Happy birthday!
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.
Happy Birthday and that picture is great 
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday!!
Happy Birthday Rob!
Thanks everybody for the birthday wishes. Had a good day capped off At Breckenridge Brewery with my sis and her hubby. Good times.
Meanwhile down at the Big Ass Gas Garage the chief elf has been busy. First up one lone exhaust stud broke off needed extracted.
Done:
Larry’s rattle can rehab started with cleanup of the old paint. Somebody did squirt some black on it, poorly. To maintain the great pumpkin status the Chevrolet orange was broken out.
Since the engine had sat for a long time Larry wanted to pull the lifters one at a time and give the rollers an inspection and bath of assembly lube. All but one came out smooth, one was a little sticky.
The rockers and balls looked good.
Larry sent me a video of some slop in the timing chain. So I ordered up a Cloyes timing set for a replacement.
The new Spectra oil pan I ordered showed up this week too.
Most of the truck pans did have this giant hole for the engine oil level sensor. Look further back in this thread for the delete plug we used to replace the sensor. Larry had to go harvest that one from the old Swiss cheese pan.
Last up before the seal/gasket kit shows up is to chase the threads since the medium duty version doesn’t use some of the same holes for brackets. The holes were full of crud.
The gasket kit will be in shortly and Larry will get the 8.1 sealed up like new. Intake to oil pan and front to back.
Meanwhile down at the Big Ass Gas Garage the chief elf has been busy. First up one lone exhaust stud broke off needed extracted.
Done:
Larry’s rattle can rehab started with cleanup of the old paint. Somebody did squirt some black on it, poorly. To maintain the great pumpkin status the Chevrolet orange was broken out.
Since the engine had sat for a long time Larry wanted to pull the lifters one at a time and give the rollers an inspection and bath of assembly lube. All but one came out smooth, one was a little sticky.
The rockers and balls looked good.
Larry sent me a video of some slop in the timing chain. So I ordered up a Cloyes timing set for a replacement.
The new Spectra oil pan I ordered showed up this week too.
Most of the truck pans did have this giant hole for the engine oil level sensor. Look further back in this thread for the delete plug we used to replace the sensor. Larry had to go harvest that one from the old Swiss cheese pan.
Last up before the seal/gasket kit shows up is to chase the threads since the medium duty version doesn’t use some of the same holes for brackets. The holes were full of crud.
The gasket kit will be in shortly and Larry will get the 8.1 sealed up like new. Intake to oil pan and front to back.
Any PCV mods ?
No tunnel ram?
Martin
Martin
No, leaving it alone.
Sadly none are sold for the 8.1. Though Raylar does have a stack injection style intake with 8 individual throttle blades. Anybody willing to front me the cash to buy it and I'll run it.
I’m scared to look up how much that cost but it sounds awesome.
Post pictures!
Martin
Martin
I’m a bit behind from thrashing in my 8.1 swap, so I’m super happy to see such a great update on this with the new unit!!!
Thanks!
Senor Larry has been picking away at stuff as parts I've ordered arrive at his place. The plan was to prelube the engine. We had a new pump and pickup to go with the correct truck pan from the medium duty pump/pan. Though not many have seen this deep into 8.1, here's the oil pump drive that runs off the cam.
However it was found the drive sleeve on the shaft was split. So the scramble was on to find a fresh shaft. Considering it takes a standard big block shaft we thought it would be easy to get at a part store. Nope. Thankfully a buddy of Bill's had an ARP part in his stash so Larry went to fetch it.
The trusty Dewalt came in to provide the rotations needed to get the juices flowing.
Pump drive put back in, it's ready to seal up.
The engine came off the stand to facilitate replacing the rear seal and other things.
Larry had to make a little trip up to Canon to borrow the 8.1 toolkit from my old dealer.
They say the right tool makes the job makes it easier. This tool is money for removing the rear main seal.
Same goes for putting the new seal back in.
Tool for putting the front seal back in.
He needed to harvest the balancer off the dead 8.1 in my truck to put it on the fresh unit.
While he was at my truck outside he decided to test the idea if the crank position sensor can be pulled out with the engine in the truck. It's much easier with the intake off, but it can be done with the intake on.
More little parts are on the way, but the plan is to get it fully assembled and line up a weekend to come down yank one and install the other.
However it was found the drive sleeve on the shaft was split. So the scramble was on to find a fresh shaft. Considering it takes a standard big block shaft we thought it would be easy to get at a part store. Nope. Thankfully a buddy of Bill's had an ARP part in his stash so Larry went to fetch it.
The trusty Dewalt came in to provide the rotations needed to get the juices flowing.
Pump drive put back in, it's ready to seal up.
The engine came off the stand to facilitate replacing the rear seal and other things.
Larry had to make a little trip up to Canon to borrow the 8.1 toolkit from my old dealer.
They say the right tool makes the job makes it easier. This tool is money for removing the rear main seal.
Same goes for putting the new seal back in.
Tool for putting the front seal back in.
He needed to harvest the balancer off the dead 8.1 in my truck to put it on the fresh unit.
While he was at my truck outside he decided to test the idea if the crank position sensor can be pulled out with the engine in the truck. It's much easier with the intake off, but it can be done with the intake on.
More little parts are on the way, but the plan is to get it fully assembled and line up a weekend to come down yank one and install the other.
I know you guys have access to the tools but I checked my go-to tool site and they have them there also if anyone needs to buy them ever.
www.freedomracing.com
Search results for: '8.1L'
Home of the largest in-stock inventory of OEM and aftermarket Automotive Specialty Tools. Live inventory and next day delivery on thousands of items.
I don't see any tool here that I can't make for a lot less or just use what I have.I know you guys have access to the tools but I checked my go-to tool site and they have them there also if anyone needs to buy them ever.
Search results for: '8.1L'
Home of the largest in-stock inventory of OEM and aftermarket Automotive Specialty Tools. Live inventory and next day delivery on thousands of items.
I guess I will know once I start working on mine
The rear mai can be removed with 1 screw and small slide hammer. Installation not sure how I'd do that.
The entire kit can be had on eBay for 400-500 bucks. But it’s good to know another source.
Yes, one could probably make some stuff to do the same thing. But if you can get your hands on the right tools why fuss with it?
Yes, one could probably make some stuff to do the same thing. But if you can get your hands on the right tools why fuss with it?
Imma tool whore, it wouldn't take much for me to justify a purchase. Maybe 20% off sale.
