so i'm finally starting on my poor truck, i'll be porting up my progess and upgrades from now untill sometime next month when I hope i'm done.

current stuff that I have or is on the way here and will be done by the time its running.

built 4l60e
2003 5.3
tsp 220/220 .581/.581 112
prc stage one 243 heads with prc double springs
ls2 timing chain
hardened pushrods
yella terra roller rockers
jaareds cooling setup
ported ls6 oil pump
b&m trans cooler
and i'm trying my damndest to get a set of longtubes stuffed in before it gets put back togather.

things I want to get in but aren't a priority right now.
blazer tank
blazer front brakes and spindles
ford 8.8 with 3.55s and posi
4 cyl gage cluster(7k tach)
ratchet shifter

I got the truck half done, but i'll be tearing everything apartto install engine mods, headers, and rework the engine mounts. the truck had a stock engine and the tranny had been built by a local shop to take 500hp. the truck was originally meant to get a turbo and the owner ran out of time and intrest.

anyways, on to the pics.
the truck





blazer tank and dual piston calipers

roller rockers and ported ls6 oil pump

heads, going to the shop this week to get milled and have the springs installed

cooling setup

misc parts


and lastly the stuff I got done tonight, removed hood, core support, bumper, and accessories. tomorrow i'll be swapping out wheels and tires, pulling the cam, timing set, balancer, and I might throw on my new mirrors. I'll be pulling the engine out sometime this week when i grap my engine stand and borrow my buddies cherry picker.
carnage

 

oh and I forgot to add, this is the reason my truck hadn't been started on.



the two big reasons are right there. I got the firebird for the wife just before i picked up my truck which took some of my budget. The blazer is my daily right now and needs alot of attention. the house is my newest money pit and has taken more time then planning my wife and my wedding. but at least now that were moved in I have my garage.

 

I got some euro taillights cheap if you need them.Brand new.

 

update for the day

went and got an engine stand. it looks like i'll be doing more on this thing then I wanted to. but i'll explain that later.


swapped out my rims and tires, I originally picked these up for my blazer but never installed them because i picked up this project. they are the same dimentions as the zq8 rims.



and lastly the progress I made on the engine bay. I decided against pulling the cam first because since I was removing the heads anyways and didn't want to try and turn the engine untill I made sure there was nothing in the cylinders that would scratch the walls.


the first head I pulled off made me pretty happy, the walls looked good and the pistons besides having the normal carbon buildup looked to be in great shape. when I pulled off the other head I found that moisture had found its way into 3 out of the 4 cylenders and one of them looks to have had some standing water in it for a while. I'll clean it up more tomorrow and check the actual damage, but it looks like i may be building an iron block ls1.

this might work out for the better if I have the funds for it, because I was planning on building a forged 5.7 to drop in sometime in her future, but i was kinda looking forward to running the little 5.3 for a while. maybe when i clean her up it will only need to be honed out and get a new set of rings, but i'm not counting on it.

 

no thanks, if I go away from stok I will just shave them or convert them to something else.

euros look like on most colors.

 

^^^^agreed..LOL. That is going to be a nice little truck, and a fun one too.

 

someday it will have coilovers and a link rear setup. my goal for it is to compete with c5 z06's and base c6 vettes.

 

Are you still going turbo? If not, i have a maggie 112 off my 5.3 that has maybe 6k miles on it... in perfect condition. It made 430 rwhp on my 5.3l with a 3.2 pulley...

pm me if youre interested.

Dave


looks like this sucker will be fun!

 

Good luck with the build man! got a clean little truck to start with.

 

no the guy who had it before me was going to turbo it. i would love the blower but my deployment money is gone with the purchase of the new house and the stuff i got for this truck. just moved into the house the first week of this month. plus it looks like i'll need a new shortblock which wasn't figured into the budget.

I love your sig! I've been showing it to everyone at my work.