'78 K20 to C10. Almost 20 years in the making.

[cruizin01]

I've been messing around with the idea of adding some sort of button or paddle shift to the truck since the HGM controller has the ability to do so. I've been fiddling with the shift logic and haven't got it quite where I want it. Some of it has easy adjustments that I still need to fine tune and the other is a bit more complicated. Its mainly how to get the downshift when I want and the truck upshifting too early.

Anyway, I searched around on eBay one day looking for some cheap paddle shifters. I ran across these decent looking, simple Lexus paddle shifters. They were 3 wire just like the trans controller was setup for. 1 signal wire for each shifter and a common ground between the 2.



I then had to come up with a bracket. I found a piece of scrap 1/8" aluminum to bend up. Not having a band saw or anything nice to cut it with I had to use a recip saw and it was ugly. I cut a couple pieces and had a friend glue them together for me with his tig. Im not 100% happy with it but functions, just isn't pretty.



I fed the trans harness up through the column and drilled a small hole in the column to run it through.



I took the stock harness for the shifters and modified it and used a connector from work to connect everything. Its not completely hidden but you can't see it unless you look under the steering wheel.



Finished everything this morning. Pretty stoked about how it turned out. I have like $35 invested in this modification.

I got to drive it tonight. Now I read from HGM that these transmissions can't engine brake electronically. I wasn't sure exactly how that would work. So I took it out and manually shifted it up through the gears. I love how the trans works when your manually upshifting. Now the downside is like I said when you click it down it wont jump the RPM's up like it would if you pull it down with the column shifter. It feels sorta like its in neutral when you shift it down and get back on the gas. I'm not exactly sure whats happening. I only put a few miles on it. So that stinks but Ill take what I can get with a junkyard trans and a $35 shifter mod. If I figure out more with it, Ill update.

[cruizin01]

Since driving the truck I hated how the throttle pedal felt super heavy. The spring tension on the sniper is too much imo. So I read around a little and decided to try and adjust the leverage on the cable. So I made a small bracket to bolt up to the sniper that gave the pedal cable more leverage. Wow, what an improvement for such a little part. My air cleaner is a little too close to it but I "modified" it enough to clear everything. Such a good, free mod.

[bluex]

I had to do the same thing with my sniper and the throttle arm extension. So much better to drive and such a small amount to raise it made a huge difference.

The shifter paddles are a pretty cool mod man. Looks nice....

[cruizin01]

Finally got the Tee-Ruck back from the body shop this week. Im happy with how it turned out. They got the oem hood reworked to about 90% and got the paint matched up and blended with the fenders. The fitment is pretty close. The hood sticks up just a wee bit on the drivers side but they got it as close as possible without having to cut anything up.

Really glad I went through the hassle of finding a usable 73-78 hood and having it blended in with the fenders.

[TKCR]

Looks great!!

[bluex]

The hood does look good, it was worth the effort for sure.

A heads up on the sniper throttle, after power tour this year mine picked up the habit of not returning the throttle blade to fully closed. It would stay 2-6% open after I left off the pedal. For a while I could just tap the pedal and it would drop back to 0%. It progressively got worse the more I drove it. I cleaned the bores, throttle blades and lubed the shafts and that helped a little. In the end it took adding an additional light return spring to get it to return to 0% all the time. It didn't effect the throttle pedal feel at all. I haven't got to drive it as much as usual this fall though because it's been down since September with suspension damage.

Sorry for the novel just though it might save you a few steps if you run into the same issue.

[cruizin01]

Originally Posted by bluex

The hood does look good, it was worth the effort for sure.

A heads up on the sniper throttle, after power tour this year mine picked up the habit of not returning the throttle blade to fully closed. It would stay 2-6% open after I left off the pedal. For a while I could just tap the pedal and it would drop back to 0%. It progressively got worse the more I drove it. I cleaned the bores, throttle blades and lubed the shafts and that helped a little. In the end it took adding an additional light return spring to get it to return to 0% all the time. It didn't effect the throttle pedal feel at all. I haven't got to drive it as much as usual this fall though because it's been down since September with suspension damage.

Sorry for the novel just though it might save you a few steps if you run into the same issue.

I appreciate the input.

[cruizin01]

Just a couple of notes incase I forget to post about them.

I pulled the hinge springs off and installed the WAM rod shocks on the new hinges the shop put on with the new hood. I still struggled with getting the hood to sit flush with the fenders. The springs were way too stiff and I was worried about kinking the hood so I have to use the shocks. If I push down on the hood on both sides it sits down nice and flush and stays. So Ill just keep doing that for now. Until it bothers me enough to fool with it.

The body shop did a great shop on everything except for whoever washed and cleaned the truck up. They swirled a large majority of the rest of the truck.. ugh. But I did a small test spot with some fine polish and they are coming out so they should remove easy but it sucks I have to go back over the whole truck. Ill get add the sealant to the hood and fenders to match the rest of the truck.

I took the wife out Sunday morning to get a xmas tree since it was almost 60* here in Ohio. The truck ran good except I keep getting a lean misfire under heavy load about 1/3 times I go WOT in 2 & 3rd gear. Im going to plumb up a fuel pressure gauge to the windshield so I can drive it around and keep and eye on fuel pressure. My fuel pump is plenty big enough but I dunno if my fitech sump is causing issues. If it is fuel pressure I've made up my mind that Im dumping the sump and going to make my own sump that fits inside the existing fuel tank. Most likely using an '87 sender and some AN fittings and lines. I regret thinking I could make that sump work correctly. I feel like the misfires started happening after I switched pumps but don't know for sure.

I was able to fool around with the shift paddles a bit driving the truck around Sunday. I also had made a phone call to Compushift to try and understand the capability of the controller and trans. So the paddles will downshift the trans in manual mode as long as there is throttle input. Its a little weird to do in person but it works without any issues. Its not fast by any means but it works easier and better than using the column shifter. You can upshift as normal and its pretty quick and fun. At anytime you can put the trans back in auto mode by holding either paddle "in" for like 3 seconds.

I decided I wanted to be able to see the trans controller to see what gear I was in and to keep an eye on trans temps. I didn't want something permanent so I just mounted it to an existing hole on the bottom of the dash. Its not pretty but its mostly out of the way and easily viewable.



And the best for last. My wife didn't have super awesome ideas for me for xmas so she said just to pick something out for my truck that I wanted... So I pulled the trigger on a TrueTrac differential and some 3.73 gears along with an install kit. The more I drove the truck with that solid locker the more I hated how it drove. It didn't want to steer at all! So Im hoping this is a big improvement. Now to figure out whether I want to attempt the install or take it somewhere.

[cruizin01]

I got a few different things going on with the truck lately.

Ive been collecting/contemplating another fan setup on the truck. Im sure Im over thinking it all but you can't really have too much cooling right?

I picked up a Lincoln mark viii 2 speed fan on ebay a couple months ago. I had planned to add another relay to my dakota digital controller and run both speeds. I went up attaching it to my existing shroud. I wasn't excited with how it fit. I had a pretty large gap on the side and it didn't feel very secure. Along with the fact that after I test fit it, it didn't fit in the truck. Not enough space between the radiator and the water pump. Shucks



So I start looking a the motor itself and the motor on the jeep fan. The mounting and overall size was pretty similar. So I decided to try and use the lincoln motor and mount it in my jeep assy. I struggled removing the flade from the motor. I basically had to cut and beat it off. I enlarged the hole just slightly and welded a nut to the motor so the blades couldn't turn on the shaft.




I forgot to take a picture of it all assembled. It did fit together in the truck so that was good. But when I spun the fan up I realized I had done damage to the motor as it was super noisy now. I guess beating the old blade off wasn't the best idea. "sigh"

So, back to square one. I read around on the net about different fan combinations and a couple threads mentioned old dodge intrepid fans had high cfm. I find an NOS set on eBay for a $100 so I ordered them up to try. I put them side by side with my current jeep fan and they didn't pull nearly as much air as the jeep fan did. I also would have had to make a whole new shroud. So I returned them.



In the meantime I found you can order just Lincoln replacement motors. So I found one from VDO. I thought I could use it has I had with the original setup. Come to find out the replacement motors are made slightly different and it doesn't fit my jeep fan. UGH. I think Im striking out big time.

During all this I decided that regardless I would be using the jeep blades and the stock chevy shroud together. The blades were slightly smaller than the shroud so I would like to fill that gap. I found a couple old storage shelves and went to work.






I think it turned out pretty nice. It should pull more air now that its forced through the blades. I decided just to run it as is for now. If the truck still gets warm after the new shroud and a colder tstat Ill maybe go with an aluminum radiator or something.

So as I was messing around with it on the floor I got lazy and wasn't paying attn and stuck my thumb in the back of the fan blade while it was running! That was a lesson on the torque and grip a plastic blade has at speed. OUCH!




This weekend I started rewiring most of the engine buy. I had some wires from the harness that GMACHINZ built for me that needed removed that I wasn't using. I also wanted to just clean things up. Most of my wires terminate under the battery and I wanted to reorganize that. I also decided to do away with the Fitech Fuel Command Center and do an intank setup. I need to remove and move and add wiring for that. I also had some wiring to add for things like AC kick for the Holley and the fan controller. I needed to mount the Hyper Spark controller and integrate the wiring for that as well. LOTS of stuff going on.



This is my mess under the battery tray. About to look a lot cleaner.

[cruizin01]

Some more updates for anybody following along.

I finished up the wiring in the engine bay for the most part. I havent loomed it yet as I want to make sure the wiring is ok with the sniper before I close it all in. But Im happy with how it turned out. The cheapo fuse box I got from Amazon worked out well. And it'll all be hidden under the batter tray.




This past weekend I got quite a bit of time in the garage to work on the fuel system. I had originally planned to build some type of venturi sump system in the tank but just decided to go with a Holley Hydramat instead. It seems over priced for what it is but everyone says it works really well so I went with it.

I started at the front. I used a compression fitting to tap into the hard line running up to the sniper. I used the old inline filter and added a tap for a cheap gauge I got from Summit. I was initially gonna run the fuel line down the back of the engine but since my hardline was right near the mech pump I just decided to leave it and plumb it from there. Especially since the Snyper has a front inlet that made everything neat and tidy for the most part.




I pulled off the mech pump and plumbing as well. Picked up a decent block off for it from Summit as well.



Then on to the pump setup. I picked up an 87 assy from amazon since it has wiring that I can use for the new setup. I removed the original pump and installed the walbro pump. I had to trim the bottom of the sender to clear the pump and the hydramat. I used a hose clamp just to make sure nothing moves around. I did have to change the connector to match the new pump.

before

after


I decided to test the sender before installing it in the truck and Im glad I did because for whatever reason the new sender didn't work. I read these are all the same as far as Ohm resistance but the new one measured over 1k ohms regardless of where the lever was. So I just decided to reuse the old sender. So I cut it off the old assy and tacked it in place on the new unit. Works great.



The new sender still uses barb/tapered fittings for the hoses so I had to come up with a way to get them to AN fittings. I cut the small brackets off the sender and slid these tube adapters up onto the sender. Both lines are -8an.



I then used some right angle to pushlock fittings to get me plumbed into the truck.




I mounted a vette style filter with built in regulator on the crossmember nearest the tank. I used another tube adapter to quick connect adapter for the filter out. I then used a couple summit quick connects to AN to connect the supply and return. I still need to finish up the filter bracket but its sturdy as is.



So the factory harness on the pump and sender is a 2pin connector and 1 wire ring terminal for ground. Since I had to run a power wire for the pump from the fuse box anyway I decided to run a ground as well. So I ran the grey (12v+) and the ground into a new connector and used one side of another connector to connect the sender wire. (brown and purple)



And everything works. I had one leaky fitting that Summit sent me a replacement and it fixed it. Other than that the fuel system should be done. It reads right at 58-60psi at the gauge as it should.

I have a couple more things to swap before the hyperspark goes back on and the truck running again. Ill post more soon.

Oh and I can't forget to post this little sign/wall art my mom made for me for xmas. How cool is that?

[cruizin01]

If I hadn't mentioned it, I picked up a intake manifold on CL a few weeks ago. A coworkers dad does a lot of powder coat so he offered to do it for me. Turned out pretty awesome.



I waited to get it back before I went about installing the new Hyperspark distributor and coil. So I pulled everything off the top of the motor and positioned the new intake, etc back on the engine.

While installing the new distributor I was having trouble getting it to sit down in the motor all the way. After fighting with it for some time I decided to remove it and crawl up on the engine and take a look. Found this little guy sitting on the oil pump drive.



Not sure how it stayed on there. And I was really surprised I was able to get it up out without dropping it. Everything fit together as it was supposed to afterwards :-)

Its mostly back together now. I had to order a new fitting for the waterpump bypass to alternator hose. Nothing I had fit correctly. I should have everything back together and be able to fire it up this week. Once I make sure everything is working correctly I can finish tidying up the wiring.

[MTCK]

Looks good! We are watching. I can’t believe that zip tie ended up in there. Nice catch.

[cruizin01]

Got some more time in the garage this week and weekend. Couple steps forward and a couple steps backwards.

While idling the truck was showing nearly 80psi at idle on the gauge on the sniper. UGH. So thats not gonna work. I guess maybe the extra voltage at the pump while running pushes more volume through the filter/regulator than it could handle. (compared to when I was testing it by applying 12v to the pump) I read during this that these filters typically dont work correctly on setups with fuel pumps bigger than 255lph.

So I went out and bought a legit regulator and filter to fix that. Only needed a couple fittings and was able to swap it out. I was able to adjust the fp down with no trouble. This new regulator is a lot quieter than the old filter regulator.



My other issue is fuel bleeding off. I added a 1 way valve from Jegs after the regulator but as soon as the fuel pump primes and shuts off the fuel pressure immediately bleeds off to zero. I took the check valve apart and everything appears to be functioning correctly. Im sorta out of ideas.

I did finish up cleaning the wiring in the engine compartment. Its not hidden in anyway but its loomed up as much as I can without going crazy.




I upgraded the firmware in the holley unit and the dash display for the hyperspark. Its running fine and learning. I want to go into the pc software and clean up the 2D tables on fueling and timing.

[cruizin01]

Finally got some time today with a buddy to get some rear end work done. I had bought a TrueTrac and some 3.73's around xmas to install and finally did that today. My buddy has done several gear setups so we knocked it out today. Spent about 6 hrs in all.

I had purchased setup bearings for the pinion which made our lives a lot easier. We got it just as we wanted the 3rd attempt. I purchased a 20ton press from Harbor Freight to press the bearing on. Always need new tools right?

Anyways its in and running. Put about 10 miles on it for breakin. The truck didn't run so hot with the fresh tune and new intake, etc. I checked everything over and went back out and it seems to have learned a bit more. Ill get it back on the road soon and run some logs and go from there. I'm considering taking it to a tuner to have it do some real work on it.

[MTCK]

Nice. You can never have too many tools.

[cruizin01]

Havent updated in a bit.

Put about 40-50 miles on the truck over the weekend. Still fighting the Holley EFI a bit. My learned table is all over the place. Sometimes its adding fuel, sometimes its subtracting it. Ill get there eventually.

The new diff and gears work well together though. I wouldn't have wanted to go any shorter on the gear. If I new I was keeping this engine/trans combo forever I would probably do a 3.42 next time. Or my exhaust is just a little to loud.

If I get the engine running the way I feel it should, I may go back and redo the exhaust down to 2.5". This 3" is just way too big.



I did realize I was getting different coolant temp readings between the Holley and the Dakota Digital. I realized the Holley was in the waterpump return and not reading what it should. My only option without removing the intake manifold was to add a spacer between the intake and the tstat housing. Found one from Summit that fit the bill.



Found a dry spot out near my house. Took some good pics with my new Galaxy S10. Nice to have a fish to do some more unique shots.

[MTCK]

Looks great. I hope you get the EFI sorted. Having done one aftermarket swap (old Holley commander 950) and a factory swap, I’m sold on the stuff GM spent all those research dollars on. I’m sure it’s come a long way since the TBI system I had before.

[cruizin01]

Originally Posted by MTCK

Looks great. I hope you get the EFI sorted. Having done one aftermarket swap (old Holley commander 950) and a factory swap, I’m sold on the stuff GM spent all those research dollars on. I’m sure it’s come a long way since the TBI system I had before.

Oh I have no doubt the factory stuff is the way to go. But I had a fresh engine with all new parts on/in it. So I couldn't rightfully junk it and go LS. But its an option now if I cant get it to where I want it. Im not gonna be unhappy with the driveability. Ive got too much into this truck not to be happy with it.

[cruizin01]

Been too long since I posted an update. I continue to improve and replace several items to improve drivability on the truck.

I was able to solve most all of the issues as far as the Sniper EFI is concerned. I thought I figured it out by fixing an exhaust leak at the header collector near the o2 sensor. That unfortunately didn't solve really any of the issues. Surprisingly.



What ended up solving it was removing the darn progressive link I got from EFI source. I definitely had all my settings correct but for whatever reason it wreaked havoc on my setup. The truck runs 1k times better now. I still have some small adjustments, mostly in the cold start enrichment and some very low speed driving concerns but in general it runs well. Thank goodness.

So since installing the new gears I had a vibration on the freeway through the truck. It immediately appeared to be a driveshaft vibration because that only makes sense. So I went back through my setup and realized my driveline angles were all off. My engine and trans angle was too far down. I had to raise the tailshaft which involved reworking the trans crossmember and the exhaust. I ended up adding a flexpipe to each downpipe to help cut down on vibrations in the truck as well.



Then I had to go through and rework the pinion angle on the rear end. I ended up not using the flip kit the way it was originally intended and getting the spring pad where I wanted it and welding it in place. My trans and rear end are now parallel but the unjoint angles aren't ideal but I do not have any vibrations. This all took a lot of work to get ironed out. Everything small thing on this truck seems to affect 3 other things.



Over the past couple weeks as everything in the truck gets broken in including the rear springs, etc Im having issues with the axle hitting the frame under short quick bumps. This is pretty uncomfortable if you've never experienced this. The shocks goes right up your neck.

So I ordered up a C notch kit to install. I just went with a bolt in due to each of install. I dont imagine my welding one in place would be any stronger than a bolted unit. I decided to try and do this without removing the bed. I did just loosen the rear bolts to raise it just enough to slide the bracket in. The whole just took quite a bit of time to get everything cut, test fit, painted, installed, painted again. Overall Im happy with the outcome. I just finished tonight so I havent driven it yet. I may have issues with the exhaust hitting the axle as thats now closer than the frame to the axle. I may have to mod that next.





And just for kicks.

[cable666guy]

Just read your entire post. Really nice truck !! You have a lot of determination and perseverance, that's for sure !!

[cruizin01]

Originally Posted by cable666guy

Just read your entire post. Really nice truck !! You have a lot of determination and perseverance, that's for sure !!

Hey I appreciate that.

And its never done, I can't leave well enough alone.

I have a few updates Ill try and post at some point soon.

But for now Ill leave this.

[cruizin01]

Been a while since I've updated...

This summer I was able to put nearly 1k miles on the truck and after quite a few alternations to the tuning on the Sniper, the 396 was running pretty well. I continue to fight some small pre-warm up drive-ability stuff but overall it drives great.

But.... its slow... like not 250ci inline 6 slow but its the slowest thing in my small group of cars. It'll power brake a burnout but its pretty lethargic outside of that. Its probably around 350hp maybe? It really needs a converter but I didn't want to buy one knowing it still wasn't gonna satisfy my power craving.

Anyway, I decided to follow the hurd and build a turbo LS. I found a L33 locally for $700 with low'ish miles this summer so I went ahead and grabbed it. The L33 is an all aluminum 5.3 with flat top pistons and 799 heads. Originally rated at 310hp. This is a gen3 engine but a few guys mentioned they have the better rods maybe? Im not certain.


These past couple weeks I tore the accessories, etc off of it to get started. I flipped the manifolds just to get an idea whether I wanted to use them or buy a turbo manifold. Im not certain one way or another yet.


This is a "budget" engine build. Im just swapping the cam and valve springs and leaving everything else internally stock. Lifters probably would have been a good idea but I didn't want to pull the heads.

I order a Summit Stg2 turbo cam kit that came with TF valve springs and new valve seals. I checked the pushrod length which was good, so I reinstalled the stockers.




Since I dont have access to a TIG, I ordered a front cover with the turbo drain installed already. I have a new balancer coming (cheap) and replaced the front and rear cover, rear main seal, valley cover and lower oil pan gasket.




I hate the look of the truck intake manifold so I found these knock off of a knock off dorman intake. Im gonna shave most of the mounts, etc off the top to try and clean it up some. I bought some fuel rails to plumb a return system and a mechanical throttle to work with the Holley Terminator.



Im still in process of cleaning up the rest of the engine. I think Ill leave the block and heads alone after cleaning and maybe just paint the valve covers and accessories. I ordered a camaro water pump which moves the outlet towards the drivers side so I dont have to run a big ugly hose across the front of the truck.

Im hoping the rest of the build will come together this winter. I need to pull the bbc and the sniper and try and get it sold to fund some more turbo parts.

The goal is like 500-550 whp on pump gas.

The basics are
-VS 78/75
-80 lb snaker eaters
-budget 80e converter
-Holley Terminator X
-A/W intercooler so i dont have to hack up the front grille, etc.

[Mike W.]

I hate the look of the truck intake manifold so I found these knock off of a knock off dorman intake. Im gonna shave most of the mounts, etc off the top to try and clean it up some. I bought some fuel rails to plumb a return system and a mechanical throttle to work with the Holley Terminator.

I'm working on a similar build and am about to pull the trigger on the Holley Terminator as well. I am thinking about going with the X Max due to the transmission control and DBW capability as I bought my 5.3 with the pedal assembly from the same truck. What made you decide to go with the standard terminator and convert to mechanical throttle body?

[cruizin01]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Nice work. Who's log manifold are you using for the turbo?

Thanks Aggie, its a amazon/ebay item. Im pretty happy with it. Its a heavy duty piece and it fits perfect in my setup.

Originally Posted by Mike W.

I'm working on a similar build and am about to pull the trigger on the Holley Terminator as well. I am thinking about going with the X Max due to the transmission control and DBW capability as I bought my 5.3 with the pedal assembly from the same truck. What made you decide to go with the standard terminator and convert to mechanical throttle body?

I already had the standalone controller for the 80E and I like the controls and display that I have with it. I believe I would also loose the paddles if I went with the integrated holley setup. And as far as the TB goes.. I just think its a more simplistic setup. I plan to do some of the tuning myself so that should make things easier. Along with not having to mess with the pedal, etc.

[naphtali5725]

nice build thread, excellent work!!