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'90 K5 - The Nevada Blazer [Post 1437: School me on alternators)

I did a little bit of work on the vehicles today. I replaced the front brake pads/rotors on the Jetta and had some extra time so I decided to work on the Blazer. I got the driver's side battery tray painted and installed. :woot: I pulled my original passenger side battery tray and mounted the battery isolator switch on it, as is marginally visible in this picture:


IMG_20130529_152956_067 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr

The cool thing about it is that it's sort of hidden down there, but still very accessible. So, I can turn it to "off" when I know the truck will be sitting for a while (like when it's at home... :doah:) and have a little extra security about someone stealing it from my place.

My evaporator canister was mounted to my driver's side fender. So I chose to mount it on my new battery tray, and that worked out real slick.


IMG_20130529_150757_479 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr


IMG_20130529_152932_052 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr

I now need to get one of those battery hold-down blocks and make up some cables and I'll be set with the dual battery system.

For others who may be interested in doing this mod, the inner fender is dimpled in both places that you need to drill a 3/8" hole. The driver's side fender has both the holes already in it, one of which is already threaded, and the other of which is easily accessed for putting a bolt/nut on.

I also replaced the fuel filter. I don't know when it was last replaced - I've never done it. I've put about 15,000 miles on the truck since I bought it. Maybe. Hoping that will help with fuel economy/power.

I found that I've sprung another leak on my steering box. I think it's coming from the front cap. So, one more reason I'm excited about the hydro assist mod when I get back from Oregon in two weeks. Guess I'll pull the box all the way out and put a new seal kit on it.
 
Nice. Seems like it'll keep everything easily accessible too - I can still reach around it to access the lights, and it doesn't cover the top of the steering box either.
 
Yeah. I do. Owenst7 says he's probably got one. I tried to get one at the store today, and that particular store didn't have one. I'm sure I can come up with something locally.
 
colbystephens said:
Yeah. I do. Owenst7 says he's probably got one. I tried to get one at the store today, and that particular store didn't have one. I'm sure I can come up with something locally.
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I have a few didn't think of including it with the tray:banghead:
 
I nearly finished my auxiliary battery install today. I'm stoked. It's something I've wanted to do since I got this truck a year and a half ago. I really want the backcountry assurance that I'll always have battery power, so I plan to run it only on one battery at a time. I've put a reminder in my phone to switch batteries at the beginning of each month so that my auxiliary one will always be well charged.

I had originally routed my battery cable over the top of the core support, because there's where it was on my 6.2 diesel truck. I was real pleased to be finished, and then found that the hood wouldn't close. :doah: So, I still need to go back and re-route that cable, but I don't have time to do it today, and I leave for Oregon for 2 weeks tomorrow morning. I'll get it done when I return.

I built cables out of some 1 gauge cable. Here they are installed on the switch.


IMG_20130530_130837_408 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr

I routed them all out of the bottom of the switch to keep it clean.


IMG_20130530_130826_589 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr

Driver's side (new) battery installed.


IMG_20130530_144015_558 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr

And here's the tight clearance for my headlight relay modification.


IMG_20130530_144027_144 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr

Passenger side battery. Here you can see where I mounted the switch a bit better than my last picture of the same. I decided to just continue using the stock negative cable for now, despite it's funky ground wire going to the core support.


IMG_20130530_144004_233 by colbyjstephens, on Flickr
 
83ChevyK5Blazer said:
If you come thru gold beach I'll be working all weekend :thumb:
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I'd love to come to Gold Beach, but it's hours and hours out of the way for where we're going. :( The area between Brookings and Gold Beach is some of my favorite coastline. Nearest I'll be to you is Klamath for about 10 min tomorrow.
 
Well, while I'm away from home for a couple weeks I have been thinking about long-term plans for my truck and was hoping you guys would brainstorm with me.

I need to come up with a plan for a new engine. My TBI 350 has 203,000 miles on it, and it smokes reasonably bad. It's not horrific, but it smokes when I get on the throttle from a light or when I start it up. It is also gutless. I'm properly geared for my tire size, so it's definitely engine-age related. I'm hoping it'll get me through another year, but I'm concerned that the place that smogs my truck each year may not continue to over-look the smoke - as I technically shouldn't be passing smog. I have to smog it annually, and my next time is August, if I recall right.

Anyway, I was thinking my best option would be to just get a crate TBI 350 stock replacement.

What I'd love to do is a Cummins swap for the mileage + power combination. But, that's a reasonably complicated swap, and I'll almost never make the cost back out of that in fuel mileage improvements - especially since I put so few miles on the truck. In the nearly 2 years I've owned it, I think I've put on less than 10,000 miles.

Then I was looking at y5mgisi's thread on the 5.3L swap, and it looked comparable in cost to the crate TBI 350, but with significant power increases. I figure my fuel mileage will be at least as good as I'm getting now - probably better because the engine will be healthy. Maybe he'll chime in with what kind of mileage he's getting if he's now gotten the computer tuned properly. I think he was getting 12 with it tuned for the wrong engine. I am getting 13ish now, so I can't really go wrong with that 5.3L route.

I'd like to have a reasonably powerful truck, but I don't need crazy power. It looks to me as if the 5.3L can make serious power if I ever want to in the future. Based on my limited reading, it's a closer-to-drop-in engine than a 6.0L - so the simplicity appeals to me.

Anyway. Do you guys think of any other options that I ought to be considering?

BTW: I'd like to keep my young 700r4. It's a stock replacement with about 30K miles on it.

:ears:
 
while everyone loves an LS swap, myself included. its hard to beat a drop in crate. dhcomp did his crate swap in his driveway over a weekend by his lonesome I believe.

another idea to look into, is to use the vortec block, I know with the intakes and a few other things you can get it setup to use the vortec heads/roller block and bolt on the tbi fuel setup. but that also leads into other little steps like tuning and what not. as far as simplicity goes, my vote would be a drop in crate. maybe adding a small tbi friendly cam.
 
Smokinthehippies said:
while everyone loves an LS swap, myself included. its hard to beat a drop in crate. dhcomp did his crate swap in his driveway over a weekend by his lonesome I believe.

another idea to look into, is to use the vortec block, I know with the intakes and a few other things you can get it setup to use the vortec heads/roller block and bolt on the tbi fuel setup. but that also leads into other little steps like tuning and what not. as far as simplicity goes, my vote would be a drop in crate. maybe adding a small tbi friendly cam.
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I am attracted to the simplicity of the crate. What kind of power do you think I'd make with a cam?

y5mgisi makes the LS swap sound so easy - which is part of the temptation. Maybe I'll just drive my truck up there and drop it off for a few weeks.... :haha:
 
5.3 silly! It is quite easy. The only complications come in when you care how "factory" the swap turns out. Having had both a tbi 350 and 5.3, the choice to me is a huge no brainer. If you bought everything ahead of time and had everything as prepped out as you could, the swap in your truck would take two weekends working by yourself. Mpg wise, it's still hard to say. But yes, I was getting 12 with the ls1 tune in it. Now I have other issues that hinder me from giving a good reading. My 12 is getting a consistent 18-22 on the highway and about 14 in town. I'm sure we could work something out on me doing the swap for you. :whistle:
 
Anyway, now that I'm off my 5.3 soap box, there is something to be said for the ease and simplicity of a crate motor. But, [steps back on soap box] if you have the time, your pulling the engine anyway, why not go for something that runs better, smoother, has more power, is (imo) more reliable, gets better mpg(and it will) when the only added effort is the wiring aspect?
 
colbystephens said:
I am attracted to the simplicity of the crate. What kind of power do you think I'd make with a cam?

y5mgisi makes the LS swap sound so easy - which is part of the temptation. Maybe I'll just drive my truck up there and drop it off for a few weeks.... :haha:
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hard to say. but I think an easy reliable 300hp with cam and tuning should be reasonable.


y5mgisi said:
5.3 silly! It is quite easy. The only complications come in when you care how "factory" the swap turns out. Having had both a tbi 350 and 5.3, the choice to me is a huge no brainer. If you bought everything ahead of time and had everything as prepped out as you could, the swap in your truck would take two weekends working by yourself. Mpg wise, it's still hard to say. But yes, I was getting 12 with the ls1 tune in it. Now I have other issues that hinder me from giving a good reading. My 12 is getting a consistent 18-22 on the highway and about 14 in town. I'm sure we could work something out on me doing the swap for you. :whistle:
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now having the experience/assistance of someone who has done it, would completely sway my vote the other direction. all the little sneaky gotchas would be covered before hand so it should go way smoother, good option if that works out.
 
So just read through the last little bit. Those little breathers you can off ATVs and get them at ATV shops.

I have had a couple 14 bolts that puked fluid out. It looks like a ton but its really not that much fluid. Fluid ( as I am sure you know) can look like a whole lot when its really not that much at all. I ran a breather hose down under the axle that back above the axle a couple inches higher than the axle and it never puked again. There was nothing wrong with my axle either. So:dunno:

As far as the 5.3 swap vs crate motor its no contest in my mind. I helped a little with a 5.3 swap in a blazer. He is only on 35s but pretty sure its a 6" lift. Dead stock motor with headers and a pretty nice exhaust and he nets about 16 mpg average ( both hwy and city) over the last several months. But he has a power tune you could probably get another mpg with a mileage tune.

Nice to see you being fluid enough to make a plan change. Hydro assist is a huge advantage out on the trail. Even on my crew cab which should (:haha:) only see mild wheeling I am going to run hydro assist
 
I think I have a lot of 5.3 reading to do... :deal: I am getting less afraid of wiring these days. Not that I'm real comfortable with it - but I believe I can do it now, though it would be SLOW.

Mitch, the closer we get to finishing up at Univ. of Nevada (one more year), and thus the closer we get to having children, the more we are thinking to move back to the *gulp* PDX region... :doah: So, perhaps I'll be back in OR when I am ready to do a swap.

Sidetrack: Nearest I could live to PDX, though, is WAY out in backcountry Oregon City. I like it there. I'm wondering about Silverton. Since my interest is to go into politics in some capacity, living reasonably close to Salem would be a plus. I'd LOVE to live in Hood River, but that's quite the treck to Salem if I had to commute. Oregon City also has plus of being 5-20 minutes from Claire's folks, which is key for when we have kidlets. And, it's not the worst commute in the world to Salem if I had to work there.
 
Side note: I just bought all new rear drum equipment to do a brake overhaul when I get home from OR. My truck has started shaking pretty badly when I hit the brakes these days, and the front end is brand new (well, a year and a half old.... 6,000 miles-ish?). I never have replaced these brakes, I just ran them as-is on my green truck. When I swapped this axle into the '90, I learned that the adjuster was set such that the shoes were barely contacting the drum - if at all. :doah: So, for all I know, these drums/shoes are OEM from '76. :haha:

I decided to just get new drums rather than waiting to see if mine were surfaceable (I HIGHLY doubt they are.) I briefly looked into a disc swap, but didn't think the cost and extra labor to get it set up correctly would be worth the effort. I went with new hardware too, but decided against new adjuster hardware. Sticker shock has me a bit - $250. :yikes: I was budgeting more for $215. But, I bought the stuff at my favorite parts store in Oregon City (Clackamas Auto Parts). The guys there even remembered me, which was cool, because I haven't been in there in years.

Another side note... The parts store guy's son really loved my dog, as I typically brought her with me to the store. When I moved to Southern Oregon nearly 5 years ago, his kid was really concerned that he would never see my dog again. I think he even got teared up about it. He was 6 then. I brought her back in once or twice when we visited PDX over the last few years, and the kid was there once, I think. Anyway, it's been at least 2 years since I was in there now. Parts guy says his son still remembers my dog. :haha: I figure I'll bring her with me tomorrow when I go in to pick up the drums, though I doubt the kid will be there. I think kids are in school here till Wednesday when they break for the summer.
 
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