Project Lazarus bringing a 72 SWB K10 back to life

[Rust_phoenix]

Spent today stripping the interior and removed the wiring harness from the donor cab, must have been a million shards of broken glass everywhere had to keep the shopvac handy, i will lift the cab off of the frame tommorow.

[Xeen]

Originally Posted by Rust_phoenix

Did a little more work on filling the trim holes and shot some epoxy primer over it to keep it sealed, one thing i haved learned is i suck at body work!

You will be a heck of a lot better at it by the time you are finished
I really dig your project, I put a 03' 5.3L Vortec in mine but in comparasin mine was a walk in the park, yours is going to take alot of creative engineering. I will be watching this build with interest, subscribed.

[Rust_phoenix]

Originally Posted by Xeen

You will be a heck of a lot better at it by the time you are finished
I really dig your project, I put a 03' 5.3L Vortec in mine but in comparasin mine was a walk in the park, yours is going to take alot of creative engineering. I will be watching this build with interest, subscribed.

Thanks Brian i checked out your build as well, very nice work my friend, keep on it you are going to have one sweet ride!

[whitels1]

Looking good, great build so far!

[Rust_phoenix]

Originally Posted by whitels1

Looking good, great build so far!

Thanks Dave, nice work on yours too, i like what you did with the wiring harness, gives me some ideas and courage to attempt my own, complete with a flux capacitor of course.

[whitels1]

Originally Posted by Rust_phoenix

Thanks Dave, nice work on yours too, i like what you did with the wiring harness, gives me some ideas and courage to attempt my own, complete with a flux capacitor of course.

Turns out it's worthless without a Mr. Fusion!

[Rust_phoenix]

Well it turns out the old saying measure twice cut once is words to live by, the rearend from the 03' will not work it is not a 14 bolt like i thought it was, it's an AAM 11.5 while this thing is strong as heck! it is by my measurement 2 1/4" wider between wheel mount surfaces, so i for now will use the Dana 60.

[Rust_phoenix]

The engine crossmember mount that i ordered from DIY4X4.com finally made it here. so, after initial test fitting the 8.1 sat a little too low, no problem i used the drill press and added extra holes to bring the motor up 1" i test mounted the cab to see if it it would clear, it would not until i moved the engine and trans 2" ahead without doing this the valve covers will hit. i still need to modify the center section of the crossmember as it will not clear the oilpan. i will not be able to use the stock exhaust manifolds either, so i will look for some earlier big block ones or go with headers.

[whitels1]

Great progress looks good. I ended up using a 14bolt SF from a 97, that was wider than my original 12 bolt and it is actually just about the same width as the front and has worked out well for me.

[Rust_phoenix]

Well it has been a few months since I last posted, so I figured I would share a few progress pics. first I made my own engine cross member out of some steel plate because the one I bought wasn't going to work

[Rust_phoenix]

Next I found some, I believe late seventies big block exhaust manifolds and fabricated an exhaust system, it didn't turn out exactly like I wanted but I can change it later.

[NASTY-LSX]

pretty cool build up! Looks great so far.

[Rust_phoenix]

Originally Posted by NASTY-LSX

pretty cool build up! Looks great so far.

Thanks NASTY-LSX, I have a long way to go still but I keep telling myself this is a marathon not a sprint and I know it will turn out the way I have envisioned it

[Rust_phoenix]

In order to use the radiator, fan, shroud and coolers from the 2003 I needed to modify the 72 front panel with a little trimming and some angle iron, I ended up raising it 2” over stock. It fits nicely under the hood and will enable me to service everything by buying stock 2003 replacement parts. I added a 2” body lift and a rough country all spring 6” lift and got rid of the 4” lift with rear blocks, I needed to do this to get the proper clearance for the 37” tires, I reworked the wiring harness myself using info from LT1swap.com and sent my ECM off to Brendan Patten who owns that website for 75.00 he removed the EGR, Evap, and Passlock security and I had it back in less than a week.

[Rust_phoenix]

I fabricated a cable bracket to use the 03 shifter cable and bolted up the master cylinder and hydro boost unit I did replace all of the brake lines and used my flaring tool kit to adapt the new stuff to the old style, everything is basically still in the mock up stage and I will need to tear it back apart to do final paint and body work, I would rather do it this way than find out I need to modify something after paint.

[birdistheword]

Very cool build. Keep up the great work.

[gipper]

Very nice. I am now subscribed.

[Rust_phoenix]

Did some more work this last weekend on the differentials and brakes, I pulled the front diff and rebuilt it using new bearings, seals chrome moly Yukon axles, new u-joints, rotors and pads, I also did the disc brake conversion on the dana 60 rear, its almost done except I need to fab some hard lines and hose retainers, then bleed the system, here are a few pics

[Rust_phoenix]

A couple more pics.

[Rust_phoenix]

Made significant progress over the weekend and today, I installed all the brake lines and bled the system, I also put on the new Warn locking hubs, but the biggest thing of all is I started it up for the first time!
it sounds awesome! I have a video and will try to figure out how to upload it, I only have one leak, it looks like I will need a new trans cooler, and I still need to get all of the air out of the power steering, and finish installing the seat and I will take it for a test run!

[birdistheword]

Looking good. You going to have it done and bring it to the Goodguys show in Puyallup next year?

[NASTY-LSX]

looking great!!!

[Rust_phoenix]

Originally Posted by NASTY-LSX

looking great!!!

Thanks! getting closer everyday.

[Rust_phoenix]

Originally Posted by birdistheword

Looking good. You going to have it done and bring it to the Goodguys show in Puyallup next year?

That would be cool, might put that on my list, would be awesome to meet other board members as well.

[Vintage Windmills]

Jealous of the 8.1! I would love that setup in my K20 get driveable build thread truck but they aren't easy to find. This K10 will be a fun truck for sure. Did you end up boxing the frame or are you going to run it and see how it does first? You don't need to be as strong as the 2500hd (1 ton frame) but maybe stonger than a stock swb K10 frame? Not towing heavy loads will be one thing that is to your advantage.