95 C1500 build! Dropped, LS swap, paint!

[brianmcb]

Just wanted a place to document my truck build for myself, and maybe be able to help out a fellow builder.

Truck is still a work in progress, im waiting my turn for a paint job.

I bought this truck 3 years ago, it was a stock 95 with a 4.3 and a 5spd. My first project was to tackle the stance, so a 4/6 was mandatory. After that was done, the 4.3 left me less than impressed performance wise..but what do you expect for a 90s 2wd work truck!?

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95 rcsb, L33 5.3, hot cam, frost tune, 5spd, 4/6

 

[brianmcb]

4.3 was coming out asap...I paid 1300 bucks for the truck, and sold the v6 for 600 so I was laughing!
Bought an 06 5.3 from the wrecker with all the trimmings for my swap. Its the L33 aluminum block engine.

I tackled the harness myself. I also installed a howards cam in it, along with blue ls6 springs. Its basicily the same specs as the gm hot cam. 219/228 112LSA

Pretty big nest of wires that come out of the LS harness

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95 rcsb, L33 5.3, hot cam, frost tune, 5spd, 4/6

 

[brianmcb]

The motor mounts were a real treat. Anyone thats removed v6 frame mounts knows what i mean. After the old frame mounts are gone, regular ol sbc mounts are installed. I used Dirty Dingo adjustable motor mounts on the block. They are really nice.

Made some redneck fuel pump access door to. This ended up lookkng pretty good, i dont have any finished pics of it but you get the idea.

New flywheel was needed becuase i was going to be installing the stock nv3500 and stock clutch from the 4.3.

Lots of stainless and -6 bling bling for my fuel system. Only tricky part here was adapting the -6AN fittings to the stock fuel pump sender. Ended up finding the proper threaded metric adapters to make it all work perfect.

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95 rcsb, L33 5.3, hot cam, frost tune, 5spd, 4/6

 

[brianmcb]

I bought arp flywheel bolts, thinking they would be longer than the flexplate bolts that came on the engine. Nope. Same size. I ran them anyway.

Bought schoenfeld long tube headers also.

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95 rcsb, L33 5.3, hot cam, frost tune, 5spd, 4/6

 

[brianmcb]

So now the engine is in. Fits perfect. I picked up a fan from the junk yard. It was laying in a pile of parts beside a ford minivan, so i call it my minivan fan. I made some quick lower brackets for it, and modified the stock upper shroud to hold the top of the fan to the rad. This thing really does a good job. Its 16" and dual speed. Im running it off of two relays and it's controlled by the LS computer. I put a manual switch on the dash aswell just for peace of mind

I picked up a newer exhaust system off kijiji that was off somones 2nd gen camaro project. They were going big block and needed dual 3", so i bought the 2.5" system and cut it all up and made my own exhaust. Originally had the two dynomax bullets in the picture, but recently changed to a dual in/dual out magnaflow muffler.

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95 rcsb, L33 5.3, hot cam, frost tune, 5spd, 4/6

 

[brianmcb]

Led underhood lights

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95 rcsb, L33 5.3, hot cam, frost tune, 5spd, 4/6

 

[brianmcb]

One tire fire was no fun at all after this LS engine was put in, so the eaton trutrac was ordered up.

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95 rcsb, L33 5.3, hot cam, frost tune, 5spd, 4/6

 

[brianmcb]

Decided to turn some stainless pipe and nuts into a shifter handle.

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95 rcsb, L33 5.3, hot cam, frost tune, 5spd, 4/6

 

[brianmcb]

Got a cowl hood for the old girl, and decided somehow that it was a good idea to strip the paint off with my DA. Found zero rust which was awesome, LOTS of hidden damage from over the years. People will hide anything with body filler grrrr.

I smoothed the inside and outside of the tail gate, welded my roll pan solid to the bed, shaved the antenna off the fender and shaved the 3rd brake light to.

I made my own "flip kit" for the tail gate handle out of another tail gate i had laying around. Basicly uses the stock chevy handle and trim ring. I think it looks pretty clean.

Just doing some final body work now and hoping to get back on the road this summer !

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95 rcsb, L33 5.3, hot cam, frost tune, 5spd, 4/6

 

[Cheap Heap]

Great project so far. What color are you going to paint it?