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Diamond in the Rough

CUCV2

CUCV2

5/4 ton fun
Joined
Mar 22, 2007
Posts
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Location
New England
It's a 1990 K5 Blazer from North Carolina. No rust whatsover and runs like a champ. It did need some TLC to get to this point though.
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The main reason for the low price was the rear axle was damaged from sliding into a barn. The rear axle shaft was snapped off and the brake drum and backing plate were unusable. Did some research and found out about the 14 bsf 6 lug axle swap. Found one on a local forum with the right axle ratio, put some new spring perches and shock mounts on it.
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The yoke from the stock 10b swaps onto the 14bsf, the stock ebrake cables work, and brake lines hook right up.
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It did need some other work. Installed a new windshield and fly window, replaced the tail lights, popped out some dents on the passenger side/hood, greased the moving parts on the power windows, installed a rear view mirror, fixed the drivers door latch, and installed a battery retainer. It needed a lot of little things. Still needs some seat belt catches (or whatever the part is that catches the seatbelt next to the center console). The battery even took a charge after sitting for 3-4 years. Not sure how well that will hold but it seems to be working for now. :woot:
 
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Sweet buy man. Its good to find a steal now and then:thumb:
 
Wanna trade a Comp Cam for a BBC for it? :D
 
Rust free and good paint for $650? That's a good deal even with no engine, or drivetrain at all. Nice score.
 
kdoske said:
I hate you....wonder why I can't find deals like this, lol.
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I feel the same way :haha:

somewhere I have the seat belt latches, but there from a 77 not sure if they will work. I sell them to you for 1500.00 so you can start catching up with the rest of us. I don't want you to feel left out :D:D
 
are those side windows in the top stock? I don tknow that i've seen them before. or is it just because of the lack of the small wings:dunno: their sweet either way.
 
Well if it makes anyone feel better, I have put more than I paid for it into it between the axle, spring mounts, and other miscellaneous expenses. I could also put a pic up of the other side where it hit the barn. The K5 has a name already, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. because one side looks super nice and the other side is a little bit scary. Still feel like it was a good score though. Everything works, the interior is in really nice shape (other than the seat belts), and it has a decent CD player. Sure beats the previous military versions that I never seem to find the time to put a radio in.

The rear windows are what it came with. Dunno if they are stock or aftermarket.

Oh yeah, and I spent about 2 hours with a box of SOS pads on those wheels (brake dust, minor corrosion, etc.) to get them to look like that.
 
The rear windows look aftermarket since there isn't a visible mount for the flapper window thing. Mine were factory and I took the flappers off. There'd either be a notch where their mounts were or the mounts themselves still stuck there.
 
probably the LMC ones.

I'm jealous. This is an awesome rig and even more awesome at that price! I paid $1350 for mine and it had rust and a misfire! I have since spent a bunch more money on it too.. its comin along though! :doah:
 
DK5 said:
probably the LMC ones.

I'm jealous. This is an awesome rig and even more awesome at that price! I paid $1350 for mine and it had rust and a misfire! I have since spent a bunch more money on it too.. its comin along though! :doah:
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Thanks. I am pretty psyched. It is definitely the nicest K5 Ive owned. Especially, living in the northeast. Just replaced the broken gas tank strap so I can actually drive it around now. We will see how it likes highway speeds.
 
Update. Got the K5 road legal to drive and to work out the kinks. The first two most noticeable kinks were an engine temp condition and a rear end vibe.

The engine temp would heat up to almost the red area on the guage and then come back down. After replacing the thermostat and rad cap it was still there. I let it sit until I had some free time. About a month later (and no free time) I just brought it to the local mechanic. On the way down there, I gave it full throttle a couple of times and the temps seemed to be coming down. Still dropped it off though. Checked in on it a day or so later and the mechanic said it was operating in it's normal opereating range. Go figure. I keep thinking the exhaust was plugged or something from sitting. Been driving it for about a month now and it seems ok. The temp guage moves a little but stays around the center mark.

The rear end vibe would happen at higher speeds. I was hoping that the rear wheels just needed to be balanced but knew there was a possibility of the rear wheel being bent. Went to have them balanced and sure enough the wheel was bent. The tire tech mentioned that there was a local guy called the wheel wizard who could straighten them. I looked him up online and found him but his # is no longer connected and there was no response to the email I sent.

Enter a opportunity for new wheels and sneakers. The K5 seemed to ride a little rough with the current set of wheels and tires so I checked out the load range and found it to be E. This pretty typical, as I found out, for a 16" wheel. Correct range is more of a C which is more common with a 15" wheel. I always thought the 89-91(?) factory alloys were pretty sharp and since this would be a DD, they would be ideal. Just needed to find a set. Checked CL and found a set the next state over in good condition for $100 with the factory center caps at a place that specialized in older Chevys :waytogo:.

Now what to put on them. The width of those rims is 7". The general rule of thumb that I use is to stay within 4.5" of the wheel width with the tire width. This meant a 10.5 would be ideal. I wanted a tire 33" tall. That left the K5 with one choice (in my mind). The 33x10.5 BFG AT.

So far, the tire and wheel combo is working out pretty good but I have to say that I am not a big fan of 3.42 gears. VT is a pretty mountainous state and the OD is dropping down on just about every hill. Kind of makes me wish I had just put some CUCV 1 tons on it. But this is supposed to be a driver so I will try to help the situation with a performance exhaust. I have some JBA ceramic shortys that I picked up a while back that I could put on it. But I think the real issue is the diameter of the exhaust. I would say it is in the 2.25" to 2.5" range. It should be more in the 3" range or duals. Wondering if a performance exhaust would make a noticable change.
 
Factory exhaust on those was 3" single.

The load range shouldn't matter as far as ride quality unless the tires are vastly overfilled.
 
I just spent last weekend up in Burlington, never been in VT before, man what a visually appealing state. Lots and lots of loooong hills on those highways. You need some 4.10 gears to go with those 33s. That would make your gearing ideal.

Not sure what exhaust you have now or if you have the factory flat cat either. A new, smaller cat will flow much better along with a single 3" system with a good flowing muffler of your choice. I will say from experience that my single 3" with a 50 series Flowmaster sounds great, but a little louder than I wanted for a daily driver. And I do drive my K5 every day. The single exhaust just sounds smoother and more balanced.

A new exhaust won't give you the boost you need to compensate for the gearing. Especially with those VT hills.
 
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