70 k20 build that somehow turned into a frame off resto-swap

[Dieselwrencher]

Very nice truck and nice work on it!

[rickcdewitt]

Thanks man,its been a long time coming. Over 10 years! I got some of the 2.5" mandrel bent stuff cut and welded from the manifolds to the mufflers today. Went above the tcase. I'm thinking I'll use exhaust wrap on both pipes under the cab to cutdown floorboard heat and protect the tcase and fuel/brake lines.

Its gonna be tight going between the springs and rear mount tank for a behind the tire exit but I'll make it happen.the kit came with 4 of each piece,i only laid some of it.

Once i have the harness back on the motor i can run the o2 leads and decide where to weld the o2 bungs.

[rickcdewitt]

Got the exhaust finished except for welding in o2 bungs and finalizing exhaust tip locations once the bed is on. Turned out pretty nice even if the multiple pieces are kinda frankenstien. But hey 400$ for everything isn't bad for a custom mandrel bent dual exhaust. I love the old school sound of true duals so no crossover and definitely no xpipe!

[rickcdewitt]

Got the ebrake working with the 14 bolts short cables today. Welded new brackets to the spring perches and moved and or modified the little bars that hold the cables. Few 1/8" clamps for mocking up the cable length until a local rigging shop can press a nub in the right spot of the cable i got from a squarebody

[rickcdewitt]

Decided to cut up the blazer drop hitch and make it fit under the barden bumper. Need to change the front mounting tabs to fit the shackle hanger and extend the crosstube back 3" so its flush with the back of the bumper. Probably going to bolt the hitch and bumper together for strength like my 2500hds setup

[rickcdewitt]

Got the hitch apart and side plates modified to fit the truck and barden bumper.moved front tab forward and shortened by 1/4",then sectioned both plates and extended 3" . they'll get fully welded and 1/4" steel welded in to corners to restore strength. The bumper and hitch will get bolted together close to where the red dots are in one of the pics.

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice work! OEM E brake cables that still function? Not in this area. Lucky dog. Haha

[rickcdewitt]

Dropped the bed on the truck for the first time in at least 5 years to make sure the bumper will play nice with the bed and hitch before welding up the hitch. I realized I'll need to drop the tank to tighten the rear bed bolts. Not a big deal.
Did a little measuring based on jimbosprints measurements and i think the square body 56" 3/4 ton rear leaves will be very close to the same height as the 2" ez rides for the front. Maybe 1" block if anything.
Almost starting to look like a truck! with the bumper taken care of I'll be able to bolt on the bed and move to getting the motor fired up!

[rickcdewitt]

Dieselwrencher I'm making my way through you build. About 20 pages in but I'll get there

[rickcdewitt]

Well after setting the bed on (for the first time in years,wow) i realized i needed to clearance a rib for the fuel sender. Some 1.5" angle iron went in the hole to stiffen it back up.needed to take 1.75" out of it.

Also pulled the sender to make sure the tank was clean after years. Then put 5 gallons in and hotwired it to make sure it was still regulating 58 psi for the motor.

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by rickcdewitt

Dieselwrencher I'm making my way through you build. About 20 pages in but I'll get there

Yeah, it's a bit long. Sorry about that. Sad thing is, the truck still never got totally finished. But I have used the snot out of it and still do.

Nice work on your bed cross member. I had to do similar when I installed my Boyd tank.

[rickcdewitt]

So some steps forward and backwards. Went to fill all fluids and preoil the motor.tried to turn the crank so everything could get oil and it wouldn't budge. #1 spark plug was rusty....
Pulled the top end and found this....

[rickcdewitt]

Got it out and torn all the way down.fingers crossed an overbore can clean it up.that cylinder was the only one rusty. None in the pan or rest of the motor. Bright side is the old motor gets a refresh now. Stock rebuild. All the dyno graphs i look at have the stock cam making the most torque below 2000 rpms or so where it will be useful towing with the nv4500.

I spent a couple days seriously considering a duramax or cummins but don't want to buy a diesel parts truck right now and spend a few thousand more getting it in when the ls swap is pretty much done.

Long term I'd like to have an lly or newer mated to the nv4500. Cummins would be interesting to figure out but I've had a couple 500 hp duramaxes and know my way around them.

[Dieselwrencher]

Man that sucks on the rusted/locked up cylinder. I've had that happen before on a couple of different engines. A big surprise when you find it though. I don't blame you for not wanting to do a diesel swap right now. You're so close with it now. I wouldn't mind a duramax swap. I've never done one due to the cost of the engine and trans etc. I can do a cummins swap much cheaper because I have so much of the stuff. Maybe someday I'll come across a good deal on a dmax truck.

[rickcdewitt]

I have a couple spare lb7 duramaxes i could use. And its very tempting! But i don't trust the fuel systems on them. They are basically spare shortblocks to feed my 02 crewcab
If i can get a sweet deal on an lly top end I'll be all over it!

[rickcdewitt]

Machine shop i use is backed up for a week so I'll get the 6.0l block over there when he's got room.

I found a 100k mile 24v cummins for 3k....and a complete 96 12v/nv4500 4x4 truck for 7k.made myself close facebook marketplace,lol

[Dieselwrencher]

It is crazy what things are currently going for. I'm looking for a NV4500 for a truck and thy are bringing $1500-$2k for used ones. That is just insane.

[rickcdewitt]

Yeah, lots of supply chain issues these days driving up prices. I need to get this truck rolling before fuel prices are 10$ a gallon,lol

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by rickcdewitt

Yeah, lots of supply chain issues these days driving up prices. I need to get this truck rolling before fuel prices are 10$ a gallon,lol

I shouldn't laugh because I have had the same thought on a couple of my projects....