So I had a hiatus on this as the world wanted to fall apart and I had a pile of other projects. Well I still have lots of projects but I want this engine as a go. A few days ago I went to my local GM dealer and ordered the L8Ts crankshaft. I might have to order a couple as at $500 Canadian monopoly money it's pretty cheap for a forged crank. Goals and expectations? High rpm, high compression NA power that I might actually spray if it ends up boring me at some point.

In my original thread I had pictures of an L8Ts piston and rod showing GM simply raised the pin height on the pistons for the stroke change. I have no desire to use factory rods and pistons for this build so none of that really matters. I deal with JFR as much as I can and I will be sourcing pistons through Jarrett.

L8T rod laid over an LS rod.

An LQ4 piston and the L8T piston showing the pin height change.

More rod on rod action as some of you fruitcakes enjoy that sort of thing lol.

And then finally well let's see the pile of trash I bought as a donor. The damage to this L86 was pretty bad but none of the main bearings had spun so that's a plus. A piston actually hit the head because the bearing was more or less gone lol.



And lastly what the heck am I putting it in? I mulled it over for the last couple years but came to the same conclusion every single time.... behold....

Yep.... a 1972 GMC half ton lol. See that classy headache rack, rails and the 6 foot CB antenna? None of that is going anywhere. Beyond 10" wide ralleys on the back outside it isn't changing. The truck is a coil spring one and I plan to do some suspension stuff but nothing crazy. It has factory A/C, tilt and whatnot so I plan on making it drivable. Already has 3.73 gears to which j am just adding a powertrax locker I bought a while ago. Transmission will be a 6L80 or 6L90 depending what I find for a 2wd trans.

Anyway this thread will stick around as I slowly build the engine. Getting parts in a covid world has been
... interesting to say the least.

 

That will be a cool ride.

 

Should be fun. Currently has what was a TBI 350 and a 700r4 in it. The 350 is a hodge podge but after having the valve covers and oilpan off I don't doubt the previous owners claims it was a new engine not long before it sat for 10 plus years with no carb or distributor. I got it freed up as it was seized and it runs. I need to add a cooling system and whatnot to really see how well. I say hodge podge as it has 305 TBI heads on it... so real fun there lol. I at least want it drivable so if nothing else I can move it around the yard under it's own power.

 

I'd like to go the other way, I'd like to destroke a big bore motor and rev it out til Honda's are jealous

Then dump the clutch

Interested to see where you are able to go with this plan too!

 

Talked about pistons and the price is nothing crazy. I might actually just use the factory rods as honestly strength won't really be an issue anyway. I need to get the junker torn apart and do some measurements to figure out the dome I need for the compression ratio I want. Then off to the machine shop this block can go. It's so full of metal from the oil pump exploding it's a disaster inside. The ******* I bought it from totally lied about the damage it had but what do you expect from scabs on the internet lol.

 

Been there several times myself. I'm sorry to hear that. Get her flushed out and cleaned up and let it rip!

 

Voila. Pretty, shiny and new. Not bad for 500 dollars in my monopoly money lol.

 

Any progress on this or updates elsewhere? Very interested in swapping L8T in older platforms!

 

Naw... I drug that crank out and had it cleaned as it flash rusted pretty bad sitting in my seacan after moving. Superficial though,and is still as new. I have been trying to sell it as I have zero interest in any DI stuff and to use it in an LS...well I may as well buy an actual stroker kit as you aren't using this crank on the cheap. If it costs more than enginetech pistons on stock rods I am not interested.