wayne
3/4 ton status
Looks good. Can't wait to see it finished.
CK5
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'90 K5 "Project Sanity" Sold 7/5/2018
- Thread starter tRustyK5
- Start date
Corey 78K5
1 ton status
Yeah in a chicken legs sort of way.
At least the new K5 is befitting of the screen name. Or at least the latter of it.
chulisohombre
1/2 ton status
looks pretty fn good for the price.looks to be a few new parts in the engine bay as well,if you didnt repalce those yourself that is.extra set of rims/tires comes in handy.and it was also nice of him to buy the patch panels for you to replace already.interior in decent shape also.i always liked the fuzzy dice look from the rear view myself.that chit looks charp man.
Yeah, I noticed a few new parts under there too. New Alt, looks like the MC is new, new lower rad hose and a few little signs it's been worked on recently.
I haven't put anything into it yet. It does need exhaust, so I'll probably see what I can cobble together. I have a 2.5" 50 series Flowmaster around here, plus the crew cab exhaust I can rob from.
Corey, it definitely has the "rusty" part down at least for the time being. The "trusty" part remians to be seen. My 81 Jimmy earned that name by never leaving me on the side of the road....
Rene
I haven't put anything into it yet. It does need exhaust, so I'll probably see what I can cobble together. I have a 2.5" 50 series Flowmaster around here, plus the crew cab exhaust I can rob from.
Corey, it definitely has the "rusty" part down at least for the time being. The "trusty" part remians to be seen. My 81 Jimmy earned that name by never leaving me on the side of the road....
Rene
I haven't looked at the tags on those rockers...I just assumed they were offshore. I'll be very surprised if they aren't.
Just went and looked...made in Taiwan.
Rene
Just went and looked...made in Taiwan.
Rene
Corey 78K5
1 ton status
I'm sure once your done going through it you will make it reliable.
Corey 78K5
1 ton status
Either way it's all foreign to Rene anyways.
Well those are things that will never go ON the truck, doesn't say stuff that was already there... Im assuming that the budget truck keeps the tranny although that nv4500 could accidently fall in place one afternoon
Yeah, I was just giving him a hard time. Every time I get into my $100 1985 K5 my left foot hits the floorpan when I go to turn the key switch. I damn near swapped out the automatic in my K5 for an SM465 like I did in my Burban, but I put the SM465 out of the 1982 K10 I bought for the tranny, into my buddies 1985 K10. Until I find another 4 speed truck for $100, I guess I am stuck with the TH350.
Martin
Martin
Yeah, gonna run what I bought for now. Still not a big fan of the 700R-4, however I have to grudgingly give some respect where it's due. This is the original tranny and the truck has 259,000 miles on it. 
Working on one of my least favorite parts of a K5...the tailgate/window situation. Current tailgate has a good regulator, seemingly good motor (spins nicely anyways) but the lower sash that the glass is held to is rotted beyond help. Without the glass being held by that sash things don't work. The truck came with a second tailgate, which also has the glass and sash seperated. At least this one is not rotted. I broke down and ordered two plastic rollers and the filler strip that kinda glues the glass to the sash so I can fix this right. Nothing makes a K5 more useless than a non op tailgate...
Total cost was under $25.
Found a nice butchered hole in the rear floor, I guess they didn't want to drop the tank to fix the fuel pump.
It appears they drilled holes in a rough circle until they could pry a piece of the floor out above the sender/fuel pump area. I'll make a nice cover using a spare chunk of bed floor I have.
The vinyl flooring and insulation is definitely coming out today. It's all soaked. I'd rather deal with more interior noise than have moisture against the steel 24/7/365 until it rots.
Tailpan and rear floor? Damn solid...no issues there at all that I can see.
As for the rust over the rear wheel wells I'm thinking I can remove the hardtop and make a cut at the top of the bed rail, then hang new bedsides. I can 'make' K5 bedsides using the bedsides from the 8' pick-up box I got a while back. They're straight and not rusty. The only K5 part I'd have to mess with is the fuel door, which is a little damaged. Should be much cleaner than patch panels + fill + whatever.
Rene
Working on one of my least favorite parts of a K5...the tailgate/window situation. Current tailgate has a good regulator, seemingly good motor (spins nicely anyways) but the lower sash that the glass is held to is rotted beyond help. Without the glass being held by that sash things don't work. The truck came with a second tailgate, which also has the glass and sash seperated. At least this one is not rotted. I broke down and ordered two plastic rollers and the filler strip that kinda glues the glass to the sash so I can fix this right. Nothing makes a K5 more useless than a non op tailgate...
Total cost was under $25.
Found a nice butchered hole in the rear floor, I guess they didn't want to drop the tank to fix the fuel pump.
It appears they drilled holes in a rough circle until they could pry a piece of the floor out above the sender/fuel pump area. I'll make a nice cover using a spare chunk of bed floor I have.The vinyl flooring and insulation is definitely coming out today. It's all soaked. I'd rather deal with more interior noise than have moisture against the steel 24/7/365 until it rots.
Tailpan and rear floor? Damn solid...no issues there at all that I can see.
As for the rust over the rear wheel wells I'm thinking I can remove the hardtop and make a cut at the top of the bed rail, then hang new bedsides. I can 'make' K5 bedsides using the bedsides from the 8' pick-up box I got a while back. They're straight and not rusty. The only K5 part I'd have to mess with is the fuel door, which is a little damaged. Should be much cleaner than patch panels + fill + whatever.
Rene
In a word...unlikely. Manual tranny swap wouldn't be the end of the world, but it does open several cans of worms. It'll end up being a "might as well" thing.
Rene
I understand. I wanted to do it to my Suburban, but the TH700R4 worked, so I just went with it. When the TH700R4 finally went out, I was gonna rebuild it. Then I thought better of it and swapped it out for an SM465. Pretty simple swap, but a lot of work to tackle if the current automatic is working.
Martin
Martin
You have my sympathy Rene..I have to do the same to my Suburban ,fix the tailgate...I wanted those BARN DOORS I found at the boneyard to FIT dammit!..I liked my '72 K5 better,with a "truck" tailgate and the window made into the topper,like it should be!..seems every vehicle I owned with a tailgate gave me grief when the window fell off the tracks ,or the crank handle or power window motor failed..(I had a '68 Caprice wagon,and a '72 Chevelle "Nomad" wagon that had a tailgate that also oprened like a door too!..that one was the only one that never gave me any trouble,despite its complicated hinge setup!)..
I regret not grabbing the tailgate I saw at the junkyard that day,I think as soon as they find out you want parts off a vehicle and dont buy it right then and there,they crush it on purpose..sure seems that way to me,this wasn't the first time that happened to me at that place..the dam thing was the right color dark blue too,wouldn't have matched the two tone paint job,but would have been easy to correct that too..
I spent some time lying under it yesterday (first day it hasn't poured since I got it) and surprisingly ,its very rust free and clean underneath,it actually looks better than it does topside..the doors are solid ,as are the rockers,but there are ptches of bare rusty metal on them that feel very thin and would poke thru easily if you try wire brushing them..I'm sure it has "some" rot ,and maybe some bondo hiding more somewhere,any 25 year old vehicle here has some rust..The owner told me that someone before him cut the floor where the sending unit went,I haven't been brave enough to roll the carpet back and see if it was a hatchet job yet!..they put an aftermarket fuel pump (electric) mounted on the outside of the frame rail,right above the shackle,and the rubber line is lying right against it!--THAT will neeed to be fixed!..
..
I may try coupling a TH400 car "short tail" tranny to a spare NP208 case I have,if they fit together,they may well end up in this burb,and I'll deal with driveshaft issues if I must..I'd prefer to simply replace the 700R4 with another,its always "bad enough" putting back in what came out,I'm beginning to detest "modifying" everything ..if I were younger and had the cash I'd swap in a manual tranny,but I'd prefer the A-833 OD one over an SM465 for street driving..the SM465's are great off road trannies or for a dump truck,bus,or other heavy duty use,but I dont like the gearing in them.second gear to third is too big a jump..I swapped one into my 72 K5 and regretted losing the TH350 rather quickly...
I regret not grabbing the tailgate I saw at the junkyard that day,I think as soon as they find out you want parts off a vehicle and dont buy it right then and there,they crush it on purpose..sure seems that way to me,this wasn't the first time that happened to me at that place..the dam thing was the right color dark blue too,wouldn't have matched the two tone paint job,but would have been easy to correct that too..
I spent some time lying under it yesterday (first day it hasn't poured since I got it) and surprisingly ,its very rust free and clean underneath,it actually looks better than it does topside..the doors are solid ,as are the rockers,but there are ptches of bare rusty metal on them that feel very thin and would poke thru easily if you try wire brushing them..I'm sure it has "some" rot ,and maybe some bondo hiding more somewhere,any 25 year old vehicle here has some rust..The owner told me that someone before him cut the floor where the sending unit went,I haven't been brave enough to roll the carpet back and see if it was a hatchet job yet!..they put an aftermarket fuel pump (electric) mounted on the outside of the frame rail,right above the shackle,and the rubber line is lying right against it!--THAT will neeed to be fixed!..
..I may try coupling a TH400 car "short tail" tranny to a spare NP208 case I have,if they fit together,they may well end up in this burb,and I'll deal with driveshaft issues if I must..I'd prefer to simply replace the 700R4 with another,its always "bad enough" putting back in what came out,I'm beginning to detest "modifying" everything ..if I were younger and had the cash I'd swap in a manual tranny,but I'd prefer the A-833 OD one over an SM465 for street driving..the SM465's are great off road trannies or for a dump truck,bus,or other heavy duty use,but I dont like the gearing in them.second gear to third is too big a jump..I swapped one into my 72 K5 and regretted losing the TH350 rather quickly...
Slapperbar
Retired Navy NDT Examiner
Good score!
chulisohombre
1/2 ton status
i never really noticed there being a big jump from 2nd to 3rd in my 72 blazer and sm465.i guess if the engine is powerfull enough it doesnt make too much difference.nv4500 would probably be nite and day difference in gear splitting though.ive never driven a truck with five speed.but if i went from one to the 4 it would probably change my mind.cant believe that tranny made it over 200,000 miles rene.crazy.sounds like til they had that problem with the engine it had to be pretty well maintained and driven nicely to be the original tranny.
If he doesn't want it...i got a 3.73 geared 14 SF 8 lugger i will give you if you come and pick it up
More lame updates. Fixed the exhaust today....
Sounded sh!tty, big exhaust leak, tailpipe hanging etc etc. The PO lived in an area where he didn't have to have the truck emissions tested, so he removed the cat and added a crappy cherry bomb. Looked like a 2 1/4" cherry bomb hack welded to the 3" factory pipe, and the factory 3" tialpipe welded to the cherry bomb.
So I crawled under my Crew cab and see 3" exhaust, with a cat. I cut the cat out and welded that to a 50 series 2.5" Flowmaster I've had for years.
Fit pretty nicely if I do say so myself.
At this point I have no idea what to do for a tailpipe, or how much hassle it'll be to build one from pieces...so I go back under the Crew Cab and have a better look at the tailpipe. It's 2.5" same as the Flow. Looks like it might help, so I cut it off and chuck it up under the Blazer. I was able to kinda stick the one end into the muffler just enough to hold it up, then used a jack stand under the rest to hold it up. I'll be damned if it didn't fit like a glove. Over the diff nicely, a "S" bend to get around the tank and it exited right where stock did. I'd rather be lucky than good any day!!
So I proceed to weld it up, pretty happy with the whole ordeal so far. I fire it up and it still sounds horrible. I investigate and find the exhaust is leaking at the driver's manifold. The newer TBI stuff uses studs with springs to seat the exhaust to the manifold and donut. My springs on that side are fizzucked, so there is a 1/4" gap. Nuts are never gonna turn again from the looks of it either.
So, I had a smoke and thought about it some. Decided to grab my floor jack, push up the exhaust to seat it to the manifold and tack weld the ring to the pipe to hold it in place. Yeah, it's pretty 'hack'...but it also worked and didn't cost me anything.
I may find some cheap headers one day, for now this works and works well enough to get me through E-testing in a week or two.
Rene
Sounded sh!tty, big exhaust leak, tailpipe hanging etc etc. The PO lived in an area where he didn't have to have the truck emissions tested, so he removed the cat and added a crappy cherry bomb. Looked like a 2 1/4" cherry bomb hack welded to the 3" factory pipe, and the factory 3" tialpipe welded to the cherry bomb.
So I crawled under my Crew cab and see 3" exhaust, with a cat. I cut the cat out and welded that to a 50 series 2.5" Flowmaster I've had for years.
Fit pretty nicely if I do say so myself.
At this point I have no idea what to do for a tailpipe, or how much hassle it'll be to build one from pieces...so I go back under the Crew Cab and have a better look at the tailpipe. It's 2.5" same as the Flow. Looks like it might help, so I cut it off and chuck it up under the Blazer. I was able to kinda stick the one end into the muffler just enough to hold it up, then used a jack stand under the rest to hold it up. I'll be damned if it didn't fit like a glove. Over the diff nicely, a "S" bend to get around the tank and it exited right where stock did. I'd rather be lucky than good any day!!
So I proceed to weld it up, pretty happy with the whole ordeal so far. I fire it up and it still sounds horrible.
I investigate and find the exhaust is leaking at the driver's manifold. The newer TBI stuff uses studs with springs to seat the exhaust to the manifold and donut. My springs on that side are fizzucked, so there is a 1/4" gap. Nuts are never gonna turn again from the looks of it either.So, I had a smoke and thought about it some. Decided to grab my floor jack, push up the exhaust to seat it to the manifold and tack weld the ring to the pipe to hold it in place. Yeah, it's pretty 'hack'...but it also worked and didn't cost me anything.
I may find some cheap headers one day, for now this works and works well enough to get me through E-testing in a week or two.
Rene
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