‘76 GMC LS Swap

[RotaryRocketeer]

Been a long time since I’ve posted, and a lot has happened. My 350 dropped a cylinder and left me stranded, never to run again. Luckily I had picked up a 2000 model LQ4 about 2 months previous to this. Just had been waiting for an excuse to put it in. It was in my detached three car garage on a stand with the heads off at the machine shop and ready to pick up. But naturally, my girlfriend’s super clean ‘69 El Camino decides to burn to the freaking ground as she started it THE DAY AFTER my truck had its heart attack. I’m at work, fire dept comes in and sprays everything like crazy and fills my block with recycled toilet water. El Camino was a total loss, heartbreaking for me and absolutely devastating for the lady. Her first car up in flames.

Luckily the car had very good coverage through Hagerty (can’t say enough nice things about those people and their customer service,) and everything was squared away very quickly with the car. Home owners’, however, dragged their feet for several months before even issuing the first and most disappointing of what was to be many payments. I have a ton of tools, parts, big kid toys, memorabilia, and whatnot in that garage. They didn’t even know what half of it was.

They finally realized that we weren’t going away and they’d have to actually cover what was in the garage and issued a payment that could almost have been considered fair. It was enough to put my builder LS on the back burner and just get a crate motor so I could have my truck back on the road after 6 months of sitting heartless outside of a burned up garage.

We got the garage workable enough to get the truck straightened out and will finish it after the old girl is back up and running, so excuse the state of things in the photos and know it will get better haha.

I’ve done a lot already and it should be done in a few days, so bear with me and the thread will eventually catch up.

[RotaryRocketeer]

Here are the photos of the old SB coming out and then the carnage inside cylinder numero 8. She was in serious trouble lol. But I ran the block numbers and it was the factory block from 1976, so let us all render a salute for a job well done and time served with distinction. I’ve had the truck for about 2.5 years and that little block was a runner. RV cam, dual plane, big ignition, vortec 906 heads and longtubes. And now, on to bigger (slightly) and better (not so slightly.)

The last pictures are my HP93 LQ4 reman from ATK outside the shop after delivery, and then getting comfy with the truck while waiting to be unpacked.

EDIT: My apologies for the flipped around photos. I’m doing most of this from my phone.

[RotaryRocketeer]

Some real painful photos to look at here. Girlfriend was home alone when the car went up. Couldn’t or didn’t get to the hose in time, but luckily we live 4 blocks from a fire station. Would’ve helped if they’d listened to her when she told them how to pop the hood, instead of going after the original sheet metal with an axe and letting car burn to a crisp in the meantime. Then they busted a window and the fire flashed through a firewall hole and fried the whole cab! All in all, I’m thankful that they showed up so quickly and stopped it from spreading, but dammit if they didn’t destroy the whole garage for what was a pretty isolated blaze. The car was almost halfway out the door! Car and structure could have been saved by a more experienced crew....

[Dads79GMC]

Can't imagine! Sorry for the losses.

[RotaryRocketeer]

Originally Posted by Dads79GMC

Can't imagine! Sorry for the losses.

Thank you. Life’s full of little setbacks. We’ve got other cars, and great insurance so all is well!

[RotaryRocketeer]

Got my accessories all mounted, measured for and bought a serpentine belt, picked up a new trans mount, and she’s ready to go in for a test fit!!! Slow going the last few days. Hoping that she’s gonna be torqued down in place and wired by Saturday evening.

[RockhoundII]

Sorry to hear about your string of bad luck.

It looks like you're going carbureted. I love the look of a carbureted LS.

Can't wait to see the end result.

[RotaryRocketeer]

One little setback yesterday. Everything fits great in the engine bay, but I lost the bolts for the trans mount somehow, and the oil cooler delete doesn’t fit correctly. Got another on the way, so hope to update soon. Maybe with a video of startup!

[RotaryRocketeer]

So the engine and trans are in, buuuuut...... the driveshaft doesn’t fit, naturally. Because why would it? Haha. I was confident that the Dirty Dingo sliders were gonna put everything in the right spot (mostly because I was told that’s exactly what they’re intended for) but that’s alright. Took my measurement, and it looks like I need a shaft made out to 78.5”. Dropped my shaft at the shop this afternoon so they could get started Monday. It had a one piece aluminum shaft in it that came out of a late 90s G series van, as far as I can tell. Big beefy thing too. 4” dia at the ends and stepped up to 5” in the middle. STOUT. These dudes are supposed to be the best place around though, and they’ll get me going. To the tune of about $400. Which is great because we all just have an unlimited amount of money to dedicate to dropping an LS in an old work truck.

[RotaryRocketeer]

Here are a few pics. She looks little amongst the vast real estate that is the Squarebody engine bay.