My 1988 K1500

[DirtBag]

Very noice! I love this build.

 

[7thdarkangel]

Busy weekend. Bumps stopped the engine to top dead. Then checked the cam degree to the cam card. dead nuts. Put some timing tape on the balancer. Push rods showed up Saturday and where installed that night. Crank and water pump pulleys where powder coated along with the intake manifold and thermostat housing. Installed stainless headers and a new flex oil dipstick. Oil pan, water pump and intake manifold where mounted. Distributor was set. The black cap I have is bad so I put a blue one on for now until I go get a new black one. I don't think the blue fits the engine that well.

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Still need to refinish the valve covers, Tee nuts, acc bracket and possibly taking the alternator apart to powder the case. Then this thing will be ready to drop back in.

 

[DirtBag]

Holy Sheet Man I love this build. You got some mechanical skills and persistence.

 

[7thdarkangel]

Holy Sheet Man I love this build. You got some mechanical skills and persistence.

Thanks.


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[7thdarkangel]

Got some more parts coated. Valve cover t nuts, coolant plugs, a few fittings for the outlet to the heater core, and distributor hold down.

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Got most of the front accessories mounted.

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Got the last few parts in to finish off the engine

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Just need to mount the power steering pump, install mechanical pump block off and run a new wire for the alternator and the engine should be going in either tonight or this weekend.


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[Supercharged111]

Those were dampers that came out in pieces, not springs. I bet your lift was too much for them. I had a 289 with a mild aftermarket cam, but it was enough to smash the umbrella valve seals. I replaced them thinking they were just old, and a couple weeks later it was a crop duster again.

 

[7thdarkangel]

Those were dampers that came out in pieces, not springs. I bet your lift was too much for them. I had a 289 with a mild aftermarket cam, but it was enough to smash the umbrella valve seals. I replaced them thinking they were just old, and a couple weeks later it was a crop duster again.

That is exactly what happened. I didn’t even consider the high lift being an issue with the dampeners until after they already broke. That’s why they where replaced with the double coil springs with no dampeners.

I do realize it was only the dampener that broke, not the actual spring(post 82). The reason for getting new springs instead of just pulling the dampeners out was to up the spring pressure to the recommended amount for the cam. I do not know the spring rate of the ones originally in the head. The heads where purchased about 8 or so years ago and paper work since then has been lost.

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[7thdarkangel]

Engine is in.

Currently working on:
Adjusting the upper radiator hose
Making a line to route the heater core hose behind the engine
Adjusting the exhaust to fit the new headers and fit better under the truck.

Once those are done the engine will get timed and and it should be ready to go.

Hopefully all will be good and I can start working on the interior again and finishing getting the AC system running.

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[7thdarkangel]

Exhaust is done for now. I’m planning on refining it in a few year to get it all the way out the back. But for now this will work fine.

Passenger side

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Driver side

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Upper hose it finished and installed.

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Now I’m just waiting for the battery to charge so I can get this thing timed and take it for a shake down drive.


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[7thdarkangel]

As of today, still no test drive. I was having a lot of issues getting the engine to turn over. Seemed like a low power issue but I had a fully charged battery. Ended up getting a new starter after chasing possible bad grounds (not the issue), cleaning the battery terminals (not the issue) and checking over for shorts (not the issue). With the new starter installed it still seemed like there was not power to the starter. So i swapped the battery out thinking maybe its bad. Tried again, this time a funny sound from the new starter. decided to swap the starters around again just for laughs and come to find out the terminal on the battery cable to the starter was fractured and fell apart when removing the new starter. Put a new terminal on and she fired right up. Big sense of relief, before the exhaust and cooling system was finished and installed it was fired up to make sure everything was installed correctly before doing all the little thing to finish it up. You know, in case the engine had to come back out or something. For that reason the no start issue was really bugging the crap out of me.


Now I still have to time the engine. But before i do that i need to address two new issues that i came across.
1.) The alternator is not charging - Might just be a bad connector but if the alternator is bad I'm just going to order a big body 145-160a alternator.
2.) The front acc brackets are bowing so much the tensioner is at max travel and the belt is almost rubbing on itself by the water pump pulley. - I'm going to have to change out to the cast aluminum brackets. P/N 10233233 & 10118751. Ill either get them from a pick and pull or order them online. Depends on how lazy I feel like being.

Once those issues are fix, I can hopefully get a test drive in.