Does that setup allow for as much suspension travel? It seems pretty rigid unless movement is straight forward or backwards. I'm thinking about a speed bump or dip in the road that gets my *** end way high then way low.

 

yep, another casuallty of the good ole critical speed. is yours AL or Steel? What length. I'm not going above 100 again until I can get a 2 piece installed, don't feel like taking out my tranny again.

 

yes they're great for long travel suspension. Lots or most of the offroad guys run drive shafts like slip yoke, with even longer splines, for long travel suspensions.

 

Few more pics:



Had to ziptie the charcoal filter in place because the gas tank bracket was bent and even with a sledge I couldn't get it to bend back.


Fuel pump took a hit, notice the dent left of my finger.

 

**** that fuel pump took a hit. SUPER GLAD there was no fire or injuries. Maybe time for a safety loop?

Bill

 

It beat the dogshit outta the underside of that truck didn't it

 

Chris, pm me the info you have for the local guy you mentioned. I am worried about mine crapping out with my new setup once I get it together.

 

BigKid, PM sent

I made some progress today. I got the inline fuel pump swapped out. Ovaled the holes on the 5.3 flexplate so the converter would line up.


Got the dipstick in. Trans mounted and wired up. I have a few questions though, My 80E came with this wiring module.


It of course did not match my 60E wiring harness. I swapped it our for the 60E module.

Is that correct or was I supposed to get some type of adapter for that? I have the adapter for the round plug and it is good to go. I also have the wiring and plug for the secondary speed sensor. I'm still waiting on the PCM pins to come in so I can work on that. Does it matter which speed sensor is connected to which harness? The stock harness reaches the sensor closest to the tailshaft fine but it would take some work to get it to the front sensor.

This is my $40 conversion of my stock crossmember to the 80E crossmember that I needed. Perfect fit and solid as a rock. Could use a coat of paint but I'm on a time schedule.




Still have to hook up the second tranny line and re-hose the aux cooler. Then TQ the converter bolts, get a tune figured out, re-work the drivers side exhaust, and get the drive shaft sorted out. That leads me to the next post....

 

I got the measurements for the driveshaft. 54 3/4"
Aluminum will run about $600. This includes all the 1350 Spicer yokes etc. Ready to install. A steel one would run me about $400.
Aluminum weight was guestimated at 18 pounds (.120 wall thickness and 3.5" OD), Steel shaft at 40lbs (.083 wall thickness and 3.0" OD)*. So is the 20lb or so weight savings on the shaft worth the $200 extra? The builder said either one will take what I am pushing so it's up to me.

* I'm posting weight and thickness from memory. It may be a little off*

 

I woudl go aluminum, much lighter, hence much less weight to spool up when accelerating, you can do some critical speed calcs too, but I'm fairly sure the extra weight savings on the AL one will outweight the material strength of steel when it comes to the critical speed (AL having a higher critical speed = good).