87 chevy crew cab turbo / 5.3 swap
12-11-2012, 12:58 PM
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87 chevy crew cab turbo / 5.3 swap Year: 1987
Make: Chevrolet
Model: R-Series
Price: $6500
Mileage: 90000
Private or Dealer Listing: Private Listing
Location (State): IA
Color: Beige
Transmission: Automatic
Drivetrain: Rear Wheel Drive
LS Engine?: Car has LS engine
whole mess of pictures from the build - here
Junkyard 5.3 has about 92k on it at this point, 13k or so since the swap. (it was my daily driver until I got the new job, that's 13k in about 16 months)
Added a 98 ls1 cam we had laying around and yellow ls3 springs.
Turbonetics 72mm .81 a/r with upgraded ceramic ball bearing center section (its loud as hell when it spools, guaranteed to scare children and pets)
Tial wg and bov
KB racing manifold kit
Ebay special intercooler
Edelbrock pro-flo intake setup and bbk 80mm tb
60 pound injectors
aeromotive fpr and a340 fuel pump
AEM wideband and tru-boost
Aluminum dual pass style radiator with modified shroud 4th gen e-fan setup
Summit coolant overflow / rx oil catch can
3 inch exhaust into a walker RV muffler, truck is pretty close to as quiet as a stock silverado until the turbo spools.
Wiring harness includes provisions for a 4l80e if you want AOD, has the o.e. th400 now. Wiring harness was a brand new setup from Yates EFI, nothing hacked together or reworked.
lowered approx 6" in front 8" in rear belltech spindles and we're pretty sure half ton springs in the front, western chassis flip kit / belltech c-notch in rear (welded in, not bolted) rear is too stiff to bottom out, scrapes the air dam on some turns / bumps in the front.
converted to 4 wheel disc, with factory hydroboost. This thing stops really damn well.
factory 14 bolt with 4.10's
truck went 14.0@102 with a 2.5 60' - on 6 pounds of boost and worn out o.e. tires. Never made a pass on higher boost because the truck is on a base tune, didn't want to break anything.
the bad - tranny needs gone through still drives fine, just hangs on the 2-3 shift on hard acceleration, yoke on the rear end needs replaced one of the straps is a little wonky, they make a u-bolt for style for the rock crawler rears i was thinking about trying, probably a carrier while you're under there.
Need to pull more springs out of the spring pack, we pulled 6 when we lowered it, there are still 10 or so in the packs.
The rock crawler type 14 bolt stuff all works on the rear, we used a 4x4 disc conversion to do the rear brakes, it's done with o.e. parts.
It's got some rust, the rockers are poop, holes in the floorboards, the tail gate "swivels" are shot. I do have the tailgate, just never bothered to fix / put it on, because i don't haul anything. The drivers front fender got crunched by a guy that fell asleep at the wheel. I have new everything to fix it, except the fender.
The interior is worn out. I never got around to putting a stereo in it, I did buy a jvc cd player for it you can have with it. It was a heat only truck, but you wont miss a/c its got 4 windows, vents, and vents in the kick panels you can open and close, air flow isn't an issue.
The body as close as I've found is a pretty good match with "biscuit" appliance epoxy, i wire wheel the rockers and coat them when they start to look bad, the interior still has some union pacific yellow in spots, and the roof.
It's a bruiser, looks cool, turns heads, you'll get a ton of questions, point out the railroad stuff, and then they crap themselves when you pop the hood.
I took it to a lot of car shows, and the things so "not car show material" that you can literally watch necks break as they walk backwards to see wtf was under the hood of that thing.
If you don't give a crap about the body as much as I didn't, you will love this truck. It needs some love but its in pretty decent shape for an 87, the mileage should be actual according to Union Pacific (only one owner between me and them) It's not super fast, but its as big as the damn space shuttle so it feels like it is. On 13 pounds of boost you can start a rolling burnout at 70ish mph. Just a big stupid toy that has potential if you get it to hook. Fix the trans and yoke, pull the springs, get some snow tires, and it should be mid 13's if not better. Who knows on higher boost.
Selling it because I'm never home to work on it / drive it. Travel a LOT for work. My work pays pretty well if you drive your own vehicle, time for something with cruise control, and leather.
its a done turbo / 5.3 swap for a 73-87 and a fuel tank away from being a swap for vortec trucks pretty much.
Truck weighs 4980 with me in it (280) and a full tank of gas.
$6500 obo
Last edited by turbocrewcab; 12-31-2012 at 07:10 PM.
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01-02-2013, 11:14 AM
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pm replied
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1987-...item416fa3ccbf
has some more pictures from this morning.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1987-...item416fa3ccbf
has some more pictures from this morning.
01-02-2013, 07:11 PM
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Good luck with the sale, thats a wicked truck.
01-02-2013, 07:28 PM
#16
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to get it without moving the trans at all is more than likely going to take some serious firewall "modification" it takes some love with a dead blow to get them in with the 1" backs. They're pretty much your best bet, we didn't actually remove the crossmember, just loosened the tranny mount and it kind of flopped into place, maybe 1/8". Its a very minimal amount.
