Tommy66 5.3/4l60 Build
 

I got a late start on taking my pics cause I did not discover this site till already had the body off(except the cab) and had already replaced floor pans, inner rockers, cab corners etc. So here is where I am as of now. Today I got the cab off, removed motor and tranny, removed unused brackets and started to clean frame a bit.

Re: Tommys66 Build
 

Welcome to the site man. Good luck on the build. You have one thing goin for you so far......disc brakes lol. Well two things. A dry place to work

Re: Tommys66 Build
 

I cant decide wether to sandblast and powdercoat, or paint. I really like the color combo Allans Classic went with the silver with black. Hey allan can I steal your color idea.:lol: Here is some pics of a hole that was hiding behind the stering sector.

Re: Tommys66 Build
 

Welcome aboard, glad your here. Looks like your having fun. Good luck and post lots of pix or the picture police will get on you. :lol: I don't mind at all if you use my paint scheme. It means someone likes it. :lol:

Re: Tommys66 Build
 

did someone summon me?!?!;)
nice work!
hopefully ours will be looking like that soon, all bare 'n stuff

Re: Tommys66 Build
 

Welcome to the forums from Kansas City, KS to the MO boot heal. It appears you are off to a good start.

FYI, the picture police does exist, so post your photos early and often.

Happy Holidays and keep us posted.

Re: Tommys66 Build
 

removed front crossmember today, removed trailing arms and rear end. I drilled 3 1/2" holes in the crossmember the trailing arms bolt to for my exaust to pass thru for more ground clearance. should I reenforce this member now or will it be fine?

Re: Tommys66 Build
 

That's one thing I thought about doing but didn't before I painted the frame. I was going to reinforce mine somehow. I didn't put much thought into it obviously.

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I like that idea, I'm hoping to do it as well. Yes I would reenforce it, thought about some tubing that's 3.5" OD or something like that.

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I would weld a piece of tube in there to restore some strength.....plus it'll look better too.

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Nice start on your build.... Keep the pics coming..... Chris

Re: Tommys66 Build
 

Great looking project!

I travel through Sikeston quite a bit.

Good luck with the rebuild.

Re: Tommys66 Build
 

took the frame to get powdercoated today. I chose to go with silver. we will see how it turns out, I have heard good reviews from the company I chose, hope it looks good! should have it back within a week and I will post some pics

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Also painted some suspension components-gloss black. Here is a cheap trick I got from a friend, in case others dont already do so, I put my paint prep in a spray bottle for easy use. Just spray the parts then wipe clean.

Re: Tommys66 Build
 

looks great keep up the good work and keep us posted.thanks for sharing

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hey tommy, looking good!!
if you don't mind me asking, what is the blasting and powder-coating on the frame costing ya?

Re: Tommys66 Build
 

Major guts on the frame-up work. Looks great. Good job on the photos too. And yes - there is a special team on this site that will chase you down if you don’t give us updates with fresh pics. Welcome.

Mac. ;)

Re: Tommys66 Build
 

Looks good. My chassis is two tone silver and pewter.

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picked up the frame today, had it powdercoated silver. This company charges $300.00 for any base color plus $125.00 for clear with sparkle or candy colors, plus the cost of sand blasting. So since I chose silver it had to be cleared because silver alone will not hold up to weather without a clear topcoat. Total cost of silver+clear+sandblasting= $585.00

Re: Tommys66 Build
 

that looks NICE!!
thanks for the cost info. what is the name of the company that coated it for ya?

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sweeeeeet.......I would like to come and see this when you get rolling on it...Tommy are you near ????Lamberts?????? the throwing rolls eating place?

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Looken good...Love the silver...:metal:

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That looks really nice! I like the idea of the silver frame.


Home of the throwed rolls! It's amazing. When you were a kid your mother got on to you for playing with your food, but now you can visit Lamberts and pay them to throw you a hot roll from across the room! :lol:

Sorry. Back to the current topic...

Re: Tommys66 Build
 

I got the color idea from Alans classic build. The company is powdercoating plus, I think there is a pic of the sign on this page with their phone number.

Re: Tommys66 Build
 

Man that looks awesome:metal: I'm glad I inspired your color scheme.

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Got the front suspension mounted, Dont know how the paint will hold up, I used rustoleum gloss black, thinned with ascetone. Havent used this paint before. Made some drop brackets for the sway bar. theyre 1" shorter than original. think i tightned the bushing too much! I thought you just tightned all the way down, guess not. BTW the rotors are from R1 concepts.

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So Ive made the decision to go with a GENIII install. I bought a 5.3/4L60E. any input for the install would be appreciated. The motor came with a partial wire harness but no PCM. some jackleg cut the motor out of a salvage truck with a torch! harness, motor mounts and all! Bought a camaro tank at a swap meet, hope the pumps good!

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Chassis looks good. I think I would find another wireing loom. The more splices and breaks in your loom could cause resistance issues. You could solder them for connections with les resistance, but from the looks of what youve done so far a new or unmalested loom would look better to.

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Nice work on cutting those holes in that cross member. Think I'm going to do the same thing. I might make the pipe longer and put some metal on the other side? I looked at the one from brothers and it did'nt even look as if it was reenforced. It might have been thicker steel? Keep up the good work.:metal::metal:

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There's something special about seeing Class 'A' hardware going on a primo chassis.:metal:

And that shot of the torched off wiring loom is no doubt going to be board classic!:lol:

Mac. :chevy:

Re: Tommys66 Build
 

How's the 5.3 install coming along? Just wondering what type of manifolds/headers you are planning to run with the motor mount adapter plates that you made.

Build looks great so far!

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Im not sure if I am gonna use the stock manifolds or not. I read somewhere that the F body manifolds fit well with slight modifications. Ive been busy trying to modify the harness. I got alot of good informaiton, also the PCM flashed, from www.LT1swap.com. He only charged me $75.00 to remove the vats, emission stuff, and add elec fan controls to the PCM.

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been a while since I posted progress, so here goes...got the motor and tranny bolted in place, used the stock perches with the old style three bolt sbc mounts. made adapter plates to use the three bolt mounts. I got the schematic for the plates from timE. had to make a 7/8" spacer to bring the tranny up to level.

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also been working on the firewall. I think im gonna go with a vintage air system, or something equivalent, so I removed the heater core and air box and filled the holes in. I welded alot of the holes in the firewall. I got a little carried away(hope I didnt fill something I need). I also made a device to lift the cab with help from alan classics design.

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Great job. The 5.3 4L60E swap looks pretty straight forward. Any other issues with it besides getting motor mounts and the trans leveling spacer? Obviously you'll need a custom drive shaft. Looks like you cranked the sway bar bushings down tight. You should let off a little and put some grease in there if you didn't already. Nice work so far.

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I think I may have issues with the A/C compressor and possibly have to modify the exaust manifolds a bit, other than that, modifying the wire harness was the hardest part. I am not sure what radiator to use.

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hey tommy, i'm doing a 5.3 swap also and made adapter plates too. i just picked up a set of manifolds off a trailblazer ss that fit perfectly but they have no egr. also i'm using a 4 speed but i see your using the auto. are you setting the frame level and setting the motor level? you may want to mock something up to check your clearance for the driveshaft. looks awesome though man, good luck. if you run into any problems hit me up i may be able to help. oh and i would definitely find another harness, if you solder all those connections it almost guarantees something won't work properly due to increased resistance or voltage drop. also you may want to check out ls1tech.com theres some good info and parts over there. there are places you can send the computer out to to delete the VATS, egr, rear O2, all kinds of stuff. you can do it yourself but the software is pretty pricey.

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Lookin' good Tommy! Can't wait to get back on mine.

Glad the plates worked but I have to give the credit to olsofti for the dimensions for the plates. He sent me the pic and I just passed it along.

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I have the firewall the way I want it, but I am stuck on what to use on the bottom side of the cab. I am in between using some type of truck bed coating, or some type of spray on insulation/ceramic coating. Its hard to decide, being there are so many products with a wide price range. Any suggestions would be appreciated

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Got some more work done one the firewall, stripped and primed underside of cab.