New member and new proud owner of an 85 K5 with 72 og miles. Great shape for a Colorado truck. 305, 10 bolts, 6" lift with 35" procomps. Lookin forward to posting and getting feed back on mods.
I think some metal work, an engine freshing or 350 swap and some dana 60's will head the list. Any ideas on engine swap and axles? It will be a weekend / fun driver to take hunting and med duty off-roading.
Look forward to hearing from anyone!
Congrats on the K5. I had an 85 for a little while. Yours should have an electronic carb. They can be a pain from what I hear. Do you have to smog your truck? If not an engine upgrade should be easy. I would run a 383 as mild or wild as you can afford and put a non electronic carb on it.
My 79 c20 pickup has a 385 (stroked 350 and bored .040 over) with hyperutetic flat tops, 9.6:1 compression, small cam, eldelbrock aluminum heads, intake, water pump, carb, etc. It would cost roughly $5k to build an engine like this and it should make in the area of 400hp/400tq. As far as power output and price, this is past the mild builds but by no means the limit of whats possible. I have been very happy with mine in a loaded down truck with a heavy trailer behind.
There are less expensive 383s out there. The more displacement the better. You could even do a 454 depending on your smog and budget. It may be possible to run a 383 with the electronic carb as well, but I don't know much about what they will acomadate.
My 88 K5 has 35" tires and a 6" lift. It is a versitile truck, looks great and is fun. I only run mild off road trails/forest roads. I don't want to scratch mine and definately don't want body damage. I am still running the stock 10 bolt axels. They are holding up but I definately need lower gearing and could use better braking. Axel upgrades would prabably be worth while for you. My 79 came with the 14b ff from the factory. I upgraded to disk brakes with caddy calipers. I love this axle.
I am still debating on wheter to go 14bff/d44 or d60 on my K5 or to regear my 10 bolts and try to improve the braking. Most people will tell you to do the axle swap. You would need to change to 8 lug wheels and still possibly change the gears in the heavier axels. I think I will need 4.56 or 4.88 gears with 35" tires and a 700r4 trans and it looks like most of the 1 tons are 3.73 or 4.10 gears.
Good luck and keep us updated. Post pics when you can.
Good for you man, awesome on getting a good'ol Chevy K5. No better truck in the world to have fun it. Welcome aboard. Pony up for a membership so you can see all the cool pics I post, I mean....that people post 
And NO I don't know what crack is like.
