The last remaining item before starting the truck was the under dash wiring. This mainly consisted of connecting all the wires from the LS swap that needed to be tied into the truck wiring. The bulk of wires coming across the top of the steering column are what were added from the swap. This includes truck power to the firewall bulkhead, clutch switch signal, brake switch signal, temp gauge, fuel sender signal, CEL, OBDII port, and 12V keyed signal. I also ran wires for the VSS and tach but do not have gauges to utilize these signals yet.
Turning the key to the ON position demonstrated that my CEL is working. This light should be on when the key is on and goes out when the truck is started. I also checked the OBDII port and scanned the PCM which returned no codes.
After finishing the wiring, it was time to set the truck back on the ground and finally start the engine!
I made sure to prime the fuel lines before trying to start the engine. After a few revolutions of the motor it fired right up! At first it was surging a bit, but after it warmed up the idle leveled out.
The only real problem encountered was the giant puddle forming under the truck. This turned out to be transmission fluid and coolant. The trans fluid was due to the lack of driveshaft. The coolant was due to a leaking heater core. Surprisingly, the local auto parts store had one in stock. After a quick trip, we had this repaired and the truck was alive again.
Overall, everything worked as it should. After the engine was up to temp it idled away smoothly. The electric fan also came on which confirmed that was working. The only thing that I was disappointed about was actually the exhaust. The Black Widow mufflers do not sound as good as I thought they would. At idle they are decent, but they really scream and get raspy at higher RPM. On deceleration they are exceptionally garbled and inconsistent. My next step here is to add some high flow cats (which I was going to do anyway) to try and even out the tone and reduce the rasp. All things considered, this isn't a big deal considering this is the only thing that needs attention after the first start.