Guess who's back!?! Atl-atl's K5 Blazer + Four Wheel Camper "The Crawlin Cabin" documentation thread!
- Thread starter Atl-atl
- Start date
Atl-atl
Adventurer
In the midst of all the RV prep I actually found time to pull the canvas off the Blazer. Ive paid a deposit and ordered the fabric for the new canvas months ago and finally got the time to pull off the old stuff and ship it to the seamstress to make the new stuff. Im so excited about that(and for installing the LS) for when we get back from our big trip. I marked all the trim pieces and got the truck and camper put in the garage where they will live while we're gone.
Also noticed that my DIY lift panel up front is already starting to fail so Ill be ordering some professionally made ones from ATC campers while we're gone.
Canvas came off quite easily and in one piece which should make the new one an exact fit.
Underneath the canvas in various areas around the camper were little bits of duct tape. They look factory but I cant quite tell. I think this is the original canvas. Does anyone know if these would be original? Is it simply to protect the canvas? Or is it for water proofing? My front driver side corner was leaking water into the camper but I cant quite tell if it was a failure of the canvas, the tape or some other reason. There were no visible holes. There was sealant around the whole roof where the vertical side meets the actual roof material. I cant tell if that sealant was original.
Im pretty sure this was the source of my leak.
Here it is with the canvas removed.
Here is the passenger side that was not leaking.
Also noticed that my DIY lift panel up front is already starting to fail so Ill be ordering some professionally made ones from ATC campers while we're gone.
Canvas came off quite easily and in one piece which should make the new one an exact fit.
Underneath the canvas in various areas around the camper were little bits of duct tape. They look factory but I cant quite tell. I think this is the original canvas. Does anyone know if these would be original? Is it simply to protect the canvas? Or is it for water proofing? My front driver side corner was leaking water into the camper but I cant quite tell if it was a failure of the canvas, the tape or some other reason. There were no visible holes. There was sealant around the whole roof where the vertical side meets the actual roof material. I cant tell if that sealant was original.
Im pretty sure this was the source of my leak.
Here it is with the canvas removed.
Here is the passenger side that was not leaking.
Last edited:
Atl-atl
Adventurer
Well well well, look what the cat dragged in. We've been home (from six months living in the RV) for barely a week but I cant leave well enough alone so I immediately got to work on the Blazer!! 😂
I listed the Stock 350/TH350/NP203 for sale and had a good amount of interest so it lit a fire under the old derriere to get everything ripped out. Commence drivetrain removal. First things first was clean out the garage and inventory all the parts that I ordered over a year ago(when I thought I was going to be starting this project, not making a 4x4 RV) which is a lot and took an entire day. To get everyone back up to speed, I bought a Summit Racing crate engine. Its a long block Chevy 5.3 LM7(yes you can call it an LS) that is rated at 450 horse 420 torque. I also bought a bunch of extra parts to literally build the entire thing from scratch since I dont have a donor engine, wiring harness or really anything I need for this. So I started watching a youtube series where a shop is building the exact same setup on a 5.3 including a bunch of parts that are identical to what Im using so the tutorial and the HP/TQ numbers are really similar to what mine will be. Spoiler alert, on the engine dyno their motor made just shy of 500 crank hp.
She's ready to go in.
I thought I had everything I needed until I watched someone break down and rebuild an entire LM7 and I had a list of about 73 things I still needed.
Probably the last time this garage will be this "clean." At least the floor.
In case you forgot, this is what the front of the truck looks like. Still need to fab up a front bumper and install the winch but thats not important right now.
Making progress.
Now its looking good.
Now its lookin empty.
Engine came out by itself, transmission and t-case came out together. This was the easiest way to do it by myself.
I listed the Stock 350/TH350/NP203 for sale and had a good amount of interest so it lit a fire under the old derriere to get everything ripped out. Commence drivetrain removal. First things first was clean out the garage and inventory all the parts that I ordered over a year ago(when I thought I was going to be starting this project, not making a 4x4 RV) which is a lot and took an entire day. To get everyone back up to speed, I bought a Summit Racing crate engine. Its a long block Chevy 5.3 LM7(yes you can call it an LS) that is rated at 450 horse 420 torque. I also bought a bunch of extra parts to literally build the entire thing from scratch since I dont have a donor engine, wiring harness or really anything I need for this. So I started watching a youtube series where a shop is building the exact same setup on a 5.3 including a bunch of parts that are identical to what Im using so the tutorial and the HP/TQ numbers are really similar to what mine will be. Spoiler alert, on the engine dyno their motor made just shy of 500 crank hp.
She's ready to go in.
I thought I had everything I needed until I watched someone break down and rebuild an entire LM7 and I had a list of about 73 things I still needed.
Probably the last time this garage will be this "clean." At least the floor.
In case you forgot, this is what the front of the truck looks like. Still need to fab up a front bumper and install the winch but thats not important right now.
Making progress.
Now its looking good.
Now its lookin empty.
Engine came out by itself, transmission and t-case came out together. This was the easiest way to do it by myself.
Atl-atl
Adventurer
Got to work this week dropping the stock gas tank(which is getting replaced with a baffled tank and an in-tank combo pump/sender that works with EFI) and trying to chop off some leftover bits of what I think was a hitch that had been welded to the frame and partially removed before I owned the truck. Ill also be removing the stock hard lines on the frame and redoing all the wiring front to back for the pump/sender, taillight assemblies, trailer wiring etc. Its currently all over the place and most of it is not even inside wire loom, its just hanging everywhere under the truck which is super unsafe. Anybody need a K5 Blazer 25 gallon tank with a nearly new sending unit? Its in great shape.
The underside of this truck is remarkably clean. Gotta love Arizona.
Random bits of angle iron welded to the frame. I would have cut them off a long time ago but theyre right next to the gas tank so I never bothered.
Whoops, didnt know there was a weld hiding back there and went a little too hard with the sledge. Frame will have to be repaired after I get the angle iron off.
So my air compressor has long been in need of a replacement. Its tiny, the psi adjustment is broken and I have it bolted to the max. I picked up this 27 gallon, 200psi, 5.1 cfm unit for a decent deal. Helped make quick work of the rivets that hold the engine crossmember to the frame. Ill be replacing it with the high clearance tubular crossmember from Offroad Design. Air chisel/hammer/heat made relatively quick/clean work of the rivets. I started to mock up the crossmember with some of the parts that get reused from the original stuff. Ill be cleaning and repainting everything before making it official so I figured Ill mock it up to get holes drilled etc. before painting the rest of the parts.
Old stuff out
Really empty now
Getting the new stuff mocked up
New mounts are going to be a little more vibrate-y but who cares, its an old truck with a ton of character, noise, smells etc. Thats part of the fun.
The underside of this truck is remarkably clean. Gotta love Arizona.
Random bits of angle iron welded to the frame. I would have cut them off a long time ago but theyre right next to the gas tank so I never bothered.
Whoops, didnt know there was a weld hiding back there and went a little too hard with the sledge. Frame will have to be repaired after I get the angle iron off.
So my air compressor has long been in need of a replacement. Its tiny, the psi adjustment is broken and I have it bolted to the max. I picked up this 27 gallon, 200psi, 5.1 cfm unit for a decent deal. Helped make quick work of the rivets that hold the engine crossmember to the frame. Ill be replacing it with the high clearance tubular crossmember from Offroad Design. Air chisel/hammer/heat made relatively quick/clean work of the rivets. I started to mock up the crossmember with some of the parts that get reused from the original stuff. Ill be cleaning and repainting everything before making it official so I figured Ill mock it up to get holes drilled etc. before painting the rest of the parts.
Old stuff out
Really empty now
Getting the new stuff mocked up
New mounts are going to be a little more vibrate-y but who cares, its an old truck with a ton of character, noise, smells etc. Thats part of the fun.
Atl-atl
Adventurer
Ok one more boring update before it starts to get good, promise. I finished deleting the stock fuel delivery parts since Ill be installing a returnless system with a Corvette style fuel filter/regulator with braided PTFE lines from the tank all the way to the rail. If anyone needs a complete fuel system in good shape for a K5 Blazer from the tank to the pump its yours, free 99, just pick it up in Flagstaff. Everything is in very good shape, no rust just dirt. Soft lines should be replaced though.
Heres a pic of the lines, tank can be seen in my last post. No kinks, holes, corrosion, rust or anything bad.
Here are the stock lines that run along the passenger frame rail. The wire for the stock sending unit also crosses over the engine bay and runs down the passenger rail to the tank. Ill be moving the wiring for the new tank over to the driver side so I can keep everything neat and tidy. New fuel line will run down the passenger frame rail with the hard brake line just like stock.
Now you see it.
Now you dont.
Onto the wiring. Its comical how simple these trucks are. Excluding the front clip wiring(lights, horns etc.) there are very few wires under the hood. Here is what the entire engine wiring harness looks like. The loom was super dry rotted and I will be moving wires around so I just deleted it. This helped make it easier to identify everything and start to organize it before I integrate the new engines harness. At the top of this pic you can see a large bundle of wires, thats the stock tailgate sliding glass harness. This truck will never have a stock tailgate again so it got deleted. The new fuel pump wiring will now go inside split loom with the rear light wires and ride down the driver side frame rail. Neat and tidy is the name of the game.
Here is the entire engine harness separated from its loom.
Im hoping to delete this wire that runs across the top of the firewall. It is the power wire for the HVAC. It runs from the alternator through this power distribution block. The green wire is the control for the AC compressor which will be on the passenger side of the new engine so that wire will move. The orange wires that are also fed by the distribution block are for the rear glass harness(deleted) and something else which I have not figured out yet. My plan is to drop the distribution block and fuse down to the bottom of the firewall and possibly tuck it up under the pinch weld. Maybe this is a bad idea because moisture, havent decided for sure yet but I dont want it up on the firewall where it was stock because ugly.
Finally I started to clean up the engine bay. Man there was a lot of caked on crud. It looks clean because its not rusty but the grey film on the firewall wouldnt come off with simple green and there was an old power steering leak that had cooked itself onto the driver wheel well liner so hard I had to scrape it off with a screwdriver. The weather is supposed to be warm this week so Im hoping to get the engine bay and front frame rails clean up and painted and also finish installing the new crossmember.
Heres a pic of the lines, tank can be seen in my last post. No kinks, holes, corrosion, rust or anything bad.
Here are the stock lines that run along the passenger frame rail. The wire for the stock sending unit also crosses over the engine bay and runs down the passenger rail to the tank. Ill be moving the wiring for the new tank over to the driver side so I can keep everything neat and tidy. New fuel line will run down the passenger frame rail with the hard brake line just like stock.
Now you see it.
Now you dont.
Onto the wiring. Its comical how simple these trucks are. Excluding the front clip wiring(lights, horns etc.) there are very few wires under the hood. Here is what the entire engine wiring harness looks like. The loom was super dry rotted and I will be moving wires around so I just deleted it. This helped make it easier to identify everything and start to organize it before I integrate the new engines harness. At the top of this pic you can see a large bundle of wires, thats the stock tailgate sliding glass harness. This truck will never have a stock tailgate again so it got deleted. The new fuel pump wiring will now go inside split loom with the rear light wires and ride down the driver side frame rail. Neat and tidy is the name of the game.
Here is the entire engine harness separated from its loom.
Im hoping to delete this wire that runs across the top of the firewall. It is the power wire for the HVAC. It runs from the alternator through this power distribution block. The green wire is the control for the AC compressor which will be on the passenger side of the new engine so that wire will move. The orange wires that are also fed by the distribution block are for the rear glass harness(deleted) and something else which I have not figured out yet. My plan is to drop the distribution block and fuse down to the bottom of the firewall and possibly tuck it up under the pinch weld. Maybe this is a bad idea because moisture, havent decided for sure yet but I dont want it up on the firewall where it was stock because ugly.
Finally I started to clean up the engine bay. Man there was a lot of caked on crud. It looks clean because its not rusty but the grey film on the firewall wouldnt come off with simple green and there was an old power steering leak that had cooked itself onto the driver wheel well liner so hard I had to scrape it off with a screwdriver. The weather is supposed to be warm this week so Im hoping to get the engine bay and front frame rails clean up and painted and also finish installing the new crossmember.
Atl-atl
Adventurer
Alright its starting to get exciting!! Finally got to assembling and painting the engine. There are a few things Im slightly concerned about with the engine though.
I know I know, Chevy Orange stopped in 76. My truck had a blue engine but I dont care, orange is my favorite color.
- The engine sat on the stand as an assembled long block with no valve covers, oil pan, valley cover etc. for over a year before I finally got to it. It rotates freely and smoothly and sounds fine when spinning it with a breaker on the crank bolt but still, it sat for over a year. I doubt anything dried out and hopefully nothing fell inside, it was covered but theres always a concern.
- I was torn about how to correctly assemble the timing cover. Ive seen numerous ways to do this, the two most common being 1. use an alignment tool on the crank to perfectly center the cover on the crank and 2. make the bottom of the cover flush with the bottom of the block so the oil pan sits perfectly flush. In the end I kind of split the difference because those two things did not jive. Anyone thats assembled an LS knows what Im talking about. To the naked eye the crank seal in the timing cover is not quite perfectly centered on the crank. Im worried its going to leak.
- The Holley kit I used for all the accessories has me slightly concerned about a couple things. 1. The power steering pump is tiiiiny. Im worried its going to have the power to turn big truck tires, especially when offroad. I havent looked into it yet but I think its a Corvette pump. Not sure if it will have the ability to run hydro assist, which my steering gear is ported for, but maybe that could help. 2. Im running a mechanical fan and it does not clear the power steering fluid reservoir so Ill need to make that work. Im actually ok with this though because I would have had to fab a weird intake to get around the reservoir since the AC compressor sits so high on the passenger side.
I know I know, Chevy Orange stopped in 76. My truck had a blue engine but I dont care, orange is my favorite color.
Kingsize24
Well-known member
Love the paint job! Damn fine job good sir!
Atl-atl
Adventurer
Yeah its pretty far out there ha. Thankfully these trucks have about an acre under the hood!
vintageracer
To Infinity and Beyond!
For future reference I have had great luck with White Wall Tire Cleaner removing the gray film. Spray it one, let it soak a little bit, do not let it dry and pressure wash off. ALWAYS worked great for me and readily available at Wal Mart or other retailers.
Bleche-Wite® Tire Cleaner
www.blackmagicshine.com
Atl-atl
Adventurer
Finally picked up my NV4500 and NP241C. This particular t-case was only made for two years, 88 and 89. It is passenger drop with a mechanical speedo. Rare as hens teeth these days. Unfortunately it was "painted" by whatever shop sent it to the place I bought it from. They painted over a dirty case using some kind of undercoating type textured paint. Two rounds of Aircraft Remover did essentially nothing to get the paint off. Only thing that worked was a wire brush. I dont have the time to wire brush this whole thing clean so Ill be dropping it off to get sandblasted on Monday. Then I will be doing a complete rebuild, swap to a 32 spline input shaft and do a slip yoke eliminator.
tyler.armijo
Member
Where did you source your 4500 from? I am gonna be in need of one but all the ones I have found lately people have been asking for its weight in gold
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Atl-atl
Adventurer
I got it from a slightly sketchy chop-shop type place in AZ that specializes in engine/trans swaps and is good at finding hard to get stuff. I wouldn't necessarily recommend them. Best place to locate a transmission is going to be car-part.com. Then call around to check that the ones that show up on the website are actually there. Not sure what your budget is but this one was around $2000 for just the 4500 that has supposedly been rebuilt and has a 6 month warranty from the sketchy shop. If you want to go full-bore there is a shop in Denver I can recommend but you'd be looking at about $3500 for just the trans from them. I rolled the dice on the cheaper one, hopefully that doesn't come back to haunt me.
tyler.armijo
Member
I’m also in AZ just the other side of the state. I have a 95 half ton dodge and plan to do some stuff to the old tired 318 and will need a 4500 instead of the 3500 if I want to make any real power. I also wanted to ask you what kind of paint you’ve been using for your interior trim? I have some door panels I want to paint and was curious if your using just basic spray paint or if there’s a specific paint for the plastic panels
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