Project Frostbite 1 ton K5 build

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Hanger brackets.

 

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Got the fuel pump, filters and fuel lines all mounted and ran. Ended up getting a machined end cap from diy4x for the hydro steer so I wouldn't have to worry about tapping the old one and having it crack later. Luckily this end cap was easy to remove!

I've had some that are a complete bitch to get out lol Tapped the sector shaft cap to 1/4 NPT and added a little paint and shes ready to go in.

 

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Rear Axle Is officially back under the k5! Made some quick brake lines with 2 hardlines and 2 flex lines. Should work fine for now. The small flex lines will be about perfect for what I want but I may end up routing the hard lines a little differently later or possibly just doing 2 flex lines without the hardlines. Now on to getting the 60 all done up!

 

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Got a little further on the k5 this weekend. Gears and locker are all done in the front 60. That spreader I made ended up working great!! Always love when I get the chance to use one of those vs a hammer and now ill always have my own. Since I was doing gears and a locker and had to tear it all down I went ahead and got all new bearings, seals, ujoints, rotors, pads, and studs for the whole axle so it is all new and fresh like the rear. I also picked up some 35 spline outer stubs, 35 spline hubs, and a 1350 yoke so those got tossed on as well. Since I'm doing crossover steering I decided to get the springless hysteer arm and cap to try out and hopefully hold everything in place a little better. I've never installed an air style locker before only an electric but I can definitely say that running the air line in the housing sucks with how little room there is lol.

 

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Been getting a few things done this week after work. Cleaned the radiator all up and tossed some fresh paint on it. Got the fans all mounted, they are dual 12 inch. I still need to make a nice aluminum fan shroud for them but for now this will have to do! They are not a very high cfm fan so hopefully they will pull enough air to keep it cool or I may end up going back to a engine driven one or possibly add a big pusher fan. Prepped and painted the new core support as well.

 

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Got most of my steering all wrapped up this weekend. Still need to mount the ram though. After getting it all put in and looking everything over Im definitely going to have to modify the crossmember or make a new one cause that drag link is really close to it. lol I'm very happy with how its all turning out though and its all coming together well. I did have to make some shackle extension plates that I drilled at 6 inch eye to eye and 7 inch. They are going to be a temporary thing tell I get some new ones and take my damn header off again so I can get the bolt out It will work out good having the two different hole locations on the temporary shackles though so when I get my bumper made and winch put in I can get a better idea of where it will sit level at and then make or get the correct shackles for a level ride height.

 

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More pictures for them picture lovers!

 

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Got the radiator and core support all put in this week. Thing is starting to look more like a complete vehicle again!

Forgot to take a picture but I ended up notching a piece out of the core support so the hydro line can go up out of the end cap without hitting/rubbing on it. Now on to the fun part of making a new front harness!

 

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How to properly make a mess out of your living room!

 

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Been working on getting this thing done up enough so I can start putting my 500 mile break in on the gears. We have a wheeling/camping trip coming up soon so I’d like to have the break in done before then so I can change the fluids and check everything over. Got the grill all painted and put in along with all the lights and turn signals. The grill turned out better than I thought it would and I am very happy I was able to go with the quad headlight style grill because it looks way better than before and gave the ole k5 a good face lift! I was able to get my front harness all done but am still waiting on my braided wiring loom so I can get it wrapped but for now I tossed it in to get it going. I added a bunch of wires to the front harness for rock lights, side lights, light bar, atmospheric temp sensor, and 3 fans so it will be all ready and done for when I am able to get those all hooked up. I didn’t have time to get my engine harness all done yet so I temporarily hooked up the EFI wiresso it will run. I am still waiting on a clamp for the hydro assist so I capped the box off for now.

First start-Setting up the general parameters for the EFI was as simple as turning the key on and answering a few questions about engine displacement, Cam type, target idle and ignition type. After I went through the setup the Sniper EFI started on the first crank without any problems and seemed to idle really smooth. All sensors checked out ok and the air/fuel ratio was reading right at what they set it from the factory for the EFI. I let started the k5 several times and let it idle for around 30 minutes so it could learn itself on idle a little bit before I started driving it.

Driving-Right out of the gate I noticed the EFI seemed to run a lot smoother than the carb and the other EFI system I put on my mustang. The throttle response is very smooth and you don’t have that jump between Primaries and Secondary’s like you do on a carb setup. The more I drive it, it seems to balance out the fuel table more and more and become even smoother under driving conditions. The EFI kit I put on my mustang took a lot longer than the Sniper system is taking. So far the EFI has been running good without any problems and I have around 250 miles on it.

Everything else seems to be working good and the gears haven’t been making any weird noises or getting to hot! I am definitely ready for the hydro assist to be on though cause the 40s are a little much without it lol. Thankfully where I’m at there’s a good stretch of road where I’ve been able to go back and forth at lowers speeds so I can keep it in 4wd to help get the front gears broke in at the same time as the rear. Only 250 more miles to go and she’s ready for fluid changes!

 

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Some more poser shots from the other day!

 

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Did a little work this weekend getting the hydro assist all put on. I original got a bracket from diy4x but it ended up not working for what I needed so I chopped it all up and made a new setup that I welded to the diff cover. I had to mount the ram at a slight angle for now because the ram fittings were too close to the axle tube. So after my trip I plan on taking off the tube clamp and making the tabs shorter so I can put the ram level and not have them hit the axle tube. Did a little testing after I got it done and it seemed to work fairly well but after the trip I'm also going to put a new high output pump and a bigger remote mount reservoir on. Having the hydro boost still is a little too much for the stock pump to run it all. Normally I would just put a vacuum booster on but since I put the nv4500 in there and used a 93 pedal assembly and master there is no room to mount the booster so I will have to stick with the hydro boost and make it work. Also added a big cooler to keep the system cool enough.

 

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annndddddd the cooler.

 

[Fastereddie]

Looks awesome man, nice rig you got coming together.

 

[Tweekls1]

Love the stance on your truck, makes me want 40s even more. The grille came out good, what paint did you use?

 

[chevys4life]

Looks awesome man, nice rig you got coming together.

Thank you sir!

 

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Love the stance on your truck, makes me want 40s even more. The grille came out good, what paint did you use?

Thanks! 40s are the way to go! haha I used Van Sickle paint. Been using it for several years now and it is some very durable stuff.

 

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My braided wire loom came in! Love using this stuff it makes the harness turn out clean!! Sadly I ran out before I could finish the last few wires.

 

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Got a good start to my bumper this week. Used 1/4 inch for the whole thing so far. Recessed a 22 inch single row light barinto the front that will sit perfectly in between the d-ring tabs. For now I'm going to leave it as a stubby bumper tell I figure out how I want to do the sides. Still a few things to finish on it but so far its turning out how I wanted it!

 

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More bumper pics.