2000 K3500 Crew Cab Long Box Build

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Chackerman

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Hey Everyone.

I have been lurking the forum for the past few months as I start a new build.I figured it is time I sign up and start My own build thread.

My first truck was a 1994 6 lug 2500 that I did a lot of work to while I was in high school: rebuilt engine, rebuilt rear diff, 6” suspension lift, 3” body, 35’s, paint, etc...
I would probably still be driving it to this day if it hadn’t received an inspection notice while building an 86 square body that was my grandpas. 10 years later, a sale of the square body later, and a wife and three kids later and I find myself back in the GMT400 game.

Technically I never left as I still have the 1994, however I had robbed parts off of it to swap the NV4500 to the 86. It’s been sitting roughly 10 years at my folks place. It’s always been on my mind sitting there and I knew I would eventually need a crew cab for the family. After a few years of searching I finally found a truck that I would be willing to restore/upgrade over time to meet the needs of the family at a reasonable price. This project is not to act as a full time grocery getter, but as a weekend warrior, tow, camping, and hunting rig. I really have missed the 8’ box after driving a 1999 4Runner and 2000 Suburban 2500 for the last number of years.

Shortly after Christmas 2018 I stumbled across this gem that my kids have dubbed the “cool bus” mainly due to its colour. It’s a 2000 Chevrolet K3500 base crew cab long box srw with approximately 400,000km. 350/4L80E/BW4401 combo with 4:10 gears. No major accidents/clean title. The main problem is the body is rough as it has been used as a work truck and the engine suffered an ill fated bent valve from previous owner. Needs a lot of other work but I have lots of parts available from the 1994 that’s been sitting, and I am fixing it up an hour at a time whenever I get a chance. The kids are also excited to have a hands on project in the yard. I will continue to update the thread as I have made good progress to date, preparing for the arrival of the 1994 on Easter weekend.

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Chackerman

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Truck arrived in the yard on January 5th. Had it towed in by the seller, it was part of the deal. Seller agreed to reduce the price if he removed the work truck grill, front bumper, hood taillights, and cats for salvage prices. I was fine with this and got it for half the original price, plus I have all the replacement parts on the 1994. Bonus that some of the tear down work was already complete and I wasn’t planning on running the cats anyhow.

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Jermu

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Hey and welcome, seems like an awesome project and can't wait to see you get her back to the former glory, what engine you running there?

Edit: somehow overlooked the specs, so, what engine are you going to be running in there or are you planning to just fix the valves and heads ?
 

Suburban1500

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Very cool! Looking forward to updates. Do you have an end goal in mind of how you want it to turn out? Are you going to re-paint?
 

Supercharged111

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Sounds like an excellent opportunity to swap in more motor than a 350, especially if you want to tow with that much truck.
 

Chackerman

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Hey and welcome, seems like an awesome project and can't wait to see you get her back to the former glory, what engine you running there?

Edit: somehow overlooked the specs, so, what engine are you going to be running in there or are you planning to just fix the valves and heads ?

Thanks! Planning on using the bottom end from the 1994 350 as it only has 20,000km on a full rebuild, top end will be vortec(rebuild current heads).

Very cool! Looking forward to updates. Do you have an end goal in mind of how you want it to turn out? Are you going to re-paint?

Goal is to have it running and on the road by end of summer 2019. I’ll post more on the overall plan soon. Plan to repaint it, however that might not happen until 2020.

Sounds like an excellent opportunity to swap in more motor than a 350, especially if you want to tow with that much truck.

Id love to swap in more than the 350, however budget is a factor here. Don’t plan to tow much over 6000lbs(travel trailer), and don’t need to go fast. Looking at changing the cam to something that offers more torque than stock. Heads have already been rebuilt, polished chambers and gasket matched with upgraded springs for max .500 lift. Retainer to seal clearances are .520. Probably shoot for max lift in the .480-.490 range to keep .030 clearance.
 

Chackerman

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I realized that I need to take more pictures now that I have started the thread.

Since Jan 5th I have slowly been working at tearing the truck down, removing the engine, etc... As of last weekend core support/rad/etc...is removed ,engine/trans is ready to be pulled, box is ready to come off, transfercase is out.

Truck was originally a dual fuel, propane/gasoline.I don’t plan on running propane, and the condition of the system was questionable. I promptly removed all the propane hardware and electronics and cleaned up the wiring back to stock, ensuring to solder/shrink tube all connections. Managed to make a few bucks selling the tanks/hose/mixer/etc on a local classified site. This also helps lighten the truck up as those tanks are heaaavy!

On some of the colder winter days I had also been working on rebuilding the vortec cylinder heads and cleaning engine parts. Started by checking tolerances and replacing the bent exhaust valve on cylinder #3. Managed to get away with a hand lap on the valves/seats and guides were within spec. May not be what some of the guys on the board would recommend but this isn’t the first 350 I’ve done and for its planned use a hand lap will be fine.

I’ve also been able to score some great parts from pick n pull on the odd day here or there. A few highlights are:
-updated injector spider
-dual 3” exhaust from manifold back with x-pipe( I’d rather have 2.5” but for the $20 it cost I can’t complain)

See below for a head shot, and two shots of the interior the day it rolled in the yard.

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Chackerman

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Had been watching for awhile for a camshaft for the upgrade. Waiting paid off as I managed to pick up an ht383 cam for half price off of a local guy.

Now I need to find some 1.6 rockers for a decent price. Anyone have recommendation on some long slot 1.6’s for vortec heads? I have used Elgin in the past but seem to be having problems sourcing them now.

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Supercharged111

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I'm guessing your other truck has a good motor then? I used Comp Pro Magnum 1.6 roller rockers and ended up trimming the trusses inside the valve covers. I think Crane makes a narrow body aluminum self aligning 1.6 roller rocker that is bolt in and go. GM should have something rebadged under their name as well.
 

Chackerman

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I'm guessing your other truck has a good motor then? I used Comp Pro Magnum 1.6 roller rockers and ended up trimming the trusses inside the valve covers. I think Crane makes a narrow body aluminum self aligning 1.6 roller rocker that is bolt in and go. GM should have something rebadged under their name as well.

Other motor is good. Fresh rebuild 20k ago and it’s been stored well. Know of any options for 1.6’s that aren’t roller tipped? I’m not convinced that the roller tip/rocker is worth the extra cost on a budget build.
 
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