CK5
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Finally picked up another K5.

Since this is a California truck and it has no rust, does anyone have any suggestions to keep it rust free now that it's in the rust belt?
This is where you park it in a heated garage before the snow flys and leave it there until the spring rains have washed the salt off of the road.
 
This is where you park it in a heated garage before the snow flys and leave it there until the spring rains have washed the salt off of the road.
Quoted for truth.

Rust Bullet is the popular option here. I have a can of it waiting for mine. However it is impossible to stop metal from rusting so the best solution is to just not drive it in the salt.
 
Quoted for truth.

Rust Bullet is the popular option here. I have a can of it waiting for mine. However it is impossible to stop metal from rusting so the best solution is to just not drive it in the salt.

I've tried a couple different products and rust bullet seems to be the toughest against rust. Just make sure where ever you apply it never leave any pin holes in the paint.

If your floors are clean metal, I would go with the Ryoken three step system with Zinc, primer, top coat.
 
I'm doing sand, primer, herculiner on the inside floors. Still debating what to do underneath.

Trying to get this MOMO steering wheel off, but the wheel puller i rented won't work on it. There are no holes to thread the bolts into. Any suggestions? My new Grant wheel should be here any day now....
 
Beware that Herculiner isn't a thick coating. The paint will wear thin and rust can start under it. If you did put a bunch of coatings on it you'd be most of the way to paying for a professional liner like Rhino Liner or Line-X. I had Rhino Liner done on mine.
Also won't stop it from rusting from underneath.
 
I did Herc on my other one and that was the only thing that still looked decent when I went to look at it.

And I'm trying to get ideas to do the underneath. Looks like Rust Bullet would be most popular. Do you have to coat over that or does it look fine as is?
 
They say it's fine as it is but they do sell a topcoat for it for extra protection. I'm going to do that myself.
 
Cool. I'll have to cross that bridge when I get there. Anyway, I got my Grant Challenger wheel today and got it installed. It looks great.

Tomorrow I should be able to finish prepping the front floor area and hopefully can get it covered by the end of the week...

Going to Myrtle Beach next week, so I'll be taking time off from work and working on this thing.
 
I may have missed this, but did you ever get your new shackles put on? New heavy duty shackles and new bushings will move the springs away from the header flanges. My header flanges are real close to my ORD greasable shackles, but they've never made contact yet. I used to worry about it, but I realized that they weren't going to hit. Also, make sure you're header bolts are tight. If they get loose at all, the headers can shift a little towards the shackles. Loose header bolts will also make the engine run like doo-doo. Ask me how I know.
 
I haven't gotten the shackles done yet mostly because I'm trying to save money to get my other truck fixed and go on vacation next week.

After that, I'll be able to get the shackles and get started on that.
 
Okay so I finally got some time to work on this again today. It's been tough to find time because I've been working 60-70 hours a week. Found a few things going on today that I have some questions about.


  • First off, I ordered the shackles and have had them in sitting for about 3 months now. Still debating how I'm going to go about swapping them out. I guess jackstands under the frame and a jack under the front axle or what?


  • Also, in the meantime, I'll be fixing my exhaust leak(s) on my headers. Would it make sense to weld the holes shut, or just buy new headers altogether?


  • And as far as the motor goes, I was looking at the carb today, and it has a $hit ton of vacuum crap on it that I'm assuming was for emissions. The smog pump has been unhooked as well as the charcoal canister.


  • Would it be worth trying to eliminate all these vacuum lines that could be possibly causing leaks and power loss? And on top of that, it's a cluster f*** of vac lines all over the place under the hood. The air cleaner barely clears all the garbage.


  • Annndd last but not least, this thing still smokes like crazy. When I drove it home after I bought it, it had really smelly exhaust, but didn't smoke. After I used SEAFOAM in it, it's smoked like a chimney ever since. I don't think it's the head gasket or intake gasket because it seems to hold coolant fine. I also noticed that when I take the oil cap off, smoke billows out of there. What would possibly cause this and is it somehow related? Also wondering if the vacuum garbage has something to do with all this.
 
For the shackles, put jackstands right behind the shackles on the frame and your jack under the front axle (preferably 2 jacks, one on each side).
 
weld the headers

Do you have an O2 sensor or wires going to the carb? Do you have vacuum going to the distributor?

The smog pump doesn't rob you of any power, nor does a cat. Simple things you should try and keep on just to run a little cleaner. too easy to keep

what color is the smoke? Smells:
A) sweet
B) rotten egg
C) burning oil :haha:
D) ur upper lip
 
Your rings are probably shot and are letting oil into the combustion chamber. Time for a rebuild. I guess maybe the valvles could be way out of adjustment. That could cause some smoke, but not like you're talking about. As far as welding up the headers, I think they'll just leak again in the same spot. Are they real headers or just exhaust manifolds? Stock exhaust manifolds are bad about cracking and leaking, but headers usually just either rust out or spring a leak around the outlet flange gasket and bolts.
 
Your rings are probably shot and are letting oil into the combustion chamber. Time for a rebuild. I guess maybe the valvles could be way out of adjustment. That could cause some smoke, but not like you're talking about. As far as welding up the headers, I think they'll just leak again in the same spot. Are they real headers or just exhaust manifolds? Stock exhaust manifolds are bad about cracking and leaking, but headers usually just either rust out or spring a leak around the outlet flange gasket and bolts.
Well they are actual headers, and they're leaking where the shackle bolts rubbed holes in them. I should be able to weld them up, but they're rusty and nasty. Problem with replacing them is trying to get ones that will match them perfectly so I don't have to re-work my exhaust.

weld the headers

Do you have an O2 sensor or wires going to the carb? Do you have vacuum going to the distributor?

The smog pump doesn't rob you of any power, nor does a cat. Simple things you should try and keep on just to run a little cleaner. too easy to keep

what color is the smoke? Smells:
A) sweet
B) rotten egg
C) burning oil :haha:
D) ur upper lip
It's white smoke out the exhaust, and steamy white from the oil cap. It smells like it's maybe running pig rich. Like just really stinky, maybe burning oil? Just can't figure out why seafoam caused it, unless that broke some gunk loose that was holding a leak together...


Oh and the smog pump and charcoal canister were unhooked when I bought it. So I removed them completely. But still have a ton of vacuum crap in there. I don't have any O2 sensors, but there might be wiring for them. Also not sure, but I don't think there's any vac lines running to the dizzy. I changed the cap and rotor and don't recall seeing anything.
 
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There should be a hose going to the vacuum advance on the distributor. I wonder if not having that in place could cause the engine to run really lean or something. I know it can cause it to detonate and run terrible or not at all if it's not right.

As far as the headers, mine are really close to the shackles too. I have Dynomax Blackjack headers (longtube). Your shackles could be bent over and that's why they're rubbing. I got the heavy duty greasable shackles from ORD to prevent that.

One more thing. The charcoal canister cuts out a lot of the stink. Removing it can cause a nasty smell. I would go to the junkyard and try to get another one. Don't worry about the air pump and its plumbing unless you need it for smog checks. It probably didn't work anyway.
 
There should be a hose going to the vacuum advance on the distributor. I wonder if not having that in place could cause the engine to run really lean or something. I know it can cause it to detonate and run terrible or not at all if it's not right.

As far as the headers, mine are really close to the shackles too. I have Dynomax Blackjack headers (longtube). Your shackles could be bent over and that's why they're rubbing. I got the heavy duty greasable shackles from ORD to prevent that.

One more thing. The charcoal canister cuts out a lot of the stink. Removing it can cause a nasty smell. I would go to the junkyard and try to get another one. Don't worry about the air pump and its plumbing unless you need it for smog checks. It probably didn't work anyway.

I'll try to check into the vacuum advance some time this week. Where would it be on the distributor? Also, yes my shackles were bent into the headers which rubbed a hole in them. I already have DIY4X shackles I jut have to install them.
 
The vacuum advance is the round silver disc thing with the little nipple in the middle of it. It should be on the bottom left of the distributor under the cap.

Edit: Forgot to ask if this is the original '85 distibutor. If it's a pre-HEI ignition it may not have the vacuum advance. I don't know what year they started using it. '78? Not sure.
 
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The vacuum advance is the round silver disc thing with the littlle nipple in the middle of it. It should be on the bottom left of the distributor under the cap.

Edit: Forgot to ask if this is the original '85 distibutor. If it's a pre-HEI ignition it may not have the vacuum advance. I don't know what year they started using it. '78? Not sure.
My CA 85 is computer controlled. The dizzy is also. There carb is also. There is an O2 sensor for all that also. lol So if you have wires or connectors where wires should be, then you should have an O2 sensor and computer controlled dizzy.

Praying I pass smog, I changed all that over to the older HEI w/vacuum and older carb.
 
Well this truck spent about a year in IL before I bought it. I'm almost 99.9% positive this is not the original motor to this truck. But I guess I need to do a compression test to see if it's time for me to build my first motor.
 

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