Project Suspended License: 71 C10 SWB LSx swap

[Jon01]

Last fall I got the hankering to do another LS swap into something of my own vs. doing it for friends.
In the past I've had some pretty stout LS powere toys, 02 SLP SS, 05 GTO both of which had some nice mods and ran very well.

Lately I've been into more beaterish stuff. Shiny toys are nice but I get tired of always worrying about where they're parked, who's parked next to them, will they be there when I go back out, etc...
So, on the search for a Chevy beaterish vehicle I went. Criteria: Not too rotted, will fit an LS motor and look cool doing burnouts and generally acting like a 16 year old(see thread title).

I looked at several platforms, stovebolts, tri-fives, even early 240Z's when I came across a 71 C10 that a friend brought up from Georgia but they had a baby so he couldn't get to it.
I went and looked at it, while it was fairly solid it did need some rust repair - inner rockers, cab mounts and a couple small spots on the floor were weak. The bed floor was pretty rotted from what I would guess were years of sitting with leaves in it.

Struck a deal and drug it home last ~ October.



I drove it around some last fall, it really is a nice driving truck. The 350 ran well and didn't smoke. But, it wouldn't smoke the tires so it had to go.
I put an ad up on CL and eventually it sold so a buddy came over and helped me pop it out one afternoon.

I then picked up a 5.3/4L60E figuring on a cheap/easy swap with a mostly stock motor(cam/headers). I then had a guy offer a bunch of $ for the 5.3/4L60E so I sold it.
I also accumulated a multitude of knick-knack parts for the swap - crossmember, adapter plates, headers, accessories, intake, etc...
I went thru a few more motors in the same fashion until I eventually came across a VERY complete LQ4/4L80E swap out of an 05 3/4 ton out in Vegas.
I had it brought back to Iowa where I promptly tore it down to a shortblock.
I've chopped up harnesses in the past however for this one I elected to spend the $ and send it off to be modified. Used BP Automotive. Bill did a great job, turned it around within a week and the harness is real nice, plus his fuse box is very good quality. I'd recommend him in a heartbeat and will use him on all my harnesses going forward.

Mods are:
243/799 heads off of an 08 TBSS milled .030 for compression
Cometic HG's
Custom Tick camshaft
BTR duals/Ti retainers
Moly pushrods
LS7 lifters
FAST 90mm intake
F-body rails/EV1 injectors
LS2 GTO DBW T/B
F-body accessories
Powerbond UDP
TBSS headers
3600 stall Revmax converter

A few weeks back a couple friends came by and we stuffed it all in the truck:


I used the cheapo adapter plates on Ebay that're like $30. They fit great and put the motor right in line so the CPP trans x-member bolted right in with minimal BFH'ing.

The next week or so my dad came over and we monkeyed around with the little stuff required to get things moving along - pulled the column, clutch pedal, etc...
We also played with the wiring, fitting this and that up trying to figure out how we wanted it run.
Eventually we decided to run the interior stuff thru the old clutch rod grommet.


Pardon the mess, I'm replacing the old black carpet once this is done with some nice blue but for now it keeps me from having to lay on the floor.

We worked on it over the weekend and got the computer, fuse box and TCM mounted. I'll snap some pics of it tonight.
Last night we customed up the throttle pedal and got it mounted as well as ran the wiring out to the TCM.
Tonight I plan on cleaning up my 4L80E yoke and getting a measurement for the driveshaft length so I can drop the stocker off to be shortened.
If it's not too hot we're going to try to get the column shoved in and the trans linkage hooked up.


That's where I stand as of now. I'll try to get more pics for stuff to look at for y'all.
General plan is to have it up and running this weekend.

[Xeen]

Sounds like this is going to be a fun build, I like watching driver builds.
I noticed your image hosting site isn't doing you any favors, try Imgur it's easy to use and you have more control over your images. http://imgur.com/

[z-iowa]

Great to see a fellow Iowan ,nice start. Sub'd
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[502ms]

you will enjoy that! have fun!

[Hardesty454]

Looks like fun! Keep up the progress.

[Low Elco]

Looks like fun! Gotta follow this!

[Jon01]

Thanks guys. Yeah, it'll be a good time.
Something to do burnouts and generally act like a teenager in(hence thread title) without getting too much $ wrapped up in it.

If you click on the thumbnails it'll blow the pictures up full size.

Last night I got the dipstick tube in, broken coil pack replaced and 160* thermostat in last night. Hot and humid arrived so it was a short night.
Tonight I plan on getting the brake switch in/wired, column in, gas pedal fab figured out, driveshaft measured(didn't want to get under it without anybody else home last night) and figure out what's going on with the fuel lines as some previous owner has the steel line bypassed for unknown reasons. They're still there just not in use.

Question - while eyeballing the cab for some kind of radio I noticed that the tank could possibly be moved over to the passenger side some if I rework the fuel lines and drill new mounting holes.
Has anybody ever done this?
That'd give room for a couple small speakers in each corner. Not Hi-Fi but it's better than nothing!

[502ms]

I would recommend a tank built for EFI use. You are going to need to supply a minimum of 58 psi for stock use. You need a FPR and fuel pump to run it.
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[Jon01]

Yeah, I've got a walbro 255 inline and C5 filter on the shelf.
I have to figure out why the steel line was bypassed at somepoint and either put it back into use or bend up a new one. Either way.
I'm going to run the stock tank this summer then over the winter I'll put a sump/box in it.

[Jon01]

Got some pics taken tonight rather than just working straight thru.
The pics above kinda suck so I snapped a quickie while it was up in the air for measuring the driveshaft.
I don't plan on doing much with the body other than run a quick buffer pass over it and maybe do some touching up on the white on the bed where the paint's flaking off.



Here you can see where we decided to mount the computer and fuse/relay box that Bill @ BP Automotive provided.
I can't emphasize enough how happy I am with his harness work and customer service. Ex: I had a question about wiring the TCC power wire, emailed him at 9:20 this morning and he was calling me at 9:42. That's killer customer care.
I'd much rather give him my $ as a just getting going small business than one of the big shops.


Dad and I also got the front bumper stuck back on. Somewhere along the line the old one was used as a hook and was bent up a bit.
That's a block heater cord hanging out the front. Never know when it might get called into use during the winter!




Aaaaaaand, got the tilt auto column shoved in just before it got dark out.



Didn't get pictures of the brake light switch that I replaced or the work on the fuel lines I did.
Had to replace the original brake light switch with one off of a later model to help control the TCC clutch - cut power when brakes are applied. A switch for a G-body will work just fine, an ohm meter is all you need to know which terminal the stock brake light connector goes on and which one to wire up the TCC power to.

Also pulled the full length rubber fuel line out. I'm not sure why the steel line was bypassed, maybe someone did it to troubleshoot something. I'll put some air pressure to it tomorrow night and see what happens.

Tomorrow night's goals are:
Pick up radiator, p/s line and spark plugs. Get e-fan stuck on the rad and go buy some holddowns from the guy that sells a bunch of parts for these trucks locally as mine are MIA.
Hopefully get the fuel pump in and wired and stick the C5 filter inline somewhere.
I also need to stick the underdrive pulley on it, not sure if I'll get to that tomorrow or not. The last couple I have put on were real bears to get on the snout.

Over the weekend I kinda splurged, there's some nice stuff heading this direction from California to help set it down where it should be and replace the original wheels/tires. I'll post some pics once the goodies start showing up. Here's a pic of where it's coming from.


I'm really stoked about how it'll look set down in the weeds. Hopefully I get it running this weekend so I can dispatch it down to the chassis shop first part of next week for suspension install. I've got a feeling it's gonna be sweet.

[Low Elco]

Love the way that one sits. Did you buy the whole shootin' match? How much was the guy to do your harness? Did he reflash?

[Jon01]

Yeah, all the suspension stuff and the wheels/tires.
When I saw Jason saying he was sending Gumby to Delmo I sent him a PM asking what he was doing with his old goodies and we struck a deal.

Bill charges anywhere from 250-350 depending on what options you want.
I got the deluxe version which came with a fully loaded fuse panel, all OEM style/quality connectors. It is really only about a dozen wires to splice into the vehicle, power, ground and you're running. The splices are for stuff like a/c, cruise, etc...
He can reflash but I tune stuff on the side so I opted to do that myself.

[c10Dream'n]

That is pretty cool. I picked up the other stuff from Jason. Cool guy. I got the tubular control arms for the front and 1" blocks for the rear from him. Luckily I was able to drive 30 miles and pick them up.

Your set up will look good.

Originally Posted by Jon01

Yeah, all the suspension stuff and the wheels/tires.
When I saw Jason saying he was sending Gumby to Delmo I sent him a PM asking what he was doing with his old goodies and we struck a deal.

Bill charges anywhere from 250-350 depending on what options you want.
I got the deluxe version which came with a fully loaded fuse panel, all OEM style/quality connectors. It is really only about a dozen wires to splice into the vehicle, power, ground and you're running. The splices are for stuff like a/c, cruise, etc...
He can reflash but I tune stuff on the side so I opted to do that myself.

[Jon01]

Didn't accomplish much last night, we got power/grounds strung last night, replaced the Vette/CTS-V balancer I got by mistake with the correct Powerbond UDP with F-body offset and pulled the steering wheel off of the old column and put it on the new one.
But, did get a bunch of parts picked up and dropped the driveshaft off to be shortened while I was at it.
Also picked up the HPTuners box so I can shut VATS off and hopefully light the fire this weekend.
All that's left is to make the p/s hose, hook up and wire the fuel pump, stick the radiator in, wire the fans and switched power source.

[Jon01]

Well, had a 3 steps forward, 2 steps back kind of weekend.
Accomplished:
The wiring is pretty well done, rewrapped everything and it's looking nice.
The fuel pump is mounted, connected and wired - it sprayed gas all over the garage floor so it appears to work well.
The column is in tight now, I missed the bracket that wedges it into place before.

The engine is fully interfaced with the truck harness and it cranks over on the key.
I put the gauge cluster back in and it's all hooked back up. Cranked the motor over via key enough to build oil pressure which is good that it has some.
Got the p/s pressure hose figured out - I'll just use an F-body hose and cut/flare a new end onto it. Didn't get this done as I couldn't find my double flare tool Saturday but I found it last night.
Also pulled the tune down and started messing with it last night.

Steps backwards:
Broke the end of the Lokar dipstick off down in the block trying to get it to seat down in there. Luckily it popped right out with an EZ out but that was a nervous 15 minutes figuring out wtf to do.
I'm going to take what's left to the father in law and have him mill me out something a bit smaller in diameter tonight.
For some reason the accelerator pedal isn't communicating with the T/B. I'm going to snag the pedal assy and TAC module out of my wife's Tahoe tonight and see if either of those fix it.

I don't know how much I'll be able to work on it tonight, we're taking her dad out for fathers day. I hope to at least get the pedal/TAC module figured out so if I need new pats I can get them ordered ASAP.

I also opted to have a new 1pc shaft made up for it after discussing with the shop, they had concerns about the stock shaft's ability to deal with significant HP.

[Jon01]

Swapped the TAC module off of the wife's Tahoe onto it and throttle works great so I'm contacting the Ebay seller I bought this one from to see if they have another one they could send me otherwise I'll buy one ASAP.
Took a little too much off of the end of the dipstick so the FIL is going to do a little TIG welding on it to build some material back up and turn it back down so it fits nice and snug.

Closed the night by working on flaring a new end onto the power steering line. I will have to take it over to my dad's and use his big vise to hold the line in place.

Tomorrow night I plan on getting the fuel filter and fuel rail feed hooked up and hopefully the new driveshaft will be done and I can get it stuck in place.
If the dipstick fix works it might run tomorrow night, if not I'm taking Wednesday off to get some serious progress made.

[Xeen]

That sucks that someone sold you a burned out TAC, I hope they do you right and refund your money if they can't replace it with a good one.

[Jon01]

Yeah the Ebay guy was great to deal with, he's going to check for another one and if he doesn't have one he'll refund my dough.

[Jon01]

And it runs. Still waiting on a new TAC module, radiator, shift linkage and p/s hose but we lit the candle tonight. Carries good oil pressure and everything appears to be sound with the motor.
Sounds good, despite the open headers.

[Jon01]

Picked up a set of 15" Americans for it.
I'm thinking the front tires are a little on the small side but we'll see once I get the drop spindles/springs on it.






Took it to the local Goodguys show this last weekend and didn't have any issues other than the rear lighting deciding to take the night off altogether.

After driving it some I've concluded that it' time to get rid of the 2.73/open diff in the 12 bolt. 4.10's and a Truetrac are going in. Maybe then I can get a decent tune on the g-d thing without trying to break the sound barrier...with the long 1st gear in the 80e, tall tire and that gear it's going 75-80 before it shifts out of 1st.

I'm going to have to do something with the front end. The stock steering gear is leaking like a sieve and the steering is a bit sketchy at highway speeds. So, that's the next project on this turd.

[Jon01]

Got the rearend pulled out Sunday, easy job with the impact set on kill and a bottle of monkey piss on the u-bolts.


Also figured out what was up with the rear lighting, apparently the ground between the bed and frame wasn't getting the job done. I added an additional heavy strap and boom, lighting all works as it should.
In the process of installing the taillight and tailgate trim too. Going to have to do some careful measuring on the gate as it never had the trim to start with.

One nice thing about having a truck for a project, you can toss all the extra parts laying around in the bed and get them out of the way!


I noticed I hadn't tossed up an engine bay pic. So, here we go.


If the weather in the garage stays decent this weekend I am going to re-do the suction side of the fuel system and generally do some tidying up of the fuel lines.
I also need to get the p/s box off and swapped and maybe toss the drop spindles on there.

[orngsikL]

nice

[Xeen]

Hankook tires are awesome you will really like them, compared to other tires they last longer, have a better ride and the quality of the tire is just superior to other brands.
I bought my first set years ago for my 300zx and ever since then I buy Hankook for all my vehicles and recommend them to all my familly and friends.
Geez I sounds like a salesman hahaha.
What's the plan for the rear axle?

[Low Elco]

Lookin' great! Love the beater vibe!

[Hart_Rod]

Cool build.