86 Silverado Father and Son project

[Gordonr1973]

Looking great!!

[EightiesOnly]

Originally Posted by franky69c10

Looks good bro

Thanks man

Originally Posted by maxxxy

Hey I think I have one of those super rare parking tags! Super sweet truck man!

Good deal, maybe I'll see you in your '81 around campus in the future.

Originally Posted by Gordonr1973

Looking great!!

Thank ya

[67c10rustbuket]

The LS swap turned out great Landen, Looks like I should drop my truck off at mcbassins for some work after your spring semester something might actually get done on it

[EightiesOnly]

Originally Posted by 67c10rustbuket

The LS swap turned out great Landen, Looks like I should drop my truck off at mcbassins for some work after your spring semester something might actually get done on it

Thanks Dan, bring it on over.

[EightiesOnly]

I've got a little update. The truck's been running great with very few issues. I'm still daily driving it.

I just wanted to post the total cost of the swap...

Swap cost

Donor truck..........................-600
Gas for pickup.......................-70
Trans fluid and coolant............-41
Wires....................................-9
Cam position sensor................-42
Oil pressure sensor.................-28
Fuel hose and clamps.............-15
Mufflers................................-67
Exhaust clamps.....................-23
Ujoint..................................-26
PCM reflash..........................-75
Fuse box, relays, teriminals....-40
Temperature sending unit.......-16
Wire loom.............................-7
Electrical tape.......................-3
Air filter................................-22

Cost.....................................-1,084



Truck scrap...............+442
Rear differential.........+250
Air bag set................+80
Airbag clock spring.....+55
Cat converters...........+40

Earned......................+867

Total cost...................-$217

[mcbassin]

Doing work....

[NastyBuzzard]

Where did you get your pcm flashed for $75?

Have any drawings for the homemade swap mounts?

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by NastyBuzzard

Where did you get your pcm flashed for $75?

Have any drawings for the homemade swap mounts?

PCM reflashed by Brendon at http://www.lt1swap.com/
See attached drawings of the plates we made. I may have had to countersink
holes for the RH side for the air conditioner compressor bracket. I can't remember for sure.

[NastyBuzzard]

Very nice! Thanks. What CAD software you use? I use a lot of AutoCad & Inventor. Some solidworks and Pro-E as well.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by NastyBuzzard

Very nice! Thanks. What CAD software you use? I use a lot of AutoCad & Inventor. Some solidworks and Pro-E as well.

Solidworks pretty much exclusive for modeling and drawings now. I have ProE on my machine but it's really cumbersome. I actually used FeatureCam modeling these and for machining. I can send you solid if you would like. I think we had to tweak them a little like I said but it was simple countersinks for metric flat head hardware.

[NastyBuzzard]

What you sent is perfectly fine unless you just feel like sending me a .step file or something. Either way i will get a 1:1 and make some. Beats $100+ for the dirty dingo mounts I was thinking I was going to have to get.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by NastyBuzzard

What you sent is perfectly fine unless you just feel like sending me a .step file or something. Either way i will get a 1:1 and make some. Beats $100+ for the dirty dingo mounts I was thinking I was going to have to get.

Shoot me a pm with your email address.

[EightiesOnly]

Just a bit of an update here. First I swapped my cluster lamps out with these LED 10 SMD bulbs...



They make a big difference in brightness, hard to tell from the pic...



Then I decided to wire up the all lamps on when on high beam set up, stole from project "Fred". I wired it up just like this.



Relays



Lows



Highs





There's a noticeable difference in brightness. This set up allows you to have lows on at all times and allows you to run heavier gage feeds straight from the battery to the lights.

That's all for now.

[SamsAutoParts73-87]

I really need to do that as well to the 89 front clip on my 79 4x4, that looks real nice with all 4 lit up,

I really need to look into the LED dash bulbs as well, my 87 is really dim, very hard to see at dusk, or on a cloudy day.
-Sam

[Crash_OK]

Nice work... you are becoming the wiring expert that your dad has always needed...

[EightiesOnly]

Originally Posted by SamsAutoParts73-87

I really need to do that as well to the 89 front clip on my 79 4x4, that looks real nice with all 4 lit up,

I really need to look into the LED dash bulbs as well, my 87 is really dim, very hard to see at dusk, or on a cloudy day.
-Sam

I bought my cluster lamps on ebay for cheap. I also bought these...

http://www.ledlight.com/t10-wedge-5-...led-light.aspx

...for my side markers and they're really bright. The side markers and cluster lamps are the same 194 wedge bulbs.

Originally Posted by Crash_OK

Nice work... you are becoming the wiring expert that your dad has always needed...

Thanks, that's the plan!

[EightiesOnly]

Another lighting update. I got these LED backup lamps on ebay...



...installed. Also put LED lamps in for my taillights. They're the same 194's as the instrument cluster.



I'm pleased with the difference in brightness, here's side by side halogen and LED.

[EightiesOnly]

Yet another light related update. I decided to make some underhood lighting.

I used two of these courtesy lights from an old car harness.



I mounted one on each half of the hood and installed LEDs.





I used a radio shack rocker switch. My original intent was to mount it directly to the hood but due to it being nut mounted I couldn't tighten the nut. I also tried to just thread a hole and screw it in but the three terminals on back are wider than the threads. So, instead of relocating it somewhere else I made a mounting bracket.













This was a fun little project and total cost is about $7. I do still need to get an under hood insulation, which the lights should work just fine with.

[SamsAutoParts73-87]

That is an excellent idea!
-Sam

[EightiesOnly]

Originally Posted by SamsAutoParts73-87

That is an excellent idea!
-Sam

Thank you

[EightiesOnly]

A little update here.

First, back when we finished the swap I said the A/C could wait until spring. Well it's mid summer now and the A/C is way overdue.

I had mcbassin make some one-off A/C lines by cutting fittings from the LS lines and welding them to the original A/C hoses (picked up at pull-a-part).





This line is redirected out the side of the fitting. It's really the only way to do it without a large notch in the frame.





He saved me a couple hundred dollars again because I simply don't have the welding skills to do this.

I wired up the system like this.



This is power straight from the original compressor feed (on with AC on) that goes through the compressor clutch then through the high pressure switch (normally closed until over pressured) on the LS comressor on its way to ground. The original compressor feed actually flows through the low pressure switch on the dryer, I just didn't draw it.

I went ahead and got a new dryer and orfus tube and installed the lines.



A small frame notch was needed for clearance of the upper line.





The system held 110 psi of air for 20 hours, so we then evacuated it for about 18 hours and it held at about 0.01 psi so we charged it and it's working great so far!

Also, I decided to install the LS cruise control.

I was doing a preliminary test to confirm the outputs of the cruise buttons and the Set/Coast button (momentary on) wasn't working. After further investigation I found this.



The wire was cut clean through, so I got a new turn signal lever.



I used this chart and Ls1nova71's diagram as references to do the wiring.





I mounted the cruise module on the drivers side inner fender which required a small bracket. I did this because there's simply no room for it on the firewall.







That's all for now.

[C@rnut001]

You have done an excellent job on your truck. I had not read your thread until today (just finished reading it all the way through). Keep having fun with it and improving it.

[EightiesOnly]

Originally Posted by C@rnut001

You have done an excellent job on your truck. I had not read your thread until today (just finished reading it all the way through). Keep having fun with it and improving it.

Thanks for taking the time to read the thread. It's been fun taking the truck from a decent old truck to a solid one. And that's what this project is all about, cheap, easy, and fun!

[aggie91]

Nice truck and the extra's you did since the LS swap are a good touch.

[EightiesOnly]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Nice truck and the extra's you did since the LS swap are a good touch.

Thank you, it looks your swap is going smoothly.