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? Should I be doing POR15 then Herculiner on top of that or what?

I'm a POR-15 fan. I've had good luck with it, but I havn't used it on a daily driver and you need to do your prep work. Get rid of any loose metal/rust clean with POR_15 degreaser, then slop it on. Doesn't need to be top coated if not exposed to UV light.
 
Well I guess this is gonna kinda become my 'build thread' for this K5. I wasn't planning on messing with it much, mainly because I don't have much time or money for another project at the moment.

The truck for me, is just something I enjoy working on. I hate driving these beasts. So out-dated and scary on the road. I want this thing to be a toy that I can work on, and drive to the store/friends houses/trails occasionally, not going to be used as a D/D nor a crawler or anything crazy.

Found a guy parting out a 'burb locally that I got seats, a bumper, dash pad, and bezel from for $150. Got the busted up bumper off tonight, haven't got the new one on yet. Still working on the seats as well. Since the 'burb has 4 doors, the front seats weren't made to fold, so I dunno if I'll be able to use them or not. Plus the brackets don't line up with the holes in my floor.

I finally got another carb for it. Found a good deal on a re-built Q-jet "800 CFM" according to the builder.

Bolted the carb on tonight, and needless to say, the thing runs 1000 times better already. Idles great, doesn't smoke nearly as much. Haven't had a chance to drive it yet, but I'm excited to see what it does tomorrow morning.

Here's some pics of my progress, hopefully you guys can help answer a few questions I have....

Here's a picture with the bent up front bumper finally removed. Those bolts took forever to get out, rusty and caked with dried mud.
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Here's a pic after I swapped the carb, cleaned up a lot of the vacuum lines and wiring, and put the air cleaner on as a mock-up. The air cleaner actually fits now (it never fit right with the CCC carburetor.)
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Here's what I have a question about. There's a line running from the back of the carb (What I thought was the fuel return line), but it goes to the brake booster behind the master cylinder. Is this correct? It also passes through a strange solenoid looking thing on the way there.
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This is a little sensor that was hooked up on the CCC carb, that is attatched to the water neck. Do I need this for anything or is it fine just un-hooked as is?
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And last but not least. I have a HUUUGE hole in the air box that pumps air into the cab for A/C and heat. Does anyone have any suggestions on fixing this? The A/C has been removed, so I thought about just unbolting the entire thing and patching it with sheet metal. Is this common?

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Any suggestions I would greatly appreciate. Thanks for looking.
 
Oh, also, what do you guys do about the PCV valve? The carb I bought came with the vac port for the PCV blocked off.

Does anyone even use these anymore on these old motors? Where should I plumb the hose to from the PCV?
 
The truck for me, is just something I enjoy working on. I hate driving these beasts. So out-dated and scary on the road.

I'm just curious what you do drive on a daily basis. Must be something new and small?

I love these trucks and drive them pretty much everyday, all year long. Although I have went soft lately, I've mostly been driving a little '84 2wd shortbed. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
 
I'm just curious what you do drive on a daily basis. Must be something new and small?

I love these trucks and drive them pretty much everyday, all year long. Although I have went soft lately, I've mostly been driving a little '84 2wd shortbed. Different strokes for different folks I guess.


I had a 2005 Silverado 1500. Just recently traded it in for a 2007 Trailblazer SS LS2. I tried driving my old 87 Jimmy daily, and I got stranded once a week by it. One thing after another. Plus the way people drive around here (just outside of STL), you pretty much get run over if you're not doing the speed limit. Doing 70+ is tough in an old truck with 35s and a worn out motor. Last time I took my Jimmy on the highway, it threw the rear shaft at 65mph. Scariest thing that's ever happened to me in a vehicle.

I don't really 'daily drive' any of my own vehicles. I work for AT$T and drive a company truck pretty much 6 days a week.
 
I guess I'm lucky. Mine have no trouble doing 75mph or better, people get in my way... not the other way around:D
 
If I had the cash to put a fresh motor, fresh tires, new stock suspension, and basically make this thing like brand new, I would drive it. But with all these old parts, and work done that I don't necessarily trust, it's a bit scary wondering what might fail next.
 
My 83 C1500 pick-up is my DD, and even with the 6.2 it has no trouble cruising at 75-85 mph if that's what traffic is doing. My 90 K5 I just started driving again and it is fine at 70+ as well, on 35's. It has a slight wander in the steering, but nothing scary.

I love driving these trucks daily :waytogo:

It looks like your AC box needs replacing, or you could try riveting a sheet metal patch over that big gaping hole. If the rest of the AC stuff is also messed up you could look into aftermarket AC like "Vintage air". Or, if you don't care about AC you could swap all non AC parts in it's place. That really cleans up the underhood area and isn't too big of a project.

Rene
 
Well all the rest of the a/c stuff has already been removed. I just need the heat to work, but all the air gets pumped right out that hole.
 
Well I finally got the chance to drive it since I put the new carb on. Runs and drives a lot better. One of my pulleys is squealing horribly though. The new steering wheel is aligned wrong, which I just found out. Also, everything inside rattles horribly.

Also when I put the dash pad and bezel back on, my instrument lights suddenly quit working. I'll have to tear that ALL apart again to see why. Oh well, I still wasn't happy with the brightness of them. Did the LED conversion and painted the bezel, but still not bright enough.
 
The line going to the brake booster is the vacuum line that powers the booster. What you see is simply a check valve in the line. I believe that check valve is what allows you to have one single push of full power brakes after the engine has died.


As a side note, I also daily drive my K30 crew cab. My steering and suspension is all stock, in good shape, and it goes down the road as strait and smooth as my 2006 Ram Cummins. My K30 also weighs 9200lbs too, that helps a bit.
 
The PCV is required. It stands for Positive Crankcase Ventilation and helps to eliminate extra contaminates (gases) that can dilute the motor oil and pressure that can blow out your seals/gaskets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCV_valve


I know it's a necessary part, but I just need to know where to plumb it in. Right now it's just vented to the atmosphere. Before it had a hose running to the CCC carburetor. The carb I bought has that nipple capped off for some reason, so I wasn't sure if it's setup the same way.
 
Post a pic of your new carb from the top without the air cleaner, there should be a port at the rear of the carb for hooking up the PCV hose.
 
Does anyone know of a kit that can be bought to eliminate that A/C stuff altogether? Just to make it look like the non-A/C trucks did from the factory? If anyone has a link, let me know.
 
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