Project “Learning as I Go”

[gopokes]

Originally Posted by JohnC

Talk to glock35ipsc. He did the swap in his 85, and used the drive by wire pedal, and mated the original pedal to the setup. He may be able to answer some question you have. I know his truck is newer, but may not hurt. There is also a LS Swap section in the engine section of the board.

I have seen that one, I have learned alot already from his threads. The LS swap section is awesome, been spending a lot of time over there.

Originally Posted by sourkraut

awesome gift, do you need another brother?

You wouldn't be able to put up with the other three sisters and crazy mother.

[gopokes]

Not much progress but some, got the core support out and removed the rear crossmember to move it back for the gas tank. Still need to notch the lower frame rails out to get it up where it needs to be. Been really busy lately, hopefully I will get some more time soon and get some real work done. Here are a couple pics.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

wOW YOU ARE REALLY MOVEIN WITH THIS PROJECT VERY COOL OF YOUR BROTHER TO DROP THAT ENGINE OFF..

[scotts62]

Yeah its coming along nice!

Im going to try and find a wrecked crew for the drive train wiring and seats for my crew cab.

[gopokes]

Originally Posted by FRENCHBLUE72

wOW YOU ARE REALLY MOVEIN WITH THIS PROJECT VERY COOL OF YOUR BROTHER TO DROP THAT ENGINE OFF..

Originally Posted by scotts62

Yeah its coming along nice!

Im going to try and find a wrecked crew for the drive train wiring and seats for my crew cab.

Thanks guys! Scott, you might look into the iaai website, they sell to the public. I think a year membership is a couple hundred bucks. You might be able to pick up a wrecked truck you could use. I wanted to do that so that I could sell off some of the extra's I didn't use and make sure I could get everything I needed off of one rig. I just don't have the space to keep it.

I got the gas tank mocked up, still need to do a little more grinding, and make the mounting straps. Still haven't had time to even get my engine out of the box, and now with football starting I can pretty much count Saturdays out.

[red69ss]

great work it's coming together nicely, good job making it a short bed!

[JohnC]

Looking good man.

[scotts62]

Cool man thanks ill check it out, Tank is looking good!

[gopokes]

Originally Posted by red69ss

great work it's coming together nicely, good job making it a short bed!

Thanks, that was one part I was really scared to tackle. It's still not complete though. Still have some welding and grinding to go, but it seemed to go together without too many issues. I think if I did it again I could do a lot better job, guess that is how it is with anything.

Originally Posted by JohnC

Looking good man.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by scotts62

Cool man thanks ill check it out, Tank is looking good!

I would be interested to see what they go for out there. If you can pick them up pretty cheap it would be awesome. My brother has an old Dodge truck of dad's that we are thinking about putting on a newer car frame like a 300 or Charger. If that happens we will probably go out there and pick one up.

Worked on the tank a little more last night, got the rear crossmember moved back and put in the rails for the tank to pull up to installed. Still need to get the straps figured out but coming along a little.

[bjcaldwe]

Looking good.

[gopokes]

So the snowball continues to roll. I figured why stop tearing it down now. So I took all the rest of the brake lines off, removed the trailing arms, and took off the front suspension. It is officially down to nothing but the frame. I looked back at the beginning of my build thread and started to laugh at how my original intentions were so modest, now I'm staring at a pile of parts in the garage. I cut out holes in the crossmember and welded in some four inch pipe for the exhaust to run through, and am finalizing all the welding I have left. As soon as that is done I am taking the frame in to the sandblaster, painting it and starting to reassemble. I bought some extra pipe to notch the frame in the back but I think I have decided against it. Here are some pics.

[my67chevytruck]

nice work.

[bjcaldwe]

Keep it up man. There are quite a few of us Okies that have projects in the works. One day, we might all have them done enough to go cruising.

[JohnC]

Look at it this way: They only direction to go from here is back together!

Keep at it man. You'll be glad you went this far when it's done.

[gopokes]

Originally Posted by JohnC

Look at it this way: They only direction to go from here is back together!

Keep at it man. You'll be glad you went this far when it's done.

Unless I just start knocking rivits out for no reason, it's all the way down! I was thinking about that yesterday, it can only get better from here. At least that's what I keep telling my wife.

[gopokes]

Been trying to finish the frame welds so I can get this thing blasted and painted. I used the sections that I cut out of the frame for reinforcement. Still have to weld on the drivers side cab mount and I should be done. Here are some pics of the reinforcements.

[gopokes]

I finally got my old engine sold, so that opened up a little more space in the garage! I was able to get my new engine out of the crate and mock it up on the frame. I thought that I was going to be able to use the original engine mounts from the Tahoe, but fabricating up some brackets seems a little sketchy. I do want to save as much money as possible but I think this is an area that I should just shell out the cash. I think these are the ones I want, but can't figure out what company makes them.





Here are some other pics of mocking it up.

[JohnC]

Yeah I'm with you man. That isn't somewhere you want to skimp. Talk to glock35ipsc. He is working on a kit for the LS swaps. He is a wealth of knowledge on this.

[scotts62]

Very cool! Now im jealous

[gopokes]

Originally Posted by JohnC

Yeah I'm with you man. That isn't somewhere you want to skimp. Talk to glock35ipsc. He is working on a kit for the LS swaps. He is a wealth of knowledge on this.

Thanks for the tip, I posted the same question in the LS swap area and found out that they are from performanceonline.com. Got some ordered, should be here next week.

Originally Posted by scotts62

Very cool! Now im jealous

Thanks man!

[scotts62]

You have all the wiring and computer and all?

I need to get out and check that out sometime if you dont mind.

[gopokes]

Originally Posted by scotts62

You have all the wiring and computer and all?

I need to get out and check that out sometime if you dont mind.

Yep, it came with all of that. I have to get my harness disconnected and sent in to have cut down. I am going to use Wait4meperformance.com, I have read good reveiws on here about them. It's only $340 to have the harness modified and computer reprogrammed. From what I've read you can get the harness modified to be a little cleaner through other people, but this won't be a show truck so I can't see spending that much more. Shoot me a PM, I would love to show you what I have done so far.

[gopokes]

I've been trying to figure out what to do for front bumpstops and finally came up with this. I extended the crossmember out about an inch and a half and reinforced it. I will drill a hole to mount the stop and be done with it. Sorry about the pics, couldn't find my camera, had to use the cell phone.









These are the stops I am using.

[JohnC]

Dang man you're working so hard your jeans can't keep up.

Looks good man!

[scotts62]

My wife calls mine that look like that my "church jeans"