beags86
Eastbound and Down
Why does the workhorse have two filters, and furthermore what makes the workhorse lines different and why you would want to use them?
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.
Why does the workhorse have two filters, and furthermore what makes the workhorse lines different and why you would want to use them?
The lines didn't require two filters. At the time the use of the second filter was the quickest and easier way to make the connection without adapter fittings. Which we switched out the second filter for an adapter to simplify the system. We did that when the 2nd pump went in.
The workhorse lines allow for a factory like connection at the fuel rails for a return style system. They are braided steel for flexibility over the back of the engine and down to the frame. Plus they are they same fittings at the rails for a LS or 8.1L.
beags86
Eastbound and Down
Workhorse lines are readily available?
Ehh, probably not anymore. Since workhorse as I knew it is no more, international is slowly weeding out the workhorse parts availability.
I'd have to dig up the part number for the lines and run it through the workhorse parts catalog at work.
When they were available it was a slick way to do it, no doubt.
I'd have to dig up the part number for the lines and run it through the workhorse parts catalog at work.
When they were available it was a slick way to do it, no doubt.
beags86
Eastbound and Down
Workhorse refers to p30 chassises? Or what is considered a workhorse?
I would think gmt400 truck stuff would be just as a good way to do it?
P30 parts isnt all of it. There was another model of chassis we had for RV's that gm never built. W20-22-24. Those differed greatly from the old p-chassis that dated back to '73 with the squarebody trucks. Solid front axle, wider and taller frame rails, Allison 1000 and 2000 transmissions, huge Dana rear axles and 4 wheel disc brakes with 2 piston calipers.
Some of the stuff Larry found comes from the w chassis, some from the commercial step van chassis. My air intake tube is from a w62 step van chassis with a 6.0 gas engine.
We'll milk that cow for parts until it goes dry, but that day is pretty close I think.
Page 2 of Larry's 8.1 swap resource guide lists the workhorse part numbers and shows the parts catalog images.
Are there adapters I should buy now while they are still available for the future install of my 8.1?
Welp, can't get into the catalog. I tried and my parts manager tried. Won't let us log in. Pretty much scratch these off the list if you need something like it.
beags86
Eastbound and Down
Guess today was the day eh?
Since it looks like the workhorse route is out we can use the same adapters the LS swap guys go with for braided steel and an fittings.
Might be. I'll try Monday. I was in there a couple weeks ago looking for something and it worked.
When I was at the International dealer back in '13 I remember when we had to start working on those workhorse motorhomes since International took them over. They sucked and we were not happy. The only good RV is one that you don't have to work on.
So one little side trip I did before heading out for the Nomad Convention was getting a couple needed pieces of the puzzle for the next phase of the build. The big chunk was getting the hydro pedals needed for the manual trans swap. A high school buddy of mine lives in the Longmont area and has a son that works for a guy that buys and sells junk cars. It's a yard, but one of those not open to the public kind of yards. My Dad had mentioned to him that I was in need of a few key items and the guys son had just dismantled a 91 Suburban. I went up there last Saturday to check it out. Got all that I needed.
The pedal set came from a 85 K30 cab. I was prepared for a couple of hours to extract and it actually took me less than 5 minutes. The cab was loose and off of the frame. The guy had removed the master and hydro booster previously and pulled the nuts on the studs on the outside of the firewall. All I had to do was pull the loose column out of the way and pull. Easy..
The other items were to allow the use of AC later. The large radio hole bezel for the 90-91's is not reproduced at all right now. I could have used an earlier one but this one was the right price and absolutly mint. Zero cracks, no broken corners and even all the silver trim is perfect. It's just dusty but will clean up like new.
The dash side trim was just as nice.
I got the ducts and vent for the far left side also. Pretty good day in the yard for sure.
The pedal set came from a 85 K30 cab. I was prepared for a couple of hours to extract and it actually took me less than 5 minutes. The cab was loose and off of the frame. The guy had removed the master and hydro booster previously and pulled the nuts on the studs on the outside of the firewall. All I had to do was pull the loose column out of the way and pull. Easy..
The other items were to allow the use of AC later. The large radio hole bezel for the 90-91's is not reproduced at all right now. I could have used an earlier one but this one was the right price and absolutly mint. Zero cracks, no broken corners and even all the silver trim is perfect. It's just dusty but will clean up like new.
The dash side trim was just as nice.
I got the ducts and vent for the far left side also. Pretty good day in the yard for sure.
Nice score!!!
That’s a nice bezel!
Thanks guys, I got lucky on the parts for sure. Hopefully, I'll be able to get access to this guys place again if I need anything else.
AC may happen with the engine swap since Larry and Ian went in on a wrecked 91 K5 a few weeks back. It had what looked like an aftermarket add on a/c unit behind the dash. It was a non-a/c truck to start with, but the aftermarket unit looked to be completely independent of the stock heater. It used the stock like outlets in the bezel and dash but had its own evaporator case on the firewall above the stock heater box. So the heater still had the floor outlet and defroster, but the a/c was only connected to the dash vents. What was common was a different hvac control head that had a selection for a/c on the upper slider. Seems as if the fan switch ran the two separate blowers separately depending on if you ran heat or a/c. All we got from the truck was the evaporator/blower case, lines to it and the control head and cables. The condenser was hammered in the wreck. But the thought is that we can use a stock or aftermarket condenser, dryer and build lines to match up to the a/c compressor on the 8.1. It may be more of an issue to run than it's worth, but it might be worth a try. I'll try to get some pics together of the setup as he pulled it from the junk truck. Maybe somebody will recognize it. Who knows.
AC may happen with the engine swap since Larry and Ian went in on a wrecked 91 K5 a few weeks back. It had what looked like an aftermarket add on a/c unit behind the dash. It was a non-a/c truck to start with, but the aftermarket unit looked to be completely independent of the stock heater. It used the stock like outlets in the bezel and dash but had its own evaporator case on the firewall above the stock heater box. So the heater still had the floor outlet and defroster, but the a/c was only connected to the dash vents. What was common was a different hvac control head that had a selection for a/c on the upper slider. Seems as if the fan switch ran the two separate blowers separately depending on if you ran heat or a/c. All we got from the truck was the evaporator/blower case, lines to it and the control head and cables. The condenser was hammered in the wreck. But the thought is that we can use a stock or aftermarket condenser, dryer and build lines to match up to the a/c compressor on the 8.1. It may be more of an issue to run than it's worth, but it might be worth a try. I'll try to get some pics together of the setup as he pulled it from the junk truck. Maybe somebody will recognize it. Who knows.
Since I haven't posted anything in here for a while I figured throw a quick update in. Nothing really changed, see the BB last minute thrash thread for BB prep.
We roll out tomorrow morning for Poncha Springs to meet up with @Capt Ron and then boogie for Montrose. Leaving Montrose we will hit the new Rimrocker trail out of there and spend the night on the trail (hopefully Buckeye Reservoir). Thursday morning we will complete Rimrocker with a slight bypass over La Sal pass which will put us outside of Moab.
For those that want to follow along I borrowed Larry's GPS spot for the trip to record our run and have that little peace of mind for the wife that we are moving along and not stuck or broken down.
https://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0v6Rlob93kMcaExIc8U5mRn378feiJhFQ
Truck is loaded. Just needs us to hop in and go.
We roll out tomorrow morning for Poncha Springs to meet up with @Capt Ron and then boogie for Montrose. Leaving Montrose we will hit the new Rimrocker trail out of there and spend the night on the trail (hopefully Buckeye Reservoir). Thursday morning we will complete Rimrocker with a slight bypass over La Sal pass which will put us outside of Moab.
For those that want to follow along I borrowed Larry's GPS spot for the trip to record our run and have that little peace of mind for the wife that we are moving along and not stuck or broken down.
https://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0v6Rlob93kMcaExIc8U5mRn378feiJhFQ
Truck is loaded. Just needs us to hop in and go.
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Why aren't you here yet? You've been talking about it for weeks.
My son and I got back from Moab Yesterday at 5:00 after leaving at around 9:00 in the morning. We drove together as far as Grand Junction and split up for our respective cities after stopping for a splash of fuel.
Before I dive deep for the full blow trip report, some trip stats. Over the 5 days we were out, we covered 816 miles getting an overall average fuel economy of 11.36 mpg. With the route over highway 50 and the climbs over Monarch and other minor passes and La Sal pass in Utah we gained a total of 40,780 ft in elevation and spent a total of 39 hours in the truck over the 5 days. That's a lot of seat time for sure! I'll skip back to the beginning now.
The plan was to meet up with @Capt Ron and his son Mason in Pagosa Springs Wednesday morning. We were mainly packed up the night before and just had to add the last essentials before bugging out that morning. Yes, Bent I didn't forget my duffel bag. I did manage to forget the fixings for our fajitas I was going to cook for the four of us on Thursday. Missed the tortillas, cheese and peppers. I did forget my hoodie, but lucky for me the heat in Moab made it ridiculous to need one to start with.
Ron got caught in some construction traffic on 285 and I left a little early which meant we had a little time to kill. So we stopped for some breakfast burritos at Sonic in Salida and found a spot at a gas station a stones throw away from the intersection of 285 and 50 in Pagosa. Can't miss one of these trucks coming at you.
We boogied over Monarch pass to Gunnison and then on into Montrose. Monarch was fun to climb in 2nd (ugh) but pretty.
Who's on my ass? I swear now that Larry's got his vintage Warn bumper and KC's if I only glanced in the mirror I'd think it was him behind me and not Ron.
Monarch Pass:
Rolling to Gunny.
Blue Mesa is full from last winter and spring snow pack. You Southern Cal guys are welcome for your water!
The beginning of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison river.
While in Montrose we stopped at the chamber of commerce office to pick up a free map and stickers for the Rimrocker Trail. Like I said over in the Blazer Bash thread, if you plan on taking this trail get the map. The Rimrocker is really a collection of existing county roads and forest service roads drawing a fairly direct line from Montrose to Moab. The issue is the trail markers on the ground are only lined up with the paper map. We found several inconsistencies with the GPX file I downloaded from the website to use with my Gaia map software with my iPad.
A quick note you may notice of our photos while on Rimrocker. It's not a hard trail at all. Remote yes, but not technical at all. There's a couple of good steep climbs, but even a bone stock K5 or any 4wd truck with decent clearance can do it. Neither Ron or I shifted out of 2hi on any section we went on. Could be a trail fit for a Subaru, but there would be some spots you'd drag the belly on where ours never came close. However, the lack in technical challenge is more than made up by the views. Wow, the views. The topography change is rapid which goes along with the change in environment. Pine forests to green valleys, then to red rock desert landscape and back into the trees. There's quite a bit of the trail on the edge of a bluff or mesa. So you still have to pay attention to driving or a wrong move could be one you won't have time to regret. Let the passenger take the pics if you got one.
The first part of Rimrocker is county roads out of Montrose that starts climbing up into a pine forest. There were many a hunting camp set up for the coming season. Eventually we came across a sign for an overlook so we stopped to check it out.
We could see weather ahead so we took a couple of more shots and hit the dirt again.
Continued....
Before I dive deep for the full blow trip report, some trip stats. Over the 5 days we were out, we covered 816 miles getting an overall average fuel economy of 11.36 mpg. With the route over highway 50 and the climbs over Monarch and other minor passes and La Sal pass in Utah we gained a total of 40,780 ft in elevation and spent a total of 39 hours in the truck over the 5 days. That's a lot of seat time for sure! I'll skip back to the beginning now.
The plan was to meet up with @Capt Ron and his son Mason in Pagosa Springs Wednesday morning. We were mainly packed up the night before and just had to add the last essentials before bugging out that morning. Yes, Bent I didn't forget my duffel bag. I did manage to forget the fixings for our fajitas I was going to cook for the four of us on Thursday. Missed the tortillas, cheese and peppers. I did forget my hoodie, but lucky for me the heat in Moab made it ridiculous to need one to start with.
Ron got caught in some construction traffic on 285 and I left a little early which meant we had a little time to kill. So we stopped for some breakfast burritos at Sonic in Salida and found a spot at a gas station a stones throw away from the intersection of 285 and 50 in Pagosa. Can't miss one of these trucks coming at you.
We boogied over Monarch pass to Gunnison and then on into Montrose. Monarch was fun to climb in 2nd (ugh) but pretty.
Who's on my ass? I swear now that Larry's got his vintage Warn bumper and KC's if I only glanced in the mirror I'd think it was him behind me and not Ron.
Monarch Pass:
Rolling to Gunny.
Blue Mesa is full from last winter and spring snow pack. You Southern Cal guys are welcome for your water!
The beginning of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison river.
While in Montrose we stopped at the chamber of commerce office to pick up a free map and stickers for the Rimrocker Trail. Like I said over in the Blazer Bash thread, if you plan on taking this trail get the map. The Rimrocker is really a collection of existing county roads and forest service roads drawing a fairly direct line from Montrose to Moab. The issue is the trail markers on the ground are only lined up with the paper map. We found several inconsistencies with the GPX file I downloaded from the website to use with my Gaia map software with my iPad.
A quick note you may notice of our photos while on Rimrocker. It's not a hard trail at all. Remote yes, but not technical at all. There's a couple of good steep climbs, but even a bone stock K5 or any 4wd truck with decent clearance can do it. Neither Ron or I shifted out of 2hi on any section we went on. Could be a trail fit for a Subaru, but there would be some spots you'd drag the belly on where ours never came close. However, the lack in technical challenge is more than made up by the views. Wow, the views. The topography change is rapid which goes along with the change in environment. Pine forests to green valleys, then to red rock desert landscape and back into the trees. There's quite a bit of the trail on the edge of a bluff or mesa. So you still have to pay attention to driving or a wrong move could be one you won't have time to regret. Let the passenger take the pics if you got one.
The first part of Rimrocker is county roads out of Montrose that starts climbing up into a pine forest. There were many a hunting camp set up for the coming season. Eventually we came across a sign for an overlook so we stopped to check it out.
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