zfaylor

Alright,


I recently left the diesel world in exchange for the gas world to keep things fresh. I've worked on everything diesel related since I was a freshman in high school and am now 27 and primarily deal with diesel with my turbo business. Not much desire to continue down that path so here I am. I want to lay out my plans and I am just looking for somebody to pick through it and tell me if I am way off base as I would like to build/buy parts as few times as possible.


Plans:


single cab shorty S-10
8.8 rear narrowed
leafs with caltracs
10.5 slick/radial
TH400 with mild build
4.8 with LS9 gaskets
HP tuned on factory ECU
S475 billet borg.


The place I am going to look at engines offers them with factory ecu and fuse box all attached as well. I plan to rid it of any unnecessary wiring and add what is needed to make it work.


From the eye bleeding amount I have read I plan to attempt for 600whp with a 171702 borg (S475 big turbine) and drop in an 11 blade billet wheel because I can and have them on the shelf.


I realize it is the big 96mm turbine version with the 1.32 housing on it but borg recently released the 1.15 housing for it if need be. I chose this turbo because it is not import and they are very reasonable to purchase.


I am attempting to do this on a reasonable budget. I don't plan to go out the first day run 10s.


Opinions on the S475? Should I go 83 or 87 turbine instead? too much compressor for what I am after? Sorry but I am not going to use anything off of ebay, import, Chinese, whatever name you want to call it.


Any other input is appreciated on the rest of the build.

JoeNova

You're going to get a LOT of suggestions for Chinese parts because of the massive success with them here, so prepare yourself for the flood.

A T6 borg on a 4.8 is a bad idea. Get a T4 housing, probably 1.10 A/R, 83mm turbine. Should work decent.

zfaylor

I was definitely ready for the Chinese turbo suggestions. I personally have no desire to run them. I have no reason too with anything under the sun at my disposal.


I had a strong feeling the T6 was a bit too much turbine. I saw some success stories with them and got myself on that bandwagon due to their price. Small turbine it is.


I am not against a 6.0 or a 5.3 I should add but given I want to turbo it I saw no reason to spend 2-3 times more for the engine in case anybody was wondering.

Dimeomboost

iron 5.7 block ls6 intake front mount t4 turbo 8.8 junkyard rearend and some coilovers up front. built my own crossover pipe and caltrac bars comouter is under the dash and an aeromotive stealth 340 in the stock tank gets u into the high fives low sixes with a great tune but sixes isnt hard at all with these trucks mines 3140 full interior cheetah shifter th400 with a brake and spicer driveshaft i built wasnt as expensive as most builds and will out run the majority of the ones u come across

gsteele

Do you have a build thread? How did you route your exhaust?

zfaylor

So, I picked up a 5.3 complete with harness, fuse box, computer, 2wd 4L60E, etc.. today. I planned 4.8 to keep it inexpensive and th400 to keep costs down but by the time I shopped around for all of the little piece parts and such this made more sense. I realize the 4L60E will need built to make it live but I am perfectly fine with that. Remember, I spent over $1000 on my torque converter alone in my diesel toy. I am OK with spending some coin on the 4L60E.

My next though:

Has anybody used an Edge cts monitor for their basic gauges and vitals on a swap? They plug into OBDII and display anything the ECM can spit out. I may attempt to get the factory gauges working but if it becomes a headache this could be a more economical option compared to a racepak. Any thoughts?

JoeNova

Why not go with a 4L80e? Seems like a waste to even mess with a 60e.

Apps like Torque Pro can display gauges on your phone/tablet with a Bluetooth adapter. Much cheaper.

svslow

Stock 80e with a shift kit will handle plenty. Don't spend the time/money on a 60e if you are looking for 4 gears.

zfaylor

Torque pro sounds like just the ticket. Thank you for that!


As for the 60e vs 80e. Quite honestly the 2wd 80e around me are either:

A. completely unknown condition laying in a wrecker yard rack for lord knows how long

or

B. Absurdly priced. Like $600 or more with no guarantees.


I have pondered this a ton. In the end I was going to rebuild anything I threw into this truck plus some. Even an 80e I would see no reason to tear it apart for a stock rebuild. Being that my goal is to be 3000lbs I settled on building a 60e. Maybe I will learn a hard lesson maybe not. The guy I bought my swap from drags a nitrous camaro into the low 10s on a moderately built RPM transmission with no problems for years and that more or less settled my mind a tad.

My gut tells me to go 80e or th400 but my young hard head tells me to roll the dice.

zfaylor

To ease some frustrations of reading my previous post that many are sure to have:

I highly doubt I see my 600hp goal in the near future. Realistically 500hp in a 3000lb truck is more than plenty to attempt to put to the ground. I AM still keeping my eyes peeled for an 80e and given winter is soon approaching the build is going to be drawn out.

JoeNova

You'll find guys here on their 3rd and 4th 60e from a mild N/A build. The trans am I tuned 2 weeks ago for a mild cam 6.0 swap just called me to say he blew his 60e again and is having me swap an 80e into his car.

10s on an RPM built 60e suddenly doesn't sound impressive when you learn a stock 80e has been 8s in a full weight trans am.

svslow

This always goes the same way. You will have 500hp for about 12hrs and then want more. If you are already planning on buying an expensive lockup converter then just got with the 80e. I'm sure the RPM stuff is decent, but you pay for it.

zfaylor

Yeah, the more I thought about it the more I realize that it can be done but why. You guys are right.

I just purchased an 80e from a local wrecker yard over the phone not 10 minutes ago. I will go through it and put a new converter on it for peace of mind.

turboal1

the trans tunnel in a S-10 is really small for an 80e to fit in, you mite need to drop the eng and trans lower in the frame.. S-10's use a smaller bell housing and conv.

zfaylor

I won't hold back. The interior is getting gutted anyhow. If need be the tunnel will get modified.

tblentrprz

"I would like to build/buy parts as few times as possible"

Good deal ditching the 60e. 8psi and 500rwhp it wouldn't last long without throwing $$$ in it. 17 psi and 700rwhp and you'd been desperate for a 400 or 80e.

zfaylor

Got a 99 single cab short bed roller on Thursday. Spent friday night stripping the truck down to the frame. Spent today prepping it for POR-15. Should be ready to start setting the driveline this week.


Any preference on swap mounts? I had my eye on the trans dapt mounts simply because I am a Summit junky. 1 day standard shipping always gets me.

Dave926

If it helps, I've got them in my truck. Single cab 5 speed originally.

Stock 5 speed crossmember lined up with the 60e like it was made for it.

The mounts themselves might be a smidge lower than others, as my Sanderson swap headers hit the control arm on the drivers side a bit, and I can access all the trans to block bolts with ease from up top.

zfaylor

Awesome. Thank you for that. I just didn't want to order junk. I am sure it is mostly personal preference past that.


They will get ordered today then.

R Readdick

I did mine different than most, I first built my truck with no intention of any forced induction, but after a while I became bored and needed a change. I did not want to replace my nice longtube headers so I did a midmount compturbo in the bed . I chose comp because they offered a oilles and it was water cooled so all I had to do was run heater hose water lines to it. I also retained my ac which worked fine the first year, but now my madeup custom ac lines stared leaking . I ll try to post some pictures if I can figer all this computer mess out. Iam kind of old school mine is a carb blowthrew but I can tune it myself. I used a 2008 ly6 6 liter and coverted it to carb and starded with a 700 r now 4l80 the only computer is msd control box which I understand and have a manual valfe body by tci in my tranny with toggle switch for converter lockup in high gear. Just throwing this at you because a lot of ways too do it