Thread: My 1984 K10 - LM7 swap!!

C'mon, shoulda done it the red neck way for putting the balancer back on.

Upside down can of air duster to get the crank really cold, then propane torch the balancer for a min or so, slap some oil on the outside to lube the seal and prevent damage and plop that sucker right on. Then just let it sit a second and spin it by hand, it'll cool in a matter of seconds.

Originally Posted by Fivefingerdeathpunch

C'mon, shoulda done it the red neck way for putting the balancer back on.

Upside down can of air duster to get the crank really cold, then propane torch the balancer for a min or so, slap some oil on the outside to lube the seal and prevent damage and plop that sucker right on. Then just let it sit a second and spin it by hand, it'll cool in a matter of seconds.

I mean... I'm not mad at guys that do it that way, but the tool rental was free. I needed to drop off waste oil anyway, so why not use the tool? I find that slow press on action satisfying.

Intake gasket surface all cleaned up.



Started bolting on the bigger pieces.



I did drill and tap the WP for the steam port while it was off.



Just waiting on the pushrod length tool...

Originally Posted by BrandonHall10

One of these ports is not like the others, one of these ports looks dirty...

You're the master of clean! What's going on here?!

I saw that and was thinking.. houston, there's an issue on that cylinder.

And since we are on the "master of clean"... engine hoist doesn't get any lovin?

I have a bad habit of forgetting to clean my tools as well, but every few months I'll get into an OCD mood and clean everything more than it usually deserves.

But most of my stuff is hand tools, I don't have much else that's bigger, other than an old creeper.

Originally Posted by WarStryker13

One of these ports is not like the others, one of these ports looks dirty...
You're the master of clean! What's going on here?!

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

I saw that and was thinking.. houston, there's an issue on that cylinder.

I'm pretty sure the exhaust valve on that cylinder was handing open for the two or three days it was upside down. If I didn't know the history on this motor I might be concerned. Trust me guys, if I'm not worried, you shouldn't be.

And since we are on the "master of clean"... engine hoist doesn't get any lovin?

Nope. LOL! It's not even technically mine. I'm just storing it for a guy.

Pushrod tool came today. I checked probably 75% of the rockers. Turns out 7.415" puts me at zero lash, give or take a couple thou.



From all the research I've done, it seems like 0.060" is a good preload amount. So if my math is correct, 7.475" should be perfect. Math is tricky for me, so I wrote it out.



Originally I was kinda bummed I had to spend extra money on pushrods, but after looking at them closely I don't feel so bad. Some of the tips were very worn. Not sure how well it shows in the picture, but it was pretty well egg shaped.



Also, I checked the length on a half dozen of them. Most were 0.020" short. A couple were as much as 0.030" Short.



Looks like I can get a decent set of 16 for around $100. Probably order them tonight.

Good to hear on the engine.

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

Good to hear on the engine.

Pushrods are ordered. Should be here Thursday. More reassembly in the meantime. Made a trip to the hardware store and grabbed some plumbing supplies.





I didn't plan on buying a new thermostat but...



Next step is to get the harness laid out and cleaned up. Might have this thing running again within a couple weeks.





I think the only thing I'm missing to make an engine stand run is pushrods. EGR blockoff, and headers. I'm sure I'm missing something.

Thermostat came today so I slapped that on. Got the harness laid out and started thinking about it...



This should be a lot easier than the S10. I think I'm going to use the truck fuse block. Probably only remove a couple circuits/connectors. The fuel, EGR, and coolant level sensor are all that come to mind right now. I'm going to keep all the AC stuff just incase I want to add it to the truck in the future. Also, since this truck has to pass a sniffer test I'll be running cats so I might as well keep the rear O2's.

Sniffed based on the year? Wonder if you tell them it's OBD2 compliant if they will hook up instead?

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

Sniffed based on the year?

Exactly. Pre- 1966 is exempt, 1966-1995 get the sniffer, and 1996 and up (OBDII) get a computer check. Sometimes they will visually inspect for cats. Sometimes.

Wonder if you tell them it's OBD2 compliant if they will hook up instead?

I'm definitely going to wire in an OBDII plug, but I don't think that will matter. I'm pretty sure if the chassis vin is for an '84, it has to pass the test assigned to an '84. At the end of the day, they just want their $12 every year. Crooks.

it's $40 a year here, no rust holes allowed, wheel bearings/tie rods are checked along with lights, horn etc.

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

it's $40 a year here, no rust holes allowed, wheel bearings/tie rods are checked along with lights, horn etc.

Maybe it's my Libertarian side, but I don't want anyone being my automotive nanny.


Pushrods came today. Seem decent. Definitely heavier than the stock ones.



And they are longer than the stock ones, so that's good.



They actually measured about 0.010" longer than advertised.



All back together. Most of them ended up at zero lash plus 1-1/4 turns. One was less than one full turn, and a couple were 1-1/2 turns, but all within spec (as I understand...).



Back to the harness.

Automotive nanny. HA! What if they were your automotive tranny? Hope thats a grunt grind yer slapping in. K10s is big iron. I read plenty but don't retain much lol. Keep up the tidy swap, this is just your periodic pester. I been going insane on a Model A literally, click link anytime and feel better about your rides instantly.

While I agree about the nanny thing, there are far too many people driving around with unsafe vehicles up here. Tie rods, ball joints etc go months with the person turning the radio up and ignoring the clunk. I feel those people shouldn't be driving, or need a mandatory inspection once a year. It keeps to get some unsafe junk off the road, and line the states pockets with additional money.

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

... I feel those people shouldn't be driving, or need a mandatory inspection once a year. It keeps to get some unsafe junk off the road, and line the states pockets with additional money.

I don't know man... You're going to have a hard time convincing me that the state/government should enforce a mandatory anything. Plenty of other rust belt states don't have inspections and you don't hear about high numbers of cars killing or injuring people there. I could go on forever about what a waste of resources most of the government is, but I'll save that for an OT thread.

I got all the loom stripped off the harness. Tomorrow I should be able to get the grimy/greasy plug ends cleaned and all the unnecessary circuits pulled out. Found something interesting on the alternator pigtail.



Fixed with a little bit of liquid electrical tape and some heat shrink tube.

Bill must be a hillary lover holy fck!

Rust belt we have emission no rust ban ****. Every once in a while I will see a broken ball joint etc on the side of the road. Other day I saw a trailer tear out the rusted hitch. No deaths, 50 car pile ups, or ejected babies. If I cant drive a vehicle with a rust hole in it, then they can eat **** and keep buying me a vehicle when it rusts up. Fck the governments and state losers.

^^^ Tell me how you really feel. LOL

Got the harness trimmed down. Pretty much just pulled out the EGR connector and the C100, C152 and C153 plugs.



Before I laid the harness back on the engine, I wanted to spin it over to build oil pressure. I cranked it till I saw a max of something in the high 40's for ohms.



And the reason I waited on the laying the harness was so I could leave the valve covers off and verify the top end was getting oil. Looks good.



I'll start rewrapping the harness with some clean loom. Once I get my headers and EGR block off, I should be able to test fire this pig on the stand.

No Corey..I don't like your gym buddy Hillary. That's all you. Pretty sure new englanders are more car dumb than a lot of the country. The things I see around here.

Brandon, are you going to be able to strap the stand down to make it sturdy enough? The engine start up stands I've seen at shops are rather large.

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

No Corey..I don't like your gym buddy Hillary. That's all you. Pretty sure new englanders are more car dumb than a lot of the country. The things I see around here.

Brandon, are you going to be able to strap the stand down to make it sturdy enough? The engine start up stands I've seen at shops are rather large.

Imagine the things we see living in Arkansas, think about that one.

I've seen a Cali forum dude crank up a Cobra Jet 428 breifly, no throttle whipping just low gentle off-idle revs... with some tubular lateral extensions clamped in place. Hows the saying go... Its not standing on a cliff thats dangerous, its not watching your step while you're there!

Brandon, I like your harness-weeding pics a lot better than the maximum chaos spaghetti plate images this one ol rodder guy posts on another forum. We go back and forth making each other puke, me by rust porn and him by those confounded messes of wire.