Great White: A Chevy K10 Build

[Ouiwee]

A few pictures of the finished tank.



Leak test.



I put a drain port in the bottom as well.



The caps came back from paint. They look good.



The tank is off to paint. I'm having them prime it with epoxy and hit it with bed liner.

I will be changing the fuel hangers in the saddle tanks to install in-tank pumps in each one. The bed has to be removed to do it right, so it will have to warm up around here before it happens. I have a racetrack weekend in a month at the National Corvette Museum, which is 730 miles from here. The car, supplies, and trailer total nearly 10,000 lbs so it should be a great opportunity to test the new engine.

I received the custom built flywheel from McLeod and it looks great (way better than mine). The brown truck dropped of a twin disk RST clutch good for 800 lb/ft. I am getting it installed next week if all goes well. I'm keen to stick my foot in it and see how it goes.

 

[bknudtsen]

I think we are all keen for you to stick your foot in it as well!

 

[Ouiwee]

I got the rear tank back from paint. It looks good.




The truck is in the shop today getting the twin-disk clutch installed. I'm hopeful that it will be done tomorrow. The mechanic noticed that the front driveshaft binds very slightly at full droop. He is going to leave marks so I can clearance things a bit when I get a chance.

Of course, I am interested in how well the LT4 will turn a locked rear end. I know second won't hold, but maybe third gear will.

 

[Ouiwee]

The new McLeod RST twin disk clutch is hard to believe. It is just as smooth and easy to work as the centerforce but requires even less pedal pressure. It holds the power and locks up like a vise.

I'm going to allow a few miles to break it in before giving it the beans from a start. I intend to actuate the rear locker and see how well it smokes the tires from a start. I can lock out the rear brakes (with the line lock) and hold the front brakes with my left foot. Or maybe I should just act my age?

 

[bknudtsen]

Smoke. Show.

 

[Ouiwee]

I took a really bad video of a quick pull in 3rd gear.

 

[Ouiwee]

I took a trip with the truck hauling a trailer with a car and supplies, which amounted to 9,000 lbs plus. The total trip was 1,500 miles. I took a northerly route out and a southerly route back.

The northerly route was flatter and had mostly highways with 70 mph. I encountered very strong wind on the way there and some mountains on the west side of Pennsylvania. The truck pulled the trailer fine but took some fuel with the strong headwind. I could keep it at 70 without down shifting to 4th almost entirely. The wind drag at that speed is significant.

On the trip back, I went through the Appalachian mountains of eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, and Pensylvannia. There were several long hills at 6 percent or so grade that I had to pull entirely in 4th gear, which isn't bad given the gearing. It runs just a tick over 3,000 rpm at 65 or so. The good news is the LT4 had no trouble keeping up in 4th. I checked water temperature and the longest hill had it up to 230 to 240. These engines run at 220 normally and the big fan kicks on at 230, if memory serves me right. I did not have AC on.

Through the mountains, fuel mileage was 6-8 mpg since I drove it so hard. I was seeing 12 or so on flat ground without a headwind on the trip out.

I inspected the truck and everything appears to be just fine. There was no heat related problems or anything else that visual inspection revealed.

I noticed that the shifter boot I got from LMC last year has split in a couple different places. At 80 mph, that shifter hole is equivalent to running with the heat on full blast. There is no carpet in the truck at the moment--just a mat--and the floor temperature got toasty. I need to do some heat shielding on the exhaust and insulate under the carpet when the time comes.

And, that LT4 really opens up the valves when you give it the beans. It is toooo loud despite the fact it is rather quiet when putting around town. I need new mufflers but I'm not sure where to start.

 

[Ouiwee]

Having towed a trailer and listened to a v8 at nearly full song with no sound damping material in the cab, I took the initiative to attempt to tune the exhaust note. I have no idea what I am doing, but took a stab at another set of through-type mufflers/resonators. The exhaust isn't loud except perhaps when standing on the skinny pedal, but the note was somewhat harsh.

It doesn't amount to much but it definitely makes the sound more mellow. It has some perforated interior screen with some packing--not much more than a resonator (whatever that is). I'm pleased with the outcome despite it being a pain in the ******** to get done.

 

[Ouiwee]

I did manage to get some fabrication done on the rear swing-out. I have enough room for 4 jerry cans.





I welded 3/16 aluminum angle and flat stock to build it with an aluminum bottom panel. It is pretty simple.

I also added a light for the license plate.



I'm sending it to paint this week. I will also have to figure out a mounting scheme, which shouldn't take too much thought.

 

[bknudtsen]

Ok. Now that you have a little time on this drivetrain... thoughts? You have a pretty rare setup, so I’m not sure what you could compare it to, but is the chassis able to deal with the power delivery of that engine?

 

[Ouiwee]

Ok. Now that you have a little time on this drivetrain... thoughts? You have a pretty rare setup, so I’m not sure what you could compare it to, but is the chassis able to deal with the power delivery of that engine?

I would say Chevy did a great job building a truck engine with the LT4 Corvette engine, despite that not being the design target. The torque down low is very good--so much so that it is hard to not put around everywhere less than 2,000 rpm.

The McLeod twin clutch is fantastic. The pedal pressure required is even less than the Centerforce single disc clutch, which was like budahhh. It locks up like a vice and holds the power with no trouble. It is fully broken in now and is smooth and quiet. My wife drives the truck with no trouble whatsoever.

I finally moved the levers on the Atlas transfer case. They were slightly off since I had to move the driveline forward an inch for the LT4. It is quiet (as far as quiet for a gear driven TC goes). I was surprised to see that there were no c-clips on the 4 points securing the levers to the linkage. I have no idea why they were missing aside from the transmission shop that originally put the transmission/TC in the truck. I had a spring holding the parts together and to keep them from rattling, which held everything together fine. Nonetheless, the clips are all installed correctly now.

The truck is a joy to drive now. The idle is dead smooth at 600 rpm. The last engine wouldn't behave under 900 rpm and it rattled the truck like the devil. The street manners of the tune on these engines are so good you don't even notice it at all. One odd thing is that it takes a while longer to start than what one would expect but I have seen on the Corvette forums that this is normal behavior. It barks to life when it does start, almost explodes to running. It's cool, but I'm not sure I understand what's going on.

It is hard for me to get used to how the engine is rather quiet at idle and low load. Once you hit the skinny pedal, it isn't quiet. It screams. I suppose this is the variable valve business?

I tow around 10,000 lbs when dragging around my track car. I don't know how well the NV4500 will hold up to 650+ lb/ft of torque in 5th gear. I have read that it does okay up to around 800 lb/ft, so maybe there is nothing to worry about. I suppose it will do fine with just the truck since it just rips the tires loose...at least in the lower gears. Fifth gear makes some noise and I bought the transmission new with the Dodge cast iron tail housing/5th gear nut fix, etc. I understand the NV4500 is anything but quiet, however.

From a chassis standpoint, the only noticeable item is the twist I get from the torque. I'm looking at adding a sway bar up front to help with the roll and twist. The coilovers in the front are so soft that in third gear WOT lifts the front of the truck quite a bit. I guess it has 10" or so droop in the front from ride height.

Overall, I am tickled with the whole thing.

 

[Ouiwee]

I got around to the skid plate for the transfer case. I went about it the same way I did all the other plates. I bolted into the brackets that hold the front links.






I'm not convinced that I should not have made a step up to the right of the plate. I just ran the tube straight across to the other side. My fear is that it will catch on things...




You can see where I clearanced the drive shaft flange. It was just kissing the double cardan at full droop.

I have a couple of tweaks on the skid plates yet to go but I think it is in decent shape.

 

[bknudtsen]

Unless you plan on dragging it through Metal Masher or Steel Bender in Moab, I think you’ll be fine.

 

[ejs262]

I'm working on a similar swing out for my Suburban, or at least in my head I am. Great work.

 

[Ouiwee]

I finally got around to plumbing the A/C system. It was rather simple to do. I could not find a straight M27 to #10 hose adapter that connects to the dryer, so just cut the one I had and welded it back together.





I'll next drop in a new dryer and orifice tube, flush things, and pull a vacuum on the system for a couple hours to test for leaks. I also have to determine whether lubricating oil was added to the compressor. Everything is wired and ready to go.

I got the swing-out rack back from paint. If I have time, I'll see about mounting and wiring it today or tomorrow.