[dug224]

Ricky: At this moment, I intend to have it sandblasted, primed and painted with NO body work. Get it entirely put back together and drive it during the house build and put off the heavy body work and good paint until after the build. Still a ton of work left no matter what I do. May start the bed mockup in the morning since I am tired of electricity and the truck runs.

Got the cross over pipe built and installed and tied into the factory I-6 mufflers. Sounds quiet and great. Still a bit of a barely detectable lope or miss of some sort but at least we can now hear it. O2 sensors ordered and on the way. By the way, exhaust manifold flanges are NOT the same from driver to passenger side. The passenger side is run of the mill stuff. The driver side is apparently not. Fortunately, I hustled out to the salvage yard and found one in the Cat Converter recycle bin. Find one before you take yours to the muffler shop to save time.

My radiator leak was probably power steering fluid boiling off of the radiator. No signs of water leaking since I noticed it.

Jim brought the heat gun over and he measured the temp of the thermostat housing. Finally got the truck hot enough driving it around the neighborhood several times and the fan finally cycled at about 201 degrees F per LT1SWAP.com programming.

I watched the guy at the muffler shop closely today and learned how someone can MIG weld above their head with no gloves, no welding mask, mouth open and dressed in shorts and a short sleeve shirt. Asked him how he did it. Turns out his trick is to keep the arc behind the handle. Claims he doesn't even squint!!! Been doing the muffler thing for 40 years. I like my eyes, hands and tongue so I will have to stick with convention.

Finally, my buddy at the salvage yard bought a low mileage 2007 Trailblazer SS that I will market for him. Actual miles are yet to be determined. Plan on trying to sell the entire package including the 6.0 LS, Trans, MAF sensor, Throttle body, TAC with associated gas pedal and PCM. Will post the mileage and price once he decides what he wants for it.