cell.

Remember they are more or less similar to a 70 micron prefilter setup. Same problem as the Hydromat from holley.
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What do you mean by "1 with the hole"? Do you have pictures of how you set up the Walbro pickups?

I don't think the Holley Sniper has quite the same fuel demands as yours does, at least in regards to fuel flow.

skunked said:
I just don't care for the saddle tanks on any truck that see's the rocks.

Either way it sounds like you will be adding a tank in the rear which will solve the fuel slosh issue.

I would lean toward an OE tank setup just because of how cheap and accessible the stock tanks, pumps and senders are.
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I haven't had any rock issues. The only problem I've had was a couple of dirt embankments I tried to drive over - foolishly.

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That got into the tanks and really packed the dirt into the mounting brackets and dented up the nose of the tanks. The other time was the exit of Steel Bender. I don't pics of me going it but when I went over the spot below it dented in the center of the tanks.

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@skunked, you're probably doing a little bit more difficult stuff than I am. I just stay away from severe break-over situations now after the 2 experiences above.

Not that I'm really trying to defend the saddle tanks, their design is far from ideal for rock crawling.

kgblazerfive said:
I would do a filler neck of some kind also.
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I think that's something I would do down the line. Right now the bed is not easily removed. If I'm going to get it off, it's staying off in favor of a new one that's in better shape.

ZooMad75 said:
I dunno. Now that I've gone efi with the stock tbi tank in my K5 I've yet to have a fuel slosh/starvation induced stall ever .

If you use a 27 gal tbi tank I don't think you'll have any slosh or starvation either. As far as the side tanks just use what's in there. If you are transferring fuel parked or running on level ground the stock tbi stuff shouldn't have an issue there. Just don't transfer fuel on unlevel surfaces.

Keep it simple.
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That's what I was curious about with how the factory K5 EFI tanks work. I've not had EFI with a K5 tank so I was wondering if the tray in the K5 tanks worked better than the tray in the saddle tanks.
 
mrk5 said:
I haven't had any rock issues. The only problem I've had was a couple of dirt embankments I tried to drive over - foolishly.
@skunked, you're probably doing a little bit more difficult stuff than I am. I just stay away from severe break-over situations now after the 2 experiences above.
Not that I'm really trying to defend the saddle tanks, their design is far from ideal for rock crawling.
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your doing rubicon next year right? At least do the trail with those saddles empty if you do.......lol


mrk5 said:
That's what I was curious about with how the factory K5 EFI tanks work. I've not had EFI with a K5 tank so I was wondering if the tray in the K5 tanks worked better than the tray in the saddle tanks.
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won't be a problem, I've had my front tires off the ground, sitting on my back bumper and the truck had fuel. Don't get me wrong, the baffle is a joke but with enough fuel in the tank it works fine.
 
mrk5 said:
That's what I was curious about with how the factory K5 EFI tanks work. I've not had EFI with a K5 tank so I was wondering if the tray in the K5 tanks worked better than the tray in the saddle tanks.
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I don't let mine get really low on the trail obviously. But I've had it down to the point of a 1/4 tank or less off road and not had it stumble or starve. In your case as long as you got fuel in the side saddles, you'd never let the rear tank get that low. When it hits 1/4 tank on the rear one, stop and fill'er up!
 
mrk5 said:
What do you mean by "1 with the hole"? Do you have pictures of how you set up the Walbro pickups?

I don't think the Holley Sniper has quite the same fuel demands as yours does, at least in regards to fuel flow.


I haven't had any rock issues. The only problem I've had was a couple of dirt embankments I tried to drive over - foolishly.
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1 with the hole means to run atleast 1 pickup with the bleed hole in it. So my original system had 4 walbro pickups without any bleed hole pickups. So what happens is when too many shut at one time the pump will actually shutoff the last one because a single pickup won't flow enough. Same thing happens when you run out of fuel. You may end up having to loosen a fitting to get them to reopen.

In all honesty I didn't have too many problems with them. When they worked they worked. And with my 255 pump they worked pretty well. It was when I did have problems it sucked because its not something readily quick to identify.

Another issue I had was an interesting one. I can't take credit for what I believe happened, Fuel Safe threw out this option. I had a vent line sizing issue due to the new motor being much more fuel efficient. Over the course of time fuel made its way up my vent (which was FATS routed), soaked the vent filter, then stopped venting. this pressurized the cell and closed the pickups. That's the theory anyway. Stopped me dead in my tracks with no fuel. I originally thought it was cell vacuum. But only the man upstairs, or the one downstairs, knows.


Personally if you don't have the requirements that automatically eliminate a 70 micron prefilter then they are an option. I'd go holley hydromat though over the walbros as its so much easier and you won't have the potential walbro issues. When I built my cell this product wasn't out yet.

That's not the end all be all of fueling though, by any measure. Your motor and injection system may not have the fuel demands to fail the above pickup solutions. But if your running a pump that will, and returning a shitload of fuel to the tank, you will still have problems. Not to mention that is heat buildup in the fuel. So figuring out your pump and flow ratings are what you need to think about.
 
Tnsejed said:
Personally if you don't have the requirements that automatically eliminate a 70 micron prefilter then they are an option. I'd go holley hydromat though over the walbros as its so much easier and you won't have the potential walbro issues. When I built my cell this product wasn't out yet.
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I would like to figure out a way to replace the factory filter sock with one of those smaller Hydromats, but the pump connection isn't straight forward. I don't think a factory pump will connect to a Hydromat.
 
skunked said:
your doing rubicon next year right? At least do the trail with those saddles empty if you do.......lol
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But then I would be fretting about having enough fuel. You're backing me into a corner because I want to say they'll be fine but then I know if I do say that I'll wind up having trouble! :doah:
 
mrk5 said:
But then I would be fretting about having enough fuel. You're backing me into a corner because I want to say they'll be fine but then I know if I do say that I'll wind up having trouble! :doah:
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I used to be more stressed over having enough fuel. The more I've gotten used to my combination the more I can trust what I'm going to get for mileage. Off road I've seen as low as 8 and as high as 12 mpg. Even on the low side that has a range of 248 miles off road (8mpg x 31 gallon tank). We did close to 100 miles on the Mojave road, filling up in Bullhead city at the start and by the time we hit the lone gas station on I-15 I was only down to 1/2 tank on the gauge. Outside of 1 downhill section, most of that was in 2wd though.

The other weekend we filled up in Salida, wheeled the entire weekend up to Pomeroy lakes, Hancock pass, Cumberland pass and Tincup pass (about 60 miles total off road) most of that in low range, aired up in St. Elmo and drove back to Pueblo another 129 miles and the truck is only at 1/2 tank on the gauge. So with the numbers figured I know unless I do a lot of idling for some reason, most trips I take can be done on a tank if I fill up close to the trailhead.

I know what you might be thinking, that my 5.3 mileage might be a little more optimistic compared to your 454. I've compared notes with Larry and his 8.1 K10 on the last two desert trips and our off road mileage is really close. Even closer this year with me running the camper both off road and on. On the extended desert trips we still do carry 3-4 jerry cans of fuel for the just in case scenario but for our weekend mountain trips we typically don't carry the extra fuel.

If you got 2 side saddle tanks and the K5 tank out back you are going to have some amazing range, even if you are only getting 10mpg pulling the camper. To maximize that though I'd add a filler for the rear tank so you could start out with all 3 full. If you only fill the front tanks from the fuel station, you'll have to empty most of one to fill the rear to run off of. That to me kind of defeats the purpose of having 3 tanks. Even if it's just a simple fill point in the floor of the bed, it's still quicker to fill the tank up at a gas station that it is to pump the fuel front to back with a TBI style pump pushing through a 3/8" id hose. I've seen how long Larry's setup takes to move fuel from one tank to the other (he only runs 1 high pressure pump for the engine to run off of) and it's like 20 minutes of the pump running. It's long enough he can forget he's doing a fuel transfer until he sees, hears or smells gas overflowing out of the vent of his main tank.
 
Yeah, it's funny seeing that bag there. That's a lot bags to build that! Haha
 
I found the source of my front seal leak.

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It's cocked and just fell out as soon as I started to pry it. I had also read about another guy having trouble with a FelPro seal leaking. He found that if he slipped the seal over the balancer he could lightly push the seal and it would unseat on the opposite side. Mine was the same way.

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That's a folded piece of thick paper that easily fit between the seal and balancer. I put this seal in new before I installed the engine in the truck. I couldn't do this with the new seal I installed today. I put a SCE viton seal in this time. It has a rubber coating over the entire seal with ribs around the outer perimeter so I'm thinking that should help keep it from popping out.

Obviously removing and installing the balancer was easier on the engine stand, but it wasn't horrible with a good puller/installer set. I was stumped for a bit trying to figure out how I was going to torque the balancer bolt. No room for an impact, and I would want to put a torque wrench on it regardless. So I made a tool, a spanner of sorts.

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I labeled it so a year from now when I come across it again, I'll remember what the heck it's for.

Since I needed to remove the fans to make more room to pull the balancer, I figured it was a good time to install the new pair. Here's a comparison:

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Here they are in the truck:

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If you were putting just the Lincoln Mark VII fan in a truck with the standard width radiator, you may have trouble with water pump clearance on a 454.

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I also installed a new PCV valve that's for a mid 70's 454 and I put a different breather on.

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The breather has filter media and baffling that's meant to capture any oil and drain it back into the valve cover. I thought this breather might work better for air flow with it being plumbed into the intake.

And I don't think I ever posted a picture of the door badge I made.

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Those are leftovers from customer vehicles that had graphics packages requiring the badges to be removed.
 
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