Meet Project Red, White, and Blue

[70CHEVYBB]

Looking at your pictures, sorry to say but your center link is on backwards. I found this out the hard way and put mine on backwards, and it drives really bad that way.

[no moa]

Backwards, really. Ill take a look. But that's how my fsm showed it. Thanks for the headed up
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[70CHEVYBB]

I thought the same when I did my disc swap. I did my alignment and could hardly keep the truck on the road. The bigger problem is the idler arm and pitman arm hit the inner tie rods on a full turn (in a parking lot) and will bind and stop the truck from over travel.

[RatRod68]

Originally Posted by no moa

So change of powerplant for this build. Yesterday i bought a GM "SRTA" 4l80e rebuilt tranny for $100. It has 100 miles on it, took it from a 95 van and its been in his garage for while, with that i decided a LQ4/9 is in my future. The 454 i wanted to use is still available, but i think the old man wants to put it in his next blazer. Fine with me, i want better mileage than the 454 will give me.
So the work to save $ and fine a good LQ4/9 is on. Biggest issue will be wiring (i have no clue on what i'll need) and fuel. Going to spend some time reading over on the LSX swap pages.
Going to order up brake lines here pretty quick also.

I used a Howel harness for my wiring. Well worth the money.

Fuel lines will need to be the fuel injection lines. When i plumbed my Ranger, I used the nylon line you can get from Napa. My C10 has the overpriced stuff from Earl's. Fuel pump can be simply an in-line setup like on the corvettes, or in-tank setup. I have the in-tank setup and it works great.

The 6-0 is a gas guzzling torque monster. If you're set on it, I understand. If not, I'd go 5.3 and bore it out to a 5.7. Use a Z06 cam and springs, factory or LS1 heads, an LS6 intake, and a gnarly tune. You will pull 18-20 mpgs and looking real close to 400hp.

[no moa]

Originally Posted by RatRod68

I used a Howel harness for my wiring. Well worth the money.

Fuel lines will need to be the fuel injection lines. When i plumbed my Ranger, I used the nylon line you can get from Napa. My C10 has the overpriced stuff from Earl's. Fuel pump can be simply an in-line setup like on the corvettes, or in-tank setup. I have the in-tank setup and it works great.

The 6-0 is a gas guzzling torque monster. If you're set on it, I understand. If not, I'd go 5.3 and bore it out to a 5.7. Use a Z06 cam and springs, factory or LS1 heads, an LS6 intake, and a gnarly tune. You will pull 18-20 mpgs and looking real close to 400hp.

Thank you, great info. I'll check out that wiring. I already have a Boyds tank, but its the standard tank, i'll have to use a inline set up, and use the spare bung for the return.
The 6.0 is that bad on fuel? Only reason i thought of using it was because its plenty full, and has more wallup than a 5.3. I don't have a good engine person around here that is reasonable to do a bore and rebuild. I'm checked and its more money than i can swing, so for now i'm going to get a good running motor, tranny combo, put it all in, make sure exhaust, fuel, wiring, and such is in good shape and working, then maybe a nice done up motor in the future. Budget is my biggest enemy at this point.
Thank you very much for the input, i greatly appreciate it.
Glen

[RatRod68]

The 6.0 in my dad's 02 HD gets about 8 when towing, and 12 when not. The 5.3/4L60E combo in one of my friends 69 Elcamino gets 16-20. The LS1 in my c10 gets 17-22.

As for the more umph, it does have more of a seat of the pants pull, but thats the torque. A 6.0 has 345hp & 385ft/lbs. A 5.3 has 315hp and 350 ft/lbs.

As you can see, its about a 30 hp and ft/lb difference between the two. If you were racing or pulling heavy loads (around 10k lbs) a lot with this truck, I would say go with the 6L. If you are going to drive the wheels off the truck and burn tires and just raise hell in it, I'd say the 5.3 is a cheaper, and more efficient choice.

Here is some really good info

http://lsspeedshop.com/lsandlsinspir...questions.aspx

[no moa]

Thats a good read, thank you. I believe i'm going to go with a l33 for this swap. Will work good, and i can use my 4l80e that i got for cheap. And i don't intend to race or pull heavy loads, just a small boat or 2.

[RatRod68]

Originally Posted by no moa

Thats a good read, thank you. I believe i'm going to go with a l33 for this swap. Will work good, and i can use my 4l80e that i got for cheap. And i don't intend to race or pull heavy loads, just a small boat or 2.

L33's are SCHWEET, but hard to find at dirt cheap prices. LM7's are about a dime a dozen and you can usually find them in pick-a-part/u-pull-it yards for under 300 bucks.

[no moa]

I found a couple l33's tey are big money, $1500-2200 bucks, but I figure if im going to do it, get a good one.
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[aggie91]

Just read thru this whole build, sucks that you got shafted on what it actually was to begin with, but you have made good progress. I'm doing the 5.3 swap in my son's '82, we are looking for that fun factor with good mileage.

What is the latest on this one? I know with the holidays and such it has not been a great time to make progress.

[no moa]

No progress, working on other things, saving up for a motor. Ill do some cab work over the next couple months.
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[no moa]

Sat in the garage last night and considered selling the whole damned thing.

then This am i got a call and a buddy said he might be able to get me a screaming deal on a brand new bed floor. That would get me back on track to reassmeble the truck and be able to see what i'm going to need for bodywise. untill i can afford the motor i want. At least it would look like a truck. lol

[Zoomin]

Hang in there my friend. Glad to hear about the floor coming available.

[RenoKeene]

Shake it off, rub some dirt on it and get back out there...if I can build a truck I know you can.
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[no moa]

Thanks guys, it wont get the l33. To much money that i don't have with needing tires for the CTS-V and other stuff. Guess a 5.3 or 6.0 will do. ugh.

[RatRod68]

oh darn. lol

[no moa]

Lol, I'm trying to be optimistic. Lol
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[no moa]

Looks like i caught another break (fingers crossed) friend has a 2000 1500 4x4 5.3, complete truck. fairly cheap. That would work great for all the stuff i need engine wise. Maybe things are going to move forward on this heap.

[no moa]

Well i'm sorry to say, this project is over. I sold the cab this am, they are coming to get it sunday, and i will start to list some things for sale soon.

Some things came up, and it literally tears me apart inside, but i have no choice. I had so much fun working on it, but now its not going to happen.

Thanks all for the support, and kind words on the build. It was just to much for my to handle.

[Zoomin]

Wow! Sorry to hear this but I completely understand. You put up a good fight that's for sure, and you learned a ton doing it. I hope things turn around for you and you get something better in the long run.

[no moa]

Thank you Steve
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[no moa]

They came last night and bought the cab, just the cab, so i need to strip it this weekend. It needed work, and i actually made some money on it, not alot.

I've decided to box up most all the parts i've been buying for the last 2 years, and put them in storage at work, along with the frame. At a time when i am able, i think i'll find a nice clean shortbed from somewhere, and start with a nice basic, clean truck. Thats my thought anyway.

[no moa]

Well, my neighbor had a stroke couple months ago, and has decided to sell off 8 acres of his property that borders me, so i'm in the process of trying to come up with some $. I listed most of the big parts from this truck locally, i'll be listing the small stuff on here next week.
Its tough when your dream truck has to go, but i don't want new neighbors.

[Zoomin]

If its any consolation, land is a much better investment!
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[Benny00z71]

Originally Posted by Zoomin

If its any consolation, land is a much better investment!
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I agree. A wise choice. Another project will come along I'm sure