66 frame off resto-mod

[tomlamb]

Hi all,

It is finally time for my own build thread. I have a shop (RRC Fabrication and Speed) doing the build for me and wanted to post some pics of the progress.

[tomlamb]

The bed was welded to the perches so it took a lot of grinding to remove...

[Alan's Classic]

Fresh meat, gotta love it. Nice progress on a good lookin' truck.

[tomlamb]

We are gluttons for punishment but so far so good. I do have the typical rot like cab corners, rockers, floors, and front fenders, and I am sure other stuff will turn up when everything gets back from blasting...

[Captainfab]

Looks like the truck was built once before. What are the plans this time around?
Glad to hear you're having it blasted.....best way to go about a rebuild/restoration IMO. Hopefully you aren't getting it soda blasted.

[tomlamb]

It was done once but instead of rust repair it had bondo. The plan is to keep it fairly stock looking, repair all the rust, install an 08 5.3L engine and trans. I want it to be a great daily driver not so much of a show truck. It already has a 2/4 drop, disks, Power steering. The guy doing the work builds Race cars and classics and has experience with Rust repair and metal fabrication(not a common skill from what I found in California). The blasting is a combination of soda and black magic done by Cal Blast, here are some shots of the old fender repair.

[tomlamb]

And here are the shots of the new repair that RRC is doing...

[62 short step]

Looks good!

[tomlamb]

Here is the motor and trans, it's a 5.3L with 13,000 miles from an 08 Silverado. We are planning to keep the active fuel management and keep the engine completely stock.

[joe231]

nice looking truck to start..it will be SWEET when you finish it!!!

[ChiefRocka]

Nice, really nice !!

[jason65]

You move fast and post pics. Thats the kinda threads we like.
Good job on the truck.

[1964C10]

Thanks for the pictures, I will looking forward to hearing how you like the 5.3L in your truck as I am still deciding on what I am going with

[MacAttack]

Nice work - and really nice power-train!

Originally Posted by jason65

You move fast and post pics. Thats the kinda threads we like.

(wonder what he means by that?)

[1964C10]

Is that a Ramjet you have in there now? If so getting rid of it? ;-)

[tomlamb]

Originally Posted by 1964C10

Is that a Ramjet you have in there now? If so getting rid of it? ;-)

The old engine is an 86 IROC 350 TPI motor with a TH350 trans. The motor was getting tired and started burning oil a bit (blue smoke at startup). The deal I have with RRC is he gets to keep all the unused/old parts. He may be looking to sell the stuff so if anyone is interested let me know and I'll pass it on.

I should soon be able to post more pics as I asked RRC to photo document the work but the thread will likely be a week or so behind. I will try to post some more pics tonight.

[1964C10]

Thanks for the update! Looking forward to more pictures, wish mine was moving that fast

[tomlamb]

Here are some photos of the engine removal

[tomlamb]

And now for the interior ...

[tomlamb]

New engine first fitting...





The old floor was hacked up and will need to be fixed...



RRC decided it was better to make a full patch...

[joe231]

Nice!!

[tomlamb]

Thanks for the complements, so far it is nice (but expensive) to have it being worked on every day as I don't have the fabrication skills to do it myself.

I hope to post some pics of the custom motor mount perches later today. I wanted to use the stock 08 motor mounts as I read that they were tuned to the active fuel management in order to reduce vibrations and It also makes finding replacements motor mounts less of a chalenge (provided GM doesn't implode).

[gostranger]

cool nice job looks kind of like mine i am also getting a 5.3 vortec ready to put in mine any info on harness, computer reprogramming, motor mounts ,fuel pump and regulator, adapting fuel lines, adapting power steering lines ect. i am going through this right now any suggestions or input would be awesome cant wait to see yours done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tomlamb]

Originally Posted by gostranger

cool nice job looks kind of like mine i am also getting a 5.3 vortec ready to put in mine any info on harness, computer reprogramming, motor mounts ,fuel pump and regulator, adapting fuel lines, adapting power steering lines ect. i am going through this right now any suggestions or input would be awesome cant wait to see yours done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the complement, RRC has thus far been doing a great job and it looks like it is moving along quickly.

There are a bunch of folks that do the harnesses and programming. We are planning on using Speartech or Current Performance and having my harness re-worked.

There are a lot of board sponsors that make motor mount kits (ECE and CPP come to mind) and there have been some good reports on them. I wanted to use the stock motor mounts so my builder is making custom mounts to accept the stock motor mounts (Pics coming).

For the fuel pump, I got the entire tank and pump from the 08 so RRC is going to adapt the stock fuel pump to my existing tank as the stock one has the regulator built in and my motor is a single line feed. You can use the vette regulator and external pump method that a lot of board members have used but you need to see if your engine is a single line or supply/return type.

We haven't gotten to the adapting line phase but from what I have read, there are adaptors available from a company (Dorman) that should work.

I'll keep posting pics of the engine swap stuff as I get them...

[72BlckButy]

Ooooo.... can't wait to see how this turns out. Good luck with the build!