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Identifying M1008->K30 for Bureau of Motor Vehicles

J

jr4x4ee

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Estonia
Hello forum members!

First of all, I am from Estonia ... yea, thats far away from US and yes knowledge about US trucks/cars is very hard to come by here.

I have been building old 1984 Military M1008 for a while now. 38" tires, 6" of lift, HAD driveshafts, 12000lbs winch, high steer from ORD and some other goodies. Right now it has original 6.2D engine. But I want to swap it out for 454 gasser. I got pretty good deal for an engine with 381 heads and it is waiting for an complete overhaul now.

But here is my problem now. I need to convince Estonian Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) with an official proof, that basically 1984 military M1008 is civillian K30 and yes, it has had 454 engines in options list (to my knowledge the 454 was an option for 80's Chevy K30 pickups, am I right?). I can not make an otherwise easy engine swap officiallyand by the book as our BMV states. And I want to keep things legal. If any of You guys are working in a GM or at GM dealership and could provide me an official note proveing that, then I could be really happy. Or at least a scan of GM brochure of 1984 trucks.

And what is Military Chevy D30? Estonian BMV took a look at my trucks VIN and said, that it is D30 and I should prove, that the 454 was an option on D30? To my knowledge military M1008 is basically civillian K30, right?

I can provide my trucks VIN if needed.

Here is my truck web page:
http://jr.lahe.net/car/chevy/index_2.html

Most of the mods are described onder "Modid" page and are in estonian, but You should get the idea about the works carried out.

I could really use Your help guys.

Thank You!

Jaak Ruusmaa
[email protected]
Cell +3725028488
 
Put "6.2 diesel" stickers on the Big Block valve covers...:D

454 definitely was not only an optional engine for the K30, but it was also a common option in those trucks.

Rene
 
tRustyK5 said:
454 definitely was not only an optional engine for the K30, but it was also a common option in those trucks.
Rene
Click to expand...

Yea thats right, but I need to prove that with an official information.
Sale-ads, personal know-how and just me talking aint gonna cut it for BMV.
 
Brochures are easy ... http://brochures.slosh.com/

If the scans aren't readable for your year, let me know (dremu-at-yahoo-dot-com) and I can email you big ones :D

Now, I might notice that the VIN's for the CUCV's are actually *different* than the civilian ones ... seeing as the CUCV's all came with 6.2's ... BUT, I *hate* motor vehicles departments :D ... so try not to talk about the VIN so much.

The brochures should show engine options for K30's no problem.

-- A
 
hmm, that is difficult then, maybe someone can send a copy of their registration with their info blocked out or something?
 
Here is my trucks VIN: 1GCGD34J7FF304374

I could use one K30 VIN with 454 engine on it. From the same year as mine. It helps for sure, I can use it as a solid evidence, that there are "X"30 series trucks with 454 engines on them.

You can e-mail it to me, for privacy reasons.

jaak_at_datel_dot_ee
 
Next week I could scan you the official GM parts manual pages from 1985-1987, they state "C/K", the year of the engine application, the RPO for the engine, and what I'm assuming is the engine VIN code, "N" or "W", although it doesn't state it's the engine VIN code. Obviously it shows an exploded view of the engine and all parts, along with the part numbers. GM copyright at the bottom, it would be obvious to anyone that knows what they are looking at that it is original GM literature.

I can't go back as far as 1984 though, not sure how picky they want to get. If they were smart, they'd realize that a larger engine would be more common the OLDER the truck is, emissions restrictions and what not here.

I think the brochure page dremu has is going to be your ticket though. :)
 
Yup, dremu had some good info on his site.
Asked him to send me the big files about some brochures. I'm gonna use them in my defencive speech for sure.

The CUCV different VIN might come a problem, casue it shows D30 ... and You know how picky sometimes BMV can be. At least here they are. If brochures and all the info I can gather fails, then I'm gonna need official letter from GM or GM dealership, explaining a bit about Chevy 1Ton trucks to our BMV guys...dunno how to get it from Estonia though.
 
dyeager535 said:
Next week I could scan you the official GM parts manual pages from 1985-1987, they state "C/K", the year of the engine application, the RPO for the engine, and what I'm assuming is the engine VIN code, "N" or "W
Click to expand...

Please do that!
 
I'm not sure if it's on dremu's site or not (thought it was?) but the CUCV manual from the department of defense has a picture of the CUCV on the cover, you'd think that, coupled with a picture from one of the brochure covers, would prove to them that the vehicles are the same physically.
 
Granted I live in the USA so most people have seen this type of GM truck in droves before but when I registered and insured my CUCV a year ago I had to prove to the Insurance company and the Michigan Secretary of State (equivalent of your BMV...both escapees from Soviet Bureaucracy perhaps?) that it was a GM K30 with some extra doodads for the military.

At the SoS I had to show the guy how to read the VIN book and showed how the one character that throws off most civilians just means it was bought under a military contract. That's where the D in D30 comes from. It's just a model number like C = 2wd and K = 4wd.

At my insurance agency they just wanted a picture and for one of their employees to actually see the truck, take a picture, and go "yep, looks like an old Chevy."


You might consider finding a good VIN decoder chart for this generation of truck and decoding your VIN for them so you can explain how all it means is a '8x Chevrolet K30 pickup truck with some special stuff for the US military.

Then get some pictures of these same trucks in civilian life. Heck, send them here to CK5...lord knows there's bunches of us picture whoring our trucks on here.

Sounds to me like all they need is proof that it's an actual civilian vehicle...sort of...and then proof that the 454 was an option. One of the VIN codes should indicate that the 454/7.4L engine was an option.


Speaking of which...got any back story on how your CUCV ended up in Estonia? I keep running across them all around the world but often showing up far from where US forces were/are.
Not to mention a 454 in Europe? Then again I doubt gas prices worry you as much as most would if you can afford to build that beast.:waytogo:
 
AJMBLAZER said:
You might consider finding a good VIN decoder chart for this generation of truck and decoding your VIN for them so you can explain how all it means is a '8x Chevrolet K30 pickup truck with some special stuff for the US military.
Click to expand...

Any good VIN decoder suggestions?

AJMBLAZER said:
Speaking of which...got any back story on how your CUCV ended up in Estonia? I keep running across them all around the world but often showing up far from where US forces were/are.
Not to mention a 454 in Europe? Then again I doubt gas prices worry you as much as most would if you can afford to build that beast.:waytogo:
Click to expand...

We have here shiploads of old US CUCVs. I quess our country got them through some NATO aid programs. Stupid thing is, that they can not be sold or auctioned off from military forces. So they basically will be crunched to small metal debri after they hit the last mile of their lifespan. Some trucks tho have found their way somehow, my guess is illegaly to civillian people, but that was at the early years after we got our independence back (1992). I got my truck from Netherland, where it is legal to auction off old military equipment. I got the truck for $6000USD. The engine was shot and the truck was told to be drowned in a river. I believe that, cause I got plenty of mud and sand from everywhere inside the cabin. Engine was repaired along th400 and np208 and I added some modifications mentioned in my first post. Since it is my hobby and fun truck, then the 6.2 diesel engine was pronounced too weak by me and search began to get some more oomph under the bonnet. Natural and easy choice was an upgrade to 454 with some mods in it, to get around 500-600hp out of it. I talked with some guys who are bringing cars from US to Estonia and one of them had an complete engine on a running 1979 year truck and was asking $1300 including the transportation from US to Estonia. He also throwed in th400, radiator and some other bits and pieces around the engine. Engine has head casting 336781 and engine casting 361959, which is rather good find. I hope I have the time in this year to rip the engine and find out its condition. I am coming to work on a project from 19.nov to 19.dec.2007 in New York, so I could get some parts for it while I am in US. But first of all I need to get things sorted out with our BMV ...

Your input to my topic has been great help, but I am 100% sure that all my agony would be swept away with a statement letter from some GM dealer. Otherwise it would be me talking and the fishy thing for the BMV would be the VIN showing D. And on black&white there are no 454 for D model. But if I could get an official letter, where it would be said, that bla-bla 1Ton truck is a 1Ton truck and D model = K model technically and it only shows that the D series was sold under military contract and yes GM has used 454 engines on K30 from year 1979 - up to ? ... or something similar, then I would be clear on this one for sure. Maybe any of You would like to get such a note from a GM dealership for me or can You tell me some good guy's name at some GM dealership, who would help me? Here we have GM dealer, but they are selling Chevy Captiva's, Opel and **** like that and can not help me, since they have no knowledge at all about real US full size trucks or an idea how to get that kind of information. I think US dealer could help me way faster.
 
jr4x4ee said:
Stupid thing is, that they can not be sold or auctioned off from military forces. So they basically will be crunched to small metal debri after they hit the last mile of their lifespan.
Click to expand...

That suck's that they are going to crush the cucv's, all most makes me weep.
 
Got a Haynes or Chilton's manual? My Chilton's actually has a pretty good chart that decodes the whole thing for you.

I can try asking around here at the two GM dealerships...however both aren't good places to deal with so I can't promise much.
 
If i remember on monday i'll have my buddy at the local dealership run that VIN number and see what comes up and have him print it off for me. If there's enough info on it then i'll scan it in and post it up for you.
 
Chilton / Haynes manual for decoding the VIN is good idea.
Could someone scan the VIN stuff out of it and send it to me?
 
If this doesn't work, a letter from a GM dealer probably won't either. These are all the pages I could think of that show that the "D" was military for a consistent time range (no manual for '84 though :(), prove that the manual is authentic GM literature, that the 6.2L and 454 were available in the same trucks.

http://rides.webshots.com/album/561036416UNTMMP on the "full size" setting, you can easily read anything you want on those shots.
 
dyeager535 said:
If this doesn't work, a letter from a GM dealer probably won't either. These are all the pages I could think of that show that the "D" was military for a consistent time range (no manual for '84 though :(), prove that the manual is authentic GM literature, that the 6.2L and 454 were available in the same trucks.

http://rides.webshots.com/album/561036416UNTMMP on the "full size" setting, you can easily read anything you want on those shots.
Click to expand...

Excellent material! Is the VIN decoded similarly in Haynes / Chilton?
 
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