BMR Sales2

iTrader: (40)

Figured I would start a build thread on my personal daily. Nothing fancy, but it has been good to me for the last few years and the 265k mile tbi 305 is quite tired and has started to shows some signs of fatigue. The solution? An LQ4 pullout from an '05 2500. I'm just keeping it basic, with the intention of boost in the near future after the swap. I have already swapped in Ls6 valvesprings and will be running speed density with flexfuel capability. My tuner has figured out a way to use the newer GM sensor in a swap application with an 0411 PCM that will automatically adjust the tunes to go between both seamlessly. This will be my third LS conversion. I previously had a '68 C10 with a turbo 5.3 and also did a 5.3 '81 Z28. Here is what I am working with on this one so far:

The truck, 90 RCSB SS clone (no I'm not hacking up a real one, hence the name the ImpoSSter :p)


Driving home with the new motor. These things are an addiction, can't seem to help myself haha



Ran into my twin on the way home with the new motor. Had to stop and chat with him for a few minutes and compare trucks.



Mmmm crusty


Purple Power FTW


it's cool having a cnc machinist for a dad who shares a shop with you. He whipped my up this support bracket to keep my stock ac compressor in the stock location on the LS motor and reuse the stock tensioner flipped around. Just need to get a smooth pulley to run on the back side of the belt










Got this little guy in. Aeromotive Stealth 340
[URL=http://s16.photobucket.com/user/dragnblazer/media/ImpoSSter%20Swap/13876212_1086507474773515_8956329073557027766_n_zp si8yjoofp.jpg.html]



Then the fun begins. Stripping and rewiring the truck harness for stand alone. Yaayyy....



and that's pretty well where I am as of now. Still gathering a few little odds and ends of sending unit adapters for the stock gauges to work. Already got the fuel lines adapted and ready to go, and dad whipped me up some adapter motor mount plates. Going to keep this updated as I get stuff done. Planing to actually make the swap next weekend. Trying to have everything on hand and ready to be as plug and play as possible. The idea(albeit not a good one) is to drive in the shop Friday after work with the 305 and drive to work Monday morning with LS power. I will keep progress updated as I go!

tfi racing

iTrader: (2)

Sweet,have a 94 sitting in the backyard now waiting for its 6.0,but its going stealth as grandpa's retirement cruiser...

DavidBoren

Anything special about the TH400? RMVB or anything fancy like that?

Nali6.2

love these trucks

BMR Sales2

iTrader: (40)

Yep she has been good to me. Just always been disappointing in the power department, so now this should remedy that.

The 400 is nothing special. I got it as a stock core that I was going to put a MVB and all that fancy stuff in, but I'll throw it in here for now and may end up going Glide in the TA. Also throwing the quarter stick from the TA in here. It will just end up getting a basic shift kit and probably do a converter later down the road. But for now the regular truck converter will do.
Driveability is a big concern in this swap. I am keeping ac, cruise and everything else I can, and still have to maintain decent gas mileage. I have a 25 mile commute each way to work and it is all interstate. I was hesitant to go the 400 route at first, but it has a 3.08 rear end gear and a 29" tall tire, and is not too bad when left in 4th. I find myself rarely using overdrive in it since it causes it to bog pretty hard, even at 75-80. Granted the 6.0 would probably have more torque to pull it, the old Muncie HM290 is pretty worn as well and is in need of a rebuild.

hokeplaya05

iTrader: (3)

awesome, love seeing ls swapped OBS trucks! gathering parts to swap my 96 ECSB, hoping to get started this fall. yours reminds me of my old 95 RCSB, looks very similar although I didn't have the SS wheels because I couldn't find any at the time. wish I'd kept that truck.....

BMR Sales2

iTrader: (40)

It had 20's on it when I first got it. They weren't bad, but weren't my style. So I rocked them until I needed tires then traded them for these wheels with good tires lol. I always got asked before if it was a 454 truck, but now I get people who don't believe me when I tell them it's not. I had a guy flat argue with me in traffic one day that it had to be. So now I get to really watch their faces go blank when they ask and I tell them it's a 6.0 LS motor haha. Once this is done I'll have to take time and clean it all up again and get some good pictures. She does still clean up nice for an old truck

BMR Sales2

iTrader: (40)

Update to this project, it is now crunch time. The swap has been sitting in my shop ready to drop in, but I have been too busy messing with my Trans Am to do this one. However the truck had other ideas. The clutch went out earlier this week so I decided it's time to do it. I decided to keep the stock Muncie HM290 trans since it is so fun to drive, and will keep the wiring and such much simpler. To do this I bought a replacement clutch for the truck, then a Sach NFW-1050 flywheel for the 5-speed 4.8 work truck. Had this same combo in my 68 c10 behind a 5.3 and it worked beautifully. Picking up the PCM tonight and having a tune flashed into it.

The goal is to start disassembly tonight (friday) and drive it to work monday morning. That's what I'm hoping for, but we all know how Murphy and his laws work. I'll take pics along the way and hopefully have a success story to report monday and some pics/vids of it in action

sowbelle

good luck I will be following

Advanced Design

Sounds like a good week end plan. Tagging along.

rockusaf

Good luck, wish I had kept my build a bit more simple like you're doing. I was collecting parts for a LS3 and TR6060 swap and wasn't quite ready to start but my radiator started leaking real bad all of a sudden so I had to just dig in. It was a stock 25 year old radiator so I can't complain too much . Let us know how it goes.

Rock

BMR Sales2

iTrader: (40)

Well, I gave it a solid effort, and was nearly successful. wrapped it up at about 11pm last night. only things lacking were the fuel pump still needing to be switched out and the PCM tuned. It did breathe some life, and we were able to confirm injector pulse, spark, and serial port data. So I just basically need to tidy up the wiring and that portion is completed.
I actually spent more time fixing non-swap related things than anything. Here's a recap with photos

Started by removing the hood and disconnecting all the TBI harness and hoses and anything attaching the old SBC to the truck



Once everything was loose, it was time to pull it all out. Forklifts make life so much easier





Then it was time to swap over the mounts and trans (after a good degreasing) and other items to be reused



Since I was keeping the stock 5 speed manual, clutch adaption was necessary to the new power plant. The solution was rather simple and cost effective. This is a good point to anyone adapting this or any of the older 10 spline input shaft manual trans:
I used a stock flywheel from a 2001 Silverado 1500 with a 4.8. These were available with the nv3500 and will accept a standard 12" clutch and pressure plate. The only difference is the 2 dowel pins on the flywheel. The stock pressure plate has holes for these pins next to 2 of the bolt holes. My particular plate didn't have these holes. You can either drill the holes in the plate, or remove the dowels. Once you do, it all bolts together like stock. I just bought a clutch kit for the truck, so it came with the pilot bearing as well. This also fit the LS crank with no issues.





Now that I had that part ready to go (after spending a couple of hours fixing a damaged clutch fork and no local replacements were available) I started prepping the engine bay. Purple power, brake clean and a lot of scotts shop towels were employed. Then it was finished off with some Rustoleum Satin Black engine enamel



So with paint drying and it getting late, I decided to call it a day here for saturday.



The next morning, I decided to replace the stock motor mounts on the frame since mine were beyond thrashed. I did not realize the hell I signed myself up for. Anyone who has ever replaced mounts on one of these trucks will understand.

So, after and hour of fighting to get to the top nuts on both mounts, I decided to make my own access holes in the back side of the k-member to get a wrench on them. After that, it went rather quickly. Then I was ready to start reassembly.

The new motor dropped right in, and didn't put up too much of a fight



Then it was time to start hooking it all up. Many things plugged right up as planned. Power steering lines, Clutch, Fuel lines I adapted before hand, radiator hoses, heater hoses etc. Then we began tackling the daunting task of wiring



This was basically how the engine bay looked at the end of the night. Ended up removing about 90% of the stock engine wiring from the truck. Only left the factory connections for A/C, Oil pressure, water temp and key on ignition. I am taking the PCM to a friend today to get a base tune flashed and VATS turned off. Then I will work on getting the pump swapped out tonight so I can get some fuel to it and see how it does when it can stay running. I also need to track down some nuts for the exhaust manifolds. I managed to lose 3 of them so I was only able to attach one manifold down pipe.

BMR Sales2

iTrader: (40)

Another update;
Got the fuel pump swapped in as well as some other small items wrapped up. Put fuel to it and it fired right up! Then... I was met with the terrible sound of clattering lifters and saw the oil pressure gauge dancing at about 5 psi. It would bounce between 20-30 if held at rpm above idle. So, tonight I am replacing the oil pump and hoping that solves my issue. I'm ready to drive this thing!

Aaron at SDPC

Very cool project! Looking forward to seeing the finished results.

BMR Sales2

iTrader: (40)

Thank Aaron. Me too. I've been dreaming of swapping this thing for years.

Got the oil pump swapped out last night and took care of some other little loose ends, and basically have it all finished up. Took it for a test drive last night and apparently I pulled a wire or unplugged a sensor while tucking the harness. It started running rough and began spitting some sweet flames out of the pipes on decel

Since it was 1 am and the neighbors were not pleased with my antics and I was tired, I decided to just park it and call it a night instead of of sifting through the engine bay wiring. So tonight, I will track it down and get with my tuner and get a tune in this thing, set the hood on and start having fun with it!

BMR Sales2

iTrader: (40)

Finally getting a chance to follow up now. We got it all tuned and sorted out. Got all the little issues worked out and it has been driving good. Friday night at about 9:30 pm we got the base tune in it and took it for a test drive. Everything was good, so me and my friend jumped in it and took off to St Pete to catch the rest of a Pre-meet for FL2k. We made it with no issues. Walked around and saw some cool stuff, then jumped back in it and headed back to Lakeland. Again, no issues other than a weak belt tensioner that lead to a squeaking belt when the alternator charges hard. I have about 250 mile son it so far and I love it. The power is smooth and strong, the motor doesn't miss a beat. The power when I lay into it is amazing. I actually scared myself a little merging onto the interstate. I rolled into it in third gear and it broke loose hard enough to start wheel hopping. This was at about 55mph. So, overall I'm very happy with how the truck turned out and now I just need to finish up a few little detail things. I finally got a chance to get it cleaned up so i stopped and got some pics of it while i was out cruising around. They are just quick cell phone pics. I need ot get the real camera on it soon. Still cleans up nice for a 26 year old truck

Aaron at SDPC

Glad to see you got it running! Always been a fan of this body style.

hokeplaya05

iTrader: (3)

congrats! glad it is not giving you any major issues, might just light a fire under my *** to get mine done before winter lol

always be closing

Wow, great job man. I have a 92, and an 03 lq4 waiting to go in, glad to hear you can use the stock gauges.

I really like your A/C mount, smart!

cookseyb

I'm doing a 94, which fuel pump will fit in the tank? Where did you mount the PCM? Great looking truck!!