First Love revisited...

[GraybealGarage]

Background. I purchased this truck in 1995 at the ripe old age of 15. It was my first truck and hence the name "first love." This was a high school build that took about 4 years, completed my senior year. My dad and myself performed the frame off, and did all the work except the paint.

Originally the truck had a built 327, and some 15" cragars and a 5/7 drop. I didnt drive the truck much during college and made a few updates to the truck during that time, including a nice 427 and some 20's. That is how the truck currently sits and has been driven 10-15 times a year since then by my wife and myself. Currently I am building a 50 chevy truck that has taken most of my time for the last 2 years, and also got me bit on the LS and air ride bug. I decided to take a quick break on the 50 for the next few weeks and prepare "Blue" for the summer ahead. I had posted a Poll a couple weeks ago about which route to go... Dropmember and LS swap... Dropmember with 427... LS only... Leave it as is.... Well, most of the response was leave it alone. Well that didnt quite fit my personality, take something perfectly good and make it better . However, I decided not to go the DM route(since the truck is finished).

So here we are and these are the plans to be completed in the next few weeks:

Swap 427 for 6.0L LS motor
C Notch, air bags, shock relocaters out back
Suicide Doors tubular a-arms, bags, shock relocaters up front
basic air management system



Motor:
2004 GM LQ4 6.0 with 60K
Rebuild with new rings/seals
Mill stock heads .040 (increase comp from 9.4:1 to 10.25:1)
Patriot springs/titanium retainers (good to .660" lift)
7.4 Hardend pushrods
Good cam( its a secret...)
Stock truck intake for now
80mm cable trottle body
Fuel injection and tuned by me with HPTuners
TH350, 2500 stall
Looking for 500hp at the flywheel and 425 at the rear wheels

Motor is done and ready to drop in... still waiting on the a-arms...

How about some pics... Current dirty pics...