1991 1 Ton Crew Cab 4x4 Build

[91V3500]

Hey guys (and gals), I just bought a 1991 V3500 1 Ton Crewcab 4x4 and am in the process of restoring/building it. I thought I would share the build process as I go. I hope to have the truck "finished" in 2 months. The truck belonged to a landscaping company in Virginia Beach, Va for the last 6 years, so it has been beat on pretty good, but it has potential. It has the factory 454, and had the 4L80E, NP203?, Front Dana 60, and rear 14 bolt. I might regret it later, but right now I am swapping in a Turbo 400 with NP203, Dana 44 front, and 14 bolt rear, installing 12" lift kit, and crossover steering that all came out of a 1991 K5 that had the trans rebuilt, and both rearends rebuilt with 4:10 gears. I also scored a clean 1990 suburban for the front sheet metal and all the doors (in pics). I plan to run some 22x14 black wheels and 40X15.5x22 Nitto Mud Terrains, have the interior done in bright red (front seat done in pic), and have it painted maybe silver or white. The truck will be used as a weekend driver and tow rig for me and my buddies' Polaris RZR's. I hope you guys enjoy and any comments/suggestions are appreciated, as I've never built a truck like this before, biggest thing I've ever had was a 1986 K20 Suburban on 35" Swamper TSL's, and believe it or not I had a 1982 C10 shortbed bodied with hydros at one time!

[toninski]

nice, can wait to see final product.

[bohmankid]

sweet! I love those 4 doors!

[91V3500]

Thanks, I can't wait till it's done, or at least drivable again! Truck's on the lift, axles have been removed, Turbo 400 and transfer case have almost been installed, rims have been ordered and should be here by next week, gotta go pick the 40" tires hopefully this week.

[86454k30]

Why are you swapping all the "good" parts out of it? The 91 crewcabs are the only year you can get a 4L80E transmission with a NP205 transfer case...super rare truck.

[91V3500]

Originally Posted by 86454k30

Why are you swapping all the "good" parts out of it? The 91 crewcabs are the only year you can get a 4L80E transmission with a NP205 transfer case...super rare truck.

I knew that was coming! There are several reasons. The first being I really didn't know what transmission I had and what it was worth. I just recently bought this truck and assumed it had, and was told, it had a Turbo 400 in it. I really didn't care what it had in it because I would have bought the truck anyway, it was the only decent 4x4 crewcab I could find on the east coast for less than $6,000. When I got it home and really started studying it, I thought it had a 700R, until recently I never even knew any of these trucks had a 4L80E or even what a 4L80E was. Also the few times that I drove it before tearing it apart, it only shifted once (i think 1st gear is gone) and wouldn't go into overdrive, so it needed a rebuild. Plus the dana 60 needed several hundred dollars thrown at it to get it up to par. I bought the K5 for only $1200 and it had the turbo 400 with only 1000 miles on a rebuild, and both the Dana 44 and rear 14 bolt have been fully rebuilt and have lower gears. It would have cost more than $1200 just to have the 4L80E trans rebuilt, and a 400 and dana 44 will do everything that I need it to do, the dana 60 would just be overkill for me. Like I said, I may regret it later, but right now I'm just trying to get it on the road without spending a fortune.

[91V3500]

Most of the front suspension is installed, still gotta hook up the crossover steering. I still have to get some regular u-bolts and remove the 2" blocks in the front, so it won't be quite this tall. I picked the 40" tires up yesterday, wheels are supposed to be here tomorrow. Hopefully I can drive it again by next week. Then I can install the doors off the suburban and put the grill and bumper on.

[91V3500]

I am having all of the headliner trim pieces wrapped in red vinyl just like the seats. I am missing 1 of the little pieces that joins the side piece to the rear pillar piece. Does anybody know where I can get one?

Got the seats done and ready to go in

[bohmankid]

Those seats are awesome!! what color is the truck going to be??
as for that trim piece, use the junk yard, some part out truck, or lmctruck.com.

[91V3500]

Originally Posted by bohmankid

Those seats are awesome!! what color is the truck going to be??
as for that trim piece, use the junk yard, some part out truck, or lmctruck.com.

Thanks! I tried LMCtruck, searched Ebay, and Brothers with no luck. I might could make 1 at work, we have a full sheet metal shop.

I'm planning on painting the truck 'silver ice metallic' like the new chevy silverado's, maybe do some flat black stripes on the hood or something? I never have liked red interiors, but the interior was already redish/burgandy, so the parts that I have to dye red, at least they will be redish underneath if the dye gets scratched. I originally wanted to do the interior in tan, but if the tan got scratched and left a red mark, that wouldn't look too good! Plus the seatbelts are red, I was trying to get by without having to buy new belts, but they are too dark red and I may have to buy some new ones anyway. I'm hoping the interior will have mild hotrod look to it, kinda like something that Boyd Coddington would have built.

[91V3500]

Wheels are in, i'll post pics once we get them on the truck hopefully next week.

I originally wanted some 16.5x14" wheels with some 39.5" TSL's but after doing some research, it appears 16.5" wheels and tires are disappearing, and about the only company still making 16.5" tires is Interco Swampers. Later I may want to run some all-terrains, so this eliminated the 16.5's. My next choice was some 15x14's, but I couldn't find many companies that makes 15" all-terrains bigger than 35" and I need at least some 37's, preferably 40's. So after searching I found a new set of KMC Diesel 22x14's on ebay for $870 and I found the Nitto Mud Terrain 40x15.5x22 tires locally on Craigslist for $1500 that only had 300 miles on them. These tires are about $900 apiece new!

[91V3500]

I lucked up and found the headliner trim piece that I needed locally, I also got the headliner board out of the same truck, mine was missing. I had to order one of the rear pillar headliner trim pieces from LMC Truck, that came in yesterday and my uphosterer has everything now to finish the headliner and trim. Progress has been slow on the rest of the truck, having to replace brake lines, transmission lines, and get the driveshafts fitted. I need some direction on what to do with the front driveshaft, it's hitting the 2-into-1 crossover exhaust pipe. I know the easiest thing would be to run true duals, but I'm trying to keep the truck half-way legal for future inspections and need the exhaust setup similar to what I have but clear the driveshaft. Any ideas?

[carboncrew]

91V3500,

Look up this guy on ebay. Nice guy and I know he had a pair a couple weeks ago.

seller name: jlmerie

[91V3500]

Originally Posted by carboncrew

91V3500,

Look up this guy on ebay. Nice guy and I know he had a pair a couple weeks ago.

seller name: jlmerie

Ok, thanks!

[86454k30]

Take it to an exhaust shop and they will build you a new crossover pipe to clear the driveshaft.

[91V3500]

Originally Posted by 86454k30

Take it to an exhaust shop and they will build you a new crossover pipe to clear the driveshaft.

Should the pipe go under the driveshaft or over it? I haven't really looked at it yet to see what would be best.

[bohmankid]

Originally Posted by 91V3500

Should the pipe go under the driveshaft or over it? I haven't really looked at it yet to see what would be best.

It depends on your application. Usually I think they put the pipe under the driveshaft. But since you are lifted so high and the driveshaft is at an angle like that, you might be able to go over it.

[91V3500]

Got the wheels and tires married finally, had to order some lugnuts, they will be here Monday.
Rear driveshaft is at the welding shop getting 5.5" removed and will be done next week.
New brake lines are going in today.
Headliner is getting covered in red suede.
Alot going on with it and i've been saying this awhile, but HOPEFULLY I will drive it out of the shop next week! I'll get some good pics when it's off the lift, It has probably become attached to that lift since it's been on there so long!

[bohmankid]

I love the look man. That's gonna look sweet with the silver.
Is this the shade that you're painting it?:

[91V3500]

Thanks, Yeah I believe that's the color, it's called "silver ice metallic", comes on serveral GM cars and trucks.

[91V3500]

I need some info on the engine oil cooler lines. This truck came with the external oil cooler lines and the oil cooler is mounted in front of the radiator. I needed a new cooler because the old one was leaking. When I took the line off the old cooler, the flare nut was frozen to the line and twisted the line until it broke. I have ordered 2 sets of oil cooler lines from the Chevy dealership, the 1st set I gave them the VIN # and they came in wrong. The 2nd set was for a 91 K5 Blazer with a factory 454 and they came in wrong. Is there anywhere I can find the right lines for this ghost truck that does not exist?

[91V3500]

I'm still having trouble finding the oil cooler lines. I'm wondering if this truck has the factory big block in it. All the lines that we come up with from the Chevy dealership and Dorman Products has a straight tube that would go into a oil filter adapter plate. Mine does not have that, the cooler lines are curved and go into the bottom of the engine block near the oil filter. I can't find these lines ANYWHERE! Is it possible this is a crate engine or this block came out of another vehicle (dump truck)? Has anybody ever seen this or ran into this?

[zden]

You could get an aftermarket oil cooler and just cut the fittings off. not sure if staying factory is important to you or not.

[91V3500]

Staying factory is definately not important on this truck. That could be an option if I can't find any lines.

After tons of research, I still don't have a resolution for this problem. It appears the pre-1984 engines had the oil cooler lines bolted to the block like mine are, but I can't find any lines that are like mine yet. Also the 96-up Vortec 454 had the lines in the block like mine, but used a different fitting than I have. I have seached tons of oil lines through Dorman Products, Rock Auto, summitt, etc, and have not found my application. Maybe I have a Gen IV 454 or is it possibe to have a 96-up 454 with different oil line connections on the block? Maybe I have a set of one-off lines that were custom made by a hydraulic hose shop?

[91V3500]

Well I never did find the right oil cooler line for this truck. I did find out that Chevrolet changed the 454's in 1991 to the GEN V, and moved the oil cooler lines to connect to the block on the oil pan rail instead of in the oil filter adapter plate like on the 85-90 trucks, and Suburbans with the 454 and small blocks. So it does appear that I have the factory engine in this truck. The 88-98 Chevy trucks that had the Gen V and Vortec 454's had the oil cooler lines in the oil pan rail like mine but used quick connect, mine used the screw-in connection like a hydraulic hose. What I did was bought a new hose from the dealership that had the correct end that I needed and took both the old and new hoses to the hydraulic shop, and they put my end that connects to the engine (which was OK) on a new hose and put the new end that connects to the cooler on that assembly. Works great but it ended up costing $125 when a hose from Summit would have only been $30. It's still a mystery why I can't find a line for this truck but I'll worry about that later.

Anyway, the good news is I got the driveshaft back and installed today, got the new front bumper brackets on and the bumper installed. All I have to do is fill it full of transmission fluid, install the vacuum line for the trans, and see if it will go under it's own power again.