87 land yacht, long term project

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Alright well here goes, starting from the bottom and building all the way up.

The truck is my 1987 chevy k30, I'm the 2nd owner. Original owner for the most part had it as a toy, pulled a 2 horse trailer from time to time and that was about it so nothing difficult for this truck. The flatbed, 35" tires, and 6" lift were all on it when I got the truck. Originally powered by a 454 with a sm465 4 speed manual trans.

I plan to keep this truck for a very, very long time. So it must be built to last and handle just about anything I put it through. I want the truck to be able to handle towing a trailer up to about 14k pounds (Little less but better to have the truck overbuilt) on a gooseneck hitch. I take the truck offroad up in the mountains as you can tell by the pics, tend to go places that most say it should never be able to go :hihi: while carrying a few people and gear.

So things the truck needs to be able to meet:
1. solid frame
2. ground clearance
3. traction
4. power
5. brakes
6. down right reliable
7. reasonable fuel economy

The truck had good power with the stock drivetrain, but I wanted more and much better fuel economy. Originally started with going for a 12 valve cummins mated to an nv4500 5 speed manual with np205 tcase. Ran into alot of nightmares dealing with discontinued parts from dodge and the trans/tcase and got fed up with all the bs so went back to a big block. had the 454 bored .30 over, custom cam for low-mid range torque, long tube headers, dual plane intake, and single 750cfm carb. Plenty of power and should be reliable. Problem (as expected), fuel economy was horrid for a truck that does a fair amount of highway driving at only 7mpg. Loaded or empty. So the search continued for an engine that would meet the goal while keeping the drivetrain setup simple. Decided to go with a mechanical IP 6.5 setup for towing and reliability http://www.thetruckstop.us/forum/showthread.php?34325-motors-motors-motors

 

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With the truck being 25 years old, some rust is to be expected on the underside. Also need to box the frame to help it with both rigidity from flexing offroad, and with handling the weight from a 14k ish pound trailer. Which is where it stands right now. The easiest way to take care of all that is to pull the body and drivetrain out, leaving a bare frame.

Getting a truck with a 6" lift and 35"s into a normal height garage door ain't gonna happen. Put a set of 31" tires I had sitting around onto the truck and aired them down some to make enough room

tonight planning to finish pulling the drivetrain out, or start stripping everything off of the firewall

 

[3500GMC]

Beeeeeg Bloooock!

How the Elderbrock carb work for ya?

 

[red]

yea, engine is rather large hahaha.

The edelbrock has worked very well with that motor. Easy to tune and don't have to worry about it. has worked pretty well on steep inclines.

 

[RI Chevy Silveradoman]

Nice. The wires look like a nightmare. Cool project. :thumbsup:

 

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yes the wiring has been horrible. Truck had more (originally TBI), pulled that when doing the cummins swap. Original owner had tied something into the harness but not sure what, then it got hacked again when the replacement big block was installed. replacing the harness with a painless kit, along with a new waterproof fuse block.

couple pics from the work tonight, got the drivetrain and exhaust pulled

friend was in a goofy mood tonight haha

 

[RI Chevy Silveradoman]

Good work!

 

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thanks. wanted to pull the engine without removing the long tube headers however the engine crossmember refused to allow that. Next thing when I get home is to pull the cab off then take a steel while brush and strip the frame in prep for paint on the inner parts of the C channel. Will be boxing the frame for certain to help with the strength and replacing most of the stock engine crossmembers with rectangular tubing.

Debating moving the rear axle forward or leaving it where it is at. would like to shorten the flatbed to about 5' long for a better departure angle with offroading, but I'm unwilling to compromise the gooseneck tow rating or capability. How much bed/frame is needed after the gooseneck ball for strength? 1-2ft?

 

[NVW]

How much bed/frame is needed after the gooseneck ball for strength? 1-2ft?

Generally the ball is above the rear axle to 6" forward of it, hope that helps.

 

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Thank you, once I get to shortening the frame/bed I'll make sure the hitch stays where it should be.

Back in town as of last weekend, a couple buddies came over and we managed to pull the cab off the frame. We did it with 4, 6 would be MUCH EASIER!!!

Going with POR 15 for the frame and the underside of the body, hope to not have to do this again for another 25 years to this truck. On a side note, discovered that the truck can fit in the garage hahaha

 

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Popping the rivets out that hold most of the brackets onto the frame, need to get more gas for my torch to speed this up haha.

 

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well no turning back with shortening the wheelbase now

Cut off 28 1/2". Next step is cutting off more rivets so the rest of the spring overload brackets and front spring hanger come off.

 

[RI Chevy Silveradoman]

:yikes: Thanks for the update and keep up the good work, it looks good.

 

[ak diesel driver]

what are you replacing the rivets with?

 

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Grade 8 bolts. Stronger material than the original rivets wer

 

[ak diesel driver]

I did that once and had to buy longer bolts so I didn't have threads in the holes

 

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thanks for the heads up on that issue. Im also boxing the frame in for added strength. Many of the brackets are not going back on,such as the stock rear shackle hangers and overload brackets

 

[k30 crewcab dually]

I have a '91 K30 crew cab dually flatbed as well. it has the 454 but i was planning on doing a 12 valve swap. is the amount of difficulty and work worth it you think?

 

[john65td]

there is alot of potential with the 12valve. depends on what trans and tcase you go with. it can get expensive. 6.5 is almost a drop in. i say it just depends on what you really want and how decditaded you are

 

[red]

Best option with the cummins swap is to go with either a chevy trans or use the dodge dana 60 front axle. Dodge has discontinued all the trans and tcase parts needed to adapt, some aftermarket available and some original parts that people want small fortunes for. Unless your planning on going for big power i wouldn't say the conversion is worth it. Its a damn good motor and excellent with a manual behind it, but the cost to do it right is significantly higher than a 6.5 or 6.2 swap