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#1 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Holdrege Nebraska
Posts: 81
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My 1980 square build thread and life story. Ls/4500
Hello, joined up to share my build! It's been thru many changes in the last couple years. First, a little background on the truck.
My grandfather bought the truck in 1982, but didn't like it so he was going to sell it. My dad fell in love with the truck and bought it from him shortly there after, and used to for work untill 2008 or so, and then parked it, it didn't get touched until 2013, when I FINALLY bought it from him, after trying for many years. From my best guess the truck has over 700,000 miles on it, obviously I cannot prove this, but my father kept a sheet in the glovebox with info on it and it was wrote down the odometer had rolled over 6 times by 2004, so it is what it is. It Was used to haul scrap iron day in and day out for a very long time. My earliest memory's were of this truck and seemingly everyday my dad and I would talk about about the things we wanted to do to it, many a times we both agreed we wanted to change to an 81+ front end, lift it and use it for a toy. Well when I got my hands on it, I started doing the things we constantly talked about. The truck was an 80 k20 custom delux with all kinds of extras in the rpo codes, sm465/205 with 4:11's. First I lifted it, 4.5" and put these 33's on it. Had a blast with it the first winter, then changed to some crappy 36" military 16.5's and got ballsy and buried it in the river. Had to leave it and and come back the next day. Sure enough the water rose and buried my truck, luckily we were able to pull it out still. But of course it trashed the engine, I had to start it with water in the oil to help get it or or leave it, so I chose to wreck the motor. So at this point I decide, why not build a good motor, and do some body work. Built a nice little eagle Rod 355, with lt1 aluminum heads for it, got it done just in time to decide I wanted to ls swap it. So I sold that and picked up a 6.0, mated it to the sm465 and fell in love with the power and economy. Ran excellent, was pulling 18mpg with the 35's and 7.5" of lift. Then I bought a used cam kit and took a guy for his word on the springs, and, well it cost me a 6.0. So now, here we are at its current phase of reassembly. I wanted to turn the truck into a sweet daily, because for so many years that's what it's been for my family. So I bought or upgraded the following over the last month. 4 wheel disk swap New 5.3 Nv4500 241c drivers drop t case Dana 60 front axle cad 3:55 Dana 70u rear axle 3:55 Hydro boost setup Crossover steering like the factory 97 12v axle was but new Xj steering shaft Brand new steering box New 32" tires Dropped back to the 4.5" lift only 2" cowl hood Among other things Also picking up a 2004 Tahoe dash tomorrow to install using an iPad for the cluster Now, the first responses I'm going to get is "omg why did you use that front axle, it has no lockouts and ****ty unit bearings" Well, the answer is simple, money. I paid $525 for the nv4500,241, and the front Dana 60 cad axle. Not to mention, we own 6 cummins trucks, each has 350,000+ with zero front axle issues to date, so I'm not worried about my aluminum headed 5.3 lol. I will be running a cable actuator instead of the vacuum modulator. Just starting to put the drivetrain back in with the new dash etc, so stay tuned and I hope I didn't bore anyone to death. P.s, a very kind farmer GAVE me this donor truck, 4.3/400 state truck. Immaculate condition from the cab back. Thank you again sir. Posted via Mobile Device |
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#2 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Holdrege Nebraska
Posts: 81
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Re: My 1980 square build thread and life story. Ls/4500
Well it would appear I fail at life so I'll upload the pictures tonight from the laptop.
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#3 |
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: canton ga
Posts: 12,728
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Re: My 1980 square build thread and life story. Ls/4500
Welcome ,Im in to see more .
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#5 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Holdrege Nebraska
Posts: 81
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Re: My 1980 square build thread and life story. Ls/4500
Well, I cant go back and edit my post and put pictures were they are relevant, so here is some pictures in order ish. Ha
This picture is about 20 years old ![]() After I brought here home, not a lot changed haha. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Here is me and my oldest after a long day of working on it. His name is Owen, my youngest name is Diesel ![]() ![]() First fire up of the 6.0/465 ![]() Here we are picking up my wifes new 79 Camaro that I put an lc9 aluminum 5.3 in with ls9 cam and ls6 heads, she runs pretty good ![]() ![]() Now we start the up to date progress, Shaving off the nasty coil spring stuff here. ![]() Installed and steering all hooked up, new gearbox and XJ shaft upgrade. ![]() rear disk upgrade ![]() How we sit right now! ![]() Heres the nv4500 after I did the 5th gear upgrade ![]() and just a random goodies picture ![]() Thanks for looking, picking up the new tires, dash, and hood this weekend. |
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#6 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: El Lago, TX
Posts: 1,668
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Re: My 1980 square build thread and life story. Ls/4500
Cool build and story!
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#7 |
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: canton ga
Posts: 12,728
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Re: My 1980 square build thread and life story. Ls/4500
Like the story and the truck ,it has changed a lot .When do we get to see Diesel ,Owen is cute ?I think they will both be Truck Guys .
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#8 |
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: canton ga
Posts: 12,728
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Re: My 1980 square build thread and life story. Ls/4500
I forgot to mention I like the Camaro too.
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#9 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Holdrege Nebraska
Posts: 81
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Re: My 1980 square build thread and life story. Ls/4500
Thanks GreenLee and Flashed, appreciate the kind words! Both my boys are going to be huge gear heads I believe, couldn't be more proud. My wife also enjoys the stuff, so I am pretty blessed!
Here is our family picture for this year ![]() ![]() I really have a thing for the ls engines, anything v8 I own currently is ls, my dads 70 ss and 73 SS are ls swapped, and my moms 68 firebird, well they are all in the process. Im a broke country kid, so everything I do is on a tight budget, used parts are my favorite haha. I build my own harnesses, trans, engines, t cases, fuel systems, I also had HP tuners from my gto days so that's a big plus, self tuning haha. etc. All my ls swaps I have less thank $1000 into including buying the drivetrain. Ive got 4 5.3`s and two 6.0`s currently sitting, waiting for the perfect chassis haha. I just sold my 2004 gto, 416 ci lsx stroker, 6 speed, low 11 second car with stock ls6 heads, in 3,500 d/A. miss it ![]() Here is the stock 6.0 with a tune and the sm465 vs a Bolton eclipse, I couldn't launch hard at all because the truck wheel hops insanely bad, as you can hear until I let off and hit it again. bangin gears with the 465 is not fun haha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deNETRWWbqk here is a snippit of the wifes ride, runs pretty healthy for a 5.3 vs a true 5.7 ls1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvTb4xD1dkE
__________________
81' c30 4x4 conversion 12v/nv4500 swap 79` Z28 Aluminum 5.3 H/C 70` Nova SS 5.3/400 78MM turbo 315 mickeys 80' k20 6.0/nv4500 02 TDI |
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#10 |
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: canton ga
Posts: 12,728
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Re: My 1980 square build thread and life story. Ls/4500
That is a great family picture ,you are a lucky man .My wife and I were not blessed with kids so we have cars and trucks instead .My wife is a gearhead too.
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#11 | |
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Holdrege Nebraska
Posts: 81
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Quote:
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#12 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Holdrege Nebraska
Posts: 81
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Well I got the dash out!
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#13 |
Post Whore
![]() Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Sacramento, CA
Posts: 10,826
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Re: My 1980 square build thread and life story. Ls/4500
love to see every day driver truck threads like this one, welcome, I have a feeling we are in for a treat
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#14 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Holdrege Nebraska
Posts: 81
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#15 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Holdrege Nebraska
Posts: 81
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Re: My 1980 square build thread and life story. Ls/4500
Well as luck would have it, at the very end of my 9 hour trip to get my new hood and tires, I found a guy with a 2007 6.0 on Facebook for $500 so I snagged that, going to put one of my 5 spare sets of 5.3 heads on it and get the compression up to 11:1 or so, help with tq and economy! Perfect weekend!
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#16 | |
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Holdrege Nebraska
Posts: 81
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#17 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Holdrege Nebraska
Posts: 81
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#18 | |
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Holdrege Nebraska
Posts: 81
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Quote:
Now, if your going for performance, say in a car and big cam etc the 5.3 head isn't a great option untill you port them. I'm doing this because it should give me a nice bump in tq, and hopefully help MPG. Posted via Mobile Device |
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#19 |
Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Smethport, PA
Posts: 1,213
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Re: My 1980 square build thread and life story. Ls/4500
Nice find on the 6.0 and good info on the head swap. I'm currently looking for a deal like that on a 6.0.
__________________
85 K30 crew cab dually - Project http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=694939 87 Wrangler Rock Crawler - Reason for the project http://www.wranglerforum.com/f330/da...ld-122601.html 04 1500 crew cab http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=786514 |
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#20 | |
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Holdrege Nebraska
Posts: 81
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#21 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Holdrege Nebraska
Posts: 81
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Re: My 1980 square build thread and life story. Ls/4500
Picked up a Texas speed 228r cam and Brian tooley racing platinum dual spring kit with titanium retainers today. So much gas mileage lol
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#22 |
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Weare,NH
Posts: 1,592
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Re: My 1980 square build thread and life story. Ls/4500
Man some sweet deals you got! Around here its hard to pry things out of peoples hands, you gotta pay top dollar in most cases.
it's funny, I've got a 5.3L/SM465 truck, and my gf/future wife has a 81 Z28 that we put a 6.0L/T56 into. She is an aspiring gearhead as well. |
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#23 | |
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Holdrege Nebraska
Posts: 81
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Quote:
And heck yea on the wife's car, that's sick! We were driving one day and we passed an old run down 2nd gen and my wife's like "Wow I really like that, what year is that? I want one!" And I'm like , well I just so happen to know of a roller for $500, wanna go look at it. So we did and she fell in love. Unfortunately right now the car is down right scketchy to drive on street tires. It's heads/cam with 4:11's and it really gets crazy in 1st. I gotta get some good tires on it. I used a dbw harness when I put the car together so throttle response is crazy lol. Posted via Mobile Device |
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#24 |
Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Alameda, CA
Posts: 877
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Re: My 1980 square build thread and life story. Ls/4500
I sure wish I could find LSs that cheap around here, everyone seems to think they're gold.
Sounds like you need to tub the transmarobird and put big rubber on. 4.11s on reasonably small tires, I can see why it's crazy.
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1973 C20, 350/350 |
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#25 | |
Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Holdrege Nebraska
Posts: 81
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