"The Relapse" 78 Chevy Stepside

[N2TRUX]

Sweet! Lets get this baby on the rockers with some billet hoops tucked under it....

[Hankster]

Thread bump! Any progress? Thanks

[mattcrp1]

Ditto, any updates? I am doing an LSx swap myself.

[Low84]

Ok, sorry for neglecting this thread.

I ran into some mistakes (actually I screwed up). I got excited and torqued down the heads and all and just about halfway through finishing the second one, it dawned on me that these are used heads and I should have had them resurfaced prior to installing them. Well, I finished it up anyway and wouldn't you know, there was a nasty broken bolt that the previous owner had tried to remove and done a horrible job at it. So I removed the heads and took them to the shop to have the bolt extracted, resurfaced and new valve guides installed while it was there (should of done it in the first place). I get them back on a Monday afternoon and by the end of the day I had a nasty sprained ankle with multiple torn ligaments. After that it was just recovery and life that impeded me working on it. But I'm back at it again.

[Low84]

Looks pretty good to me, but the outside was not looking as good so I gave it some coats of paint.


Wire brushed it as clean as I could:


Gave it a coat or two of high temp primer


and finally hight temp engine black paint


Here is where I got carried away with the excitement of how good it looked and forgot I was only supposed to have been mocking the top half.

[Low84]

I am re-installing the heads today. I got one side done in 102 degree weather and threw in the towel.

I did however pick up a good idea and decided to use the old head bolts similar to a tap set by cutting two nice grooves on opposite sides and used it as a way to clean out the bolt holes. In my mind it's less aggressive and won't cut into the bolt hole grooves and subsequently throw off the torquing spec's.



Look at all the crud it pulls out. While I was bed ridden bees found a way into the bolt holes and jam packed a few with pollen and other crap.

[Low84]

I also opted out of the drop member, because it was the amount of modifications and mainly cost affiliated with it. I didn't want to spend and extra grand on a vintage air unit to have clearance for the wheels and can't do without A/C, also had to grind down the pinch weld and might have had to modify the trans tunnel. Frankly this has already taken too long and I'm just wanting to finish it up and have a nice street truck.

So I decided for some new bushing all around and a McGaughys 4.5/6 drop

[Low84]

Oh and I also got these

[stepside83]

the gauges are cool where did you get the fro who makes them?

[Low84]

They're Dakota Digital and I got them from www.azproperformance.com great customer service!

[Hankster]

I can't wait to see this thing all together! Keep up the good work!

[2000Limited]

Nice, Any updates

[Low84]

[Low84]

[Low84]

Just saw there is no more edit button!! That's a shame I wanted to go back and make this more organized later on down the road.

Anyway as previously stated the 317 heads were swapped for 243's, they have been assembled and torqued down. The Trail Blazer SS manifolds have been installed as well. Since this engine was off an 05 Hummer it had the DBW throttle body, I instead replaced it with the older Drive-By-Cable throttle body (starting to second guess that decision but oh well). Well that created two problems for me:

First of which was this:

Early LS engines had the vent tube on the TB. When the switch was made to DBW Throttle Bodies the vent was relocated to the manifold. Leaving me with two vent tubes that were in the way of each other. I moved the TB vent tube to allow the TB to sit against the manifold properly. I have decided to just plug one with an old carb plug (got the idea from a friend) not the best aesthetically but it works.


Second problem is the cable bracket, my manifold doesn't have one. Bigger problem still is LSX swaps are HOT right now. I tried hitting every junkyard in the area and nobody wanted to sell it other than a package deal. I also tried buying two ignition coils and they wanted to sell those with the entire engine. Obviously neither of the two made sense for me.

The bracket my friend helped me out big time and gifted one to me, the coil packs, this being around a 50k mi engine I decided to buy the two new AC Delco replacements and get it over with.

The throttle body I bought off craigslist and didn't have the IAC ( Idle Air Control Valve) or TPS (Throttle Position Sensor). I bought and installed both today. Now I just need the screws to secure both, and that's looking to be another headache.

I'm pumped though, I have 4 screws and the spark plug wires to call this done!

[Low84]

BTW this is the 87 I sold like an idiot. I regretted the decision soon after:


I have since eased the pain with the purchase of this 86:

[85supersierra]

You got a nice build going on there. I just decided to go stepside with my 85 Sierra. Still debating air ride , waiting to see how yours goes. I will just stay static for now.

[Hankster]

You got that LS coming together Low84 .. Anymore updates?