[Tx Firefighter]

Well, I'm ready to say the engine swap is 100 percent complete and a full success. When I assembled it, I used a bottle of GM Engine Oil Supplement along with Rotella diesel oil for cam safety. When I started it, I held it at 2000 RPM for 20 minutes to break the cam in. Then, shut it off and cool it down to ambient temperature. I then started it and ran it until full 195 degrees and the thermostat opened then shut off and cool down. I did this 5 times to heat cycle the engine. After that, I dumped the oil out and swapped in a fresh filter and 5 quarts of new oil. It should be good to go from here forward.

Typical of GM, the engine is absolutely quiet of any noises and dead smooth idle and performance.

Something I didn't cover previously, but a lot of the parts I used on reassembly were not the original parts. I had parted out an 87 model truck last year and had kept all of the TBI and engine parts. Over the last few months, in preparation for this swap, I had restored and powdercoated all of them. When I got the new crate engine, I assembled it with the 87 model intake, throttle body, distributor and all of that. It was all the exact same. I had also rebuilt the throttle body with new seals and a thorough cleaning.

And FYI, I can verify that the motor mount cups are the same for square bodies and these NBS trucks. I had always wondered, and sure enough, they are straight swap. The ones I used are the 87 ones all powdercoated up nice.