JK and K5 build threads Bc you can never have too many toys

Could pull the distributor and spin the oil pump with a drill and see what it does...

That's what I'm doing tomorrow after I change out the filter, I've got a priming tool
 
Hopefully that will move the obstruction. It would definitely suck to have to pull the motor.
 
Yep, especially it's this close to it being on the road.


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Well put a mechanical gauge on it, with a primer I was able to get it up to 50psi, 4 pushrods/rockers had oil trickling out of them. Fortunately it was cylinders 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 so I'm assuming oil is getting too all those cam bearings. Never heard any knocking out of it when it was running so that's good and leads me to believe the rods and mains should be fine. However, I bought this cam, retaining plate, lifters, dog bones, and lifter spider all used. The flat tappet cam worked perfectly fine in it. I'm gonna venture out to say most likely these lifters are junk (they did come from a junkyard engine). Gonna see if I can find a decently priced brand new set while I eat lunch and I'll pull the intake this afternoon and pull the lifters out and go over them. Slightly relieved that it should be a cheaper fix then buying a 383 short block or rebuilding mine... mainly bc I'll throw more money in it to make more power because it'll be apart.
 
So I got the k5 running then plugs and wires kept breaking. I swear I could look at the harness wrong, and it would start coming apart. So I’m putting a 5.3 in it, friend from the Chevy store I worked at 10 years ago is giving me a deal on an 80k mile 5.3 long block. Gathering parts, still need to order hoses, water pump, front drive accessories brackets, intake/fuel rails/throttle body, and order the shorty headers. Figured while it’s out I’ll go ahead and do a decent cam. I’ve already got some LS9 valve springs, that’ll work great with this cam I picked out.

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More stuff is coming in, but also I got the materials to do the mini boat sides, do my fenders, and rear bumper. Figured out a cheap easy way to twin stick it the np205 that’s in it. Picked up a spare np205 that I can use to build my doubler. Picked up a JK NVG241 that I can use for parts, but most likely I’ll just get them to include new gears when I order the magnum box or black box. I’ve still got a shit ton of work to get this done but I’m slowly plugging away at it.

The JK has had a few parts for the 1 ton swap bought.

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If they'll fit, I'd get longtubes for sure...otherwise I'd just use stock manifolds.

Also, I have some intakes and other stuff laying around. Let me know what you need.
 
If they'll fit, I'd get longtubes for sure...otherwise I'd just use stock manifolds.

Also, I have some intakes and other stuff laying around. Let me know what you need.

I need shorties because of front driveshaft clearance with the flat belly and all. I plan on modifying the exhaust to fit what I already built.
 
More parts and materials showing up, still have a good bit left to order.

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I’ve marked a few cut lines for sectioning the fenders and the mini boat sides. Should be able to keep use of my power windows, and I think I’ve got an idea to make the weather stripping still work. I’m really hoping to get the 5.3 in there and running and driving first. Then I’ll section the fenders, and do boatsides last. Don’t want to be assembling an engine while there is plenty of stuff floating through the air from cutting the body.

And reading more on how to make cheap horse power on a 5.3, really hoping I don’t get sucked down a rabbit hole and end up building a stroker. So far I just plan on a cam and maybe 4.8L pistons. Instead of the factory LM7 dished pistons, they are flat tops, they are the same part number of the L33 5.3, and same wrist pin height. Good for 20-30 rwhp and I’m shooting for 325/350ish. It’s possible to get those numbers with just a cam but those 4.8L pistons are $175. Figured I’d blue print it a little bit by weighing the rods and pistons and pair them accordingly. They weren’t balanced from the factory and this will just help it out a little.... y’all now see how I start tinkering with things and it takes for ever for me to finish it because I rationalize how I need to repair something but really I just want to upgrade.
 
I’ve gotten about all my parts for the 5.3 swap and have started pulling the engine. I’m gonna check the bearings on that 350, if I gotta do cam bearings then so be it, and it’ll get a different cam. I’ve thought about pistons as well to bump compression. I’ll need to cut a few things out of the factory harness but I’m gonna try and turn it into a stand alone harness. I need to find another project to put it in, thinking a leaf spring CJ or YJ simple and easy. I’ve got another set of 4.56 geared bone stock 1 tons. With 15-20 Mins run time with no oil to the cam bearings Bc of the wrong lifters I just didn’t trust it along with my harness issues with a few connectors I’m gonna need to replace and few sections of wire that need replacing as well. And I’ll dailyin’ the k5 while I tear my JK down for 1 tons.

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Well with some side work, the hurricane, and helping my GFs father with their properties at the coast it hasn’t left much time or motivation to get the k5 done. But finally sat the engine in without pulling it apart and trying to make more power. Plan to work on it a little more tomorrow and get it as far along as I can till a few more parts come in.

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I’ll have to see what I can do about making a little more clearance than that.

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Well I got the fuel lines plumbed and almost finished hiding the wires under the intake. Tomorrow I’ll do the steam vent lines, knock out the bulkhead wiring, get my gauges all working, hopefully put it back together so I can start it up. Got some collector/flanges but now I’m leaning towards some block hugger headers to clear my slave cylinder a lot better. I keep taking my time to make sure it looks good and it’s starting to get exhausting. I’m so ready to launch it at 5500 rpm in 2nd and see it will just eat, lol.

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I’ve got to go pull a 465/208 combo that I’ll probably do a hack and tap rear SYE. It’s temporary till I build my crawlbox/205 doubler. I really want to do that before I go wheel it because the 205 low range is gonna bring the suck by itself. Leaning towards purchasing a rear ARB and using a grizzly locker up front. I picked up a ram for up front, still need to drill and tap the ports. Still have the mini boat sides, belly pan, box the frame in the middle, rear bumper/tire carrier, and new anti wrap rear perches. I’ve got a lot of shit to do still, but at least it’s progress. I plan on making some of these things weekend projects once it’s up and running again. I’ve thought about some temporary sliders till I do the boatsides.
 
I’ve managed to get the engine in, extended my injector wires to hide the harness under the intake and hide the coil pack signal wires to help clean up the install. Been busy with family stuff so working on it when I’m able to lately. Still have to finish the plumbing and thinning the factory harness with the correct tie ins. Ended up getting some cheap ass 3/8” flange block headers off eBay that clear the slave cylinder plenty and I can tie into the Y pipe I already made. I need to get this finished and go wheeling I miss it.

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I’m on the hunt to find a cheaper than $200 NP205 30 spline 1350 CV flange for my front output. Found the rear and figured out a 1999-2003 7.3 manual trans driveshaft is the perfect length. I’ve gotta cut another one down for the front and I’ll probably go get it balanced. I’m gonna throw 5.38s in the tons just so I can have a decent crawl ratio while I build a doubler. Still going to pull that 465/208 combo for something else. Gonna go ahead and get shaved rear gears so I can cut the bottom of the 14 bolt and plate it when I finally buy a TIG rig. Been researching a lot of multi-process machines to use from now on. Just simplifies things for me. I’ve got a good warm and fuzzy on how I’m want to do the boat sides, rear bumper, and fenders. But I’m gonna get it out before I even start on those.

I miss when I was doing a little weekend or afternoon projects on me Jeep so I didn’t have as much down time. So I’m trying to chug my way through to get back to that. I’ve still got to go through my Jeep and build the 1 tons for it and it’s gonna be a bit even though I have gathered some parts for it already.

Oh and I picked up a 6.0/4L80e DBW harness and I’ve got another set of 1 tons I’d love to build a crew cab short bed or even a reg cab long bed on 35s with 4.56 or so. Before I start on the Jeep I would like to build a simple Daily rig. Then later maybe TIG some turbo headers for it and have some fun for a tow rig Bc I can’t leave shit alone. Also already gave a BP DIY harness kit so picked up some terminal tools.

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I’ve got a whole day I can work on it now so hopefully making some progress. I’ve been keeping a List on my phone of what all I need to fix, replace, wire, and etc. to keep me on track. Pretty much everything under the hood is done, mainly get the ECM wired up and the exhaust. Got the rear driveshaft and yoke in, figured out what I needed to make a 1350CV fit the front output, and still stockpiling materials for the belly pan and boat sides. I did mark my cut lines for the belly pan, and front fender mods I want to do.

El list-the list
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Feeling inspired by people doing sheet metal panels and I want to learn so after the holidays I’ll be picking up a bead roller and I want to clean up the engine bay, and I may make my own door panels. A tubing bender is on the list of tools I play on buying in 2019 but the price of some of these prebent cages is pretty good. Found a 4 point that would easily handle in the cab, and I can build off of later when I get a bender. But I’m also being picky on how I want to do the cage as well.

Goal this year, 2018, is to at least get it out of the garage. I’ve got a bunch of work in friends vehicles coming up and it’s too cold for my ass to do it in the driveway. Next year I really hope I can get it out in the trails.

I’ve got a long list to wheel it unfortunately.
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So I start cleaning out the garage and my GFs best friend comes over and they talk me into going to eat sushi. Well I killed 2 bottle of sake at lunch and we got all the Christmas shopping done. Had to take a nap after all that but I’ve got some time tomorrow to knock out a few things I hope.

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And I decided it needed 3 inch duals.
 
Well holidays screw up my work time but I did get the garage cleaned out, building shelves to get things up and off the floor

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I did kind of figure out where I was gonna mount my ECM, I’ve gotta get s new glove box hinge, previous owner figured a piano hinge from Lowe’s was good enough.... I putting lipstick on this pig. I need a new dash pad and unfortunately the company that use to make a 7k rpm tach that looks damn near factory have discontinued till they find a new supplier.

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I did pick up a tubing bender, need to pick up a few more dies, and I want to get a bead roller to learn it. I’ve been calling around getting quotes on DOM today and waiting on call backs. I’m pretty sure they could careless since I’ll only buy a few sticks at a time and they have to order it. In Cali I didn’t really have this problem, but here in ENC a lot of metal suppliers and welding shops really don’t get that I’ll end up buying a couple thousand dollars worth of materials from them a year.

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Next big purchases are going to be a plasma cutter and I’d love to learn to TIG. I’ve been doing a little work for folks around here and it’s really just paying for new tools. Local shops around here suck and so I enjoy trolling them with cool stuff.
 
In Greenville, Dillon Supply is going to be the easiest to deal with for DOM.

Do you have a DC stick welder? if so, just get a scratch start tig setup to learn on; you won’t have thousands of $ tied up in a rig up front and can learn easily. Then pick up a good tig later once you get the hang of it and know more of what ya want. Hell, we do X-ray quality welds with scratch start tig rigs all day long.
 
Oh, and I have a lot of leftover Delphi weather pack plugs of various sizes and pins from my buggy if you need any. I’ll keep a couple for spares and you can have the rest if you need them.


And I think I have some leftover 3” V bands and flanges if you need any. And a whole roll of exhaust wrap.
 
In Greenville, Dillon Supply is going to be the easiest to deal with for DOM.

Do you have a DC stick welder? if so, just get a scratch start tig setup to learn on; you won’t have thousands of $ tied up in a rig up front and can learn easily. Then pick up a good tig later once you get the hang of it and know more of what ya want. Hell, we do X-ray quality welds with scratch start tig rigs all day long.

I’m waiting on them to call me back. And I’ve actually been eyeballing that new ESAB rebel EMP that just came out that does everything. It’s pricey, but would handle any kind of welding I’ll ever do.
 
Oh, and I have a lot of leftover Delphi weather pack plugs of various sizes and pins from my buggy if you need any. I’ll keep a couple for spares and you can have the rest if you need them.


And I think I have some leftover 3” V bands and flanges if you need any. And a whole roll of exhaust wrap.

I’ve already been buying up a lot of that stuff so I may take you up on that. Wasn’t gonna run exhaust wrap on the k5 Bc I have a feeling it’s gonna get muddy here and there. Your buggy all buttoned back up?
 
I’ve already been buying up a lot of that stuff so I may take you up on that. Wasn’t gonna run exhaust wrap on the k5 Bc I have a feeling it’s gonna get muddy here and there. Your buggy all buttoned back up?


Just let me know. You can pick through what I have left over from the buggy build. There are a lot of good parts that I don’t need, mostly small stuff like exhaust wrap, exhaust flanges, wiring plugs, switches, etc. and some LS stuff.


Yeah, buggy all wrapped up. Just need to install the gps and radio antennas and put the wrap on the skins. That’s it.
 
Oh. For the first time in a while, I’ll be around for the next 4 days. Call me and stop by if you want to pick through what I have left over to see if you want any of it.
 
I need to get up to G-Vegas one day and check that rig out.
 
I need to get up to G-Vegas one day and check that rig out.

Mine has got a long way to go. Robs though I may try to sneak over there this weekend if I get a chance.
 
Well I spent the weekend cleaning out my garage and finally putting up shelves and organizing some what. I’ve got a jeep that I’ve got do some work to for someone and I needed to get my garage back.

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It felt so good to be able to walk around it and not trip over something.

So I got time to actually wire the truck up to at least fire the engine, drove it out of the garage and put it in the driveway. It was only running on 2 maybe 3 cylinders because I’ve got some injectors I’m assuming are clogged up. Good injector pulse on all 8 and brand new coils/plugs/wires, and signal to the coils. Totally put the driverside coil harness backwards and felt like an idiot. I temp mounted the panel holding the ECM and mini fuse panel. I’ll do a more permanent mount when I pull the dash pad to replace it and build the cage.

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After I finish the jeep up I’ll soak the injectors and try to get them flowing again. If not I’ll put another set in it. Felt great to drive it out of the garage.
 
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