'90 K5 "Project Sanity" Sold 7/5/2018

[tRustyK5]

tRustyK5 submitted a new Build:

'90 K5 "Project Sanity" **9/23/17...it drives and stuff**

As some of you might know I have been without a K5 for about the last 18 months or so. Trying to get my Crew Cab project going has been a little arduous at times. I don't want to compromise the build by rushing or 'half-assing' anything.

The flip side is I have a need to get out there and start doing some wheeling...I mean anything. Curbs at malls are looking fun right now.

So, I've been on the lookout for a very cheap and stock 4x4 of any brand or description. The emphasis was on cheap.

I found a few that had promise, but lets face it, in the price range I was looking at (under $1000) everything I found had problems. Eventually I figured I should probably stick to square body GM seeing as I have good knowledge of them, as well as a good selection of various parts lying around.

Today i went and looked at this:

1990 Chevy Blazer, TBI 350, 700R-4, NP241, 10 bolts, ralley rims and half worn 31's. Ex government truck so it's pretty stripped down. Some rust, but nothing that scared me away from it. Tailpan was solid, floors were good. Rockers are done, mostly just the outers though. The front seat belt anchor area is gone on the passenger side. That was probably the worst of it.

Came with 4 extra 31's on rims, a new rear bumper, a second tailgate and various extra parts.

I gave $800 for it, I figure if things get sketchy I could easily sell the Warn 8274 for $400 or so. Definitely want to keep it though.

It does have a few mech issues, and maybe you guys can help me figure out what I'm gonna be looking at.

It was a bit hard to start, the guy had to pump the gas a few times. Initial idle was rough, then cleared after a few seconds. Idle settled at about 1100 rpm. No smoke on start-up.

Service engine light is on. After running for 10 minutes the idle dropped all of a sudden and there was black smoke. The guy says his mechanic told him the coil was bad. When it died I felt the coil and it was very warm...much moreso than anything else on the intake. Once it died it would not re-start, even with the gas pedal all the way down to the floor. I thought it may have just flooded out. Apparently if it sits for a while and the coil cools down it re-starts and runs OK again.

The guy told me this is what's been happening. From cold it runs fine, then once it's been running a little while the...

Read more about this build here...

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Yes, you can clear the codes by unhooking the battery for about 10 minutes. Used to do that a lot with mine.

Nice score at any rate.

 

[tRustyK5]

OK, that'll be step two right after I replace the coil. I can tell the light has been on for a while...there is a bit of black tape left over the area where the light is.

I'm hoping the problem is nothing more than an O2 sensor or something similar. The exhaust is pretty bad overall.

The goal is reliable, might fix the rust just because I hate rust. Then wheel it. I'm hoping the rear is open so I can throw a lock right in it. Not a big fan of Gov Locks.

Forgot to add it has quite high mileage (418,000 km, 259,000 miles) yet the underside is dry. I couldn't find a single leak anywhere. I'm thinking at some point the engine has to have been rebuilt, probably the tranny too. Oil pressure at idle was ~40 psi.

Rene

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Sounds good.

Slap some 33's on, trim a bit, and wheel it for fun. Build the crewcab for the crazy ****.

 

[tRustyK5]

I know of a set of off brand 33x12.5's that i can prolly snag for free. Pretty worn, but might be good for a while yet. Maybe I'll throw in a 2" BL, trim a little.

Crewcab will be functionally pretty, if that makes sense. More of a resto-mod than a hardcore rock scraper.

Honestly, I'm trying to head off a bad case of builder's burnout. The last two years i had my Jimmy I spent the majority of that time wrenching, fabbing and spending. Once I thought it was done it was so over the top it wasn't hardly driveable on the street anymore. So, that went after stripping a bunch of good stuff from it, and I bought the Crew. I NEED to wheel.

Rene

 

[90BCk5]

sooooo.... a year till its on 40's and caged? im kidding....Have you decided what your modest goals are for the newly acquired rig?

 

[Corey 78K5]

Forgot to add it has quite high mileage (418,000 km, 259,000 miles) yet the underside is dry. I couldn't find a single leak anywhere. I'm thinking at some point the engine has to have been rebuilt, probably the tranny too. Oil pressure at idle was ~40 psi.

That's the beauty of these old trucks. Sure you might find one with a butt load of miles on them, but for a few hundred bucks you can always find a used engine to slap in them. For under under $1500 you can get a remand engine from most parts houses with a year warranty . Compare that to a new truck and you could pay up to $4000 for an engine.
The 350 I got in my Blazer I paid $300 for, it came out of a 94 K2500. I got it from my friend who owns a wrecking yard. The freeze plugs were shinny and clean, the edges of the gaskets that I could see were clean and new looking. The heads were freshly painted. So I took a gamble and bought it. I found out later from a very good source that the guy who had the engine before me had a complete rebuild and a new set of heads slapped on. It runs strong even with a Q-jet on it. I felt like I got a good deal. No way in hell I could have scored like that with a Vortech or L-series engine.

 

[tRustyK5]

sooooo.... a year till its on 40's and caged? im kidding....Have you decided what your modest goals are for the newly acquired rig?

Mostly just turn key reliable. After that maybe a 2" BL and some used 33's. Really gonna be ultra low budget stress relief...

Corey, even if the motor is junk i have a complete TBI 350 that ran really good from my crew cab that could be dropped in without spending a dime. The CC 350 only has 130,000 miles on it and ran real strong when I drove it home.

The Blazer motor sounded strong while it was running though.

Rene

 

[Corey 78K5]

Good for you Rene. To tell you the truth I miss the old days when I could hop in my Blazer and drive it anywhere, and believe me I did. It was my daily driver for 13 years and I would go any where in it. Trip to Oregon no problem. Trip to Reno fock it lets go. Now days with the suspension mods it is scary driving 10 miles from home with the body roll. One of these days I plan on getting a clean mid 70's Blazer (my favorite years) and just leave it be. Half ton axles, 203 case and all. Oh and the sway bar will not come out. Damn I miss what it once was. I put over 275k miles on the od before it broke and daily drove that focker another 5 years before I made it un-road worthy.
Damn you Rene for bringing up the past.......Damn you!!

 

[tRustyK5]

Yes...I made my Jimmy "unroadworthy" too. It's a slippery slope to be sure! The tipping point for my Jimmy was the Alcan springs. Yes they were flexy as hell, and made the truck damn spooky on the road. As much as I hated my old Rancho springs they did a fine job of keeping the truck stable.

Hell Corey, you were around here when I made my trip down to Austin TX to pick up another K5. you may even remember my trip to SoCal for a '74 blazer. Both trips I never did more than check the oil and go. I've made many other similar trips...Cold Lake Alberta, San diego (towing a 21 foot camper trailer)

More wheelin, less wrenchin is the motto for this one.

Rene

 

[Corey 78K5]

Rene I was here before you so yeah I remember. I even remember the goofy pics of you and Wes.

 

[tRustyK5]

Wes is a great guy! I stopped there twice, once on the way down and once on the way back. Really hospitable to say the least. Did i ever mention he and his wife made up a little care package for me? A styrofoam cooler full of road trip goodness. Chips, drinks etc etc. That was damn cool in my book!

That and we spent at least an hour on CK5 in the old chat room BS'ing with everybody together. Good times!!

Rene

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Good for you Rene. To tell you the truth I miss the old days when I could hop in my Blazer and drive it anywhere, and believe me I did. It was my daily driver for 13 years and I would go any where in it. Trip to Oregon no problem. Trip to Reno fock it lets go. Now days with the suspension mods it is scary driving 10 miles from home with the body roll. One of these days I plan on getting a clean mid 70's Blazer (my favorite years) and just leave it be. Half ton axles, 203 case and all. Oh and the sway bar will not come out. Damn I miss what it once was. I put over 275k miles on the od before it broke and daily drove that focker another 5 years before I made it un-road worthy.
Damn you Rene for bringing up the past.......Damn you!!

You just described my '89. I really don't plan on doing anything to it other than the basic "good to have" upgrades and repairs. Maybe some 33's, waiting for the Gov Bomb to explode, the rear springs are soft and one sits 1" lower than the other, better seats, new spring bushings and body mounts, etc etc. I might actually spend money on OEM type springs...I have no reason to buy lift springs since I can already fit the tires I want.

I never built the uber wheelers you guys have built but I spend soooo much money on stupid **** I didn't need over a variety of trucks. Oh well, live and learn.

 

[diesel4me]

Hey Rene!..glad to see you found a new toy,and I wish you all the best with it!..it could be the ignition coil crapping out,or if its got a distributor with the ignition module that controls the spark AND injectors,those often get flukey after high mileage and can only lose spark or fuel pulse when they overheat..

I too,am buying another 4x4!..
I have a young friend who had to drop out of college due to his job pulling out on his tuition assistance,so he decided to part with his 1985 K10 Suburban--offered it to me for a price I cant refuse,and despite the fact I cashed in my IRA 8 years early and dont have much money left to my name (and will be severely boned once it is gone),I decided to buy it anyway..I suppose I could spend the cash fixing all of the sins on my pickup,but what fun would that be.right??..once you get the disease your hooked for life,once bitten by the 4x4 GM bug..(how well you know,right??)..


The good points:it has--
Good running 6.2 diesel
Decent body,much better than I thought it'd be,for an 85-he got it off a guy in Rutland VT a year or two ago,who drove it home from Seattle WA,its original purchase point..so it hasn't seen too much salt yet,but isn't perfect either..
He was the 3rd owner..

Has new looking dual exhaust
Lots of brake work done--new lines,hoses,calipers,rotors,etc..
Good axles,3.73 ratio I think he said..
Bucket seats and console,like a K5 would have!
Racor fuel filtration sysyem..
(former owner put biodiesel compatible hoses and some kind of in tank electric pump in it,but never did run biodiesel--he cut a hole in the floor pan so the pump can be accessed without droping the fuel tank,something I dont mind a bit..)

Truck has 160K roughly..

The BAD is :

It needs a 700R4 tranny--loses overdive and reverse shortly after engine reaches operating temp..thats why its cheap..
Tires are worn and old 225/15's..
Tailgate has rot..but not too bad..

I figured if nothing else,this would make a good parts truck for my 82 K20,which has sadly gotten very rusted real quickly ,the past 5 years of salt and plowing have really taken a real toll on it..but the Burb is well worth fixing too,and its time my '81 G10 van thats been sitting since '03 found a new place to rust,I have owned it since 1990!..hate to get rid of it,but I feel another 4x4 is better to have than that now--it has the potential to push a plow too,and it would be nice to have a back up rig in case my pickup croaks..

I found a nice pair of barn doors yesterday in a junkyard,and I had just missed out on a nice tailgate (they crushed the truck before I got back to yank it ! )--so I grabbed the doors before they too dissapeared--but after looking here on CK5 last night I learned you cant swap them onto an '85,that sucks because I'd love to have barn doors and ditch the crappy gate and its window problems..they even had the right colors and would have matched,I knew it was too good to be true!.---but I suppose finding a good tranny or having the one in it rebuilt is fisrt priority..you just have to grab any parts you see fast now--one day and they are GONE in the junkyards now,IF you even find any!..

Best of luck on your new project..sounds like you found a good truck at a bargain price too..Sorry I have been absent here so long,things at home aren't any better than before and have steadily gotten worse as the years have passed--been difficult to get online and keep the bills paid..I hope to renew my membership here but right now I'm lucky to have a computer that barely works and a roof over my head..I miss posting here !.

 

[blazinzuk]

I had a problem that acted the same and it turned out to be the coil on mine too. an 87 tbi motor.

funny thing here is I went into the lounge first and saw your avatar and said to myself really Rene pickup himself up a blazer NICE

Congrats man and yes you can put me in the crowd of missing the day when my blazer was really roadable. Now I have the truggy I will soon be building another blazer with some slight almost all bolt on mods and driving it all the time

 

[Greg72]

Good work Rene!

The hardest part (for an OCD-type guy) is going to be NOT taking every aspect of the truck to the Nth degree....

There will probably be a good deal of satisfaction to be had with just doing basic cleanup of the truck, maybe force some kind of discipline with yourself that says "No project can take more than 8 hours to complete, and cost no more than $200"... That way you never allow the truck to take up residence on a set of jackstands for weeks at a time and it helps insure that you really DRIVE it.

There are certainly plenty of small projects that can bring it back to "reliable wheeler" status... replacing spring bushings, motor/tranny mounts, ball joints...fuild changes, re-pack wheel bearings, etc. Clean and rattlecan some of the old and crusty areas and call it good.

Keep the tires on the small side and avoid the avalanche of upgrades that larger tires always seem to cause!

Looking forward to some more details pics!

 

[tRustyK5]

Bob, it's great seeing you here again!

The new 'burb sounds really good, if you get a chance you should post up a few pic's.

Rene

Hey Rene!..glad to see you found a new toy,and I wish you all the best with it!..it could be the ignition coil crapping out,or if its got a distributor with the ignition module that controls the spark AND injectors,those often get flukey after high mileage and can only lose spark or fuel pulse when they overheat..

I too,am buying another 4x4!..
I have a young friend who had to drop out of college due to his job pulling out on his tuition assistance,so he decided to part with his 1985 K10 Suburban--offered it to me for a price I cant refuse,and despite the fact I cashed in my IRA 8 years early and dont have much money left to my name (and will be severely boned once it is gone),I decided to buy it anyway..I suppose I could spend the cash fixing all of the sins on my pickup,but what fun would that be.right??..once you get the disease your hooked for life,once bitten by the 4x4 GM bug..(how well you know,right??)..


The good points:it has--
Good running 6.2 diesel
Decent body,much better than I thought it'd be,for an 85-he got it off a guy in Rutland VT a year or two ago,who drove it home from Seattle WA,its original purchase point..so it hasn't seen too much salt yet,but isn't perfect either..
He was the 3rd owner..

Has new looking dual exhaust
Lots of brake work done--new lines,hoses,calipers,rotors,etc..
Good axles,3.73 ratio I think he said..
Bucket seats and console,like a K5 would have!
Racor fuel filtration sysyem..
(former owner put biodiesel compatible hoses and some kind of in tank electric pump in it,but never did run biodiesel--he cut a hole in the floor pan so the pump can be accessed without droping the fuel tank,something I dont mind a bit..)

Truck has 160K roughly..

The BAD is :

It needs a 700R4 tranny--loses overdive and reverse shortly after engine reaches operating temp..thats why its cheap..
Tires are worn and old 225/15's..
Tailgate has rot..but not too bad..

I figured if nothing else,this would make a good parts truck for my 82 K20,which has sadly gotten very rusted real quickly ,the past 5 years of salt and plowing have really taken a real toll on it..but the Burb is well worth fixing too,and its time my '81 G10 van thats been sitting since '03 found a new place to rust,I have owned it since 1990!..hate to get rid of it,but I feel another 4x4 is better to have than that now--it has the potential to push a plow too,and it would be nice to have a back up rig in case my pickup croaks..

I found a nice pair of barn doors yesterday in a junkyard,and I had just missed out on a nice tailgate (they crushed the truck before I got back to yank it ! )--so I grabbed the doors before they too dissapeared--but after looking here on CK5 last night I learned you cant swap them onto an '85,that sucks because I'd love to have barn doors and ditch the crappy gate and its window problems..they even had the right colors and would have matched,I knew it was too good to be true!.---but I suppose finding a good tranny or having the one in it rebuilt is fisrt priority..you just have to grab any parts you see fast now--one day and they are GONE in the junkyards now,IF you even find any!..

Best of luck on your new project..sounds like you found a good truck at a bargain price too..Sorry I have been absent here so long,things at home aren't any better than before and have steadily gotten worse as the years have passed--been difficult to get online and keep the bills paid..I hope to renew my membership here but right now I'm lucky to have a computer that barely works and a roof over my head..I miss posting here !.

 

[tRustyK5]

Good to hear that it might just be the coil. It obviously has a few other issues or else the Check engine light wouldn't be on...but the immediate concern is being able to drive it home. The truck is out in BFE about 50 miles from home.

So far I'm bringing the coil from my CC and a fully charged 900 CCA battery and obviously some tools. It has been sitting for about a year only being started every now and then, so all the fluids and filters will be first on the list once it is home.

Rene

I had a problem that acted the same and it turned out to be the coil on mine too. an 87 tbi motor.

funny thing here is I went into the lounge first and saw your avatar and said to myself really Rene pickup himself up a blazer NICE

 

[tRustyK5]

LOL, you didn't need me to tell you that Michael...

Rene

So apparently, I've been ahead of the curve all these years...

Rene, I wish you best of luck, and many trail miles with the new truck!

 

[Corey 78K5]

So far I'm bringing the coil from my CC and a fully charged 900 CCA battery and obviously some tools. It has been sitting for about a year only being started every now and then, so all the fluids and filters will be first on the list once it is home.

Take some brake fluid too, in case the wheel cylinders have been leaking while it has sat. Maybe a grease gun to give those zert's a quick hit.