Bucketlist Blazer -Restomod build 6.6liter L8T

[bambbrose]

God has a place and a time for all of us. Kudos for you seeing your purpose in that moment.

Prayers sent!

[NDM]

Here is a little treat for you. This is the moment that my driveshaft let loose and the wheel rings popped off of the vehicle. I find it quite amusing! Note the three items under the vehicle.

[NDM]

I have new u-joints in and the driveshaft is back it. It does not feel right. I think I am going to take my day off to correct some stuff tomorrow. It drives again bet something is weird.

[NDM]

Ok, This is a list of things that I wish I did differently on this build so far.

1. I am getting old, I kind of wish that I had gone with rubber bushings on the motor and trans. I actually might change them out. I realize that I want it to sound choppy but I did not realize just how much vibration the truck would have. Polyurethane for now but I may switch then out before summer.

2. I wish I had mounted the mufflers further forward. It is going to be tricky to get the pipes routed out the back.

3. Speaking of the exhaust, I kind of wish I had gone with 2.5 inch pipes vs 3 inch. I think that it would have lowered the volume of the deep stuff. Don't get me wrong, It is cool but, it is very rumbly.

4. I wish I had known that I could tune my trans with my HP tuners. I would have never bought the Holley 6l90e controller. I could not get it working correctly and just tune it with my HP tuners and do not need credits.

5. I wish I had mounted my motor in a position where the transfer case output was in the factor spot. I have some driveline alignment to do. I did not get the angles right as I thought. Unfortunately, the intake is very close to the fans. I only have about 3/8th inch at the most of clearance.

6. I wish I had just done hydroboost when the motor was out.



This one it touchy given the past 24 hours.....

7. I wish I had stuck to my plan to avoid burnouts. It is good to know that I was right but I could have gone without the broken driveline. It was bound to happen though. I will take this one back!

[NDM]

OMG! My spring perches are bent! I am not a genius but I am pretty sure that this is a big part of my problem.

[NDM]

Originally Posted by JoshHefnerX, post: 6360018, member: 15057

How the hell did you do that?

I looked at my epic fail burnout video again. I think this was the result of a few burnouts and two of them had axle hop. I can tell you that this was not like that during my motor swap. I think you need to see the video. You can see the axle moving around.



Next week I am getting a new driveshaft made that will support 800 horsepower. Until then, I have to drive like granny on my slightly dented shaft with two new u joints and upgraded straps to hold them in. My driveshaft guy was very clear that I should not do any more burn outs. I 100% promise that I will not be doing that again until I upgrade the shaft and probably build my 4 link.



Again, I am telling you that this thing is violent. These old parts are not sufficient for this power combo. Not saying that my truck is the special. I am just saying that it is definitely giving the frame, body, drivetrain and suspension a workout.


Edit....Confirmed. This photo was when I installed the tank. This happened within the last week or so.

[Richard]

The strap type yoke is a weak point. It may be what failed. If you can get a u-bolt type yoke it will be much stronger.

[NDM]

Originally Posted by Richard

The strap type yoke is a weak point. It may be what failed. If you can get a u-bolt type yoke it will be much stronger.

Next week I am dropping it off to get upgraded yokes and a driveshaft acpable of 800hp. I will be getting 1350 or 1410 u joints. Unfortunately, I will have to fix this spring pad issue before then because it is causing major issues. I have fixed it bu tightening the u-bolts but it moved again.

[NDM]

I just got had an epiphany!! Tons of F-bombs and stupid mother F- bombs followed as I figured out why my leaf spring setup did what it did. These stupid ......$^&&^%&**..... put U shaped U bolts on the rectangular leafs. As I was looking into getting shorter U-bolts, it came to me. What the whole F were they thinking?

Here we go. I am glad that I found this. I think that I may try to fix the perches by slicing the bent side and bending it back. Then I will weld it back and add reinforcements. This would cost me damn near nothing. I can then replace the U bolts.
I have been staring at these dumb things for a couple years now and just now noticed the U bolts. look closely at the u bolt in this photo. it is only contacting the corners of the leaf.

[NDM]

Okay, Here is the plan. I just ordered 4 u bolts that will come in tomorrow. I an going to remove the round U bolts. Once I remove them I will take a grinder and slice the leaf pad in the front where it is bent. I will bent it flat and weld the sliced area back. While I am there, I will add reinforcements to the pads and grind them smooth.

This plan will allow me to put it back to the way it was prior to my little Oops. Then I will still get the driveshaft built this week. This will be the quickest and cheapest yet 100% safe option. I will drive it conservatively until I build up the funds to 4 link with beefy components. I do not want to rush into the 4link. I want to do it right.... but I also want to drive it.

So essentially by the end of the day tomorrow The u bolt situation should be resolved.

[Richard]

Originally Posted by NDM

Next week I am dropping it off to get upgraded yokes and a driveshaft acpable of 800hp. I will be getting 1350 or 1410 u joints. Unfortunately, I will have to fix this spring pad issue before then because it is causing major issues. I have fixed it bu tightening the u-bolts but it moved again.

Sucks that someone installed the wrong u-bolts. You could also flip the u-bolts and get a top retainer plate so the ends no longer hang under axle like I did. Note that in my post I was referencing the pinion yoke with the straps. Changing the yoke out on my AAM 11.5 to a u-bolt style when I do the gear change for strength. Northern Drivetrain offers many pieces that are "upgrades"

[NDM]

Originally Posted by Richard

Sucks that someone installed the wrong u-bolts. You could also flip the u-bolts and get a top retainer plate so the ends no longer hang under axle like I did. Note that in my post I was referencing the pinion yoke with the straps. Changing the yoke out on my AAM 11.5 to a u-bolt style when I do the gear change for strength. Northern Drivetrain offers many pieces that are "upgrades"

I was going to flip them but I got worried about how many times I tightened them. I figured that I would buy the correct u bolts. I completed most of the repair on the spring perches. I need to get my torque wrench back from my wife's cousin to get it complete. I add a reinforcement to them to prevent it from happening again.

[NDM]

I just spent a bunch of cash on a new power steering rack. Mine is dumping fluid profusely. All the work I did to keep oil off of my pavers at home was wasted. It is obscene. Redhead says that I may need a pressure reducer because the LT power steering pump is a bit higher pressure than the factory rack can handle.

[NDM]

New Redhead steering box showed up a day early. Thank God. This thing has dumped fluid since I did the swap.

[NDM]

I got the trans tune to a spot where it is very enjoyable to drive. I got a quick video before my test drive this morning.

https://youtube.com/shorts/LoYu6t_8s...sRM-jEjrs9nlW0

[NDM]

Documenting the youtube video that was so instrumental for me to get my 6l90E tune dialed in. This video was amazing and the bluecat tool is a real game changer for a novice tuner like me. This guys videos are great. I recommend you follow his channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SmhtMQMvRA&t=1591s

And this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vjl2pgGi7k

[tlbob]

Man I must say your build has inspired me, I have owned a 1970 K5 since 2001 and has sat next to my house with the occasional weekend drive and has been wasting away for year with kids, wife and life all coming into play, but after following this thread now for awhile I have an l8t and a 10l80 in my shop and will be starting my swap this weekend so I wanted to say thanks for the inspiration!

[NDM]

Originally Posted by tlbob

Man I must say your build has inspired me, I have owned a 1970 K5 since 2001 and has sat next to my house with the occasional weekend drive and has been wasting away for year with kids, wife and life all coming into play, but after following this thread now for awhile I have an l8t and a 10l80 in my shop and will be starting my swap this weekend so I wanted to say thanks for the inspiration!

I am very pleased that I inspired you! Please post a link to your build here so I can subscribe to it. I would have loved to get the 10l80 but it would have meant keeping the gen5 computer. That would have been wayyyyy more expensive to unlock and tune. Also the gen 5 is supposed to be much more complicated to tune. The 6l90e is familiar to me so I stuck with it. Now do not get me wrong, if holley or someone else developed a stand alone for the 10 speed.....you will be seeing a rebuild!

I also did not want to deal with direct injection so Mine is basically like a big ls3 as far as tuning goes.

Seriously though, I am so glad that this has inspired you.. I was inspired by a bunch of L8T pioneers and It feels good to be one of them now.

Anything that I can do to help you, please let me know!

[NDM]

Just posting a nostalgic Blazer video because this is what you do when you completely love your vehicle.

https://youtu.be/PIGID15MPY4?si=H48JON78-kAZwlO2

​

[tlbob]

I reached out to Mitch over at swap time for this swap and he makes a harness and will reprogram an e92 ECM to control the engine instead of using a e93 that it originally has and then uses a t93 for the trans said it's easy to use and sets it up to run the l8t/10l80 combo so fingers crossed that it all works out as soon as I get some time I will make a build thread on here I will be mating the 10l80 to a np241 using and advanced adapters Atlas clocking ring as it already has a 32spline input

[NDM]

Originally Posted by tlbob

I reached out to Mitch over at swap time for this swap and he makes a harness and will reprogram an e92 ECM to control the engine instead of using a e93 that it originally has and then uses a t93 for the trans said it's easy to use and sets it up to run the l8t/10l80 combo so fingers crossed that it all works out as soon as I get some time I will make a build thread on here I will be mating the 10l80 to a np241 using and advanced adapters Atlas clocking ring as it already has a 32spline input

Mitch was such a cool dude. In the planning phase he helped me out and talked on the phone for a good amount of time. If this does work for you, I might just upgrade in the future. I could save the holley terminator for a different LS swap if I was to do that.
Be very careful with the high pressure pump connector on the back of the motor. It breaks very easily.
Your welcome! I just saved you about $300 hopefully. Fortunately, I did not need it for now since I am running port injection. I will lose about 8% power by running port injection but it will be much easier and cheaper to supply more fuel one day when I exceed 650-750 hp.

[tlbob]

Originally Posted by NDM

Mitch was such a cool dude. In the planning phase he helped me out and talked on the phone for a good amount of time. If this does work for you, I might just upgrade in the future. I could save the holley terminator for a different LS swap if I was to do that.
Be very careful with the high pressure pump connector on the back of the motor. It breaks very easily.
Your welcome! I just saved you about $300 hopefully. Fortunately, I did not need it for now since I am running port injection. I will lose about 8% power by running port injection but it will be much easier and cheaper to supply more fuel one day when I exceed 650-750 hp.

Thanks for the tip anything to save money is great cause at this point I have been spending like I am printing it in the basement 🤣

[NDM]

I am getting very tired of this 6l90e. Working through some ....issues.

[NDM]

To elaborate, I have had weird issues with my trans. One of them was it would go into 4th gear after I drive for a while. It would normally be around 180 degrees but not always. While troubleshooting, would go through the steps. One of them was make sure that the wiring is good. I realized that when I unplugged the trans connector, I would hear pressure release and it would basically reset everything and work again.

Let us note that I said that I could hear pressure release.

Tonight I was driving with my son to pick up dinner and it did it again but it got stuck in 1st this time. After a few attempts, I got it to shift but it then stuck in 4th. We kind of slowly made our way home. I spent the next hour troubleshooting until Something caught my eye while shining a flashlight on the trans (it was dark now). It was that moment that I realized that this thing that I found could be the cause of my issues. Maybe you can guess what might be happening from the photo. Let us just hope that it has not caused more damage to the trans. In the morning I will try to drive it after a long reset. I really need this to be okay. I have been having some bad fortune since I helped my neighbor and I hope it was just a coincidence. One of the bad luck things happened tonight while troubleshooting. My Mom called to tell me that my uncle passed away and another other uncle is having some chest pain. Both men have recently been ill.

I need this bad fortune to pass. I really really do.

[Richard]

Originally Posted by NDM

To elaborate, I have had weird issues with my trans. One of them was it would go into 4th gear after I drive for a while. It would normally be around 180 degrees but not always. While troubleshooting, would go through the steps. One of them was make sure that the wiring is good. I realized that when I unplugged the trans connector, I would hear pressure release and it would basically reset everything and work again.

Let us note that I said that I could hear pressure release.

Tonight I was driving with my son to pick up dinner and it did it again but it got stuck in 1st this time. After a few attempts, I got it to shift but it then stuck in 4th. We kind of slowly made our way home. I spent the next hour troubleshooting until Something caught my eye while shining a flashlight on the trans (it was dark now). It was that moment that I realized that this thing that I found could be the cause of my issues. Maybe you can guess what might be happening from the photo. Let us just hope that it has not caused more damage to the trans. In the morning I will try to drive it after a long reset. I really need this to be okay. I have been having some bad fortune since I helped my neighbor and I hope it was just a coincidence. One of the bad luck things happened tonight while troubleshooting. My Mom called to tell me that my uncle passed away and another other uncle is having some chest pain. Both men have recently been ill.

I need this bad fortune to pass. I really really do.

I will pray for strength to deal with your current struggles. Not sure on the picture? See a dented panel, trans tunnel? Maybe a capped trans vent line? Think pressure would blow that plastic cap off before causing issues.