Party time! Excellent!
But really, that red may come in handy at night.
But really, that red may come in handy at night.
CK5
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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.
The red and white was really what I was going for. The rest of it just makes me laugh when it's on. I'm done putting lights inside I think. Now I need to move on to adding all the USB ports and 12v outlets I have for it. Then I can finalize the wiring, loom it and tie it down.
Wiring new circuits is so fun. I'm finally far enough on the Suburban to start ordering electrical goodies for the dash, and I'm just a little bit giddy about it.
Wiring up the rear will be funner yet.
Hadn't thought about color-changing lights, but I'm curious to see how the red night lights work.
Nothing notable accomplished this weekend. I drove the K5 to Denver this weekend to visit my parents and prowl a couple of u-pull it yards for some parts to the K5 side of the project. I drove the K5 as a test run to see how it would handle at highway speeds and see how the fuel economy is impacted.
I figured out a couple of things.
#1. The blind spot created by the camper on the passenger side of the truck is large enough to hide a semi in. Even with the mirror adjusted out. Did ok until a couple of miles out of my parents place when I missed seeing a smaller car that was lower than the window line of the camper. I got a honk and some stern looks. Whoops. Blind spot mirrors are on order.
#2. I now can say what the impact of the camper shape is on the fuel consumption. I totally knew it was going to have an impact, but wasn't quite sure to what extent. I tried to keep it at 65 mph, but without cruise control i found my foot creeping the speed up. Still it knocked 4-5 mpg off of the normal the truck is capable of without the camper. As one would expect, the faster I go the worse it gets. Duh right?
#3. Handling didn't seem to change at all though. Even with wind. The truck was pretty high profile to start with, but I drove up in a pretty good storm Saturday, rain/snow mix plus wind. Didn't phase it.
#4. Driving a rig like this invites strangers to talk to me about it or get the "thumbs up" as they passed me on the road. Got chatted up when I stopped for fuel in Monument. Another guy saw me fueling it up and asked a ton of questions and commented how cool it would be to go where ever I wanted to camp. Good thing I'm not shy.
I'm disappointed most in the loss of fuel economy. Makes me regret not going with an 8.1L big block or at least going deeper with the gearing to keep the 5.3 more in it's natural torque band. I can't complain much, because I didn't think a camper was going to be a real possibility when the K5 was put together. I can go down that path later, don't have time before the desert trip.
I figured out a couple of things.
#1. The blind spot created by the camper on the passenger side of the truck is large enough to hide a semi in. Even with the mirror adjusted out. Did ok until a couple of miles out of my parents place when I missed seeing a smaller car that was lower than the window line of the camper. I got a honk and some stern looks. Whoops. Blind spot mirrors are on order.
#2. I now can say what the impact of the camper shape is on the fuel consumption. I totally knew it was going to have an impact, but wasn't quite sure to what extent. I tried to keep it at 65 mph, but without cruise control i found my foot creeping the speed up. Still it knocked 4-5 mpg off of the normal the truck is capable of without the camper. As one would expect, the faster I go the worse it gets. Duh right?
#3. Handling didn't seem to change at all though. Even with wind. The truck was pretty high profile to start with, but I drove up in a pretty good storm Saturday, rain/snow mix plus wind. Didn't phase it.
#4. Driving a rig like this invites strangers to talk to me about it or get the "thumbs up" as they passed me on the road. Got chatted up when I stopped for fuel in Monument. Another guy saw me fueling it up and asked a ton of questions and commented how cool it would be to go where ever I wanted to camp. Good thing I'm not shy.
I'm disappointed most in the loss of fuel economy. Makes me regret not going with an 8.1L big block or at least going deeper with the gearing to keep the 5.3 more in it's natural torque band. I can't complain much, because I didn't think a camper was going to be a real possibility when the K5 was put together. I can go down that path later, don't have time before the desert trip.
I forgot, what gears are you running?
4.10's. It isn't lacking for power if I nail the skinny pedal, but I found myself digging deeper when it started climbing Monument even on the lower pull of highway 105 instead of I-25. Keeping the 5.3 in it's sweet spot is more the idea here. I'm only at 1,800 rpm at 65mph if my calculator is right (because my dang tach is wrong!). 4.56's would have me about 200 rpm more, not a huge gain, but as we've found the LS platform likes to be wound tight to get the ponies out of them. I'll just have to put more miles on it and see if it's really that bad. One thing I picked up is a cruise module/servo off of a 2000 Silverado with a 5.3. If I can be more consistent with my speed it should help.
That doesn't sound right. What is your tire size?
How is your tach wrong? I haven't met someone with that problem before.
315/75-16 or 34.60" 4.10 gearing with .70 od. According to my Tremec app it's 1812, running the specs through another online app and it's the same result.That doesn't sound right. What is your tire size?
How is your tach wrong? I haven't met someone with that problem before.
The tach is off most likely because I pulled the needle off to install the new gauge face and probably didn't get the needle back on in the right position.
Ah. That would do it.
And yeah, 1812 is the right number for that combination, but the wrong number for that engine.
Yep it's below peak torque. Not ideal, but it's what I got to work with for now. Gonna deal with it. I might be a few minutes behind the mighty 8.1 on the highway the trip. Half the road mileage out to the start of the off road fun will be two lane highways through Colorado, four corners and on into Arizona. We'll hook up with I-40 at Flagstaff and put the hammer down west to the start of the Mojave road. I'll have our buddy Ian riding as co-pilot again as his CUCV Blazer/8.1 project won't be ready for primetime by the trip. So I won't go stir crazy riding solo and we'll split the fuel bill.Ah. That would do it.
And yeah, 1812 is the right number for that combination, but the wrong number for that engine.
Funny you are talking about the mpg, just yesterday I was contemplating what gearing would be right, the nv4500 puts mine with the 285/75/16 at 1800 also, and I actually don’t try to stay there because as you said the motor can’t pull it up and out like it should without making it..
but when I drop it to 3rd I am st 2850 or so at 70... and 200 or 300 more rpm puts us into the somewhat uncomfortable range where it’s revving... which I am not sure is a problem.. I just imagine that would kill economy more than help.. we need a gear in between dangit!
but when I drop it to 3rd I am st 2850 or so at 70... and 200 or 300 more rpm puts us into the somewhat uncomfortable range where it’s revving... which I am not sure is a problem.. I just imagine that would kill economy more than help.. we need a gear in between dangit!
Hey @Larry said they shift like dogs!t
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Exactly! Yeah, no bueno with a ZF. Nothing would be more sucktastic than a high revving sportscar-like engine mated to a dump truck transmission. I have the ZF S6-650 behind an 8.1L in an Silverado HD that I bought brand new and it is miserable transmission. Tough as nails but the shift gates are horrendous, and the gear ratio jumps are more matched if you. A NV4500 would be nice behind Rob’s 5.3L but even that would be an odd mix. Autos work so much better behind these high revving “LS” engines.
I've driven Larry's Silverado a couple of times and I'll agree that trans is sucktastic to shift unloaded. Besides that those things are flipping gigantic both in height and length. I bet my rear driveshaft would loose another 8" in length.
Going a little deeper in the axles would help keep the 5.3 wound up a little more into it's torque band. I don't have the time or the funds to pull that off right now. I need to blow through another couple of tanks of fuel to really see how the average is moving.
Going a little deeper in the axles would help keep the 5.3 wound up a little more into it's torque band. I don't have the time or the funds to pull that off right now. I need to blow through another couple of tanks of fuel to really see how the average is moving.
Oh yeah that will help my hot exhaust problem a ton. Somebody shot me a link to a supercharger for a 5.3 on craigs a couple of months ago, but cost was way outside my reality.
How was the exhaust supposed to route away from the tank from the factory?
I put that Burb tank in there and it’s all pipes in the way. Finally cut it behind the mufflers and put a 45* on each and angled them out as much as I can. It’s stealth like quiet as I’m sure you noticed
I put that Burb tank in there and it’s all pipes in the way. Finally cut it behind the mufflers and put a 45* on each and angled them out as much as I can. It’s stealth like quiet as I’m sure you noticed
