Can't really do that because It's gotta go through the cat. converter.
CK5
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'90 K5 - The Nevada Blazer [Post 1437: School me on alternators)
- Thread starter colbystephens
- Start date
Nice progress.
Looks AWESOME!!
Looks AWESOME!!
Connect them together after the t-case but before the cat.
owenst7
1/2 ton status
Register the truck at an address "not in" washoe county and you won't have to pass smog
Due to the location of everything, that wouldn't really be possible. I think under the bell housing will be best in my case. I don't want him to rework everything, because the exhaust is only 5 months old!
Ok, here's a mini-update. I'll post pics and whatnot later. Today I ordered up the parts I need for the tie rod. I noticed that my stock tie rod nearly comes into contact with the Dana 60 cover. So, going to a thicker tie rod with normal ends isn't an option. I called up RuffStuff and ordered these:
along with weld in bungs and a piece of DOM. Even with $21 shipping, it was cheaper than the EXPENSIVE DOM we have here locally. I think all said and done my total is $140 for the tie rod. That's about the price of an ORD tie rod, though I didn't notice that they had an option for an offset tie rod end.
Cool ends... didn`t know there was such a thing.
Are those the weld on ends attached?
And have you finished it?
What you see pictured in that image are the offset tie rod ends, jamb nuts, and weld-on bungs. Based on comparing that pic with the drag link ends I have w/ weld-in bungs, the thread on that tie rod probably goes nearly to the end of that weld-in bung's sleeve.
I'll hopefully be able to get to it this afternoon. I'm waiting for those parts from RuffStuff, who said they'd ship yesterday. I live just a couple hours down the highway from them, so I'll see them today or tomorrow. I also ended up having to have them add a small section of tube for my drag link, as the piece that "owenst7" gave me was 3 inches too short. So I haven't got any pics of how the weld-in bungs work yet.
Spent a few minutes trying to track down the short in my horn/interior light/radio/CB circuit. It's definitely not related to my CB or Radio, as I disconnected them from the fuse block and plugged in a fuse which immediately blew. So that leaves me with a short in my lights or my horn. I checked the plug for the hard top light, and it's good. I figured that'd be the only light wiring I would've messed with. Then I found the horn wire goes right behind the transmission cooler lines I installed. I didn't have time to pull the grille to check it out, so hopefully that's where the issue is because I HATE tracking down electrical gremlins.
Going to bleed the brakes this afternoon. Cut out the sway bar this morning, and cut the front spring center pins down to size. After that, I'm just waiting on getting my steering components and my rear driveline and the truck will be drivable!
Of course, there's more on the to-do list, but that's drivable, anyway. If I have time, I might try to route the parking brake lines too. I should mention that the shocks that were on the truck happen to be long enough at maximum extension to connect to my axles. It'll make for a terrible ride, but at least something will be connected while I'm driving it around town while I wait for whatever shocks I order to arrive.
On the topic of your exhaust, I wouldn't have been too happy with the way they just dumped the pass side into the drivers side pipe. Just doesn't look like it has good flow. I wouldn't doubt if it's costing you some power.
I'm not worried about that. I have plenty of power, and the system is set up to produce a vacuum that sucks the exhaust out of the truck.
Any properly flowing exhaust setup will have scavenging. 496 is right about that being a rather abrupt angle.
I'm not worried about that. I have plenty of power, and the system is set up to produce a vacuum that sucks the exhaust out of the truck.
If the exhaust shop that built it told you that, he fed you a line of sh......
Bank 1 may be flowing past the tube opening creating a scavenging effect for bank 2. But what is scavenging bank 1? Nothing. Bank 2 is just creating a disruption in flow for bank 1.
When you have both pipes coming down into a "V" they create a negative pressure which helps scavenge each pipe. That "T" you have now is just dumping one exhaust flow into another. The overall power loss may be negligible, but could be costing you in gas mileage.
magik235
Still Alive
I will talk with him about it when I take it in to have it re-routed. One thing that should be added to this discussion is that the exhaust goes from manifold to 2.5" collector to 3" to 3" cat to 3" straight-through muffler. As such, the increase in size as the exhaust moves through the system, it creates the vacuum. I can see how the vacuum would be stronger on the driver's side, but I have a hard time visualizing how significant that would be. 
Anyway, I will mention it to him.
On another note, I bled the brakes today. The pedal is still a touch spongey, but I'm not getting any more bubbles out of the bleeders. Figure I'll see if I can borrow a vacuum bleeder and see if I can get it firmer. I also got my TREs, weld-in bungs, and DOM for my tie rod and drag link today. Made some measurements and I'll get it welded up first thing in the morning.
For those interested in the process, I set the tires so that they were about 1/8" toe in. I did this by measuring center to center on the tires, which was easy to do since my tires still have the casting line down the middle.
I then measured center-to-center on the tie-rod holes. For me, that measurement was 54.5". I have a Dodge Dana 60, so I'm 1" narrower than the Chevy version.
I then screwed the bungs onto the rod ends to a point where they would have 0.5" of adjustment in either direction. I measured the distance from the center of the tie-rod shank to the base of the weld in bung. This was 3 and 7/8 inches long. Multiply by 2 for two TREs = 7.75".
Subtract the total length of the TREs from the overall length of the tie rod and I come up with 46.75" to be cut for the DOM.
To confirm my measurement, I simply put one TRE in the passenger side and adjusted it out as far as it would go with still good thread engagement in the bung. This happens to provide me 1" of adjustment on that end. Then I adjusted the other TRE all the way down so it was as short as can be and put it into the DOM tube and the driver's side knuckle. I placed the DOM tube on top of the passenger side TRE and measured to the base of the bung along the DOM. My measurement came up as 46.5". So my math produced a number .25" longer than my test-mock up. This can easily be accounted for in the rough adjustment of the bungs on the threads, and the rough measurement of the bung's base to TRE center.
So, I'm going to cut my DOM at 46.5". Pics tomorrow.
Anyway, I will mention it to him.On another note, I bled the brakes today. The pedal is still a touch spongey, but I'm not getting any more bubbles out of the bleeders.
Figure I'll see if I can borrow a vacuum bleeder and see if I can get it firmer. I also got my TREs, weld-in bungs, and DOM for my tie rod and drag link today. Made some measurements and I'll get it welded up first thing in the morning. For those interested in the process, I set the tires so that they were about 1/8" toe in. I did this by measuring center to center on the tires, which was easy to do since my tires still have the casting line down the middle.
I then measured center-to-center on the tie-rod holes. For me, that measurement was 54.5". I have a Dodge Dana 60, so I'm 1" narrower than the Chevy version.
I then screwed the bungs onto the rod ends to a point where they would have 0.5" of adjustment in either direction. I measured the distance from the center of the tie-rod shank to the base of the weld in bung. This was 3 and 7/8 inches long. Multiply by 2 for two TREs = 7.75".
Subtract the total length of the TREs from the overall length of the tie rod and I come up with 46.75" to be cut for the DOM.
To confirm my measurement, I simply put one TRE in the passenger side and adjusted it out as far as it would go with still good thread engagement in the bung. This happens to provide me 1" of adjustment on that end. Then I adjusted the other TRE all the way down so it was as short as can be and put it into the DOM tube and the driver's side knuckle. I placed the DOM tube on top of the passenger side TRE and measured to the base of the bung along the DOM. My measurement came up as 46.5". So my math produced a number .25" longer than my test-mock up. This can easily be accounted for in the rough adjustment of the bungs on the threads, and the rough measurement of the bung's base to TRE center.
So, I'm going to cut my DOM at 46.5". Pics tomorrow.
Ive mostly kept up with your build but never posted to tell you how awesome I think it is
. Makes me want to scrap all my junk and start over doing something similar.
I also like your "shop" When I was in college I did all kinds work in the parking lot that got me some goofy looks. Ive swapped axles, trannies, done suspension lifts, gear/locker installs, and even tore down the motor for new heads and cam. You get creative when you dont have all the tools you need or a good place to work.
. Makes me want to scrap all my junk and start over doing something similar.I also like your "shop"
When I was in college I did all kinds work in the parking lot that got me some goofy looks. Ive swapped axles, trannies, done suspension lifts, gear/locker installs, and even tore down the motor for new heads and cam. You get creative when you dont have all the tools you need or a good place to work.
Thanks. I had opportunities to work at better places. In fact, the director of the sculpture studio said I could build a rock crawler in the shop if I wanted, and that he could justify it as art. There's CRAZY cool tools there, but it just made most sense to me to do it about 2 blocks from where I live, next to the green truck so that I can swap parts as needed.
I had opportunities to work at better places. In fact, the director of the sculpture studio said I could build a rock crawler in the shop if I wanted, and that he could justify it as art. There's CRAZY cool tools there, but it just made most sense to me to do it about 2 blocks from where I live, next to the green truck so that I can swap parts as needed.
Got my tie rod and my drag link built today. Going to install it after lunch. 
I'm real pleased with how they turned out. I'll get some better installed pics with a real camera when I go later. These are just with my wife's phone.
I'm real pleased with how they turned out. I'll get some better installed pics with a real camera when I go later. These are just with my wife's phone. 
y5mgisi
1 ton status
They look bad ass!
Very nice!
I built my first car on the lawn at my mom and dads place
I built my first car on the lawn at my mom and dads place
I just went up and installed the tie rod and drag link. I'm a bit concerned about clearance on the DL. I am considering clearancing the engine crossmember a touch. It clears everything fine, but I'm thinking about suspension compression on the passenger side in wheeling, I may have contact with the crossmember.
Yes, it was snowing.
Steering-1 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Clearance with the wheels straight. It is actually below the crossmember, not between the two pieces of the channel. I didn't take measurements because it was cold and snowing...
Steering-2 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Turning all the way driver's side, the clearance is pretty good. The pic doesn't indicate it very well though:
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Steering-3 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr[/IMG]
Turning all the way passenger, the drag link is nearly inside the channel of the crossmember:
Steering-4 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Steering-5 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Steering-6 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Thoughts on this stuff? I need to sit down and do some trigonometry and see how much the drag link is going to move upwards as I flex the suspension upwards on that side. I figure max up travel is going to be about 5" or so. Over a 30" arm, that equates to very little movement under the crossmember... but I need to calculate and test. It almost looks like it will clear fine no matter what, due to the channel, but I need to cycle the whole suspension and rotation of the steering to confirm.
Yes, it was snowing.
Steering-1 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Clearance with the wheels straight. It is actually below the crossmember, not between the two pieces of the channel. I didn't take measurements because it was cold and snowing...
Steering-2 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Turning all the way driver's side, the clearance is pretty good. The pic doesn't indicate it very well though:
Steering-3 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr[/IMG]
Turning all the way passenger, the drag link is nearly inside the channel of the crossmember:
Steering-4 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Steering-5 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Steering-6 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
Thoughts on this stuff? I need to sit down and do some trigonometry and see how much the drag link is going to move upwards as I flex the suspension upwards on that side. I figure max up travel is going to be about 5" or so. Over a 30" arm, that equates to very little movement under the crossmember... but I need to calculate and test. It almost looks like it will clear fine no matter what, due to the channel, but I need to cycle the whole suspension and rotation of the steering to confirm.
y5mgisi
1 ton status
I would think a little clearancing with a plasma cutter would do the trick ad still maintain the effectiveness of the cross member.
