Another OLD BLUE Build Thread - 71 Chevy

[Jon01]

This is one of my favorite builds on the board.

What are your plans on the 5.3? Leaving it stock?

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Originally Posted by Jon01

This is one of my favorite builds on the board.

What are your plans on the 5.3? Leaving it stock?

Bone Stock, and I'm keepin' it that way!

Actually the guy that is reprogramming my computer is removing the torque management and putting a slight 87 octane performance tune on it. It should be a pretty good deal.

When I had the CrAzYbLaZe (S10 on 40's) I used to repeatedly bounce it off the rev limiter in low range while offroad. I hope to do the same with this Ol' Blue after the new motor.

[Jon01]

Stock sucks!
What year motor is it? Some of the later ones run real good.

You gonna put a 60e or 80e in it?
If it's a 60e I wouldn't remove the TM, heavy vehicle+heavy tires - TM = busted 60e.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Originally Posted by Jon01

Stock sucks!
What year motor is it? Some of the later ones run real good.

You gonna put a 60e or 80e in it?
If it's a 60e I wouldn't remove the TM, heavy vehicle+heavy tires - TM = busted 60e.

Not sure exactly what year it is out of. I am guessing it is probably early 2000's though because he said it has a drive by cable throttle body on it, which he preferred. I don't much care. The Yukon it came out of I was told had only 70K miles on it.

I will be bolting it up to my existing pretty beefy TH400. If it lived behind the 496BB, I bet it can hold up to the 5.3.

[Jon01]

Originally Posted by OldBlue71Chevy

Not sure exactly what year it is out of. I am guessing it is probably early 2000's though because he said it has a drive by cable throttle body on it, which he preferred. I don't much care. The Yukon it came out of I was told had only 70K miles on it.

I will be bolting it up to my existing pretty beefy TH400. If it lived behind the 496BB, I bet it can hold up to the 5.3.

Should be a tried and true LM7. Hard to break.
Yeah, you won't hurt a TH400 a bit with that motor.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Got quite a bit done this weekend.

Out with the old harness.


In with the new harness.




SSSsssshhhhh, She has quiet moments every once in a while...


This will be a very non-typical dashboard setup. Cut out a thin piece of sheet steel to mount inside of the plastic cluster for my switches/lights/gps to mount to.




Took my tonneau cover/toolbox/gas tank out and mounted an over the rail toolbox from my old Dodge. I am going to get a slightly smaller gas tank with fuel pump and mount it back up under the truck.


I need to pick up a bunch of little LED's for turn signals, switches, and some other stuff. This wire harness should help a lot with the new engine install as it is pre-wired for fuel pump, sending unit, etc.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Picked up the bulk of my goodies Wednesday night. The Honda pulls like a freight train ...at least it is a V6.



Gas tank out of a ZR2 Blazer.



Overnight lights from China! Got these on Amazon for $33 / pair including shipping!? That is just stupid cheap. They seem to be pretty bright, so far the only thing I have done is hook one of them to a jump pack.



At a wedding this weekend so no work will get done. I still need to order my flex plate spacer and find a y pipe @ the junkyard.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Got the motor in for the most part.

Modified the new flexplate for the larger bolt pattern on the TH400 and installed my Hughes flexplate adapter.





Have some interference on the d-side manifold. I think I am just going to cut/turn the flange. Only problem was that when I went to take off the manifold, I broke one of the bolts off flush in the head. So removing the bolt took up ~2hrs and the rest of my patience for the day.



How she sits now. Motor bolted to trans ready for me to build some motor mounts.



Got a bunch of other little stuff done too.

Check out the full writeup here: 5.3 LS Engine Swap into Ol’ Blue 1971 Chevy Truck Part 2 - DIY METAL FABRICATION .com

[OldBlue71Chevy]

I have been way too busy for the last month. I believe that was the last of my friend/family's weddings for a while. We were also out of town for a bit.

Finally got some work done. Motor mounts done, fuel tank fixed, EGR blocked off.






In addition to the motor mounts, I also fiddled around with my gas tank. The guy I bought it from had broken off the main plastic fuel hose connector (not very hard to do). Not wanting to buy a whole new unit ($$$) I used a brass barb, some 100PSI rated fuel hose, and fuel injection rated hose clamps. If it doesn’t work, I can always go buy another one at the junkyard (I just don’t want to if I don’t have to). Here are some pics:






I also worked on creating some EGR blockoff plates. Of course I could buy some online, but in typical DIY fashion, I made my own.





Viola! Homemade and just shy of free EGR blockoff plates. Maybe they aren’t as perfect as a premanufactured piece, but I bet they will do the same job just as well.

Check out the full write-up here: 5.3 LS Engine Swap into Ol' Blue 1971 Chevy Truck Part 3 - DIY METAL FABRICATION .com

[OldBlue71Chevy]

More work accomplished:

Finally installed my heater core shutoff (been sitting on my work bench for probably over a year now)


Final locktite and torqued in the motor/trans. Started wiring:


Got my speedway o-ring to flare power steering line adapter. Worked great.


I also managed to get the passenger side manifold off without any issues. Ordered a bunch of parts and just got them in, so now it is just waiting on me again!

More pictures and full write-up here: 5.3 LS Engine Swap into Ol' Blue 1971 Chevy Truck Part 4 - DIY METAL FABRICATION .com

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Getting sooooo close.

Cut the flanges off of the manifolds and welded on the v-band fittings.



Preheated, welded, and put back in the oven to cool slowly.




Fresh paint.


It is getting straight dual exhaust again. I decided it was too much work to try to fit a y-pipe around the front driveshaft.


Done, and is now installed. Bungs for O2 sensors right up near the manifolds.


Getting really close. Tying up some miscellaneous odds and ends, I hope to at least start it by the end of this week.

More pics and details here: 5.3 LS Engine Swap into Ol' Blue 1971 Chevy Truck Part 5 - DIY METAL FABRICATION .com

[Rust_phoenix]

Merry Christmas my friend,
looks like the swap is coming along nicely and it won't be too long before it's drivable again, nice work!

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Originally Posted by Rust_phoenix

Merry Christmas my friend,
looks like the swap is coming along nicely and it won't be too long before it's drivable again, nice work!

Thanks man. Merry Christmas to you also.

My Christmas present to myself was getting to hear this thing run yesterday!!!!!!!!




Pic of the T fitting from the heater hose to the throttle body.


New intake mod. I figured "Duct" tape was appropriate right??



I have a whole bunch more pictures, part numbers, and a video of it running here: 5.3 LS Engine Swap into Ol' Blue 1971 Chevy Truck Part 6 - DIY METAL FABRICATION .com




No weird noises, she runs great. Now I just need to clean up a whole mess of wiring. The wiring I used to get it started was very temporary, I even had wires strung along the outside of the truck to the fuel tank

[hgs_notes]

Cool build. Lots of DIY stuff I like. Found links in here I could follow for more ideas, etc.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by OldBlue71Chevy

My Christmas present to myself was getting to hear this thing run yesterday!!!!!!!!



I have a whole bunch more pictures, part numbers, and a video of it running here: 5.3 LS Engine Swap into Ol' Blue 1971 Chevy Truck Part 6 - DIY METAL FABRICATION .com




No weird noises, she runs great. Now I just need to clean up a whole mess of wiring. The wiring I used to get it started was very temporary, I even had wires strung along the outside of the truck to the fuel tank

I missed this last update, Congrats on getting her running!
I like the band clamp idea on the exhaust pipes.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

Cool build. Lots of DIY stuff I like. Found links in here I could follow for more ideas, etc.

Thanks. Check out my site www.DIYMetalFabrication.com for some more ideas. I started it with the sole purpose of giving back for all of the ideas that I have gotten from the internet.

Originally Posted by mcbassin

I missed this last update, Congrats on getting her running!
I like the band clamp idea on the exhaust pipes.

Thanks! One step at a time...


I have way too many irons in the fire right now, but here are some updates.

I got a 'real' non phone camera for Christmas, so you all won't have to suffer my iPhone pics anymore.

First, I put in my factory GM throttle cable 15040848 for a 99-03 Chevy truck that fit like a glove with just a couple slight modifications.



Next up, built a computer mount





Got bored with the new sawzall that I got for Christmas



...and started in on the basket case of wiring




For lots more pics and details, check out the full writeup here: 5.3 LS Engine Swap into Ol' Blue 1971 Chevy Truck Part 7 | DIY METAL FABRICATION .com

[Low Elco]

Just keeps getting better! Hope to see it at the Nats this year!

PS- Checked out your site- pretty neat stuff!

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Just keeps getting better! Hope to see it at the Nats this year!

PS- Checked out your site- pretty neat stuff!

Thanks. Now that it is more reliable, I hope to get it out a lot more this year.



It's Alive!


Here are some teaser photos. I am still getting the rest of the pics together.

[Low Elco]

Congrats! always a good day.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Congrats! always a good day.

Amen to that!



Here are some pics of how the dashboard turned out.

MMMmmmm LED's


Mostly finished dash


I like it... Rearview camera shows the receiver hitch when backing.


I was going for simple, and I think I got pretty close. I still have A LOT of stuff to finish up, but almost everything is functional and it felt really good to drive it.

Check out the rest of the pics here: 5.3 LS Engine Swap into Ol' Blue 1971 Chevy Truck Part 8 | DIY METAL FABRICATION .com

[OldBlue71Chevy]

I forgot to tell you guys about this.

The guy that bought my 496 engine, bought it fully knowing that he was going to have to tear it part. We still talk from time to time and he sent me this pic the other day.

It was exactly what I thought it was. A roller lifter had failed and took out the cam too. He was going to put something less radical in it anyways for his street project (I think it was an old Nova or Camaro, I don't remember which)



I still think I made the right call. Fuel injection rocks...

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Mostly finished and runnin' good.

Made a dome light. This sucker is BRIGHT.




Has a 3rd brake light now. Made from two of the same kind of LED's just red.


Converted the muffler to dual-inlet.


Now has a Y pipe behind the t-case and Flowmaster 70 series (MUCH quieter)


Check out the rest of the pics and more details here: 5.3 LS ENGINE SWAP INTO OL' BLUE 1971 CHEVY TRUCK PART 9 | DIY METAL FABRICATION .com

There is also a video clip of the exhaust sound on the above link, but I haven't figured out how to embed it on here yet



I have been driving it quite a bit lately. It is a TOTALLY different experience than with the other engine. This one just fires up and works every time (cold start or not). Not quite as much power, but not disappointing either. Sounds good, runs great, I am really happy about it so far.

Best of all, I just filled up after driving 100+ miles and averaged 11.2MPG which is over double of the ~4.6 I got with the big block. My goal was double digit MPG's so I am satisfied. I'm sure it could be even better if I drove it nicer.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Started on a winch bumper. The goal was to get it tucked back in as far as possible so I don't lose any approach angle.

This picture is with the winch and fairlead just sitting on the winch plate.


This picture is my current status. 1/4" winch plate finish welded between the frame rails, two receiver tubes for snatch blocks, and the bumper tube.





I still need to add some reinforcement to the outer bumper tubes, mount the winch, and add some gussets/finishing touches.

Check out all of the pictures here: Custom Tube Front Bumper with Winch Mount for ‘Ol Blue Part 1 | DIY METAL FABRICATION .com



I bought another toy last night, actually more of a daily driver. '02 TrailBlazer on 20's so cheap I couldn't pass it up. So I spent most of last night working on it instead of Ol' Blue. I'll have to get some pics of it today.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Took Ol' Blue to Kansas Rocks this weekend and had a blast. Everything on the rig just freakin worked. It was so nice.

There were some trails and obstacles that I wouldn't try because I don't have rock sliders/skid plates yet, but other than that I was very satisfied.











This was just a cool picture on the way home.



Check this post out for A LOT more pictures and story: LS Swap Payoff – KS Rocks Offroad Trip | DIY METAL FABRICATION .com


.

[OldBlue71Chevy]

Finally got around to posting some close up pictures of how I finished my front bumper. It is somewhat minimalist and non-flashy which is exactly how I wanted it.

My personal on front "bumpers" is that they are made for bumps. I rarely hit trees offroad and have no need for some 3/8" plate steel 500lbs of ridiculousness hanging off the front of my truck so I can break more drivetrain parts thanks to the extra weight. Just my opinion, no offense intended.

Drilled holes and added gussets.


Made my own winch solenoid extension kit.


And, I used it!


For more details and pictures check out: Custom Tube Front Bumper with Winch Mount for 'Ol Blue Part 2 | DIY METAL FABRICATION .com