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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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I got the trans mount replaced tonight. Had 5 quarts of synchromesh fluid delivered from the local ac Delco distributor for 15 bucks a quart less than my price was at the dealership. I dumped 4.5 quarts in.

I got the shifter base sealed up and installed. Shifter boots are in but need repositioned as it got dark.

I was going to fire it up but figured since the truck is between the garage and the house next door I better not.

Tomorrow I need to put the t-case skid on and finish the shift boot install. Then cleanup and put everything away. I should be able to drive it to work Thursday.
 
Buttoned up a couple small items and played parking rodeo to move cars out of the way to get the Blazer to the street.

Initial start up went ok, though the new release bearing chirped a bit but started to quiet down ad I drove it. It’s got all the gears again. No grinding rocks noise.

I tried out low gear/low range. It’s definitely low. Can’t wait to use that off road.

I took it for a spin to put some fuel in it. The trans went through the gears good. Shifts were crisp and zero odd noises. On the way back from getting gas I felt a slight miss and there is a little exhaust leak again.

I’m going to drive it to work to get a feel for it.

But at least it’s back in one piece and running under its own power again.
 
I figured out why it runs crappy. It’s setting a code for the bank one O2 sensor not reading. Crawled under it tonight and discovered my dumbass pinched the O2 harness between the bellhousing and the block. So I fiddled with the damn harness and got it out after backing off the two bolts on that side to the bell housing.

Wires were smashed flat. Not sure if I’ll get the wire repairs done tomorrow night after work. I may just pack the ZR2 for the weekend. I don’t want to rush the repair and cause more issues.
 
Wes Harden said:
The loom or the sensor side?

Got to be very good splices on O2 circuit, don't need high resistance messing with the signal to computer
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Hence my reasoning not to rush it. Plus the location is absolutely the worst for trying to do any wiring repairs. Laying on my back I can just reach the spot with my arms stretched out. I was stressing over the location for that reason.

Though my Dad asked me a question last night that had a bell go off. He asked how much length is on the harness right there. I said actually quite a bit. He asked if there was enough to unplug it from the o2 sensor and pull it up into the engine compartment. Duh, yeah there’s enough. Larry mentioned the same thing in a text too.

I’ll take a look at it tonight.
 
It’s fixed. Unplugging it and pulling up under the master cylinder made it easy to fix. Took 15 minutes while on a video call with Larry heckling me over the fact I smashed the wires in the first place. And smash them I did.

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Cut out an inch of each wire to eliminate the smashed section. Solderless heat shrink connectors from the GM playbook with my ratcheting crimper and a little heat to finish it off. I checked operation before I reloomed and routed back into position. Bingo. O2 action was back to normal.

Taped and loomed I put the harness back and took it for a run around the neighborhood. Holy cow is it back. Pulls in every gear and builds speed quickly.

No reason to take the ZR2 when my dedicated home on wheels is mobile again. It’s overdue for a road trip anyway. Throw a bag in tomorrow, hit the store and boogie.

Totally relieved.
 
Bent77 said:
Don’t let Larry grief you too much. He’s staying home tomorrow to hold his purse
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Oh trust me the shit was rightfully shot back at him for not coming tomorrow. He’s not happy he’s missing out but he’s got to keep the girls happy too.
 
Pics from the run are over in the thread for that.

But the Blazer was back to its old self. Hauling ass and sucking gas. I don’t know why but it likes cruising at 80mph for some reason. Mileage sucks at that speed but It just likes it there.

Note to self. I need to Refill my propane bottle after a week of camping with using the furnace. I got halfway through cooking burgers and dogs when I ran out of propane. Ron saved the day with a 1 pounder to get the rest of the stuff cooked.

Overall the Blazer is back to running status. Larry and I are planning a weekend to do the front springs and steering box.
 
Step one to fixing my self inflicted body damage. Got a fresh oem fender today. Braved the mud and snow today.

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Got some paint mixed up in rattle cans to jamb it at least. Larry has a spare door to fix the other half of my mistake.
 
Had new latches come in a month ago for the roof of the camper. Decided to knock that off the list now. Pretty simple, remove the old and replace. Main reason behind changing is the old latches didn’t have the tab through the outer handle to put a carabiner in to “lock it” from falling open. I had on on the passenger side constantly come loose and was out of adjustment to keep some tension on it as it latched.

Most concerned about the latches coming loose on the highway and having the top blow off at 70mph.

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Yesterday’s progress got slowed down as I was solo most of the morning. Larry and his wife had to take off for family emergency. So I pulled the truck in and started plugging away at the spring job.

It was going good until I went to remove the front spring eye bolt. It was seized in the sleeve and would not budge. Out came the sawzall and chopped off both sides.

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The springs got ORD greaseable Kevlar units. Including the upper shackle location. Larry got back around lunch and we proceeded to finish the passenger side and hit the other. All spring eye bolts came out but the upper shackle bushing sleeve didn’t want to come out. Larry built a contraption to remove it with a long bolt and a big socket to pull it through. While he fought with that I swapped out my dead steering stabilizer for a fresh one.

That took us up to almost dinner time. We cleaned up and pulled the truck back out to allow me to camp back in the driveway.

After dinner we started clean up the fender I picked up last week. CF619DC0-EF4C-4476-8533-DB84032F1902.jpeg

We scuffed up the inside and drilled a few holes to the spot welded upper bracket to install some bolts/nuts to insure the bracket does not break off like the previous ones have.

I had ordered some custom filled rattle cans of pain in my doeskin tan color to at least jamb it and cover the inside. It’s not cheap as it has a special valve that when you push it in it introduces an activator and hardner to the paint. At $34 a can it’s an expensive experiment but the last stuff I had mixed up came out very dry. This stuff on the other hand works. After following the instructions to mix the stuff it came out of the can more like an actual spray gun. Great coverage, laid down really nice. The can only has a 24 hour pot life once mixed so we are going to take a DA to the outside this morning and finish off the can so the fender is one color. C4698754-7BA3-42EA-8E4E-82E36C332BA7.jpeg

Todays fun besides the paint fun will be to replace my puking steering gear and weld up the cracks in the frame and install the weld on support.
 
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