'69K10, Build/Help

[KyFarm]

Well I had enough of the 402/th350. I didn't like the motor or the 3 speed trans and once the trans developed a problem with pushing fluid into the transfer case and ruined the seals in it, it was time for something different.

I considered a 4L80e but with the cost and the re-positioning of things behind the 4l80 AND the things I needed to do to make the 402 more reliable and driveable, I just decided to go back to a small block and overdrive trans.

Smart or not I bought a HT383/4L70E connect and cruise combo from GM.
Motor is a long block.
I have been buying as much as I can to have everything ready as I install it.

Old drivetrain is out. New motor is on the floor, trans has been attached to a rebuilt NP205 and is ready to go in.

I'm not a mechanic but I do all my own farm machinery maintenance. I'll readily admit I'm better if I have a manual or parts diagram as most everything I do is the first time i've done it, whether farm equipment or vehicles. I have the truck in a garage, Ive got a engine lift and all the basic tools.

I'd feel better about the re-install if I had some sort of checklist to go by. Meaning something along the lines of "do this and this first, make sure you do this while the engine is out, then do this and this and this." I just don't want to put it in and then have to take it out etc...

I've got a guy who rebuilt the T/C gonna help me install the trans.

So this thread is less "look at what I did" and more of asking for help with issues that may be real easy or common for guys that have done this many times.

So my first issue is this.

I want to put as much as I can on the motor before it goes into the truck, started with what should be the simplest thing, the crank pulley.

Got a Jegs pulley 555-514114 for small block chevy with long water pump.

Went to put it on, won't fit. Center hole in the pulley is 1 1/8", damper has big plate washer behind center bolt that is 1 3/4" diameter. I can't find any pulleys that spec out a bigger center bore, 3 mounting holes line up, but I can't believe the lip on the pulley is just supposed to rest against that plate washer. If I get center of pulley machined out the lip on the back of the pulley will be gone that must have some purpose.

So any help is appreciated, what do I have confused?

[KyFarm]

Ok, crank pulley on.

Next questions:

There are 3 drain plugs that I can find, (one of either side of block and one above oil filter housing). I'd like to make sure they are tight before installing engine.

Will tightening these break the "bond" that the thread sealant has created? Should they be removed, re-sealed and re-installed to proper torque?



I'm using new motor mounts (Prothane) the heads on the bolts provided are smaller than the hole on the Perch that they bolt to. Seems like there should be more metal than just a washer holding that new motor in there.

Should I just go with standard washers or fab up some from some 1/8" stock?

thanks for any help

[cebra]

I would just get grade 5 or 8 washers and go with that. I am not familiar with the 4L70E but it should be pretty straightforward.

A few things I would do while the motor is out: check brake lines on crossmember, clean and paint everything you can, check/replace seals on transfer case, check replace fuel lines from tank to fuel pump. That is about all I can think of right now that would be much simpler with the motor/trans out.

When putting new motor in, hook up oil pressure line as motor is going in as it is tough to do once the motor is sat in place, watch the distributor clearance vs firewall if installing that first (I do, most don't).

Really there isn't a lot that would require "pulling the motor back out" maybe if you put your mounts in the wrong location/wrong mounts, if oil pan doesn't clear crossmember, something along those lines but you would figure those out pretty quick. No need to worry about rear main or torque converter on a new package. Everything else is pretty easy to get to with the motor in or out. Trans lines are kind of a pain but you will need to do that after the trans/radiator is in anyways.

[KyFarm]

thanks for the assistance

I made a 3/16" washer that fits nicely under that perch, will do for the motor mounts I'm sure.

engine bay needs to be de-greased and washed out real badly, but I don't have any water in my shop in the winter and I can't pull truck out and and get back inside by myself so no painting this go around.

I intend to re-wire in a year or two and will probably pull motor out then and give engine bay a good paint.

Issue for today is that the Flowtech ram horn manifolds I bought came with manifold studs that are way too short, almost 2 "!! I got with them and they asked me to send pictures of the manifold and studs. Said someone must have changed the casting where it mounts. huh. either way I cannot find 4" manifold studs so I'm pretty stuck on this point. I'd really like to mount the manifolds before dropping the motor in but I am super itchy to go ahead and get it in the truck.

Do anyone know of a good shorty header for SBC and K10?

Thanks

[KyFarm]

pulleys on and actually lined up

[72 tigger]

Looks good, following along

[jamie72]

looks good,your not too far from me, maybe get to check it out in person one day.

[KyFarm]

Originally Posted by jamie72

looks good,your not too far from me, maybe get to check it out in person one day.

that would be cool.

This go around will change motor and trans, new steering column (ididit) and wheel and hopefully a new set of gauges.

I have the steering column, but the installation kit was wrong (my fault) so those parts are on re-order. I hope to put some pics up of that going in. All though that might actually be last, want to do the dash first. I haven't even start gauge research yet, I need to get on that.

No word from flowtech yet on mounting hardware, I'm gonna go ahead and mount the rams horns with bolts and get that motor mounted hopefully wednesday, pics of that for sure.

I ask a lot of obvious questions, never done this before, so bear with me, ALL help is very appreciated!

[cebra]

I have never dropped a motor in with manifolds on, I think it would be a lot easier to do without as they will be in the way. My longtube headers probably took 20 mins to install after the motor went in (both on my sbc and ls)...and they are much more difficult to install than ram horns.

[KyFarm]

had an issue with brake light/tail light connector being in the way of the new cable throttle, moved it up and to the left into a current hole, moved that wiring to pass thru firewall in same location as oil pressure line.





Rams horns are installed but not sure if I like them or not

[cornerstone]

The ram horns won't be so tall looking after you have the motor in the truck with all of the rest of the components installed. Is there a particular reason as to why you wanted the ram horns? I'd imagine better performance without the loudness, volume or done inside the cab that a header typically produces...?

Even though you don't have access to water, I would want to jump in the engine bay and at least use a scraper to remove the thicker layers of gunk, maybe even soak everything with degreaser so when the time comes it will be an easier task.

Brian

[cebra]

I think the ram horns look sweet.

[KyFarm]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

The ram horns won't be so tall looking after you have the motor in the truck with all of the rest of the components installed. Is there a particular reason as to why you wanted the ram horns? I'd imagine better performance without the loudness, volume or done inside the cab that a header typically produces...?

Even though you don't have access to water, I would want to jump in the engine bay and at least use a scraper to remove the thicker layers of gunk, maybe even soak everything with degreaser so when the time comes it will be an easier task.

Brian

I didn't have much luck with the headers on the BB402 that I'm replacing. These have 1 5/8 runners and a 2 1/2" collector so I'm hoping that they are decent performance wise and better on heat management. Gonna get them ceramic coated after break-in.

I did pretty much in the engine bay with exactly as you described. Cleaner and a plastic scraper. Its decently clean(ish)

Been doing some farm work this week cause of the good weather, rain coming back next week so I hope to get the motor in, then ignition work starts!

[KyFarm]

Question I just remembered, maybe someone can help.

Chevy cheaped out on me and used same valve cover on both sides, each cover has an oil fill cap and a 15/16" hole. So I have a 15/16" port for the PCV that fits fine, but every breather I find is made to fit a 1 1/4" hole, I only have a 15/16" open port for the breather.

Does anyone know of a smaller breather or do I need to pull the cover and drill out the port?

Thanks

[rowdy11]

Subbed in. Sorry I don't know the answer on the breather but check Ebay before you drill...has to be the size you are looking for out there somewhere on the interwebs...

[KyFarm]

some more progress,

got the HEI mounted and the plug wires ran, made the mistake of buying bare end wires that had to be trimmed and ends installed. Got it done, just took awhile.

got carb mounted and single point fuel line hook-up installed. Gonna hook the Lokar linkage to it tomorrow then its about time to set it into the truck!

do have this dash showing up this week, will be so nice having working gauges

[KyFarm]

some progress, the usual 2 steps forward 1 step backwards.

Motor is in truck which is great but the ramhorns have to go. The drivers side leaves no room for the collector connection. There is much less room than it looks like in the picture. I'll need to find something with an angled or rear connection.

I test fitted carb and ran and marked all the plug wires before I lifted motor up. I'd like to leave the lift hooked to the motor until the trans is installed, so the carb and hei top have to wait for it to go. I put some blocks under the oil pan but it just seems unsafe until the trans and trans crossmember are installed.

I'm also just about ready to do away with the supplied valve covers. I can't find a 15/16" breather and even if I use breathable oil fill caps, I'd have to plug that hole and that seems poor. Also, I want some decent plug wire routing kits and they all seem to bolt to the edge bolts of the valve cover, except mine are center bolt.

[jaros44sr]

You may have your engine mounted in the wrong holes, my exhaust dumps behind the motor mount, but I used a differant cross member

[KyFarm]

I occurred to me that the holes in the cross member are bigger than the bolts by a good bit, I have a plate washer behind the bolt head. There is probably room to move the motor a bit that might make enough clearance. I'm gonna try and get the next piece of exhaust and see if I can get it to fit.

[jaros44sr]

Originally Posted by KyFarm

I occurred to me that the holes in the cross member are bigger than the bolts by a good bit, I have a plate washer behind the bolt head. There is probably room to move the motor a bit that might make enough clearance. I'm gonna try and get the next piece of exhaust and see if I can get it to fit.

Good luck, I hope it works out for you

[D.PASSMORE]

The electric peice might be a little challenging. The alternator swapped sides and if you go with a internal voltage regulator you will need to make that adjustment too. And Im sure your new coil wire feeds the distributer 12 Volts. The old yellow wire was a resitance wire set for around 6 Volts for points.

[KyFarm]

The post above (#21) must have shown up by some kind of mistake, I'm not sure what its referencing.

Update on my project:

I have the motor out due to the lack of ability to lift the trans/transfr case up under the vehicle. I've mounted the trans assembly to the motor and plan to remove the grill and core support and install all of it in one piece from the front. However, after mating them all together today, the engine lift doesn't want to lift the transfer case off the floor since the assemble is soooo unbalanced and heavy.

two(ish) questions:

1. Does anyone think it would be wise to run a chain or come along between the output of the transfercase back to the engine lift so I could keep it level long enough to get it into the engine bay? Then I could get the transfer case on a dolly and blocks to get everything bolted down.
Also, does anyone have any idea of how much a small block, 4L60e and a NP205 weigh?

2. What is the best method for turning the torque converter to get the bolt holes lined up with the holes on the flex plate?

As always, thanks for any help

[CUSTOM/10]

I installed my transfer case, then my engine and transmission bolted together, but I had nobody on the chassis just a wide open frame which made it much easier. I recommend you purchase or borrow an engine leveling device this way you can change the pitch of the engine as needed while installing it. Using a chain would be difficult and may get in your way plus you wouldn't be able to adjust the angle of the engine.

Gary

[cornerstone]

My answer to question 2 would be to use a breaker bar and socket on the harmonic balancer nut to turn the motor over. In other words, turn the motor, not the converter.

[KyFarm]

progress,

Motor-trans-T/C mounted together.

Bumper, grill and core support removed. hopefully drivetrain will be sitting in truck in the next day or two.