After all that at the beginning of October we had a rolling chassis ready to go to body. I found a rust free bed that was a little beat up but we needed it for the floor. Dads bed was in pretty bad shape where the rear cross supports were welded to the floor. Starting with something cleaner just made sense.

 

The 4l80E went out to another good friend of mine and he rebuilt it with a Jake's Performance "stg5" Kit plus a little extra. I plan to stuff a Circle D converter in the front of this thing. I need to get with them and spec the correct one now that I have the engine details ironed out.

The gauges and switches went off to TheOriginalMikeD and got new lighting and an updated OEM+ look. He did a denali cluster for me as well.

 

I sent the heads off to Texas Speed/PRC for their "stg 2.5" port work. They sent them back without the BTR .660 valve springs I sent for installation. TSP made up for it though by sending me by valves springs and the install tool and I put them on myself. They offered to ship them back for install but I told them I didn't mind doing it. I also installed the trunion kit.

The wiring harness was cleaned and mostly re-loomed. I haven't finished the engine harness as I have to move some plug locations around and need the engine in the truck to know where it will be moving to. I removed all the stuff we will not be needing from the harness. I deleted the DRL out of the front lamp harness and we're adding in factory fog lights with a kit from RZ lighting. I also did the High-4 mod and dual parking light mod while everything was out of the truck. Every Harness on the outside of the firewall was went thru. Any connectors with broken clips were replaced. Just little stuff that makes a big difference in the end.

 

So now would probably be a good time to set the actual whole goal for this truck.

Dad wanted something nice. He also wanted something fun. What's more fun than a boosted LQ4 in a 6100lb crew cab truck? Just unsuspecting, right?

The engine is off getting a Summit Pro LS rotating assembly at the moment. Once it gets back I have a BTR Stg2 turbo cam, Cadillac Racing Lifters, an ATI Balancer, an SFI flex plate, new GM LS2 timing set, and a plethora of ARP hardware. Along with all new seals and gaskets.

The whole thing comes together with a Trick Turbo T6 manifold that will have an FI GTR S400 resting on top. We're going to make our on 4" Downpipe and wastegate piping. The downpipe will feed a Duramax 4" stainless exhaust that I plan to fit with v-band flanges for easy removal/adjustments. We are also going to do our own intercooler piping that will feed a Nick Williams 92mm TB bolted to a TBSS intake.

I plan to run E85 and have a Dual 535/525LPH in-tank pump kit. All new braided AN fuel lines will pass thru a Fuel Labs regulator on their way to a set of FIC 210lb Injectors.

Here's a photo dump of all the parts laying around right now. Including body parts waiting to go on. The NX bottle is for my LB7

 

Helluva first post. Solid project.

 

I probably could have purchased a complete turbo kit and had a cookie cutter 99-02 truck with a turbo but I like to be a little different.

I'd read about a few people doing this, but I'd never seen weather it actually worked or if they projects ever got finished. I talked about it with some LS friends of mine and eventually talked myself into just going for it. I set a used stock Duramax intercooler I had in the core support and it almost fit. I noticed the studs at the bottom didn't have a place to sit down inside the lower bar. I also noted that the inserts in the upper bar were in the wrong spot.

So I took an educated guess that a core support from an 01-05 diesel would drop right into a gas truck. It did. The only differences are the location of the nut inserts in the upper bar where the cooling stacks attach, and the holes in the bottom where the intercooler or radiator slip into. Every other dimension is the same.

My 34" gas radiator is 2" shorter than the diesel but they're the same width. The diesel radiator mounts to the intercooler, the intercooler mounts the whole deal to the upper support.

I picked up a CSF intercooler, an OEM LB7/LLY radiator and test fit it all in the truck. I just stepped back and looked at it and it just looks so wrong yet so right at the same time. Im going to use a set of Flex-a-lite fans for an LB7/LLY and control them with the add on E-Fan harness that I already had. We gained cooling area with the larger radiator as well. The condenser fits in it's OEM Spot and the lines look like they'll work. I might have to tweak the upper one just a little.

The trans cooler is an XDP unit for an Allison with -10orb ports so I can adapt it down to -8an for the 4L80E.

A Derale 10000 series single row cooler will be mounted under the core support in direct air path for an engine oil cooler, since the diesel rad doesn't have one. The photo shows hard spacers. I ordered a set of rubber stud ECM mounts that will isolate the cooler from any vibrations and secure it in the same spot.The OEM power steering cooler fits and the lines clear the IC perfectly.

Thankfully LB7 trucks use a version of the same PCM so they mount in the same place. All the fender supports and the ECM mount will work perfectly with plenty of room for charge tubes to work around them.

The core support was mocked up then removed and sent to blast and powder. It will be final installed after body work is done.

Currently the truck is waiting to go to body for rust repair. Once it is back the underside of the cab and bed will get a coat of lizard skin for sound deadening and protection. The bed will be Line-X coated and then final assembly will begin.

If you've made it this far thank you for reading.

 

Wow! INSANE project. I love it!

Subscribed for the content.

 

Nice work!

 

@DirtRoadScholar,

Whoowee, this is a stellar build you’re putting together. We haven’t ever seen a GMT800 frame-off resto, but we’re digging it! Thanks for choosing us to be part of it with the Pro LS rotating assembly. It’s been enjoyable to catch up on the awesome progress updates, and we’ll be sure to follow along.

Doing it for your Dad makes it even better. This GMT800 is going to be a real riot once everything comes together

 

Excellent work. This truck will be so nice when completed. I'd love to tear mine down to the frame and restore/improve it but that is a huge undertaking.

Cool info about the duramax core support swap.

Following for sure.