Yeah, we’ll see! I can’t wait to see how an 8.1L runs with a bumpier stick. My blue truck with the 8.1L is not a K5 Blazer. It is a K10 truck.
Nice! That one is less rare as most Burbs of that generation with manual transmissions were just like that one. A bare bones model with vinyl bench seats and rubber mat. Mine was a bit more rare in that it was a fully loaded Silverado with bucket seats. Still, a burb with a manual is still not something a person finds every day.
Yes, I did reuse the factory springs mounted to the ORD shackle flip. Depending what your plans are factory springs with the ORD shackle flip is a great combo for a 4” gain in height. As far as rear drum vs. disk everybody has an opinion. My opinion there isn’t and aftermarket bolt on rear disk kit that is worth the time and money to install. The rear El Dorado/Tornato calipers most rear disk kits come with suck. Those calipers didn’t work worth the crap on the cars they came on back in the late 70’s and 80’s let alone to expect them to perform on a big ¾ ton truck or burb. I don't think most todays hobbiest that buy that crap to bolt on their 4x4 project were twisting wrenches on those cars with rear disks back in the day to remember what a POS those calipers were. There are other kits that use front calipers from the 73-87 trucks but those don’t have a provision for a park brake, which is not good for those of us running manual transmissions, and I feel having those calipers on each corner are extremely under powered to stop a big ¾ ton truck. The only disk brake swap I would ever consider would be swapping in a complete rear 10.5” or 11.5” AAM axle from a late model GM truck with factory rear disks and internal drum for the park brake and even at that the only way I would do that swap is if one of those axles fell in my lap for free. I am not a big believer of going out of my way to gain rear disks as there is nothing wrong with rear drums and even the heavy weight of the drums isn’t a big issue. On a big truck or Burb the extra unsprung weight helps keep the rig glued to the ground and less top heavy (especially when lifted) not to mention rear drums make the truck stop better too…for what I use trucks for, maybe not so much for someone running mud races in their 4x4. Also, it’s not like deleting the rear drum weight is going to gain you an extra MPG or anything. Have you looked at how much surface area there is on a 13 x 3.5 drum? That is a ton of surface area for brake shoes to contact to stop! There are reasons large class 8 semi’s still use drum brakes to this very day......to STOP! Yes, there are certain off-road rigs rear disks work best but a trail riding/tow rig heavy Burb isn’t one of them in my opinion. My opinion is the biggest gain in braking performance can be found in swapping from vacuum to hydroboost more than swapping from rear drum to rear disks... but that is just me. It is very unlikely you will ever see an entry in one of my threads where I swapped out rear drums for rear disks.
Merry Christmas all!
