It has been way to long since we have had an update to this thread.
CK5
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Holy crap Feb? Time flies
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No kidding! Wow, Feb! The sumbish should have been done by now but is snot.
I'll add an update when I get a few minute
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Well, many months and a lot of aggravation has occurred since the last update, but the rig does run and drive now. I’ve driven it in and out of the garage a couple times to wash it and clean the garage. Those short test drives indicated that there is a major injector leak or Howell has the tune very out of whack as raw fuel literally pours out of the open exhaust manifolds while exhaust flames are shooting everywhere at the same time. I thought I was going to burn the rig and garage down last time I moved it in and out…flames were everywhere! The pretty orange painted oil pan isn’t so pretty anymore LOL
It shouldn’t take long to update this thread as my progress hasn’t been nearly where I wanted it to be as we sit here in January 2025, as I had hoped to be all done with most of the powertrain and body work and working on building out the interior by now for Desert Trip 2025. Obviously, that’s not going to happen.
Here we go to the Spring of 2024....
The first hair pulling experience began as I was running the clutch hose in the last update as I noticed how close the oil pan was to the ORD High Clearance Crossmember. At first, I thought it was because I didn’t have the spacers between the engine block and engine mount so I added those and that didn’t do much of anything. Then I got to looking and measuring the ORD Xmember compared to the ones in the K10 and Suburban and sure enough, I ended up with the small block version instead of the big block version. Phucking great! Exactly, what I wanted to do….. fish out the cherry picker from behind the garage and pull that damn thing back out
. That really pissed me off as enough time had gone by there was no way I could exchange it (plus I had painted it). I went back to look at the part number on the invoice and it clearly listed the small block part number but it was a phone in order and not a web order so who knows how this happened. This is now like 3 times in recent history where I’ve phone in an order and got saddled with some unusable BS because too much time had gone passed by the time I could install it. This same exact thing almost happened again yesterday when I called in about a front output for a 30 spline flange on a round pattern 205. I was given the part number of U3002 and was told it was quicker to order via the web than over the phone (even with a credit card on file 
. Ooookay then........So when I got online last night and poked in the part number the flange was for a 32 spline. Mine is a 30 spline as I CLEARLY stated on the phone…..crisis averted. No more phone in orders…period! Apparently, 30 spline front output flanges are extinct anyway, so a Speedy Sleeve is in the mail from RockAuto. I sure the hell don't feel like yanking the case out and tearing it down again to change a 30 spline input (that bought from them) only because I have a grooved flange that the front seal won't seal to.
Too close for comfort
Yep, the L29 was sitting right on it
Pretty big difference. I don’t even know why they make two versions. You wouldn’t think the small block version would change someone’s life that much for suspension clearance that it would even be worth making it. Luckily, someone here bought the small block version so I only took a 50% loss than a complete loss.
While I was waiting for the new xmember to arrive I started cleaning up the inner fenders and radiator support by doing some paint stripping, sanding, POR15 application in a few spots then sprayed Raptor Liner on both sides of the inner fenders. The radiator support got sprayed with the usual Van Sickle oil-based satin black paint. They all turned out nice!
POR15 smeared on the low spots on the support as well
Oil based paint baking in the early Spring sun oven
Rapturd lined
It all came together pretty nice
Every time I look at pictures of this thing it so much reminds me of Rob's K5 sitting in the same spot back in 2015 getting infused with a 5.3L
Rob’s rig in the same spot in November 2015. Not much changed in the garage in 10 years
It shouldn’t take long to update this thread as my progress hasn’t been nearly where I wanted it to be as we sit here in January 2025, as I had hoped to be all done with most of the powertrain and body work and working on building out the interior by now for Desert Trip 2025. Obviously, that’s not going to happen.
Here we go to the Spring of 2024....
The first hair pulling experience began as I was running the clutch hose in the last update as I noticed how close the oil pan was to the ORD High Clearance Crossmember. At first, I thought it was because I didn’t have the spacers between the engine block and engine mount so I added those and that didn’t do much of anything. Then I got to looking and measuring the ORD Xmember compared to the ones in the K10 and Suburban and sure enough, I ended up with the small block version instead of the big block version. Phucking great! Exactly, what I wanted to do….. fish out the cherry picker from behind the garage and pull that damn thing back out
. That really pissed me off as enough time had gone by there was no way I could exchange it (plus I had painted it). I went back to look at the part number on the invoice and it clearly listed the small block part number but it was a phone in order and not a web order so who knows how this happened. This is now like 3 times in recent history where I’ve phone in an order and got saddled with some unusable BS because too much time had gone passed by the time I could install it. This same exact thing almost happened again yesterday when I called in about a front output for a 30 spline flange on a round pattern 205. I was given the part number of U3002 and was told it was quicker to order via the web than over the phone (even with a credit card on file . Ooookay then........So when I got online last night and poked in the part number the flange was for a 32 spline. Mine is a 30 spline as I CLEARLY stated on the phone…..crisis averted. No more phone in orders…period! Apparently, 30 spline front output flanges are extinct anyway, so a Speedy Sleeve is in the mail from RockAuto. I sure the hell don't feel like yanking the case out and tearing it down again to change a 30 spline input (that bought from them) only because I have a grooved flange that the front seal won't seal to.Too close for comfort
Yep, the L29 was sitting right on it
Pretty big difference. I don’t even know why they make two versions. You wouldn’t think the small block version would change someone’s life that much for suspension clearance that it would even be worth making it. Luckily, someone here bought the small block version so I only took a 50% loss than a complete loss.
While I was waiting for the new xmember to arrive I started cleaning up the inner fenders and radiator support by doing some paint stripping, sanding, POR15 application in a few spots then sprayed Raptor Liner on both sides of the inner fenders. The radiator support got sprayed with the usual Van Sickle oil-based satin black paint. They all turned out nice!
POR15 smeared on the low spots on the support as well
Oil based paint baking in the early Spring sun oven
Rapturd lined
It all came together pretty nice
Every time I look at pictures of this thing it so much reminds me of Rob's K5 sitting in the same spot back in 2015 getting infused with a 5.3L
Rob’s rig in the same spot in November 2015. Not much changed in the garage in 10 years
Sucks about the parts! As sad as it is, and I hate taking away from people doing a job, but I prefer to at least look up all my own parts from most places and just provide a part number to the person at the parts store or wherever.
bummer about the injection issues and I'm interested to hear what you find.
No problem, it shouldn't take long to find a SBC locally.
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The next order of business was getting the Howell Engine Development harness installed.
It turned out nice and tidy the way I like’em
. Many little things that you can't see were done differently in the wiring from lessons learned from rigs before it. This one is probably the tightest and most well routed and secured harness of all previous project rigs. Hopefully, time will prove it once it hits the dusty trails
I tried something completely different this time with mounting the ECM on the driver’s side with a Tejas Motorsports ECM bracket apposed to the usual passenger side mount using factory GM mounting. I don’t hate it.
Mounted up the fenders to check clearance between the Tejas ECM mount, fuse box and driver’s fender. Muy bueno
Next chore was to rip the fenders back off to mockup the Cut-Out Fender flares and snorkel. Ya, SNORRRRRRKELLLLL!
Now it’s starting to look like the image I had in my head
This here Nibbler dealeo makes trimming sheetmetal way too easy without drawing blood or a trip to the ER for stitches. Totally worth buying! 10/10
It turned out nice and tidy the way I like’em
. Many little things that you can't see were done differently in the wiring from lessons learned from rigs before it. This one is probably the tightest and most well routed and secured harness of all previous project rigs. Hopefully, time will prove it once it hits the dusty trails
I tried something completely different this time with mounting the ECM on the driver’s side with a Tejas Motorsports ECM bracket apposed to the usual passenger side mount using factory GM mounting. I don’t hate it.
Mounted up the fenders to check clearance between the Tejas ECM mount, fuse box and driver’s fender. Muy bueno
Next chore was to rip the fenders back off to mockup the Cut-Out Fender flares and snorkel. Ya, SNORRRRRRKELLLLL!
Now it’s starting to look like the image I had in my head
This here Nibbler dealeo makes trimming sheetmetal way too easy without drawing blood or a trip to the ER for stitches. Totally worth buying! 10/10
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Definitely looks like one! People on Instagram would believe it too. An HT6AC VL29 Supercharger intake manifoldium 7400 good for 1,000 horse torques
didnt robs have a stuck injector that flooded the engine and bent a rod?
I wouldnt trust those injectors!
I wouldnt trust those injectors!
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Different engines, different injectors styles and different cause of death. His wasn't a stuck injector, his had a fuel regulator that ruptured allowing fuel to get sucked into the intake by way of intake vacuum until it filled up cylinder #3. He never actually had an injector failure as we originally thought. How he didn't notice the engine acting wonky with that much fuel going into the intake is beyond me but he is tired of me bitch about it so.....
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On a boiling hot late June day, I started prepping the fenders for the cut-out flare hardware and painting the back sides but first I did the fender mod that I’ve learned just about every squarebody that sees dirt needs. Drill out the spot welds on rear upper mount and replace every spot weld with a flange bolt with a flanged prevailing torque nut and a plate on the backside. This is another lesson learned thing from ghosts of the past. It’s much easier to do this now than deal with this later when the spot welds break and drive the fenders into the doors like my K10 and Rob’s K5 did. That sucks when they break and really phuckers up your paint.
Don’t forget to place a chunk of wood in there so you don’t ding the exterior of the fender with the drill bit. Don’t ask how I acquired such wisdom
Where does one buy such nice flanged bolts and flanged torque nuts you ask? Bolts and Nuts . com
Did POR15 in the dirt collection spots on square fenders before paint
Another purdy coat of oil-based paint baking in the summer sun
Snorkel hole just barely clears the battery like a big elephant shlong poking though the fender
Made some access holes to the snorkel mounting bolts but that turned out to be a huge waste of f-ing time because you still can’t reach the nutcerts inside the snorkel. The snorkel will need to be mounted first before the final fender install. There probably still needs to be at least 5 hours of work needed to get the snorkel mounted and adjusted so it all looks right and works correctly by the time its all done.
I’m a huge fan of this huge fan. No efans for this guy! Alex Santiago in Denver hooked me up with this rare item from his personal stash of GM NOS rarities
One thing I didn’t get a good picture of is the fender flare mounting holes. I drilled all the holes for the flare mounting and plan to use nutcerts and stainless-steel marine button head screws to hold them on. Bushwackers idea of using sheetmetal screws is just hacky as hacky can be. After I drilled the holes I also lathered both sides with POR15 (as well as the fender edges that were cut to bare metal) then will install the nutcerts before I do the final exterior paint. Hopefully, it all works as well as I have planned. All those black squares are POR15 tracks applied with a sponge
Don’t forget to place a chunk of wood in there so you don’t ding the exterior of the fender with the drill bit. Don’t ask how I acquired such wisdom
Where does one buy such nice flanged bolts and flanged torque nuts you ask? Bolts and Nuts . com
Did POR15 in the dirt collection spots on square fenders before paint
Another purdy coat of oil-based paint baking in the summer sun
Snorkel hole just barely clears the battery like a big elephant shlong poking though the fender
Made some access holes to the snorkel mounting bolts but that turned out to be a huge waste of f-ing time because you still can’t reach the nutcerts inside the snorkel. The snorkel will need to be mounted first before the final fender install. There probably still needs to be at least 5 hours of work needed to get the snorkel mounted and adjusted so it all looks right and works correctly by the time its all done.
I’m a huge fan of this huge fan. No efans for this guy! Alex Santiago in Denver hooked me up with this rare item from his personal stash of GM NOS rarities
One thing I didn’t get a good picture of is the fender flare mounting holes. I drilled all the holes for the flare mounting and plan to use nutcerts and stainless-steel marine button head screws to hold them on. Bushwackers idea of using sheetmetal screws is just hacky as hacky can be. After I drilled the holes I also lathered both sides with POR15 (as well as the fender edges that were cut to bare metal) then will install the nutcerts before I do the final exterior paint. Hopefully, it all works as well as I have planned. All those black squares are POR15 tracks applied with a sponge
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Just as the fenders were finished up the UPS man walked up the driveway carrying a Chinesium aluminum radiator. This is pretty much the only 6.2L diesel radiator option now as Spectra Premium stopped producing the CU774 brass radiator, which isn’t a bad thing. I had NOTHING but trouble out of all 3 Spectra Premium radiators that graced the radiator support of the Polar Bear Suburban and with our local radiator shop going the way of the TV and Shoe repair man it was time to find another option. To be fare, the SP radiators are fine, its just their piss poor packaging allowed them to arrive like they were shipped directly from their Gaza Strip warehouse where they needed repaired fresh out of the box and each one of those repairs were never long lasting. Actually, the Polar Bear Suburban now sports this same exact Chinesium Aluminum radiator too and so far its lived through one hot summer without issue. I could never say that for the CU774. I also got a nice long-awaited box from Hillbilly Wizard with the hard-to-find CUCV radiator fan shroud, top cover and radiator brackets. Now I can finally get ready to lite this thing up!
Soooo, fast forward to start-up day. I looked over everything, got the Tech 2 fired up and flicked the key a few times to build fuel pressure only to find fuel squirting out of just about everywhere. The fuel line connection at the fuel filter, the fuel return at the frame and both fuel lines at the fuel rail. This is my second time using AN fittings and what not, and quickly got reminded why I waited a decade to try AN crap again since the last go around. After a while of fiddling around with those issues it was time for fire in the hole! Buddy Bill came over to help extinguish the flames just in case
It actually spun to life pretty easily and sounded like complete crap as expected with the MAF laying on the fender, open exhaust and both O2s swinging in the wind. The starter was also screaming that it badly wanted a big fat shim. As decent as it started it would not rev up and I noticed the Tech 2 said the engine was already spinning somewhere around 5,200 RPM….well, that’s probably the reason it won’t rev up...... It thinks it’s already going over speed
More on that escapade later……..
Hopefully the attached video works
View attachment 53828080972_1a99d5341a_vm.mp4
Soooo, fast forward to start-up day. I looked over everything, got the Tech 2 fired up and flicked the key a few times to build fuel pressure only to find fuel squirting out of just about everywhere. The fuel line connection at the fuel filter, the fuel return at the frame and both fuel lines at the fuel rail. This is my second time using AN fittings and what not, and quickly got reminded why I waited a decade to try AN crap again since the last go around. After a while of fiddling around with those issues it was time for fire in the hole! Buddy Bill came over to help extinguish the flames just in case
It actually spun to life pretty easily and sounded like complete crap as expected with the MAF laying on the fender, open exhaust and both O2s swinging in the wind. The starter was also screaming that it badly wanted a big fat shim. As decent as it started it would not rev up and I noticed the Tech 2 said the engine was already spinning somewhere around 5,200 RPM….well, that’s probably the reason it won’t rev up...... It thinks it’s already going over speed
More on that escapade later……..
Hopefully the attached video works
View attachment 53828080972_1a99d5341a_vm.mp4
Are you running factory L29 injectors?Different engines, different injectors styles and different cause of death. His wasn't a stuck injector, his had a fuel regulator that ruptured allowing fuel to get sucked into the intake by way of intake vacuum until it filled up cylinder #3. He never actually had an injector failure as we originally thought. How he didn't notice the engine acting wonky with that much fuel going into the intake is beyond me but he is tired of me bitch about it so.....
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Probably the original ones to the engine, but I have a new set of Delphi 17109596 yet to go in it
I ran into an issue with WFO recently where I bought a cross over kit (admittedly about a year ago and didnt open the box), once I opened it there are 2 pitman arms in the box listed as pre 80's ford. I reached out twice telling them about it, and said I would be happy to send them back for the correct one (seems they are out more money with me having extra parts) and no response.
If it is an interchangeable pitman arm ( I dont know if it is), I figured they would want their missing inventory back for the second one.
If it is an interchangeable pitman arm ( I dont know if it is), I figured they would want their missing inventory back for the second one.
When I did my engine swap I was reading up on the L29 on some other forums and lot of people were hating on the factory injector spray tip. There was some Ford application injectors they were swapping to. I ended up with an aftermarket LS1 profile injector and it fit perfectly on the factory fuel rail.
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Interesting. I’ll keep that in mind if these Delphi injectors don’t work out. I’ve never really looked into the performance side of them as I’m not looking to squeak out every pony an engine can deliver but I did see something about these same injectors look like they are interchangeable with some Ford engine or vise versa.
The L29 top end I dropped in my father in-laws SuperSportside runs like an animal on stock injectors and its not even a true L29. Its more of a crate 454HO with a L29 top-end. I bought this engine around 2000 when I lived in Detroit then didn't drop it in my K10 until 2003. It ran in the K10 from 2003 to 2008 when it got an 8.1L. This little thing will one tire fire up to overdrive
. I swapped this one from a 4.3/5 speed to a 454/auto about 10 years ago. Fun little truck. Its not fast by today's standards, but its fast for 1993 standards.
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You'd think
