Dana 60 swap done!

[rdn2blazer]

MAN your rigs are clean!! Looks awesome.

 

[drew4x4]

hey man, do you have a build thread for your 8.1l swap? i've got to finish up my 6.0 swap when i get back from afghanistan so i'm lookin for all the reading i can do!

 

[y5mgisi]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11889582@N08/sets/72157605630911630/

 

[drew4x4]

also, did you have to modify your leaf springs from the d44 to the d60? i've heard somewhere that the axles have different leaf spring width, or maybe it was width between the leaf springs, something had to be modified to toss a dana 60 under a half ton truck.

 

[y5mgisi]

Chevy Dana 60 is a direct swap under any Chevy truck that came with a straight axle from the factory. So pretty much 67-87(91), 4x4 will allow you to toss a 60 right under it. In your case, with you having an 80 k5, any Chevy d60 will swap right in with no mods. Now, if you get a dodge d60, they are a half inch different. Most folks just use a ratchet strap or similar to suck the springs closer together and then bolt it in but that's it. The ford d60 is all together different.

 

[Larry]

hey man, do you have a build thread for your 8.1l swap? i've got to finish up my 6.0 swap when i get back from afghanistan so i'm lookin for all the reading i can do!

No sir, no build thread on the 8.1L swap. There are picture links in my signature though. It was a quick easy deal where I pulled the 454HO out in the morning and installed the 8.1L in the afternoon. The next few days were spent doing the wiring and plumbing the fuel system then the next year was spent fiddling with trying to calibrate the marine speed density MEFI-4 ECM. After a year and 5,000 miles not liking the performance I pulled the MEFI-4 ECM and got a Howell harness to cover it to a MAF system with a P59 ECM (0411). So much better! I should have never messed with the MEFI-4 ECM in the first place. I've got around 3 years and 10,000 miles on the P59 ECM and love it. It drives like a new truck.

also, did you have to modify your leaf springs from the d44 to the d60? i've heard somewhere that the axles have different leaf spring width, or maybe it was width between the leaf springs, something had to be modified to toss a dana 60 under a half ton truck.

What y4mgisi said… A GM D60 is a direct bolt in. Of course, you need new u-bolts though.

 

[Larry]

Productive day today. Got the ORD Zero rate installed in hopes of leveling the truck after the front D60 swap that raised the front. Tomorrow I need hit up the local driveline shop to have new U-bolts made then drill a hole in the spring plate for the center pin relocation.

I find it easier to just pop the spring packs out to work on them on the floor. These springs come out real quick with the industrial bumper jack. Seems like I’ve had these damn springs out of this truck 100 times in the last few years trying to get this thing to sit level. Once I got it level Mosesburb made me install a D60 and screw up my leveling again

While reworking the passengers spring pack

Drivers side

View of the passengers side. Need new U-bolts and rework the spring plate

Slip yoke still looks alright. I'll have to take a better look at this once it is all bolted together and sitting on the ground.

Still sitting on jackstands but the wheel looks more centered now. It's been sitting forward for the past few years after doing the ORD shackle flip

Damn, it is going to take up more space now to do u-turns with the wheelbase growing an inch

 

[Larry]

Got it all wrapped up and pretty happy that it sits level again and the rear wheels are actually centered in the wheel well. First time the rear wheel has been centered since installing the ORD rear shackle flip years ago.

Had to rework the spring plate for the center pin relocation.

The wheel looks pretty centered

I'm real happy with the results

 

[pblaze725]

That's so freakin awesome Larry!!

The 74 club, the expecting wife. Congratulations!

I hope to have a Dana 60 & a kid by the time I'm 40.

 

[78SWB]

Do you have a build thread from start to how it is now? If not you need one!

 

[y5mgisi]

That is just a gorgeous truck.

 

[Larry]

Do you have a build thread from start to how it is now? If not you need one!

Hehe, no….this project started before Al Gore invented the internet. I’ve been working on this truck since 1995. Have a lot of various threads around related to upgrades like the NV4500 swap but no overall thread. I really dig your truck and congrats on getting the top spot in the calendar! Ours almost look like they were separated at birth

 

[max 02]

Did you use a 6.2 diesel rad like you did in the suburban?

If so... how did it fit in the 78 front core support?

I have a 6.2 radiator and shroud I would like to put in my 77.
The rad I got is from a 1984

 

[Larry]

Nope, it is not the same radiator as the Suburban. The K10 has a 73-80 flat nose 4 core radiator from a K30 454 spec. Napa part number NR 730 or Spectra Premium CU730. The flat nose 73-80 radiators are narrower and taller than sloped nose 81 to 91 trucks. The sucky thing is this radiator for flat nose trucks isn’t available in copper anymore that I can find, only aluminum with plastic tanks. It was worked fine in the K10 for the past several years though

 

[max 02]

Nope, it is not the same radiator as the Suburban. The K10 has a 73-80 flat nose 4 core radiator from a K30 454 spec. Napa part number NR 730 or Spectra Premium CU730. The flat nose 73-80 radiators are narrower and taller than sloped nose 81 to 91 trucks. The sucky thing is this radiator for flat nose trucks isn’t available in copper anymore that I can find, only aluminum with plastic tanks. It was worked fine in the K10 for the past several years though

Thought that's what you were going to say!

I have been looking for a BB 4 core...
My buddy has one in a 79 c10 truck he's scrapping but I haven't talked him out of it yet.

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[82355]

I love this sticker.

Sometime when you are bored, you should go back and make a build thread. This truck needs one!

Martin

 

[Smokinthehippies]

I love this sticker.

Sometime when you are bored, you should go back and make a build thread. This truck needs one!

Martin

Agreed to
Both the sticker and the thread.

 

[Chevy305]

So happy this thread got bumped [emoji144]

 

[Larry]

I love this sticker.

Sometime when you are bored, you should go back and make a build thread. This truck needs one!

Martin

That would be fun to do a backwards build thread but it would take forever given I’ve had this truck for 19 years. It started off as the typical ½ short bed with a small block/TH350/203 tcase, D44 and 10 bolt rear. Don’t have any picture of it from when I first got it in the autumn of ’96. The first thing I did was install a 27 spline 205 tcase that I had laying around from a scrapped ’72 K5 Blazer and installed the 10.5” 14 bolt full floater & 8 lug front D44 brake backing plates/rotors to address the howling rear end. The guy I got it from had installed lockout hubs but didn't install the MileMarker kit so the front hubs had to be locked in all the time. In doing so the hubs grenaded and packed the front bearings full of aluminum. Why are all previous owners idiots!!?? There wasn’t many ½ short bed rolling around with 8 lug axles back then that is for sure. I used to get a lot of double takes when people noticed it was a SWB 3/4 ton.

A few months before college graduation I got signed on with Chevrolet Motor Division and had some time to prepare the truck for the move to Michigan. During that time I went through a lot of things to make sure it was comfortable and reliable to be my daily driver 2,000 miles from home. Along with fixing the dual tanks, reinstalling seat belts, correcting tons of wiring mess the previous owner left behind and reinstalling air conditioning. While doing all that I converted the old 350 from v-belts to a 1995 C/K 5.7L serpentine belt system to move to a more modern (modern at the time) R4 compressor and 105 AMP alternator. Serpentine belt swaps were also unheard of in 1996. I was a broke college kid when I left for Detroit but I was able to swing a new Z71 before winter hit now that I had my first "real job" so I didn't have to drive the K10 in roadsalt.

Over the years it has sported a few different engine and transmission combo’s. First was the 350/TH350/205, then in 1998 or so a buddy and I did a SM465 swap under my carport in Detroit in January. Another buddy drug out a really nice ranch K10 from CO to MI for me to swap transmissions/tcases back and forth between the two then we sold it to some dude in OH for a huge profit. Rust free metal goes for good money back in the rust belt. Basically, my SM465 was not only free but made money on that deal. That was cold time of year to be playing transmission swaperoo on two trucks in a Michigan winter! In 2003 after we moved back to CO it got treated to a carbureted 454HO then in 2007 it was topped with a marine L29 MPFI intake running the on a MEFI-4 ECM (Marine/RamJet ECM). I could never really get the thing to run right with the Marine intake so all that got yanked and the 8.1L went in. I ran the 8.1L on a MEFI-4 for the first year as well then ditch it for a Howell harness and automotive style P59 ECM. Winter of 2010 brought the NV4500, hydroboost brakes and bucket sets then 2011 brought the Phoenix camper. That’s it in a nutshell. Oh, yeah….. another buddy and I painted it in a barn in 1999 near Wyoming, MI. The paint job was only $130ish plus a few cases of beer. That paint job is still on it today.

One of the earliest pics I have of it. My brother and girlfriend while we were camping in 1996

The day my dad and I rolled in to Detroit. He wanted to hit up the casino's in Winsor, ON Canada That building in the back ground is the GM RenCen where I would eventually have a cubicle a few years later. I worked in Troy, MI for the first 2 years

Paint 1999 Wyoming, MI

Michigan driveway shot. 1998 or 1999…not long after the SM465 swap

Tired old 350. Funny thing is this engine lived another 15 years in my buddy’s K5

454HO. That was one thirsty sumbish backed by a SM465. This engine now sports TBI and lives in my father in-laws ’93 C1500 Sportside

RamJet 454… Basically a 454HO with a Marine L29 intake running on a RamJet 502 ECM with tweaked calibrations. Ran like poop

Then of course, the 8.1L

The mag article was pretty cool too. Nice way to recognize almost 2 decades of work. What a way to start off 2015!

That is about as close to a build thread as we can get on this old dog

 

[y5mgisi]

Sure is cool!