What have you guys done with/to your trucks this summer??

[57taskforce]

Like the title says what have you guys been up to with your 4x4’s this summer? I’ve been driving and tinkering, on and off with mine. Right now I’m working mostly on building my 6.0 and getting ready for my ls swap. Here’s a couple pictures from the last month or two.

[Zoomad75]

Well, lets see. I spent a week in Utah exploring with my friends and sleeping in the camper every night.


You can read about the fun here:
Desert trip 20

Within a couple of days back I proceeded to rip my truck apart.




Reason for the sudden pull of the 5.3 was financial. I had a guy that found me from CK5 and Instagram that also has a K5 with a FWC camper make me an offer I couldn't turn down. His K5 is still running a carbureted small block and the heat of his hometown in Phoenix not making it very driveable. The proceeds of the sale of my 5.3 and 700r4 would jumpstart my 8.1L/nv4500 swap.

Brought the truck back to my place to swap out the auto brake pedal for a Hydro clutch/hydroboost brake pedal setup.




Meanwhile over at Larry's Bigassgas Garage, the 8.1 was getting prepped.



I ordered a load of parts to facilitate the swappage. Including fresh Centerforce Clutch, ORD engine cross member, Howell EFI harness and PCM, Hydraulic clutch parts for the factory integrated slave/throwout assembly, Hydrobooster and 1 ton master cylinder along with a ton of other little items needed for this job.

Larry fogged the block and heads with VHT Chevy orange and the intake, oil pan and timing cover with VHT cast aluminum. I spent a day sanding the valve covers to expose the aluminum ribs and sealed them in with VHT clear. The engine has been prelubed and resealed completely from intake to oil pan, rear main to front cover and crank seal.



I think the engine is coming out awesome.


While Larry's been tinkering on the engine I've gutted the front part of the interior to remove the rubber flooring so we can perform the needed floor surgery to allow the shifter for the nv4500 to poke up through the center. I put one seat back in to allow me to sit up there to get the truck on and off the trailer.



That's where it sits right now. Sunday it's getting loaded back on a trailer for a ride to Larry's place for the final assembly. I might be able to squeeze in a fall color run late in the season for a maiden voyage.

[Dieselwrencher]

Rob, very cool upgrade you're doing! That will be a beast! I love the orange and aluminum look. Very nice!!!!

[57taskforce]

That’s gonna be an awesome build. I miss the 8.1 suburban I traded off when I bought my Camaro a couple years ago. That’s by far my favorite factory big block GM has ever built. Torque for miles and miles and miles down low. Mine had like 275,000 on the original engine and trans and we were still road tripping it with no issues at all.

[Dieselwrencher]

I've just be using mine. All I've done to it recently is unhook the heater core.

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Rob, very cool upgrade you're doing! That will be a beast! I love the orange and aluminum look. Very nice!!!!

Thanks, I'm excited to get to version 2.0 of my truck. The 5.3 was so much better than a TBI 350, I expect the 8.1 to be leaps and bounds better than it. I've got a little experience with them too between my Workhorse days and riding shotgun in Larry's two 8.1 powered trucks. Compared to a 22,000 pound RV, my 6,500 pound K5 ought to feel like a rocket and not be lacking for power at all.

Originally Posted by 57taskforce

That’s gonna be an awesome build. I miss the 8.1 suburban I traded off when I bought my Camaro a couple years ago. That’s by far my favorite factory big block GM has ever built. Torque for miles and miles and miles down low. Mine had like 275,000 on the original engine and trans and we were still road tripping it with no issues at all.

Yep I agree, 8.1's got the torque down low like no other factory big block. That torque is what I've been lacking with the 5.3. Don't get me wrong, 5.3's as well as all LS engines are great setups. But the lack of torque down low for a heavy truck like mine was taking away the fun out of driving. I had to beat on it like a rented mule. Sure got the job done, but not comfortable. I could have geared it deeper to keep it wound up at speed better, but having seen and felt what an 8.1 does without beating on it, I didn't want to have to drive with the throttle pinned to the floor. Torque is what I need and that's what I'm going to have. The crazy thing is I'm probably going to get the same fuel economy I've been averaging on the highway with the 8.1 that I've been getting with the 5.3. Maybe a touch better too. I know the 8.1's thirst for fuel so I'm not expecting 18 mpg, but seeing 13-15mpg isn't unreasonable with my gearing, the new 5 speed and my tire size. Honestly anything over 12mpg is going to a be a bonus.

[57taskforce]

With 4:11s and a 4l85 in the suburban I could just squeak out 15mpg on longer highway trips. I don’t think that was bad at all considering it was a heavy ass Loaded 3/4 suburban. Mine was an 01 with the adjustable fuel pressure regulator. I always wanted to crank it up some to see how it would run but never did.

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by 57taskforce

With 4:11s and a 4l85 in the suburban I could just squeak out 15mpg on longer highway trips. I don’t think that was bad at all considering it was a heavy ass Loaded 3/4 suburban. Mine was an 01 with the adjustable fuel pressure regulator. I always wanted to crank it up some to see how it would run but never did.

That's good to know as I've been gathering details on others, and know of another 8.1 swapped squarebody burb on 1-ton axles and 3.73 gears getting 15-17 on highway runs. Larry's running 4.56's on both and typically averages 12-13 on the highway, but that's usually at 80mph + when he can!

Larry's tweaked fuel pressure at the regulator on both of his and mine is running the early return style rail with the same regulator. He's got his cranked up to 65psi I think. 8.1's like the bump in pressure. I'm going to play around with it too.

[Dieselwrencher]

Rob, I know what you mean by the lack of torque on the 5.3s. I am not really impressed honestly. I put a 5.3 with a BTR stage 3 cam in my 71 Camaro. It has a Super T10 and 3.08s. You really have to give her some rpm's so she doesn't die on take off. Granted it's a bit drastic with the highway gears but still. Come on.

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Rob, I know what you mean by the lack of torque on the 5.3s. I am not really impressed honestly. I put a 5.3 with a BTR stage 3 cam in my 71 Camaro. It has a Super T10 and 3.08s. You really have to give her some rpm's so she doesn't die on take off. Granted it's a bit drastic with the highway gears but still. Come on.

They are rev happy engines for sure. I'll admit prior to the camper going on, with a completely empty K5 I could do some tidy burnouts with the 5.3 on 35" tires. Then the adult in me remembered what I paid for those 35's and stopped doing it.

They can make power, but they just don't pull it off down low. I'm not going to worry about that anymore.

The K5 hitched a ride over to the BigAssGas garage yesterday. Larry's industrial pressure washer got put into play and finished off the dirt and grime I missed when prior to the 5.3's removal.

[57taskforce]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Rob, I know what you mean by the lack of torque on the 5.3s. I am not really impressed honestly. I put a 5.3 with a BTR stage 3 cam in my 71 Camaro. It has a Super T10 and 3.08s. You really have to give her some rpm's so she doesn't die on take off. Granted it's a bit drastic with the highway gears but still. Come on.

I’m sure Brian Tooley probably has a little to do with that... assuming you didn’t go with a truck cam, a lot of those BTR cams make a lot more mid and high range power in my observation at least. I know that’s how it is with the LS3/L99 cams... tons of valve lift and lots of duration and overlap. Not ideal for low end torque to say the least.

[Richard]

Got my truck painted as you have seen in my thread. Fortunately I was able to help out a lot. Excited to get it back soon and start the fun part!

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by 57taskforce

I’m sure Brian Tooley probably has a little to do with that... assuming you didn’t go with a truck cam, a lot of those BTR cams make a lot more mid and high range power in my observation at least. I know that’s how it is with the LS3/L99 cams... tons of valve lift and lots of duration and overlap. Not ideal for low end torque to say the least.

It is a truck cam and it does love the top end, a lot. It will probably go until 7k but I've only taken it to 6500.

[1976gmc20]

So ... over the last few days I finally built the sleeping platform in our pickup/topper (a couple ~half days, actually - with time out for other stuff).

It's basically a double bed that folds/slides back towards the cab to about half size leaving rear 2/3 of 8' bed wide open. We bought a bunch of industrial totes about 12" high and I built the platform 12.5" off the floor so they just slide underneath. That still leaves us with tolerable sitting height above even with the mattress, which was salvaged out of an old hide-a-bed.

We're hoping to get away after Labor Day for a couple nights to do some sightseeing in the Beartooth and Bighorn Mts

[JA50N]

Mine went from this:
Untitled by JASON MCKIMMEY, on Flickr

To this:
Untitled by JASON MCKIMMEY, on Flickr

I have a build thread over in the appropriate year group section but those guys seem more like push and polish 2wd guys and don't really appreciate it that much, lol.

[57taskforce]

Originally Posted by JA50N

Mine went from this:
Untitled by JASON MCKIMMEY, on Flickr

To this:
Untitled by JASON MCKIMMEY, on Flickr

I have a build thread over in the appropriate year group section but those guys seem more like push and polish 2wd guys and don't really appreciate it that much, lol.

Nice truck! I like the attitude of the new look. If you’d like I can get your build thread moved over to the 4x4 builds page? Totally up to you.

[JA50N]

Originally Posted by 57taskforce

Nice truck! I like the attitude of the new look. If you’d like I can get your build thread moved over to the 4x4 builds page? Totally up to you.

If you could do that, that would be great!

[Bad4wd]

Rebuilt my gauge cluster.