Project Suspended License: 71 C10 SWB LSx swap

[Jon01]

Last fall I got the hankering to do another LS swap into something of my own vs. doing it for friends.
In the past I've had some pretty stout LS powere toys, 02 SLP SS, 05 GTO both of which had some nice mods and ran very well.

Lately I've been into more beaterish stuff. Shiny toys are nice but I get tired of always worrying about where they're parked, who's parked next to them, will they be there when I go back out, etc...
So, on the search for a Chevy beaterish vehicle I went. Criteria: Not too rotted, will fit an LS motor and look cool doing burnouts and generally acting like a 16 year old(see thread title).

I looked at several platforms, stovebolts, tri-fives, even early 240Z's when I came across a 71 C10 that a friend brought up from Georgia but they had a baby so he couldn't get to it.
I went and looked at it, while it was fairly solid it did need some rust repair - inner rockers, cab mounts and a couple small spots on the floor were weak. The bed floor was pretty rotted from what I would guess were years of sitting with leaves in it.

Struck a deal and drug it home last ~ October.



I drove it around some last fall, it really is a nice driving truck. The 350 ran well and didn't smoke. But, it wouldn't smoke the tires so it had to go.
I put an ad up on CL and eventually it sold so a buddy came over and helped me pop it out one afternoon.

I then picked up a 5.3/4L60E figuring on a cheap/easy swap with a mostly stock motor(cam/headers). I then had a guy offer a bunch of $ for the 5.3/4L60E so I sold it.
I also accumulated a multitude of knick-knack parts for the swap - crossmember, adapter plates, headers, accessories, intake, etc...
I went thru a few more motors in the same fashion until I eventually came across a VERY complete LQ4/4L80E swap out of an 05 3/4 ton out in Vegas.
I had it brought back to Iowa where I promptly tore it down to a shortblock.
I've chopped up harnesses in the past however for this one I elected to spend the $ and send it off to be modified. Used BP Automotive. Bill did a great job, turned it around within a week and the harness is real nice, plus his fuse box is very good quality. I'd recommend him in a heartbeat and will use him on all my harnesses going forward.

Mods are:
243/799 heads off of an 08 TBSS milled .030 for compression
Cometic HG's
Custom Tick camshaft
BTR duals/Ti retainers
Moly pushrods
LS7 lifters
FAST 90mm intake
F-body rails/EV1 injectors
LS2 GTO DBW T/B
F-body accessories
Powerbond UDP
TBSS headers
3600 stall Revmax converter

A few weeks back a couple friends came by and we stuffed it all in the truck:


I used the cheapo adapter plates on Ebay that're like $30. They fit great and put the motor right in line so the CPP trans x-member bolted right in with minimal BFH'ing.

The next week or so my dad came over and we monkeyed around with the little stuff required to get things moving along - pulled the column, clutch pedal, etc...
We also played with the wiring, fitting this and that up trying to figure out how we wanted it run.
Eventually we decided to run the interior stuff thru the old clutch rod grommet.


Pardon the mess, I'm replacing the old black carpet once this is done with some nice blue but for now it keeps me from having to lay on the floor.

We worked on it over the weekend and got the computer, fuse box and TCM mounted. I'll snap some pics of it tonight.
Last night we customed up the throttle pedal and got it mounted as well as ran the wiring out to the TCM.
Tonight I plan on cleaning up my 4L80E yoke and getting a measurement for the driveshaft length so I can drop the stocker off to be shortened.
If it's not too hot we're going to try to get the column shoved in and the trans linkage hooked up.


That's where I stand as of now. I'll try to get more pics for stuff to look at for y'all.
General plan is to have it up and running this weekend.