treylittlefield

Looks good man. How come you didn't go with a flip kit in the rear out of curiosity?

Steve-O-08

iTrader: (5)

Nice progress. Not too often I come across another Dark Spiral Gray RCSB. Your truck is just a 4wd twin brother of my Silverado. Keep up the good work.

lxcoupe

iTrader: (9)

Thanks, looks like you got a nice parts list with that LQ9. Do you have plans for boost?

I didn't plan on going this low, but every individual thing I did just did not get the truck low enough. This was my process:

1. pull rear block, look at truck and realize the rear was still 1.5" higher and didn't look that much better lol

2. order Belltech shackles from Summit, install them in lower hole. That only lowers the truck 1/2".

3. install Belltech hangers in upper position, truck finally sits level, rear possibly 1/2" lower than front

4. decrank stock keys in attempt to make front 3/4"-1" lower than rear. Barely able to achieve that before bolts are backed all the way out and truck rides like sh*t even with trimmed front jounce stops.

5. order Belltech spindles from Summit, install. Crank stock keys back to stock position. Truck does not lower itself significantly from when the stock keys were decranked all the way, truck also does not ride that great. Rear still has a huge gap and I found another member's truck that's running the stock 17s that looks absolutely fantastic (guy had foreign license plates of some sort).

6. order Belltech hangers from Summit, install. I keep the rear shackles in uppermost position.

7. Drive truck and rear bottoms way too easily. I reposition rear shackles to middle hole and rear ride height is perfect. Front is still a tad high.

8. Install Belltech keys and lower front down ~ 1/2" and truck sits perfect. While I did this I also install Belltech upper a-arm offset bushings, then I have truck aligned and aligns easily to stock specs.

9. Purchase Z71 Tahoe jounce stops from Chevy dealer and install uncut, truck rides like a goodamn Cadillac now.

10. Forum member asks me why I didn't do a flip kit and I honestly don't know the answer to that question lol

At the end of the day, I basically ordered all the parts from the Belltech kit offered for a 2wd 3/4 drop and taking out the rear 4wd 1.5" block did just that.

I also pre-clearanced the Belltech hangers for Cal-Tracs, not sure if I want or need them yet but I figured the rear would have too much squat even during a 4wd launch, or at least that's what I hear from PM'ing other 4wd launch guys that are in the 11's, which is where I plan to be.

Choda

iTrader: (1)

Awesome project!

lxcoupe

iTrader: (9)

Thanks, all you Turbo truck guys have been my inspiration. I would be lost without the forum.

I also forgot to mention that when I had the bed up for the spring hangers, I threw in a Walbro 450LPH. Should have taken pics. I'll raise the bed again shortly so I can plumb in the flex fuel sensor directly off the fuel pump module and run -8AN PTFE hose up to the motor. I'll take pics of the setup. I also had a chance this weekend to modify the stock instrument cluster where the trans temp gauge goes and install my Zeitronix ethanol content gauge. I still need to figure out what I want to do with the motor... can you guys advise? I was thinking:

1. Run my LM7 with unmilled heads, 9.5:1 and the Tick stage 1 truck turbo cam I bought (with BTR springs). Or I could mill the 862 heads .020" to bring me up to 10:1 or so.

2. Source an L33 that is 10:1 and already has the 799/243 heads and run the Tick stage 1 truck turbo cam. While the motor

3. Get some LQ4/LQ9 317 heads and bolt them onto my Vette's old LS2 shortblock (24x out of an 05 C6). Not sure what intake or cam to use in that scenario.

Any thoughts?

GMCtrk

iTrader: (27)

What are your power goals and what turbo again?

Personally I would just run the stock 5.3, no milling or anything. It should do an easy 600 hp which is more than enough to get you in trouble on the road.

lxcoupe

iTrader: (9)

I don't really have any power goals, but I plan to run 90% E85 since there's a station in town, and I'd like to be able to run mid 11s and drive the truck daily. So should I just do LS9 / or new stock 5.3 GM headgaskets and the BTR springs and run it? I was planning on pulling the heads to do lifters / cam / timing chain / oil pump ... I wanted to do the Tick turbo truck cam to help the low end a bit. Truck has 145k on it now but does not burn a drop of oil.

GMCtrk

iTrader: (27)

I would recommended doing what I did (ha ha ha).....LS9 head gaskets, ARP head studs, BTR dual springs and leave the rest of the junk stock. Cam of your choice. It's been enough to put a fat ext. cab on 20s into the bottom 11s so far on E50. Been boosted 3 years with the only failure being a broken PAC beehive spring.

lxcoupe

iTrader: (9)

So you're running an LM7 as well? Which cam? Is the truck soft on the low end? Everywhere I read says to get static up to ~10:1 or the truck will be a dog on the low end.

GMCtrk

iTrader: (27)

I can drive around normally all day long without going into boost and it feels the same as when it was n/a. No dogginess. It's a stock bottom end LQ9 with the 212/212 cam and 10.6:1 compression.