Lmao!!
To take the time to make that... worth every minute!
To take the time to make that... worth every minute!
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.
It really comes down to how much load you intend to put on the battery. The way we travel, I have got away with using a second regular non-deep cycle battery in under the hood.
It is 800cca which I don't know what it equals as far as amp/hour capacity.
Even without a deep cycle or huge amp/hour battery I've done fine with power. Loads are minimum. I switched out all lighting for LED which saves a ton of capacity. The ARB fridge barely pulls .5 amp when at temp nearly freezing my beer. The stock furnace blower is probably the biggest amp hog I got, but that's only in action if it's cold when we camp, which isn't all the time. I do have 4 separate usb outlets for charging phones, GoPro cameras and other devices.
On a normal run the battery is fully charged on the way up. Usage when parked overnight still shows right at 12v the next morning on my monitor panel. Drive more the next day to wheel and by stopping for camp the battery is ready to go again.
I've taken big steps to limit the draw and having a monitor panel to keep an eye on it is a huge part of that. So far with my existing setup I have not run out of power by morning.
If I stayed in one place for more than a day I'd have to run the truck to recharge of course, but that's pretty rare.
I will upgrade to solar and a better battery but it's working fine to the point I'm not I a rush to change.
It is 800cca which I don't know what it equals as far as amp/hour capacity.
Even without a deep cycle or huge amp/hour battery I've done fine with power. Loads are minimum. I switched out all lighting for LED which saves a ton of capacity. The ARB fridge barely pulls .5 amp when at temp nearly freezing my beer. The stock furnace blower is probably the biggest amp hog I got, but that's only in action if it's cold when we camp, which isn't all the time. I do have 4 separate usb outlets for charging phones, GoPro cameras and other devices.
On a normal run the battery is fully charged on the way up. Usage when parked overnight still shows right at 12v the next morning on my monitor panel. Drive more the next day to wheel and by stopping for camp the battery is ready to go again.
I've taken big steps to limit the draw and having a monitor panel to keep an eye on it is a huge part of that. So far with my existing setup I have not run out of power by morning.
If I stayed in one place for more than a day I'd have to run the truck to recharge of course, but that's pretty rare.
I will upgrade to solar and a better battery but it's working fine to the point I'm not I a rush to change.
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It’s a rather funny story how this came to be. Every year for the annual Desert Trip we all secretly start hatching plans months in advance for some prank to pull on each other along the trip. One year Rob and Ian plugged a gizmo into my trailer light receptacle that played Christmas Train Music when I stepped on the brakes. This year Rob thought it would be funny to acquire some electronic gizmo that made cricket noises to plant in my camper and I bought that “thing” right off the boat from China from WISH for $1 to give away as an award to the first person that broke something, got stuck, ruined a tire, got lost, etc. The “thing” was originally mounted to a base with a ribbon around it to look like an Award. As it turned out they guy that should have won it by being the first to slash a tire left early so he missed out on his award but I was the next guy in line that was the first to get stuck and break things so I ended up winning my own award. Karma I guess…. But, Rob and Ian thought it would be funny to hang an Overland Bound flag on my hood as I sleep innocently in my sack drowning my broke truck tears to sleep. This custom knob was payback
Not adding a second battery, even with solar, will limit what your going to be able to use electronic wise. My recipe is a little different. Under the hood, I have a regular ole Interstate Group 75 for a start battery connected via dual batter isolator to a cheap O’Riellys Group 24 Marine along with another O’Riellys Group 24 Marine battery inside the camper. Both marine batteries are connected by several feet of carefully routed 2/0 battery cable. Then on the roof is a 100 watt solar panel to nurse both marine batteries. It took a few years of finding the right recipe to run everything without the fridge or inverter running out of juice. As it sits now the National Luna 12v refrigerator can run for days on end without ever starting the truck while using the inverter several times in between to run the coffee pot and other small appliances. Adding the solar panel and upping the battery cable size between the two marine batteries were the best investments made towards having adequate power. A solar panel really isn’t all that expensive or difficult to install once you start researching them. I know I was scared as hell even thinking of something like solor that had had zero experience with. Mine is a Renogy where a kit can be had for under 200 bux. When I bought mine about 8 years ago it was Black Friday deal for $99 for the entire kit.... controller, cable, panel and all. That was cheaper than a single marine battery at the time
Solar mounted on the roof
I run two 950 cca group 31 semi truck batteries on modified factory trays in my diesel K5. I love the 3/8" stud type terminals they use.
What about doing an additional pair of 6 volt batteries ran in series then hooked in parallel to the single factory battery or hooked in with an isolator. I know in the camp trailer world the 6 volt batteries hooked in series work so much better.
You need to kinda look at one part of each of these examples.
What about doing an additional pair of 6 volt batteries ran in series then hooked in parallel to the single factory battery or hooked in with an isolator. I know in the camp trailer world the 6 volt batteries hooked in series work so much better.
You need to kinda look at one part of each of these examples.
I was trying to find something that would fit easily in the other battery tray for the truck. So one battery for the actual truck and 1 for the camper. I was really hoping to not have a battery in the cabin just due to lack of space.
If there is an easy way to run 2x 6v batteries in the passenger side battery tray that would be pretty awesome.
I guess I can heavily modify the passenger side battery tray to hold a different style battery like you suggested. If they are hooked in series then parallel to the main battery with an isolator, can I just let the truck charge them while driving or do they need a special inverter charger?
Yeah the truck would charge them just fine in that setup. As @Larry suggested a small solar setup like his goes a long way too. My camp trailer has a 180W panel on the roof which is kinda small for what it is but it keeps my three group 27 marine batteries charged up just fine. I do have a master switch for the solar controller and I shut the solar off when it is parked at my house so that it's not putting 14+ volts to the batteries all the time and cooking them dry. They sit idle at 12.6 volts for months and if I peek my head in and notice the display getting closer to 12 volts I just flip on the solar for a day or two and top them of. My brother in law with the 6 volt golf cart batteries in his trailer had like a 400W panel setup and they say that with a 3000W inverter you can do just about anything except run the a/c unit. Even using the microwave works fine off a 3000W inverter.
I think running a couple of 6v batteries in parallel would be sweet if I could package them in the stock tray with minor modification. But I may end up going to a bigger deep cycle for simplicity sake. I've got a pretty large solar panel to put up on the roof I'm planning to install. Keep that battery charged but also run a large diode across my isolator solenoid to take advantage of the solar and keep the truck/cranking battery topped off at all times.
I went by Larry's last night to try out the clutch feel as he got the reservoir installed and bled. Feels pretty similar to my S10 with the same setup, but with a little more free play at the top of the pedal. Hard to judge without running the engine, but seems ok right now.
The Tildon reservoir got its own mount that Larry repurposed from something else. Came out pretty slick.
I would have used a stock reservoir if I could have located a correct cap for it. The positive side is the Tildon has double the capacity and is tucked further out of the way.
Little bits of progress coming along.
I went by Larry's last night to try out the clutch feel as he got the reservoir installed and bled. Feels pretty similar to my S10 with the same setup, but with a little more free play at the top of the pedal. Hard to judge without running the engine, but seems ok right now.
The Tildon reservoir got its own mount that Larry repurposed from something else. Came out pretty slick.
I would have used a stock reservoir if I could have located a correct cap for it. The positive side is the Tildon has double the capacity and is tucked further out of the way.
Little bits of progress coming along.
Looking good and the repurposed mount looks factory built. Great work as always.
Not seen in his pics are the stand off brackets he made for the hydroboost hose. He'll take some better shots of those. Even though we don't normally take the front clips off to do this in the past it is affording him the access to do all the little fine details without having to lean over the fenders. It's all right out in the open.
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The hydroboost hose stand off pictures are in the post with the shifters. I understand you got so excited to get your hands on that shift knob that you never noticed those
It's the gift that just keeps on giving isn't it. Son of a bit**!The hydroboost hose stand off pictures are in the post with the shifters. I understand you got so excited to get your hands on that shift knob that you never noticed those
How you like that motive bleeder? I got one recently but haven't tried it yet still too hot out.
I love my motive bleeder and power fill. Some of the most useful tools I own for fluids.
I'm pretty sure Larry likes the bleeder.
I didn't get much done on my own junk since I'm waiting on my guys in the body shop to shoot my inner fenders. But our buddy Andy needed some help on his Suburban he's been working on swapping a L29 454 into. All the heavy lifting is done, but he struggles with electrical. He wanted to keep the stock cable speedo from the 208, but the 4L80e needs a speed signal. So after doing some research he got a signal generator and converter box from Dakota Digital. That's what I was going to set up. Following the instructions I got it all plugged in and set up, but couldn't get my wifi obd2 device to work with my phone to read the data. We were able to take it for a road test and you could feel the trans making the shifts happen normally and even detent downshifting. So I might have it right, but really would like to get a real scan tool on it and watch the data live.
Here's the beast we've been working on. It's the same one that had been running a 6.2 diesel with a Banks turbo.
The new to him gasser.
We put some miles on it after making sure all the fluids were fully topped off. As it turns out we think he's got the wrong dipstick in the trans as it seemed like it was full but barely engaged. 3 more quarts later and it started moving. The beast pulls itself around pretty well with the L29. It needs exhaust and some final details to start racking up miles and working out the post swap gremlins that might creep up.
Felt good to get this one back on the road after being incapacitated for more than a year.
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I do like it, but it’s nowhere near as durable as the old school pneumatic bleeders like the picture below. I’ve had my Motive Bleeder a few years now and had to replace just about everything except the tank itself. The gauge has been replaced twice and pump once. The guys at Motive have been very cool and sent the goods all three times at no charge but still gamble if the damn thing is going to work when you need it or not. I even clean the hell out of it when I’m done in an effort to prevent the brake fluid from attacking it. That hasn’t helped much. In fact, it feels like the pump needs to be replaced again. My weed sprayer makes more pressure than this damn thing
I really wish I still had one like this from my dads shop, but they're 300 bux
Not sure which employee made off with the one from our shop 
So, people are often asking how to attach the throttle cable on an 8.1L when using a L29 7.4L cable operated throttle body. Here is how I’ve been doing it by making a bracket out of whatever I can find laying around in my stash to work with the Lokar TC-1000LS1U throttle cable. Rob’s turned out just like my K10 and Suburban. We wanted his to look especially nice since his won’t be running an engine cover. Getting pretty close to start attacking the wiring
This one is my Suburban
This one is the K10. Each one is looking better than the one before it
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Looking good as always. One note to the throttle cable is to avoid interference with the oil fill tube you need the later curved version. The early version is straight and close enough for the cable to rub on it when in use.I do like it, but it’s nowhere near as durable as the old school pneumatic bleeders like the picture below. I’ve had my Motive Bleeder a few years now and had to replace just about everything except the tank itself. The gauge has been replaced twice and pump once. The guys at Motive have been very cool and sent the goods all three times at no charge but still gamble if the damn thing is going to work when you need it or not. I even clean the hell out of it when I’m done in an effort to prevent the brake fluid from attacking it. That hasn’t helped much. In fact, it feels like the pump needs to be replaced again. My weed sprayer makes more pressure than this damn thing
I really wish I still had one like this from my dads shop, but they're 300 bux
So, people are often asking how to attach the throttle cable on an 8.1L when using a L29 7.4L cable operated throttle body. Here is how I’ve been doing it by making a bracket out of whatever I can find laying around in my stash to work with the Lokar TC-1000LS1U throttle cable. Rob’s turned out just like my K10 and Suburban. We wanted his to look especially nice since his won’t be running an engine cover. Getting pretty close to start attacking the wiring
This one is my Suburban
This one is the K10. Each one is looking better than the one before it
Larry's noted that before but it's worth bringing up with what he just posted.
the first angle of the throttle cable i thought it was attached to the oil fill 
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Ya, that's a for damn sure. The straight one is no bueno for with a L29 throttle body. Unfortunately, I didn't know any better back in 2007 when I did the 8.1 into the K10 as all of the 8.1s we use in production at Workhorse still used the straight one all the way to the end of production in 2009. Its almost like some GM engineer had the foresight to know that dudes wouldn't tolerate DBW years down the road as they started swapping better throttle bodys on them so they created a nice curved one to save us the hassle
Curved filler tube is 12581140, the cap 12573337, and the engine cover to match is 12574560
I do like it, but it’s nowhere near as durable as the old school pneumatic bleeders like the picture below. I’ve had my Motive Bleeder a few years now and had to replace just about everything except the tank itself. The gauge has been replaced twice and pump once. The guys at Motive have been very cool and sent the goods all three times at no charge but still gamble if the damn thing is going to work when you need it or not. I even clean the hell out of it when I’m done in an effort to prevent the brake fluid from attacking it. That hasn’t helped much. In fact, it feels like the pump needs to be replaced again. My weed sprayer makes more pressure than this damn thing
I really wish I still had one like this from my dads shop, but they're 300 bux
So, people are often asking how to attach the throttle cable on an 8.1L when using a L29 7.4L cable operated throttle body. Here is how I’ve been doing it by making a bracket out of whatever I can find laying around in my stash to work with the Lokar TC-1000LS1U throttle cable. Rob’s turned out just like my K10 and Suburban. We wanted his to look especially nice since his won’t be running an engine cover. Getting pretty close to start attacking the wiring
This one is my Suburban
This one is the K10. Each one is looking better than the one before it
Is the angle of the bracket determined by just that single bolt? Have you ever had a problem with the bracket rotating around the axis of the bolt? Seems like it would try to do that every time you stomp on the pedal hard enough.
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If I had known problems with this arrangement over the years I certainly wouldn’t do the same design to a 3rd rigIs the angle of the bracket determined by just that single bolt? Have you ever had a problem with the bracket rotating around the axis of the bolt? Seems like it would try to do that every time you stomp on the pedal hard enough.
A second bolt would be ideal but then again, I’ve never had an issue in over 10 years and almost 50K miles on the K10. If you really think about it, the sheathing doesn't have the working pressure on it......the cable does. The sheathing is nothing more than a guide for the cable to run
