'91 K5 Four Wheel Camper

[Atl-atl]

The 5.3/700r4 are on the way to their new home with Mike. He got a couple of other stowaways on the ride too.

New home bound.

• ZooMad75
• Jul 11, 2020

In discussions earlier this week about what transfer case to use we talked about using a 205. I told him I had one. Then we talked about putting a manual trans, which I also have. So now he's got a choice but he has both with him to choose from.

Pretty cool to know he's going to put the stuff to good use. Thanks again for coming up Mike. Good to meet you in person.

Thank you! It was nice to meet you and your son and hangout talking shop for a few hours. I cant wait to get started on this

 

[#Burbslut]

Awesome build. I finally had some time to get through it.

 

[ZooMad75]

Thanks for checking it out.

 

[ZooMad75]

The first big puzzle piece is inbound. Order is in at Howell for the harness and ECM with the "Larry" tune. I need to sort the shopping list and go after all the stuff I need from Summit.

 

[ZooMad75]

Big order coming from Summit. At least the only heavy chunk coming is the flywheel. Lots of little items but a few biggies. Scored a deal on a Centerforce clutch on Amazon. I'm down to getting all the needed items to reseal the 8.1 which I'll order from work. I'll be covering the parts manager for the next week starting Friday. I'll have time to get what I need coming.

Waiting on Brown Santa now.

 

[ZooMad75]

Came home from work today to find that the brown Santa stopped by with my order of goodies from Summit.

This has all the parts needed for the intake system, clutch line, and adapters, clutch master cylinder reservoir, throttle cable, throttle body spacer and a couple other smaller parts. The flywheel was in the second box.

Christmas in July opening packages done, I went to the driveway to commence the final part of the "auto-delete" and get the first part of the manual trans swap going.

Anybody that's done this one knows the more you got the dash torn down the better. So I got to work carefully removing the column, dash bezel, dash pad and cluster.

Once the pedals are in, I can tidy up my wiring before the column goes back in.

A little tugging and twisting later, the truck barfed out the auto pedal and vacuum booster.

So much room for activities. It is a bonus to do this while the engine bay is empty. Trying to get to the inside bolts on the booster would have been a pain with either engine in there. Plus drilling out the holes for the clutch master would have been a chore.

Given what I do for a living, I have a tendency to rag on todays vehicle design engineers. But you got to hand it to the guys that designed the Squarebodies for interchangeability. Having a late Squarebody means the holes for the clutch master cylinder are already dimpled into the firewall. No template or guesswork required. Drill the two outer holes a little larger than the studs on the support rods and use a 1 1/4" hole saw for the middle one. Done.

I was in the middle of swinging the new pedal set under the dash when the rain came postponed my fun. Should be able to hit it again in a little bit.

 

[6872xtc]

How the heck is the support for the steering column so clean and shiny?
Did you do some polishing before the picture?

 

[ZooMad75]

How the heck is the support for the steering column so clean and shiny?
Did you do some polishing before the picture?

Ha ha. No polishing done. You've seen the outside you know that's not my normal thing. But Larry did do some paintwork inside the truck on the original build. He might have hit that area. I will say this, there was plenty of Utah dust under there, so the tan color is very forgiving to not show much in a picture.

I was able to get back outside and continue the knife fight that is stuffing the pedal assembly under the dash. Holy crap is that a pain in the ass. When Larry put the pedals back together after cleaning and painting them he snugged down the pivot bolt that the support rods attach to and then go through the new holes I drilled in the firewall. He said I might have to tweak or push them around to get them to line up when installing. No effing way. Between the wiring and the rigid positioning of the rods I needed another arm to move stuff around. I could get one stud lined up, but not all 4. I finally pulled the whole thing out to loosen the nuts on the pivot bolt and allow the support rods to move. Good thing I pulled it out because I neglected to install the brake light switch and swap another switch that is bolted to the back of the pedal support on my old set.

I ended up removing the outer strut completely and loosening the inner nut to allow the inner strut to move. That gave a lot of movement but meant I had to hold it in place with one hand as I maneuvered the rest of the assembly into place with my other hand. It was a knife fight. My arms show it. But I got the inner support lined up and finally got the other two studs on the main support. A little more pushing and pulling and I got the main section over the studs that the steering column bolts up with. I ran the nuts up on those and went out and tightened the studs on the firewall. I attempted to install the clutch master cylinder and it needed a little finesse work to the bottom of the center hole to allow it to fully line up. A little work with a round file did the trick and the master slid into position.

With everything snugged up I tossed on the first of many new parts bought for the build (actually the second since I bought new pedal bushings for Larry to install when he rebuilt the pedals). Fresh pedal pads. Disregard the wiring, that's tomorrows project before the column goes back in.

Just like factory..

 

[ZooMad75]

The wiring got cleaned up. I even broke out the label maker and added tags to the wires I had tapped in the fuse block. Next was getting the hydroboost unit mounted and attached to the pedals. The steering column went back in and I bounced from under the dash to under the hood a dozen times getting stuff into position. I'm sure my neighbors must think I'm crazy crawling in and out of the engine compartment so many times. I only made engine noises a couple of times while I was under the hood, I swear.

It took a while but everything is back in. Cluster, dash pad, bezel, and steering column.

The hydro boost is in place. I need to get the correct master cylinder for it too.

Check that one off the list.

 

[campfire]

I ended up removing the outer strut completely and loosening the inner nut to allow the inner strut to move.

That was my first thought when you posted the picture earlier. Even on a bare bones CUCV, the dash is still crowded enough to warrant removing the easy rod.

 

[Wes Harden]

So what hydro boost did you go with, and why do you need different master? Disc drum, or disc, disc?

 

[ZooMad75]

That was my first thought when you posted the picture earlier. Even on a bare bones CUCV, the dash is still crowded enough to warrant removing the easy rod.

Let's say I was overly optimistic going into the project.

I might have been less optimistic had I actually had to fully remove the one I picked up from the junkyard last year. I got lucky in that everything had been pulled around the pedals. All I had to do to get it out was reach in and pull it out of the cab. I didn't have a firm understanding of the level of BS one has to go through to pull one out much less put one in. Now I know.

So what hydro boost did you go with, and why do you need different master? Disc drum, or disc, disc?

Larry had an extra booster from a mid 80's 1 ton. Standard stuff. The reason I need a new master is the bore on the back of my current master cylinder is too large to fit within the bore of the booster. Plus it's really smart to match the master to the booster anyway. So I got a K30 master cylinder for an '86 truck with hydroboost. I'm going to stay with the disc/drum combo.

 

[ZooMad75]

I got home from work to find another package on the porch. The box looked rough and picking it up I figured it was the clutch by the weight. But this is not the way you want to find an expensive clutch with the box blown out like this.

I pulled the Centerforce out of the box without opening it, but sliding it out of the side where it was open. At least the clutch looks undamaged and no worse for wear.

Meanwhile, over at the BigAssGas Garage, the 8.1 patient is on the operating stand waiting for a seal and gasket transplant, color change and conversion to the Workhorse brackets. Which also includes a swap the long version of the 8.1 water pump and reinstalling the truck water cross over.

I'll have to deliver the NV4500 so we can prune the PTO unit off of it and the 241 for the change back to 32 spline input.

 

[max 02]

Good progress!

I like that you are keeping it drums in the back.
I find with my duramax anyway that rocks stick in between the calipers and roters a lot and the ebrake is less than outstanding.

 

[ZooMad75]

Good progress!

I like that you are keeping it drums in the back.
I find with my duramax anyway that rocks stick in between the calipers and roters a lot and the ebrake is less than outstanding.

I'm a firm believer in the KISS principle. Keep it simple (stupid, ie- me). I've got the 12x2" drums outback which has worked really well up to this point. Adding the hydro boost should make it feel more positive than it already is now. We don't do mud in our travels so disc's on the rear really aren't a major need. Plus if you don't get a later model 14 bolt with the integrated parking brake on factory discs you lose the parking brake. I don't feel Eldorado calipers are an option as those were pretty crappy back when they were new on the Eldos in the first place. Pistons typically stick. Now that I'm going manual I need a solid park brake anyway. What's better than gigantic drums for simple and strong?

 

[beags86]

your have a pto on your nv4500? Whats the 4500 out of?

 

[ZooMad75]

Mine came from a 98 3500 HD that had a roll back wrecker body on it. The PTO ran the hydraulics for the bed and winch.

Capt Ron expressed interest in it when it comes off. So I'm not trying to peddle it currently.

 

[beags86]

Mine came from a 98 3500 HD that had a roll back wrecker body on it. The PTO ran the hydraulics for the bed and winch.

Capt Ron expressed interest in it when it comes off. So I'm not trying to peddle it currently.

No worries from me. I don't have a nv4500 and don't plan on getting one anytime soon that would need a pto. Just wondering about it more then anything.

 

[85k5witha6.2]

Might be interested in the PTO if Ron’s not.

 

[ZooMad75]

I didn't get much done this weekend. Spent yesterday after work at Ian's house helping him assemble a refreshed L29 454 for his '86 truck. Got the short block together, waiting on head bolts. Should be a thumper with a rowdy roller cam and a good tune.

I did get the master cylinder bench bled and mounted up. Still need to do a full bleed on the brake system though. I also installed the power steering lines for the hydrobooster.

With rain clouds looming I packed it all in and took a big load of parts over to the Bigassgas garage. I've still got to load up the tranny, t-case for delivery. I need help with the trans though. Deadlifting it is likely to have me pop another hernia.

I've got a few more little things to order up, that won't be needed until later. Larry's got the goods to get going with the engine cleanup and reseal operation.

My goals for the week will be to bleed the brakes and pull the seats/console and flooring. It will be ready for another trailer ride to get the swap going.