new knock sensors and valley cover are on, new btr .560 valve springs, new stem seals and a btr stage 3 truck cam also installed. This was my first time installing a cam in any sort of v8, I’ve done a ton of Honda’s so when I checked the timing to make sure it was aligned right I had to double check about 3 times because I was like there’s no way I got it that easy lol. I put the motor upside down on my engine stand to avoid having the lifters drop down, worked out great. Also my eBay swap harness came in today and looks pretty good, didn’t come with any instructions or schematic but I figure I can look up the pcm pinout and reverse engineer it. I have almost everything I need to get started on the swap so that should be going underway in the next week or so depending on how cold it is. This last week we had snow a couple of times but it’s been tolerable. Also my fiberglass step shaver kit came in today so I gotta paint that and fit it up. I have allot more to update but I got some hot Panda Express calling my name right now lol.

 

That stage 3 cam should sound very nice in the little 4.8. Any ideas on exhaust after the headers? I'm sure its gonna be a tight fit.

 

I’m planning on building the exhaust myself. It’s gonna be a 2.5” y pipe into single 3” with a flex pipe and v band clamps then to a straight through Magnaflow style muffler and I wanna do either a bed side exit or rear fender exit out the step shaver kit not sure yet. Should be pretty easy to fit I think. I have a crap load of mandrel 2.5” and 3” bends new in box waiting for it.

 

So cam is in, motor is put back together. I can’t remember if I posted it or not but when I bought the cam and valve springs off eBay they only sent 15 valve springs so I had to message the seller and he’s shipping one more out. Water pump is back on, new front timing gasket set, new gm crankpulley bolt. Also I fit the return style rails from an older intake manifold on my nnbs manifold which saved me about $150 plus the headache of the corvette filter not fitting my s10 bay, I had to cut the cross feed tube to clear the height of it then joined them back together with 1/2” gates fuel injection hose. And I just built this 2.5” to 3” y pipe tonight and it turned out pretty good. Welds aren’t the best but it’s a nice merge collector that should help scavenging also saved myself about $40 from buying a prefabbed one that probably wouldn’t be as clean on the inside.

got my eBay stand alone harness, didn’t come with any instructions 😢 lol. Shouldn’t be that hard to figure out but still kind of annoying. Also it has ev1 style injector clips so I’ll have to rob the injector plugs off my other harness and solder them on. Just little stuff.

Motor should be ready to go in the truck in a week or so. Still gotta torque the flywheel and clutch setup on and I wanna get a 99-04 grand Cherokee steering shaft also for the extra clearance and it gets rid of the notorious rag joint.

 

I picked up a v6 5 speed crossmember from a 94 s10, the earlier Tranny had the same trans mount so I’m hoping this will bolt right up to my truck (frame has same holes for this cross member) and the motor will hopefully sit where it needs to. The mounts and cross member both have 1-2” of forward/ rear adjustment but I’ll post up if I have to end up modifying it or not. Either way the s10 cross member will be a really good starting point if it has to be modded. I’m curious to see if my nv1500 driveshaft will work or not 🤞🏿

 

Finally got my stepshaver/ roll pan setup from eBay, it’s made of nice thick fiberglass and looks pretty good. I decided to paint it before fitting it, not sure if that was a mistake or not but it will allow it more time to cure and harden and I’ll mask off edges that could get scratched when fitting it. Also I’ve been thinking lately I’d like to get the Xtreme ground effects setup because my first truck, 2000 s10 sport side xtreme had them and I fell in love with that truck at first sight. After pricing them out anywhere from 400-750 I was like ya screw that I think I’m going to build my own side skirts and front lip. I think using side skirts from a 96-00 civic will work out great for it, they have a little flare out that should contrast the body lines well and I know I can build simple brackets to fit them cleanly. It won’t be something that sticks out like crazy but more subtle hint of how I do things.

just rattle can, will have 4 coats of color and a couple of clear so it can be wet sanded later


these are the side skirts I’d like to fit




also I got to tune this turbo k20 powered sand rail. Made 451/309 to the tires on 13.5lbs of boost and a conservative tune. Should be a fricken rocket out on the dunes.

 

Is that Gates hose across your intake manifold going to be secure enough against ~ 60 PSI fuel pressure?

Cool build, going to Subscribe.

 

It should have no problem once it has the proper clamps on it. I’ve done similar setups on srt8 vehicles for installing wet nitrous kits and it worked out well. That hose was $11 a foot lol.

 

spent a few hours installing the step shaver kit last night. Pretty happy with it overall, fitment was pretty spot on and it looks a lot better then the steps and bumper on the back also probably dropped a little over 40lbs from the rear bumper, steps and brackets that came off. Also ordered a new fuel pump assembly and a walbro 255lph fuel pump I’m gonna drop in before starting the swap. Not really excited to change the pump but I’ll probably run the truck almost dry before doing it and just drop the tank.

 

dropped the new walbro 255lph pump in with a new pump hanger and sending unit today. Went pretty smooth for the most part, the fill hose was a real bitch to get off and I was a little careless and wired the bump backwards at first but that was a quick and easy fix just depinning the plug and repinning the two wires. Super excited that my gas gauge works now. Hasn’t worked since I bought the truck a few months back. The fuel pump was the last thing I wanted to do before starting on the swap so it should be getting started this week/weekend with pictures to follow. Also started on building a nascar style aluminum spoiler for the truck. Its getting bent up right now but I’ll post pics when it’s done.