Project "Old Skool" V.3

[americanmusc1e]

I forgot to take some completed pictures. i took it for a drive today for the first time in two months. The interior is much quieter and i can't feel heat coming off the floorboard, but my fuel pump is dying and my wideband O2 sensor is dead

I already have a replacement gsl392 fuel pump. I ordered some AN fittings and a big ass 100micron fuel filter. I'm going to move the fuel pump closer to the tank and replace my somewhat restrictive paper pre-filter with the 100micron one.

[americanmusc1e]

Oh man. No update in over three years. Where do I start? I'm looking back at my camera roll to not miss anything.

I did replace my external fuel pump with another GSL392 and re-worked the feed into the fuel pump with 1/2" fuel line. The short answer is external fuel pumps suck, and gas tanks without a sump suck for EFI. More on that later




Oh, and I finally put my interior back together. I still to this day don't have the visors or the heater blower motor installed, but I have door panels, carpet and arm rests.



I bought another 12-bolt with 3.73 gears to swap in place of my 3.07 axle. Turns out, while everything looked okay, the center pin had friction weleded itself to the carrier, the gears were okay but one axle shaft was toast due to a bad bearing. So i paid $350 for a housing, gears and one axle shaft. yay. I think at this point I had spent $600 on used 12-bolts that didnt' work and I could have bought a set of gears and a posi for my current 12-bolt.



Early 2017 I sold my perfectly good 2008 WRX and bought a clapped out 1997 2wd Jeep Grand Cherokee for a daily driver. This seriously slowed down my truck progress for the rest of the year as I was always working on the ZJ. I put two motors and a transmission in the thing in a year.




some time around June, 2017, the External fuel pump started making noise again. I did weeks of research and I settled on a late 80's blazer EFI tank. The tank was huge and held 26 gallons, but I did it right. Steel hardline down the frame and nice poly braided -6an fuel line on both ends.





I also re-did my previous rear mount battery box for a fuel pump access hatch. I ended up having to use this several times on the side of the highway over the years and it's been very useful.



I realized how much i hated cheap header wrap and I pulled all the old wap off when I changed header gaskets.



The end of 2017 was pretty slow for truck stuff because I got married and bought a house. The only thing noteworthy was that one of my hood hinges broke and i figured out how to remove and reinstall the hood by myself with a cherry picker.

[americanmusc1e]

January 2018. I didn't drive the truck for several months. I drove it on my birthday and had a blast. Took a couple of photos.



I took the truck to the track in Feb, 2018. With the stock 5.3, longtubes, the wide-ratio NV3500 and one tire fire 3.07s, the truck did a respectable mid-15 second pass. I went real easy on the NV3500 shifts. I also didn't take a lot of pictures. My cousin brought his LS-swapped 2000 Ford Ranger with a stock 5.3 and TH350 and ran a mid 13-second pass.



Shortly after that, I wanted more power. So i grabbed my Th400 that I've had for a couple of years and tore it down and rebuilt it. I don't remember the exact parts, but for sure a 34-element sprag and a fairbanks shift kit. I also went with a tiny 2400rpm stall converter to try to maintain streetability. Oh and new pump gears because I learned my lesson on my cousin's Th350 that we blew up the 50 year old pump gears in.

I also went with a TCI fast gate shifter. No regrets there.





While I had the Transmission out, I pulled the 5.3 and freshened it up with a good cleaning, ring gap check, new gaskets and a $100 LS2 cam.





My cousin came up and helped me install the motor and the trans. Turns out that I had a super weird early th400 with the small tailshaft and my yoke didn't fit so we found a spare Th400 from some meth head hillbilly on craigslist so I could have a new tailhousing. That was still a weird adventure we talk about to this day.






The next few months were filled with sorting out new transmission problems. I changed the dipstick and the pan to solve some leaks and had to get my hughes torque converter replaced under warranty because it was bad and causing the truck to have no power on take off. I also finally combined the good 3.73 axle parts with a spartan locker and swapped in a lockered 3.73 axle.



I drove the truck off and on through the summer. The fun factor was down compared to when it was a 5-speed. The truck would barely spin the tires and seemed to be lacking low end. Around october I had an answer. I spent $800 on a used GenV 454. The engine was complete and "running when pulled" according to the redneck I bought it from.



I gathered an intake, carb, distributor and basically every part I needed. Then I put the engine on a stand and tore into it a bit. The top end was super clean, but I got a shock when I got to the bottom end. I found multiple spun rod bearings and spun main bearings. I took the block to a machine shop. They said the rods and the crank were no good. I'd need new rods and crank. My $800 engine had snowballed into a $2000+ rebuild that still wouldn't have more than 400hp. I seriously comtemplated a 489, but priced it out and it quickly went above $3k. I started pricing doing a turbo setup on my 5.3 and i figured i could do it for about $2k and easily clear 500hp.

[americanmusc1e]

Turbo time!

The first thing I did was swap out my converter for a 3000rpm unit with an anti-balloon plate. It's still a cheap Summit branded converter and I wish I had spent a little more.



Next was a Denmah kit from VS racing. This was back when the base Denmah kit came with a 69mm GT45 and I was too dumb to upgrade it. I also ordered 80lb siemens injectors, a Walbro 450, exhaust tubing, schedule 80 pipe, and a LS header flange.



Since I now had a "nice" harbor freight vulcan Mig, I did all my own hotside fabrication. I decided where I wanted the turbo and then built a log-style manifold on the passenger side with a crossover from the factory driver's side manifold. The Factory truck manifold flange wouldn't clear the frame, but i was able to weld a V-band onto it. Turns out the factory exhaust manifolds are quite weldable. no pre-heating and it's still fine 2 years later.








The down-pipe was just 3.5" exhaus tubing dumped right after the front tire. That stayed for approximately one highway trip before I added a 3.5" cherry bomb glasspack and enough tubing to run it in front of the rear tire.





I finished installing the turbo the same day I went to the track. Which was probably not the best time to go in retrospect. I fought issues with boost control. My wastegate wanted to run at 6psi or more than 20psi. I also found out that my breather/pcv setup wasn't adequate for boost. I also found out later that I didnt' have the fire ring in the wastegate and i had serveral boost leaks. Despite all that, I had a ton of fun and managed mid-13s on only 6psi and the turbo spooling about half track. My cousin's Ford Ranger was still faster. He was now on a cammed 6.0 and ran a best of 12.7.









The next several months were just sorting out problems with the turbo setup. I discovered what a wastegate fire ring was and where it went. I added a boost regulator and got dialed in about 12psi. I fixed boost leaks. For Christmas I bought myself a new cam. An Elgin 1840P "sloppy stage 2"

[americanmusc1e]

March 2019 we put the truck on the dyno at the texas mile. She made a max of 419whp and 452 torque, but the power stopped climbing after 4000rpm. I finally figured out a week later that my spark gap was too big and she was blowing out the spark gap at high RPM. Once I gapped the plugs at .025, the power came back. I haven't put it on the dyno since though.




April 2019 I got a nice paycheck and spent it all on a Billet 7875 from VS racing. The new turbo spools a little quicker and will support more power in the future. I also completed my Raspberry Pi based dashboard. It has all the readouts I need plus warning lights if something goes out of bounds.





bonus shot of the fact that my exhaust is larger diameter than my driveshaft



June 2019 we moved out of our 3000sqft warehouse for work, so the truck and a bunch of stuff got crammed in my garage for a while. Truck progress slowed down.





I drove the truck through the summer of 2019, but the spartan locker started giving me issues. It did not like the power I was putting through it and it would unlock completely sometimes and just grind. I decided to buy a yukon posi and go back to my 3.07 gear rear end. I also took the opportunity to do new poly trailing arm bushings and shock relocation brackets.

[americanmusc1e]

Late 2019 I bought a stepside SWB bed from a friend. I then gave my original bed to a guy in San Antonio who needed some parts. I drove back from San Antonio to Austin with no bed. 20+ gallons of fuel in the back helped a lot with stability. I also ordered the Brother's SWB conversion kit.



A month later, I cut the truck in half and shortened it to SWB. I also replaced the driveshaft with a one-piece







Finally I cut the end of the frame off and popped the SWB bed on. There's a plywood bed floor for now because I'm about to change the fuel tank. The 26gal blazer tank sticks out past the plywood and won't clear the bed filler like I had it before. I'm working on a different tank solution now.

[JoryS67K20]

Hello all,
I am the cousin that was mentioned in helping install the 5.3.
I have been quite involved with this truck since pretty early on. (Probably around 2010 or so) it's awesome to see this thread and how much this thing has changed over the last 10 years.

Having helped him with the LS swap I learned ALOT and eventually I (with americanmusc1e's help) LS swapped my 2000 Ford Ranger. Also got lots of spare/used parts from him lol.

I have some embarrassing pics of us working on it but I shall resist posting those.
@americanmusc1e we need to take a pic with both our trucks now that I own one.

The 4x4 build was my favorite part of this whole trucks story which lead it to be the inspiration for me to get my own 67-72 4x4, so last summer I finally bought my first classic truck, a 67 K20. Nothing super special about mine but I'll drop some pics and a link to my thread on mine. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s....php?p=8766947

[americanmusc1e]

Originally Posted by JoryS67K20

Hello all,
I am the cousin that was mentioned in helping install the 5.3.
I have been quite involved with this truck since pretty early on. (Probably around 2010 or so) it's awesome to see this thread and how much this thing has changed over the last 10 years.

Having helped him with the LS swap I learned ALOT and eventually I (with americanmusc1e's help) LS swapped my 2000 Ford Ranger. Also got lots of spare/used parts from him lol.

I have some embarrassing pics of us working on it but I shall resist posting those.
@americanmusc1e we need to take a pic with both our trucks now that I own one.

The 4x4 build was my favorite part of this whole trucks story which lead it to be the inspiration for me to get my own 67-72 4x4, so last summer I finally bought my first classic truck, a 67 K20. Nothing super special about mine but I'll drop some pics and a link to my thread on mine. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s....php?p=8766947

Glad to have you around bud. Here's to many more years of building trucks. Also I want a picture of my 49 with your 67 since they are more in the same category.

[americanmusc1e]

Fuel tanks and fuel pumps have become a reoccurring part of my C10 project. I haven't been happy with the way the 26gal Blazer tank sticks past the SWB frame, but I didn't want to spend the money or the headache to fix it.

Well last week the truck kicked me in the butt and now it's time. I went to run some errands in the C10 and I stopped at the gas station by my house to fill up. I filled the tank up all the way and got back in the truck to start it. It sputtered and died and just cranked and cranked. I checked the fuel rail schrader valve with a pocketknife. No fuel pressure.

after checking the fuel pump fuse and a few other basic things, I left my truck at the pump, walked the half mile back to my house and biked back with tools.


I was convinced that the problem was in the relay or the wiring to the pump. I spent a lot of time with a multimeter checking things and finally hotwired the pump with the license plate wire. No change. I got desperate and pulled the sending unit and found this.



That could have gone far worse. I bypassed the bulkhead with the fuel pump wire directly into the tank so I could get the truck home. It was a nervous half mile. My fire extinguisher was on the seat next to me ready to go.



I spent the last week researching tanks. i wanted a large capacity EFI tank. After much back and forth I decided on the factory 67-72 21 gallon Blazer tank with a tanks inc EFI SUMP CONVERSION.

The Blazer tank got here today and I'm now convinced that the tank won't clear the bed floor with the efi fittings on top. Even with the bed crossmember completely removed. I finally said I'd had enough and I sent the blazer tank back to Summit and ordered a $500 aluminum EFI tank off of a guy on ebay. My truck has been down for two weeks and i'm getting impatient but I really didn't want to have the tank hang even lower than a factory blazer tank.





All the classic truck places are very slow on shipping right now. This ebay seller says the tank will be here mid next week. I guess the only thing I can work on this weekend is pulling the old tank out and draining the fuel. Luckily I have a ton of stuff to do on the 49.

[americanmusc1e]

The past few weeks have been a nail biter. The place on ebay I ordered the tank from messaged me that they were out of stock but they were drop shipping the tank. The tank arrived almost a week ago, but it came with none of the other hardware. I was missing the mounting hardware, filler neck and sending unit. I held off from doing much with the tank until I was able to get the ebay seller to respond two days later that they were shipping the rest of my stuff. Everything else is supposed to be here today.

I finally decided to start mounting the fuel pump module in the tank. It hurt a bit to cut into my expensive fuel tank, but I like how everything is looking. I went with a brand new Walbro 450. I'm keeping my old one as a spare.

[americanmusc1e]

After cleaning all the metal out of the tank, I cut some rubber for where the tank contacts the frame rails and mounted it using existing holes in the frame.

I wired the tank up with some bullet connectors which should handle 60+amps according to my research.

My existing -6AN line works and it'll work even better when I move the vent to the tank bung and install a flat 1/4" NPT plug where the vent is now.


The last thing I did was clean up the wiring on the tail end of the truck. Since the original taillight connector was long gone, I took the wire nuts off and did bullet connectors for the taillighnt wiring. I then shortened and color coded everything.









My meter was reading 97 degree air coming out of my fan in the shade.

[americanmusc1e]

After a bunch of checking and re-checking, I cut a hole in my bed floor plywood (it's getting replaced anyway) and reinstalled my bed floor and battery. I filled the tank with 6 gallons and let it sit for a few hours and checked for leaks. I then pressured it up and checked for leaks again. Everything looked good so I took the truck to the gas station and filled the tank up all the way. It only took 11 more gallons so I guess I have a 17 gallon tank. I drove it for a bit and triple-checked for leaks around the fuel pump module and the sending unit. No leaks so far.

I snapped a few pictures in the harsh sunlight. I really need to work on color matching the bed soon.

[americanmusc1e]

I'm back after a bit of a break. I put some info on my 49 build thread about the homesteading project that's taking all my time. I've been a bit bummed since mid October I was in a fender-bender in the C10. I was going about 35mph and someone turned left into the side of my truck.




I didn't drive the truck for so long that I had to replace the battery the other day. I got the gumption to work on it and I finally settled with the insurance company so now I have some extra funds to work on it. First stop after the new battery was chasing down a few transmission leaks that have been bothering me. I re-sealed the kickdown bulkhead connector and replaced the rear seal and bushing on the transmission. I also turned the boost down a bit because I feel like the truck has plenty of power. I'm currently running 10psi and pretty happy.

I also looked hard into what I'd need to put a proper compressor and valve setup in the truck for the bags and I ended up buying a set of drop springs. the bags were nice when I didn't have a 3/4ton pickup to haul stuff with and I had the extra weight of the LWB. I didn't use the bags for adjustable ride height and the did leak down if I let the truck sit too long. I went back to 4" drop springs in the back and I'm happy with the ride height.




I gave the old girl an oil change and just did some driving.The truck drives well. I'm working on getting a few little annoyances ironed out before I switch gears and work on the 49 again. I still have to find a new fender to replace my smashed one.

[americanmusc1e]

Here's a dissapointing status update for the truck.

May of 21 the aluminum fuel tank cracked and I parked the truck for several months in frustration.




I wasn't very happy with the 17gallon aluminum tank so I went back with a modified blazer tank at the expense that I'll need to raise my bed floor an inch to clear. A few extra gallons and I had a blast driving the truck through the spring.




May of this year I was doing a ride along with the Hot Rod Tour of Texas. I got seperated from the group while getting gas. I took a shortcut down a winding road. It was raining. I thought I was going an appropriate speed (~25mph). I hit a very steep downhill curve and locked the brakes up. I crossed over the stripe and got fish-hooked by the utility trailer coming the other direction. The wreck was very low speed but it managed to rip up most of the front end. The truck drove home just fine, but is once again sitting while I collect parts to replace most of the front end.

I've gone through various stages of grieving with the truck. What I've come up with is that I'm going to attempt to take my time bringing it back. I want to fix a few shortcomings while I have the front end off. I now have a 4L80E out of my old daily that might go in. I want to clean up some wiring and do some upgrades to the front suspension.

[SCOTI]

Bummer about the accident.

[americanmusc1e]

May marks one year since the accident. This truck has been sitting outside for a whole year while the 49 got a ton of love. I really wish I had covered it because It's filthy. Last weekend I made space in the shop and pulled it in. It ran good despite sitting for a year. I'm pulling it apart and making a list of what needs to be replaced and what i'd like to improve if I have the budget.

I have been collecting parts the past year. I have an OEM hood, OEM Grille, OEM bumper, OEM inner and outer fender. I may have to chance an aftermarket core support though.

[americanmusc1e]

got a wild hare. Decided to put the Turbo LS up for trade for a Big block chevy.

Traded for a nearly stock Gen VI 454. Time to go carbureted for a while.