85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

If you haven't reed any of my other threads I'll fill ya in, im putin a 97 vortex motor and tranny in my 85 ccsb. I don't have much money to spend on this project so instead of buying a painless wiring harness for a grand im swapping the wiring harness out of the 97 ... I think the only stuff I will have to splice in will be power window switches, door looks, and driving lights. Should be fun.

I wish I could have put a 6.0 with a 5 speed but after looking for about a year and not being able to come up with the cash I decided to use the 97 as a donor.... don't worry the 97 will go to good use. I plan on putting a carbed 454 with a tb400 and turning it in to a 2wd. end plan will be a badass prerunner.

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

6'' lift on 35'' tires with 20'' wheels

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

more pics

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

looking good im building a 85 crew short bed to ill be starting a built thread soon

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Nice start on a great project.

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Looks great so far, I can feel your pain on the dash swap. I'm doing a 59 Impala steel dash conversion at the moment and it has been alot of work, but worth it in the end.

I'll be staying posted on progress, love the look thus far.

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Lookin' good. seems like you could use my help. I'm not doing anything anyways- just need a place to sleep.

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Sweet, I love checking out other crew cab projects! Let me know when ya start it.
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Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Thanks guys, this web site is such a big help and positive feed back keeps me motivated.
I got a few hours in to day. I'll post some pics tomorrow
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Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Can't wait to see the dash swap! And the rest of the truck too. How many hours you think the dash is gonna take from start to finish? I am very seriously considering putting a newer dash in my suburban, but still am not quite sure. Also, not to be a dick, but if you're talking about a 97 Chevy engine, and not some other engine I have never heard of, it's called a Vortec, not a Vortex. It's just one of those things that bugs me that people say/type.

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Cool project. Have fun with the wiring!

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Haha your funny
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Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

more pics

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Are those last pictures of you putting the airbox from the 97 into the 85? Would the 85 airbox not fit under the 97 dash, or did you do it for some other reason?

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

ya, i put the 97 air box in the truck. main reason was for wiring. the 85
air box had room for days and i probably should have left it in but no
turning back now. its really not going to be that hard to mount it in
there its just finding time to get over to the shop

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Along for the Dash Project...........

Rick

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

is there an update on this build? Or is it dead?

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

No updates on the truck... me on the other hand I've just been selling off all my toys to buy a house. I finally bought one! So I'm just trying to get settled in. I hope to have the truck on the road by fall.
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Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Congrats on getting a house.

I hope you have a garage or shop that is big enough to work on your truck inside. My first house had a single car garage that was too short to get my 82 K20 inside and close the door. I ended up making a 2' bump out on the far end so the truck would fit.

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Thaks!!! I'm supper excited on my first place but unfortunately its is only a single car garage but it is on a half acre and there is room to build a shop. But that's way down the road. Hopefully with in 5 years
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Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Glad you got a piece of property with room to grow. I am looking for the same.

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

good luck with your search... so i bought a nice little motivator its a pionner avic z2 deck it was only used for 3 months and its like new... im dying to get going on it now!!!

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

i've got room for you now.... head on up brother!

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

hey man love the build. looking good so far

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Thanks! I kinda took a hard turn on it... I bought a 07 avalanche dash and im going to put that dash in instead and im trying to work out a deal with a coworker on a 93 cummins. I've been working long hrs at work so I haven't had much time to work on it but I did get the 07 dash in the truck. i'll take some pics after I get back from my trip to california this week so mid next week I'll get some pics up. Oh and I took a look at your build... looks awesome! Im going to keep my 97 dash for another project. I basically got the 07 dash for free so I couldn't turn it down.
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Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

are u doin the whole motor swap urself??if so is it tough buildin it or is it the same as an ls engine like a 5.3 4.8 6.0??

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Did you check out the cab depth left over for the driver? If I remember right from the other project I saw where someone tried to use the newer dash in a square body the newer dash is so deep that the steering wheel ends up really close to the driver so it makes for a really tight fit. I hope it works out for you.

Any pics?

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

are you using the 97 heater core box or the 07? how well does the 07 fit is it narrower than the 97 or longer??

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Its just a 97 350 motor so it bolts right in the only thing I need to do is wire the motor and tranny... but if I put that 93 cummins motor in that im trying to buy off a friend Im not sure what needs to be done to make it fit but know they will fit fit in
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Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

It fits awesome and im over 6' tall. Pics coming soon
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Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Im going to use the 07 heater box. The 07 dash fits way better! Its longer than the 97 dash. I'll post some pics tonight.
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Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

heres some pics
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:metal: wow niceeee!! it does fit good!! nice grab on that dash for free!!

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Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

thanks! i cant wait to get her on the road! i will be working on it a lot here soon.

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Looks like it fits good, what are you going to do about the gap in the front corners?
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Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

Looks great in there. I forgot you were working on a crew cab. A regular cab can't handle that little bit of extra depth. Just not much extra space to deal with. Nice job.

Re: 85 crew cab with 97 vortex motor and dash
 

That dash looks so much better than the 99-2006 dash. Glad they made the change.

Did you get all the stuff that goes in it or will you be finding / fabricating filler pieces for all the openings?