Greg's 50 Build

[Root2812]

Originally Posted by rusty76

I just sat here and read through this build and I really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing and I will be offering this one up to the low buck build threads......

Thanks for reading. I appreciate it. So far its been pretty low buck but things will start getting expensive now. I've got almost $3000 in suspension, $1500 in the drive line, and probably at least $2000 more before I can hear it run.

[99 to Life]

Low buck is all perspective. When I think of low buck, I think of 5k and lower. Most these builds with frame offs, coated frame, good suspension, engine/drivetrain, nice interior 10k is average. Def can be done cheaper. Then I'm sure there are guys thinking 10k aint a drop in the bucket on their builds cause the damn drivetrain alone costs that and or their paint job.

[Root2812]

That's true. I'm thinking I'll end up around the $15K range..... but we all know how that works out.

[47 Fasttoys]

For the front suspension, I assume you are planning on running a SBC, if so you should have V-6 Mustang springs. I have done 3 Fatman kits and yes it's going to settle alot. As a matter of fact I put their kit on my '46 2 years ago with the standard spindles after about 2 weeks on the road it settled an additional 1 inch. Don't mess with springs until the truck is all together with all fluids and the suspension has been worked a bit under load.
Work looks good.
Good luck,
Rob

[99 to Life]

47' glad you chimmed in on that suspension, I was gonna bring that back up if he figured anything out about it. You'd think FM would say hey this is gonna "settle" I just couldn't deal with something settling 1" inch or so, thats gonna throw your level off compared to your back, since its not going to drop that much. I'd just do coilovers or bags at that point.

[STOCKISH]

Just run coil overs, if anything settles, adjust it right back where you want it.

[Root2812]

Originally Posted by 47 Fasttoys

For the front suspension, I assume you are planning on running a SBC, if so you should have V-6 Mustang springs. I have done 3 Fatman kits and yes it's going to settle alot. As a matter of fact I put their kit on my '46 2 years ago with the standard spindles after about 2 weeks on the road it settled an additional 1 inch. Don't mess with springs until the truck is all together with all fluids and the suspension has been worked a bit under load.
Work looks good.
Good luck,
Rob

Well I am not running a traditional SBC but I am running a 5.3 LS so it should be about the same weight. I did get the v6 springs. I was concerned at how the springs bowed out but even after having set for over a month with nothing on the frame it looks like they settles a little bit. I figured they would settle some and I like that. I will have some rake so if the front settles too much I'll just lower the rear a little to match. I'm going to put the frame on stands at the rake I want when I install the motor and tranny mounts so if things settle all I'll need to do is make lowering blocks for the rear to bring it all back.

Thanks for posting. Its nice to know that I am not the only one who had the Fatman kit that looked too high.

[Root2812]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

47' glad you chimmed in on that suspension, I was gonna bring that back up if he figured anything out about it. You'd think FM would say hey this is gonna "settle" I just couldn't deal with something settling 1" inch or so, thats gonna throw your level off compared to your back, since its not going to drop that much. I'd just do coilovers or bags at that point.

Originally Posted by STOCKISH

Just run coil overs, if anything settles, adjust it right back where you want it.

Coil overs or bags would be fine but I couldn't justify the additional cost to myself. the shock through coil will be perfect for what I want to achieve. Like I said in the post above, it will be easy for me to compensate for any settling over time by making lowering blocks for the rear. The more the front settles the more lower it will be. If I get it all done and its still too high I'll get the drop spindles.

[99 to Life]

I'm not trying to diss FM at all, but for you to have to go through all that work and guessing what the final ride height honestly boggles my mind. At what point does a spring stop settling? When you you buy new springs for an engine, they should be to spec and takes a long time for them to settle out of spec. It just seems like a huge guessing game on their part and for them to not tell you that, and have to rely on this board for answers makes me wonder. I hope they work out for you. I'm sure that kit cost enough where you shouldn't have problems.

[Root2812]

I know you aren't dissing anything. fatman makes kits with bags or coil overs. They just cost more so I went with the basic kit. There is trade offs with it and I figure shock through coil has worked on many cars and trucks for years.

[Root2812]

More progress!!! She rolls now and it felt good to let the jack down. This weekend I got the TCI rear leaf kit installed along with my 3.73 limited slip rear. The kit wasn't hard to install after I removed the $&%@ rivets. The only hang up I had was that my rear end has 3.25 inch axle tubes and the kit comes with hardware for 3 inch tubes. I just ordered some bigger ubolts and some larger axle perches to solve that problem.

Here are some pics of the kit's parts bolted on





And it on the ground. Keep in mind that the weight on the front will drop it some. Right now the frame is level so I should have a slight rake after assembly and suspension settle. I'll also put in the shock mount cross member later. I'll take this apart for sand blasting soon so there was no point to mount shocks.


Let me ask you pro's a quick question. I have read about pinion angles and I see 3 degrees used a lot and the TCI kit said 5 degrees. Since it wasn't a big difference I ended up with 4 degrees. Sound good to you guys? Of course that was 4 degrees up from level. That parts is still tack welded in so if I f'd it up please tell me.

I also recently picked up my transmission. Its a 2001 4l60e with 73,000 miles. Only $644 out the door including core charge. I have my motor mounts and tranny cross member too so the motor should be in by the end of the month. Very exciting.

[99 to Life]

looking good man. As for pinion angle, its always based off your trans. If you were running a carb for instance, you'd want the tail of the trans 0-3* down. That is debatable I know. However you are running fuel injection so to me its not as critical. 4* to me would be ok, especially with a leaf spring setup.

[opc patrick]

not sure this helps or not...

http://www.hotrodlane.cc/trannys/driveshaftangles.jpg

http://www.iedls.com/asp/admin/getFi...&TID=28&FN=PDF

[Root2812]

See the things you post say use a max of 3 degrees pinion angle. The TCI kit instructions said used 5 degrees. That's why I went with 4. It seems like everything says 3 but TCI seems to know there stuff. I just went in the middle.

Does 1 degree really make a difference anyway? It seems so small.

[99 to Life]

Root, I think you are fine. The main goal is the angles between the trans ujoint and the diff ujoint. For leaf spring setups vs coil overs seems to have their differences, so there are guidlines to follow there. 1deg would matter if the angles are off and you get vibration, so yeah 1 deg would matter. but 1deg I don't think will matter as long as the angles are offset properly, so if you have proper angles at 3,4,5* I think you will be fine. Back to your kit however, the springs settling seems like a can of worms for the future. I believe things should be set up at ride height and accounted for then. not changing this or that down the road cause springs settled. Regardless of that, 4* seems fine, but maybe they'd have a more educated reason on why the rec more and actually 2* more than the norm.

[Root2812]

I'm not worried about the front springs settling with the weight and overtime. Vehicles have been using coil springs for decades and metal springs always relax over time. I'll make sure to match my pinion to the tail shaft angle. Once the truck is assembled I'll recheck it all. If its off then I can use those angles pinion tuning shims. I'll check it once and a while over the first year or 2.

I appreciate you and everyone else's input. You've all helped me feel more confident on what I am doing. And if I mess anything up I can always fix it later.

I think the motor will be going in the weekend of the 25th barring any setbacks. I've begun planning my fuel system. I'm thinking of going with the blazer tank. Anyone know if the LS fuel pumps fit right in to those late 80's blazer tanks people have been using in these ADs?

[not2oldchevy]

Originally Posted by Root2812

I'm not worried about the front springs settling with the weight and overtime. Vehicles have been using coil springs for decades and metal springs always relax over time. I'll make sure to match my pinion to the tail shaft angle. Once the truck is assembled I'll recheck it all. If its off then I can use those angles pinion tuning shims. I'll check it once and a while over the first year or 2.

I appreciate you and everyone else's input. You've all helped me feel more confident on what I am doing. And if I mess anything up I can always fix it later.

I think the motor will be going in the weekend of the 25th barring any setbacks. I've begun planning my fuel system. I'm thinking of going with the blazer tank. Anyone know if the LS fuel pumps fit right in to those late 80's blazer tanks people have been using in these ADs?

I used a 03 avalanche in my 89 blazer s10 2 door tank , worked good.

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by not2oldchevy

I used a 03 avalanche in my 89 blazer s10 2 door tank , worked good.

Any pictures of this setup?

[not2oldchevy]

Originally Posted by BlueJeep

Any pictures of this setup?

Don't know how to do pictures.

[Root2812]

Originally Posted by not2oldchevy

Don't know how to do pictures.

Click on the "go advanced" reply button or just quote someone. Above the box you type in is an icon that looks like a paper clip. If you click that you can "browse" your computer to find the picture you want. Its pretty easy.

[Root2812]

It finally happened. My motor is in. My dad and I were about to shoe horn it in but man is it a tight fit side to side. We haven't finished up the trans cross member yet but at least the engine is in.

We started by getting the tranny and engine mated together and up on the lift.


I had put the Corvette LS6 exhaust manifolds (heat shields removed) on but had to take them back off for clearance. Its really really tight!. We'll end up clearancing my frame boxing plates a little to make the exhaust clear.


I used the Dirty Dingo adjustable mounts and had to trim them down to fit but they worked great. The mounts came with 2 rubber isolators for each side but the pics from Dirty Dingo showed one between the mount halves. I assume the second is so the bolts will tighten evenly without distorting the first isolator. I think I'll move the second one to the nut side but for now I put it on top to take up the slack. The one that needs to be between the mounts is.


So after a days work here is what I have.



I have to pull everything apart for paint so this is just mocked up but man that engine looks huge on this tiny frame! Its going to be fun!

Since this old truck had such a small motor before I know front to back clearance will be tight but it will fit. I have everything within a half inch of where it needs to be and my slider mounts have 1 inch of adjustment left each way so I'll be good. It does look like a pusher fan is in my future along with some radiator support mods to slide the radiator forward a bit.


I keep going back and forth on fully boxing the frame. I don't feel it will be necessary since the truck is so light it was probably spin the tires rather than twist the frame... Hmmmmm.. What have you guys done?

[99 to Life]

nice progress, as far as boxing, I'd atleast do some in the rear as well.

[oldman3]

Root, I boxed my full frame, only left openings for the running board brackets and holes for mounting the bed. Not that much work or cost. Here's a couple pics..Jim

[w70442]

Nice build. Enjoying the thread.
I'm at a similar spot in my build though I'm using an '88 S10 frame with an LS1. Normally, there's plenty of room for the LS1 on an S10 frame but due to the way I'm positioning my engine, I'm having the same water pump to radiator issue as you. One thought I've had is to install the electric fan in the space your radiator would currently occupy and move the radiator forward of the original radiator brackets. I'll probably leave the original radiator bracket where it is since it contains the fender and hood latch mounts on it. Then just build a radiator mount/bracket in front of the original rad mount. I think there will still be enough room behind the grill to do this.
I'm sand blasting my frame at the moment so it will be a while before I actually get to this. I'd be interested to see what you think of the idea.
Good luck,

[skymangs]

Root, Have you thought about using Trailblazer SS manifolds? They are the tightest manifold I've found. Inches tighter than the truck manifolds.