You could at least spray bomb it darren. Lol
CK5
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TnA's 86 Jimmy Shop Build / Product Development Thread - (Trailing Arms?!?!)
- Thread starter CFMi
- Start date
Ok that makes sense. Did you check to make sure they wern't warped or cracked from possibly overheating?
Sorry if i'm stating the obvious, but I have seen people put new head gaskets on that instantly blow because they didn't get everything checked out.
Sorry if i'm stating the obvious, but I have seen people put new head gaskets on that instantly blow because they didn't get everything checked out.
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I could... BUT.... I don't wanna! That would require cleaning the whole motor up so that the paint would stick, and then if I clean it up, I might as well spray it with proper paint. And if I do that, I might as well mask it really carefully, and if I spend the time doing that, then I might as well polish a couple pieces too. It just keeps going and the next thing you know, Blazer Bash is here and all I've accomplished is installing a pretty engine!!
Okay, so maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration, but not by much, I do know myself, lol. Nope, she'll stay oily and dirty and run just fine until the nasty big block goes in
I did a quick and dirty straight-edge test to the heads and they look pretty good. Didn't check the block though, but I'd be surprised if the block was a problem. Also, after pulling the gaskets I don't think the heads were leaking, only the intake was. So I'm crossing my fingers that it will all hold together for a while. It ran so damn good before the coolant leak that I just can't imagine there will be a problem. Besides, it's a small block Chevy - it'll still run with next to no oil and two blown head gaskets, right?!! Lol. Don't answer that.
Sorry guys - it looks like there won't be much getting done to the beast this week as my other job picked up and I can't pass up the money
Hopefully I can get back to it this weekend.-Darren
When my camaro had a blown head gasket you could run it with a hose in the radiator and the water would come out the exhaust just as fast. Ran great and sounded meanDoes that answer what you didn't want me to answer?
Lol, that's awesome!! So I was right, in that case all I need to do is bring a tanker truck of water and a good pump to Blazer Bash with me, just in case. If a head gasket lets go then everyone will think it sounds super bad-ass, and if I put a bunch of stickers on it then I'll have the power to go with the sound, right? If each sticker adds 5 horsepower and I put like 100 stickers on it then I should have a pretty healthy little small block!
You have stickers?? Where's mine 
I think someone is supposed to be helping with that...
You have stickers?? Where's mine
Lol, nope not yet... Funny thing, when I owned my retail 4x4 shop I had a drawer (large filing cabinet drawer) FULL of stickers. Every time someone bought something and we installed it, any excess stickers went in there. Every once in a while someone would come in asking for a certain sticker and I could almost always find one for them. But the pile built up quickly and I rarely ever took any out. So when I closed that shop, they all went bye-bye. Too bad, I coulda sent you like 2,000 stickers, haha!
I think someone is supposed to be helping with that...
Oh yeah.... Have you had a chance to look things over yet? I know you probably have about as much spare time as I do, so no worries if you haven't
You threw away 10,000 horse.
Damn shame
Shop Day!!
Haven't been able to get much done on the truck the last week or more. But today I managed to get up to the shop to actually work on the K5. So I was under it looking to see what still needs to be done with the engine swap. Fuel lines for sure, got those spec'd out and ordered today, should have them in a couple days. Then as I was looking at the truck, I glanced at what I had tried to forget - the PO had welded the exhaust system to the headers! Yep, the collectors are welded to the headers, the exhaust system is then welded to the collectors, mufflers are welded, tailpipes are welded, etc... So since I'm going to have to cut off the entire system and start over, I figured that it would be nice to know where the transmission crossmember is going to end up. Since I really don't like the factory design much, off it came:
Some measuring and some designing later, and I ended up with this:
THEN, some more time with the computer, and some quality time with the Plasma, a couple grinders, the welder, etc... and this was the result:
So then I couldn't even wait for it to cool down, so I grabbed some heavy gloves and threw it into the K5:
I'll add some skids to it later on. Probably do a bolt-on front piece to cover the trans pan, and a bolt on rear piece to protect the t-case.
Not too bad for a day's work, I think! I'm tired now, so I think I'm going to go home!
Later,
Darren
Haven't been able to get much done on the truck the last week or more. But today I managed to get up to the shop to actually work on the K5. So I was under it looking to see what still needs to be done with the engine swap. Fuel lines for sure, got those spec'd out and ordered today, should have them in a couple days. Then as I was looking at the truck, I glanced at what I had tried to forget - the PO had welded the exhaust system to the headers! Yep, the collectors are welded to the headers, the exhaust system is then welded to the collectors, mufflers are welded, tailpipes are welded, etc... So since I'm going to have to cut off the entire system and start over, I figured that it would be nice to know where the transmission crossmember is going to end up. Since I really don't like the factory design much, off it came:
Some measuring and some designing later, and I ended up with this:
THEN, some more time with the computer, and some quality time with the Plasma, a couple grinders, the welder, etc... and this was the result:
So then I couldn't even wait for it to cool down, so I grabbed some heavy gloves and threw it into the K5:
I'll add some skids to it later on. Probably do a bolt-on front piece to cover the trans pan, and a bolt on rear piece to protect the t-case.
Not too bad for a day's work, I think! I'm tired now, so I think I'm going to go home!
Later,
Darren
Drooooool, sign me up for a set with skids. 
Looks killer, love the work.
Looks killer, love the work.
Does that crossmember have greater clearance for the driveshaft? I don't think most exhaust hangs down quite like yours with the headers. Will that have much to do with how you design that tranny skid?
Drooooool, sign me up for a set with skids.
Looks killer, love the work.
Thanks man!! I'll work on the skids soon
Yes, it has a little more clearance for the driveshaft, but not a ton. I tried to compromise between added ground clearance and driveshaft clearance. Luckily, this crossmember is almost a full 1" thinner than the factory setup, so I was able to gain in both areas
Also, the two holes for the tranny mount (new style, one piece, not the older clamshell two part design) are slotted quite a bit - I did that just because I could when I designed it, but after installing it, I realized that I could run the trans mount all the way towards one end of the slots, and re-drill the frame holes back a bit and gain even more driveshaft clearance when at full droop (effectively sliding the whole crossmember towards the rear of the truck). I still have to drill the new holes in the frame though. Might not really need to, but whoever put the automatic in there (used to be a manual, go figure!) got the crossmember in there crooked and drilled the holes that way. My OCD needs to fix that even though I'm sure it would work fine for years the way it was... Oh, well...-Darren
I pmd you
Not much to show for pictures for most of the day today. Cut off the PO's horrific exhaust, removed factory fuel lines from the frame and re-attached the rear brake line all the way along the frame. Went and picked up my new Aeroquip fuel lines today too - they are super nice, but they were way more expensive than I had planned on... Ouch! Then I started getting the engine ready to come out. Should have that out tomorrow.
I came home, fed the animals, and started screwing around on the computer for a while. Ended up coming up with this craziness. Who here knows what this might be?????
-Darren
I came home, fed the animals, and started screwing around on the computer for a while. Ended up coming up with this craziness. Who here knows what this might be?????
-Darren
...flexy connecting bracket for leaf springs.....?
Looks like some sloppy sidehilling to me 
I dunno, those TBI heads don't flow the greatest....might be a waste to drop in anything other than a mild cam without different heads or head work to the ones you have...Here's the '89 2wd that I've had hanging around the shop for a while. It was a DD for a while, until I lent it to a friend who managed to get it side-swiped all the way down the passenger side. After looking for a good bed to replace it and not finding one easily, I relegated it to just a parts-getter / steel pickup vehicle. Then a few months ago it blew an intake gasket and sent coolant everywhere, so it has just been sitting there doing nothing. I got a full top-end gasket kit for it but never put it in.
SO, yesterday I sorta had a pet emergency (was planning on being at the shop all day but never made it up here) and now I am seriously in need of some quick cash. So the plan is to pull the motor/trans/wiring harness/other assorted goodies off of this truck then load it with a bunch of scrap metal and send it off to the recyclers! Then engine and tranny I'm thinking is just going to drop into the K5 (after I replace the gaskets of course) and that will be that. However, I also have a nice full-roller cam setup that would drop in (Comp Cams K-Kit, brand new) and make a decent amount more power, but I'm not sure I want to screw around with the fuel injection tuning (yes, I can actually do that at my shop now!) and trying to get it to pass emissions. Plus, I'm really looking for the best gas mileage I can get out of her. BUT - I have a cam sitting there that I could put in and it's sooooo hard not to do it! What do you guys think I should do??
Hey, I need a rear bumper to match my front bumper. Chop chop. Low profile, tight to the body, with a hitch receiver in the center.
And.... GO!
And.... GO!
