7K of USA

[Colorado_Outback]

Thats the easiest way to make custom compound bends, at least until I get a tube bender.

Well I thought I was clever enough to get this welded up without building a jig. I witness marked all the joints and broke it apart so i wouldn't be putting a ton of heat into the long pipes. I welded up the bends and all the witness marks lined up, I thought I was home free and this is where I made the critical error. I forgot how much shrinkage can occur, I should have rechecked the fit before welding the long pieces to the bends. Had I done that I would have found the cross over 3/8" short and the doughnut gaskets impossible to seat. Unfortunately I had to split the cross over and extend it to get it fitting correctly. It doesn't look as elegant as my original but I only spent a couple hundred fixing my whole exhaust and learned some things so I'm calling it success.

Got the 02 bungs welded to the down pipes.

20170309_143335 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

I bought this truck from a high school kid and in his infinite wisdom he did a muffler delete on it (leaving that enormous cat up front) and did a crappy job of welding the straight pipe in. I got rid of all that and put an Allied street max muffler on it. Guy at the exhaust shop said it wont be too loud. Its straight through perforated tube with a glass packed case. I'm skeptical but it was cheep, only review I could find online is V6 Mustang guys complaing about them being too quiet so we'll see.

20170308_140531 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

 

[chilliwak]

From my welding experience it is crazy how much metal contracts and distorts under the build up of heat. Like you said a jig is a good way to solve the problem, or just weld the exhaust together while in place on the rig. But I am sure that was not an option on your truck. Anyways I am happy you got it all sorted out and I have to say it looks good. Cheers, Chilli..

 

[Larry]

Looking real nice Greg! You'll be doing 4 wheel burnouts before long :sombrero:

 

[Colorado_Outback]

From my welding experience it is crazy how much metal contracts and distorts under the build up of heat. Like you said a jig is a good way to solve the problem, or just weld the exhaust together while in place on the rig. But I am sure that was not an option on your truck. Anyways I am happy you got it all sorted out and I have to say it looks good. Cheers, Chilli..

Thats what I ended up doing, mig welding the crossover back on in place to make sure it didn't move around again. I wish I could find it now but I saw a video once of an old guy who straightened a huge I beam using only an oxy torch and a 10lb hammer. It was amazing, he straightened it right out.

Looking real nice Greg! You'll be doing 4 wheel burnouts before long :sombrero:

I can hear the motor noises now! Ill bring it down for you to check out once its on the road. 3 swapped 8.1 vehicles in the same pic will be cool :costumed-smiley-007


Got the Y pipe painted and installed for the last time (hopefully) today.

20170311_140919 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

20170311_144232 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

20170311_144250 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

 

[chilliwak]

This dang truck is looking so impresive I might just have to make a trip to Colorodo this summer and do an inspection. That way I can really horify you with my presence....:Wow1: Now is that not scary!!!???:exclaim::smileeek::ar15::campfire::violent-smiley-031::violent-smiley-031::violent-smiley-031::bigbossHL:

 

[Colorado_Outback]

Bring one of those 99-04 Superduty 60's with you when you come! having trouble finding a complete one for reasonable money around here.

 

[chilliwak]

Bring one of those 99-04 Superduty 60's with you when you come! having trouble finding a complete one for reasonable money around here.

If I do come out I will probably fly or drive a rental car. I am hoping I can ride navigator/shotgun if we go out in the bush. It would be cool to check out both yours and Larrys rig in person...

 

[Colorado_Outback]

If I do come out I will probably fly or drive a rental car. I am hoping I can ride navigator/shotgun if we go out in the bush. It would be cool to check out both yours and Larrys rig in person...

Ill be around off and on this summer, try to give me some heads up.

Did the fluids in the front diff, T case and rear axle today.
Need to get some of the special NV4500 fluid from the dealer to do the transmission.

Love the 14 bolt
20170313_150509 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Good to confirm this truck is 4.10. The RPO sticker in the glove box is worn completely off.

20170313_150538 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Got it all buttoned up.

20170313_152551 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

 

[bigskypylot]

Ill be around off and on this summer, try to give me some heads up.

Did the fluids in the front diff, T case and rear axle today.
Need to get some of the special NV4500 fluid from the dealer to do the transmission.

Love the 14 bolt
20170313_150509 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Good to confirm this truck is 4.10. The RPO sticker in the glove box is worn completely off.

20170313_150538 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Got it all buttoned up.

20170313_152551 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

BEEFY

 

[chilliwak]

Things are looking good there Mr Colorado. Strange we see dana 60 and 14 bolt free floater combos up here often to be had for $2000. That sucks you cant find a dana 60 front. I guess they are all being ribbed from the wreckers around your place. Here is hoping you get one in time for your build. Cheers, Chilli..

 

[Colorado_Outback]

Got my fuel system sorted out, this is what my filter and lines looked like before.

20170314_150755 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

I used the workhorse fuel lines part numbers W0000540 and W0000539. I was lucky they were long enough to reach my fuel filter so I replaced that with Napa #3623. It has the same fitting on the back but a rolled bead on the front like the fitting on the fuel rail allowing me to hook the workhorse line right to the filter.
For the return I got a repair part from napa to get another rolled bead fitting that fit into the workhosre line and used a small section of soft line to connect it to the original return line.

20170319_132533 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Also got a new fuel filter mount at the yard, someone cut mine at some point to get the filter out I would guess.

20170319_132548 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Replaced my pump with a higher volume unit to supply the 8.1 with all the fuel it needs. The pump that was in there had original hardware on it and plenty of small debris in the sock.

20170315_153043 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

While I was at the junkyard I came across a pretty nice square headlight grill.

20170317_121934 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

I'm not very patient when it comes to paint and body work so it has some sketchy tape lines and over spray but over all it matches my beat up truck pretty well. A coat of dirt and will look right at home.

20170319_121925 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Still need paint and install the piece of red trim that goes in between the bumper and grill, I just had to see what it looked like on the truck.

Here's the old grill.

20150614_175146 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

 

[chilliwak]

A couple of nice looking upgrades there Mr Colorado! Glad to see that the new fuel filter system went together so nice and clean. The new grill looks pretty clean too. Cheers, Chilli...

 

[huntsonora]

That 8.1 is going to be the ticket in that truck! Can't wait to see it all done. PM me your info if you have any desire to fabricate another headache rack

 

[chilliwak]

Headache rack, custom V8 install, or well fabriacted one of a kind aluminum parts, this build needs more regular updates. I guess Mr Colorado is just too busy in the shop to post. Our loss, his gain. Cant wait to see more of this awesome build..:Wow1:

 

[Colorado_Outback]

Thanks gents.

Chilli guessed correctly, been super busy with the summer season coming up. I did however get some time to finish this thing up.

Got the harness mostly routed.

20170412_154849 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Installed the LED for the check engine light in the spot where the Service Engine Soon light was in the dash.

20170422_150044 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Tried to start it up and wasn't getting fuel, pulled the injectors to find this.. I guess I should have known the motor sat for 2 or 3 years.
I sent the rail and injectors to Injector RX in Houston TX. They did an awesome job cleaning them up.

20170428_140522 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Unfortunately when removing the rail and injectors I lost an o-ring and hat down in the head so I had to retrieve those.

20170428_135329 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Inside is nice and clean

20170428_150203 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

I think the intake weighs 35lbs..

20170505_150848 by colorado_baja, on Flickr


After all that I got it started! Click for video.

20170506_153809 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Lifters are ticking pretty hard from sitting from so long and I have an exhaust leak on the driver side.

Who knew you could install the gasket up side down..

20170510_102428 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

20170510_102446 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Then the electrical shenanigans started.. I had a bad ground on the core support that was causing the wipers to run when ever you turned on the headlights or the left turn signal. I ohmed out all the grounds with the truck off but when you started moving power around things got weird in a hurry. Took a couple days to figure out but its all good now. All my factory gauges and electronics work just like they did before but I have 2X the HP and 3X the TQ as the TBI :sombrero:

Put 100 miles on it in the last 2 days, so glad to have my work truck back!

20170516_165532 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Still have a random DTC to figure out, nothing that effects drivability. Need to get it hooked up to a tech 2 so I can look at some misfire logs and what not.