1987 GMC V1500 Sierra Classic LS swap/build

[NastyBuzzard]

Thank you all for the support! I am hoping to have it all wrapped in metal this weekend and then start thinking about some concrete!!

I found out the piece I need for the power steering pump is called a flow valve so I am one step closer on that. Pretty soon I will need one so I can drive my 87 up to its new home!

[Flatpat]

Looks like you'll have the shop done just in time for Summer. Look forward to seeing you complete the '87.

[NastyBuzzard]

I tinkered a little bit yesterday.





This is the power steering piece I have been needing... I got one coming and is supposed to be here Friday. I really miss working on this truck.



The top right is a picture of the flow valve that I have been talking about.

[Hankster]

You'll be back working on it in no time!

[NastyBuzzard]

She is coming along. Starting to think about some concrete.







Also, a guy I know not to far from here, he is a member I think. Trout is his username, anyways, he is selling off quite a bit of stuff and one thing was parting out his "suburbalanche." I had to go pick up some parts for current and future builds.



The 87 will be getting these doors with power mirrors. Figured I may as well make her fancy!



Also got these suburban seats. Oh wow are they comfy! These will option B if I cannot find an easy way to get the 03 Silverado power seats in without chopping my immaculate floor pan. Anyone have any links to install these suburban seats? Also, anyone know of anybody who has recovered these seats in leather or some pleather type material?



That is it for now, but more in the works as time permits.

[NastyBuzzard]

It has been a while and I have been quite busy. It took me forever to level out the dirt in the shop and pack it and so on and get ready for concrete. Then my concrete was delayed like 3x.

I also traded the 2006 ECSB Silverado 4.8/4x4 for a 2001 Trans Am. Best swap I have ever done, especially considering I had a grand total of less than $2500 in the whole entire truck.

Here she is.





Here is what has been happening with the shop.







Only thing that sucked is the concrete guys showed up 2 hours late, so all my finish work was done in the dark for the most part, and of course I didn't have any good lights. They worked on finishing it until 10:30 PM and still had some rough spots the next day.



My kid loves it though, now that it is done.





Moving the truck in! Finally!!!!!!

And it got stuck, I did drive it from my car port to the shop which is about 500 feet.





Got her in though.

[mcbassin]

Congrats on the new TA and the shop floor! I know how big of a deal that is

[NastyBuzzard]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Congrats on the new TA and the shop floor! I know how big of a deal that is

Thank you!!

It is a huge deal to me! This is my first shop I built on my own for myself. I have built several for others.

I love that Trans Am, it is only has 2 "flaws" from being my dream car. It isn't black and it isn't a 6 speed, I do plan to swap the 6 speed in soon but the white is growing on me.

[NorCalAnthony]

Sweet score on the T/A dude! She looks like she's in really good shape. How are the mechanics?

Nice job finishing up the shop too. I wish I had a shop like that to work on my projects. Probably best I don't though because I'd wind up spending way too much filing it up with tools, projects, and parts vehicles lol. Keep up the good work dude

[NastyBuzzard]

Originally Posted by NorCalAnthony

Sweet score on the T/A dude! She looks like she's in really good shape. How are the mechanics?

Nice job finishing up the shop too. I wish I had a shop like that to work on my projects. Probably best I don't though because I'd wind up spending way too much filing it up with tools, projects, and parts vehicles lol. Keep up the good work dude

Mechanics seem great! This is the mod list the previous owner sent me:

ASA Cam 226/236 110LSA @525 / TSP hardened pushrods and LS2 chain installed at the same time. Cam install at about 100K miles

Hooker Long tube headers/Off road Y-pipe and full 3" Hooker Catback with E-Cutout

Stock trans swapped out after cam swap, this one was built by Andy Mays performance for a turbo car but was sold to me when he changed his plans. It also has a truck oil pan on it so you can drain and swap fluid easily. additional trans cooler mounted up front on the lower spoiler.

3600 TCI SSF converter

Sub frame connectors / tubular lower control arms / adjustable torque arm with tunnel mount and drive shaft safety loop

A few other small mods like throttle body bypass, oil catch can, MSD wires.

Was tuned after cam install and made about 380rwhp and around 370rwtq, a good set of heads and slightly bigger injectors should get it up to 400rwhp.

Swapped out all rotors for slotted ones, rear gears 3.73s, and has ZR1 replica 17x9.5 up front and 17x11 in the rear. Front tires are Firestone Firehawk 275/40 and rears are Nitto 315/35s

Also have an Aero force interceptor gauge mounted in the far left ac vent.

This car averages low 12's but with a better rear end and good tires you'll probably see high 11's. I squeezed out a 12 flat at test and tune once and called it a day after the next pass of 12.3 (spins a lot due to tires, got a good hook on the 12 flat). That was the last time car seen track and has only made 10-13 passes since I've modded it

-------------------------------

I have found a few things that weren't done 100% correct, also the tune isn't that great and needs to be redone.

First thing I fixed was the tune for Torque Converter lockup. It was set to lockup at like 60, but wouldn't lock up for but a few seconds.

Once I learned that a misfire code disables lockup, I fixed it only locking up for a few seconds and readjusted the speeds at which it should lock up with efi live.

Then I fixed 02 sensor and a few other things. She runs acceptable now but not to its fullest potential. It will definitely haul ass, it is the first 4th gen I have had that actually hooks and launches as well, no 2nd or 3rd gen spin, she hooks and launches.

Yeah the plan with the shop is to keep the core 24x30 space free of anything but what I am working on and put all my tools and parts under the "lean-too" additions that I made that are open from the inside. I like having a lot of room while I work to spread things out.

Hopefully I can add a loft or 2 and some shelves to store parts..

She wont fill up with projects, expensive tools too soon b/c I am getting broke!!

[NastyBuzzard]

Taking my damaged bed apart was pretty fun. I tell you though, I wish I knew that there was like 6 hidden bolts at the back of the bed where the welds were. I keep thinking I didn't cut the welds all the way away. Once I took out the tail light I saw the bolts I was missing though. Progress is progress.

I know where one good drivers side bedside is with no fuel door cover, now I need a new passenger side one too.

[old yelr]

That's awesome!! I wish I had a building like that. Great work!

[NastyBuzzard]

First off. I hate these things. All of them but these dang black widows are everywhere near my shop for some reason. I have never seen so many in my life. I have seen over 5 in the past 2 weekends. This one I actually touched before I saw it... Then I proceeded to hammer it out of existence then burned it with fire...



Anyways. On to the updates. Tried to do some welding for the exhaust. It didn't start out good at all. I had to cut this off to re-position it to go back to my stock y pipe. Didn't end well at all.



Hopefully it can be welded back and not leak, or I will have to find a damn replacement. After all that the dang lead or tip on the welder was shot and I had no replacement, plus the flux core was a bit rusty.

I really wish both sides matched like this one.. Then it could be problem solved. Wishful thinking.



I did get the fenders cleaned and prepped to paint the under hood portions. That was some reasonable progress. I got the fender wells and the core support while I was at it.







I didn't get them perfect by any means but good enough for a daily driver. I dont want to pop the hood to show off my LSX and it be all dirty

Now I need to reassemble the front end, then do some wiring routing and splicing.

Things to do:

"Permanent" mount solution for the steering column.
Splice in all front headlights to the 01 wiring harness.
Splice in all the rear taillights to the 01 wiring harness.
Splice door wiring into the 01 wiring harness.
Weld up exhaust.
Weld mounts for seats and console.
Million other tiny things.
Drink beer and check everything 10x over.

[NastyBuzzard]

A few weekend pick ups.

Picked up this LS1 block for $100. I couldn't find any cracks or issues, cylinders have slight rust. It was used as a mock up block for an LS swap. Hoping it will be fine with a hone job. I oiled the cylinders, put it in a bag and tucked it away in the shop.







Also picked up some stuff that was owed to me but never could get time to get it... No clue what I am going to do with it yet but auto locking hubs may be a nice upgrade. Not sure what is involved. I gotta pull rotors to begin my H3 brake setup swap.

[NastyBuzzard]

Anyone have a diagram, drawing or picture of how the front core support bushings are supposed to go back in? I bought a set of polyurethane body bushings for the truck but I cant remember how the front went one.

[Chevy_mud_truck]

Not sure if this helps

[Hankster]

Got her looking good! Sorry I can't help ya with the part you need though!

[NastyBuzzard]

Thanks! I got wiring to route and make look good. I was concerned how hard this would be but, it isn't that bad. I'm just afraid of how I will need to get the power windows and locks to work.

Another thing that is weird, no matter what I could get the DRL/park lights to come on... I even tried on my 04 Sierra but they only flashed when I hit the lock/unlock on my key fob.. Guess I'll worry about that later.

I want her back together so bad!

[NastyBuzzard]

I have all the front lights and tail lights working now. Hard to tell, but I have the hazard lights flashing to show turn signals in the front as well as side marker lights. This is getting exciting.





Now to consider how I am going to do the brake switch.. Either use the 01 somehow or try and splice in the switch from the 87..



Anyone know what this is? The cover broke on it.





Also curious what this is for, maybe sensor for air bag?



On the door wiring and tag light wiring... Looks like I am just going to have to pay the high prices for them.. Got PS door wiring on the way for $25, the tag light wiring on the way for $25, but the cheapest I can find the DS door wiring is $75 on ebay... There is a $125 I was not prepared to spend at the moment, but I need them to make progress.

Also, LS swappers, what do you all do with the LS donors power steering cooler? I am thinking about deleting it. Any diagrams on how I should actually route the lines if I remove the cooler from the situation?

[NastyBuzzard]

Trying to figure out which direction to go as far as the brake switch goes.

The normal brake switch on the 87 pedal is just a 2 wire switch that controls brake lights and has another switch for unlocking torque converter and what not. Well the 01 has one switch for all.

I need to either find a way to attach the 01 switch to the 87 pedal or fit in the 01 pedal. Looking at options now, I may even consider trying to swap the entire brake/gas pedal bracket over from the 01 into the 87. Still need to investigate.

Here shows the difference in the 73-87 brake pedal and the 99-06 brake pedal.





All the wiring harnesses I ordered should be showing up soon.

[NastyBuzzard]

May not seem like much but this made me as giddy as a school girl when I got this to work. This video is me using the 2001 donors key fob to lock/unlock my door with the solenoid.



Now the problem I am running into is I cant get the window to go up and down. I need to find what wire does what from the 2001 donors door wiring harness, same for the 87 door switch.

I don't know how to find this info, no matter what I google, I can't find jack. I am almost to the point I will pay for this info.

[Hankster]

Hope you can get all this wiring figured out!

[NastyBuzzard]

I am trying! I feel like I hit a brick wall though. I cannot get power to the lock/unlock switch and the power mirror switch. I can't figure out why either and it is making this a lot harder than it needs to be! Plus I hate spending all my time and making no progress.

[NastyBuzzard]

The problem is that I cannot get power to the door lock switch and power window switch in the 2001 harness.

I pulled power from the window switch and got most of everything working but I can't run all 3 off one power source, something is up and I CANNOT FIND IT! It is driving me insane.


I did wire up the doors though and had the power windows rolling up and down as well as being able to lock the doors. It seems I can either choose to have the switch lock the door or unlock the door. The switch doesn't seem capable of doing both with the 2001 harness... I dont know how I am going to work that out.


I also straight wired the mirrors and had them working and playing with them..

I need to find out what is keeping power from going through my door harness for my lock and mirror switch.

[NastyBuzzard]

So instead of buying new relays and what not, because they are crazy expensive, I just bought another used fuse block for the interior that came with all the fuses and relays already on it.

Installed it and bam, I now have power to the power locks. Still nothing to the power window switch or the mirror itself though. No clue why, but it is driving me a little mad. I think I am just going to steal power from the door lock switch to power it and stop wasting time trying to find out why I don't have power to it.