'71 C10, LS swap in the works
'71 C10, LS swap in the works '71 C10. It actually belonged to a buddy of mine in high school and it's sat pretty much in the same spot in west Texas since he went into the Army in 2003. Moved about 2 miles under its own power sometime around 2008, overheated, and stuck a valve.
In the shed where it's lived for the last 5 years
Out for the first time
Got it home and knocked the dust off
It appears rats have had their way with some coolant hoses and spark plug wires.
But, I've located a "complete" 5.3L that the guy wants $275 for, so I'm thinking I'm going to go ahead and update the power plant. I'm thinking of going with a carbed/MSD6010 setup for now so I don't have to convert the entire fuel system, and if I get tired of the carb down the road the EFI swap should be easy enough.
I'm kind of hoping that I'll be able to start actually pulling the engine this weekend, though I don't yet have anything ready to go back in. I will try to keep this updated as progress is made.
In the shed where it's lived for the last 5 years
Out for the first time
Got it home and knocked the dust off
It appears rats have had their way with some coolant hoses and spark plug wires.
But, I've located a "complete" 5.3L that the guy wants $275 for, so I'm thinking I'm going to go ahead and update the power plant. I'm thinking of going with a carbed/MSD6010 setup for now so I don't have to convert the entire fuel system, and if I get tired of the carb down the road the EFI swap should be easy enough.
I'm kind of hoping that I'll be able to start actually pulling the engine this weekend, though I don't yet have anything ready to go back in. I will try to keep this updated as progress is made.
Love these trucks. Good luck.
By the way, make sure 'Mickey' isnt living in that heater hose..
Jon
PSI
By the way, make sure 'Mickey' isnt living in that heater hose..
Jon
PSI
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Ebay Store
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Looks like I had missed an update on this thread...
I pulled the head off the old 350 to see just what that valve looked like...
it does appear there was a problem
Fortunately though, it appears valves are cheap (set of 8 for ~$70 from Summit) so I'm thinking I'll go ahead and get the original 350 running while I take my time sourcing the gen III block, and at least that way I can sell it as a running engine.
Also, new Boyd's tank came in. Looks like it might be time to pull the bed and get to work on the rear end.
$150 + the old long tubes off the C10... just picked up a low mileage 5.3L, some assembly required.
I'll try and get better pics in the light this afternoon.
Hard to see anything in that last pic, but I've got all the accessories and brackets (down to the A/C compressor), the truck intake, throttle body, all sensors, full intake to the resonator tube, exhaust manifolds, y-pipe, mechanical fan, valley cover, and valve covers. I haven't looked to see if I've got the rockers anywhere, but I imagine that's something I will replace along with valve springs, lifters, and push rods when I put in a cam. I've got the stock cam, but it wasn't oiled very well and has significant surface rust along what was it's "top" side during storage.
I don't know yet if I'll need an f-body oil pan, but I guess I'll figure that out once I get the truck dropped and can set the engine in place. I am still planning to use the carbed intake and MSD 6010 for now, so a lot of the parts not needed for this setup will be up for sale soon.
I pulled the head off the old 350 to see just what that valve looked like...
it does appear there was a problem
Fortunately though, it appears valves are cheap (set of 8 for ~$70 from Summit) so I'm thinking I'll go ahead and get the original 350 running while I take my time sourcing the gen III block, and at least that way I can sell it as a running engine.
Also, new Boyd's tank came in. Looks like it might be time to pull the bed and get to work on the rear end.
$150 + the old long tubes off the C10... just picked up a low mileage 5.3L, some assembly required.
I'll try and get better pics in the light this afternoon.
Hard to see anything in that last pic, but I've got all the accessories and brackets (down to the A/C compressor), the truck intake, throttle body, all sensors, full intake to the resonator tube, exhaust manifolds, y-pipe, mechanical fan, valley cover, and valve covers. I haven't looked to see if I've got the rockers anywhere, but I imagine that's something I will replace along with valve springs, lifters, and push rods when I put in a cam. I've got the stock cam, but it wasn't oiled very well and has significant surface rust along what was it's "top" side during storage.
I don't know yet if I'll need an f-body oil pan, but I guess I'll figure that out once I get the truck dropped and can set the engine in place. I am still planning to use the carbed intake and MSD 6010 for now, so a lot of the parts not needed for this setup will be up for sale soon.
Last edited by kacivic; Apr 9, 2013 at 12:11 PM.
I'm in the process of swapping a 5.3 in my brothers 71 c10, its lowered 3" and the truck oil pan may be a issue. It does hang rather low. We left the trans in the factory position so we didn't have to mess with drive line lengths. Schumfield (sp?) Headers for 73-87 fit with a little work.
Yeah, I've got 2.5" spindles and 2" springs for the front, so I was pretty much assuming the f-body pan was going to be a necessity. I was just planning on using the TH350 that's in the truck and the stock 5.3 manifolds. I figure the exhaust is easy enough to change up that I can do it any time.
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Verdad Gallardo Ya we used the factory th350, it was built supposedly when my brother bought the truck...we shall see haha. There is tons of room to use manifolds or better yet build your own headers. All in all it was pretty easy.
I'll do my best to remember to get pics, but I'm expecting it to be fairly slow-going for a little while. First goal is to tackle the front suspension stuff and then pull the old block so I can start getting the engine bay cleaned up (during daylight) and hoping to get engine reassembly tackled during the later hours. Since my wife works just about opposite me, a lot of my afternoons/evenings after work are spent with my young boys, so there's not much daylight to go around. Hopefully I'll get my garage cleaned up enough this weekend to get the truck in so that's not an issue anymore.
The truck exhaust manifolds can be made to work, but unless the engine is set really far back, you'll need to do some cutting on the frame rails. But for what a set of Trailblazer SS manifolds can be picked up for, I'd use them and not have to cut it much at all.
Cool, I'll have to give them a call.
Got some suspension work done this weekend. The more productive part of my Saturday was spent finishing up some house projects and cleaning up my garage in preparation to pull the bed off the truck, but finally around 5 I made some time to work on the truck.
Started on the driver's side, throwing in a CPP 2.5" drop spindle, 2" drop spring, and the Belltech Nitro 2 drop shocks.
As greasy as my hands were I didn't get many pictures on that first side, and it started getting dark by the time I got to messing with the passenger's side.
Old parts out, new shock going in
spindle and spring
Front end back on the ground. I'll have to get some day light pictures for a before/after comparison.
Got some suspension work done this weekend. The more productive part of my Saturday was spent finishing up some house projects and cleaning up my garage in preparation to pull the bed off the truck, but finally around 5 I made some time to work on the truck.
Started on the driver's side, throwing in a CPP 2.5" drop spindle, 2" drop spring, and the Belltech Nitro 2 drop shocks.
As greasy as my hands were I didn't get many pictures on that first side, and it started getting dark by the time I got to messing with the passenger's side.
Old parts out, new shock going in
spindle and spring
Front end back on the ground. I'll have to get some day light pictures for a before/after comparison.
Unfortunately, still not much to update on. Got my cam and some misc. stuff on Sunday, and got the cam into the block last night. I'm hoping to get as far as getting the heads back on tonight. Finally got the rear springs in as well, so may see about getting those and the drop blocks under the truck if the rain holds off. I may just wait until I can pull the bed though, as it'll have to come off to do the gas tank installation, panhard bar and shock relocation, and to stitch-weld the trailing arms.
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From: Monroe,NY
I'm in the process of swapping a 5.3 in my brothers 71 c10, its lowered 3" and the truck oil pan may be a issue. It does hang rather low. We left the trans in the factory position so we didn't have to mess with drive line lengths. Schumfield (sp?) Headers for 73-87 fit with a little work.
Well, as usually happens, the plans changed, but for the better in my opinion.
The 5.3L (and possibly the shell of my '98 T/A) is going to a friend for another project and the ~400rwhp stroked LS1 and built 4L60 are going in to the C10. Well, are currently "in" the C10. Hopefully I'll have it running by the end of the week and will be able to update.
In the bay with the Doug Thorley swap headers:
The 5.3L (and possibly the shell of my '98 T/A) is going to a friend for another project and the ~400rwhp stroked LS1 and built 4L60 are going in to the C10. Well, are currently "in" the C10. Hopefully I'll have it running by the end of the week and will be able to update.
In the bay with the Doug Thorley swap headers:
