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New Kid on the Block

O

Orphaned76

Newbie
Joined
Mar 11, 2024
Posts
4
Reaction score
13
Location
Lakewood, WA
Hello gang,
I am new to the K5 world. I did have a '71 20 years ago and unfortunately gave it up. I have several other squares over my life but just picked up my Orphaned '76 Chalet (#0056) on a 1984 K5. It needs some work for sure and maybe even another K5 as the rust is taking it's toll. I may be willing to give up some of the original Chalet parts as I plan my build in the near future. Since it is not original now, I am not overly worried about what it is on the future. Makes someone else's stocker worth far more in my eyes and I could give someone else the parts they need for their own restoration.
I look forward to more fun in the K5/Chalet world.

Orphaned76
 
Orphaned76 said:
Hello gang, ...just picked up my Orphaned '76 Chalet (#0056) on a 1984 K5. .... I look forward to more fun in the K5/Chalet world.
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Wes Harden said:
Welcome @Orphaned76 @Blazer Chalet tracks the various Chalets for sale and can maybe tell you a little about yours. ....
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muddybuddy said:
@a77blazerchalet tracks chalets, and will be a wealth of knowledge. Curious to see if this serial number is a net new add to his master spreadsheet or if he will have history on it. ....
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Welcome! And if it was me who prompted you to join CK5, put the cuffs on me.

Yep, ran across this one at the end of February in our new man's comment placed at another guy's Facebook page who'd recently acquired Chalet #0658. I recognized our new man's orphaned camper unit as one I'd temporarily termed the "Gig Harbor WA" Chalet, since none of my inquiries about which serial number it was were answered by the owner/seller, who first listed various items off the Blazer for sale on FB Karketplace - bumpers, wheels, etc. Last June, I also spotted a '76 Blazer for sale on FB Marketplace in Spanaway WA where the seller said it was a former Chalet. That seller was nice enough to share that it for certain was the former factory truck for the then-ongoing series of "Gig Harbor" listings. However, only just in the last couple of weeks, I checked through my older ad photos gleaned from Washington state listings, and it sure appeared like the back of what I had as the complete original #0056 in 2013 looked just like one of the last photos in the Gig Harbor FB Marketplace ads this past September -- same large state RV tag below the Chinook serial number plate and same odd way the back door decal is faded (top two stripes might be repaint fixes on top of the original vinyl). Since our new man here had answered my Facebook Message, he was able to confirm that it was indeed #0056. I've known of it as a complete rig since I first saw it in Tacoma 2007 Craigslist ads. So, it's really good to get the two separate recent sales listings of the Blazer / camper unit all consolidated back into the single spreadsheet list entry I have for #0056!

Meanwhile, CK5 is the place for any and all advice on how to mod what you have now to be the best it can be, these guys here have tons of mechanical knowledge!

#0056 '09-'23.jpg
 
Welcome. Fellow Blazer Camper guy here. Though mine is a Four Wheel Popup not a Chalet.

Any camper in a Blazer is good to me and a lot of the stuff to make any camper work is not exclusive to the type of camper it is. Lots of information here, don’t hesitate to ask!
 
Hey Gang!
It's been a while since my first post. I did find a replacement '91 K5 for my chalet. Now it is the preparation for the transfer and play with the new platform. I recently took a trip in the K5 and find it woefully underpowered even with headers, dual exhaust and upgraded ignition. The 3.73s and 35s and the overdrive keeps the rpms around 1500-1700 at 60mph give or take.
What is the best way to upgrade some power for the '91? I have heard the LS swaps are easier with this era K5, but that may be more than I want to comfortably handle. What about a 454 swap from the same era (i.e. suburban, K20/30)? I will be checking out the basic internals of the current motor, but after 33 years it could be almost any SBC in there (305- cough cough). Where is the best place to research swap options?
Thanks gang!
Pictures next....
 
The first issue you have is the gear ratio. 4.56 gears would be a better match for the 35" tire for reasonable power. Right now, you are geared for economy with no power. The best bang for your buck will be regearing or replacing your axles.

When it comes to the motor used to haul around a camper, what you want is low end torque. A well built 383, a stock 454, an LS swap or a stock 5.9L Cummins are all good options. But, the 383 would be the least amount of work.
 
Orphaned76 said:
Where is the best place to research swap options?
Click to expand...
You're already there!

Ask @ZooMad75 how an LS does pushing a camper around (and yours is even bigger). The 5.3/6.0 is actually moving the power band higher than your SBC. A lot more HP, but you have to rev it higher, which won't work with 3.73s. Absolutely drop gear ratios, like @kennyw said. In that process, research your options for upgrading from a rear 10-bolt axle instead of sinking money into it. A Blazer Chalet is no lightweight.

Then you'll know where you're really at engine wise and can figure out what you want to do. You need to consider how you'll use it, how often, etc before jumping head-first into a multi-$k upgrade. I would think a used 454 would be the cheapest option, although some would say you need to upgrade the transmission. It kind of depends on usage.
 
kennyw said:
The first issue you have is the gear ratio. 4.56 gears would be a better match for the 35" tire for reasonable power. Right now, you are geared for economy with no power. The best bang for your buck will be regearing or replacing your axles.

When it comes to the motor used to haul around a camper, what you want is low end torque. A well built 383, a stock 454, an LS swap or a stock 5.9L Cummins are all good options. But, the 383 would be the least amount of work.
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Kennyw;
Thanks for the input. I have 3/4 ton axles with lockers and 4.10s I plan to swap which will help a little. I hadn't thought of the 383 and something to consider. I forgot to add I have a 350 TPI available as well that seems to have far more power than the TBI.
The current TBI motor just doesn't pull at 2500-3000 like anything else I have had. Digging a little deeper to find a cause if there is one.
 
Well depending on your terrain locally would be critical in picking an engine. Chalets are much heavier than my four wheel pop up unit. More frontal area for wind drag too. So I think even a stroked small block would struggle in hilly/mountain grades.

4.10’s would be the minimum I’d go with 35’s but you’d be better off jumping to 4.56 or 4.88 with smaller displacement.

I’ve run mine with a 5.3/700r4 combo and now a 8.1L big block nv4500 5 speed combo. Common between both was my 4.10 gears and 35” tires.

Here’s my take on a rig that tips the scales at 7400 pounds loaded ready to roll for a week trip or more. The 5.3/auto/4.10’s absolutely sucked climbing serious grades. Not enough reduction and the 5.3 needed buzzed to the moon to keep it in the right torque band. I’m not kidding. 5500-6500 shuttling between 2nd and 3rd on the slush box barely maintaining 40 miles per hour on wolf creek pass. I’ve very well aware of how the ls valve train is built to rev but actually listing to it at that rpm is unnerving. Flat ground was ok as long as it wasn’t into the wind. Then it sucked again. Like it dropped out of 4th to maintain 65 mph since it wasn’t spinning the engine fast enough at that speed to maintain the gear.

Take the same tires and axles and stuff the 8.1 in front. Completely different animal. Hills and mountain passes? No problem. Headwind? What headwind? Push the skinny pedal and go.

Bottom line displacement is your best friend when you are driving anything with the aerodynamic shape of a barn door. Put a big block in it and call it a day. They bolt in with no need for adapters at the mounts like an LS. If you can’t find an 8.1 get a L29 vortec 7.4. @Capt Ron has an L29 in his crawlabago like mine and it does great.

Don’t waste time and money trying to build a small block to get the job done. It can do it, it just can’t do it as well as the bigger engine could. It becomes a drag to drive if the terrain gets steep too. If you don’t like driving it what’s the point?
 
And like @ZooMad75 alludes to, gear choice can be greatly impacted by engine choices. My Duramax crewcab dually is geared with 3.73, high compared to the 6.0L truck with 4.10s and similar size tires I had before it. But I can pull Stevens pass at 80 mph towing 20K lbs in the Duramax where I would be down to 35-40 mph giving it all she got with the 6.0L towing 10K.

So, if you may plan a big block, I would install the 4.10 axles and leave them like that until after you get the engine decided/swapped and tested.
 
I vote put your 4.10 axles now, you will feel a little improvement, that's what I did with my suburban when I put the 35" tires.
Then start looking for a 454.
I now have the L29 454 in my suburban with 4.10/35" and it's a monster
 
Just for a minute I'm going to argue the other side of this. When Chalets were being built, people just drove them. You could get a SBC 350 or 400, but that was it. You had 160-175hp and 3 gears to work with and people still made it to camping spots. They just got there slowly and burned a lot of gas doing it. Theoretically fun can ensue without changing anything but your mindset. You won't save money by upgrading to better fuel economy, so it comes down to what you want to spend to enjoy the rig more.

Now back to your regular CK5 programming. Moving the shell from a 76 to an 84 blesses you with overdrive, but may (or may not) have lost some cubic inches. The original truck probably had 3.73 gears and 29" tire (235/75R15). That means with 35" tires you're much downgraded from a stock Chalet and you need ~4.56 gears just to get back where you started. After 1,000 gear ratio choice threads, the trend is that you should go deep when you have O/D, which points you more towards 4.88. My point is that dropping one step from 3.73 to 4.10 isn't going to give you the improvement you're looking for. When the Chalet was new, it would have been spinning 3000RPM to go 70MPH. With the O/D and 4.88 gears, it's only 2300RPM. On a nice road at 55MPH, that's only 1800RPM - nothing to fear.
 
Well gang it has been a while since my last response. I did get the 3/4 axles installed and they have 4.56 gears so I should be good to go. I pull around 2300 @60 mph best guess. The speedo is off. The Blazer has treated me well and drives like it should with 35s on 4". The stock TBI and tranny holding up for now. After all the input, I figure the 454, 400, 208 is the easiest swap if I get there. Casually looking for donors.
The last few weeks I have been working on the Chalet, but i haven't taken pictures. I guess focused on the work and not the progress. I'll work on some updated photos of the progress. Someone messed up the core Chalet so I took it down to the base shell and started over. That being said, I am looking to finish it up and get the pair matched up!
 
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