1971 GMC SWB "No Direction" LS build

[GAc10boy]

Originally Posted by lowlyfec10

you buy a radiator yet? ive been contemplating on selling my near new griffin radiator 8-70013 for the LS style radiator. can cut you a deal on it if you want. just lmk

I haven't yet. I think i can make my existing radiator work for now but PM and we can talk about it.

Quick update:

We FINALLY got the trans back this week and Bill is planning to mate it to the motor and drop it in tomorrow afternoon. I'm heading down Saturday afternoon to help out but we've still got a lot to do from there (shorten driveshaft, run exhaust, figure out power steering, etc) but we'll hopefully have made some serious progress after the weekend.

Also, Bill's decided to change headers on his 6.0 burb build so he conveniently offered me his Sanderson CSLS1 shorties (in exchange for $$$ of course) so the TBSS manifolds will likely be for sale after this weekend.

[flashed]

Its about time you gave us an update you slacker ,LOL ,just kidding Robbie .Glad you guys are making progress and look forward to more updates .

[GAc10boy]

Originally Posted by flashed

Its about time you gave us an update you slacker ,LOL ,just kidding Robbie .Glad you guys are making progress and look forward to more updates .

ha! thanks, John. We've definitely been slacking in the "wrench-turning" department but not the "parts-buying, waiting on the trans" department. Hopefully, we'll really be able to make some progress starting tomorrow.

On another note, I still want those buddy buckets in your white truck (or your red truck for that matter) if you ever decide to sell them.

[Number98]

Originally Posted by GAc10boy

On another note, I still want those buddy buckets in your white truck (or your red truck for that matter) if you ever decide to sell them.

Well here is the deal, I will take the white truck and you can have the buckets.... I think we have a deal... What do you think John?

[GAc10boy]

Originally Posted by Number98

Well here is the deal, I will take the white truck and you can have the buckets.... I think we have a deal... What do you think John?

Now, that's a deal if I've ever heard one....

[flashed]

I dont like ya'lls deal so good for some strange reason ,besides the white truck is gone .I'll shoot the first one stealing my BuddyBuckets out of the red truck ,LOL .Im gonna have to watch the two of you .

[GAc10boy]

Originally Posted by flashed

I dont like ya'lls deal so good for some strange reason ,besides the white truck is gone .I'll shoot the first one stealing my BuddyBuckets out of the red truck ,LOL .Im gonna have to watch the two of you .

Haha! We'd never do that to you, John. So you got rid of the white truck, huh?

[flashed]

Robbie ,I am still the legal owner but its no longer in my possession ,LOL.

[GAc10boy]

Originally Posted by flashed

Robbie ,I am still the legal owner but its no longer in my possession ,LOL.

Well, alright. I would've gladly taken her off your hands for that deal.

[flashed]

Robbie ,it is at the body shop , just needed it out of the way for a while .The shop owner is going to get it running again and use it to pull his camper .In return for the use of the truck he is going to paint it and modify the bed for me . Winning deal for us both I think ,Im going to visit it tomorrow as I have the day off and see what we can get planned on it . Luckily it does not need any body repair .

[GAc10boy]

Originally Posted by flashed

Robbie ,it is at the body shop , just needed it out of the way for a while .The shop owner is going to get it running again and use it to pull his camper .In return for the use of the truck he is going to paint it and modify the bed for me . Winning deal for us both I think ,Im going to visit it tomorrow as I have the day off and see what we can get planned on it . Luckily it does not need any body repair .

Sounds like a fair deal to me!

[GAc10boy]

Pretty good progress this weekend. We got the old motor mounts out, old exhaust out, driveshaft out, and old tranny crossmember out. Thankfully someone had messed with it prior and it was bolted in, not riveted.

We also discovered two exhaust manifold bolts broken off into the head. Thanks to some seriously cool thinking by biohazardbill we got them both out. One was broken off pretty deep in the head. Also, the number one spark plug was cross threaded as well so we got that retapped.

The CPP sheet metal stands went in really well and all seemed to work really well with each other once we figured out how everything needed to be positioned. Great product, terrible instructions. Anyway, the motor, newly built 700r4, and tubular tranny crossmember are in and the 15x8 truck rallys on. They still have the roller tires on them but I've bought some new 255/70s all the way around. I'll be going back and cleaning, painting, and touching things up when I blow it apart in the future. For now, I'm trying to get it in drivable mock-up form.

It was a long day of work and not a lot of pics so forgive the pictures in the dark. I'll get some better ones soon. Still have to run the ignition, locate a few sensors, cut the driveshaft, install headers and run exhaust, etc.

Definitely getting closer!

We'll start with this one. It's self explanatory.

[Number98]

Very Cool!

[Blown06]

Now that's a productive weekend, nice job.

[flashed]

Looks good Robbie .

[lowlyfec10]

noice. i have a guy im buyin tbss manifolds for $30 shipped unless you wanna sell me yours lol

what plates you using? cuz with my cpp stands i have them in the 6cyl frame holes with my sliders....wont work in the v8 holes -_-

[slowcpe]

Very nice Robbie!

Broken manifold bolts appear to be a common thing. The biggest reason why I haven't put headers on my Tahoe. I lack patience when working on my DD. On my 6.0 I think I'm going to soak them in PB Blaster for a few weeks.

[GAc10boy]

Originally Posted by Number98

Very Cool!

Thank ye, sir!

Originally Posted by Blown06

Now that's a productive weekend, nice job.

It was an exhausting but crucial weekend. Glad we got that done.

Originally Posted by flashed

Looks good Robbie .

Thanks, John!

Originally Posted by lowlyfec10

noice. i have a guy im buyin tbss manifolds for $30 shipped unless you wanna sell me yours lol

what plates you using? cuz with my cpp stands i have them in the 6cyl frame holes with my sliders....wont work in the v8 holes -_-

I'm using the CPP sheetmetal stands and the CPP sliders and mounting plates that came with their LS conversion kit. The stands would only fit in the V8 holes and gave us a nice amount of firewall clearance and placement in the engine compartment. And $30 is a smokin' deal for the TBSS manifolds. I'd jump on that.

Originally Posted by slowcpe

Very nice Robbie!

Broken manifold bolts appear to be a common thing. The biggest reason why I haven't put headers on my Tahoe. I lack patience when working on my DD. On my 6.0 I think I'm going to soak them in PB Blaster for a few weeks.

Thanks, slowcpe! haha yeah it was a real mess but we go them out and looking forward to putting the Sanderson headers on.

[aggie91]

Nice update...

[Justin@EntropyRad]

Coming along nicely. Why the carb?

[GAc10boy]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Nice update...

Thanks, karl! Still following along on your build as well.

Originally Posted by Justin@EntropyRad

Coming along nicely. Why the carb?

Thanks, Justin. I went with the carb bc i like the look of it on the motor, ease of understanding on my end, and I bought the motor with the carb intake already installed - so i let that factor in my decision.

All-in-all I'm happy I did. There's always another build to go full efi. Thanks for checking in!

[Justin@EntropyRad]

Right on! I couldn't tune a carb to save my life, but it definitely looks more period correct

[GAc10boy]

Originally Posted by Justin@EntropyRad

Right on! I couldn't tune a carb to save my life, but it definitely looks more period correct

Haha! I'm not saying I can necessarily tune a carb well but I feel like I can figure it out much faster than I could something computer controlled.

[Number98]

When is it coming home?

[GAc10boy]

Originally Posted by Number98

When is it coming home?

Hopefully in the next two weeks. I ended up ordering a Griffin LS radiator, new belt, and new radiator mounts, so I'm hoping once I get the driveshaft cut and exhaust run, I'll be good to go.