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1994 K3500 extended cab dually

My thinking with the smaller sleeves is not so much to fight cylinder cracking, but to add more strength to the block as a whole by having the thicker walls. That along with maybe some block fill potentially. I know the webs would still be a weak point, but if the rest of the block flexes less then maybe it will help the webs survive. It’s just a thought I’ve had, no idea if it’s valid or not, but I’m wanting to give it a go someday and see what happens.
 
Yup. That unused and pipeplugged Temp Gauge Sender port in the back of the passenger head is perfect for monitoring the self-destruct engine temperature, far more realistic than the one in the front of the driver side head.
 
n8in8or said:
My thinking with the smaller sleeves is not so much to fight cylinder cracking, but to add more strength to the block as a whole by having the thicker walls. That along with maybe some block fill potentially. I know the webs would still be a weak point, but if the rest of the block flexes less then maybe it will help the webs survive. It’s just a thought I’ve had, no idea if it’s valid or not, but I’m wanting to give it a go someday and see what happens.
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It souldn't hurt at all to partially fill the block. It would make the block much more rigid, and since the combustion event and resulting heat is primarily in the head anyway, you can fill the block to a couple of inches from the deck. The key is making sure that the rest of the cooling system (ie: radiator) can transfer and shed the heat efficiently enough. This isn't going to be a single-pass gasser dragster with a completely filled block.
 
I got my direction forward figured out today. Last December I pulled a 2003 Optimizer out of a utility truck at the junkyard. I pulled the top end off while there and found that one of the rocker buttons was broken so I was pretty sure that was why the truck had been retired and felt good about bringing it home. Upon teardown at home I found it was all crack free so I put it on the shelf for later use. This seemed like a good one to use for this truck so today I dug it out to see what the bearings looked like. Of course it needs cam bearings like pretty much all used Optimizers do, but it also needs rods and mains. While I didn’t mic the crank yet, it looks like it will only need a polish to be ready to use.

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Well I’m not wanting to spend the money and time to rebuild this short block right now, so I’m going to leave it on the stand and build it for Krovvy. Instead I am going to use the short block from the Tahoe that I was going to put in Krovvy. It’s still pretty fresh so I can put it right in with just a new set of heads. It has the -.010 pistons in it which I wanted to save for Krovvy, but it will be fine in this truck. I just happen to have a set of standard thickness Victor Reinz head gaskets in stock so that will be a nice match with the reduced comp height pistons - a little compression drop, but not a ton.

So this afternoon I ordered new valve springs and seals, then I got started on the heads. I removed all of the valves from the heads since about half were junk. Then I removed all the valves from the Tahoe’s heads because they were still good, but the heads were unfortunately cracked. But you know, I just can’t put a set of stock heads on this thing so I got the carbides out and got to work porting. I got the first exhaust port pretty much done and the first intake port started.

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Way behind on updates. I was still working on heads most of the past few days. I kept finding spots I wanted to make better so I’d go back and do more on all of them.....I was finally happy with the exhaust ports and then I also got the intakes to my liking. I started finalizing the second intake port when I decided I was pushing this too far. I hadn’t hit water anywhere yet, but I honestly didn’t know how close I was getting in spots. I THINK the closest spot I have is .070” thick, but I don’t know for sure, especially since these are GM castings. The last thing I need is a head to fail while I’m towing something hundreds of miles from home. I’ll use these heads on something else, just not on this particular rig, so it wasn’t a total waste of time. Here’s how they were looking.

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So I put the heads to the side and pulled out a set of Optimizer castings I had. I forgot how much nicer these castings are to begin with!! I’ll be spending most of this weekend working on these.

I spent last weekend working on a couple other things. During a grinding break I decided I was tired of looking at that huge wiring harness in the engine compartment, so I took it off the truck and removed all of the wiring necessary for the computer controls. It was a lot of extra wiring. It looks bad right now unloomed, but I know what I need is still there. I’ll reloom it once the engine is back in so I can make sure everything gets run where I want it. On that subject.....I can’t figure out what this relay is. It isn’t in any wiring diagrams I can find. It’s on the firewall by the wiper motor. Anyone know what it is?

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And then I did this. My brother was at a friend’s place when he noticed a GMT400 with bumper holes sitting out back. It was a 92 K3500 dually with a turbo 6.5 in it. It had a newer Jasper trans in it, new fuel tank, new flexplate, new NAPA starter and some other things. It wasn’t running - they said it acted like it wasn’t getting fuel. $300 and it was mine. Shoot it was worth that just in parts! So I got that home and put behind the barn. At first I thought about putting a flat bed on it and making it a replacement for my F350 flatbed, but the frame and body have some rust issues....nothing I can‘t fix, just not sure I want to deal with them. The current thought is to grab parts off of it I can use on current projects and then eventually turn it into a truggy with some other parts I have lying around. Gotta get a couple other things done before I do that though.....like the skid steer. Right, Husker!? 😅

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Funny- I live west coast and LOVE those mirrors. I want tiny on regular pickups ut work truck those are the best imo. There is one 6.5 HD in my department at work with the smaller mirrors and everyone hates backing up that truck. I think its a 99/2000 and rumor has it will go to auction this year. For sure would have this year if not for corona making budget concerns. Many trucks out here have a sticker on back saying law says give 3’ for bicycles- I guess most of that is for these bigger mirrors to clear? Haha

yeah, dont find any $300 deals here anymore.
 
Got the intake ports done today. Despite my best intentions to not go crazy, I did anyway. I just didn’t like how the short side radius looked so I spent a lot of time working on those. I’m pleased with the results though. Exhaust ports tomorrow.

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Aluminum.... you would need a smelting rig to melt it, then heat the heads to 400-500* first, seal the port bowl and pore from the top... shape the bowl and your done.
 
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