Fabsmith828

Hello everyone! Ive been a member of this site for a while now. I've used its resources and information for some time but never got around to posting my own build. Since this is my first post here, ill give a little background on myself.. (SKIP TO POST 2 IF YOU WANT TO GET TO THE TRUCK) I'm 30 years old, I currently do maintenance/welding/fabrication for a Business that makes 60% of the IV bags for this country. I also lack just a couple classes from having an automotive systems degree. In my free time I do metal work as a blacksmith and a welder. No i'm not a knife maker and don't care much for making them. I mainly make tools and equipment for those that do make blades, Such as power hammers, grinders, forges and other odds and ends. Besides all the metal work, I've always got a tool in my hand and with a project in mind. I've had around 34 vehicles since i was 16, im always trading and flipping something. I'm a GM fan mainly and love anything LS powered. I've owned several Camaros and other sports cars. I really like the rear wheel drive imports as well, mostly for the fact that they look great and become awesome when you shoehorn an ls engine into them lol. The truck i own now is only my 3rd truck. i was needing one for a while for the utility aspect but decided i wanted something i could make sporty as well. The thing that drew me to a silverado was actually seeing the Street Outlaws Red turbo shop truck in the earlier episodes. Seeing that truck is what made me want a rcsb silverado with power. A few weeks later a friend from school popped up and offered to sell me his. I picked his truck up for a really good price and i've loved it ever since. I enjoy it every time i drive it and i'm constantly looking for ways to make it better. It still has a long way to go but the progress is happening. That is why I am here! I picked the forum that I frequent the most and decided that's where i should document my work.

Fabsmith828

Now for the truck. I have a few pics of it from the day i brought it home to where it currently sits. Ill go through my list of image hosting sites and get them up. The truck is a 2002 chevy silverado short bed 2 door. It came with a 4.8 and a 4l60 Auto. right now its got about 170k miles. The truck is in really good shape and about a week after i picked it up we threw it up on the alignment rack to further inspect its major components. Everything looked great and it still had the plastic clips in the alignment cams and the disk brakes still had the metal clips on the wheel studs. in a used vehicle thats a good sign because it means they haven't been off or replaced before. So my assumption is its prob mostly highway miles for someone to have been this easy on them. The only real issues the truck has is...

1. The e brake doesn't work.
2. it has the typical rocker panel rust that ill have to repair later.
3. Driver side mirror is broken
4. typical broken interior vents, easy fix

Before buying this truck i had obtained a 2003 6.0 from a gmc denali. I picked it up for 400 dollars from a friend who lost interest in a project. At the time i was driving a 97 240 sx that i planned on dropping that engine into. long story short, I sold the car and stuck the engine on a shelf for a rainy day. Now ive got the perfect situation to swap the 6.0 into the truck. So i throw it in!. I picked up a computer off craigslist and had a friend delete the VATs system and the emissions junk as well as raise the trans line pressure 5% so it will put up with the 6.0 a little better. All went well with the swap and it fired right up. I couldn't even believe how easy it was and how little i had to change. For about a week everything ran and worked well until I started hearing a tick. Somehow a lifter had collapsed and rather than pull it apart and put a set in it i decided to put the 4.8 back in so i could build the 6.0 a little better over the winter. The truck is stock now and in the meantime i took a few steps to make it look a little less like an old mans fishing ride lol

Pics next

Fabsmith828

Heres the truck the day i brought it home. its hard to tell from the pics but the *** end of the truck sat very high and the nose was really low. the rake was terrible. I ended up removing the rear shackles and i cut them in 2 and welded in about 3.5 inches of steel which effectivly lowered the back to a point where it looked much more normal and closer to level.






From here, i removed the side molding and badges. I tinted the windows 15% in the back and 25% on the side. I also hit a deer which shattered the guts of the grill. Now it only has a shell there. It doesnt look too bad but itll do for now until i can replace it with something better looking. Getting my engine sorted is top priority for now.

Fabsmith828

Heres the ride home from collecting my 6.0 from a buddys house where it was stored.





Now that i had it home it was time to clean it up and get that sucker in. I was even able to get a shot of the 2 engines together which was pretty cool. its nice having a couple ls engines hanging out ready to go in something lol

fresh off the shelf.
dirty but not awful, the 6.0 only has about 70k on it.
And viola! all cleaned up!
2 engines and a truck.

Fabsmith828

And after the 6.0 came back out i had to really clean the 4.8 up it was terrible. the intake ports had 1/4 inch + of sludge caked around the them. idk how it ran at all let alone so well. Ive got more pics of all that mess on my camera. ill get those together too. but for now ill post the ones i have on hand.

this is all the solid sludge i pulled together from just the driver side head. thats 4 ports! lol.
Heres my little cleaning station i turned my engine into lol. Id clean one side then blow it out real well and plug them so i didn't get any chunks from the other side in the clean ports.
You can see the front port on the right is clean, the rears werent messed with yet.
And heres the 4.8 all cleaned up ready to go back home.. annoyingly.. Now that the 4.8 is in and the 6.0 is back out, Ive been buying odds and ends for the 6.0 to get it ready to go back in.

This is how the truck looks now. Not much different, just a new set of tail lights and a cab light.


Heres the truck in front of the new house sporting its fresh tails. I always liked these better than the older versions. Now thankfully i have 3 bays of garage room for projects and getting this thing where i want it.

Chewwyy

Looking good so far. Jealous of the new Garage space you have!

dantheman1540

Nice truck!

Do you have a build goal or power goal in mind?