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I have this posted on theturboforums.com as well, but I thought I'd bring it over here too. Some of you may have seen this, some may not. This one won't be quite as fast moving as my Mustang thread, but I'll keep it updated as I go along. The purpose of this truck is to run in the 5.80/6.0/6.20 class.
Now, it's time to start the build on my S10. First, the backstory - I bought this thing about 1.5 years ago as a pile of parts and paid a bit too much for it at 1,000$. It had a complete drivetrain, but it was critically injured..so, I proceeded to search for a good Vortec 350. FFWD to late last winter - I got it all running, moved into my new house, and at the same time found my fresh, junk parts 350 with my new Vortec heads had a flat cam. No biggie, took it back out of the truck, got a new cam, some break in additive, and a set of bearings just in case - come to find out, that was a good choice - the other 'new' bearings were trashed from the cam going flat. Got it all put back together and slowly (in between customer cars) put the interior, guages, and Ford explorer 8.8 in it. This video is running with that setup.
It was painfully obvious that there was something wrong with it - one, it had a wierd stumble (heard in video). Second, the converter was WAY too tight. I had an opportunity to sell the engine and trans AND stumbled across a 5.3L (L33) that had 'lifter noise". So, I did both - the engine out of the truck sold on the first day on craiglist and greenbullett had the L33 at his place, so I picked it up as well.
I got the engine home, got it on a stand and started tearing into it - I didn't want to put it in the S10 without checking out the alleged lifter noise problem. I tore it down to the shortblock and didn't find anything wrong with it. The bearings looked as if it were brand new (the exterior looked like it was in the bottom of a lake though). I checked each lifter and found nothing wrong. Ok, no biggie. Couldn't go any further because I didn't have a way to get the balancer off (my puller was too big, doh).
It was time to get back to work on my customer's car anyways. So, FFWD another week or so - I got a puller today, took it the rest of the way apart and found the first lobe on the cam to be pretty ate up. Ah ha, now it makes sense. No bearing on the cam/lifter problem - but this engine had Royal purple in it, the insides were spotless. Supposedly this came from a fleet vehicle, and that was supposed to be all they ever ran in them.
Transmission time - backup a couple weeks, I was looking on CL again, but this time for a 200-R4 core...and ended up finding a virgin powerglide core that was about 3 miles from my trans guy's house. That was a monumental feat in itself, he lives out right in the MIDDLE of BFE. The guy I got the trans from had it in a shed that was in the middle of a pasture! I was certain we'd find bodies out there or something, he was a STRANGE dude. Anyways, picked up the trans and took it straight to the trans guy's place and took it apart. It wound up bieng a virgin 1.76 low gearset and appeared to have never been apart. Score @ 120$.
Since the engine was disassembled, I ordered a re-ring kit (500$!!!) for the 5.3L and also got a 'brake, and some other misc stuff ordered for the 5.3L/powerglide swap.
Now for the good part, the pictures. For the first few posts (maybe just the first one, not sure) the pics will be out of order - I've been holding out on a build thread till I had some worthy material.
*engine already sourced - 5.3L
*Trans already sourced - powerglide
*induction already sourced - I have choices, 2 X 76MM chinese turbos (just like what was used in the car craft build), single T6 83MM, or a single 76MM.
*I have almost all the tubing from previous kits, should be plenty enough to get me started.
*Megasquirt III with datalogging, boost control etc.
*Ford Explorer 8.8 with 31 spline axles and 3.73's.
*Fuel system was already installed for blowthrough on the GenI sbc, I just need to change regulators to work with the Aeromotive eliminator pump and EFI. (Truck has 132002 on it now)
The truck before and after lowering. This is with multileaf springs and blocks, before the calvert springs and sliders were installed.
First, misc rear end build pics (more to come, or upon request). The calvert split leaf monoleaf springs and my custom made sliders.
Interior. Showing the C2 guages and wideband.
The 5.3L - looks like it came from the bottom of a lake.
Now, it's time to start the build on my S10. First, the backstory - I bought this thing about 1.5 years ago as a pile of parts and paid a bit too much for it at 1,000$. It had a complete drivetrain, but it was critically injured..so, I proceeded to search for a good Vortec 350. FFWD to late last winter - I got it all running, moved into my new house, and at the same time found my fresh, junk parts 350 with my new Vortec heads had a flat cam. No biggie, took it back out of the truck, got a new cam, some break in additive, and a set of bearings just in case - come to find out, that was a good choice - the other 'new' bearings were trashed from the cam going flat. Got it all put back together and slowly (in between customer cars) put the interior, guages, and Ford explorer 8.8 in it. This video is running with that setup.
It was painfully obvious that there was something wrong with it - one, it had a wierd stumble (heard in video). Second, the converter was WAY too tight. I had an opportunity to sell the engine and trans AND stumbled across a 5.3L (L33) that had 'lifter noise". So, I did both - the engine out of the truck sold on the first day on craiglist and greenbullett had the L33 at his place, so I picked it up as well.
I got the engine home, got it on a stand and started tearing into it - I didn't want to put it in the S10 without checking out the alleged lifter noise problem. I tore it down to the shortblock and didn't find anything wrong with it. The bearings looked as if it were brand new (the exterior looked like it was in the bottom of a lake though). I checked each lifter and found nothing wrong. Ok, no biggie. Couldn't go any further because I didn't have a way to get the balancer off (my puller was too big, doh).
It was time to get back to work on my customer's car anyways. So, FFWD another week or so - I got a puller today, took it the rest of the way apart and found the first lobe on the cam to be pretty ate up. Ah ha, now it makes sense. No bearing on the cam/lifter problem - but this engine had Royal purple in it, the insides were spotless. Supposedly this came from a fleet vehicle, and that was supposed to be all they ever ran in them.
Transmission time - backup a couple weeks, I was looking on CL again, but this time for a 200-R4 core...and ended up finding a virgin powerglide core that was about 3 miles from my trans guy's house. That was a monumental feat in itself, he lives out right in the MIDDLE of BFE. The guy I got the trans from had it in a shed that was in the middle of a pasture! I was certain we'd find bodies out there or something, he was a STRANGE dude. Anyways, picked up the trans and took it straight to the trans guy's place and took it apart. It wound up bieng a virgin 1.76 low gearset and appeared to have never been apart. Score @ 120$.
Since the engine was disassembled, I ordered a re-ring kit (500$!!!) for the 5.3L and also got a 'brake, and some other misc stuff ordered for the 5.3L/powerglide swap.
Now for the good part, the pictures. For the first few posts (maybe just the first one, not sure) the pics will be out of order - I've been holding out on a build thread till I had some worthy material.
*engine already sourced - 5.3L
*Trans already sourced - powerglide
*induction already sourced - I have choices, 2 X 76MM chinese turbos (just like what was used in the car craft build), single T6 83MM, or a single 76MM.
*I have almost all the tubing from previous kits, should be plenty enough to get me started.
*Megasquirt III with datalogging, boost control etc.
*Ford Explorer 8.8 with 31 spline axles and 3.73's.
*Fuel system was already installed for blowthrough on the GenI sbc, I just need to change regulators to work with the Aeromotive eliminator pump and EFI. (Truck has 132002 on it now)
The truck before and after lowering. This is with multileaf springs and blocks, before the calvert springs and sliders were installed.
First, misc rear end build pics (more to come, or upon request). The calvert split leaf monoleaf springs and my custom made sliders.
Interior. Showing the C2 guages and wideband.
The 5.3L - looks like it came from the bottom of a lake.
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