'86 Crew Cab - The Race Car Hauler

[Blake_H]

I started my project on Friday evening. I am swapping an 8.1l into my '86 crew cab. There is a long story that goes with it, so if you have some place to be you might want to go do it and come back later.

I grew up on a drag strip and various construction sites. My dad was a contractor and owned a drag strip in Southern Idaho. He used to take us on a family vacation every year to the world finals, first at Ontario then Orange County and then to Pomona. I grew up around all these racers using Chevy crew cabs and Chapparel trailers. I knew someday I would have one of those, I just didn't know it would take me until my mid 30's to start to put it together.

Anyway, in 2007 I started looking for a crew cab to use. After looking for months, my dad called and told me about a crew cab a friend of his had for sale. It supposedly had a newer motor, a rebuilt trans, it was what I wanted and we didn't have to drive anywhere to get it. Bonuses all the way around. At the same time I brokered a deal for a Chapparel trailer that was in Kentucky. So, the trailer sat in Kentucky and the truck sat parked until May of 2008. The stars aligned, and we could finally plan to get the trailer picked up. I started driving the truck around after I sold my F**d diesel truck. I did the normal stuff, plugs, wires, etc. and had it smogged. It flunked because the gas caps had cracked and broken seals on them. I replaced them and it passed. I hate smog checks! Otherwise it seemed to be a good truck. The 2 weeks before we left it had been to the radiator shop, to be checked out. They replaced the power steering pump and repaired the leaking radiator. Then to the drive line shop to get it balanced and then to the tranny shop for a service and inspection. We were ready.

We finally left for Kansas in July. The plan was for us to meet my brother in Kansas City to get the trailer and attend our cousin's wedding. He would leave Charlotte and pick up the trailer in Kentucky and meet us. Because he lives in Charlotte we don't get to see him, or his family often and the rest of the family was going to the wedding so it was a win-win for all of us. My dad and I left for what should have been a 2 day drive just as gas hit $4.00 a gallon. By Salt Lake City I knew this was going to be an expensive trip. We were only getting about 6 mpg and around 75 mph it would stumble occasionally. We spent the night in Rock Springs and when we got up the next morning it wouldn't start. I had a spare coil in the back seat, so we swapped it out, and voila! we were running again. We stopped the next night in Kearney, Nebraska. Got up and went to breakfast and then the no start problem again. Replaced the coil, and bought a spare. I was starting to question my logic of purchasing this truck. It was still stumbling at high speed in the heat of the day and seemed to be running hot. We made it to Baldwin City, KS. where we were staying with a friend of mine.

We arrived a day before my brother and got the gooseneck hitch installed at a friends race shop. We met my brother in K.C. for dinner. When I pulled in the parking lot and saw my trailer I almost hit a parked car. It was huge. I was excited beyond belief. We ate dinner and the excitement started to wear off. When we got on the freeway, my friend was in the lead and driving like a mad man. My brother, in his F-350 diesel, with the trailer was behind him and we were bringing up the rear. They left us in the dust, and my brother nearly ran over the mad man. I told my dad that maybe a gas powered truck might not be the smartest idea. We shrugged it off and caught up.

Had a great time at the wedding with all the family and started out the next morning. We stopped at the Home Depot in Topeka to get padlocks for the trailer doors. Things were going well.
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Normally it is a 2 day drive from Baldwin City, KS, where we stayed to home. It was not going to go that well this time. With the trailer on it stumbled bad, like it was starving for fuel at anything above 50 mph. It was a warm Kansas summer day and it was running really hot. We would go down the road and then pull over. Not to mention I realized at this point that I was only getting 4 mpg with the trailer. We finally gave up at Goodland, KS and spent the night. In the hotel parking lot we flushed the radiator and put mostly water in. We changed the t-stat. We also were having to bang on the starter to get it to turn over. So dad rebuilt that in the room. At 10 that night I disconnected the trailer and went for a test drive. Everything was great. It ran smooth, ran cool and everything seemed good. We hooked the trailer back up and went to bed.

The next day was just as bad. I was on the phone constantly with a friend of mine who owned the radiator shop trying to diagnose the problem. We worked like crazy the whole way. My dad, who has a crew cab and had a fleet of 73-84 Chevy trucks for his company, was stumped. The radiator guy was stumped. I was pissed. In the parking lot of the Napa parts store in Limon, CO we had the coil tested, it was nearly fried again. We bought a mechanical temp gauge and installed that. Refilled the cooling system and checked the oil, again, and no coolant in it. 2 hours out of Denver I started calling F**d dealerships to see if I could get another F-350. I was ready to pull the trigger, but the hitch, and of course the big fat payment were standing in my way.

Once we got through Denver and the sun started to go down, it started to cool off and quit stumbling so bad we could drive at 65 mph. All the while trying to figure out just what the hell was going on. We pretty much decided the only thing it could be was a head gasket. So, as we were headed into Cheyenne, we decided we would pull the heads in the morning and check. When we checked in to the hotel in Cheyenne, I asked for a phone book and started calling machine shops to find one to deck the heads for us. The first one I called answered the phone at 8 o'clock at night. I explained the situation and he said bring down in the morning. We did just that.

The machinist looked the truck over and sent us to a mechanic who was old school in every sense of the phrase. The machinist didn't want us to do all that work only to have it not be a head gasket. He suggested the mechanic first. The mechanic spent 2 hours going over it and all he could come up with was timing. So he adjusted it and sent us on our way. It ran good until 5 miles out of town as were climbing Sherman Hill and then it started stumbling again. It wasn't over heating to bad, but was still at 230.

It really got bad in the middle of nowhere Wyoming and we had to pull over. My dad is one of those cool customer types that I have only seen mad 3-4 times in my life. Most of those were because of me, but not all. This was the most frustration I've ever seen out of the man, and it was right there on the side of the highway in Wyoming. All the smog junk on the truck made it worse for him and he was about to give up. Then he had my put the parking brake on, stand on the brakes and the throttle at the same time while standing in front of it. After revving it up, it's stumbling and trying to move, he told me to stop, and wanted to know which tank we were on, I said right, and slammed the hood and walked back to the passenger side by the fuel inlet and did something. Got in and said stand on it. I didn't ask any questions, put the blinker on and I took off down the freeway. Lo and behold, hallelujah no stumble. I then asked and he all he did was loosen the gas cap. Remember the failed smog test? We made it into Rawlins and spent the night.

By now, I was overdue at work by a day. Dad was missing work as well and we were both thankful that my wife and my mother had not been able to make the trip with us. It would have been that much worse.

We were close to home now. Only 12 hours away. We were tired and the frustration was wearing on both of us. The lone bright spot through the whole thing was the trailer towed beautiful. It was such an improvement over the Featherlite tag we had sold earlier.

Anyway, overheating was our enemy on this day. After we got through Salt Lake City, we hit the Great Basin desert that is western Utah and Northern Nevada. There are 3 decent size mountain passes on I-80 and we hit the first one outside of Wells, NV and the temp skyrocketed. We had to drive in the afternoon heat with the windows down and the heater on. It was miserable. By the time we hit Winnemucca, the sun was going down and it was running cooler. We stopped for gas (a frequent occurrence on this trip) and we were both checking under the hood when I notice a huge bubble in the upper radiator hose. It was 8:30 at night and parts stores are not plentiful in beautiful downtown Winnemucca. Luckily we found an Auto Zone, but to continue our good luck, no hose. The guy did tell us there was one in Reno and he could have it for us in 2 days. I thought my dad was going to kill him on the spot. But, he was ready to call the Napa guy at home and ask him to open there store for us, when another parts guy said they had one for a truck without A/C. I said sold and we made it work. Did our now routine coolant system maintenance and we were off.

I got home and slept for a day and a half. Went back to work for a few days and noticed I had lost 15 lbs. That's important because I have made that trip plenty of times and normally gain 8-10 lbs. A few more days of non eventful things go by and I get really sick. I end up sitting at home for 2 months while the doctors try to figure out what was wrong. Short part of the story. Heart problems due to stress and had to change jobs.

Anyway, give a guy who works 10-12 hours a day and has projects up the wazzu an order to park on the couch for 2 months and a laptop and look out!
I used that time to research a more powerful/economical option for this crew cab. That's when I found out about the 8.1l Vortec engine from GM. I researched the motor and trans combos. I bought an 8.1l off eBay and had it sitting at my dad's. It was then that I researched everything I could and tried to find anything I could about swapping one in. I joined Capt. Kaos' forum to look for info and ultimately ended up here looking for info.

I had to have something to drive, so I bought my '87 and really used this forum to learn how to work on these trucks. Now I have 3 of them and can say it is an addiction.

So that brings us to this thread. I started prepping for this swap this past spring. Gathering parts, talking to DirtyLarry, getting a trans, getting a harness, tracking down accessory brackets and getting the harness worked over and ecm tuned. I have a few misc. things to left to get, but I had to start this weekend in order to get the truck into the exhaust shop in the morning.

We got the truck moved from my house to my dad's on Friday.
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Then out with the old.
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And in with the new.
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That's where is at tonight. Motor is in and trans is in. Ready to be towed to the exhaust shop. From there tomorrow night it goes to the drive line shop and then back home to be wired and put back together.

Hope I didn't kill anyone with the long winded story, but I get asked all the time how and why did I end up wanting to do an 8.1l instead of a Cummins or other diesel swap. While I was sitting on the couch for 2 months, I looked into those. At that time no one had done a Duramax, that I could find. And no one had done a Cummins with an automatic transmission which is critical for us and what we are doing. My brother is a diesel mechanic by trade so I have really had to hear from him the last 3 years. I did find an automatic that would live behind a Cummins, but it is $7,500.00 which is too much for me.

So, that's how I ended up with 8.1l. I am trying to have this done by the end of the month, so I will try and update it every evening.