1995 Sonoma LS

[leegreen]

This section of the forum needs some love.

I bought this '95 Sonoma 2.2 5 Speed about a year and a half ago as a daily driver.


It always sat a little high in the front, like it had heavier springs than the 2.2 needed. Lowering springs were one option, more weight was another




much better, front came down to match the rear

A quite exhaust and no outward indications it is fast, unless you can spot the slapper bars under the springs, the 'LS' badge on door pillar or the '4.8 vortek' badge I put on the tailgate.
The fake syclone stickers it came with were funny when it was a 2.2, but now I plan to take them off next time I find my eraser wheel.
Got about 10,000 KM on it as a daily driver since the swap. It is much more fun to drive.

[HO455]

Nice choice of ballast. Replacing those front springs is such a pain in the butt.
What transmission are you running?
Does it have the 8.5 rear end?

[leegreen]

I'm running the stock '95 WC T5, behind a stock except for headers and intake 4.8 The T5 should be within it's rated capacity.
S10 first gear is pretty low for that much power, if you punch it in first it gets to the 6k rpm rev limit I set about as fast as you can push the throttle to the floor and start to lift again.

It is the 7.5" open diff 3.73 the truck left the factory with. And not in excellent shape either with a decent amount of pinion backlash and some slop in the c-clips.
A G80 with taller gears would be nice, especially if I drive in the snow much next winter.

[HO455]

Funny, it must be the difference in first gear ratios between your WC T5 and my T56. Because I'm going to take the 3.42's out of mine and put 3.73 's in. The weight difference with a Blazer would also make a difference.

[leegreen]

With the T5, 3.76 and factory 205/75/15 tire size it runs 3k RPM at 120 KMH (75 MPH). That's OKish, but I'd like to drop that to 2500 or so for economy. 3.42 and 235/75 should be pretty close.

The T56 probably has 1st - 2.66, 1.78, 1.30, 1.00, 0.74, 0.50 - 6th
and the T5 probably 1st - 3.76 , 2.18 , 1.41 , 1.00 , 0.72 -5th
We could meet up half way and swap trans if you like, fix that horrible first gear ratio problem for you
You could probably run a 4.10 axle with that 6th gear. I think you'll find one under a 4 cylinder S10/Sonoma with long box or ext cab

Around here t56 go for a fortune, anything under $3k (Can) is a bargain. I'd love to run one but not enough money for everything

[HO455]

I've decided on the 3.73 ratio with the 25 inch tires I run. I was on the fence about going to a 3.90 ratio but none of the quality ring and pinon companies offer that ratio. The rear end is an 8.5 with disc brakes. The pinion seal is leaking so it's a good time to change the ratio.

The 2.69 first ratio is a real buzz kill. I'd like to know what GM was thinking. Probably it made the 1 to 4 skip shift work better.

[leegreen]

4.8 started having nasty lifter rattle after warming up.
Messed around the last couple weeks swapping some know good lifters and replacing questionable rocker bearings with a trunnion kit. That made it somewhat quieter but there was still internal noise.

Pulled the motor last weekend and found this

Oil pickup o ring failed after around 15,000 KM. Pump sucked in some air once motor warmed and lifters don't like foamy oil.

Engine back in with new o ring and all is well.

The failed o ring came with the aftermarket pan and pickup. Suggest anyone contemplating an LS swap get a brand name o ring and throw away the anonymous one that came with your pan.
Felpro 72401 is what I used. same as GM12584922 Red

(there is also a smaller version on earlier LS, GM12557752 Blue)

re&re engine and trans to get to a $5 o ring what fun.