73-87chevytrucks pickup.

[Captkaos]

Just thought I would throw in some pics of the truck I am putting together.

These are from the weekend on the March 6th, 2006 where I played swap the cabs:

[Captkaos]

Weekend of March 13th, 2006:

Directions for the project changed and the cabs were reversed. Now my nice shiney black frame that was once home to a Hilborn injected (in progress) 454/ Doug Nash 5 speed is now bare and awaiting the motor mounts for the 6.0L. The motor mounts were ordered on the 11th.

Here is where I am starting now (old pic):





My '73 project has swapped frames and direction some. Since I want to stay with the '73 front end, the 81-87 tilt was donated to the 6.0L truck. The frame I had was also donated since the horns were cut to fit the '81-87 frontend, and I wouldn't have to mock the '90's blazer tank back in and rebuild the suspension.

[Captkaos]

Weekend of March 20th, 2006:

Friday 17th: I called ECE wondereing where my motor mounts were so I could put the 6.0L in the frame only to find out they shipped it to the wrong place and it won't be here until the 21st. That night I gathered up all the parts I needed for the truck that was spread across 2 households.

Saturday the 18th I put the Su frame on a trailer and my brother, best friend, Live85 and I went and picked up the bed and bolted it down temporarily. Drove back to my house and played musical trucks and put the cab back on the frame.
Sunday the 19th: went out to the garage and sucessfully put the doors on by myself while my wife cheered me on.

[Captkaos]

Tuesday evening: Gatherered all the parts and pertinant pieces necessary for mocking the motor/trans and the tilt front end on the truck and put them on a trailer and headed for my brothers shop. Dropped them off last night around 12 midnight.

Here are the pics of the arrival to his shop (camera phone, so..):




Of course after I got there we had to complile a list of stuff that I did forget that needs to be delivered for the next trip so we can actually get something done.

Anyone have a wiring schematic for a 2003 6.0L engine compartment?

[nwmod39]

very nice.

i am currently in the tear down stages of my truck.
i will be searching for ideas as to what to do and i will definetly be watching this thread for some info.

thanks
steve

[nwmod39]

what did you use for your frame coating?

[Captkaos]

I sandblasted the frame and then sprayed it with POR15, while it was curing I shot some gloss black enamel over it. (POR15 is UV sensative and it was sitting outside...)

[N2TRUX]

Looks good Chris. Keep the updates coming..

[sixty8c10]

nice looking project you got there

[Captkaos]

Progress up to March 20th, 2006:

Got the ECE engine mounts in on Tuesday.
Friday 17th: Gathered up items to take to the shop. Picked up a Pinout sheet for the PCM (only to find out it was the wrong one on Sunday)

Saturday 18th: and took a load of missed items up to the shop and started putting the steering together. Put the front brake lines on. Cinched up the stainless caliper lines and found a single stud crossmember that will work with the trans mount and the turbo app.


Pulled the exhaust pipes off the manifolds, removed the compressor, removed the EGR, Torque converter, starter and put the ECE engine mounts on.


Wasn't sure if the manifolds would fit or not, so we lowered it in place to test it out...


As you can see, they don't work. Found out I needed 00-02 F-body manifolds. So we pulled the manifolds off and dropped it into the mounts and it fits rather nicely.


Once we had the engine dropped in, we had some help come by and we removed the cab from the frame and positioned the trans in for mockup so we have an idea on what we are going to do for fuel lines.


Then we pulled the bed back off so we could re-mount the Blazer tank back in the frame and get everything laid out for routing of the fuel lines and so we can notch the cross sill to clear the top of the blazer tank. We also are laying out the routing of the fuel fill.


Sunday 19th: Since nothing was open, I picked up a transmount and fuel filter. Got the transmount cleaned up and mounted it up to the trans and drilled the holes in their new location. Pulled the fuel lines off and removed 90% of the harness from the Engine. Once it was off we started pulling the harness apart to trace all the wires (several were cut and missing the ends) Once we got everything laid out I realized that they gave me the 2WD version instead of the 4x4 version.

[redbeast]

Nice project truck!!!! Keep the pics and the updates coming!

[Captkaos]

Friday March 31st: I went and picked up the Tranny for a rebuilt and I took some measurements and notes on the fuel lines that I have to run and sent them to Pure Choice for some feedback.

Saturday April 1st: I started on the ECM harness and wrote out where all the wires go on the harness

Sunday April 2nd: I started back up on the real harness trying to find out where all the wires that were cut actuall go (it is real fun)

Monday April 2nd: dropped the tranny off to be rebuilt (hope to get it back on Friday)

Tuesday April 3rd: Got all the wiring figured out except 3, just need to trace them down. Then I need to find the missing connectors and I should be done.

[1987 Shortwide]

Lots of progress lately man! looks good and makes me want to go out and blow the dust off the old truck

[Captkaos]

I was really making some progress until Saturday when I realized I desperatly need those F-body exhaust manifolds to verify my fuel line routing...

Friday April 7th: Picked up the rebuilt 4L80E from the trans shop. Fuel lines and fittings arrived from Pure Choice Plumbing. Found that one of the fittings were the incorrect size

Saturday April 8th: Late start, Dropped the tranny off and started working on the wiring... AGAIN! The schematics I have apparently don't match the PCM, so I am now having to trace ALL of the wires. While Jamie and I are doing that, my brother is routing the fuel lines/fitting and bending up a EVAP line.



Sunday April 9th: put the tranny in to check clearance for the front fuel lines. Now I need the F-body manifolds to verify they will work, so I am stuck here. Still working on the PCM wiring, got all the harness wires figured out and I am now working on the rest of the lines that I have to find. The missing connectors are KILLING me.

[bigblock73]

Looking great Chris...I am impressed to say the least!

Are you going to pull everything back out to clean and paint?

Also, it looks like the engine sits at a pretty severe angle (front to back), is that normal?

[Captkaos]

Thanks Jeff ( I just noticed this my email has been down)

I plan to put everything together, make the necessary adjustments/alignments/patches etc and then drive it to work out the bugs and them paint it.

I think that is an illusion. It sits fairly level in there.

[Captkaos]

UPDATE!!!
Monday April 10th:
Called PureChoice about the wrong fitting for the fuel tank and started searching for some F-body manifolds.

Wednesday April 11th:
Recieved the correct fitting for the fuel feed line

Thursday April 13th:
Picked up a set of F-body manifolds for $20.

[Captkaos]

It was a little slow due to Easter, but....
BTW Jeff, the angle wasn't an illusion, it was off by 3 degrees as noted below..

Thursday April 13th: Went and picked up a set of F-body exhaust manifolds, picked up some Trans Fluid and found the actual CORRECT pinout for the wiring harness.

Saturday April 14th: Expected to bolt the manifolds on only to find out that they don't work. Started getting ill. Apparently I need to get some headers now. After a bit of a lull, we decided to check the drivetrain angle. It was OFF by about 3 degrees (chassis is not loaded yet). So now I need to make a new trans crossmember. The Tranny tail needs to come up some. Since all of the parts are not yet on the truck, we decided to mock up the frontend and get the tilt ready for mounting and load the chassis and recheck before making a new transmount.

We decided to mount the cab back on and check for fuel line mounting clearance, transmission clearance and firewall clearance.



While we had it on we decided to get the bumper mounted and then get ready to chop the rad support for the tilt frontend. We mounted the '81-87 bumper bracked on the '80 frame and then mounted the bumper.

[82c10]

why won't the manifolds work?

[Captkaos]

They hit the framerail just like the truck manifolds did right at the EGR port.

[bigblock73]

Chris, progress is always sweet! Is the driveline angle fixed in your recent round of pics? It looks much better...but it could be my eyes too.

How are your trans/cab clearances?

Can't you make a small spacer to raise the tail of the tranny, as opposed to building a new crossmember?

[Captkaos]

Originally Posted by bigblock73

Chris, progress is always sweet! Is the driveline angle fixed in your recent round of pics? It looks much better...but it could be my eyes too.

How are your trans/cab clearances?

Can't you make a small spacer to raise the tail of the tranny, as opposed to building a new crossmember?

Yes, it is Mocked up fixed. I am not going to address it until there is enough weight on the truck to get it set.

Cab clearance is TOO much, WAY TOO Much. It is causing ALOT of my manifold clearance problems. I got a look at competitors motor mounts and confirmed my thoughts that the engine mounts are about 4" behind where they would be on a normal SBC. Other motor mounts use plates that let you use the existing mounts and put it back in the same posistion. I am ordering those today. The ECE mounts put the engine 4" forward from the normal SBC posistion, something I DON'T like.

here are the pics:





Anyone need some ECE LS motor mounts?

Trans clearance it TIGHT with the 4L80E. Currently about 1/4" with the spacer I am using to mock the trans with at the proper angle. It came down a degree with the cab mounted and the suspension loaded some.

I could make a spacer, but it will look ALOT better with a nicer trans mount. That won't be finalized until the motor mounts are back in...

[Captkaos]

Since it was Mothers Day weekend, I only had Saturday to work on it and I got a late start so the accomplishments were minimal.

Monday, May 1st: Recieved the engine plates from S&P.


Saturday, May 14th: Drove up to pull the ECE mounts off and replace them with the S&P mounts only to find out when I got there that I had left the motor shells at home STILL bolted to the 454.. It went downhill from there...

Sunday, May 15th: Unbolted the motor shells from the 454 and sent the 2 sets of manifolds BACK to the shop. The new mounts should solve the clearance problem with the frame.

[John Fabris]

Cool Stuff!!!!

I know working on these trucks are suppose to be fun, but it does get tiresome when each task requires modifications!!!! (I would love to have just one day when the things I am trying to do work on the first try, no mods, running to parts store to get something or return what I just brought, or running to junkyard for missing part, etc....)

[Captkaos]

Just posting a teaser pic from this weekends progress, I will add another post later when I get more stuff uploaded.
We got the new mounts on, chopped the rad support (more than once) pulled the tilt out of the crate, and mocked it up, then Sunday we got serious, and chopped the rear cross sill for the bed to gastank clearance and put the doors, bed and tilt on. Now comes the fun of actually aligning all this stuff...

For now.....