TR65 LS2 T56 Engine Swap 65 C10

[BlueRidgeMountainDew]

Awesome work, clean and nice, really like the truck and your craftsmanship. Well Done

[TR65]

Thanks for the kind words Blue,

I grew up in Stanley, NC. Not so far from you.

TR

[roOstersan]

Another great thread. The attention to detail you have is what I envision for my own project, the skill, however, is lacking! But I won't give up! That's for the great info and detailed explanation. It is much appreciated.

[Paul Y]

As others have said, great thread! The detail is helping me with my LS swap.

A question if you don't mind, on drivability.

I would love a "close ratio" T56 but looks like I am going to have to settle for a wide. Therefore, how do you find the gearbox in the truck? Can it pull 5th and 6th comfortably or does it feel uncomfortable? What rear end ratio are you running and height of tyres?

My LS is just a 5.3 so will be slightly differant in hp to your LS2 but would be good to hear your experiences.

Many thanks.

P.

[boynton]

Excellent write up.

[crakarjax]

Thanks for this, I could not find a bit of info other than this thread on using the TBSS / SSR engine mounts! Looks like you found a fairly simple solution that's also pretty flexible wrt engine placement. How far is your oil pan from touching the crossmember with those mounts?

On a side note the brackets themselves are proving nearly impossible to find

[TR65]

Thanks crakarjax,

I set the clearance at about 3/4", pan to cross member. The mounts have worked well with no trouble for several years now. They really are out of the way of everything.

TR

[crakarjax]

Originally Posted by TR65

Thanks crakarjax,

I set the clearance at about 3/4", pan to cross member. The mounts have worked well with no trouble for several years now. They really are out of the way of everything.

TR

Nice! I did find a set of brackets and mounts on ebay, and I also found these aftermarket trailblazer mounts which look to give even more clearance:
http://www.tbssowners.com/forums/tra...or-mounts.html

I'm not sure I like that bushing style for motor mounts though. It looks like they were created in response to TB owners' mounts breaking, but I think I'll go with the stock mounts and brackets at first unless I run into clearance/breakage issues.

I will be running an f-body pan which is shallower above the crossmember, so I think I may try to sink the mounts into the crossmember to the point where the bottom of my oil pan ends up just slightly above the crossmember bottom. Do you foresee any problems with that approach based on your experience?

[Low Elco]

Wow, this is nice! Great work.

[TR65]

Thanks Lo.

crakarjax,

That should work. Best to hang the engine in and adjust to the clearance you want and the correct drive line angles.

I really like the OE mounts, oil filled, and pretty sophisticated to isolate the engine from the frame, and out of the way. Allow the low mount for the AC compressor.

Good luck,

TR

[crakarjax]

Another question for you, why did you fab the driver's side engine mount? I see that the stock one is offset which is weird, but it should mount to the crossmember just fine right?

[TR65]

Hi Jax,

The intermediate OE drivers side bracket was not symmetric with the passenger side and would move the cross member mount to a bad position. So I just mirrored and replicated the passenger car side intermediate bracket.

So that made the mounts symmetric.

TR

[crakarjax]

Originally Posted by TR65

Hi Jax,

The intermediate OE drivers side bracket was not symmetric with the passenger side and would move the cross member mount to a bad position. So I just mirrored and replicated the passenger car side intermediate bracket.

So that made the mounts symmetric.

TR

Can you clarify what you mean by bad position? If it's just about symmetry I'll run them as-is, but if there's a clearance issue I'll cut to the chase and fab a bracket. I can't think of anything in that area that would interfere at the moment though. Thanks again!