Most of you know my string of luck in the last year or so, but those who dont it basically consists of less than 2000 miles on 2 built engines. One being a 11:1 compression 408 with a tvs1900, and built 60e. And the other being a 9.5 compression 410 with a pt88 and built 80e. The 408 had a bad crank bearing and had to come out with about 1200 miles on it, and the 410 had some fueling issues which resulted in a melted piston from detonation, and the 80e broke at the same time - this was in January.
I realized when I got my turbo setup working that even with 700+hp it was still kind of slow. Trying to go fast in a 6400lb truck with 120lb 35" tires that also happens to be your daily driver is extremely difficult, and above all frustrating when your truck is broken and you dont have another vehicle...

So fast forward a couple months and had my 80e fixed under warranty, and my engine is back at LME. The block was not usable due to scoring on the cylinder wall, and boring would make the walls too thin for boost, so i found a cheap 6.0L block and had it shipped to them. I also picked up a 99 RCSB z71 with about 220k on the clock for a good price as my project truck.



Overall the exterior is in very good shape for a 12 year old truck. It has its shares of bumps and scratches but that doesnt bother me.

My goals for this truck is to leave the exterior basically stock so its one hell of a sleeper. I may even leave the labor union sticker on the back windshield
It should be pretty nasty with my pt88 on my engine when I get it back and my built 80e. I will probably swap my 14b over as well so the drivertrain should be near indestructible. The only part of the original I plan to use is the transfer case, but I will probably replace the chain in that too just to be safe.
But for now, I am concentrating on cleaning up the interior. The guy I bought it from obviously had young kids and he smoked so the funky smell is going to take some work. I found some wet spots in the carpet and im not sure where that came from so I striped the whole interior and plan to clean it out.

The previous owner hacked up the rear pillars pretty good trying to fit some bigger speakers back there, and pretty much broke or lost half of all the interior connectors and screws. I need to bring out the soldering gun to fix his hack job of stereo wiring to put a stock cd player back in, but those things should be a relatively easy fix. The stock seats need some work...I plan on new foam and maybe katzkins again since I really like mine, with a full center console. I may end up replacing the carpet and getting the headliner recovered to get rid of the smell, but that would also give me a chance to get rid of the hideous blue interior color.

This isnt a daily driver truck, but I do want it to be comfortable. So fix up the seats, get the *** smell out, a 120mph cluster with a trans temp gauge, and a few interior gauges and ill be done on the inside...maybe some tint...

and now some pics...






A nice, unmolested engine and drivetrain...




blue? wtf

 

Sweet! So whats the plans for this one? AWD Pt-88 turbo truck?

 

I like blue, but even I'm not a fan of that blue interior.

Oh, & are those red seat beat ends? Sure looks so, at the back of the trans tunnel.

Hey, it's an unmolested engine for now.

I didn't know u took out 2 motors, only the 408 TVS setup. 2 motors & goin from a TVS to a turbo, then buyin another project. I need to do what you're doin for a job, minus the carnage.

But, if that truck is down, & this is your project (which sits gutted interiorwise), how are ya gettin round?

 

Yep, probably just 4wd for now. Same goals as last time, 800rwhp, except I will be using bigger injectors and meth.

The red things are the legs to my work light

I fixed my silver truck; put my stock 5.3 in and found an old 80e, had it rebuilt by a friend, and threw it in. So now my current silver truck has a built 14b rear, 5" dshaft, 80e, PI multidisc converter, and a stock 5.3

 

Now, I see the work light crossbar at edge of pic / legs better.

800HP is pretty hardcore, but it'll be alot less hard on parts, movin a lighter truck around.

 

I feel your pain man, I have been through some issues with my crew cab, after awhile, you ask yourself, why have I bastardized my perfectly good working, reliable, comfortable 6000lb daily driver truck, when I could get a rcsb for 4k, and be even faster, and still have my reliable daily driver? Thats why I bought a pretty much identical truck to yours to play with. Good luck with this project man, you deserve it!

 

Glad to see your still gonna be in the game Richard! Hell of a deal finding that Z71 too!! I was looking for one of those for a while, never did find a good one though. Should prove to be a blast when it's all done.
What cam you gonna be using on your new motor?

 

Too bad you live like 2000 miles south of me, I could hook you up with some sweet light gray interior parts. Looks like a cool project though. I'll be following this one.

 

Did you put the cam in the 5.3?
I have all of my interior if you need parts. They are gray so you would need to paint the blue or gray to match. Just figured I would offer.

Why awd? Just because you want to? I know you are looking for a sleeper but i don't think 4 street tires will hold 800 hp?

Good luck and hopefully this will work out better.

 

Thanks guys, I may hit some of you up for interior pieces, the only one that really bugs me right now is the passenger door panel since you van just lift it up and take it off. I may try to paint the blue ones. I'm replacing the carpet and headliner...thinking hot pink **** carpet with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling

I'm going to get pat g and Virginia speed to spec me a cam and compare them.

I was going to use that cam but changed my mind and sold it to fund this project, I'm fine with the stock cam in my silver truck.