Hey guys, so my wife finally gave me the ok to start on a truck project. I am picking up a 1990 roller in the next couple days so hopefully I can get started within the next couple months. I want the truck to have quite a bit of horsepower maybe in the 500-600 horsepower range but I want it to be drivable on the street more than the 1/4mile track. I would however like to take it to a road track every once in a while, there are a couple of clubs that have some road courses where I am located. I was wondering if anybody had a good list of mods I could look at? Brakes, suspension, engine, transmission etc. As far as the engine goes I am torn between building it with a ls1 or a 5.3 and I do plan on putting a turbo on later. But if anybody could help me out I would appreciate it. I plan on spending a couple years building this truck but I want it to be built right and with some good mods on the truck. Thanks for the help guys.

 

5.3, z06 cam with good springs and a trick stage 4 turbo kit. should get your power goals and be drivable. find a 4l80 as a 4l60 wont last behind it.

 

I am in the middle of building something pretty similar.

On my build for the suspension I am using an AGR 12:1 steering box, Hotchkis sway bars front and rear, 2' Hotchkis springs up front, 2' dropped spindles, 6" flip kit on rear with bilstien shocks all the way around, Cal tracs, and full PST polly graphite bushing set for the entire truck. All the other wear parts on the front end are being replaced with Moog stuff.

The engine is a LS1 that Im using cause I already had it in the shop and I decided to save my 370 for a Fox body build. Im going to throw in a mild cam probably a tripple 12 with springs and push rods.

Im using a built 4L80E I have from my old VHO with a 9.5 14 bolt I got out of a 454SS.

My truck is going to Trick within the next couple of weeks and is going to be his mockup vehicle for his new line of turbo kits for 88-98 trucks with LS swaps. So that should be available to you as a kit before too long. Im going to be running a T4 Borg Warner S400 80/87 w/ race cover, 44mm Tial waste gate (already have), and a Tial 50mm blow off. I think the kits from Trick are going to come with either 39mm or 46mm precision gates depending on the options you choose.

As far as brakes go im using rebuilt stock stuff for now with a hydro boost conversion but I have been talking to Kore3 about a Corvette brake kit. They said they have sets of stock spindles and that they are planning on making a kit for the 88-98 trucks but that it is on the back burner right now. Hopefully they will get to it within the next six months. As far as the rear brakes go you could cut off the ends of your rear housing and get 9" ends welded on and swap out the axles for the correct bolt pattern so you can use one of their kits for the rear.

Hope that helps some and if you have any questions I will help ya where i can.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys, the information you both have given me has helped me out a lot. I will be doing a some more research but you guys have pointed me in a good direction so I thank you again. I am sure I will have a ton of questions during the build so I am sure I will be back now and again for help thanks.

 

So I finally found a rcsb to start my project. Like I said in an earlier post this project is going to take me a couple of years to complete but I wanted to kind of list everything I was going to do and see if I could some peoples opinion on the build. My first intention was to do a 5.3 turbo but things have changed. So here is my plan, what do y'all think?

PERFORMANCE
I have had a lq4 block and brand new ls3 heads that have been in my garage for about a year and a half now so I will be using those for the engine. I do need some help on pistons, cam, headers, and intake. I have been doing a lot of searching but this is my very first project so any help would be awesome. I also have a turbo 400 that is built to handle up to 1000hp so I will use this as well. I know the 4l80E is the tranny that everyone uses but if the turbo 400 will work I will just use it since I already have it. I only have the block for the lq4 so can anyone tell me what harness and computers I will have to get to swap the engine into a 96 chevy?

I will post pictures of the truck now and also some pictures of two trucks that show the stance that I am looking for. Thanks for the help. Sorry I haven't figured out how to post pics yet.

 

As far as internals on the motor it depends on what you are looking for. Are you wanting to build a N/A motor, a nitrous motor, or a Forced induction motor?.

The turbo 400 will work fine if you already have it. You just wont have the over drive the 80 provides.

If you are interested in going turbo I just dropped my truck off at Trick Performance on Saturday and Rick is going to be coming out with a bolt on turbo kit for the OBS trucks with LS conversions. He is going to be offering one with and one without A/C.

If you go N/A, Nitrous, or blower then Schoenfeld makes long tube swap headers for these trucks. As far as the computer and wiring I would get a stand alone wiring setup from Nelson performance or any of the other quality places that make standalone harnesses for LS swaps.

 

{As far as internals on the motor it depends on what you are looking for. Are you wanting to build a N/A motor, a nitrous motor, or a Forced induction motor?.

The turbo 400 will work fine if you already have it. You just wont have the over drive the 80 provides.

If you are interested in going turbo I just dropped my truck off at Trick Performance on Saturday and Rick is going to be coming out with a bolt on turbo kit for the OBS trucks with LS conversions. He is going to be offering one with and one without A/C.

If you go N/A, Nitrous, or blower then Schoenfeld makes long tube swap headers for these trucks. As far as the computer and wiring I would get a stand alone wiring setup from Nelson performance or any of the other quality places that make standalone harnesses for LS swaps.}




Which setup would give me more power for the money? This is my first project and budget is really not a concern right now. I would love to have a turbo though I just don't know much about them. If I go N/A would I get as much power as the turbo would give me? If I go turbo I would probably get the trick performance stage 3. As far as the turbo 400 goes I will put an overdrive in it and up the stall from 3000 to at least 3600.

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I know a guy in your area that did my swap for me. My 95' Z71 has a mild heads/cam LQ9 and it makes a touch over 400rwhp. I went with a late model built 4l60e since I'm not real hard on stuff.

 

Was it at a shop or someone you knew?

 

nastyc6performance