1987 GMC V1500 Sierra Classic LS swap/build

[NastyBuzzard]

I have power at the shop to one outlet!! Woohoo! I got some string lights I will be setting up temporarily.

My led lights I ordered showed up today. 20W 4' long and bright as hell!!! I got 10 of them for a little less than $16 each. I am going to mount them this weekend and then come back and wire them all up when I get a chance.

Going Saturday to pick up a 01 Z28 6speed car. My buddy is actually buying it, then I am bringing it home and snatching the 6 speed out and converting it to auto for him and then I will be converting my TA to a 6speed for myself.

[MalibuSSwagon]

I actually am working on getting electricity in my garage now. Finished installing all the outlets this weekend and going to hang the lights this coming weekend. Would you believe the previous owners of my house built a nice 24x40 in 2006 and never did electrical? Just an extension cord out the window to the house. Never mind they didn't close the permit so I had to deal with that.

[NastyBuzzard]

I definitely believe it! I have been working out in my shop for a while now with no power. Just one little drop cord and I have been pulling engines and transmissions and all kinds of stuff. I have grown used to it. When my buddies come over they pick on my lamp and drop light or my 3 way that I use so I can have some power tools.

I still haven't even put trim up on the shop yet... As soon as I had 4 walls and a door I went to work.. I need to slow down and finish it all up.

[MalibuSSwagon]

lol I had a computer power strip running the place, and some drop ceiling fixtures, all stuff the previous owners left there. It was convenient, tun the whole place on and off with one switch. Was only an just when my buddy came by with his welder to make my exhaust, power strip couldn't handle that much juice.

Ahh it's gonna be nice when it's done however, been a year in the making. May I ask where did you get your LED fixtures? I'm not finding ones that cheap online.

[NastyBuzzard]

Ebay.

Try this link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121596009173...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT


HOLY MOLY THEY ARE EVEN ON SALE FOR THE NEXT 10 MIN FOR CHEAPER!

Yeah that is my main problem, I don't have enough power to weld and I need to be able to at least tack stuff together.

[MalibuSSwagon]

Nice. I already bought some T8 fixtures but maybe I'll try a few of those in my basement shop I'm setting up.

[NastyBuzzard]

I have some temporary lights!!



I spent all weekend on another project.

I drove an 8 hour round trip to pick up a car for me, which I am stealing the 6speed out of.

01 Z28 6 speed. Has a puff can paint job & blown head gasket. Deal is my buddy buys the car, I get the 6 speed and give him my built to the hilt automatic and fix the head gasket and get it back running. Hes only ever had 3rd gen Camaros so he is stoked as hell to have a 4th gen.





First night after getting it home.



The culprit!



Dropped off the uhaul trailer on Sunday and my started died on me... So glad this didn't happen on my trip!!

I put a ls1 starter on it which is more powerful, but takes 1 long and 1 short bolt instead of the 2 long like the original 5.3



Then last night I was determined to get my trans out... I went out at 9pm and it was out by 1am... It was fun doing by myself but I have lights in the shop! NO excuses!



Anyways, hope to be back on the truck soon.

[MalibuSSwagon]

Nice score on the six speed.

How are the lights? I put up and wired my T8 fixtures this weekend, holy moly they are bright, I don't think i"ll need anymore.

[NastyBuzzard]

Originally Posted by MalibuSSwagon

Nice score on the six speed.

How are the lights? I put up and wired my T8 fixtures this weekend, holy moly they are bright, I don't think i"ll need anymore.

The two t8 20W I put up are super bright!! Those 2 20w lights put out more light than the 5 or 6 60W bulbs I have strung out elsewhere. I cannot wait to get the other 8 up!! It should be brighter than daylight! It is so amazing to have some lights in the shop and a couple outlets. It definitely adds on some motivation.

I kind of wish I got the non-clear lenses. I catch myself looking up at them sometimes by accident and I will see white spots for a while.

[y5mgisi]

All good stuff!

[NastyBuzzard]

Originally Posted by y5mgisi

All good stuff!

Thanks, I agree! I just hate I keep having to deviate and do other projects... I need to get the truck 100% road worthy so I can put all my focus into the trans am until I can afford to paint the truck.

The truck just keeps snowballing... Now I want to a add a 2.5" lift on the front and that isn't done cheaply if you do it considering ride quality. I am also still depending on my buddy to get the firewall designed for using the 99-06 hvac box under the dash.

[NastyBuzzard]

I finally finished up the swap for that blue 01 Z28. He drove it out the shop and away on Friday! Woohoo!

I had to back the '87 out the shop to get the Camaro out and of course since we have had all this rain I couldn't even make it back into the shop... Just spinning tires in the mud.

I finally got it back in yesterday and started tinkering some. I did get the brackets welded on for the rear shocks during the Z28 build. I plan to bolt the bed down soon and test drive my 3.73 swap and rear disc setup.

Still planning to lift the front some when $ allows.

I mounted my lights in the shop, now I need to do the full wiring of the place.

My 10 year HS reunion is this year in June.. I have a 6speed for my 01 Trans Am... I have a spare LS1... So I think I will be working on getting it back together and converting it to 6speed to hopefully drive it to my reunion in June. Probably wont be a lot of spare $ to throw at the truck for the next few months.

[NastyBuzzard]

I bolted down my new bed finally on the 87. Checked everything for tightness and took it down the road to finally test my new brake setup with the rear disc as well as the 3.73 gears.

Drove fine but what I was expecting was a little different. When I swapped from 3.42s to 3.73s in the 06 Silverado 4.8 4x4 that I built I was able to feel or tell a world of difference. With the 87 though it doesn't really feel any different. It feels like it has a little bit more bottom end oomph but that is about it. With the 06 I could just lay my foot on the pedal and it would get to 60 and would even try to run 70 with little effort so I had to watch my speed. With the 87 I feel like I still have to get it to try to get to 60. Not as bad as before but just not like I had hoped. I am even running the same tire size as the 06, 265/70/17's.

My speedometer is a little off as well, I am going about 3-5mph slower than the speedo shows. I checked by gps.

The brakes work really good though! It definitely stops with the smallest amount of effort. One hell of an improvement that is for sure!!!

Here it is out. Now need to assemble body to be road legal and get my "sport" bumper on and fitting nicely. Also got to swap out tail gate. Next I will be working on interior and other quirks.



Also had to fix my rotting roof on this poorly done addition on my house. I hate it but it is cheaper to fix than tear it down at this point.





Also another square in my shop for some work. 88 Crew getting short bed & 4x4 conversion w/ dana 60. Eventually a 6.5 TD but for now the 350 TBI runs but needs a head gasket.

[NastyBuzzard]

[quote=Anyone have clues on how to get the heat working with the LS engine? I know there is some vacuum line I can twist off and use or something from the engine. I will need heat/defrost here soon.

I also need to buy some 6x9 rear speaker bracket/holders and need to find some kick panels that have a spot for speakers.[/QUOTE]

Originally Posted by y5mgisi

Just run the vacuum line to the line that comes out of the cowl and hook the heater hoses up. Done and done.

Can you give me some more insight on this? I was planning on waiting on my buddy to develop a way to get the 99+ hvac box setup inside the truck but it would be nice for a quick fix to get this girl on the road.

[MalibuSSwagon]

[NastyBuzzard]

Yeah! That's right! What about for special cases like me though that aren't using any of the stock wiring harness.... ? That is the tricky part. I don't think it is as simple for me as hooking up that vacuum line.

[MalibuSSwagon]

for the stock HVAC, there should be a brown wire that goes to the control head to power the blower motor. Check the 87 wiring diagrams.

[NastyBuzzard]

Originally Posted by MalibuSSwagon

for the stock HVAC, there should be a brown wire that goes to the control head to power the blower motor. Check the 87 wiring diagrams.

Control head? You mean the 87 fan/temp selector piece? I have scoured over the diagrams! I even looked at my 88 crew cab and tried to duplicate it perfectly and I could never even get the blower to come on at all.

I couldn't even find any type of way to straight wire the blower. I wasted a lot of time trying to do it and gave up. I need to get it working though, it will be more motivation to get it all back together.

[MalibuSSwagon]

Hey pulled out my 86 Electrical manual and found this diagram. Basically the power for the blower motor comes from the stock underdash panel in a Brown 12 or 14 awg wire to the HVAC control head, it should pretty much be a standalone harness.

[NastyBuzzard]

Thank you for that!! Standalone harness huh. That sounds doable then. Just have to figure it out and tie it all in! One step closer! Thank you. Time to go pull out oem harness and figure out what I need.

[MalibuSSwagon]

yea from what I've seen it's typically separate. Pretty much put 12 volts to the brown wire and it should work. Don't forget grounds!

I had a question about your rear end swap, how much did it push out your track width? Really considering this as I have a 3.73 rear sitting here from the Silverado I just parted. If it wasn't -5 out right now I'd be pulling the wheels off and measuring myself.

[NastyBuzzard]

I'm pretty sure it pushed out 2" on both sides so it's a total of 4" wider. It made it like perfectly flush with the front. Those aren't exact measurements but I love it. It looks so much better.

[NastyBuzzard]

This project isn't dead just sleeping!! I tried to drive the truck around this weekend but alternator has apparently given out and the battery had died. I knew it was coming, the alternator has been weak from the beginning.

I am currently working on my tow rig, the 88 Crew Cab short bed 4x4 conversion w/ 6.5TD NV4500/Np208 Dana 60 front w/ 14 bolt ff rear 4.10 gears.

Also my engine for my 01 TA should be out of the machine shop soon, the T56 rebuild is complete. I am hoping to have the TA on the road before my bday at the end of the month

[NastyBuzzard]

Trans Am is back and for the most part done. Needs dyno tune and some other goodies but as far as taking up all my spare time and money I should be good for a bit!!



Some progress related to this build. We are coming up with a way to fit the 99-02/06 Air box under the dash. Well we have a firewall mod that allows it! Hopefully soon we can get a panel cut and welded into my truck. This is for a 79 cab.

[dukdevil@hotmail.com]

Hey man I have a 87 Sierra Classice 4x4 just like ur and same color..how has doing the swap work out for u? u can hit me back at dukdevil@hotmail.com..my name is Cary i live close to Wilmington nc