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'91 K5 Four Wheel Camper

This is the build for my 1991 V1500 Blazer, AKA the K5.3. It started out life being sold to the U.S. Government with a 350 TBI/700r4/241 combo. 4 years with a 5.3/700r4 Combo and now moving to an 8.1L Vortec and NV4500 5-speed.
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The gauge of wire is enough to go up on the current load. I plan on sticking with the 15 amp fuse to insure the wiring does not end up being the fuse. I can imagine the load going up with higher ambient temps, but probably not much.

I'm sold on the fuse buddy. Going to get one to throw in my bag of tricks.
 
Haven't done much lately. But today since I had to work I used the nice weather to figure out a solution to mounting the air tank. I've got it stuffed behind the winch below the radiator between the framerails.

I used a different technique to attach the brackets to the frame that one of my techs at work suggested. Sorry, no pics as my phone died while was out working on it. But the gist of the idea is since I couldn't get in between the upper and lower lip of the framerail to drill holes for the cross brackets I pinched the brackets to the upper lip of the framerail. Basically, the rearmost bracket is 1" wide 1/8th" flatstock as it's directly below the core support. A pair of holes are drilled just off the side of the framerail. A 4" chunk of 1/8th" thick 1" wide angle iron has matching holes drilled to the flat stock on each side. Bolts are dropped in from the top down and the angle iron chunks are installed with the bolts and clamp the underside of the upper frame rail lip. So with the pair of bolts clamping down the angle iron to the frame rail the bracket is locked in place and has zero movement. The front bracket is set up similar, but I used a full width section of 3/4" angle iron to bridge the rails.

Holes then got drilled in the cross brackets to mate up to the air tank. I bolted it in to the brackets after locking the rear cross bracket first and leaving the front loose to line up to the air tank mounts. Once I got the tank bolted up to the front bracket I locked it's position down to the frame on each side. Overall the setup is very solid. I'm going to drive it and recheck to make sure it's not coming loose.

Next up, mounting the air compressor. Running the wiring and hoses.
 
Here goes..

Looking over the winch to the area under the core support.
IMG_20170312_074003509.jpg

Looking up from underneath.
IMG_20170315_192229_707.jpg

Still got to paint the brackets.
 
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JoshHefnerX said:
What size is that, and is that drain up high enough not to get clipped or spooged on?
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It's a 3 gallon tank from Smittybuilt. The drain is the lowest part but it's still above the bottom of the bumper and factory tow hooks. I actually have the tank sitting upside down from what the instructions show for it. There was a handle that would be another low part in my use so I zipped that off with a cut off wheel on my dremel. In the normal upright position the drain would be between the mounting legs. But since that tapped hole is now directly on the top of the tank I had to relocate it to the opposite side. It's not directly on the bottom either, But it is close so I should be able to drain any moisture out of the tank from there.

The kit itself is very complete for adding onboard air. It came with two different sizes of lines, push-loc fittings for the tube to the tank and a gauge with a bracket for it. It also came with a female air hose quick coupler and the matching male end to put on a hose. The only other things one would need to make it a complete kit to add onboard air would be a 12v compressor, a 1/8" check valve to put on the output of the comressor, a pressure switch (on at 90psi or less and off at 115psi), a 30 amp relay and switch. I got those parts off of Amazon for under $30.

I've got a second gauge that I'll mount inside the console on my grey panel in there. Mainly so I can have an eye on the system status without getting out. I can fire the compressor up while nearing the end of the trail and then see when it gets full.
 
Got a viair pump was going to mount it to an inner fender. Been looking for places to mount a tank. Hadn't thought about the front up there.
 
Honestly, had I thought further ahead and bought the tank earlier I would have mounted to the bottom of the core support before putting the radiator in. Would be really simple to drill 4 holes drop bolts in and give them a quick tack with a mig to hold them stationary. You would just have to space the mounts where the bolts won't line up with the bottom of the radiator.
 
Was originally thinking the tank in the back above the axle maybe, but that's definitely food for thought.
 
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JoshHefnerX said:
Was originally thinking the tank in the back above the axle maybe, but that's definitely food for though.
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I thought about that location too. Then I thought about running the airline all the way back from the engine compartment mounted compressor. I didn't really want to run that much airline. I can mount my air hose coupler at the front and use a 20ft hose to reach both rear tires. Much easier and limiting the amount of air line use reduces chaff points and potential leaks.
 
Awesome! I was just thinking of the same place..lol @Larry do you have any pictures or a write up on how you mounted your winch?
 
We were at my buddy John's place for a BBQ Sunday and he gave me a late birthday present. He's found a guy on ebay selling the GM auto-dimming rear view mirror with the outside temp and compass display. He just put one on his Jeep and got one for me too.

IMG_20170314_213342543.jpg

The kit is kind of a DIY affair. It has the pigtail at the mirror with the individual wires marked and a connector and pigtail at the outside temp sensor. Add wires for power, ground and the signal wires to the sensor and it's done. Nothing too difficult. Hardest part is going to be hiding the wiring since my truck lacks any interior trim.

Question to the group... Is it possible to hide some small gauge wiring behind the inside lip of the windshield gasket? My gasket is new from when I had the glass installed and my glass guy did not glue it in either. I don't want to have to run exposed wiring even if it's in some type of loom if I don't have too.
 
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Too bad you don't have the trim piece, then it would be a no brainer to hide wires. Don't know if the seal would work.
 
Thanks guys. I'll tinker with it this weekend. Gotta buyer coming to look at the Impala Saturday. Hopefully, they do buy it so I can get some cash to buy shocks.
 
I'm looking forward to seeing what you do for the temp sensor. I have one of those mirrors in my '90 and it seems to have the capability of temp, but there was only the pigtail for power and compassion in the donor truck. I haven't tried to find out more about the sensor.
 
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