63 C10 Stepside LS 6.0/6L90E Swap and upgrades.

[69 chevy 1]

very nice truck should be a real runner,my suburban is getting the same treatment with a smaller trans

[Ken Wolkens]

We ordered the wheels today. Going with 15" Silver Rally's with Baby Moon Centers. We should be back to a rolling chassis next week.

[Ken Wolkens]

Finished up the front end today. Also got the rally wheels and tires mounted.

It will move to my garage on Friday where it will get introduced to the new powertrain.

[Ken Wolkens]

Dragged it out of the storage bin and headed to my garage. It was nice to see it rolling again.

In case anyone is wondering the Jeep has a 5.3 Liter L59 (LM7 Flex Fuel Variant) with a 4l60E. I did that swap a couple of years ago and I have to say the LS swap is by far the best performance upgrade I've ever done.

[Ken Wolkens]

Here's the motor it's getting. It's an LY6 6.0 liter. It's a real sweet engine that has the the same heads as the L92 or LS3.

My next victim is in the background...It's got an L92 (6.2L 403 HP) transplant in its future.

[Ken Wolkens]

Motor and trans are in. No surgery to the floor required.

[Ken Wolkens]

After a couple of movements I decided to put the engine is in a 1" to the rear position. It has plenty of has plenty of room to the firewall, gives me more clearance to the radiator and I actually might get away without shortening or lengthening the driveshaft

[Ken Wolkens]

Tomorrow, I'm going to test fit the stock truck exhaust manifolds. I doubt they will fit so I picked up a set of C6 Corvette manifolds from a buddy yesterday just in case.

I'll also try to get some better pictures.

Ken

[Lee Performance]

Ken it's looking great!

[Ken Wolkens]

Thanks Lee. FWIW when you do yours keep in mind that the CPP pedestals, Stock Small Block rubber mounts and the 3 position adapter plates are the way to go. Everything lined up very nicely.

I've used the Dirty Dingo sliders in the past but since this truck will be a daily driver I decided that rubber mounts would be a better way to go.

For the trans mount I used the CPP tubular bracket. Once it was centered I drilled the 4 holes in the frame and bolted it tight.

[Lee Performance]

CPP makes a kit that includes pedestals, mounts, trans cross member, and headers. Since it worked that good in yours I think I'll go with it

[Ken Wolkens]

I'm always leery of headers as part of a kit. I did a 67 Camaro with a "kit" from another well known company and had to make significant mods to the headers to get them in the car. I also did not like where their mounts placed the engine because it was to tight (less than1/2" of clearance) to the firewall.

Also if the mounts are not adjustable you won't be able to play with the position and possibly avoid the expense of modifying your driveshaft.

[Ken Wolkens]

Update on the exhaust and driveshaft:

Both the Truck and C6 manifolds were a no-go. I did however pick up a set of 02 LS1 manifolds for a Camaro that will work with some minor clearance work.

As for the driveshaft it has to be shortened 1.5".

[FLYNAVY30]

paying close attention as Im currently doing the same to my 72 Suburban

[Ken Wolkens]

Got the driveshaft back yesterday. In addition to being shortened the guy had to weld a new yoke on the drive shaft to mate with the much bigger U-joint up front.

Today I managed to install the new rear coil springs, the shock relocation kit, and the shocks. I also cut the clearance notches for the F-Body Manifold on the passenger side. The driver side F-body manifold fit like a glove.

I did manage to break my first bolt today. It was the passenger rear lower coil retainer and it snapped clean off but the rest of the bolt was wedged in with rust so I had to get medieval with a baby sledge a couple of chisels and finally a pickle fork but it finally popped loose.

[Ken Wolkens]

Here's pics of the driveshaft yokes. You can see the size difference between the stock (little) one and the Mack Daddy 6L90E piece.

If you are curious the 6L90E Slip Yoke was $174.00.... Ouch!

[Ken Wolkens]

Right now the gas tank is off getting a bung welded on it for the fuel return line. Once I get that back I'll get to plumbing the fuel lines.

In the mean time I'm going to start modifying the E38 wire harness as a standalone and program the ECM so it can operate in it's new environment.

[Ken Wolkens]

After being sicker'n a dog all week I managed to get out and get going on this again. First thing was to scuff the firewall and spray my favorite coating (black urethane gravel guard) on it. It gives a nice stipple texture and a nice satin black color. I used it on my Jeep on the floor pans and firewall four years ago and it looks like the day I sprayed it on so i figured I'd use it here too.

While it was drying I installed the exhaust manifolds and did a test fit of the Ididit steering column.

Once the gravel guard dried I mounted the power brake booster. Definitely not a direct bolt on but I managed to get it installed and set the brake pedal height to 5 3/4" from the floor.

More to come tomorrow...

[NEWFISHER]

Keeping notes and watching....keep up the good work!

[69 chevy 1]

hi ken jon here very nice setup i did the 6.0 in my 66 suburban,used new camaro manifolds and diff motor mount stands they fit perfect,i have not ran it yet but its coming along ,these should work nice

[Ken Wolkens]

Jon, Did you have to do any clearance work to the frame with the New Camaro Manifolds?

[Ken Wolkens]

I got the fuel tank and the radiator support back from the welder.

Now I need to shake this miserable cold and get back to work. It's going on 7 days now...

[Ken Wolkens]

Got the steering column in today and now I need to track down an intermediate shaft that fits.

Also installed some sound deadener on the back wall of the cab and on the floor below the seat.

[Ken Wolkens]

I finished converting the factory engine harness to stand alone. This is my favorite part. I've done over 100 of these LS Harnesses in my lifetime and never get tired of doing them.

[Ken Wolkens]

I ended up finding an intermediate shaft. I used a CPP piece that uses a ujoint at the column and a rag joint at the steering box with a D shaft in between. With some light fabrication it was in and working just fine.

Since this truck will use an electric fan, I removed the clutch fan and then did a walk around to make sure there wasn't something else I wanted to put on before hanging some sheet metal.

Soon after fender inners were on and the rad support and radiator were set in there for a test fit.