Race gas smells delicious.
CK5
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Dare I say it...Another 72 K5 build! The Bubba build - getting back into it
- Thread starter Z71paramedic
- Start date
Mmm like candy, but only better.
I agree.
That's why my K10 has stayed stock.
It has been much more fun than the in-pieces CUCV.
Problem is, I usually don't flog it because it just roasts the tires! 1/4 throttle is still enough to bend things apparently.
Just buy a good running whatever year 454 for the blazer. Nothing to change with headers and brackets.
Enough power and you get to keep Greg`s cookies!
Vette gets the boat engine and you sell the 427 Done!
Enough power and you get to keep Greg`s cookies!
Vette gets the boat engine and you sell the 427 Done!
Just buy a good running whatever year 454 for the blazer. Nothing to change with headers and brackets.
Enough power and you get to keep Greg`s cookies!
Vette gets the boat engine and you sell the 427 Done!
Is there some reason to involve the blazer at all? Why not install an appropriate BBC directly into the corvette and leave the K5 alone?
Any more talk of 4BT and we're gonna revoke Sean's 1st Gen man card.
1. It has way more cam than it should in the truck 2. It runs really well, and has great parts 3. We have it alreadyIs there some reason to involve the blazer at all? Why not install an appropriate BBC directly into the corvette and leave the K5 alone?
So I could put it in the vette, where it would work very well and get something better suited for the truck with the money made from the 427.
Just spitballing here.
As pointed out above, that course of action will cause both vehicles to be down at the same time. Sounds unfun to me.
It would be more fun to get the truck running ahead of time and pay for it later with the 427 money. But then it's not really self-funding in the short term.
I guess I have nothing new to add (both those points have been made already).
i vote to keep the Blazer running. It's just the springs, which are on their way at this point, right?
Also, if the boat motor is a handful in the Blazer, it's gonna be even more so in the lighter Vette.
Also, if the boat motor is a handful in the Blazer, it's gonna be even more so in the lighter Vette.
Are you saying when you drive the blazer, the engine wants to twist the thing up???
So leave it alone, and build the damn cage connected to the frame so it stops wanting to eat itself
So leave it alone, and build the damn cage connected to the frame so it stops wanting to eat itself
so if this is Ashleys' Vette, what kind of driving will she want to be doing in it?
With the way the car is setup now, looks like its headed toward autocrossing...which can be a tough ride on the street, especially with short sidewall tires and wide wheels, looks badass, but not the most comfortable ride....of course you live in the south now, so roads may be better than the north/midwest. Seriously consider the use of the car...A moderately radical motor might not be her best friend! These cars are light by most standards and big power gets scary on wet roads... My chassis is the same as the 68-79's and it rides well, I could really use an OD with the 3.90s, and better seats for extended trips (anything over 50mi), but that's my car. The 68+ cars had a bit more leg room and shoulder room, and much better seats than the midyears, so you might be ok on comfort.
At any rate, you can run an aluminum open chamber head with the closed chamber pistons you have and drop the ratio some, you could also mill off some of the dome on those pistons and drop some more, enough that you could run a conservative timing curve and get away with pump premium....get Folkenheath in on this to figure out the math on his compression ratio wizard!
And when you bring it to MI, lets race!
With the way the car is setup now, looks like its headed toward autocrossing...which can be a tough ride on the street, especially with short sidewall tires and wide wheels, looks badass, but not the most comfortable ride....of course you live in the south now, so roads may be better than the north/midwest. Seriously consider the use of the car...A moderately radical motor might not be her best friend! These cars are light by most standards and big power gets scary on wet roads... My chassis is the same as the 68-79's and it rides well, I could really use an OD with the 3.90s, and better seats for extended trips (anything over 50mi), but that's my car. The 68+ cars had a bit more leg room and shoulder room, and much better seats than the midyears, so you might be ok on comfort.
At any rate, you can run an aluminum open chamber head with the closed chamber pistons you have and drop the ratio some, you could also mill off some of the dome on those pistons and drop some more, enough that you could run a conservative timing curve and get away with pump premium....get Folkenheath in on this to figure out the math on his compression ratio wizard!
And when you bring it to MI, lets race!
It's not that it's a handful, it's that it makes no power below 1500 rpm,then it comes in hard. Just not ideal for a 4x4 imo.
No bender. And no experience making a cage. This is why I feel stuck on the damn truck.Are you saying when you drive the blazer, the engine wants to twist the thing up???
So leave it alone, and build the damn cage connected to the frame so it stops wanting to eat itself
She predominantly just wants to cruise in it while making lots of noise and looking good. She's also oddly frugal about certain aspects of things like this, so I'm trying to get it running as easily and cheaply as possible. And unfortunately, I'm getting more stressed about what to do with these vehicles by the minute...
DEEP BREATHS....... In......out.........
Surely there MUST be some kind of fabrication or race shop around that can bend up some rollcage tubing for your Blazer? If not, maybe it's time to learn a new skill??? Do you own a MIG welder yet?
When was the last time you checked your crossmembers? Are they still factory rivets, or did you replace them with Gr-8 bolts? My guess is that they are probably WAAAY sloppy and aren't really offering much in the way of torsional stiffness anymore. You could probably just put your truck on an RTI-type ramp and peek around underneath.... see what the crossmembers are doing now. If you see a lot of shiny metal or abraded paint, you'll know they are shifting around and not doing their job.
I can sympathize. Building an effective rollcage that adds torsional stiffness is NOT trivial. A simple 4-point or 6-point cage is useless... until you start building some kind of tubing structure in the firewall area and around the engine it's all going to be for "show" anyway.... the factory torsion boxes are also completely in the way for any kind of real rollcage work. So you have to commit to cutting them out and then building something MUCH better to get the stiffness back into the body.
-G
Here's the dilemma. I have a welder and know how to weld (though I need to practice up), but I don't have the bender, or a compressor, or a notcher, or a chop saw. I don't have room for any more crap at my house either. I want a bender and to learn how to use it, I just don't think I can do it at this time.DEEP BREATHS....... In......out.........
Surely there MUST be some kind of fabrication or race shop around that can bend up some rollcage tubing for your Blazer? If not, maybe it's time to learn a new skill??? Do you own a MIG welder yet?
When was the last time you checked your crossmembers? Are they still factory rivets, or did you replace them with Gr-8 bolts? My guess is that they are probably WAAAY sloppy and aren't really offering much in the way of torsional stiffness anymore. You could probably just put your truck on an RTI-type ramp and peek around underneath.... see what the crossmembers are doing now. If you see a lot of shiny metal or abraded paint, you'll know they are shifting around and not doing their job.
I can sympathize. Building an effective rollcage that adds torsional stiffness is NOT trivial. A simple 4-point or 6-point cage is useless... until you start building some kind of tubing structure in the firewall area and around the engine it's all going to be for "show" anyway.... the factory torsion boxes are also completely in the way for any kind of real rollcage work. So you have to commit to cutting them out and then building something MUCH better to get the stiffness back into the body.
-G
A guy I work with supposedly knows a guy who bends and does nice work, but he's been saying he'll get me in touch with him for about 4 months now... Otherwise, there's a ton of really shoddy work down here (remember the Gooseneck install in my brand new truck?), so I'm extremely leary of just finding a place.
As far as frame/crossmembers, I'm sure there's play, plus it's not boxed yet. I need that addressed too.
And I know about having to ditch the rocker boxes (that I just replaced in Hawaii...).
OK.... well you need a bender. Manual with 1 die... not ideal but reasonable money. If you're lucky, maybe someone will lend you a bender (or the dies you need)
You DON'T need: compressor, notcher or chopsaw... I built my cage with a 4-1/2" angle grinder for the cuts, and some 3M flapdiscs on an angle grinder for the notches...
I'm not saying it's not a scary thought initially (building your own cage, etc) but it's also NOT impossible stuff to do. Cutting out the torsion boxes and getting some outriggers built is actually all straight cuts. You could get a lot of the "underpinning" stuff figured out on your own and get them mounted up to cage plates on the underside of the floorpans. Then figure out if you can coerce someone to help you bend a few tubes for the main hoop, a-pillars, etc...
The nice thing about starting underneath is that you can practice your welding on smaller tubes that aren't visible, and you won't have the stress about ruining long sections of custom-bent DOM (at $9/ft) that end up in a tuition pile!!!! 
-G
