Project Lupe 1968 C10 LWB

[Jfarns03]

Hey guys, Im an 18 year old highschool graduate as of June 2013 and for the past two years since i first entered home studies i have been working hard as a plumber in the South Bay of California. About a month ago i bought a 1968 C10 Pickup. It was a father son project I assume and with most of the body work finished it was my goal to get it running. The truck came with the original inline six 250ci motor with a four speed trans. when i gave the truck a full tune up I discovered one of the rings on one of the pistons was bad. So just yesterday i bought a 2004 5.3L motor with 81,000 miles on it. Everything has been a challenge lately but I can get it respectfully done as time prolongs. Ive never done this before so expect alot of questions! Ive been trying to upload pictures but i have a security token missing? Not sure what that is but ill figure it out! this truck isnt the most beautiful thing you'll ever see but its a clean California truck with with bare to no rust!

[Jfarns03]

Well i found out how to upload pics! Heres a few shots of my new 5.3L motor i picked up for $800 with the PCM and computer. I threw in a picture of my Ram because i love the lowered look it had with the motor in the back

[Jfarns03]

heres a few pics of the old inline six 250 and a couple more pics of the truck itself. It had a complete interior but i ripped it all out. i wanted to get rid of the cheap carpet the previous owners put in it and throw out the gas tank.

[Jfarns03]

Pulled the original inline six out of the truck today all by myself. I had trouble getting the transmission out so after messing with it for atleast two hours i just pried the top piece off. My first engine pull so I was fairly careful. I pushed the truck back inch by inch and jammed a piece of wood after every few inches so i could jack up the motor. Damn starter made it so much of a hassle because it would hit the motor mounts. Side note for removing these engines: remove starter before pulling the engine out!

[Dachdu69C10]

Looks like a solid truck, I'd like to do a 5.3 swap one day. That dodge ram looks sweet as well lol
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[Jfarns03]

It's a soild Nevada truck. Two rust spots and that's it. I'm so surprised at how clean it is.
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[Dachdu69C10]

You should see mine the floor on the driver side is falling out, literally.lol
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[Lee H]

Your making good progress.
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[Jfarns03]

Thanks, I'm trying to figure out the motor mounts for the new Gen III 5.3l I'm going to put in the 68'. That's a mess in its self
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[Jfarns03]

Alright so for todays progress I degreased, power washed, degreased again and sanded the hell out of the frame. I laid a few cool coats of flat black chassis paint. It came out great and im very pleased with the paint i bought at O'Reilys for $7.99

[Jfarns03]

Got the transmission connected yesterday and the new motor mounts ordered from CPP! The trans came out of a 2002 Camaro with 52,000 miles on it. Snagged it for a great price
I have never done this before and i figured out that i need to bolt the torque converter to the flywheel. What kind of bolts are those?

[Jfarns03]

So i prepped the truck with a cheap $25 orbital sander from harbor freight this past weekend and sprayed a coat of Rustoleum black primer. I got my motor mounts today and i think im screwed. I have the CPP motor perches and i think i have to throw away my stock manifolds because they wont clear the them. SOB. Now i have to buy headers, and a cowl induction hood. sick.

[Jfarns03]

So earlier this week I drove down to CPP to get my problem solved. They handled it and Im very pleased with this company. I will do a whole other write up about them in a different section because for now its engine install time! ...... Well so i thought. It appears to me that I have to remove the manifolds. Im going back today to get it done. Here's some pics of the new engine mounting brackets and how the process was.

[Jfarns03]

Got the motor in!! Im so stoked for the next part of this build. Running the fuel system.

[Xeen]

I have a couple of questions.
Did you remove the stock manual transmission intermediate crossmember before you installed the engine?
Why did you notch the front crossmember?
Just a heads up it is a good idea to put the front clip back on it and check your clearances, you need to see if you have enough room between the fan blade and the radiator for the shroud with the core support in place, if not you may need to pull the motor back out and move the engine perches back farther towards the v6 position.
You will also need Doug Thorley THY-324Y-C headers to clear your engine perches.

[Jfarns03]

Yes I removed it with a grinder and a sawzall with a long metal blade for the rivits under the cab. Everything else can get handled by a grinder. I notched the front crossmember because when I had the motor in before the harmonic balancer was hitting the crossmember and I had to notch it. Now since I moved everything back I didn't need to do that modification. I still have the piece and I'm going to weld it in this weekend. I'm going to put the clip on today to do exactly what you said, check for clearence. These CPP motor mounts actually worked in my advantage because I placed the exhaust manifolds on the motor and I will have to notch the frame about an 1 1/2in wide and 3in long for them to clear on the passenger side. No need to spend the 600$+ for new headers
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[Jfarns03]

Well i have a little update! I purchased a trans cooler, transmission dipstick, exhaust manifold gaskets, Marlbro 255 fuel pump, Russel fuel filter, 3/8 fuel line, and some assortment of fittings! I installed the trans cooler a couple of days ago and the dipstick but im waiting on my next order to finish up the fuel line! After that i will send out my harness to get worked on. I should hopefully have it started in two to three weeks

[Jfarns03]

So after a few months I have finally got my truck running. Now im in the process of installing a new radiator and i'll be able to cruise the west coast Ill post a youtube video very soon !

[Jfarns03]

The before and after with taking the bed off. Im positioning the gas tank further up with some custom tubular supports