My K5 Blazer Story.

[Zoomad75]

The mechanical side of the window is fixed. As expected it was gummed up with dirt filled decades old grease. Just the same on the manual windows, this causes the motor to drag and pop the circuit breaker from working too hard. Here's how gummy it looked to start.


The tracks were just as gummed up.


After a cleanup in Larry's solvent tank.


The mechanism works much more smoothly now. That is when you chuck the drive cable to a cordless drill. The dash switch moved it slightly before I got started but it wouldn't click after. Just like everything else the wiring is sketchy. So I'll leave that for another day.

Both days in the shop were great for sure. I even drove the K5 down the street when I pulled it out of the garage both days. Didn't go far, but I was able to surmise a couple of things. First, the speedo won't move. It doesn't feel like it's upshifting automatically either. I tried manually from 1st to 2nd, no change. Got more to do there for sure.

[Zoomad75]

Been a little while for an update. Since Larry brought the K5.3 up to my shop I've been working with the exhaust guy for a plan of attack. I stayed late yesterday to check out my no shifting problem with the 700r4. Put it up in the air and commenced to pulling the Governor.



I got the governor out to look for a wiped out gear or stuck valve. By the look, the gear is mint.


The valve however was stuck like glue. I had asked our buddy Jesse for some help here and he predicted the valve sticking. A little brake clean and some atf and the valve freed up. I stuffed it back in and gave it a spin around the bullpen, no dice. Won't shift out of first. One thing I didn't do is pull the TV cable off the throttle body and snap it a few times with the engine running to see if the TV valve is stuck and free it up. I did adjust the TV cable again as it might have been too tight, but it didn't make a difference. I'm open to thoughts here for sure.

[y5mgisi]

That's pretty interesting.

[abebummy26]

Did those seat covers fit on your seat? I am looking to get them, and I also have the seat belt bump up on my f**d.

[MTCK]

Any updates? Get your tranny acting right?

[abebummy26]

Disregard my previous question I read my answer on cabelas.com. I am sending my dad to get some next week.

[DirtyLarry]

We haven't installed the seat covers yet but I had these same seat covers on my 2001 Silverado so we know they fit. I took them off because they kept causing issues with the built in seatbelt but I also have a low tolerance to those kind of things. We'll see what Rob thinks of them being he has Silverado seats in this K5 as well.

[Zoomad75]

Got a little done to prepare for the raptor liner. Stayed late and started scuffing the interior sheet metal. DA and 80 grit and red scotch brite pads were the ticket. Spent a couple hours on it and knocked it out. Gotta admit this body stuff is out of my element, but I scrubbed until I stopped seeing shiny paint. Here's a some shots of the progress.

Tailgate-



Front floor-


Rear floor-


My body shop manager let me have the run of his toolbox and the shop for the afternoon. He came in as I was cleaning up and saw my progress. He was going to help today, but had a crisis at home he had to attend to. He said if he gets bored tomorrow (he's not a big football fan) he might come back to the shop and shoot it. If not the truck is lined up to go to the exhaust guy next sat. Getting some stuff done at least.

[DirtyLarry]

Like!

[Zoomad75]

Exhaust is done. At last. Got to say Dan at Canon Tire did a great job following what I wanted in this system. High, tight and sounds awesome.



So stoked!

[MTCK]

That looks and sounds great. My last system I had installed on my k10 hung way too low.

[Zoomad75]

Didn't get to spray the raptor liner today, but I did have one of my Tech's sort out my TV cable issue. It was wayyy to tight. Fired it up and took it for a spin and it finally hits all 4 gears!

It actually moves out really well. Still has a stumble off idle but then it starts hauling the mail. That little 5.3 will roast the tires if you want it to. Yee haw! I was able to throw a dealer plate on it and run it down the street to put some fuel in it. But its first time I've driven on the street in my k5 in a year one month and thirteen days since the 75 shelled the 12 bolt. Words can't express my happiness.
I will say this the truck is tight. As in no weird rattles, squeeks or other odd noises. It just feels solid even going over bumps. So different from a swiss cheese 75 with worn out body bushings and flexy body. Plus the top isn't rattling at the windshield header since its not a full top.
Next phase interior and tuning.

[Zoomad75]

Decided to grab lunch today by taking the K5.3 to go get it. Hopped in and grabbed a sammich from Jimmy Johns. Took a quick video on the way back. It's a little shaky since I'm trying to drive, hold onto my iced tea and take the video. Also, the major clanging noise is the back glass rattling in the gate. You can hear the stumble and what sounds to be a new issue, hunting idle when you come to stop. Without a tach on it, it's hard to say how much the idle moves, but you can hear it.

https://youtu.be/r4Lz-4meSD0

[Zoomad75]

This just in from the booth! Raptor liner is done! Big kudo's for my body shop manager to knock this out of the park! He sent some pics for me to drool over until I come back to work Monday!

[Zoomad75]

Haven't updated here in a while.

Since the raptor liner was done at the shop, I had been driving at lunch while at work. What I found on the last couple of runs with it was that once it got up to temp the engine would start cutting out like mad. To keep it brief, I discovered the coolant was low and causing it to start running hot. This forced the mefi4 system into a self protection mode. Filled it back up and it went back to normal. The loss of the coolant came from the radiator. There was a spot on the tank where it is soldered to the core that it was leaking from.

So with the leak happening the plan was scrapped for me to drive it home from Canon City. Larry came up and snatched it with the trailer and brought it back to his place. I pulled the radiator over there and had a local shop in Canon repair it. Larry stuffed it back in this week as he's been on a bit of a wrench bender for the last few days.

Plan is to drive it back to my place tomorrow to let me start picking away at my list of stuff to do. Thank goodness the sun is staying up later every day so I can have some light to work by when I get home from the shop.

[MTCK]

Looks good. Glad you got the rad figured out. What all is on your list?

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by MTCK

Looks good. Glad you got the rad figured out. What all is on your list?

Oh, the short version is everything..LOL.

Seriously though here's some of what needs to be done in no particular order:

Secure front seats.
Wire in tcc circuit for trans.
Address inop speedo and oil pressure gauges.
Install Stereo.
Wire in aux input for stereo.
Start tuning.
Fab bracket for tuffy console.
Build harness for sending power to console.
Install vinyl flooring (need hot day though).


There is more, but that's a good start for now. Like everything else, it's never ending.

[MTCK]

Hey that's not too bad of a list. You got it right on the floor covering. I got mine roughly unfolded and let the truck run about an hour with heater wide open and windows up. We don't really get hot days in AK though.

[DirtyLarry]

ZooK5.3 went home today!



Runs pretty good for an off the shelf tune someone emailed me for a 6.0L that is running a 5.3L

Youtubers....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbtrpI54dCQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv8ft8SSayI

[Billhilly]

Sweeeeet!

[Zoomad75]

Managed to get the radio installed with the aux input this weekend. Nothing groundbreaking there. I drove it over to Larry's to grab the other seat and the old console. I did notice a weird resonance coming in when I let of the throttle, but it sounded like it was coming from the exhaust so I didn't think to much about it.

So today I take it over to my in-law's house to do some yard work which is maybe a mile from my place so no problems felt. I get done over there and decide to go out to show the truck to my buddy John with the yellow TJ heep. Motoring down the Boulevard and the resonance I heard before just changed to a major vibration as I slow down for a stoplight. Uh-oh.

I pull over into a safe spot and get out to find this:



Son of beach!

After a quick conversation with Larry via text and my niece and her hubby seeing me on the side of the road we got a plan together. I slammed down the last of my gatorade so I had something to shove over the tailshaft once the shaft is out. I had my niece pull it out of park to take the load off the shaft and was able to pull it off the rear yoke and out. I cut the end of the bottle off and shoved it over the output. I locked the hubs in and stuffed it into 4hi. The ride home was minus the resonance so that pretty much locks it down for me we got a driveline angle problem. To flipping stupid to recognize it before it broke, but live and learn right?

Closer shots of my stupidty-





Pretty sure by looking at the yoke on the shaft it's fubar'd. The groove is wiped out for the retaining clip. Need more bolts and straps for the axle yoke. I guess I'll take the shaft to work to send it off for repair. Then it's time to measure the driveline angles and get the adjustments made.

[y5mgisi]

How the heck did that happen?

[First c10]

What is the angle difference from the drive shaft to the pinion? Is the pinion angle less than the driveline?

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by First c10

What is the angle difference from the drive shaft to the pinion? Is the pinion angle less than the driveline?

It's off for sure. I grabbed some tools from work to measure it the GM way, but my measurements last night on my sloped driveway were 3 degrees at the t-case (down), 18 degrees on the shaft (down) and 11 degrees (down) at the rear axle. It's going to need adjustment at both ends to be able to pull it all together.

All I know is I got lucky. Dodged a bullet. Had that joint let go at highway speed the shaft would have beat up everything under the truck into oblivion.

Larry and I talked tonight and hatched a plan to get it back into shape.
Fear not, it will be fixed. It's just money anyway!

[bmchevy1979]

Well looks like me and you have about the same luck. Lol about 4months after my 4spd swap I grenaded the rear drive shaft on my 74 caving in the 2month old flowmaster 40s and ripping the ebrake cable out from under it.

does make my want to double check my pinion angle on my 14bolt though cause I do have a slight resonance or drone since the sea I'm not sure If it's the locker though first full-time locker I've used I've always been around 1/2tons with the g80