New radiator support I purchased some time ago.
Radiator Support (1225110) - $195.79 - RockAuto
Months later I've finally painted the other side of the block.
FINALLY landed my new cam from Texas Speed!
TSP Stage 2 4.8/5.3L Turbo Camshaft (25-TSPTurbo2-3B) - $421.98 - Texas Speed & Performance
Few more parts came in. I decided to order new rear main seal and front seal. The new covers that I bought have new seals on them BUT will be difficult to align the covers. I will remove the seals, align the covers correctly THEN install the new seals.
Chevrolet Performance LS Main Bolt Kit (CMB-08-0064) - $189.70 - Summit Racing
Chevrolet Performance Roller Lifter Kit (NAL-12499225) - $312.27 - Summit Racing
Chevrolet Performance Lifter Guide Retainer Bolts (NAL-12551163) - $15.96 - Summit Racing
Chevrolet Performance LS Valve Lifter Guides x4 (NAL-12595365) - $47.96 - Summit Racing
ICT Head Dowels x2 (ICB-551275) - $19.98 - Summit Racing
Mahle Cylinder Head Gasket x2 (MAH-54441) - $99.98 - Summit Racing
ARP Torque Lube (ARP-100-9910) - $18.99 - Summit Racing
ARP Cam Bolt Kit (ARP-134-1003) - $7.99 - Summit Racing
ARP Rear Motor Cover Bolt Kit (ARP-134-1503) - $19.99 - Summit Racing
ARP Water Pump Bolt Kit (ARP-134-3201) - $22.99 - Summit Racing
ARP Valley Cover Bolt Kit (ARP-134-8001) - $24.99 - Summit Racing
ARP Balancer Bolt Kit (ARP-234-2503) - $35.99 - Summit Racing
ARP Head Bolt Kit (234-4316) - $399.95 - eBay
GM Genuine Harmonic Balancer (19300488) - $72.79 - RockAuto
GM Genuine Front Crank Seal (12585673) - $14.86 - RockAuto
GM Genuine Rear Crank Seal (89060436) - $19.19 - RockAuto
I wasn't paying attention when I purchased the connecting rods. The plan was to reuse the stock pistons and just replace the weak connecting rods. The stock pistons have a press-in wrist pin and what I accidently bought was full-floating connecting rods. As you can see in the photos I can push the wrist pin out by hand and cannot install clips onto the stock pistons to hold the wrist pin in place. Darn (Sarcasm). Guess I will purchase forged pistons too. Luckily, found pistons that use stock ring land sizes so I can still use the new piston rings I've already purchased.
Summit Racing Pro LS Connecting Rods (SUM-LS6098945) - $499.99 - Summit Racing
Removing the tape from the day before. I missed a spot! Taped off the block. Attempted to use a wire wheel to knock off the old paint, not successful. So I used a flattip to scrape off chunks of the old paint. Coated with primer and finally a coat of black.
This is the rear main area of the block. You wont even see how good this came out when everything is assembled. But I'll know it's perty.
Picked up the block from the machine shop. He did such a great job getting it cleaned up! New plugs for the block. Honed cylinders. New cam bearings installed. Decked the block about 0.004"
I purchased an OBS Builders Guide which has some articles showing off installation of products. New products lists, etc. Inside there was an article of Boyd Coddingtons build for Eddie Van Halen. What makes this sad, Eddie Van Halen passed the day before I purchased this magazine. You will be missed Eddie.
FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY found a simple fuse/relay box that I liked for the 5.3 harness. I can make this water tight and will have a cleaner look. Purchased a Rear Main Housing w/seal. I must have blanked because I bought the alignment tool that is used to align the housing to the crank WITHOUT the seal. Oops.
MICTUNING Fuse/Relay Box (B075M4PRG2) - $14.98 - Amazon
Chevrolet Performance LS Rear Main Seal Housing (NAL-12639250) - $73.99 - Summit Racing
Summit Racing Pro LS Rear Cover Alignment Tool (SUM-900335) - $39.99 - Summit Racing
Getting the block ready for the machine shop. The lifters were stuck. Reason? Quite possibly this engine sat for a while before I purchased it. Few careful taps with a long flattip and they came out. Picture showing the new lift plate in action. I'M IN LOVE
Purchased a lift plate to make lifting the engine easy peasy. Purchased cam retainer and bolts. The revised design of the retainer REQUIRES new bolts because of countersunk bolt holes. Ridiculous how expensive these bolts were!!
Massive Speed Lift Plate (B00VSHL0T4) - $51.77 - Amazon
Chevrolet Performance Camshaft Retainer Plate (NAL-12589016) - $27.99 - Summit Racing
Bolts x 4 (NAL-11561455) - $35.96 - Summit Racing
New OEM piston rings because I'm still going to use the factory pistons. Put up some new signs in the garage. Fancy.
Engine Piston Ring x8 (12670787) - $263.04 - GMPartsDirect.com
Finally finished polishing the combustion chambers on the other head. Lapped the valves and assembled the head. Perty.
More goodies came in! LS2 Timing Chain, ARP Timing Cover Bolts, Camshaft bearings, rod bearings, main bearings and of course Plastigage.
Summit Racing LS2 Timing Chain (SME-143012) - $29.99 - Summit Racing Upgrading to a Billet Double Roller Set from COMP Cams
ARP Timing Cover Bolt Kit (ARP-134-1501) - $19.99 - Summit Racing
Clevite Camshaft Bearings (CLE-SH1814S) - $31.99 - Summit Racing
Summit Racing Connecting Rod Bearings (SUM-171000) - $15.99 - Summit Racing
Sealed Power MA Series Main Bearings (SLP-7298MA) - $78.99 - Summit Racing
Sealed Power Plastigage x2 (SLP-SPG1) - $5.98 - Summit Racing
Lapped valves on one of the heads and now assembling. Highly recommend using a tool like this Matco LS Valve Spring Compressor.
Valve Spring Compressor for GM LS (MST1656) - $30.95 - Matco
The MUST HAVE tool for any engine builder. Throw away those old ratcheting piston ring compressors and feast your eyes on this beauty. Brian Tooley Racing Solid Ring Compressor (Many companies make these, need to know your cylinder size). The tool is tapered on the inside. Just place into the cylinder, this allows the piston rings to be compressed evenly into the cylinder with a very, very, very slim chance of breaking rings. Genius.
BTR Solid Ring Compressor (BTC-BTRRC3780) - $39 - Summit Racing
All trunnions have been upgraded and ready to be reinstalled.
Installing the Brian Tooley Racing Trunnion Kit. Left hand is the upgraded trunnion vs OEM. OEM trunnions have limited travel while the upgraded one can physically rotate 360 degrees. Solves the possibility of valvetrain bind with larger lope cams.
Short and sweet pictures comparing the factory valve spring to the new COMP Cams valve springs. They are much larger and taller than OEM. With this spring you cannot use the factory type valve seals. Dummy me already purchased OEM style valve steam seals some time ago. Second photo left hand side is OEM style and right hand side is the new COMP Cams valve seal. Must use the COMP Cams spring locators also, seen in first photo (Black locator on "bottom" of spring).
Knocked a few things off the parts list on this order! Cam cover, rocker arm trunnion kit, valve springs, spring locators, valve stem seals, spring retainers, pushrod length checker and valvetrain lube.
Chevrolet Performance Engine Valley Cover (NAL-1277927) - $96.99 - Summit Racing
COMP Cams Valve Springs (CCA-26918-16) - $119.99 - Summit Racing
COMP Cams Valve Spring Locators (CCA-4705-16) - $44.99 - Summit Racing
COMP Cams Steel Valve Spring Retainers (CCA-774-16) - $56.99 - Summit Racing
COMP Cams Valve Seals (CCA-511-16) - $29.99 - Summit Racing
COMP Cams Hi-Tech Pushrod Length Checking Tool (CCA-7702-1) - $25.99 - Summit Racing
BTR Rocker Arm Trunnion Upgrade Kit (BTC-BTRTK001) - $115 - Summit Racing
COMP Cams Engine Assembly Lube (CCA-104) - $11.99 - Summit Racing
COMP Cams Valvetrain Assembly Spray (CCA-106) - $12.99 - Summit Racing
Purchased complete polyurethane bushings for all suspension components and body mounts.
Energy Suspension Master Bushing Set (3.18107G) - $308.97 - Amazon
New GMC front grill emblem. It's so perty.
Grill Emblem (12542030) - $75.72 - Dealer
Decided to put some character into the heads and splash some paint on them. Used a black ceramic paint, hopefully the paint will hold up to the heat. Dad also gave me some of his old analog meters and I found a perfect spot to show them off.
Dad bought me a couple neon signs for the garage. I also moved a 32" TV paired with a Roku. I haven't purchased anything recently for the truck but was itching to do something. Cleaned up the old 4.3 heads and inspected them. Sadly those are too worn to be used again.
Not bad for a newbie! This took me about three hours for one combustion chamber. Being SUPER careful not to scuff the valve seats. I used a combination of sandpaper cones from Harbor Freight Part# 62394 plus a Dremel with drum style sandpaper. After the power tools I followed by hand sanding with 60, 80, 120, 220, 320, 400, then wet sanding with 600 and 800. By this time it's stupid smooth and ready for polish if you want it. I wanted it. Why not?
Tested out a polishing kit from Harbor Freight (Part# 98707). BUT, before that is prep!! Sandpaper hands-on in stages with 60, 80, 120, 220, 320, 400. Then finally wet sanding with 600 and 800 (I don't claim to be an expert, I may be doing it wrong...but). This took about one hour because a flat surface is always easy. **KEEP IN MIND, this is just like polishing paint on a vehicle. If you spend too much time polishing in one area you will burn it. Keep a steady hand and move swiftly. I messed up in a few spots but you'll never see the mistakes haha** The Harbor Freight kit comes with Brown, Gray and White polishing rouges. This awesome chart found on Google below shows what else you can polish with Aluminum HB kit and what proper stages! And just like sand paper you want to follow the "color" rouge grits for polishing finishes. Fancy.
Cleaned the heads and look almost new!
I won't be using the factory springs from the 5.3 heads. Decided to use them to test a degreaser I mixed up. This is how one looked that soaked overnight. Looks fantastic!!
Disassembling the 5.3 heads and inspecting them. They are still in great shape.
Thanks to Brendan at LT1swap with his idea and guidance to keep the 4.3 harness and mate it with the 5.3 harness. This way the factory gauges, factory A/C, Cruise Control, etc. will still work. 5.3 harness gutted. I will wait til truck is together to route the harness and shorten/lengthen wires. I know for sure I will extend the new 5.3 fuses and relays to the storage box underneath the hood. I'm not satisfied finding a decent aftermarket waterproof fuse box, so that's where they will go. Check out September 26, 2020 post!
Cold winter won't stop me from buying new parts! Purchased all OEM trim, wheel arches and "GMC 1500" emblems. I was ecstatic that GM still offered the parts so I rushed to buy everything I needed before it's too late. This truck will look fantastic!!
Front Impact Strip (15574113) - $53.92 - Dealer
Body Side Molding Lower Rear x2 (15740097) - $32.22 - Dealer
Fender Molding Front Lower (15740119) - $37.92 - Dealer
Fender Molding Front Lower (15740120) - $37.92 - Dealer
LH Bed Side Molding (15740107) - $48.01 - Dealer
RH Bed Side Molding (15740108) - $52.54 - Dealer
LH Bed Side Molding (15740091) - $37.81 - Dealer
RH Bed Side Molding (15740092) - $40.54 - Dealer
Front LH Fender Wheel Arch (15546443) - $34.47 - Dealer
Front RH Fender Wheel Arch (15546444) - $34.47 - Dealer
Rear LH Fender Wheel Arch (15546459) - $32.97 - Dealer
Rear RH Fender Wheel Arch (15546460) - $34.47 - Dealer
Cold part of the year and finished in the garage for now. Truck wrapped up til Spring.
Wasted little time to get it on the stand and tear down.
HERE WE GO!! Picked up the 5.3
5.3 Engine with ECU and Harness - $650 - Local Seller
Gathered my Toyota and ASE patches to show off.
Purchased a cabinet to store chemicals. A fold out table to keep parts off the floor. Going to need room when I pick up the 5.3!
Found a 5.3 with ECU and harness for sale.
Was bored one day and decided to clean the firewall.
Starting to get crowded.
Buddies wife reupholstered my Harbor Freight stool for me. LOVE IT
Deterioration of cylinder walls and visible wear. 363k miles and WAS impressed to still see cross hatching in the cylinders, until I measured the cylinder bore. Tapered. Closer look at the crank, the rear crank seal was so hard (Never replaced) it cut HUGE grooves into it. Repair sleeve on top of the machine work just to keep the 4.3? 5.3 swap sounds like a better alternative like I originally planned.
Tearing down the 4.3 to see if it was worth rebuilding. Sadly, the engine is worn out. The OEM bearings are trimetal and you can see the wear patterns in them. On the third picture, the left most main bearing you can see a clear crack... poor engine wouldn't have run much longer.
Removed the exhausted 4.3
The truck survived the move and progress can move forward!
Same glass company came out to the house and replaced the windshield. It didn't NEED a windshield but the weatherstripping around it was in horrible shape.
Took the truck to a local body shop. Replaced rocker panels and cab corners. Fixed some damage to back window area and front bed panel. After that was done a local glass shop installed a tinted back glass. Perfect.
LS engine adaptors. New 5.7 clam shells to be installed on the adapters. New 5.7 motor mounts from an OBS to be installed on the truck frame. The 5.3 will be in perfect placement.
LS Engine Adaptors (N/A) - $115 - Street & Performance in Mena, Arkansas (No longer in business)
Clam Shells (?) - $?? - RockAuto??
Anchor Motor Mounts (2621) - $10.66 - RockAuto THESE WILL BE REPLACED FOR POLYURETHANE MOUNTS
Passenger side of truck after graphics removed. Purchased a Trickflow flexplate spacer. Don't believe I will use this as I will now install a T56. Original plan was to reuse the 4L60 transmission that was original to the truck.
Trickflow LS Flexplate Spacer (TFS-30675700)- $79.99 - Summit Racing
I've tried and tried to find the same decals to install on the truck but was unsuccessful. Hour or so later with an eraser wheel they were removed.
Earliest photo I could find of the truck with the graphics on it.
