86 K30 Restomod LS swap AKA Blue Rust

[Bluerust]

Since my truck did not have factory air and I ordered the factory air kit, I had to only use one of the passenger side vents. I took a strip of stainless sheet metal and formed the curved end, mounted a new vent on the back with some welded tabs and put belt sander polished finish on it. Works for me and not plastic.

[Bluerust]

I wen't back and forth on 4.56's and 4.10's and left the 4.56's in the axles. I think Id rather have the 4.56's after test driving it with my tire size of 34+". Toyo AT 315/75r16.

I want to say 60 mph is about 2000 rpm. The 4l80 first gear is not a very fast acceleration from stop but it has a decent downshift and pass from 35-60mph for a stock engine.

I feel like with 4.10's the truck would not be as much fun to drive cruising around but if you have interstates that require 70-80 mph what I have is probably not what you want. If someone had a big block or cummins, that's another story too.

The transmission I had rebuilt, knock on wood, seems to be ok. It shifts quickly under low load but will ride the gear out under acceleration to stay in the powerband and shifts acceptably firm. Shout out to Rory and Sons in VA Beach.

I can hear the 4l80 first gear noise but it seems they are common for that. I went to the PRI race show in Indiana last year and talked to a couple transmission guys, Sonnax, Monster, etc, they all said some noise wasn't necessarily a concern.

Pictured is the Lokar shift rod that seems to work fine after a bit of adjusting. I think I had to lengthen the rod they gave me slightly, probably from the 1" body lift.

Also pictured is the clearance of Improved racing's oil thermostat and the long tubes

[Bluerust]

The controversial track bar I made with 1 adjustable end using a modified Ballistic Fabrication rod end that I narrowed and made a bushing for to fit the normal ford superduty 7.3L rubber bushings. I made the track bar last to fit around everything. We'll see how it does.

Also made custom steering stabilizer brackets that might not break. I didn't want anyone driving the truck to experience death wobble if something gets loose. Used some Rancho stabilizers that had just enough travel to turn lock to lock.

[Bluerust]

A couple other tips if someone doesn't know:

I took a store bought plastic radio adapter and made one from some stainless sheet metal, the plastic one is kind of flimsy. Use it as a template.

Before I painted my cab I welded a couple threaded inserts or hex nuts where the door switches go. My truck did not have door switches factory but the switches I bought were not going to stay in place with what holes were there with a little rust around the edges, and probably not get the best ground.

I found some older model 1 piece dodge LED cab lights on Amazon that do not require drilling massive holes and look decent. They were tedious to run wires, connections, and grommets to prevent cut wires.

[Willowrun]

Lots of cool stuff in your build. I like your use of the hhr seats. I’m usually skeptical of newer model seats in older vehicles but the hhr seats seem to fit the era of your truck well and the plastic grain is similar. I drove an hhr for 305K miles and always liked the seats so maybe I’m biased though. Nice job on the build.

[Duck1]

Originally Posted by Bluerust

Eventually I decided on the tried and trues - an LS engine repower with a 4l80 and np205. LS engines are well supported and common, 4l80's are proven and have lots of support and ease of integrating ecu's than 6l80's, and the tough 205.

I started pulling the truck apart while I was going to look around for components locally. I welded a couple little carts up for the bed and cab to roll around to work on them.

Eventually I found a bad 4.8 for mock up, a used 4l80 4x4, and a friend of mine had a np205 with the rare 4l80 factory adapter. I bolted it all together and had a new used drivetrain!

That rare adapter wouldn't happen to be an adapter for TH400 would it?