Just picked up an LT4 swapped '86 C10
 

Hey y'all, I just picked up a new to me '86 C10 Silverado with a '96 LT4 swap. Working through some issues with it, but the intent is to daily drive it so I can sell my newer truck & get rid of any car payments! Working on tracking down why I experienced massive oil loss (2 quarts in ~250 miles) without seeing or smelling burning oil. The front of the engine was wet so put new timing cover gaskets/seals in. Hopefully that helps.



Next up is fixing the amateur hour wiring job one of the previous owners did (i.e. turn signals only work when headlights are off). Anyway, glad to be here & I expect I'll be spending an inordinate amount of time on the forum as I work through everything.

https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...Jg&oe=66F2095B

Re: Just picked up an LT4 swapped '86 C10
 

Nice rig! Sucks you're eating oil though, might be time to bust out the bore scope and take a look in the cylinders. Its either burning it or leaking it, not many options for losing that much oil that quickly.

As far as wiring goes, should be pretty simple to track down if you have a decent schematic and a DMM. If you need any electrical help just holler

Re: Just picked up an LT4 swapped '86 C10
 

Thanks! My concern is it's either the rings or valve seals - the threads on my plugs were soaked, though the tips were dry. One is a pain, the other is a giant pain.

I may end up pulling all the random aftermarket wiring the guy did out & redoing it properly. Can't stand to have stuff rigged.

Re: Just picked up an LT4 swapped '86 C10
 

I recently redid my entire engine compartment harness, found all the old style Delphi bulkhead connectors and the terminals that they use. I'm talking about the bulkhead connector that feeds through the firewall from the fuse block. Did some cool tricks with it as well, running some extra 12v and ground wires through the connector and the back out another connector to hide electric fan wiring and other non-stock electrical but its all hidden in seemingly stock wiring harness.

Re: Just picked up an LT4 swapped '86 C10
 

It's pretty rare to see a gen2 SBC swap! Do you have any engine bay pics? Those 1990's LT1 and LT4 engines were some of the best looking engines out there.

Re: Just picked up an LT4 swapped '86 C10
 

Good looking Square! :metal:

Re: Just picked up an LT4 swapped '86 C10
 

That's one of the reasons I was drawn to the truck - unique engine swap but still has plentiful parts available & isn't a standard 5.3 swap.

Nabbed some pictures from the ad; not the cleanest wiring job, so I'll be working on getting that squared away eventually. Spent the weekend working through some of the wonky wiring one of the POs did.

All lights are functioning as they should now, next up is getting the horns squared away, figuring out why my HVAC fan & control aren't working correctly, and getting the A/C squared away.


https://scontent-atl3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...VQ&oe=66F72874
https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...7Q&oe=66F75129

Re: Just picked up an LT4 swapped '86 C10
 

glad to see you signed on over here too (saw post on GMSQUAREBODY FORUM TOO) nice truck. there are some really really cool and great builds on this board for you to look at!! I would highly recommend taking a afternoon & looking thru some the builds on here. also keep us posted on any additions to the new star!

Re: Just picked up an LT4 swapped '86 C10
 

Those are good engines, not the "prettiest" but they run strong!