My 1973 K10 Chevy Cheyenne
- Thread starter Chris
- Start date
In my world , I've given up the few h.p. at the top end using a crossover pipe . The sound of true separate dual exhaust is worth it ! It's a pickup , not a F-1 car .
Your truck sounds good Chris !
I agree
It's not like I'm going to be going much faster than 100 MPH in this thing. Even that is a bit of a stretch. I think the fastest I've had it is 80 MPH and that's fine with me.
It really does sound excellent with the exhaust setup. My neighbor loves it every time I fire it up. He's an old school Chevy guy so when I brought it home he was elated!
I set up my 70 that way with the 6.0l. Love the alternating blat,blat from the tips at idle!
Yep, my Mustang had the crossover X-pipe and it gave it more of a throaty race car sound. For this old thing I think the separated exhausts sound better.
Today I started on the latest project which is installing the Dakota Digital VHX gauge cluster, new dash pad, and new HVAC vents. After I'm done here I'm going to put the new fuel tanks in and wire them up so the dual fuel tanks work with the factory dash switch.
Here's the old dash pad I removed which was some sort of cheap low quality reproduction from LMC. Look at how warped and awful it looks!
Upon removing it I found out that this truck used to be a different color!
Here's the new Dakota Digital VHX gauge cluster that will be going in:
And finally, here's the new dash pad. I got it from Dashes Direct which ostensibly makes the most accurate (and quality) reproduction dash pads available. You can easily tell how much higher quality it is than the one I removed. Night and day difference!
Perhaps the best part about all of this is that I was able to remove the dash pad, gauge cluster, HVAC vents, and everything else in less than 30 minutes. We all know that would be impossible to do on any modern vehicle!
Here's the old dash pad I removed which was some sort of cheap low quality reproduction from LMC. Look at how warped and awful it looks!
Upon removing it I found out that this truck used to be a different color!
Here's the new Dakota Digital VHX gauge cluster that will be going in:
And finally, here's the new dash pad. I got it from Dashes Direct which ostensibly makes the most accurate (and quality) reproduction dash pads available. You can easily tell how much higher quality it is than the one I removed. Night and day difference!
Perhaps the best part about all of this is that I was able to remove the dash pad, gauge cluster, HVAC vents, and everything else in less than 30 minutes. We all know that would be impossible to do on any modern vehicle!
Ochre , was always refereed to as baby shit yellow in my part of the world . Not many folks loved it , at least Chevy didn't put it on Corvettes .
Whoever repainted it did a great job of covering it up. I can't find a single trace of it anywhere on the entire body, even in the seams and underside.
Well your truck was built from at least two , maybe more trucks . It's cool it has great paint .
I'm going to swap a NV4500 into this thing. I really, really miss driving a manual and I realize that the one thing this truck is missing is a manual transmission.
According to ChatGPT a NV4500 would be the easiest manual to swap into this thing. Guess I've got a new winter project.
According to ChatGPT a NV4500 would be the easiest manual to swap into this thing. Guess I've got a new winter project.
According to REAL LIFE the easiest manual would be a CH-465 using all factory parts , except the flywheel . I doubt the stroker 389 is internally balanced.
Of course I'm yankin your chain a little Chris , I get the want for overdrive. In my opinion , spend the extra time to get the earlier NVG -4500 with the 6.34-1 1st gear.
I got a brand new old stock nv4500 upgraded with the latest overdrive retention and cast iron(steel?) tailhousing from midwest transmission years ago. No idea what they have now.
You can bolt an np205 right up to it but you need a round pattern case from the last few years of production and a long 32 spline input from a th400(depending on the nv4500). And adapter would probably be cheaper than that though.
ChatGPT is telling me the following for transmission donor vehicles:
Early GM (92-94): 6.34:1 1st, Cast-Iron top cover
Late GM (95-07): 5.61:1 1st, Aluminum top cover
Do you think that the 6.34:1 is worth it over the 5.61:1? I’ve got 4.10 gears on 33s as you know.
According to my research Advanced Adapters has all of the adapters I would need. I don’t know how accurate it is, but ChatGPT gave me an entire table of all the parts I would need for the conversion as well as the part numbers. I’ll have to post that when I get home. I’m reluctant to blindly trust it, but if it’s accurate it’s a tremendous help.
I know, @ColoJeep, I could probably retrofit something without an overdrive easier, but that NV4500 is a heck of a stout transmission.
For me It would be worth it . Even though this truck won't really be used as a truck. You could get by fine with the 5.61 in your application Chris.
ChatGPT is telling me that the earlier model transmission requires a special gear fluid. Any idea what that’s about?
I’ll probably hunt for the earlier model transmission. I’m going to see if I can get one through a company that rebuilds them. Just have to figure out which company is good to buy from.
With either you'd be starting in second most of the time. The second gear ratios are different between the two and so is reverse. Something to consider.
Chris,keep in mind these shift like old school truck transmissions. The tremec tr4050 is worth looking at for its smoother shifts