'67 K10 swb big block "The Mutt"

[JMD]

Originally Posted by BDC1

Well it has a great ride height now.

You mentioned a spacer between the mounts. Was this for engine height?

Yes with the “truck” big block oil pan I needed another 1/8th” to gain clearance between the oil pan and the cross member. I now have a slightly smaller oil pan so the spacers are not needed.

[BDC1]

cool. Thanks again.

[JMD]

Took out another transmission

Apparently the stock sprag couldn’t hold up to the extra hp. The truck sat for a week while I installed the new radiator fans and when I pulled out of the barn to test them out 3rd gear immediately locked up.

Sooo...I scored a used FTI stage 3 TH400 and 2800 stall for a decent price. Well, it’s a decent price if it works. Comes with a 34 element sprag, deep aluminum pan and a few other nice upgrades. Bought it for way less than it would cost to rebuild the old one and buy a new converter. Hopefully I’ll find out tomorrow whether or not I got screwed.

[JMD]

I guess it's been a minute since I've updated this thread, and a few things have changed with the truck, as well as in life. I quit my job about 6 months ago which has been a blessing in disguise. Unfortunately my work phone contained almost every picture I have of this build, so the pics on this thread are about all I have left.

As for the truck...
-The FTI transmission is a beast. Still some fine tuning to do but I love the harsh positive shifts.

-The wimpy electric cooling fan wasn't cutting it after the cam and head swap. I dropped the dough on a dual fan and shroud kit from Old Air Products. Super easy install and I'm happy with the way it cools. On hot days the temp still sits right at 200*, but I'm pretty sure that's due to the Autozone brand 2 core radiator.

-Finally installed some tail pipes. WOW, what a difference! The flowmaster 50 mufflers are almost too quiet now.

-I've never been thrilled with the Dodge Ram wheels currently on the truck, so I bought some cheap beauty rings to dress them up. Still polishing a turd but it's better than nothing.

-Wrapped the headers using some summit brand header wrap. It has made a huge difference with under hood heat

-Got the front driveshaft rebuilt and installed.

-It's developed a MASSIVE engine oil leak that I can't find for the life of me. After a 30 minute drive the rear glass and tailgate are dripping with oil. I'm hoping it's not the rear main seal again...

[JMD]

In an attempt to fix the engine oil leak I went around and tightened up all the oil pan bolts. Apparently I tightened them too much much which nearly resulted in destroying the engine...

[JMD]

What happened was when I tightened up the pan bolts the paper gasket split in half and the inner half of the gasket dropped into the pan. Luckily I immediately noticed the drop in oil pressure (because of the horrendous valve train noise) and shut the engine down before any real damage was done. Lesson learned, don’t use a cheap pan gasket, and don’t over tighten the bolts. In the photo below you can see part of the gasket is missing on the drivers side front of the pan.

[72 tigger]

I’m confused, what exactly happened?

[JMD]

Originally Posted by 72 tigger

I’m confused, what exactly happened?

When I tightened up the oil pan bolts, the pan crushed the gasket so much that it was basically cut in half lengthwise. The inner part of the gasket the was over-hanging the inside of the pan flaked off and ended getting stuck to the pickup tube.

[JMD]

Turns out that the oil leak was coming from the dipstick tube O-ring. I could have avoided that entire fiasco.

But anyway...

I was having issues with my 800cfm Edelbrock carb, mostly because it was getting so hot under the hood that the fuel was boiling in the lines causing vapor lock. The truck always started perfectly when hot, but after about 30 seconds the float bowls would run out of fuel and the engine would die. 30 seconds always seemed to be the exact amount of time it would take to leave the gas station and pull out onto the main road...Very frustratinig having to sit there in traffic and wait for the truck to cool down so it would start.

So I decided to fix that problem with a Holley Sniper 4150 EFI kit. I also installed a Holley Hyperspark distributor and ignition system so that all the timing would be controlled by the ECU mounted on the throttle body. I liked the fact that it’s self learning but also 100% tunable. It supports up to 650hp which is more than enough for me at this point.

[JMD]

Unfortunately I ignored everything Holley (and pretty much every person on every forum) said about needing to update the fuel system to something that is EFI friendly, specifically the gas tank. I know at least one member of this forum has successfully used the stock fuel tank with Holley EFI, but I think he had a small block that didn’t require the amount of fuel that my 454 wants.

Since the in-line pump that Holley provides is designed to push fuel rather than pull, it didn’t like having to draw fuel up and out of the stock fuel pickup tube. After about a half hour of highway driving the pump would get so hot that it would actually boil the fuel and lose prime, especially when the tank was more than half empty. After running it that way for a few hundred miles, the pump was obviously getting warn out (and LOUD!). It got to the point where the A/F ratio would lean way out even with moderate throttle application.

A lot of my weekend cruises were starting to end with my truck on a trailer...

[geunther]

I think I am going to go with the Holley Sniper as well. I was getting ready to ask what you did for fuel then I read a few posts down. I have noticed that Holley has a drop in fuel pump designed for the 73 up saddle tanks. I believe it has the same size mount with ring as does our factory tanks. I am debating on ordering one of those to see if it can be modified for our tanks. I am unsure if there is room to insert the fuel pump because of the back of the tank.

Then of course there is having the pump in the tank and in the cab sound.

[JMD]

The cheapest fix would have been to drill a hole in the bottom of the stock tank and weld in a bung so the gas would be gravity fed directly to the in-line pump. However, the stock tank has no baffles, it’s already filled with rust (it’s an original ‘67 tank) and I HATED how loud the fuel pump was. Seriously, the thing sounded like a garbage disposal.

I also thought about going with a Boyd under-bed tank. In order to do that though, I would need to redo the exhaust. I also didn’t like the idea of putting a fuel fill cap in the bed floor, and I didn’t want to see the tank hanging below the rear bumper.

The third option and the one I ended up going with was to find a used toolbox/fuel tank combo and modify it to accept an in-tank pump. I’ve always wanted a toolbox in the bed anyway, so I thought the combination of the two would be pretty sweet. Not to mention the fact that I’ve never seen it done before, so I thought I’d give it a try.

I found a 60gal tank/toolbox made by RDS that already had baffles, vents, and a rollover valve. The mechanical fuel gauge that came with the toolbox already had the 5 hole bolt pattern that would work for the Equus sending unit I bought, so that was direct bolt on. I bought a Holley retrofit in-tank pump (part #19-350) that is capable of 700hp and worked perfectly with the 12” tank depth. All I had to do was drill a 3.25” hole in the top of the tank, run a couple wires and make up some braided hose and I was back on the road. It was a pretty simple project and I’m absolutely loving the in-tank pump. It’s almost silent, and the engine is much happier now that it’s actually getting enough fuel. I went for a 3 hour drive today and the A/F ratio was perfect, plus the added fuel capacity is really nice. I think this may be my favorite modification so far.

[JMD]

Originally Posted by geunther

I think I am going to go with the Holley Sniper as well. I was getting ready to ask what you did for fuel then I read a few posts down. I have noticed that Holley has a drop in fuel pump designed for the 73 up saddle tanks. I believe it has the same size mount with ring as does our factory tanks. I am debating on ordering one of those to see if it can be modified for our tanks. I am unsure if there is room to insert the fuel pump because of the back of the tank.

Then of course there is having the pump in the tank and in the cab sound.

I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with the Sniper, it’s a pretty sweet system and fairly user friendly. I think their claims of “plug and play” are a little bold though. Yes if you have an engine on a stand there is no doubt in my mind you can have it running within 10 minutes. However, to make it run well and be “streetable” in an actual vehicle there is quite a bit of tuning, wiring, and plumbing involved. Well worth it though, I’m pretty happy with it so far.

If the in-tank pump for the ‘73+ tanks are as quiet as their retrofit pumps, you won’t even know it’s in the cab with you. I think the problem you may run into is that you’ll have to fabricate a hanger with a sharp bend in it to clear the back of the tank. Plus you still have the issue of sloshing since there’s no way to add baffles to a stock tank.

[72 tigger]

Very nice install on everything, you’re good at fabrication. Glad you didn’t have any engine damage

[sgmacaulay]

Just wanted to tag on to this post. These turn signals and them not flashing sent me down a 4 week search. But this post and the specific flash from united pacific fixed the issue. Thanks for the post.