Attempting my first build 72 K5

[sockalaminski]

That's possible but unlikely. The mounting holes in the crossmembers, motor mounts and tranny mount are small and round. If there were slots in the crossmembers, then it would be easier to misalign everything (also easier to line things up). One other possibility is the frame could be tweaked a little, with the right rail slightly forward of the left causing the cross member to sit crooked, but that's unlikely too.

[sockalaminski]

Any progress on this?

[jaros44sr]

Ditto, me too.....

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

I know of been hiatus with the updates but I've been waiting for something worthy of pics to post.

I moved out of my place that had a 1 car garage into a new place with a 2 car garage to give me more room to work with and it took some time setting up the man cave / shop.

I also needed to take a break and carefully think everything through in terms of assembling the rest of the motor and buying the right parts that will work with my application. I had to remove some parts that came with my motor and a few other items that wouldn't work either.

I'll list it out in order and then post pics..

1. Factory Air Conditioning System
.......I sent my AC components to Classic Auto Air. They refurbished my compressor and converted it to R134A. Replaced the hoses and Crimps to be compatible for R134A and refurbished my POA Valve and Expansion Valve.

The brackets that came equipped with my blazer had that big funky looking piece that almost covered the entire pass side intake. California trucks with factory air had to be equipped with the A.I.R system which is why you some times see this hideous looking bracket. I looked around and found the other "original" style and located the lower side mount bracket too.

The lower side mount bracket wouldn't fit because of those darn headers. I cut the center piece of this bracket out and made it into now, tow pieces. I used 1" spacers with a set of longer ARP style header bolts to hold this piece in place just like it would from the factory.

2. The valve covers that came with my motor are the "Tall Style" and those would not clear with A/C or the Alternator on the Driver side unless I wanted to some how use a different style set of after market brackets.. I wasn't going to even bother risking that chance so I swapped out the Tall Valve covers and put the original style ones back on.

3. The water pump was a long style and of course that wasn't going to work either. The long style throws off the alignent with all the pulleys. Ditched that part and put on the correct short style water pump.


4. Fuel Pump - I wanted to run a hard line from the pump to the carb and the only way to do that with an after market fuel pump / carb is to make your own.. I went through about 10 lines before I got it right.. I acually think there was only one way to bend it to work. The fuel inlet on the Holley 4160 is on the driver side and it makes it little more challenging and the AC doesn't help mcuh either with clearance.

5. Fuel Filter - Don't ask me why but I thought this fuel filter from holley would look cool with my setup, but it needed a compression style fitting.. Instead of using an adapter with a flarenuts, I bought a set of Summit AN - Tube fitting adapters and 6AN male to 3/8 NPT to thread into the fuel filter. This allowed me to only have to run to flare nuts... one from the carb inlet and the other to fuel pump.

6. Spark Plug Wires of course where rubbing against the headers and I got a set of these Chevy Proform Wire Loom Seperators / Brackets and I was fortunate enough that the MSD street fighter wires where long enough because most of the wire loom seperator / brackets wont work with pre-assembled spark plug wires. Usually you have to cut them to length.

7. Air cleaner spacer - I tried a couple of the off the shelf ones from AutoZone and O'reillys and of course those dont work.. The float bowl gets stuck when you release the throttle. The one made by Holley, part #17-14 has the correct cut out needed to keep it from getting stuck and if you look I barely cleared the hard line I made.. Got lucky again!

8. I lost my Trans Modulator line during the move and ordered a new one from InlineTube.. Talk about rolling the dice! This time, I ordered it in original steel material in case I needed to make a adjustments..

As much as the Stainless Steel lines look great, they are the biggest PIA to get them to fit.. They have absolutley no give to them.. If I had to do it all over I might have just gone with original steel for the brake and fuel lines.

9. Driveshafts are in as well and she's rolling nice!

I plan to use cross ventilation because my valve covers both have baffles on each of them. For the driver side I plan to run the PCV valve to the port on the front of the carb. The pass side I'm going to run the hose to the air cleaner. Brake Booster will go directly to the back of the port on the Carb and the fitting on the back of the intake will be used for the trans modulator line and AC vacumm. I spent hours of researching how to do this and why it matters.

The one thing I can't seem to figure out is if the hose going from the pass valve cover to the air cleaner requires a special filter between the grommet and the hose.. Could anybody help me out on this one?

I ordered an original temp sending unit and it's good quality (lectriclimited.com) but the cyclinder heads back in the early 70's had a 1/2 NPT thread and the newer style heads have a 3/8 NPT.. I hear all sorts of bad things about running aftermarket temp sending units with factory style gauges.. I'm going to have to figure something out again..


I promise to post pics tomorrow... I'm traveling for work and will be back in town tomorrow.

[IronCanine]

Waiting with baited breath....you know we go to bed earlier on this side of the country

[sockalaminski]

Ya OK, it doesn't sound like you've made any progress at all.......

Glad to hear you didn't give up or get completely stalled on the build.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

I know, I know, I thought I would have it ready but I ran into a couple modifications that I need to make and am I also wating for a couple of parts to come in.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

hey all, apologize for the lack of updates.. I've been holding out until I have most or almost everything assembled to the engine. Lot's of research, time, and a little bit of creativity I finally feel like I'm making positive progress.

I still have a few minor things that I will be adding / modifying to make it complete, I believe a few photos for now to share with all of the members that have been following along and supportive of my build is due for at least the progress I have made.

I ideally would like to do a complete write up with each step that I took for parts that I needed to either fabricate, modify or and additional parts I've added so in the event it could hopefully be useful for others to use.

For now, enjoy the pics and soon enough I will have the rest of the mods completed and thorough write up.

[IronCanine]

Pics!!! That looks outstanding Mike...very clean, very nice. Can't wait to hear the story.

[sockalaminski]

Looks really clean and your attention to detail is outstanding.

[DeadheadNM]

Looking great Mike!

[Sacramento70]

you do some incredible work man. im really digging your blazer. it looks sharp as hell

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Originally Posted by Sacramento70

you do some incredible work man. im really digging your blazer. it looks sharp as hell

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

Looking great Mike!

Originally Posted by sockalaminski

Looks really clean and your attention to detail is outstanding.

Originally Posted by IronCanine

Pics!!! That looks outstanding Mike...very clean, very nice. Can't wait to hear the story.

Thanks a lot guys! I really apprecaite the compliments and that you're still following along even though I've been MIA for a while. It def keeps me motivated when I read these.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

I had change of heart with the look of the engine I was originally going for. Call me ANAL… All my friends and brother already gave me the nickname and bust my balls for all the “unnecessary extra work” I do, but hey, maybe they are right, but it’s my truck and I’ll do what I want.

I started out first with a vision in my head of the look I wanted and I am so happy with how it turned out, just the way I envisioned it. I really wanted the motor to look like it was custom built, which it is, but lacked the looked. I painted the cylinder head bolts aluminum to make it stand out with the orange paint on the block and heads. I then chemically stripped the paint from the air cleaner and valve covers using Jasco Paint remover. I suggest wearing a respirator, chemical resistant gloves, and glasses when using this stuff.

I went into a local auto parts store to pick up engine enamel paint and I was going to use a satin / matte black finish. I accidently read the label wrong and ended up buying this Black Wrinkle Plus by VHT. I searched the web to see what this stuff looks like and I didn’t see to many older cars with this type of paint applied to engine parts.. Mostly found on newer cars. Anyways, I thought it looked pretty good, but I wasn’t sure how it would turn out so I practiced on a few pieces.

The first thing I did was to make sure I was working with bare metal and clean parts. The second part that I think helps in the process is using a heat gun to warm up the part and soak the paint can in warm water for about 10 minutes. The instructions say to spray in 3 sequences 5 minutes apart; horizontally, vertically, and finish with a cross pattern.. To give it that extra texture and to cure the paint, I then baked the parts in the oven for an hour at 200 degrees. The baking part make a big difference in the overall outcome.

The Air cleaner was the hardest part. As you can see in the pics there was a lot of masking involved and penitence!!

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

More pics

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Used the same chemical stripper for the valve covers.. One other thing I forgot to mention as part of this process. After you remove all the paint I take a skotch brite pad to create light scratches for the paint to adhere and then I spray Acetone and quickly use my air compressor to blow all of the Acetone and any dirt off the part. I then use Simple Green to give it a final cleaning prior to painting it.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Here is a great story.. I'm not one of those types that things are meant to be, but in this case I have to say it was. I got up early Saturday morning to get some things from Home Depot and as I'm pulling into the parking lot I noticed a bunch of classic cars from all types. It turns out it's a weekly meet up with the same guy from local car club...

The first thing I noticed was this beautiuful 71 C10 Custom and I had to go talk to the owner. I talked to him for over an hour about his truck and my K5. He was real nice and showed me everything he did to restore the truck and popped the hood for me to take a look at so I could reference anything. He kept his engine compartment 95% stock and that's when I the light bulb went off when I noticed he removed the stock air cleaner.

Long story short, he kept all of his exisiting parts and I asked if he had the flame arrestor and the elbow hose that connects to the base of the air cleaner.. This is a part that I searched everywhere on the web and couldn't find it for the life of me.. I searched junk yards, called junk yards 100's of miles away, etc... He had the part and said I could have it for 20 bucks. He gave me the base air cleaner (which I wont use) the hose, and the flamer arrestor so I can run an open air element. Crazy how this part I was searching for was 1/2 mile from my house.

He even had an old set of valve covers and he threw those in there too. I used his passenger side valve cover so I wouldn't have two oil fil holes.. Looks a lot cleaner now.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Here are some pics with the valve covers and air cleaner assembled. I also added the black edelbrock water pump to go with it.





Put the alternator and some of the AC Brackets back together.

[DeadheadNM]

Great score on the parts. Coming together nicely.

[IronCanine]

I like the black Mike...especially on the air cleaner. Congrats on the score as well. Keep it up!

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Here's a nice shot with the headers which really brings out the contrast with the orange and black.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Engine Specs and Parts list in case anyone is interested:

350 bored 60 0ver 4.06
3.48 Crank
76CC heads (993)
Intake - 1.94
Exhaust - 1.5
1.5 ratio long slot rockers
Hydraulic Roller Cam: 218/224 X .496
109 Degree cam lobe seperation
Redlines 5,500-5,800 (max RPM 6,500)
Edelbrock RPM Performer Intake Part #7101
Edelbrock Victor Series Mechanical Water Pumps with PermaStar Part # 88103 (The price went up $60 since)
Holley 600 CFM Electric
Doug Throley Tri-Y headers (custom made by me haha)

Transmission stall is going to need upgrading so I went ahead and got a Huges performance 2,200-2,500 Stall because of the powerband is in the 2,200-4,000 range
Peak torque is @ 3,800 and Peak HP is 4,600 ( I could be wrong, but I those the notes I had. I just know the peak HP and TQ is withing 1,000 RPm of each other.

Hughes Performance Street Master Torque Converters GM25

None of the off the shelf air cleaner spacers from any of the local auto parts stores would work because the secondaries would get stuck on the way back so I opted for the Holley which is a lot more money but it works
Holley Air Cleaner Spacers 17-14

I also added a spacer plate with 4 holes instead
Summit Part - SUM-G1412

Holley Carb base plate Gasket with 4 holes for square bore design
Part # - 108-58

Proform GM LIcensed Linear Wire Looms
Part # 141-741
These worked great and now they keep my spark plug wires from touching the headers and I was able to use pre-cut spark plug wires.

Holley Fuel Filter
Part # 162-562

In order to run a complete hard line from the fuel pump to the inlet on the carb I needed these additional parts

Holley Fuel Bowl Fitting
Part # 26-43
This replaces the hose barbed fitting that comes stock with the holley carb so you can run an inverted flare nut.

Because of the type of fuel filter I am running, it requires compression style fittings. I didn't wantt to use adapter and have to flare 4 nuts so I talked to the tech support at Summit and the guy hooked me up with all the right parts I needed. I called Holley and they couldn't help me navigate the setup I was seeking.. It's funny, I was telling this to Summits tech support and he was saying that even the manufacturers support reps call them for help..

I got the Summit Brand AN to Tube Adapter Fittings - Part # SUM-2200075B
2 of these are required. Once on each end of the fuel filte.

The other part required to make this setup work is AN to 3/8 NPT adapter so I ordered the Summit Brand part # SUM-220648B.

The Summit brand is 1/4 of the price of the name brands and I can almost bet they are just as good or one of the major brands is having Summit re-brand it as thier own but at much lower cost,

The water neck that came with my motor wouldn't work because of the intake. I wouldn't be able to get a hose on there without it seriously binding on the valve cover so I went ahead and purchased a swivel style water neck so I can make the proper adjustments
Billet Specialties Thermostat - Part # BLK90320

In the pictures below you can see I added a throttle cable bracket
Holley Part # 20-112.
Holley Denten Cable bracket part# 20-119
Lokar Throttle Cable - Part # XTC-1000HT36

Again with the Edelbrock intake it wasn't allowing the Trans Kickdown bracket to sit flush without biding on the valve covers so I found this to serve as an alternative and it also keeps everything off the intake and gives it a cleaner look.

However, like always, I never do enough research before making a purchase.

I also added a Lokar HI-Tech Kickdown kit - Part # KD-2350U... In theory, sounded like a good idea to replace the old one, but it didn't occur to me the length is stock like original. Since I raised the hieight of where the original kickdown bracket attaches too (intake) the cable ended up being to short and was coming in at an angle...

I found a great build thread in the "Its' Just a Pickup" by member Bruce88 http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...318544&page=14

I actually took a lot of his ideas Great reference material in there if you haven't seen it before.

So what I did was take a piece of an aluminum block and cut it to fit just enough for the bracket to slide through it. I then drilled one hole all the way through and another hole about 1/4-1/2" deep and made threads with a tap kit, What this did was lower the kickdown bracket enough so it wasn't coming in at an angle like before. It now sits straight. For the 700R4 Transmission the geometory needs to be spot on, but since I'm running a TH350 the geomentry doesn't need to be at a perfect spec, but i did need to make the adjustment anyways because of the way it lined up before.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

Great score on the parts. Coming together nicely.

Originally Posted by IronCanine

I like the black Mike...especially on the air cleaner. Congrats on the score as well. Keep it up!

Thanks Pete and Brad! Glad you like the new look. I'm almost there! I have a couple more things to finish before the body is ready to go back on..

1. Install New Torque Converter
2. Install clamps on the hoses that connect fuel & brake lines together along the frame rail
3. Test fit the Radiator Core and Radiator
4. Connect Radiator hose and make sure it clears the fuel line. I might have use a custom "univesal" "kind of fits" hose.

However, the body is officially in what we call paint jail. They have had it for over a year now and it's not like there was a ton of body work that needed to be done.. It actually worked out for me because I wasn't ready for the body to go back on yet anyways.

Here are some pics of the body. The rear passenger side quarter panel was a lot of work to straigten out and fix the lip of the curve at the wheel well. They still have some work to do to make it right, but progress is being made for sure. The dash in the radio was repaired and the guy did an amazing job. We used a dash repair panel and cut out the section highlighted in red. Instead of cutting out the whole center part of the dash, this saves the structural integrity of the dash by using just cutting the center piece out.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

The original owner had a CB radio installed and cut out a huge hole underneath the dash through the top of the cowl. I had the body shop repair this part too. Fiberglass was used in place of the hole that was cut for the CB radio to connect to the antenna.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Some of my interior trim pieces back to looking new again. I took it to superior chrome in San Jose. I had to sell one of my kidneys to pay for it

Before



After