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Swiss army Chevy

34K views 108 replies 29 participants last post by  greygoose 
#1 · (Edited)
So I already had this super nice post all typed up and when I hit submit it said I needed to login again. Of course I lost it all :mad:. So lets try this again.

I'd rather not deal with special people on pirate telling me I should just buy a one ton and a build a buggy. Only have room and budget for one truck. I've been collecting parts for way too long to turn back now anyway :sonicjay:.

I need a heavy hauling truck for my fabrication business and pleasure, but I also miss having a truck to play off road with. I bought an 87 K10 silverado the day I turned 16 and I just can't toss it away on craigslist. So it's going to donate whatever good parts are left to a just cause.

Parts list:
4-53 detroit with ddec swap and compounds
RTO610 trans
203/205 doubler unless I find a kodiak divorced np273
Dodge kingpin 60/70 rear with 3.55's
3 link front/rear on air
Scratch built frame with longbed wheel base
Aluminum flat bed
37" hummer MTR's


Now that all the big parts were collected, I didn't have anywhere to start the project. My small shop was overflowing with customer work and I didn't have a garage at home. So, I moved to northern michigan and built a shop in the woods on a lake this spring. I did all the work except erecting the structure and pouring concrete.














Donor C10 with no powertrain bought for $500, sold bed for $400, sold rolling chassis for $500. Kept cab, doors, fenders, hood, and core support :nana:


Axles and 205


Driptroit


After some QC coatings magic


On the stand awaiting crank to come back from balancing


Air starter because my motor didn't come with a starter and it was $65 on ebay


Greasy compressor met the solvent tank




RT610 and divorced 203 rangebox for $250 from toothless hillybilly junk yard


My skinny ass on a 6ft cheater wouldn't break the yoke nut, so out came ******* engineering


Mainshaft apart for OD kit install


OD kit installed on mainshaft and countershaft gears flipped


Rest of the guts after cleaning





This is going to be a somewhat slow build as progress is between customer work, finishing touches on the shop, cash flow, and cutting wood to feed the boiler. The goal is to have a rolling chassis with a motor/trans in it by the time the snow melts in the spring.
 
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#36 · (Edited)
Thanks!

I don't have to, but that's who I started all the coating with and to keep all the colors matching, I'll finish with them. I travel to detroit once every month or two, so it's not a huge deal. Not like like is a deadline project :sonicjay:.



As life goes, nothing goes to plan. Kids came into the picture which means a regular cab truck doesn't work well anymore and my tdi swapped ranger has become the wheeling toy, so now I need a heavy tow rig that's off road friendly. Since I wanted to stay with a square chevy, I found an 82 crew cab k30 in the cali desert with 110k and a 454/465/205. Truck is in really good shape overall, just baked from california sun. I drove the K30 back this summer and sold the red K10 with the D60/D70 axles and other parts I wouldn't need anymore.



The K30 is still getting the same detroit engine and eaton 10 speed. Will probably run an air shift duece rockwell transfer case as finding a kodiak/top kick divorced 273 for under $1500 is a unicorn hunt. An extra 200lbs in this truck isn't going to matter at all LOL. For suspension, going to do 4 link air in the rear and 3 link air in the front. When I do the rear suspension, I'll push the rear axle back 18-20" and take off the last 10" of frame. It already has the turning radius of a bus, so what's a little more haha.




If anyone wants a california 99% rust free bed and good running 454/465/205 they're for sale!
 
#37 ·
So you're going with the N3 injectors then?

Make sure you get the actual detroit diesel remans. They are made in Grand Rapids by the airport. The competition cut some serious corners with the other aftermarket remans. :thumb:

I may be biased since I used to work there for my engineering co-op and did R&D on competitors injectors and potential future work for the company while I was there.


Sorry I'm coming in late to this build, somehow it slipped past my radar. I've always wanted to do a build with one of the old two stroke detroits.
 
#38 · (Edited)
Good to know there's another Detroit nut here! I have 2 sets of fresh reliabilt ddec 6v92T injectors to use. They flow about 80-85cc from the documentation Ive found, should be plenty to start with. The other set is at exergy engineering in grand rapids to modify for much higher flow to get my target 400+whp.

Going to try and get the short block built over the next few weeks now that the k30 is mobile again on its own power. Started with rebuilding the carb, then heater core leaked on the test drive and brakes felt funny. So then a rear wheel cylinder was added to the list :sonicjay:. When I drove it from Cali back in August, heater core didnt leak, ran good, and brakes felt great. Sat for 3 months and it falls apart per Murphy's law.
 
#40 ·
Those were made in gr too.

If you run into trouble getting the injectors bumped i could try to reach out to some old colleagues. Not sure how busy they’ve been, but they did the injectors for the pikes peak semi racer guys before while i was there.
I'll give you a shout if exergy doesn't come through for sure man!



Some buddies showed up last night, some beers were opened, that led to the shop getting reorganized, which led to the detroit getting pulled out and worked on :sonicjay:.

Crank plastigauged right at .002" and spins like a dream.




Need to get make a trip for stainless bolts for the front cover, oil cooler, and air compressor brackets. Slowly but surely!
 
#41 · (Edited)
Collecting more oddball parts, I was able to track down a starter drive for my air starter. Figured it was a good night to crack a beer and mess with it. HD starters all run the same mount pattern/ring gear offset, you just change out the pinion gear to match your ring gear. I needed to swap to a 8/10 pitch 12 tooth gear according to the chart from Ingersoll.



New vs old


 
#43 ·
Thanks for the kind words! There's going to be alot of progress quite quickly in the coming weeks/months. This 454/4 speed combo sucks :sonicjay:.

Nahhh, alpine green doesn't match a silver Chevy. I'm not big on correctness or authenticity when it comes to personal projects. I want this to jump out when the hood is popped!
 
#44 · (Edited)
My good friend and fellow Detroit enthusiast came out this past weekend from NY for the semi drag races at Onaway. He brought a few goodies with him for my project and assisted in getting the pistons/liners in the block with the oem setup tools.


He had a run of custom flaps made, so naturally I had to buy a set from him.


DDEC 4 8V92 ecm that my friend reflashed to a base file for a 350hp 4 cyl with 3400rpm limter.


Set of 4 dyno tested only injectors from a 550hp 8v92 to get it started on while Exergy builds my big injectors.


DDEC 4-71T engine harness


Since half the reason anyone does a Detroit swap is to have Jake brakes, they're definitely going on. However, I refuse to pay ~$1k/cyl that they sell for. I bought a 3 axis cnc that's due for delivery in the next 2 weeks, so I'm going to make my own set. My friend was kind enough to leave me with one master and one slave to measure up. If they made these things back in the 50's, absolutely no reason they can be re-made today in a cnc.


Lastly, got the pistons/liners assembled and dropped in the engine.
 
#47 · (Edited)
Got the bed sold today! Going to do an aluminum/steel hydraulic dumping flatbed with a telescopic front cylinder.

I'm going to toss a gooseneck plate on and run bedless just to haul firewood until may-ish. I'm hoping to get motor finished up by then and then start the frame off/repower/suspension side of things.

If anyone trips over a Rockwell airshift 223 case from a duece and a half, let me know!





$150 B&W from an f250 just needed 4 new holes drilled and fits perfectly.
 
#50 ·
Been using the old girl for work all summer hauling junk, but I've collected a few key parts over the last few weeks. The plan is to tear the truck down and swap it this winter.

12klbs of concrete blocks on friend's trailer


Eaton truetrac for front end


Dana 3.54 gear set for the front 60 that came with the truetrac. Also ordered all bearings/seals/shims/king pins/joints/35 spline outers/yukon locking hubs.


As I don't want a 205 transfer case to be the fuse in my driveline, I hunted for something bigger. I found a Rockwell T223 from a ford F650. That should hold up to my planned uses and already had 1480 yokes on all 3 flanges. Needs a good cleaning and a few seals.
 
#54 · (Edited)
So much for the plan of tear down and swap this winter haha. Been too damn busy with customer work and keeping the cnc fed. But, I think I'm finally done collecting obscure used parts for this damn thing. I was going to use the 70hd that's in the truck, but then a Ford dana 80 popped up on fb marketplace for cheap semi locally. More beef is never a bad thing right?

It's an oddball 2008 disk brake axle with 8x6.5 pattern from an e350 ambulance. Not sure what gears/diff are in it, but it's likely 4.10 or higher, so a truetrac and 3.54s will end up in it. What's interesting is that it's actually 2-3" wider than my dually 70hd that's in the truck. So much for internet research haha.








The pile of parts is starting to grow. Settled on a pair of bags for the parallel 4 link setup and picked them up on black friday sale from FindItParts for 30% off retail. Maximum bag weight capacity is ~7200lbs per bag, so that should hold up a tongue heavy gooseneck plus truck weight. I have everything to do the front axle and some other odd parts, need to get everything to do the rear axle now that I've settled on the 80.





 
#55 ·
I'm a fan of this build! Nice work. What do you have in mind for bump stops on the rear or do the bags have internal bump stop? On board air I assume. I have an old engine mounted air pump from a BBC if you haven't figured that part out yet I'd be willing to part with. What's the plan for your 454?
 
#56 · (Edited)
Thanks! It's getting there slowly but surely! I just ordered a gooseneck for this truck to drag around so I absolutely need to get it done now! I spec'ed out a 32' diamond C with a hydro dove, hydro jacks, air suspension and 17.5 tires in metallic blue.

I purposely picked out bags with an internal bump stop so they are covered. The Detroit has a factory bendix air compressor, so I'm just going to use that.

The 454/465/205 is for sale, I have no use for any of it.
 
#61 · (Edited)
As it's been raining for 3 days straight, I decided it was time to do some personal work in between feeding the cnc.

I needed to get the last flange off of the back side of the Tcase front output shaft to change the bearing and seal hiding in there. There's a special place in hell for the person that did this instead of buying an $8 snap ring. This flange once held a drum style parking brake in a decade long ago, I'm kicking around doing a disk parking brake setup as the original rockwell parts are hilariously expensive.


After an hour with a die grinder and some various carbides, the war was won.


Some elbow grease later,


Camshaft came back from being reground by Colt Cams, it's now a custom grind that should add some breathing room.


Between ebay and rock auto, all the transfer case bearings are on the way! If anyone else ever needs the generic numbers for a T223 they are:
1x - 308 ball bearing
1x - 1828S149 ball bearing with snap ring groove. 6211 is the industry number, but it won't have the snap ring groove.
1x - 3307 ball bearing
1x - 208L ball bearing
2x - 31521 cup
1x - HM89449 cone
1x - 25520 cup
1x - 25821 cup
1x - 25584 cone
1x - 31597 cone
1x - 02476 cone



The cylinder head is over at McDonald auto in Alpena getting machined, t case rebuild will be done as soon as bearings get here, then time to redo the dana 80! Trying to get back on this project and make some things happen!
 
#62 ·
Sorry for the distraction, but what do you do with your cnc? I run one in my garage also. I machine graphite electrodes used to EDM aerospace parts. My current work is going to slow way down possibly leaving me looking for new ideas?

This build is awesome. I am glad to see it get rolling again.
 
#63 ·
Distract away! I machine all sorts of parts for my business and a few private label parts for other companies. Basically all European diesel focused parts. Whitbreadperformance.com is my businesses website. I also have a 4ft faro arm and laser scanner to digitize damn near anything.

Thanks for the kind words! You know how the joke goes, the plumbers pipes always leaks and a carpenters house is never finished!
 
#66 ·
Bearings showed up so it was time to get to work!

In this case, bearing preload is set by shims between the case and bearing cap. Book says 3-5 thou for input shaft play, but with all the shims I had there was zero play. As rockwell parts aren't falling off trees, it was much easier to take a 5 thou cut out of the bearing cap to create bearing clearance so a measurement could be taken.


5 thou cut out


Anerobic sealant on each side of the multiple thin shims


Removed one 2 thou shim and landed right at 2.5 thou clearance, close enough.





Now onto fixing the damaged snap ring groove. Aluminum bronze rod was very carefully tig brazed to build up the splines that were ground away. Chucked it in the lathe and cut the OD of the new bronze spline ends to match the other side of the groove and then recut the groove to 1/8" wide.



Used some small files to square up the sides of the new bronze splines so the flange would slide on.




Ended up here for today


 
#67 ·
Got the beast finished! It will get painted once its in the truck.


Time for more aluminum bronze to build up what had to be ground out due to some dumbassery. Also machined both sides of the parking brake hub true again.


Freeze plug counterbore machined back in


The $4 snap ring that someone was too lazy to previously buy


Sucess!


All the bearings and seals used


Speedo drive was destroyed, so it got treated to an 1/8 npt plug. Planning to use a gps driven speedo for the dash.


All done and ready for parking brake and air shift setup


 
#72 ·
The trailer I ordered back in january finally showed up the last week, just in time to get all kinds of stuff hauled around before winter! It's a 32' Diamond C with hydraulic dove/jacks, 12k disk axles, tandem 17.5s, 12" OC crossmembers, and air ride with lift front axle. It wasn't cheap, but it should be the last big trailer I ever buy.

I immediately sealed/stained the deck to preserve it and wired up a 2 channel Kar-Tech wireless remote system to run the hydraulics and warn 8274. All the rebuild parts showed up this week for the old warn so that will be an evening project for next week.


A few weeks back I managed to snag this Reading steel flat bed for $1100 semi locally to serve as something temporary so I'm not running around bedless anymore. Long term plan is a dumping aluminum flat bed, but this will at least make it look like I didn't steal my own trailer haha.


Setting the bed on the truck, it was clearly too long and looked odd. Cutting 11" out of it was simple enough and it looks much better and the receiver is sticking out slightly as it should. Made up some quick mount plates and pulled it back off for a quick blast/paint. Got the bottom blasted and half painted before running out of daylight today.












 
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