[57taskforce]

Some of the bigger issues I’ve got with the truck in it’s current state are related to the frame swap. As you all likely know the square body blazer frames have a rather large up kick just before the rear wheels. In order to make the body lines work decent we had to run a 3” body lift on top of already raised cab mounts to get the cab to sit at a height that would match the bed because the bed sits on said frame up kick. I also am not a fan of the drive train in it. I re sealed and added a very mild cam to the “newer crate 350”. It smokes pretty good once it’s warmed up and I believe it’s head related. I’m also not a fan of the 700R4 in general. It’s what we had to work with so it’s what we ran but I’ve got more plans up my sleeve. The axles are a 10 bolt front end 12 bolt rear with 3:07 gears, with 35” tires the gear ratios are dismal to say the least. That 700R could be built to the hilt and still have trouble surviving long term with the final gear ratio in 3rd or OD.
I don’t care for either of those axles all that much, I like 1 ton stuff. Here’s a few more pictures

I’ve though a lot about what I wanted to do here. I’ve got a vortec 454 long block that I could freshen up and throw at it. I actually bought an 06 silverado 1 ton from my work a few years ago for the 8.1/Allison combo with the intent to part it out and put the 8.1/ally into this truck. I ended up selling that truck complete shortly after I bought it because my father in law needed a reliable truck. It’s still on the road to this day.
I’ve got a few 350’s around... I could probably dig up an LS easy enough... I’m not sure which way I’ll end up going here. I’ve been entertaining a 12 valve Cummins more and more but they are spendy. I’ve also entertained an LB7 duramax but they are just as spendy as the Cummins...

For the transmission transfer case, if I keep it gas I’ve got and SM465/round 205 and a th400/round 205 to pick from. At this point I think I’d run the th400 combo just because I’ve already got the light truck mega shifter and wouldn’t have to figure a clutch out.

The frame is another can of worms...