I have taken a couple years off from screwing with anything fast. After I put the VHO back to stock and sold it to my brother I had a 2010 Camaro SS with just real minor bolt ons. I got rid of it a year ago and have been jonesing for something quick again.

I bought an 89 Fox coupe and was planning on swapping in my motor and tranny from the VHO but I miss having a fast truck. So I decided to get off my *** and get to work on my 90 GMC RCSB. I bought the truck off my father in-law 10 years ago and he was the original owner. Between the two of us we racked up 246k miles before the tranny threw in the towel a few years ago. It has honestly been the best truck I ever owned. My original plans were to swap a 5.3 and 4L60 in it and build it for my sons first truck but I changed my mind and got him a single cab Colorado that gets great mpg.

I headed out to the shop Sunday and yanked the front clip, motor, and transmission. It took about 6 hours to get all that done. Next on the list is to get the frame cleaned up and degreased then blow the front suspension apart. Paint the frame and install new poly motor mounts.

I already have 2" DJM spindles, 2" Hotchkis springs, bilstien shocks, full pst poly graphite bushing kit, DJM 6" flip kit, and Hotchkis sway bars ready to go in. I will also be doing new ball joints and tie rod ends. Gotta figure out what im going to do as far as brakes.

I'm trying to decide how crazy I want to get with this thing. The truck is just going to be a street/strip weekend toy. I definetly want to keep it driveable so I can enjoy it. I have a couple of options to go with. I will be using my built 4L80 out of the VHO with a new converter either way.

I have a couple of motor choices and two different directions to go depending on what motor I go with. I have both motors sitting in the shop. The first option is a 32k mile Ls1 out of a 2000 f body. If I go with this one I'm planning on a healthy cam, long tubes, and the Nitrous outlet plate kit I never installed on the other truck. This one would be easier to do and cheaper since I could stick with the stock tank and an in tank 255 for fuel. If I go this route I would like to dip into the 10's with it.

My other option is the 9.5 cr 370 with compstar rods, weisco pistons, and 225 AFR heads i had built at LME. If I go with this motor I'm looking at doing a big single or twin turbo set up. Obviously the fuel system will have to be a bit more elaborate and I will probably end up doing a fuel cell. And I can see other things snowballing from there like the rear end and rear suspension. I may do a 14 bolt and cal tracs or go with a 9 inch and either ladder bars or a 4 link I don't know yet. If I go with the 370 I would like to try and squeeze a 9.99 out of it.

For now I'm going to concentrate on getting the suspension done and cleaning up the frame. This project isn't going to get completed over night and I will work on it as time and money are available. I will throw up some pics in the next couple of days. Let me know what direction you guys think on the motor and what not.

 

Welcome back! Post pics or ban. Lol

 

Can't wait to see how this goes, especially since it's close to me! Good luck with the build!

 

Here is what I started with and where it ended up a few hours later. Its a fairly stock 5.7 TBI truck with a 700R4.

 

I don’t think you can go wrong with either plan, but I will say that there is something to be said for a pretty quick, fun to drive vehicle, that is dead nuts reliable on the street. When I say pretty quick, I mean one that will still put most in their place, yet one that doesn’t take constant maintenance. My boss and his son went overboard with their ’68 Nova and lost interest in it, it became more work than fun. It was just a simple big-block 427 on nitrous, set-up for the eight-mile, but they had the opportunity to get into a Kobelco High-Helix equipped Donavan on alcohol, which ended up with them running a tube chassis and then a paint job that was over the top, to which the car just became more work than it was fun. It took at least two people to do anything with and was just plain above their head, not to mention scaring the crap out of them. It was to the point that they were afraid is something happened they wouldn’t have the money to fix it right away and ended up letting it go for pennies on the dollar.

Not that you don’t know where to draw the line, but some do fall into that trap.

 

If you really want to beat on it put the LME built engine in there. The LS1 is worth more money to the idiots that are all Hyped up on them. They still fetch stupid money for a stock engine... I would rather have an LS2 or an LS3 There a much better foundation to build on. With all the Block failures I have heard of on the LS1 I think your better off selling it to some one else and putting the money toward a nice turbo!!!

 

Ditto..

 

Welcome back man!

If i were you i would just try and get it driving then slowly mod it that way you can enjoy it more and always have something to look foward too.

 

I hear ya but I dont want to end up doing what I did on the VHO and go through a bunch of different setups and spend the money more than once. I don't want to buy long tubes and build an exhaust then go turbo and end up having to loose money on that just to spend it again and same goes with the rear suspension and fuel system.

I'm not in any big hurry, although I would love for it to be done so I can drive it and enjoy it. I'm leaning toward the 370 right now. I just have to figure out if I wanna do twins or the single. I also have the plate kit and alkycontrol laying around now.... Hell I have almost enough stuff laying around from the VHO to build a truck. I need a new converter, conversion harness, misc bolts and sensors, intake and tb, and a few other odds and ends and I could get it running but I don't want to rush anything on it. I will work on rebuilding the frontend while I figure it out.

 

I have a 2wd 14 bolt rear end if your interested