Picked up my My Firs K5

[icemaneric1]

Picked up my first K5 on Monday, 91 fully loaded. No body lift, don't know if it has a suspension lift, but it has 33" on stock alloy wheels. Tires rub. It's a rust free California Truck with 149k miles. It needs work but for 500 bucks who can complain.

The previous owner said it may have a spun rod bearing, but there is no bottom end noise, no metal shaving in the oil, and it has good oil pressure, I did notice a misfire, so I did a compression check and found two cylinders dead. Cylinder 3 & 6. 40psi on both. Oil looks good not milky, no white smoke out the tail pipe, so my guess is a blown head gasket.

Any how I have a few questions. I did a search and found that the vortec heads bolt up to my block. What things do I need from the vortec donor besides the heads? My second question, is there a intake manifold that will bolt up to those vortec heads that will allow me to run my stock TBI?

 

[dustinova]

GM Performance Parts makes an intake for use with TBI and Vortec Heads.
http://www.jegs.com/i/GM-Performance/809/12496821/10002/-1
It should work for all the stock emissions equipment as well.

 

[icemaneric1]

Thanks for the info Dustin.

 

[str8axle55]

You need to post some pics, that sounds lke a killer deal. Welcome to the site.

 

[sweetk30]

 

[63chevyll]

Gotta love $500 blazers.....
Yeah life are.nice, but most of us have seen one before....

 

[icemaneric1]

It looks like any other K5, with 33".
I'm a post whore, and love to see pictures like most of you do. My camera finally broke, so in the next couple of days I will make sure to have some pictures posted.

On a side note.
I pulled the head off for inspection and I was right, blown head gasket. Unfortunately that was not all that was blown. A section of piston #6 was missing. I could see the top compression ring. I'm thinking of going to a 383 with the Vortec heads. I'm using the search function like crazy. Looking up tuning info, and info on where and what to get for the 383.

 

[K85 Octane]

You need to post some pics, that sounds lke a killer deal. Welcome to the site.

x2
and we have a rule here
"Pics or it didn't happen"

 

[TheBeast_88K5]

Can you do a 383, smog legal?

I wanted to go stroker, but was told it's a no-no....

 

[icemaneric1]

Can you do a 383, smog legal?

I wanted to go stroker, but was told it's a no-no....

I'm sure the smog tech will not be able to tell what mods have been done, and if its well tuned it should pass the sniffer test, at least I hope its that way.
I'm going to find out for sure.

 

[blazinzuk]

I'm sure the smog tech will not be able to tell what mods have been done, and if its well tuned it should pass the sniffer test, at least I hope its that way.
I'm going to find out for sure.

It will cost you some money to get all the smog legal related parts to doing a 383, the cubic inches they can't really check but to let a motor like that breathe you will need injector mods a chip, headers a better exhaust etc etc etc, everything you have to buy needs to be smog legal

 

[K85 Octane]

first thing is first
check the condition of the motor
if it's all sh1t, mine as well go 383. You will need a different crank and either pistons or rods, and work done on the heads to make them breathe. Or dump the heads in favor for aftermarket. Or dump the whole thing (which you start thinking about) for a crate motor. hehehe
if most of it is good, just freshin up things and be happy

 

[shovelbill80]

this seem to be a good example of what can be done......your modifications will have to be a tad different, but you get the idea.

http://www.tbichips.com/jaredproject.htm

 

[sweetk30]

all that effort and try to tune tbi and keep smog happy .

why not just do a ls 5.3 or 6.0 swap.

better power and MUCH better fuel mileage. and easy to keep emisions on .

 

[icemaneric1]

all that effort and try to tune tbi and keep smog happy .

why not just do a ls 5.3 or 6.0 swap.

better power and MUCH better fuel mileage. and easy to keep emisions on .

For one I've been into fords cars for a long time, so GM trucks or GM vehicles in general are not my strong point. I know I will figure it out with time, but for now I want to go the simple route.
I'm sure a LS is more efficient and powerful but you need some modifications. Motor mounts, ECU, wiring, exhaust. At least to what I have read so far.
I can keep the cost of the 383 down by doing the build myself minus the machine work.
There is a shop locally that sells a stroker long block for $2200 Not sure what internals they use so I'm a bit iffy on that.
I'm still researching so I "might" just rebuild to the 5.7 specs with Vortec heads, GM intake, chip, and call it a day for now.

 

[sweetk30]

seach here. guys have been swapin in ls motors turn key for basicly 3k with all parts icluding motor.

but if you want other yes it can be done. best to get laptop computer and aldl cable to do data logging to get the best possible chip burnt for it to run the best.