'82 Duramax diesel conversion

[Lonnies Performance]

Here is a picture of the car & a link to some more.
Built it from the ground up, almost 20 years ago & was recently freshening up the underneath.



http://www.lonniesperformance.com/68camaro.htm

[palposity]

Now that is an awesome car right there! Nice work!

[nlped]

Sweet looking Camaro! How's the truck coming? I'm anxious to see some progress, 'cause I really think I want to put one of these into a 3/4 ton 4x4 Suburban.

[Dieselwrencher]

Very nice Camaro! It looks like it runs pretty hard too, nice quarter mile times. Nice web site as well.

[okieraptor]

Get this thing running yet?
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[Lonnies Performance]

Unfortunately no... too many work related things taking up my time.

Bed & tailgate are mounted. Not much has changed there.
Literally have not touched it since July....


Started running wires this past weekend. Wiring will not be fun by any means.

Engine connections are pretty straight forward, but hard to make them look neat when there are about 150 of them.

Pulling the wires through the fender (to hide as much as possible) is testing my patience. I have to modify over 100 wires just for the dash harness alone.

[campcrf]

cant wait to see more progress...

[Lonnies Performance]

Still modifying the dash harness.



Had to add 2 feet where the large grommet is. Found another wiring harness to use for wire, so I can match all the colors. The donor harness is shown all unwrapped next to the original.

Soldered & wrapped all day & I'm still not done. Had to stagger all the splices so there is not a big lump in the harness. All in all I counted 110 wires so far.

I should be able to come through the side of the cab above the e-brake & into the fender so I do not have any visible wiring under the hood.


Routed all the wires to the engine, trans etc. Still have to extend the 4 wheel drive wiring to the fuse box.
Will post up a few pictures of the box when I get a chance.
Modified an '05 fusebox by cutting it down & it now fits in front of the washer bottle.

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice job. I know that hacking looms can be a PITA when you're trying to make it look OEM.

[Daniellane]

i look forward to seeing this truck done. so i can buy it ! hahahha

[Lonnies Performance]

Originally Posted by Daniellane

i look forward to seeing this truck done. so i can buy it ! hahahha

I doubt I could afford to sell it.....

Even with the good deals I got on many parts, I will still have a ton of money in it. Approaching $20K & I still need drive shafts, rearends, tires, wheels & interior. The 1000's of hours of labor hurt even worse.

I'm building it for myself, mainly because the first truck I bought was an '82 & I sort of got attached to them.

[Daniellane]

yeah. definitely understandable. your building the truck i always wanted. i cant wait to see the interior finished. thats the most exciting part to me.

[steemin_ehman]

Originally Posted by Daniellane

yeah. definitely understandable. your building the truck i always wanted. i cant wait to see the interior finished. thats the most exciting part to me.

He's building the truck I've always wanted as well... taking notes!

...wouldn't mind the Camaro either...

Keep up the stellar work Lonnie!

[Lonnies Performance]

Kyle, nice to see you on here... been a while since we spoke.

Still need to get back to you about one of your artist renderings.

Got to get this one finished as there is already another one waiting in line.

[Dieselwrencher]

Cool build as well! Will that be a show only truck?

[steemin_ehman]

Originally Posted by Lonnies Performance

Kyle, nice to see you on here... been a while since we spoke.

Still need to get back to you about one of your artist renderings.

Sure has been a long while! I've been on here looking around, but only briefly. Busy life!

Man, your truck is looking SO good. Can't wait to see it all together and running/driving!! ...and another project next in line you say? can you add any specifics?

and a rendering eh.... all you have to do is ask man! send me a PM.

In the meantime, keep at it, and get 'er done! (I'm sure it's not just me that wants to see your Duramax build complete...)

[Daniellane]

yeah. thats a sick truck for sure

[Lonnies Performance]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Cool build as well! Will that be a show only truck?

I do not have anything that is show only, I typically build mine to drive, but I do take good care of my stuff.

I did the car show thing years back & it was a lot of work. You spend all Saturday cleaning your vehicle, use a lot of gas to get to the show Sunday, & then PAY to participate in the show. Never understood why many car shows let spectators in free & charge the participants....
Then you either guard your vehicle all day or inconsiderate people fingerprint & scratch it up while you are not there. If you are lucky, you spent $50 to get a $20 trophy & your ride is dirty, scratched & your next Saturday is already planned to clean it back up.

Anymore, I would rather just go for a ride, or maybe a good drag race to liven things up.

Originally Posted by steemin_ehman

...and another project next in line you say? can you add any specifics?

The '78 currently has a early 350 w/ Camel back heads & a TH350 trans. I have a new D60 front axle w/ 4.56's & 14B rear for it. Planning to switch to a ZZ502 w/ EFI & a 4L80E trans. Truck project was started by a friend, who lost interest & it sat in has garage for 15yrs unfinished. It has a new bed bought in '87, plus all new GM front seetmetal. I bought it a long time ago & was planning to finish it when the diesel bug got me. I almost put a diesel in this truck, but started my '82 instead, since the '82 was an original diesel. Nothing like having 2 unfinished trucks in the garage.

[Dieselwrencher]

I know how you feel.

[CamaroChris]

Updates???

[Lonnies Performance]

Unfortunately no...

Been too busy with the car business to work on the truck. Sort of depressing as I haven't touched in in months. Ran some wires through the fender & modified the fuse box to fit, but nothing worth posting a picture of.

[383Chevy]

Ttt

[sethv]

This is going to be amazing when it's all done! Looking forward to seeing it run

[72duraburb]

I like what your doing!! I have recently finished my 72 burb with a lbz duramax and the 6spd allison. My ride has the patina paint on it which makes it even more fun to not have to worry about the less respectful people as you had mentioned before. good luck and keep at it looks like your on the home strech.

[Lonnies Performance]

Yes the hard part is done, but I have little time to work on it. I've been working 7 days per week for approx. the last 6 months.

Hopefully things will slow down over the summer to give me some time to finish it.