Steve-O-08

iTrader: (5)

I have my driver's bracket sitting in the truck now. I'm probably going to have to drill another set of holes for my side mount brackets. Hopefully I'll get the seats in it this week.

Tydriver

iTrader: (2)

No actually, I had an awesome run going on that run; but I totally blew the last gate by overrunning the gate before it.. This left me out of position for the finish line and as a result........ well it turned my best run into my worst :-(



+1 for a bolt on upgrade ! I have been playing around with the settings in EFILive, trying to lessen the effects of the fans turning on, but with little luck. With only one fan turning on at low speed it was enough to stress out my charging system, and almost kill the truck at idle.. As luck would have it, GM made 2 different options for alternators for the GMT800 trucks, a small frame and a large frame alternator (I wont get into specific model#s here)..

Of those two options, I had the weakest of the small frame option. My truck only had a 105 amp alternator from the factory, and that was in 2003.. They also made a 145amp version for my year, but my truck was NOT equipped with it. They also made a larger frame alternator that is generally rated higher in amperages and an overall better alternator. I was going to get one of the larger framed alternators and upgrade the stator and internals to make it a higher amp unit, but I ended up stumbling on a HIGH AMP version on Amazon for just a little bit more than the parts themselves were going to run me and there was no core !

Best of all, it was literally a plug and play setup. Unbolt old weaker unit, bolt in godzilla alternator and never look back. I also upgraded the charging wire from the small stocker to a 2 ga unit. Fortunately the unit I installed had an overdrive pulley installed that made up for the diameter difference, it left me just inside the 'acceptable' range on the tensioner, win win win !!

I found a test sticker on the unit saying it put out 100amp @ idle and 253amps @ full load. My volt gauge on the dash never drops below 14v and I can no longer tell when the fans cycle on/off. For $140/shipped from Amazon, I'd say it was a good mod.

1992rs

Cool build. Do you run any special alignment or just a stock one?

firebladeJJ

iTrader: (1)

Nice build!! I'm going the same direction with my truck, but I'm 2wd. Thanks for posting all the suspension information. It comes in handy.

Tydriver

iTrader: (2)

The truck was aligned to factory specs when it was at stock ride height in the front.. Now that the truck has been lowered quite a bit it hasn't been adjusted. I can say if you stand in front of the truck and look at it, you can see the tops of the tires are tilted in a bit. I have to admit, I haven't had a realighnment accomplished, but I haven't had any abnormal tire wear and it drives straight as an arrow. I imagine the additional camber is helpful for autocrossing but I cannot confirm what actual current measurements are. Sorry I can not offer more insight.


That's cool man, I wish you the best of luck.. I am no where near where I want to be in terms of project status. I have a lot to do on this truck (including driver training), and eventually I want to get to a 4L80e and a Turbo setup with AWD. I'm glad someone else finds this information useful and hopefully it inspires more people to autocross these heavy pigs.

firebladeJJ

iTrader: (1)

I feel ya, my truck is my daily driver. I did the t56 swap back in September, with complications it took about a week to finish.

My plan is to get a 4wd truck and do the ZF6 Swap and make it an autocrosser too.

Tydriver

iTrader: (2)

The ZF6 swap would definitely be an interesting, I assume you're talking about a ford diesel trans right ? How would that align with the engine and transfer case? I mean is this a bolt in dealio or does someone make conversion parts or ?

I'm to the point where I suspect I'll end up with an 80e and the GM input drum for my NP246 since they are cheap. I already have the transmission, the transmission crossmember from a forum member here, and I've already built an 80e in the past so it just makes the most sense right now.

I'm to the point where, unless the combo has been done before I don't really want to be the guinea pig anymore. The 4 link was a different story, when I got the truck back, it was pretty well sorted. I imagine that's because JSM has designed and built other kits for other applications in the past.

I've decided its better to have seat time than R&D time.. LOL

firebladeJJ

iTrader: (1)

Oh yeah its been done before and using mostly stock parts. I think it was lordaries that did it on his avalanche.

Tydriver

iTrader: (2)

That is good to know.. I used to have a 4WD Avy, man I miss that truck. It did everything right, but no way can I imagine rowing gears in a 4 door 6000# truck.. LOL



Regarding the front swaybar, ran out of luck on that today.. I finally got fed-up waiting on Ron Sutton Race Technologies to deliver on what they promised 3 weeks ago.. I felt I've been in communication and very patient. However in the end, it appears that their interest is in educating people on suspensions vs. providing parts even though I pre-paid $750 towards the custom setup. It all ended well, they were most polite but it just seems too busy to fulfill the order.

Egads I about make myself sick when I think about spending that much $$ for a front swaybar, if it worked however it would be worth it. Back to the drawing board I suppose.. I already have a few leads from another place and the prices appear to be a little more reasonable, time to do more research and rely less on others I suppose.. More updates to follow !

Tydriver

iTrader: (2)

I'm over the loss of time and energy I spent on the front swaybar dead ends I've encountered. I am looking at other avenues, when I posted last night about the deal falling through with RSRT I was upset and annoyed but I am past that now. Moving forward I do have a few leads and I was encouraged by some early searching and I think I can get this done.

The guys at JSM were a help again, when I contacted them inquiring about any leads for a splined bar they gave me a few leads I didn't know about previously and ones that my searching didn't find. I was hoping for a more calculated way of acquiring parts than just shooting in the dark and praying I got close, thats why I had deferred to the experts initially. No worries, I just need to dig in a little harder and ask some more questions.

Anyhow, between the links I already collected and the ones JSM helped with, I am going to list them up here for someone that may be interested and for posterity.

Coleman Racing, I haven't actually called these guys so I don't yet know what to expect, but its another lead and hopefully will prove fruitful:
http://www.colemanracing.com/Sway-Ba...ine-P3795.aspx

This is the golden nugget I had been searching for; a sway bar rate calculator:
http://www.gtsparkplugs.com/Sway-Bar-Calculator.html

The Speedway Engineering website has a lot of good information:
http://1speedway.com/index.php?route...&product_id=90

Detroit Speed Swaybar Setup via Summit Racing (not the best option IMO):
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/dsr-031404

Schroeder Torsion Bars (they go all the way upto Monster Trucks!):
http://schroedersteering.com/

Speedway Motors (Not Speedway Engineering) REAR SWAYBAR Universal Kit (may need this for the rear?? IDK yet):
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Univer...-Kit,4053.html

Ruff Stuff Specialties (lotsa custom goodies here):
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/SWAY.html


Anyhow I am sure there is more, but this is what I have at the moment. More to follow..