78 K20 custom delux "modern meets vintage" build thread

[Stephen Watson]

How does the VVT work out with the manual trans? We're putting a L92 into a K30 with a full manual TH400 and our engine guy didn't like running the VVT without the corresponding auto trans talking with it. I assume he didn't think the cam phasor could keep up with a manual shift.

Of course your manual shift is not the same as a full manual auto. Maybe the tiny bit of extra time to shift a manual is all the engine needs to move the cam?

Cool truck!

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by Stephen Watson

How does the VVT work out with the manual trans? We're putting a L92 into a K30 with a full manual TH400 and our engine guy didn't like running the VVT without the corresponding auto trans talking with it. I assume he didn't think the cam phasor could keep up with a manual shift.

Of course your manual shift is not the same as a full manual auto. Maybe the tiny bit of extra time to shift a manual is all the engine needs to move the cam?

Cool truck!

Thank you!

To be perfectly honest, I don´t know exactly what changes on the programming have been made. Jared at Current Performance did all the computer stuff. It took us A LOT of tries to get it working though. I know we used a combination of an ´08 Escalade, an ´08 Denali truck and some custom tune.

Have you had the engine run yet? If not, the main hurdle is that the engine goes in a limb mode when ot is in Park or neutral. Without a trans computer, it always thinks it is in P or N. So then the RPMs are limited and it cuts power. If you programm it to be in drive, it won´t start!

I can ask Jared for some more specifics if you´d like.

All I can say, now that it works, it drives awesome. Unbelievable how nice the torque curve stays up. It´s a blast to drive.

Let me ask him Monday and I´ll get back to you.

What K30 are you putting it into?

[Stephen Watson]

This is one we're building for this year's Ultimate Adventure trip, and other such fun. It might as well be anything GM but it's most of a '85 K30 cab and about half of the frame. We cut the top into a convertible, cut the frame behind the cab and rebuilt from 2x3 tube and frenched the 4 link into the frame front and rear. Cam'd 6.2L, TH400, Magnum and a early ford D60 front and 14 bolt rear. Should be pretty fun. Right now we're trying to burp coolant and bleed brakes. Pacific Fab/Tilden Motorsports did the engine and base tune. We're supposed to hit the dyno monday morning but we need some things to go right for that to happen.

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by Stephen Watson

This is one we're building for this year's Ultimate Adventure trip, and other such fun. It might as well be anything GM but it's most of a '85 K30 cab and about half of the frame. We cut the top into a convertible, cut the frame behind the cab and rebuilt from 2x3 tube and frenched the 4 link into the frame front and rear. Cam'd 6.2L, TH400, Magnum and a early ford D60 front and 14 bolt rear. Should be pretty fun. Right now we're trying to burp coolant and bleed brakes. Pacific Fab/Tilden Motorsports did the engine and base tune. We're supposed to hit the dyno monday morning but we need some things to go right for that to happen.

Wow, that sounds interesting! I´m sure you´ll love the cam´d 6.2 when it works under full power! Are you running your front 4-link kit or something custom?

I will try to get a hold of Jared first thing Monday morning (he´s in Florida), so maybe by the time you get to work monday I might have some more info for you. I can´t promise anything but I´ll try to get you the info you need.
I´d be really interested to see the dyno chart once you get it all up and running!

I still need to dyno mine as well.

[Stephen Watson]

mostly off the shelf 4 link front and rear. Few little twists like frenching the brackets into the extra depth of the K30 frame but largely "stock". We haven't made a lot of noise about the rear kit but it's been working well on a limited production basis so far. 14" front travel, 17" in the back. Should be pretty fun in the rough!

The VVT question is interesting but trivial now since the cam is a LS3 version and all the VVT stuff has been removed. It might be more accurate to call it a LS3 with truck accessories now? I am curious about it though.

Back to work, left at 3am last night after swapping a hydroboost and master unit to get power brakes working. aarrgg. New and rebuilt stuff that's supposed to work still needs massaging I guess.

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by Stephen Watson

mostly off the shelf 4 link front and rear. Few little twists like frenching the brackets into the extra depth of the K30 frame but largely "stock". We haven't made a lot of noise about the rear kit but it's been working well on a limited production basis so far. 14" front travel, 17" in the back. Should be pretty fun in the rough!

The VVT question is interesting but trivial now since the cam is a LS3 version and all the VVT stuff has been removed. It might be more accurate to call it a LS3 with truck accessories now? I am curious about it though.

Back to work, left at 3am last night after swapping a hydroboost and master unit to get power brakes working. aarrgg. New and rebuilt stuff that's supposed to work still needs massaging I guess.

I´m really interested in how you "frenched" the link mounts into the frame! Is the rear 4-link the one with the triagulated lowers and the straight upper links?

I see, you basically built an LS3 truck engine. I will still ask Jared what he did with the programming and will get back to you on that.

Doesn´t everything never work right out of the box!? Hope you get it all running for the UA! Good luck.

[Stephen Watson]

Check our photobucket for this truck here:
http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/OR...?sort=3&page=1

I have more pics to throw in there, maybe today. The rear triangulates upper and lower (a little). The exhaust is a pain to work around the frame side of the uppers but having them on the outside of the frame makes it pretty sensitive to roll center height and the double triangulated system works well pretty much no matter what. and gives a LOT of real estate to mount the coil over shock or even a straight coil spring if you want. And since the lowers attach to the frame rails it's way easier to build. If they have to converge to the center of the truck you have to have a super beefy crossmember that is tough to build in. Attaching to the frame is a natural easy to deal with strong point.

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by Stephen Watson

Check our photobucket for this truck here:
http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/OR...?sort=3&page=1

I have more pics to throw in there, maybe today. The rear triangulates upper and lower (a little). The exhaust is a pain to work around the frame side of the uppers but having them on the outside of the frame makes it pretty sensitive to roll center height and the double triangulated system works well pretty much no matter what. and gives a LOT of real estate to mount the coil over shock or even a straight coil spring if you want. And since the lowers attach to the frame rails it's way easier to build. If they have to converge to the center of the truck you have to have a super beefy crossmember that is tough to build in. Attaching to the frame is a natural easy to deal with strong point.

Thanks for the link. Engine sounds great and I love the way you frenched the mounts into the frame! really cool! I assume I will have to have the upper links in the fron bent like yours to clear the frame and tires when locked all the way. I would love to see more pictures on the suspension setup.

Did you move the steering box forward because you wanted to extend the wheelbase/move the front axle forward? Or was it that you needed to clear the now driver side diff?

The rear setup looks great too. I´m affraid on mine, being a long bed, the rear 4-link bars would either have to be extremely long or the mounts would have to move way down below the frame. Need to get the front in first though...

[BBM3]

I saw this picture on the first page and thought to myself, Done. Why 7 more pages? Now I know.
As much as I like the original looking '78 your transformation is awesome.

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by BBM3

I saw this picture on the first page and thought to myself, Done. Why 7 more pages? Now I know.
As much as I like the original looking '78 your transformation is awesome.

Thank you!

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by Stephen Watson

Check our photobucket for this truck here:
http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/OR...?sort=3&page=1

I have more pics to throw in there, maybe today. The rear triangulates upper and lower (a little). The exhaust is a pain to work around the frame side of the uppers but having them on the outside of the frame makes it pretty sensitive to roll center height and the double triangulated system works well pretty much no matter what. and gives a LOT of real estate to mount the coil over shock or even a straight coil spring if you want. And since the lowers attach to the frame rails it's way easier to build. If they have to converge to the center of the truck you have to have a super beefy crossmember that is tough to build in. Attaching to the frame is a natural easy to deal with strong point.

So I talked to jared and he told me all the factory VVT settings in the computer are still there and fully functional. The VVT relies on load (pedal sensor) and the RPM to change the VVT settings. Therefore you can run that with any transmision regardless of a computer. So also in your application I would assume it should work fine.

Time to swap the cam and VVT stuff back into yours and try it out!

Let me know if you have any more questions!

[K20chevy]

This is what the new back up/work lights look like lit up ...

at dusk:



at night:





The camera doesn´t do these justice, they are way brighter than seen in the pics! I love them!

[1985-GMC]

Those are bad ass!

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by 1985-GMC

Those are bad ass!

Thanks! I´ll mount two more on the roll bar at roof level and maybe one on each side facing to either side. 360° of LED lighting! :P

[1985-GMC]

Haha nice! I need good backup lights

[CodyWorks]

This truck is amazing. I'll trade you HAHAHA!!!

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by 1985-GMC

Haha nice! I need good backup lights

You don´t realize how much you Need good back up lights until you Need to hook up a Trailer at night or back up at night offroading! These are the SII from Baja Designs. They are realy good!

Originally Posted by CodyWorks

This truck is amazing. I'll trade you HAHAHA!!!

Thank you! The truck doesn´t want to trade the owner though! It just told me!

[1985-GMC]

Yeah I came to that realization a few months ago when I was backing my dually down to the lake at night and got stuck on top of a rock with my rear sway bar.

[Stephen Watson]

Originally Posted by K20chevy

Thanks for the link. Engine sounds great and I love the way you frenched the mounts into the frame! really cool! I assume I will have to have the upper links in the fron bent like yours to clear the frame and tires when locked all the way. I would love to see more pictures on the suspension setup.

Did you move the steering box forward because you wanted to extend the wheelbase/move the front axle forward? Or was it that you needed to clear the now driver side diff?

The rear setup looks great too. I´m affraid on mine, being a long bed, the rear 4-link bars would either have to be extremely long or the mounts would have to move way down below the frame. Need to get the front in first though...

The steering box went forward to give room for the axle to move forward. We only went a couple inches but the extra room was nice to have.

The rear link mounts on an actual longbed (as opposed to our bobbed frame) get pretty goofy since the frame is so high right where they need to tie in. In our case they landed just behind the flat part of the frame so we pretty much just extended that section and it worked out nice.

After spending some time in the truck we're not messing with the engine now, it runs great. It put 348hp to the ground on 40s when we tuned it and drives great.

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by Stephen Watson

The steering box went forward to give room for the axle to move forward. We only went a couple inches but the extra room was nice to have.

The rear link mounts on an actual longbed (as opposed to our bobbed frame) get pretty goofy since the frame is so high right where they need to tie in. In our case they landed just behind the flat part of the frame so we pretty much just extended that section and it worked out nice.

After spending some time in the truck we're not messing with the engine now, it runs great. It put 348hp to the ground on 40s when we tuned it and drives great.

Do you have some more pictures from the front link setup?

That is my concern, that I would have to build outriggers extending down from the frame quite far on the long bed frame to have the links where they need to be. We´ll see how the rear goes, once I get the front done.

Glad you like the engine. If you ever decide to change it or build another one, let me know. I´m more than happy to help!

[youngblood78]

Beautiful truck i'll bet you can get down and move witht that ls3

[K20chevy]

Originally Posted by youngblood78

Beautiful truck i'll bet you can get down and move witht that ls3

Thanks! Yes, it does go pretty good! It is not an LS3, it is an L92, so no Corvette engine, it is a Escalade/Denali truck Motor form GM Performance parts and has VVT, which the LS3 doesn´t have. So a way flatter and nicer torque curve!

[K20chevy]

OK,

finally did get a few more things done. A little winter work as well.

For starters, this is a reproduction with a little twist of the original Vic Hickey roll bars that were available for these trucks in the 70´s. The top line is not straigh though, I had it rolled to match the roof line. Looks more slick that way. Instead of thin wall 2" DOM, this here is made out of 1.75"x.120 wall chromoly tubing. It´ll tie into the frame, just like the cab cage will, when the new body is on. Oh and 4 9" offroad lights will go on top, for that truely vintage look!

enjoy:

[K20chevy]

Finally all the tail lights are hooked up and converted to LED. Looks amazing and works so slick!

OEM tail lights are converted with Dakota Digital LED kits, the side markers use 4000K OSRAM LEDs and the original back up lights now house amber OSRAM LEDs for turnsignals.

The bumper houses the HELLA all LED secondarry tail lights with amber LED turn signals, tail/brake lights and back up lights. The 3 marker lights are also LED as well as the LED lisence plate lights. I´ll post a cell video some other time.



Here are the LED backup/work lights from Baja Designs.

[slotard]

Very nice build. Do you have any more info on the rear brakes? I'd like to put discs on my 14FF soon, hadn't heard of using Dodge stuff before.