Hello everyone been on a long time but never posted so I thought i would bring my build thread here.

Well this is the first time i have done an LS swap into anything but i have always wanted to have a v8 s10 more then anything else and now i am getting to do it.

I have a 2000 corvette right now so i have something to reference and have done some work on that and other corvettes as well.

I got this 1996 s10 2 hours away for 400 bucks. came with clean title and used to have a SBC in it so it came with 4" cowl hood, swap motor mounts and headers, also radiator that was used on it.

This is how it was when i picked it up...





here are the mounts that came with the truck(yes i have a lot of cleaning and painting to do!!)

 

Picked up a LS1 straight from the machine shop (had 58k miles before going there) with mostly everything for $1,500 bucks and got the long block together this weekend but i forgot the stupid head bolts to get the heads on and measure the push rods.

run down of parts for the engine i have bought:
2002 LS1 that came with LS6 intake.
2002-2004 Z06 cam with springs with 6k miles on them
Corvette alternator/PS bracket
GM power steering with pulley and resevoir
Power bond corvette harmonic balancer
LS7 lifters
Trunion upgrade kit for the stock rocker arms
LS2 timing chain
ARP rod bolts and timing gear bolts
oil pan kits from CPW
shorty headers from CPW
LSX polo swap mounts from CPW
updated rear cover with new rear seal, gasket, and bolts
i think thats it well atleast what i can remember

This is how the engine came when i bought it. still in the bag from the machine shop same with the crank

 

I also picked up some SRT 4 seats with just a little bit of wear for i think $180 bucks just have to make brackets or something to get them installed.







And this past weekend i got a 2003 GMC Sonoma front end with core support, lights with connectors and pig tails, grill, bumper cover, and bumper all for $170 bucks

 

I also picked up a 4L80E tranny with shift kit and keep Hughes pan for $450 bucks. Went to the junk yard and got a 8.8 rear end with disk brakes out of an explorer with 3.73 gears, posi, 31 spline axles, sway bar, traction bars, and the explorer next to it had brand new rotors brakes and calipers so i swap those over before i left with it and got it for $178 bucks total.

Plans for the truck is i bought my first house a year ago and im starting to do things to the yard and to the actual house so i really need a truck and when i was looking for one i couldn't find a decent s10/sonoma for less then 4-5k bucks so went this route. I am going to use it as a truck and upgrade it while im at it. want to try to put corvette wheels on it and eventually put the 6765 ball bearing billet turbo that i have on it and also in 3-4 years back half the truck as my dad has always wanted to teach me how to do that.


just picked up a 2000 corvette alternator for 125 bucks shipped. The person i bought it from it from said it has less then 10k miles on it and he upgraded his alternator due to supercharging his car and putting a system in it.

 

Okay my dad and myself got a little more stuff done on the truck. going to order pushrods today and hopefully put the engine and tranny in the truck saturday.


LS9 head gaskets on



Heads installed





front of motor with corvette bracket, ps and water pump on. crank pulley just sitting there until i receive the install tool in the mail



stock rockers arms with trunion upgrade installed to measure push rod length





and started tearing the front end apart in 30 degree weather this morning to start cleaning and painting to get the engine in

before





some of the bolts gave me hell so is taking longer.

 

Got some more work done on getting the front end apart. tonight i will be getting the alternator on and the harmonic balancer on then i will be able to put the belt on.

tomorrow morning i will be removing the fenders and starting on cleaning the frame to paint it.

 

got more of the truck taken apart last night in 27 degree weather and started cleaning the frame some.





by friday i will be getting all the header bolts, header gaskets, arp torque converter bolts, pushrods, and some other things i cant think of in the mail so i will get all that on and ready to put the engine and tranny in saturday.

I am trying to get friday off so i can finish cleaning the engine bay and paint the frame gloss black and get it ready for the motor!!

CANT WAIT!!! hate being so impatient

 

Here are some pics of the pushrods i got. will be getting a lot more pics this weekend as i took tomorrow off so i can get the engine bay ready and painted and also saturday we are putting the engine in the truck.

 

Took yesterday off to get the truck and engine ready to go in. Not able to put it in today because i didn't know the stock flex plate wont work for my 4L80E. but here are the pics



decided to prime and paint the sanderson headers instead of leaving them bare metal

before














Here is the frame after cleaning










Here is the pics of the frame painted















Got the front of the motor together








Here are some pics of the headers bolted to the engine and spark plugs in





And here is one side with the coils and wires on and a pic of the intake manifold sitting on the engine

 

So sunday while it was nasty as hell out i decided to go to the junk yard and get some radiator fans from an intrepid.




now i gotta figure out if i want to trust a radiator from the junk yard or just buy a new 4.3 radiator