Re: 72 k20
 

Thanks Ryan, he’s doing a lot better.
Well today I got my new wiper blades in from Fred. (specialtyretail)
I really like them. Modern blade design in an old school package.

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I may have to get some wipers too. They look good.

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Teaser... went the machine shop to check in on my backing plate flanges today... should be ready tomorrow. They were working on the final machine work while I was there. Also I got the back sides of the hubs turned down .02 so that the rotor will be centered to the hub when assembled. Pictures to follow when I get everything picked up.

Re: 72 k20
 

Promised pics.
All in all the machine work on the flanges and hubs turned out great. I’m going to be posting a complete write up on the swap to the 4x4 section soon. Everything is mocked up right now, the flanges still need welded to the tubes amongst several other things. However, this setup is going to work well. The parking brake works by hand. I’m going to probably replace the calipers and rotors once everything goes together for good even though they don’t look terrible. In a nut shell the backs of the hubs have to be turned down about .02 in order to center the rotor on the hub. The flanges, are made from 3/4” plate and were cut on a water jet first, then the bolt holes and the centering boss for the backing plate were CNC machined in, as well as a weld bevel in the back side for welding to the axle tube. I will get some better pictures of the bare flanges off the truck before I weld it in.

This setup isn't the most cost effective way to get disks on a 14 bolt but, it’s the only way I’ve seen to have disks and a good reliable parking brake setup with off the shelf replacement parts designed for a 3/4-1ton truck. I suppose Driveline brakes are an option but not the route I wanted to go and Eldorado calipers just weren’t going to do it for me. This setup really hasn’t costed me anything because I had two of these axles that I got for free to rob parts from, I sold one of the axles after I gutted the brake parts to pay for the machine work. Without a donor axle this swap will be pretty pricey if sourcing all new parts, not just the normal pads, rotors, and calipers.

I’ll fill in the details more in the write up. In these pictures you can see the machine work to the back of the hubs, the flanges on the axle with the caliper mount centering boss, and the complete mock up. In the picture of the hub the knife is resting on the top of the boss created to center the rotor on the hub. The highest boss in that picture is the original boss used to center the 13”drum. The picture of the hub and drum together shows how the rotor now centers to the hub.

You’ll also note that my Dana 60 is stripped down. I tore it all down to blast and paint the brake parts/wheel parts as well as to clean the inside of the axle tubes, do the king pins and the axle u joints. The Bearings in carrier looked good so I likely won’t touch them. I still need to pull the pinion so I can clean the housing and get it ready for paint as well.

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Couple more. Including blasted Dana 60 parts.

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Everything thing is looking good. It's gonna stop on a dime! :metal:

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Strong work!

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The backing plates flanges are a little more permanent now... I elected to go with the OE 2009 caliper angles. I copied my other axle I have in the stash. The calipers are forward facing and use a rubber soft line to mate the traditional axle length lines to the calipers and allow the calipers to be removed without opening the hydraulic system. All in all it sure looks like a success. The calipers hold the rotors with shop air applied no problem, and the parking brakes can successfully be applied hand. Next I’m going to go thru and wire wheel/blast, then paint the rear axle housing, the caliper brackets/backing plates, hubs and axle flanges. I also need to round up some studs. The rotors are in good shape so I’ll keep them and the calipers for now. I’ve got a fresh set of pads I’ll throw at it and the emergency brake shoes are in good shape as well. More to come on the 14 bolt soon.

I also finished stripping the front 60 so I can power wash the crud out of the axle tubes (there’s a ton of eastern AZ red clay in there) then I’ll get to putting it back together. The king pins them selves are in good shape. I’ll replace the bearings, upper bushings, springs and seals and call it good. Also gonna do the inner axle seals and the axle U joints. Luckily the pinion bearings and carrier bearings are in good shape so Ill reuses them and won’t have to re-set the gears up. Again more to come.

Re: 72 k20
 

Good info. Keep it up.

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Yes sir Larry I will do just that!

My good buddy Ernie is back up and running after his covid fight. He still is battling the fatigue but all in all doing 90% better. That said I picked up my 6.0 block and my 350 block and rotating assembly yesterday. Everything on the 350 is clean and ready to start going back together. I still need to order some parts for it but here pretty soon I should be able to start building it. I took the 6.0 heads down to him today along with the pistons and rods so he can check everything out. we checked the company records on the truck it came out of recently and it only had 40,000 on it, so I’m going to reuse the pistons and rods with fresh rings. The heads are just getting a good inspection and seals. Springs will get swapped with the cam when I get to that point. I’m still working on rounding a crank up for it too. I’ll get some pictures soon.

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Stroker crank time? :lol:

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It’s been on my mind. Would love a 408 or 416 kit but I’m not sure I want to coin up right now. The current state of affairs in the country are making me more hesitant to spend lately. If oil and gas prices go thru the roof like they well could in the next year or two I just may pull the trigger.

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This very well could happen. The scrap prices are on their way up again which is very odd. They have been in the crapper lately. They've doubled in the last month which is a seasonally abnormality.

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That’s good to know Ryan, I’ve got at least 3-400 lbs of clean aluminum, mostly pistons, at work that I’ve been hoarding up till the prices go up some. 2 years ago when I last took a load I think I got 30c a pound for it... pretty piss poor. I’ve also got 40-50 lbs of brass that I’ve been sitting on too.

Yesterday I finally got around to installing the new hvac ducts in my truck. I’m amazed all the electrical stuff still worked when I started it back up. Some of those hoses are a tight fit with wiring close by. I did have a couple casualties though, both defrost vents practically disintegrated when attempting to put the ducts on them. I was as careful as I could be. I’ll probably just round some new ones up and see about painting them olive. All in all the heater runs you out of the truck now so I guess it’s a job well done.

When I was young I remember my dads 71 K10 always had marginal heat, he would have to run cardboard in front of the radiator in the winter time to get marginal heat at best. I’m not sure if he was running a cool thermostat or what but I definitely don’t have that problem.

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I need to fix the heater duct housing to heater case under the dash on my orange truck. i think some little feet helped knock them around and only the upper tabs are left intact. It defrosts slow currently. Haha

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I need to do my S duct before too long all the mounting holes are cracked out on it. It’s ok for now but another thing to add to the list.

Over the last couple days I got my 350 block cleaned and prepped. It’s got 2 coats of Chevy red orange high temp on it. I’ll add another coat in a few days. I’ve got some stuff on order to get started on it, bearings and rings and such.

A week or so ago I also got the Dana 60 cleaned Up better. I pressure washed the insides of the the tubes really well and got the rest of the hard, baked on king pin grease cleaned off the “C”s. I put the pinion back in and the cover for now. Need to do the tube seals before I put the carrier back in.

Soon enough I’ll get both axle housings prepped and painted. Still need to sandblast some of the the 14 bolt brake parts too.

This evening I drug this one into the shop to work on getting it running again over the next few weeks. It belongs to a buddy of mine. 70 K2500.

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That looks like a clean old truck Tyler.

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It’s pretty decent Larry, the rockers are shot and the bed is a bit beat up, but it is pretty original otherwise. The original engine is in the bed. I sold him a used 350 a few months ago. Still has the 70 205 shifter, I thought that was cool. The OE tailgate is straight as an arrow

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I got the final coat of paint on the 350 block and the crank in and torqued down. I didn’t take pictures but I got the new rings installed on the original pistons. The rod bearings should be here Monday and then I’ll be ready to knock the pistons in. I really didn’t get much time to play with anything this week.

Re: 72 k20
 

Looks nice Tyler.

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X2, was that a low mileage motor or did it hold up pretty good?

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The story on the motor is one you probably wouldn’t expect. It was actually running a natural gas compressor on a well site. Here in the San Juan basin there are tons of 350’s and a few 454/8.1’s running compression out in the field. They just chug along at 1,000 to 1,800 rpms all day everyday. Running on natural gas they accumulate virtually no internal wear because the oil never gets washed down with the solvent properties of gasoline. These things run tens of thousands of hours. This particular engine was pulled off a well location 7 or 8 years ago and sat in the shop at work until last year when I asked about it. My boss gave me the motor for free. The cam bearings were worn but otherwise everything was in really great shape. The bores still measure perfectly at 4” I’ll see if I can get a picture of one from the field the next time I go to out to one. I’ve acquired another vortec 350 and a vortec 454, the same way that I still need to get rounded up and in my shop.

The industrial 350’s are the same identical engine as the L31 vortec 5.7 long block they just run a vortec to carb intake and natural gas carb. The 454 is the same as the L29 vortec 7.4 long block but with a carb intake as well. We don’t have any, but there’s a few big cubic inch big blocks around with dart 540 and 600+ cubic inch blocks. There’s also some of the GM 8.8’s (factory stroked 8.1)

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Interesting, I didn't know they were used like that. I'm definitely interested in seeing the pics.

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Motor recycling - awesome! It’s interesting that GM offered LP gas as an option for these pickups back in the day.

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I’m a GM hoarder at work. Anything that I can keep from going to scrap I will save. The other cool thing about these small block/big block compressor packages is they normally use an aluminum 80’s hydraulic clutch bell housing with a direct drive unit (no actual clutch) to mate the engine to the compressor. Needless to say I’ve got 5-6 of the hydraulic clutch bellhousings stashed away too.

Pete, I would be interested to see how they made that whole setup work back in the day. Propane setups and NG really aren’t different at all