The "Mayne Queen"

[Connorpod]

Hey Obs truck lovers,

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Welcome to my build thread! This is the story of the Mayne Queen. A truck that previously resided in on Mayne island, one of the small islands of the West Coast of BC. This pick up truck is a 1995 Chevrolet k2500 that was purchased by my grandpa "Buppy" in the fall of 1999 in Delta, BC. It spend most of its life running around this 25 kilometer long island or sleeping in an insulated garage. It resulted in a truck that by 2019 was completely rust free and with 130000 kilometers on it!

Unfortunately, my grandparents were getting old and it was time for them to move closer to family. After the move, buppy handed me the keys to his truck. Now me being me... I am stupid and can't leave anything alone. So the research and planning began...

Almost immediately, it was clear how old the tech and the support was for the TBI was. Luckily the research that Brian Harris compiled, and from this forum gave me the confidence that I can do it!

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I had three key goals for this build:

-Keep the trucks exterior as original as possible
-Create a truck with modern performance with old school reliability
-Keep the budget as reasonable as possible

As much as this build thread is about sharing my progress, it is also a place for feedback along the way. Please feel free to suggest, critique, and inspire along the way.

Enjoy!

Chapter one: The Covid Times

The first year of owning the truck not many kilometers were really gathered due to us being locked in during March-May 2020. It was a great opportunity for me to work remotely and in between

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meetings, crawl under the truck and start modifying and restoring.

There were some key problems that had to be addressed right away:
-There was a major exhaust manifold leak
-A lot of the early 2000 accessories were damaging the paint (Canopy, running boards, bug deflectors, and box liner)
-The tires had tread... but they were manufactured in 1998
-All the brake lines were leaking (How did I survive the drive home from the lower mainland!)

So the work began...
-The manifold was replaced with a Flowtech standard header and y pipe. A sobering experience to install. (Thanks for Eric Ernst for the video tutorial on youtube)
-Brake lines were cut out and replaced. (I payed the man) Maybe in the future I'll consider doing this again myself
-All accesories were removed and sold
-Dynamax 3" exhaust installed (Quiet enough to keep the wife happy)
-Tires were replaced with 32" Duratracs and I kept the OE Steelies. I am unsure if I will continue OE as they are beginning to rust.. I do love the look of them.
-Ignition was gone through and replaced. Flamethrower coil, street fire wires, shiny brass ac delco cap. (The flamethrower coil lasted me maybe 3 months)
-AEM Cold Air Intake was installed with a spacer that came with the intake.
- Installed a Edelbrock TBI intake that I found on facebook Marketplace for EIGHTY DOLLARS!
-Ultimate TBI Mods and a 14psi spring from the TBI Shop on Amazon

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I felt really rewarded with all the work that I did over that year. However, performance wise, I can't say I felt a significant difference. However, I feel that it laid the ground work for the future of this build... Chapter Two!

Chapter two: Open Heart Surgery

The hope for chapter two is to dig deeper into the truck with a focus on the motor.

I was (and still am) torn between getting an LS engine and swapping it, or building up the TBI 350.

I ran into my former shop teacher at a tournament I was coaching at and he suggested the LS... warning me of the challenges and hidden costs around a 350 top end refresh. After a long week of debating back and forth I decided to stay with the Original 350. I figured that the future maintenance and trouble shooting would be a lot easier. I also thought that it would nice to keep the truck in its original glory. (Again feel free to chime in if you think otherwise)


I am currently getting ready to do the vortec head swap. I spend my weekend at the local pick n pull harvesting vortec heads and youtubing how to do it. 120 CAD for Vortec heads made me feel like the price was right. While I was there I also grabbed some dog bones and a spider. I'll need to return to grab roller lifters... (Unless you guys recommend me purchase roller lifters new) 48 hours later I think I might of finally removed all the grease from my jeans...

Once the heads are all cleaned up, I plan to send the heads to get them magna fluxed. Stay tuned for the rest of the journey!

 

[Drunkcanuk]

Welcome from the province to your right!
That's a fine looking ride, Gramps kept her in good shape.
I too have the LS vs rebuild/refresh debate raging through my head. I like the idea of "easy" upgrades with the LS, more bang for your buck with HP upgrades.
BUT I don't need or want a 6500rpm engine screaming under the hood.
I want to get going fast, not go fast if that makes sense.
But it is way more expensive to do that with the 350 than the LS as I'm sure your aware of.
But it sure is cool to still have the original motor maybe freshened up, or built into a 383. The biggest struggle I have with that is the "limits" of the TBI system and lack of easy tuning. Sure you can build it and stick a 3k Holley or Edelbrock system on it to run, but they aren't foolproof and I'm not sure I'm smart enough to tune one up enough to get it to run reliably. And that 3k is in addition to whatever you put into the original motor to hop it up.
For 3k, you can do a lot of good stuff to a LS.
So ya....the answer is not easy to get/give. All depends on what you want to do. How much time me and $$$ you are willing to spend and your own limitations.
But either way is the right one!!! Lol
Look forward to seeing your progress.

 

[Erik the Awful]

While I was there I also grabbed some dog bones and a spider. I'll need to return to grab roller lifters... (Unless you guys recommend me purchase roller lifters new)

If you can get good used roller lifters that look and roll like new, and can clean them out thoroughly, the OEM pieces are very good. I'd rather have used roller lifters than new flat-tappet lifters.

 

[Connorpod]

Chapter Two: Mini Update

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Brought in my two junk yard heads into the shop to get cleaned up and came up with a couple discoveries. I hope you guys can provide some insight...

1.) Heads were magnafluxed and one came back cracked. Sucks but only payed 160 CAD for the pair plus my labor so whatever. However, I need to get another vortec head now. Hopefully my machine guy has a

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connection to an affordable vortec. If not, I'm shelling 500.00 cad plus shipping for another Vortec head from rock auto.... pick n pull is a little snowed in as of now so I think thats out of the question. Besides, I don't want to go to that effort again just to get slapped with another cracked block.

2.) Once my machine gets back to me, I am sure he is asking what I want to do with the remaining head. Is there any machining that you guys would recomend? I was thinking Valve Guides, and Resurfacing. Not sure if I needed to remove the press in rocker studs and move to thread in as I am probably going to be running a pretty tame cam. Thoughts?

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3.) I was going to buy a spreadbore Vortec Carb intake. However, being in Canada, I heard it causes starting problems when the engine is Cold. I have a Edelbrock TBI Intake with a spacer. Anything under 2 degrees celsius, the truck already sounds cammed and runs like crap until its warm. My TBI expert in town is pushing the GMPP intake pretty hard.​

4.) This leaves me with my big question. Do I throw in the towel with the heads and concentrate more with the CAM first and leave the heads as a Future Connor problem?

 

[Erik the Awful]

Brought in my two junk yard heads into the shop to get cleaned up and ... one came back cracked.

Yup, that's about right. You have to take a wire brush and a magnifying glass to Pull-A-Part and inspect carefully.

Is there any machining that you guys would recomend? I was thinking Valve Guides, and Resurfacing. Not sure if I needed to remove the press in rocker studs and move to thread in as I am probably going to be running a pretty tame cam. Thoughts?

Valve guides are less of a problem than they were back in the day. All the heads I've played with still had very good guides. Check the valves for play, and only get guides if they need it.

Resurfacing is a good idea, but getting the heads milled will change your compression ratio and could require new pushrods. I've always just checked for straightness and used a roloc wheel to clean them.

Switching to screw-in rocker studs isn't necessary for a mild cam. I "should have" done it on the engine in WCJr, but the beehive valvesprings are only about 10% stiffer than the stock Vortec springs, so I didn't worry about it. That's with a fairly stout cam.

Critical work is having the heads vatted and magnafluxed. It sounds like you already know that.

If you're going for serious power a good valve job is necessary. If ultimate power isn't your aim and the valve seats aren't bad you can lap the valves yourself.

 

[Connorpod]

Resurfacing is a good idea, but getting the heads milled will change your compression ratio and could require new pushrods. I've always just checked for straightness and used a roloc wheel to clean them.

Switching to screw-in rocker studs isn't necessary for a mild cam. I "should have" done it on the engine in WCJr, but the beehive valvesprings are only about 10% stiffer than the stock Vortec springs, so I didn't worry about it. That's with a fairly stout cam.

Critical work is having the heads vatted and magnafluxed. It sounds like you already know that.

If you're going for serious power a good valve job is necessary. If ultimate power isn't your aim and the valve seats aren't bad you can lap the valves yourself.

Thanks Erik, having my Vortec head and Newly Purchased replacement machined as per your recommendations.

Machinist is pushing hard the GMPP intake manifold. Is what he saying about the coolant bypass true?

 

[Erik the Awful]

Is what he saying about the coolant bypass true?

I'm not sure what he's saying about the coolant bypass. Are you asking about the coolant passage in the intake? My suspicions are that it would have zero effect on how your engine runs when cold, because the coolant isn't warm enough to warm the intake.

Machinist is pushing hard the GMPP intake manifold.

I have no input on this one. I live in a warm climate and I switched to a Holley Sniper.

On the subject of the coolant bypass, there's a coolant bypass hole in the earlier heads that the Vortec heads are missing. You'll want to drill it, and I'd go ahead and drill it in both heads so you don't have to remember which head got it in the future. Without the hole you have to run the Vortec water pump, which is another bit of complexity. Use the head gasket as a template.

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[Connorpod]

I'm not sure what he's saying about the coolant bypass. Are you asking about the coolant passage in the intake? My suspicions are that it would have zero effect on how your engine runs when cold, because the coolant isn't warm enough to warm the intake.

Good to know. Thanks for the tip. Yes, I was referring to the coolant passage.

Cheers!

 

[Connorpod]

Quick question about drilling the coolant bypass: Are you drilling a small hole using the tbi gasket as a guide to tap into an existing water jacket that’s in the vortec head? Just trying how to plan out the process. Thanks!

 

[Erik the Awful]

Yes. I'd mark the center of the hole with a center punch, use a 1/8" drill bit first, and once you have that hole made, step up to whatever size the hole in the gasket is. Do not chamfer the hole.

I haven't actually done this myself. My heads are on the truck, but when I get around to swapping the engine to Roscoe, I plan on popping the heads off and drilling them so I can switch back to the TBI water pump and bypass.