Marvin (1953 3100)

[torchlight]

Originally Posted by vht

That's going to be 1 nice truck. Was your headers a kit? Bought a 6.0 for mine and was wondering what to do about headers. Keep the info and pics coming!

The headers were built from scratch, so no kit for these, unfortunately. I think I've read that stock Corvette manifolds on these motors perform really well if headers are causing any clearance issues.

[OrrieG]

Originally Posted by torchlight

. My big hangup right now is finding a set of A/C vents that I like. Most of the aftermarket stuff I'm finding looks a little too modern for my taste.

Here is what I ended up using, 2009 mustang, F150 trucks from mid 2000 are similar to. I mounted them in the kick panels. Center courtesy light is from a 64 Starfire. speaker is temp.

[fabguy]

Read your thread, nice history and cool truck

[oldman3]

Looking good...Jim

[Low Elco]

Man, that's nice work! That shop ain't screwing around! It's always great when someone with the means and desire finds someone with the capability and determination to pull the project off on time with style. Great things can happen. This is really gonna be cool.

[Wybrow]

Marvin is turning out awesome, those guys do some bang up work.

[torchlight]

Hey folks, a quick little update here after a visit to the shop on Friday. Quick stop to drop off a couple parts, see a few new changes on the truck, and pick up a pile of original parts off the truck that aren't going to be reused. Shortly after the new year, Marvin is going to come back apart, and all the sheet metal (except for the cab) is going to the body shop for paint prep. Exciting!!!!

Here's some pics:

Shop took the front sheetmetal off and installed the new front drive brackes, accessories, and pulleys. This front drive never came on a 5.3 LS motor from Chevrolet, but it bolts up just the same. This is a set off of a Cadillac CTS-V motor, and it works better for this build than the standard 5.3 truck motor items because the parts are shorter, and this gives me way more clearance between the pulleys and the radiator.

These are all just standard GM OEM parts - not really a fancy aftermarket bracket set. I thought about doing one of those nice billet sets, but ultimately decided that seemed a bit too flashy for Marvin's personality. The only thing that is not stock GM is the A/C compressor and mounting bracket. Had to go with a Sanden 508 compressor because I'm going to be installing some Vintage Air equipment. The compressor bracket is aftermarket - from Alan Grove Components.

In addition to giving me more room between the motor and the radiator, I particulaly like this front drive setup because it kind of "hides" the alternator and A/C compressor down near the crank pulley. I think this will really make for a nice clean look in the engine bay.

You can also see we threw the intake, throttle body, and air cleaner on for fun, just to see how it will look. Edelbrock Performer RPM intake. Fast EZ-EFI 2.0 throttle body. Thought about using one of the stock LS EFI manifolds, but decided to go this route so I can get EFI mileage/reliability but also have a more traditional "carb look" under the hood. I love the way it looks and fits in the engine bay. I've got different valve covers as well, but didn't put them on for these photos.







Here you can see the frame had to be notched slightly to fit the alternator and A/C compressor.




Popped the front sheetmetal back on to see how everything fits. Really happy with how the motor is sitting under the hood.


Here you can see all the clearance that was gained between the pulleys and the radiator fan. Before, when the motor was wearing the crank pulley for the 5.3 truck accessories, there was barely room to install the radiator fan.




Continued...

[torchlight]

A little more work done towards the rear of the truck. The taillights were mocked in. These are '37 Ford taillights, cut in slightly to the lower part of the rear stake pockets. The taillights are just tacked in for now, but will soon be fully welded in. I wanted to do something a little different than the stock taillights and brackets, but I wanted it to still look like it might have come from the factory this way. I guess this does render the stake pockets unusable, but I still think it is a clean, stock-ish appearing look. I really like it! You might also be able to see a sharpie marking on the rear fender - I decided to move the gas filler hole upwards a few inches, and that will be the new location.






The shop fabricated some caps for the ends of the rolled metal at the tops of the bed sides. Here they are welded in.


I dropped off the finished wood boards for the bed. These are the boards that Bruce Horkey made out of the shagbark hickory tree that we cut down on the family farm last November. I really really really wanted to see the boards, but they were nicely packaged up in protective plastic wrapping, so I decided to leave the packaging intact until we actually need to get the boards out for mockup/install. Hard to be patient, but better to leave the boards protected. My dad saw the boards at Bruce's shop before they got packed up and said they look amazing. I believe it!


Finally, for fun, a shot of the shop. Always lots of cool projects to look at!

[oldman3]

Very nice work, coming together great...Jim

[Russell Ashley]

When you started this build thread I thought that I would just clean it up and drive it since it looked so good already. Now I'm glad you didn't have the same thoughts. That truck is going to be super nice.

Also, thanks for posting the pic of the shop. I always looked in the background of your pics to see what other interesting builds they had going on.

[Coach529]

Love that view of the shop.

[Daze57]

project is turning out great !!! nice looking modifications also !

[Root2812]

what oil pan are you using? I assume it came with the motor but I wonder if its the standard truck pan or a different one.

[torchlight]

Originally Posted by Root2812

what oil pan are you using? I assume it came with the motor but I wonder if its the standard truck pan or a different one.

I have two different oil pans for the motor and tried them both. Ended up going with the standard 5.3 truck oil pan.



I also tried the F-body (Firebird and Camaro) pan because it isn't as deep and is more uniform.



However, I found that the truck pan worked a lot better because its shape gives a lot more clearance for the front suspension crossmember. The truck pan does hang down further, so the F-body or even the Corvette pan would probably be good to make work if you were going with airbags and needing to lay frame. But if you aren't planning on a super low ride height, I think the truck pan is a much easier option. It was for Marvin, anyway! You can see in this picture how the suspension crossmember nestles in nicely in front of the deep section of the oil pan:

[BlueJeep]

The truck looks fantastic!!

Couple of questions for you. I really like how the rear looks with those taillights, where are you going to put the license plate? Also, what are you planning for the water neck on the thermostat housing to get it pointed at the radiator?

[torchlight]

Originally Posted by BlueJeep

The truck looks fantastic!!

Couple of questions for you. I really like how the rear looks with those taillights, where are you going to put the license plate? Also, what are you planning for the water neck on the thermostat housing to get it pointed at the radiator?

Going to put the rear license plate smack in the middle of the rear bumper and so it doesn't just look like it was stuck on there, going to adapt one of these cool license plate guards off of a '49 Chevy car. Not the vertical prongs, just the piece that goes around the plate. Not going to run a front plate.





For the water pump outlet, Street & Performance sells a nice swivel neck option that you can position in whatever direction you need. Heater hoses are going to go into the inner fender right there and into the cab that way, keeping them hidden.

[Root2812]

Thanks for the oil pan info. I have a stock 5.3 pan and I was hoping you'd say you were able to make that work. I'm not laying frame and I am running an IFS too so it should work out for me too

[mechanixman]

That licence plate idea is pretty slick!
Can I ask where you got your plate guard?

Thanks

[torchlight]

Originally Posted by mechanixman

That licence plate idea is pretty slick!
Can I ask where you got your plate guard?

Thanks

I haven't picked it up yet, but I'm keeping my eye on eBay. I'd prefer an original piece. Here's an online vendor for reproduction, though:

http://www.classychevusa.com/index.c...rod/prd892.htm

[youngrodder]

Great build. I like to follow along to see your updates. The shop pic was cool. I like seeing all of the different builds going on. Who's shop is it?

Marc

[vht]

Was looking back over your build and was wondering if the reflectors were going back on the tailgate? Just kidding, great build. LS sure looks good in there.

[Low Elco]

Beautiful work. I'm surprised, considering your location and some of the temperature swings, they've left it in bare metal this long. Seems to be ok, though!

[opc patrick]

anymore updates??

[Root2812]

Today I scored a LS2 accessory drive that is the same as the one you have so I decided to revisit your thread. How serviceable do you think the alternator will be. I think I'll use them for clearance like you did but if its almost impossible to pull the alternator I might rethink that.

Looking forward to some updates too.

[torchlight]

Originally Posted by Root2812

Today I scored a LS2 accessory drive that is the same as the one you have so I decided to revisit your thread. How serviceable do you think the alternator will be. I think I'll use them for clearance like you did but if its almost impossible to pull the alternator I might rethink that.

Looking forward to some updates too.

You are absolutely right, it is well past due for an update! I have been beyond incredibly busy with work since Christmas that I haven't had as much free time as I would like. So much travel!

Also, progress on Marvin has been slowed a bit because he got to the point where it was time to go to the body shop for prep and paint, and the shop I'm using didn't have any openings in their schedule for awhile. So had to sit and wait a bit. But I'll post some pictures of progress since the last update.

Oh, but first I wanted to answer your great question about the front accessory drive. First answer would be that I don't think the alternator will be easily serviceable. With the inner fenders and radiator on, it would be a tight fit indeed to reach it, and definitely not possible to remove it without taking some of the front sheetmetal off. Definitely an inconvenience, and probably some motivation to get a high quality alternator in there. I'm hoping that the times I'll need to get to the alternator will be few and far between.

Also, you'll see in the pictures that I did have to change my front drive accessories since my last update. Still the same concept - just changed to a drive off of a 98-02 camaro/firebird instead of the 06 CTS set that I was using. The reason for this change was that my sanden A/C compressor bracket from Alan Grove was incompatible with the CTS pulley/bracket spacing. Had to go to the camaro/firebird setup to get it to work. Everything is in the same place, just that the camaro/firebird pulleys stick out a smidgen more. Everything still fits behind the radiator, though. I did get a shortened water pump from Evans Cooling because the stock camaro water pump has such a long nose on it.

Ok, updates!