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New member, first K5!

xCaliK5x

xCaliK5x

1/2 ton status
Joined
May 11, 2009
Posts
564
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0
Location
The IOU state, CA.
Hi guys, my name is Mike and I live in SoCal. This is my first K5 and first domestic anything so bear with my n00bness. I have been lurking for a few weeks and waiting for my paid membership to kick in! I am a BMW master tech by trade, but oddly enough have never owned one. I'm a VW guy. I had a couple of Landcruisers though, an FJ40 and a FJ60. I got this as a toy truck for the weekend to take camping/shooting and knock a few friends with Toyota's and Jeeps down a notch on trails (hopefully). I have found this site very helpful already. I'm no stranger to web boards, I hangout on Socaleuro.com most of the time.

Its an 87 K5, a little worse for wear with some brush and rock damage and a little rust (came from Long Island NY originaly before it came to Cali.) It has a TBI 350 with about 6K miles on it, a 700R4 and 208. It has a Dana 3/4 ton front and a 14 bolt full floater in the rear with 4:10's on 36" TSL's. The lift. Well its interesting. The previous owner told me it has 4" rough country springs, with the LF spring being 3 leafs and a load spring, and RF has 5 regular springs...........5 1/2" shackles in front, and the stock hangers in the rear spring over on both. All I know is it rides, steers and stops like s$#! I got 3-4 turns on all the Ubolt nuts up front. That only helped a little with the pulling under braking and loose steering. It also has no swaybar or steering dampner so after going from european cars the handle like they are on rails to this, was a little spooky. It hasn't seen the freeway yet! So I think I'm going to redo the lift or change most of it. I will need some guidence for most of this as to what to get and where. Here is the list in no specific order besides saftey and reliability first.

Redo the lift and get good shocks
cross over or high steer (whats the differance?)
locker
repair the crack in the floor by the seat mounting and Line-X the floor properly (has a pepboys brush on kit now)
TBI hotrod mods, headers, exhaust, etc.
Finish the home made rear bumper
front bumper
rock sliders
some sort of roll bar or cage (I'm 6'4" and 260lbs so I have some fitment issues)
Lockable storage boxes that seal
good seats and harness
convert the A/C to R134
Parking brake cables from the 14 bolt swap were never hooked up (have NO idea what parts I need, but the cable is under the drivers side on the truck, and I got cables coming out of the backing plate.)

Suggestions on anything?

Enough rambling, here are some pics from the P.O. since I haven't taken any yet. Thanks guys for the help in advance!

n1574852280_237885_2774948.jpg


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And here is my daily, 270 ftlbs and FWD............ it has some mods. Pic is old though.

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And my old sleeper GTI with a VR6 swap, cams, Schrick variable geometry intake and a VF stage 2++ super charger, 2100 lbs, 330WHP, 305WTQ wheel spin at 65 MPH!!!! :D

n1574852280_107240_2898.jpg
 
I would say the lift is a definite redo Tuff country ez rides or BDS springs are your best bet for sure. I personally like to completely redo the shock mounts to get max travel out of them but even with the stock shock mounts they will work pretty well

You may want to look into getting a swaybar and disconnects, sway bars are good on road but limit flex off road.

Crossover steering changes the drag link to the other knuckle to provide less steering change when flexing and better overall geomtry, high steer will come with a second steering arm to allow you to raise the tie rod as well as the drag link

As far as a rollcage there are plenty of shops in cali that I am sure can help you just make sure they know you dont' want to hit your head, if a short guy builds cages they are usually short cages. I am 6' 3" and 280 so i feel your pain. But like I said probably plenty of shops that do quality work

sliders and other body armor are a must

Other than that welcome to ck5 feel free to ask whatever you need lots of knowledge here
 
Welcome to the board! :waytogo:

There's a lot of good information here, but be careful about what advice you take. A lot of the guys here are setting their trucks up for hardcore 4-wheeling and some of the setups are REALLY soft for good articulation. Setting it up like they do will make your truck even spookier on the street.

A 36" tire isn't too radical, so you don't need much lift. You might get by with a simple 4" lift depending on how hard you want to flex it.... the body looks like it's already been trimmed front & rear, so you've got clearance without a tall lift.

Do you think your existing RC springs are too stiff, or too soft? They have the reputation of being a VERY high spring rate (something like 700Lb/in rate up front)...most of the "soft" springs are more like 300Lb/in... If I were setting up a truck for dual-purpose use, I'd definitely keep the front swaybar and buy some ORD disconnects for it. If you decide to go with crossover steering (probably not a priority for you) you won't be able to use the factory front swaybar anymore. That's a really poor tradeoff IMHO.

Invest in a good quality set of shocks.... most people go cheap and never get the benefit of good suspension control. With your background in the VW stuff, you are probably already a believer so I won't dwell on this point. You'll want to make sure that the shock mounts are tall enough to allow for all the up/down travel that your suspension will have. A lot of guys will run F*rd shock towers up front to relocate the upper shock mount higher.

Keep reading.... don't rush into the mods until you understand what's what. This hobby is expensive enough when you only have to buy parts once! :D



:usaflag:
 
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Thanks guys. i have always been the "do it right or don't do it at all" type person, and working on cars for a living, I know mechanical parts are the last place to skimp. :D
 
I got it in the shop today.

I changed the oil and swapped to synthetic, greased everything.

Cut down the excesses length off the ubolts and torqued to 100 FTLBS. I got about 10 turns in the rear before torque was reached! I checked ALL the other bolts, fount the front U-Joint nuts loose, and BOTH front shackle bolts on both sides were backed off! Yikes! She handles SO much better now!

I fixed the dash lights and transfercase shift light

Broke the tailgate handle pivot rod trying to adjust it so the tailgate would open (NY truck) so I'm looking for that. Cleaned and hosed out the floor and cleaned the door panels.

Found my brake line for the rear axle is too short when I put it on the rack it got tight like a guitar spring!

I need front pads for a 3/4 Ton Dana 44 since they are at about 2mm of pad remaining (what pads do I get, what truck was this axle fitted to?) and longer lines.

I ran out of time (I wanted to stick to my regular beer at noon schedule) so I left the brakes and pass. side power window for next week.

I will update this as I progress. Any help is much appreciated.
 
Little update.

I mounted the Hella's
I installed the bolt in ORD steering box brace
Fixed the tailgate
Diagnosed the A/C, have a new condenser and accumulator R134 retrofit
Replaced the EGR valve and vacuum lines
Fixed the washer pump
Fixed the dash lights
Ran breathers for the axles (D44 was open, rear had an inch of hose with a bolt in it.

Steering dampener should be here tomorrow from ORD
I have the rear disc kit will all stainless drop lines for F/R from ORD
New rotors and pads
1/2 ton calipers for the rear, 3/4 tons for the front
Got a skid plate for the t-case and 31 gallon tank lined up.
Got a set of suburban seats
Getting a custom headliner made out of a pirate flag!
Trans/t-case service

On the list and in no order is:
Fix the floor
Detroit locker for the 14 Bolt!
Diff covers
rock sliders
front bumper
CB?
Proper exhaust
Front P/W windows left slow, right inop.
windshield.

I promise I will get pics. I have been lagging since I CAN'T give you ones with pavement under it. I will be taking it to my VW Audi meet so I will get some pics then!.
 
Dabba said:
someone stole that nice truck from long island?! haha nice truck
Click to expand...

Not sure when it left, it has some rust that was repaired ny the tail gate. It has a small spot in the roof by the seam and a little in the rockers. Nothing major. Perfect for a trail rig.

shaun89 said:
sweet cars, i love the mk2 with the vr6!
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was a helluva car. I had to sell it before I ended up in jail.
 
So, after much work, here is an update. Truck may or may not be forsale at this point. Its coming along so I feel a lot better about it. Everytime I look at something I find something the previous owner FUBAR'd.

So my main issues have been brakes and smog. First the smog.

I put it on the rollers at work, everything was clean except the HC's. The EGR was messed up, so I changed that. Then since it would never come off fast idle and warm up, I found the T-stat had 6 holes drilled in it. So I replaced that. now it is getting warm, my NOX was still ok, but my HC's were still out. Pulled the plugs, they were gaped at 50 instead of 35 and were fouled. wires fell apart, capr and rotor were done, so I replaced all that. Still the same. I checked my PCV, it is ok, checked my charcoal cansiter, its ok. I get a F.C. 42, I don't think the dizzy was installed right indexed to the crank and the sensor/module in the dizzy itself. I'm working on that. My Air Injection system is working properly. Changing when its supposed to. BUT the non return valves (one or both) are sticking causing a large exhaust leak. Those will be changed this week along with the 02 that is switching slow.

Since I need the Check Engine light to function, I pulled the cluster to check it. It, and half the other bulbs were burned out. So I replaced them. The dash pad is out getting recovered by my buddy who does upholstry.

Since the dash lights are now working, brake light is on. What I forgot to mention uptop is when it was on the dyno, foot on the brake the rear wheels would keep spinning. I would have to shift into neutral and coast to a stop on the rollers. So the rears weren't working. Previous owner "Bled the brakes" before I got the truck. I figure he opened the lines in the rear, pumped it until the proportioning valve slid over and blocked off the rear. Since the light was burnt out, he never knew (other then it stopping like ****). So tonight I put the power bleeder on it, opened all four bleeders and the proportioning valve recentered. Flushed out the brakes (looked like diesel oil) and took it for a drive. Wow, 1 ton drums sure make for good stopping! Another F8&kd up part I found was the front caliper mounting eye on the bottom, was broken off! Yup held on by one slide pin. Eeek.

So I still have all the stuff to do the rear disc conversion. New front brakes with 3/4 ton calipers. I put in a new A/C condenser. So I'm making headway. I feel better now that I'm getting all the ****ed up work sorted out on this thing and less discouraged. I';m thinking about painting it sand cammo! But if it breaks in teh desert, I'm coyote food!
 
truck looks nice.

First mod should have been punching the PO in the face.. sounds like your going to find a bunch more surprises from him
 
Yeah, among the great and notable ones (otherwise we would be here all night) were:

loose seat mount bolts

loose hose clamps (like REAL loose) on the fuel filler pipe and loose tank straps.

no breather lines on the axles.

Loose U-Joint nut/bolts

10 turns on the U-Bolt nuts on both axles

equal amounts of turns on the shackle bolts (one of which when torqued the bolt was so long it hit the gear selector linkage!)

I have inherited some real messes in my project car life, and professional car fixing life, but this one takes the cake.
 
in the words of jeff dunhams "peanut"....


"oh youre sick....."

but what a great sickness to have eh??? welcome to the forums. nice to know im not the only vw / blazer driver around ;)

my vw is a diesel though. so it dosnt understand the term "wheel spin" :doah:




well... not yet anyway :D
 
Cool. another VW guy. I wouldn't discount a diesel, i like them, the TDI is great. We had a guy show up at a dyno day with one, did a whole 130 HP at the front wheels, but an even more impressive 268FTLBS...................!!!!!
 
whats funny about that...... is the power from that modded 1.9L four banger.... is greater than the 6.2L V8 in my blazer :haha:

But yeah, planning a set of PP520 nozzles, 11mm pump, VNT-17 turbo, 2.5in downpipe and strait pipe exhaust after the cat, i might have the head ported and polished, and then of course a custom tune. Ill probably also do the .654 fifth gear swap for better highway mileage, and some aero mods. I can hit 65mpg on the highway right now, i want 70mpg :) I think if i were somewhere around 150hp and 300lbsft Id be happy with the jetta. But with that power level a six speed tranny swap becomes very attractive. As it is the 5 speed in there is tached out by 25mph in first gear :eek1:

But all thats gonna have to wait till i finish pouring money into the truck. Right now its nice having the ability to work on the toy while driving something reliable.
 
Nice. I love diesels. With that torque you could go to a lower final drive. I would have to look in the parts catalog to see what is lower then you have now. I have to split my modding money between the K5 and this, my 2006 GLI. I have done GIAC-X software in the engine and DSG, dog bone mount, VF intake. As it sits it gives 335's and 350Z's a hard time. Last time I dyno'd it with a blown PCV (lost 3 lbs of boost) I did a measly 219HP and 245TQ. I have a set of powder coated RS6 five spokes to go on it. I want to do the VF RSS kit and twin intercooler. Good for 350 WHP, 380WTQ on pump. But its more money to go into the K5. I have serious inner car conflicts.

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Put in ONE of the air injection non-return valves, the other even with heat didn't want to budge, so I will leave it for now.

Changed the O2 sensor

Found #8 exhaust gasket between the manifold and head blown out and missing one bolt pulled it off, forgot to check if the rest of the bolt is in the hole. The others were loose (like everything else on this F*CKING truck) so I hope it just backed out and fell out, but with my luck, my right angle drill and extractor set will get a work out in the morning..................
 
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