Project Git-R-Done - 72 K25

[ronh72c10]

Basically I spent some time last night checking the lights and basic electrical, just a few minor issues. Marker light, license light and interior light not working, probably not a wiring issue.

BTW the plan is to reuse the complete wiring harness from the van in the truck, that's why I'm checking things out now while the van is still working.

The rest of the evening was spent removing the front bumper that I wanted to save. I tried wrenches and the bolts rounded off, I tried a sawzall and didn't have the right blades, tried the plasma cutter and the metal was too rusty, finally I had to grind off the bumper bolts and used an air hammer with a panel cutter to remove the brackets. A whole evening to remove a bumper.

Here's the latest video update.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoV2ZAGx6g4

Ron

[Chevymaniac]

Are you making your own mounts and adapters or buying aftermarket?

[ronh72c10]

Right now I'm not sure what's involved in the motor mounts. From other build threads they've said that the motor mounts are in the same place, I seem to recall hearing somebody say that they used BB towers, but have to check.

I will have to fabricate a tranny crossmember. As well I'll make the adapter between the 4l80e and the np205, shouldn't be too hard, hopefully this is the longer splined output shaft version of that tranny. It's supposed to be 32 spline which is the same as the th400 that's currently on the NP205, in that case the output shaft just needs a little trimming so it doesn't bottom out in the TC and then it's just a matter of machining an adapter. I've also heard that the adapter may not be necessary if the TC adapter is a "figure 8" adapter, from pics I've seen it does appear to be that type, but that is supposed to be pretty rare. BTW I'm not operating from experience, this is all based on what I've read here and elsewhere.

Ron

[ronh72c10]

Latest updates, I'm still stripping the van. Got the rad out, as well as the front light wiring harness. Found out that not much of the front of that van comes apart, you take the top of the core support off and the engine comes out thru that opening. Nothing else comes off including the fenders, must be a nightmare to do collision repair on these vans, they are unibody literally!

I'm uploading a shorter video blog update as I write. I'll add a link when it comes available.

The Diesel Van Part 4

Ron

[ronh72c10]

Still working on stripping the van. Working on stripping the interior. Noticed something interesting which was that the bolt pattern for the throttle mount appeared to be the same as the one for the 72, interesting that a 23 year newer van had a component that would mount in the truck with minimal modification. Should be done stripping the interior tomorrow. Then onto the messy work of pulling the engine and tranny.

Stripping the diesel van part 5

Ron

[ronh72c10]

Still stripping the interior, slow going trying to save the harness. It doesn't help that GM decided to route some bundles of wires separately thru the firewall and didn't put plugs on them.

On another note I decided to remove the windshield and cut the dash and firewall to remove the engine, it should be alot easier that way.

Ron

Stripping the van part 6

[ronh72c10]

Finished stripping the van down a while ago, today I started stripping the accessories off the engine, nothing special happened, broke one bolt off in the alternator.

Started making an extensive list of parts that I want to replace, yikes.

So Far:

• Front and Rear leaf springs (rears are mandatory since some leafs are broken)
• Front Shackles
• Front suspension kit
• Front brakes
• Rear brakes
• Front flex lines
• Rear flex line
• Rear EBrake Cables
• Front U Bolts
• Rear square U Bolts
• Front and Rear Shocks
• Steering Damper
• Cab Mount Kit
• Hinge Pins
• Starter Solenoid
• Glow Plugs
• Injectors (not mandatory, but it would be easy to replace them now, and at 187000km they're due)
• Fuel Injector Return lines (probably ok, but they're cheap)
• Upper and lower rad hoses
• 1/2" heater hose lines
• Belt tensioner (seized so mandatory)
• Idler (near alternator)
• Idler (A/c delete, very tight, may have been the source of the klaxon noise rather than the alternator bearings)
• Serp Belt
• Oil filter
• Cooling system upgrade (98 WP, Dual T-stat + 8 blade fan)
• Vac pump pulley (pretty crusty, need to check that pump is working)
• PS Pump pulley (very crusty, need to check pump)
• PS Remote Resevoir (very crusty, have some polished AL rad overflow bottles that might be nice to use as a replacement)
• New Oil dipstick
• New tranny dipstick

Ron

Here's the remaining van teardown video posts:

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9a

Part 9b

Part 10

Part 11a

Part 11b

Reinforced Engine Stand for the diesel

[ronh72c10]

I did a little work this weekend dismantling the diesel, apart from the massive amount of rust the engine looks good so far. No obvious wear on the cam/injector pump gears, I haven't removed the front cover yet so I can't tell how good the timing chain is. Unfortunately the injector lines are pretty crusty so it's likely they'll have to be replaced.

My gasket set should come later this week, I should be ready for it and the engine back together next weekend.

Ron

Dismantling the Diesel Part 1

[ronh72c10]

Did a little work on the diesel engine today. Pulled the valve covers and found very little sludge buildup. The van it came out of was a school board vehicle before the carpenters I bought it from had it and it looks like it was well maintained. Rust not withstanding.

I also pulled the injector pump, I did scribe it so that I can get the timing close when I put it back together. I don't think I can avoid going thru the timing procedure, which will mean buying an OBD I code reader that is capable of doing the TDC timing relearn. There's a guy in sweden that makes a fairly reasonably priced system specifically for these trucks (around $200US) that is capable of doing that as well as some diagnostics, so I expect I'll end up picking up that unit. BTW the recommended unit runs well over $1000 so $200 is not bad.

Unfortunately I didn't have much luck getting the oil pan off, most of the bolts were so badly rusted that neither metric of english sockets fit them well, I did get about half of them off, but the rest will be a problem.

Ron

Dismantling the diesel part 2

[ronh72c10]

Nearly done dismantling the engine, got the oil pan off with some difficulty, had to use vice grips to remove some of the bolts, got some bolt off with oddball socket sizes and one final one had to have the head ground off. Once that was done, the pan came off and the timing cover was no problem.

Looks like there's quite a lot of slack in the timing chain so I expect that I'll be buying a timing set shortly, not entirely unexpected, too bad I didn't order a set with the gaskets.

Ron

Part 3

[ronh72c10]

Get this, I went to Napa today to pickup a new starter solenoid, I was quoted +$400 for a solenoid. So I asked what was a replacement starter and solenoid was, and they came back with less than $200. Guess what I came home with.

Ron

[ronh72c10]

I finished pulling apart the 6.5 diesel yesterday and had a look at the heads and the deck of the block. Good news, no cracks, looks like the engine is in pretty good condition, I could even see the hone marks in the cylinders. Not bad if the engine really had 190000km (120000miles), I know that it has been apart since the oil pan, valve covers and timing covers all were gooped with liquid gasket, with no sign of an actual gasket. Rebuild? Maybe, it ran quite well so it's possible. The only thing that throws me off is how much rust and scale was on the block, maybe it had the head gaskets replaced.

Ron

Part 4

[ronh72c10]

Well I haven't posted an update to the website for a while, I've mostly been posting updates to my youtube channel, but I have been working on the truck. Currently the engine is back together, the rear axle is painted, as well as part of the front, new rear springs, I believe that I have resolved my weird rear brakes issue but I still have to put it back together.

Today I was going to go out and paint the steering knuckles but was too hot, with the humidex it was 38C or right under 100F.

Ron

[ronh72c10]

Well my frame work is done and now I'm onto the drivetrain. The rear brakes and bearings still need to be redone but everything else is ready, tomorrow I'm going to test fit the engine and tranny and see where the tranny crossmember needs to be for it to work.

Ron

[ronh72c10]

Today I dropped the 6.5L diesel and 4l60e in the frame to check the clearances. Nothing was hitting but the exhaust manifolds were close to the motor towers, about 3/8" to 1/2" off of them. I took some pics of the install to better give an idea of the clearances involved, things were close but I think servicable.

Next I have to sort out the engine position relative to the radiator and check out clearances to the firewall.

Ron

[ronh72c10]

Some more clearance pics as well as a video that better shows things.

K25 Drivetrain Part 1 - Installing the engine and...

[ronh72c10]

A fairly long video I recorded that shows some of my thoughts on radiator fit with the 6.5L diesel.

1972 K25 - Radiator Fit

Ron

[ronh72c10]

Did some more work on the truck, unfortunately had some bad luck when a chain on my engine hoist broke and dropped the engine hard on the frame. I'm a little concerned about the drop since the harmonic balancer shows a large mark on it from the fall, it may have damaged it or even damaged the crank. I'll check the runout to see if it seems excessive, if so the engine may be done.

1972 K25 - Starting the day with a bang

I'm optimistic though and continued work on moving the engine crossmember forward 3-1/4 inches which I think is the ideal distance. I finished yesterday and all of the clearances look good. No clearancing of the firewall needed at all, as well it sets the fan to radiator clearance closer to what it was for the original diesel van, as well I've decided to modify the core support to accept the newer radiator. Some pics of the clearances after the crossmember move.

1972 K25 - Moving the Engine Crossmember Forward

Ron

[ronh72c10]

Yesterday I started work on modifying the core support to accept the wider 1995 6.5L Diesel radiator. No pics but a video.

1972 K25 - Core Support Mods

[Chevymaniac]

Man have you been busy. The truck is looking sweet, i just hope the motor is fine. I can't wait to see some video when it's all done.

[VA72C10]

hope it checks out okay!

[ronh72c10]

Thanks guys, I'm nearly done my core support mods for the wider rad, just need to weld in the lower cups and weld in some nuts for the battery boxes.

Ron

[ronh72c10]

Here's links to all of the youtube videos of the core support mods so far, I still need to weld in the lower cups but have to pick up a set of 4 core ones first.

1972 K25 - Core Support Mods Part 1 (same as...

1972 K25 - Core Support Mods Part 2

1972 K25 - Core Support Mods Part 3

1972 K25 - Core Support Mods Part 4

1972 K25 - Core Support Mods Part 5

1972 K25 - Core Support Mods Part 6

1972 K25 - Core Support Work Stalled

[ronh72c10]

Today I started taking apart the rear hubs to remove the bearings, races and seals from the dana 60, so that I could get them tomorrow from napa. In the video I show todays update as well what's meant by a fully floating axle.

Ron

1972 K25 - Dana 60 Bearing and Seal Removal

[thirdstreettito]

Nice build! I love 6.2/6.5's. Its great you are doing a swap. Most people dont realize how great diesels really are, they cant get over the noise and smoke. You are doin great! If you have an 6.2/6.5 questions just ask. I know way to much about them. lol