An 18 Year Olds LS Adventure

[72blu]

Hey Guys, I just my first LS swap and because this forum was such an incredible resource I have decided to give back my sharing my experience in hopes that it will help somebody else. I got this truck last year during my final year of high school and it always bothered me that I probably had the slowest vehicle in the schools parking lot...I became determined to change that...

I started with a running & driving 250 CUI/3 on the tree 1972 Shortbed.
The only options on the SPID are blue Vinyl trim and gauges

My choice of motor was a LQ9 out of a 2002 Escalade. The motor had 205,000Km on it when I picked it up.

Here it is on the stand the day I got it from the wrecker.

I decided that stock wasn't enough so while I had the motor on the stand I replaced the stock cam with an ASA camshaft and upgraded the springs. I also went ahead and painted the block chevy orange and replaced any gaskets I disturbed during the cam swap. I decided I wanted to keep the truck standard so I went with a rebuilt Muncie M22. I used a 11 inch clutch from a 1980 corvette and it required drilling out a few of the holes to a larger size so that it would pair up with the Sachs 1050 flywheel.


*Make sure to replace the factory O-ring that is on the oil pump pick up tube while you still have the motor out of the truck. I didn't replace mine and it caused what sounded like a wicked lifter noise due to lack of proper oil pressure*

Finally after I had finished prepping the motor it was time to start tearing into the truck.

Here is the the old engine with everything disconnected and ready to be pulled. This part went fairly quickly and soon enough we had the old thing out!


Once the old engine was set down and tucked away nicely in the corner we began prepping the engine bay for its new heart.

I went with early classics motor mount kit for gen 3 LS motors. The kit fit perfectly and was fairly easy to install. The kit required you to drill a few holes in the crossmember.

Finally the motor was in place and we could move onto the next phase of the build. In order to cut costs I choose to stay away from a hydro clutch setup. Mating the factory clutch linkage to the new motor turned out to be a lot harder than first imagined. With a little fabrication and an adapter from SDPC I managed to get everything to line up relatively well.


Once the motor was settled in we mated up the transmission. I decided to go with the bell housing that came with my Transmission. The driveshaft went in next and finally the driveline was finished.

Next came the wiring. I went with a wiring harness from Painless Performance products and I cant say nothing but good things about there product. Every plug and wire was labeled making installation a breeze. Along with the harness was a coupon for a free PCM reflash so I sent my computer out for them to reprogram it.

The fuel system was next. My choice of pump was a Walbro 255 inline pump that I placed inside the inner frame rail. I ran 10mm hard nylon line from the pressure side of the pump up to the intake and soft 3/8 fuel line from the pump back to the tank.

Lastly were the gauges. I really wanted to be able to use the factory gauges for my swap. The ammeter gauge worked without issue so i did not need to fiddle around with it at all. For oil pressure I drilled and taped the oil switch that is at the back of the motor



Once complete I threaded the sender in and the gauge picked up the oil pressure perfectly. I am still working on getting my Temperature gauge to work but once I do I will post an update with what I did.

I got the exhaust put on professionally by a local Midas so the only pictures I have of this stage were from when I picked it up.
It was at this point that I finally got to drive the truck You sure can feel the difference between the old 250 and the new 6.0L

I am sure I missed a few things in this post but if you have any questions feel free to ask as I am happy to help.

!PART NUMBERS & PART INFO!
Motor mounts: Early classic Gen 3 motor mount conversion kit
Crossmember: Classic performance Products CP9472
Pilot bearing: Summit racing equip: NAL-12557583
Pressure plate bolts: Summit racing equip NAL-12561465
Wiring: Painless performance 60218
Exhaust: Flowmaster 17654 & 81072
Radiator: Enginered cooling products RAD-6369-HDDF
Manifolds: GM OEM LS3 Manifolds 191842701247
flywheel: Sachs NFW1050
Zbar adapter plate:SDCP SDCB
Fuel pump: Walbro 255 inline