My K5 Blazer Story.

[MalibuSSwagon]

How can I get my hands on one of these?

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

[86454k30]

very nice work!

[Zoomad75]

I knew you were up to something when told me to check out the forums after work. This is the first time I've seen it with the engine cover on and cleaned up. What blows me away the Keep your GM all GM sticker. I always thought it was cool on your rigs and thought it would be cool to cap off the factory look you've shot for. Very cool- I love it. Didn't Jesse make the labels for yours? Did that guy have a hand in this too?

Got to recharge the wallet and get this thing knocked out!

Larry is probably getting tired of me telling him thank you for all the effort, but I think it bears repeating. Larry didn't have to do this for me. He's busted his tail, worked in between is actual job and late at night so he still could take care of his girls. He's gone through this as if it was his to do. To say it's humbling for me is an understatement. He knew my time is wrapped up around my work and leaves little time for wrenching since my garage isn't big enough to pull it off with my Nova hibernating in it. He wanted this for me and his effort inspired me to bust my hump to be able to pay for it. I've done a lot of horse trading, side work helping friends sell some classic cars and leaving the house at 6:00 am to come home by 7:00 pm to run a circus they call a service department at a little Chevy dealer. There is no end to the appreciation I have for him and can't thank him enough. The best way I can pay homage is keep it going with the same effort and attention to detail. The 91 is not going anywhere either. It's not getting sold. Ever.

Kudo's dude! You knocked it out of the park!

[DirtyLarry]

You betcha dude! Nobody I can think of that appreciates the labor of truck love more than you. Glad to help and be part of your new K5.3 story.

Pretty sucktastic day for pictures but at least it’s got a lid! I can’t wait until we get started on the body and bumpers in the months to come.

I can’t believe how tall it is….hopefully it will come down once bumpers and the interior is filled up




The right rear quarter is the only spot that will require some body work and even doesn’t look very time consuming. At least there is ZERO rust to deal with

[MTCK]

That does look tall. I think we need a K5 / K10 / Suburban group photo...

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by MTCK

That does look tall. I think we need a K5 / K10 / Suburban group photo...

For sure! It will be fun to line them up for a family photo

[Zoomad75]

Certainly is some family resemblance between them all. We'll get a family photo soon enough. My time in the BigAssGasGarage is up for now. Larry's got to get caught up on his own projects. The Supersportside needs some work and the Polar Bear is getting an attitude adjustment in the cam department.

[Zoomad75]

A friend of Larry and mine did the artwork and printed them. I'm not sure what his ability is to go into production of these decals. I can ask him and if he's cool I'll get him in touch with you.

[ryanroo]

this is awesome! i keep putting my eye on this late 70's jimmy that is for sale on my road to work. im jealous of the nice little rig you'll have for mountains and just running around town. i want one!

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by ryanroo

this is awesome! i keep putting my eye on this late 70's jimmy that is for sale on my road to work. im jealous of the nice little rig you'll have for mountains and just running around town. i want one!

Thanks! It's exceeding expectations for sure. If it wheels off road as good as it looks I'll be set! Then again I know it will. The suspension is proven and the added tru-trac up front will up the traction and help get the 5.3's power to the ground. Lots of shakedown miles for tuning in front of me for sure, but it will be worth it.

[72MARIO]

Does the MEFI ECM require a vss signal ?

I am very interested in this swap. I like how simple and tidy everything looks. I am thinking about buying a 1 ton crew cab short box and installing a 5.3 in front of a 4l80/205 setup. I understand it only requires a spacer behind the flex plate to bolt up the 5.3.

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by 72MARIO

Does the MEFI ECM require a vss signal ?

No, that is one of the nice things about it but I don't run VSS on my 8.1L K10 and Suburban either with 0411 P59 ECMs. Really not needed unless you are running a 4L60E/4L80E. To run one of those behind a MEFI-4 you would need an independent controller like an TCI EZ-TCU

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by 72MARIO

Does the MEFI ECM require a vss signal ?

I am very interested in this swap. I like how simple and tidy everything looks. I am thinking about buying a 1 ton crew cab short box and installing a 5.3 in front of a 4l80/205 setup. I understand it only requires a spacer behind the flex plate to bolt up the 5.3.

The MEI4 setup is certainly simplified and wired up nice and clean for sure. To comment on the 5.3 hooking up to a 4l80E, you don't need any goofy overpriced swap flexplate from Advanced Adapters or anything like that. The 5.3 was never mated with a 4L80e from the factory, but lots of 6.0's were. All you need to do is order the flexplate, spacer and bolts for a 3/4 ton equipped with a 6.0L and the 4L80e. 2002-2007 ought to cover you for the year range. Getting the plate specific for the 4L80e will have it bolt right up instead of the "adjustment's" we had to do to mate the 4L60e's flexplate to the 700r4's converter. Keep in mind all LS truck engines are internally balanced so the flexplate is interchangeable from the 4.8 to 5.3 and 6.0 designs.

[Zoomad75]

Went over to the BigAssGas Garage for a work day. Had to get the alternator situation nailed down, hook up the tv cable to the trottle body and diagnose the off idle stumble. Oh and help Larry pull the 8.1 out of the Polar bear.

So I pull up and find the K10 outside with the Blazer. Had to snap a couple of pics. Not a full family portrait but close.


Another shot.


For the alternator issue, Larry Volunteered the Alternator off of the burb for proof of concept. I did have to change the plug for the alternator to match, but after getting the right single wire hooked up, we had the system charging finally. Now I got to buy Larry an alternator before he needs it to go back in this week. This one only has 800 miles on it so it's pretty close to new so I don't have to worry about taking it off again.

I hooked up the laptop to see if my TPS reading is dropping out to cause the stumble. Watching the TPS percentage and voltage I found when the throttle got close to 95% the reading for percentage would drop to 6.6% but the voltage was still 4.5v or better. Larry had a spare TPS sensor so I swapped it out and rechecked. It behaved the same way. Our thought is the weird reading was probably more to do with the old scannerpro software than the TPS itself. Tuning looks to be the solution for this issue.

The TV cable and adjustment was pretty straight forward. I did have to adjust the pvc hose to the throttle body so it wouldn't rub on the TV cable.

The larger amount of work done was on the Burb. Larry needed help pulling the hood and running the engine hoist while he freed it up all over. We got it out and was able to get the engine torn down to swap out the hot rod camshaft.

Good day in the shop. Better than going to the mall the day after Christmas.

[DirtyLarry]

It was a great day for damn sure. I can’t remember when we were able to spent 9 hours straight working in the shop together living nothing but beer, tamales, Hickory Farms sausage, and Sam Adams Christmas Toffee without interruptions. Perfect way to spend a holiday vacation day!

My crummy cell phone pic contribution to the day…Mr. Zoomad talking to the 5.3L via ScannerPro


Polar Bear Burb 8.1L on the stand for dehotrodding….

[DirtyLarry]

Christmas vacation wrench-a-thon! Rob on his K5 and me on the Burb


Rob getting after the rear window gremlins

[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]

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