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why was there no big block k5 blazer?
- Thread starter wazzabie
- Start date
You are close enough that you can come look if you want.
I have pretty much quite buying and parting out them since CUCV's have gotten ridiculously high.
Probably at least 90% of them were CUCV's. I bought mostly CUCV's because most of them I mainly just bought for the axles.
Right now I own less than I have ever owned since I was about 17. I am 48 now. I have a 1988 crew cab, a 1985 crew cab and 3 M1031's now.
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CUCV's are not a good indicator of what's "supposed " to be factory. The end users of these trucks could modify them in any way that suited there mission , as long as it was done with in the specs of MO/TO's . Every part on those trucks was available through the normal supply chain.
#facts
for 4wds 81 and up in K30s only.
C20/C30 it was an option every year.
1979 was the last year a 454 available in a C10 and you had to buy a Heavy Half/Big 10 to get it. Prior to that it was an optional engine in a 73-78 C10
Cause imagine all the shredded 10 bolts and 700r4 warranties. That's probably why.
thearborbarber
1/2 ton status
I'm guessing it would have hurt GM's CAFE number. They didn't have a lot of econo-cruisers then to bring it up.
vandelay industries
1/2 ton status
Read:
http://www.73-87.com/7387info/articles/77bbb01.jpg
http://www.73-87.com/7387info/articles/77bbb02.jpg
http://www.73-87.com/7387info/articles/77bbb03.jpg
http://www.73-87.com/7387info/articles/77bbb04.jpg
There was actually another article where they compared it to a trans-am or something but i can't find it.
This is actually a very good question even though it does not concern me; i think the whole idea of running a big block on the street is financial suicide but that is another matter. Weren't all light trucks, regardless of pickup/blazer/suburban built in the same factory?
http://www.73-87.com/7387info/articles/77bbb01.jpg
http://www.73-87.com/7387info/articles/77bbb02.jpg
http://www.73-87.com/7387info/articles/77bbb03.jpg
http://www.73-87.com/7387info/articles/77bbb04.jpg
There was actually another article where they compared it to a trans-am or something but i can't find it.
This is actually a very good question even though it does not concern me; i think the whole idea of running a big block on the street is financial suicide but that is another matter. Weren't all light trucks, regardless of pickup/blazer/suburban built in the same factory?
Big Blocks on the street are fun.
I was strictly talking about 4x4's
If I recall 81-86 K10 pickups were only available with the 305 , 4.3 ,or the 6.2 . Except in California where the 305 wasn't available . I would have to go back through my books to confirm that though . I'm not sure if the intergrated head 250 was Available in the k-trucks
Edit: forgot about the 292 it was also available
I wasn't questioning your post. Just adding to.
I don't think it started that early. I know 85-86 that was the case for sure. I would have to look on the earlier models as well.
Ha, this I know from experience! I had a 91 K5 that the PO (a friend of a friend) swapped a 454 into. Problem was, I don't think he changed anything outside the drivetrain. The damn thing ate front end parts, had a particular appetite for Pitman and idler arms, overheated a few times due to inadequate cooling, broke cab mounts from too much stress and flex in the frame (I believe), and on and on. I was a poor college kid when I bought it and thought I was the coolest with all my horseback riding buddies. In the end it was a nightmare. The only vehicle I've ever had in my life where I can honestly say it spent more time parked and in need of repair than it did being driven.
Old style 73-80 with 1 rectangular head light on each side.
I haven't just had one or 2 and assumed they were original. I have probably had at least 8 maybe even more 1980 model K30 with a 454. I have only had 1 1980 model that had a small block. I live in a very rural part of Texas. These were nearly all owned by old cotton farmers that bought them new and I bought them from them. The main reason they bought 1 ton's was because of the 454. If they were alright with a 350 or 400 they would just buy a 3/4 ton. Of the civilian K30's that I have owned (probable about 100), Only maybe 7 or 8 did not have a 454. The people that owned most of these were not the kind of people to do engine swaps. They bought them new and drove them until they quite running and parked them.
Around here in the 80's and early 90's I remember seeing on a lot of the new vehicle stickers that said something like "Texas Oklahoma package". I think they used to make a few of the vehicles that they were going to produce the year later and release them in certain areas to see how they did. Maybe that is why there were several around here and no body else seems to have ever seen them?
Everything that you read anywhere says the 10.5" 14 bolt was introduced in 1973 but I have seen at least 3 otherwise stock appearing1972 3/4 tons with a 10.5" 14 bolt. Were they original? I don't know but they appeared to be. I know for a fact that the 1980 model that my friend has now was delivered to the dealer in Snyder, Texas with a 454 and sold as a new vehicle. The guy that bought it only had it serviced at the GM dealer and my friend bought it from his wife after he died. The mechanic at the dealership that worked on it probably nearly every time it had anything ever done to it, told my friend that owns it now and me that he remembers it very well when the dealership got it in because it was the first 4 wheel drive he had ever seen to have a 454.
The VIN will tell the tale, as well as the RPO sticker on the glove box .
If it was a special order "COPO" truck there would be definite documention .
If it was a special order "COPO" truck there would be definite documention .
The picture of the VIN of the one my friend has is what I posted on post #16. The engine VIN code is "X".
Where did you find that VIN code "X" is is a 400? Everything that I can find says a 400 should be a VIN code "R" and a 454 should be a VIN code "W". I have heard before a few muscle cars etc., used VIN code "X" to mean experimental.
I don't know how to decode much of what GM did very well but I know the person that bought it new and the person that did the initial inspection on it when it came off of the truck from GM swear it came with a 454.
Everything under the hood looked just like a 1981 454 except it was on a 1980 frame with a 1980 body except the engine mounts. Those were the small block style.
Where did you find that VIN code "X" is is a 400? Everything that I can find says a 400 should be a VIN code "R" and a 454 should be a VIN code "W". I have heard before a few muscle cars etc., used VIN code "X" to mean experimental.
I don't know how to decode much of what GM did very well but I know the person that bought it new and the person that did the initial inspection on it when it came off of the truck from GM swear it came with a 454.
Everything under the hood looked just like a 1981 454 except it was on a 1980 frame with a 1980 body except the engine mounts. Those were the small block style.
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The only thing I can find about the VIN cod "X" in a 1980 model is the heavy duty trucks it means glider kit with no engine.
Where did you find that VIN code? My computer search skills suck really bad.
The glove box was not in it when my friend got it.
The ones that I have had are long gone. That is the only one that I know of now and he has disassembled it. It is all still there though except the glove box.
The glove box was not in it when my friend got it.
The ones that I have had are long gone. That is the only one that I know of now and he has disassembled it. It is all still there though except the glove box.
Factory parts books and service book scans . This is the VIN break down for all GM trucks in 1980. Yes X is the code for glider kit in the Medium and Heavy duty platforms . For the Pickups it is the code for 6.6
W is the 454 code , they used W for the 454 for multiple years
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