Will BBK headers for a 2010 Camaro fit a '72 Chevy C10 4.8 swap?

[Matt Cramer]

My wife found this truck last year looking for a cool old truck that could also be used for real truck work instead of something too nice to actually haul stuff with. We traded a '90 Suburban with a 454 and some cash for it.





It had a Goodwrench 350 - owner said he'd pulled it out of a friend's circle track car - and a freshly rebuilt TH350. Leaf sprung rear suspension, and it was fairly well optioned for an old truck. No headliner, but it had air conditioning - at least at one point. The evaporator on the firewall is still there, but the compressor and condenser are long gone.

The previous owner mentioned that it had been eating starters until he replaced the flexplate. This turned out to be foreshadowing: It ate another starter about six months after we got it. I pulled the starter, wondering if it was just another bad parts store rebuild or if he'd missed the root cause. Turns out the real problem wasn't the flexplate - it was the engine block, which was cracked at the starter mounting boss. I first thought maybe I should see if I should find another ex-circle track 350 for cheap, but then I saw it didn't seem to be too hard to get a LSx motor in there - and I found a 4.8 that had been pulled out of a 2007 U-haul box truck for $460, fully dressed. A/C compressor, manifolds, wiring harness, everything but an ECU. May not be the most powerful thing out there, but it's more power than a Goodwrench 350, and should be a lot better mileage.



Apparently U-haul box trucks all have 4L80Es behind them, as it already had the right flexplate and spacer to bolt to a TH350. And it's got an A/C compressor. At this point, I'm not sure I can get it to work without hacking up the frame, but I plan to give it a try after I get the truck up and running.

Got some 1/4" plate steel from McMaster and went to work making motor mount conversion plates. I happen to work for a shop that does some race car work, and the boss let me use some of the shop tools after hours or on my lunch break.



I used DraftSight to draw up templates on paper (using dimensions from a couple of sources, but [url=http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=413855]Glock's thread was a big one), printed them out, and tape them to the metal. That helps me locate the holes with a center punch.





I know, I know, should have used a C-clamp. And did for the second one. And spray grease probably isn't the best tap fluid, but it's better than nothing.



I've swapped to a cable operated throttle body. Found I need to remove a second PCV hose barb for that. Not a big deal.



The empty engine bay - note that these appear to be six cylinder engine stands.



I pressure washed it and spray bombed it, and drilled holes to set the engine stands back one set of holes (about 2.75"), so as to put the engine in the stock location, more or less.

Today, I dropped the engine in place.



Only to find the stock manifolds from the donor van don't really clear the engine stands or frame rails too well.



That is how I've left it so far. Need to research what manifolds would be a better fit. The Trailblazer SS manifolds clear the frame, but I've seen them hitting the engine stands. It looks like fifth gen Camaro manifolds may be better. Off to the LSx forums to research that.

[Xeen]

You can pull the engine stands out and modify them so that the top is low profile so you have more clearance for the exhaust manifolds.
Here is a photo of the CPP sheetmetal engine stands combined with Hooker clone GM exhaust manifolds to give you an idea about what I mean.

[Matt Cramer]

I've considered it, but as the manifolds have frame clearance issues too, it would be nice if I can find a manifold that clears everything. The Hooker cast manifolds look like they'll do the job, but I hear they're nearly identical to 2010-up Camaro manifolds.

[Xeen]

There isn't a manifold that will clear the stock perches any better so here are your options.
One is buy Doug Thorley headers which will cost you $600 shipped with the forum discount.
Another is buy CPP sheetmetal engine perches, CPP poly motor mounts and Hooker clone TBSS or Camaro exhaust manifolds.
The cheapest option is to modify your current perches and buy Hooker clone TBSS or Camaro exhaust manifolds.

[Hart_Rod]

Factory 2010+ Camaro manifolds should work. Check my Shifted build thread. There are pics in there.
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[Matt Cramer]

Thanks, those look like a great fit there. Nice truck and that blue color looks great!

[Matt Cramer]

Got the Camaro manifolds now. They clear the frame great, but not the (6 cylinder?) engine stands. They look like they would take way less hammering to make them fit - although right now I'm looking through the classifieds for V8 stands to see if it would make more sense just to swap the stands.

[Xeen]

Matt the V8 perches wont clear it any better don't waste your time or your money, just modify the ones you have.
When you modify the perch you will need to cut out the cathedral at the horizontal bend and flatten it by welding in new sheet metal, then make supports and weld them in underneith like the CPP perches, you can't just flatten it with a hammer

[Matt Cramer]

Thanks - I must have been thinking of the big block perches.

Or maybe I should just cut a different style mount adapter and give up on using the truck A/C mount.

[STOCKISH]

Youll definitely want the AC, and leaving it in the stock location is perfect. Just buy some new mounts! Cool truck!

[Matt Cramer]

Time to do something about that pesky frame stand to manifold clearance issue:

[Xeen]

It looks like the engine perch should have quite a bit more clearance for the exhaust manifold now.
I'm crossing my fingers for good luck.

[Matt Cramer]

Thanks! I've mocked up the modified stands with the manifold on the engine, and it seems to clear - we'll see how it does when actually in the truck next week.

[Matt Cramer]

Lowered the engine back into place, bolted the mounts down to the frame rail, and test fitted my '10 Camaro manifolds.






Everything clears!

[Xeen]

Originally Posted by Matt Cramer

Lowered the engine back into place, bolted the mounts down to the frame rail, and test fitted my '10 Camaro manifolds.
Everything clears!

Great work.

[Matt Cramer]

I put a Walbro GSS342 255 lph fuel pump with an install kit intended for a '94-'97 Mazda Miata on the end of the stock sending unit.



And sure enough, it fits in the tank like it was designed to go there. This is a test fit before I wired it up.

[Matt Cramer]

Before I wired it up, I sat down and drew out some wiring diagrams in Inkscape: http://www.diyautotune.com/downloads...g_diagrams.pdf

[Low Elco]

Great work so far! It'll be interesting to see how loud that pump is in the in-cab tank. I'd imagine Peel-n-seal is your friend. A 91 Jeep wrangler tank is cheap and the sender for the FI application accepts that pump. Just a bit of FYI if you wanna change.

[Matt Cramer]

That's good to know, does the Jeep tank mount under the bed or in the cab?

[Low Elco]

Under the bed. 16 gal

[Matt Cramer]

Thanks! I'll have to look into that, especially if I want to go drag racing or the smell of gas in the cab gets annoying.

[Matt Cramer]

Last Friday, I tried to get it started - nothing. Some probing revealed the starer (a junkard part) was getting 12V. I didn't have much to lose, so I tried taking the starter apart and greasing it, and got it turning. Wouldn't start, but one of my co-workers suggested I try some starting fluid. It fired right up and stayed running for about a minute. There's still some things I need to fix - there's a coolant leak, one brake line broken when I tried to bend it out of the way of the exhaust, and a lot of tuning. But it looks like it's pretty close to being back on the road.

And having an in-tank fuel pump with an in-cab fuel tank is definitely pretty loud. Will have to start thinking about relocating that...

[Matt Cramer]

I decided to use a Street & Performance kickdown cable bracket. The bracket was ridiculously overpriced - $50 including shipping gets you a flat 2" piece of sheet metal with two holes in it, one of which makes no sense whatsoever. Would have fabbed my own if I'd known what I was getting. The kickdown cable wasn't long enough to reach; I'm trying to adapt something that I think was meant for a 700R4.

Other stuff that I need to get some pictures of:

1. The exhaust was pretty easy to set up - Camaro manifolds exit straight down and more or less lined up with the stock pipes, so I just needed a set of 2 bolt flanges, 90 degree bends, and a couple feet of piping. Someday I'd like to come back and put a crossover pipe in there.

2. Ended up attaching the MS3-Pro ECU to the A/C evaporator box with riv-nuts. Sounds a bit crazy but it ought to work. It's pretty lightweight and designed to go under the hood, but there wasn't any other good spot on the firewall.

3. Radiator hoses from a 2005 Silverado are almost a direct fit. I did have to trim an inch off both ends of the lower one.

4. Bent a new brake line to snake around the exhaust better. After getting nowhere with a Mity-Vac, a co-worker suggested I just open the bleeders at the back one at a time and gravity bleed the system. Got all the air out with a lot less work.

The truck starts and runs, and I've moved it a couple feet under its own power yesterday. Another project was blocking it in, but on Monday I'll run it around the parking lot and see if there's anything else I need to correct before it goes on the dyno.

[Matt Cramer]

Took it for a short shakedown run. Found and fixed a leak in the transmission cooler lines. I think it's ready to put on the dyno now.

[Matt Cramer]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Great work so far! It'll be interesting to see how loud that pump is in the in-cab tank. I'd imagine Peel-n-seal is your friend. A 91 Jeep wrangler tank is cheap and the sender for the FI application accepts that pump. Just a bit of FYI if you wanna change.

To answer that question - moderately loud, but once the truck starts, the Flowmasters are a bit louder. Nothing is quiet about this truck.

But I am starting to ponder the Jeep tank swap for my next project on it.