About20ninj45

Yes it was. Damn fingers weren't cooperating lol. Do you think that rear end from the van would have fit into the truck?

lsxponcho

Im not sure, but I did take the measurements off for potential buyers. Here were the specs;

w.m.s. is 70-5/16"
perch width is approx 50" - easy enough to move though
pinion offset is approx 1/4" to the pass side.

If wms isn't too wide, It would be tough as nails, but then you would want to cut the ends off, and convert to 6 lug, or whatever you desire

lsxponcho

I picked up some exhaust parts last weekend, and started building pipes last night. Originally I was going to run duals, but the budget got the better of me. I picked up two Vibrant Performance 2.5" mandrel 90 degree bend sections, which worked out perfect. The drivers side goes straight back from the header, through the trans crossmember, 90's and goes under the tail shaft, then 90's again at the pass side pipe. The pass side has a few degrees of rise, but basically its straight pipe from the collector back. Both pipes meet up right after the welded crossmember to a Magnaflow high flow y pipe transition (10" long, 2.5" dual in, 3" single out). From there its 3" pipe to a 5"x14" round Magnaflow (3"in/out straight through #12867). I really wanted a Borla xr1, but the speed shop I went to didn't carry Borla stuff. I have to build the tail pipe yet, but plans are to exit in the stock location with possibly a 4" tip. I also welded in 02 bungs for the rear sensors for now, until they get tuned out later. I had to fire it up, just to hear it, (even if it was just straight out of the muffler) and I'm very happy with the muffler choice. I will post pics, and video of how it sounds hopefully in the next week or so when its wrapped up.

lsxponcho

I finished up the exhaust tonight. I picked up a 4" dual wall tip to finish it off. It was getting too dark to take pics, so I will take some in the day light on the weekend.

lsxponcho

I finally took some pics of the exhaust in day light. Its sort of hard to take pictures of this, lol.

lsxponcho

Shortly after taking exhaust pictures, I had the truck running again, and I noticed it was making a light squealing noise, I didn't really think too much of it, until it starting getting worse. I popped the belt off thinking it must have been from the accessory drive somewhere...things just got worse from there. I'm not sure if the thing spun a bearing or what, but the motor is back out, and the 4.8 that I bought for the harness is in. What a bummer. I spent a little time to doll it up before it went in anyways. No sweet Chevy orange this time though.






The orange 4.8 is back on the stand for tear down to find out what happened. If worse comes to worse, I will just keep the good parts as spare inventory for down the road. I may have the heads cut for 2" valves, and pick up some new springs, and valve seals, etc, and look for a better cam

lsxponcho

Here is a little bit of catch up; the swap over to the spare 4.8 is done and running. I had a couple things left on the list to finish it off; like the correct dipstick and tube for the 4l80. I also had to clearance the bell inspection cover for the trans. I picked up a new rad for the truck too, as I found mine had a crack in the one tank.

An interesting fact, the 4l60 dipstick next to the 4l80 dipstick is fairly similar. The low hole mark on the 4l60 stick is the full high hole mark on the 4l80 stick. That saved me 76 bucks at gm. The tube was 55 bucks. I want to pick up different plug wires to gain me some clearance to the headers, or pick up heat shield boots.

I got everything buttoned up, and fired it up with the vans pcm again. It seemed to idle ok at first, then rough other times. I threw codes for low maf reading, rear 02 sensors (which it didn't have), and system lean codes, which threw it into reduced engine power mode as soon as I tried to drive down my street. The vans maf was physically a different inside diameter, so that one made sense. I also found once it was up to temp, the e-fans were also not functional. I ended up sending my spare Silverado pcm to a tuner, and had it segmented, and tuned. I just received it back today from the courier, and popped it in tonight. All I can say is how happy I am now. It runs awesome! The 4l80 makes for a very different driving experience compared to the 4l60 trucks ive driven. Its a little doggish out of the hole (3.23 gear, with 245/75/17 tire and taller 1rst gear). But once its rolling it works pretty well considering is basically stock. I didn't beat on it too hard yet. I just wanted to get a feel for any quirks, noises, or vibrations. I drove 25k to the carwash to knock of the last couple months of dust from the swap. I took the truck out of commission in the beginning of December, so it wasn't too long of a swap after all. I will post of some new pics and video in the coming days.

lsxponcho

We got some snow the last couple days which have really hindered my play time with the truck. Just before that happened I took a quick video of a highway pull behind the house. So far so good, besides 1rst gear being a bit of a piglet from a dig. The 3.23's are killing it. I'd like to find a 3.73 10 bolt, or maybe a sf 14 bolt to swap out next. I apologize for the terrible video skillz.


Also got another maiden voyage out of the way. We finished the boys go kart a little while back, but didn't have a gas pedal in it until just this past weekend.

lsxponcho

I made some video to update on the swap completion. Bear with me as I try to get better at the video thing. A couple things always surprise me when doing video. First, I sound exceedingly Canadian. Secondly, I repeat myself more than I realize. Enjoy, haha.

About20ninj45

Truck looks and sounds good. Great job!