Guess who's back!?! Atl-atl's K5 Blazer + Four Wheel Camper "The Crawlin Cabin" documentation thread!
- Thread starter Atl-atl
- Start date
Atl-atl
Adventurer
Alright, things are starting to get interesting!
From what Ive gathered, the easiest setup to run an SM465 behind an "LS" is an LS7 pilot bearing, a stock 4.8/6.0 gas engine clutch and a stock 70's c/k truck flywheel. Its so funny because low RPM use can get away with basically any crappy stock replacement clutch. Even with all the gear reduction you can imagine and torque that comes along with it. I went ahead and ordered all three parts today so we shall eventually see. Speaking of ordering parts, Ive been on a bit of a rampage. I either have in my possession or have ordered everything I need to finish the engine swap, as well as other things. The only exception is a cooling fan setup. I havent yet decided on crank or electric. I did decide I needed to grab a harbor freight engine hoist so I could get everything out of the back of the truck and into the garage to get started, so that happened. Also my new carpet showed up, I ordered "buckskin" color hoping it would be the same dark brown as my current carpet, it is not. Its lighter but its fine and Ill use it. I was too impatient to get samples first. New carpet is sooooo nice. I want to drive around barefoot.
I cruised to bumblef**k Arizona today and picked up a man pedal set off craigslist. Its in pretty good shape, just some surface rust, should clean up pretty easily. Ive decided Im 100% going manual. I havent even started trying to figure out the slave/master cylinder situation. That is a complete mystery to me right now. Apparently you can make manual linkages or hydraulic linkages work. Anyone have an opinion about that?
Shift fork and throwout bearing on the SM465 seem to be in good shape.
Pivot ball seems to have some wear. I need to figure out the clutch system before deciding if this needs to be replaced.
The throw of the shifter is about 24 inches. Its super common for the factory tack welds on the base of the shifter where it enters the trans to break over the years. Mine is definitely one that has worn out and broken, even though it appears solid. There is about 12" of side to side play when in gear and 18" when in neutral so its really hard to tell what gear its in hahahah. The solution is to pull the shifter and weld the actual shift rod onto the pivot ball. I will probably attempt to do this myself, screw it up and wind up having to buy a new shifter assembly.
NP205 ID tag is worn. Hard to tell in pictures but the stampings are all there. 1974 New Process 205. For the most part it appears to be dry, in good shape and shifts through the gears without unusual amounts of effort.
Im not sure what the blue stuff is around the yoke, some kind of 1970s vintage threadlocker that squeezed out?
But wait, theres more!!!
On my way home from Bumblef**k I stopped by Dirty Dingo Motorsports which is a relatively well known company in the LS engine swap world. They make motor mounts, accessory brackets and other misc. stuff. They happen to be in Mesa AZ and had exactly what I need to finish my A/C setup. So I dropped an unfortunate amount of cash on fancy billet stuff and a brand new compressor. Before you say it, I know you can find a pre-vortex 4.3 V6 compressor bracket, chop it up, make some custom support brackets blah blah blah. I want to bolt it on and have it work, so I paid for it.
Started taking pictures of the existing condition of the engine so I can remember what the hell happened at some point in the future when Im confused hahaha. The idler pulley at the top left will be replaced by the Dirty Dingo parts. The alternator goes on the top right bracket. More on that later. Everything else is what it is. Stock power steering, stock cam/water pump, stock crank pulley.
This flex plate will go away when the new manual flywheel shows up.
Intake ports on the heads are VERY dirty. You'd think it was direct injection. Not sure if this is normal.
Dirty under the intake manifold.
Started prepping to clean.
Vortec truck intake manifold, fuel rails, throttle body. Fuel pressure regulator is built into the driver side fuel rail. These engines are so simple. Makes me want to swap everything for aftermarket stuff to make more power. I think Ill save that for after the truck is running and driving.
From what Ive gathered, the easiest setup to run an SM465 behind an "LS" is an LS7 pilot bearing, a stock 4.8/6.0 gas engine clutch and a stock 70's c/k truck flywheel. Its so funny because low RPM use can get away with basically any crappy stock replacement clutch. Even with all the gear reduction you can imagine and torque that comes along with it. I went ahead and ordered all three parts today so we shall eventually see. Speaking of ordering parts, Ive been on a bit of a rampage. I either have in my possession or have ordered everything I need to finish the engine swap, as well as other things. The only exception is a cooling fan setup. I havent yet decided on crank or electric. I did decide I needed to grab a harbor freight engine hoist so I could get everything out of the back of the truck and into the garage to get started, so that happened. Also my new carpet showed up, I ordered "buckskin" color hoping it would be the same dark brown as my current carpet, it is not. Its lighter but its fine and Ill use it. I was too impatient to get samples first. New carpet is sooooo nice. I want to drive around barefoot.
I cruised to bumblef**k Arizona today and picked up a man pedal set off craigslist. Its in pretty good shape, just some surface rust, should clean up pretty easily. Ive decided Im 100% going manual. I havent even started trying to figure out the slave/master cylinder situation. That is a complete mystery to me right now. Apparently you can make manual linkages or hydraulic linkages work. Anyone have an opinion about that?
Shift fork and throwout bearing on the SM465 seem to be in good shape.
Pivot ball seems to have some wear. I need to figure out the clutch system before deciding if this needs to be replaced.
The throw of the shifter is about 24 inches. Its super common for the factory tack welds on the base of the shifter where it enters the trans to break over the years. Mine is definitely one that has worn out and broken, even though it appears solid. There is about 12" of side to side play when in gear and 18" when in neutral so its really hard to tell what gear its in hahahah. The solution is to pull the shifter and weld the actual shift rod onto the pivot ball. I will probably attempt to do this myself, screw it up and wind up having to buy a new shifter assembly.
NP205 ID tag is worn. Hard to tell in pictures but the stampings are all there. 1974 New Process 205. For the most part it appears to be dry, in good shape and shifts through the gears without unusual amounts of effort.
Im not sure what the blue stuff is around the yoke, some kind of 1970s vintage threadlocker that squeezed out?
But wait, theres more!!!
On my way home from Bumblef**k I stopped by Dirty Dingo Motorsports which is a relatively well known company in the LS engine swap world. They make motor mounts, accessory brackets and other misc. stuff. They happen to be in Mesa AZ and had exactly what I need to finish my A/C setup. So I dropped an unfortunate amount of cash on fancy billet stuff and a brand new compressor. Before you say it, I know you can find a pre-vortex 4.3 V6 compressor bracket, chop it up, make some custom support brackets blah blah blah. I want to bolt it on and have it work, so I paid for it.
Started taking pictures of the existing condition of the engine so I can remember what the hell happened at some point in the future when Im confused hahaha. The idler pulley at the top left will be replaced by the Dirty Dingo parts. The alternator goes on the top right bracket. More on that later. Everything else is what it is. Stock power steering, stock cam/water pump, stock crank pulley.
This flex plate will go away when the new manual flywheel shows up.
Intake ports on the heads are VERY dirty. You'd think it was direct injection. Not sure if this is normal.
Dirty under the intake manifold.
Started prepping to clean.
Vortec truck intake manifold, fuel rails, throttle body. Fuel pressure regulator is built into the driver side fuel rail. These engines are so simple. Makes me want to swap everything for aftermarket stuff to make more power. I think Ill save that for after the truck is running and driving.
Hillbilly Heaven
Explorer
Go ahead and replace the knock sensors. They are very prone to failure.
Atl-atl
Adventurer
Ha, its my parents house. They are in Colorado for the summer so Im "house sitting" until I find a new house to buy. I already got told by the HOA to close the garage door.
Ready to get out of here.I dont know, can you tell from the pictures? See below for additional. Do you know off the top of your head what parts I need to order for either?
I love replacing things haha. Anything else that makes sense to freshen, since the motor is still out?
vargsmetal
Active member
Some random thoughts.
When I'm freshening up a used gen3 for a swap I replace the oil pressure, cam position and crank position sensors since they're harder to get to in the truck. New water pump and thermostat. Also the intake and valve cover gaskets. I send the fuel injectors out to be cleaned and flow tested and install them with new orings. Fuel pressure regulator is a good idea if it's been sitting for awhile.
The oil buildup in the intake ports is normal. The PCV system kind of sucks, and would benefit from a catch can.
I prefer electric cooling fans, especially when running a factory pcm or aftermarket setup that has high/low fan controls. I know on the 88-98 Chevys with the 34in radiator the 2011ish Ford F150 dual fan assembly fits perfect. Worth a try if it'll fit on the squarebody radiator, or whatever radiator you're using. Use a three relay setup so both fans are in series for low speed. More efficient cooling and quieter.
Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
When I'm freshening up a used gen3 for a swap I replace the oil pressure, cam position and crank position sensors since they're harder to get to in the truck. New water pump and thermostat. Also the intake and valve cover gaskets. I send the fuel injectors out to be cleaned and flow tested and install them with new orings. Fuel pressure regulator is a good idea if it's been sitting for awhile.
The oil buildup in the intake ports is normal. The PCV system kind of sucks, and would benefit from a catch can.
I prefer electric cooling fans, especially when running a factory pcm or aftermarket setup that has high/low fan controls. I know on the 88-98 Chevys with the 34in radiator the 2011ish Ford F150 dual fan assembly fits perfect. Worth a try if it'll fit on the squarebody radiator, or whatever radiator you're using. Use a three relay setup so both fans are in series for low speed. More efficient cooling and quieter.
Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
vargsmetal
Active member
Also, looks like that engine has the exhaust manifold broken bolt bracket on it. I'd pull the manifolds, extract any broken bolts (welder makes quick work of this) and reinstall with new bolts and oem gaskets.
Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
Atl-atl
Adventurer
Thanks for the info. The engine was in @zoomad75 truck running and driving about two weeks ago ha, so It has not been sitting very long at all. As for cooling, Im leaning towards electric. I have the big 6.2 diesel radiator and haven't looked into how big of a fan setup I can put on that. Being in Phoenix I want the most cooling I can get. I am aware of the broken manifold bolt, Rob told me about that when I picked it up. I have a plan to remedy it.
Atl-atl
Adventurer
Cool thanks, Im fine with running a catch can too if it comes to that.
I talked to the guy I got these pedals from and he said they came out of an 85 so that would make them hydraulic. My 465 bellhousing appears to be mechanical. I dont really care either way. I just need to find what I need ha.
Atl-atl
Adventurer
Talked to @zoomad75 for quite a while today. The pedal assembly is defenitely hydraulic and the bell housing I have is cable. Sounds like Ill have to run a Novak Conversions hydraulic slave cylinder adaptor. This should allow me to run the rest of the factory hydraulic clutch parts. I want to run hydraulic not mechanical. Its already going to be difficult enough to drive this damn thing. I also learned its a pedal assembly for vacuum braking which is unfortunate because it would be really nice to run a hydroboost setup. The current vacuum brakes are horrendous at best. I need to look further into this before I get extra power, lift and big tires on the truck. Its gonna need to stop.
Its so compact, I love it.
It doesn't look like a lot of work but I spent a solid 3 hours cleaning the engine today. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't really that dirty but there are so many little crevices. Thankfully the dirt was mostly dust, the engine is very dry. The only thing even close to what might be a leak is where the extended oil filler neck had popped its o-ring partially out you can see some black crud on the valve cover. I removed the neck and just screwed the cap right onto the valve cover and it looks much better. Also removed the idler pulley that sits where the new AC mounting bracket will go. Im not sure if the intake that came with the engine will work with AC in this location. Hopefully find out tomorrow. Its so damn hot out I cant work in the garage for more than a few hours a day.
Hopefully its obvious which side is the "after."
Removed all the coil packs and cleaned them as well as the valve covers and heads.
Cleaned the intake manifold, fuel rails, throttle body etc. Cleaned up the intake manifold gasket, its in good shape but I ordered a new one just in case.
Dropped the intake manifold onto the block just to see how it looks. Im waiting on some new sensors before I bolt it down. Also Im going to touch up the paint beforehand. Napa didnt call to tell me if my alternator came in so I didnt grab paint yet.
Its so compact, I love it.
It doesn't look like a lot of work but I spent a solid 3 hours cleaning the engine today. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't really that dirty but there are so many little crevices. Thankfully the dirt was mostly dust, the engine is very dry. The only thing even close to what might be a leak is where the extended oil filler neck had popped its o-ring partially out you can see some black crud on the valve cover. I removed the neck and just screwed the cap right onto the valve cover and it looks much better. Also removed the idler pulley that sits where the new AC mounting bracket will go. Im not sure if the intake that came with the engine will work with AC in this location. Hopefully find out tomorrow. Its so damn hot out I cant work in the garage for more than a few hours a day.
Hopefully its obvious which side is the "after."
Removed all the coil packs and cleaned them as well as the valve covers and heads.
Cleaned the intake manifold, fuel rails, throttle body etc. Cleaned up the intake manifold gasket, its in good shape but I ordered a new one just in case.
Dropped the intake manifold onto the block just to see how it looks. Im waiting on some new sensors before I bolt it down. Also Im going to touch up the paint beforehand. Napa didnt call to tell me if my alternator came in so I didnt grab paint yet.
zoomad75
K5 Camper guy
I'm a big fan of the KISS idea for the cooling system. This engine on a stock 350 size radiator and steel 7 blade fan would run hot at low speeds when ambient temps climbed above 90 degrees. I came home after the trip that exposed that weakness and stuffed in the biggest radiator GM put in these trucks which was the 6.2 diesel version. Combined with the correct shroud for that radiator and a 9 blade fan from a 2500 6.0 application and an HD fan clutch the cooling issues were fixed. I've personally seen this engine purring along in the Mojave desert at 10 mph with over 100 degrees of ambient heat and the temp is running below 180 degrees. Most of the time it ran at 160 at 90 degrees ambient or below. There were no electronics to fail. On the last trip I ran it on last month I never saw the gauge over 180. We saw high 90's to low 100's on the more southern part of our trip.
I'm old school in that thinking, but I've yet to see a problem with running a solid, basic, high capacity cooling system that has less possibility for failure. I haven't seen many electric fan failures at the dealership I work at, but I can say this I've seen less mechanical cooling system failures for sure. I'm not a fan of being deep in the desert and having cooling issues so the big radiator, fan and HD clutch might be a bit overkill for a 5.3, but it never ran hot in 3 years of hard use.
zoomad75
K5 Camper guy
That cleaned up nice! You got all the Utah desert dust as a souvenir for free! I had hit the car wash and took a heavy layer off before I drove it to Bill's house to yank the engine out of it.Talked to @zoomad75 for quite a while today. The pedal assembly is defenitely hydraulic and the bell housing I have is cable. Sounds like Ill have to run a Novak Conversions hydraulic slave cylinder adaptor. This should allow me to run the rest of the factory hydraulic clutch parts. I want to run hydraulic not mechanical. Its already going to be difficult enough to drive this damn thing. I also learned its a pedal assembly for vacuum braking which is unfortunate because it would be really nice to run a hydroboost setup. The current vacuum brakes are horrendous at best. I need to look further into this before I get extra power, lift and big tires on the truck. Its gonna need to stop.
Its so compact, I love it.
It doesn't look like a lot of work but I spent a solid 3 hours cleaning the engine today. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't really that dirty but there are so many little crevices. Thankfully the dirt was mostly dust, the engine is very dry. The only thing even close to what might be a leak is where the extended oil filler neck had popped its o-ring partially out you can see some black crud on the valve cover. I removed the neck and just screwed the cap right onto the valve cover and it looks much better. Also removed the idler pulley that sits where the new AC mounting bracket will go. Im not sure if the intake that came with the engine will work with AC in this location. Hopefully find out tomorrow. Its so damn hot out I cant work in the garage for more than a few hours a day.
Hopefully its obvious which side is the "after."
Removed all the coil packs and cleaned them as well as the valve covers and heads.
Cleaned the intake manifold, fuel rails, throttle body etc. Cleaned up the intake manifold gasket, its in good shape but I ordered a new one just in case.
Dropped the intake manifold onto the block just to see how it looks. Im waiting on some new sensors before I bolt it down. Also Im going to touch up the paint beforehand. Napa didnt call to tell me if my alternator came in so I didnt grab paint yet.
Killing it dude!