Thanks for the response randy. I did more digging last night and concluded the same thing. It looks like guys use a mid-late 80s corvette radiator to set them back. So ill probably be giving that a shot. And it does looks like I will have enough room to sneak a 3.5 or 4" pipe in front of the alternator to the pass front corner
You don't need that big of an intake pipe. If you can run a 3" that is plenty. After all the throttle body isn't even that big on the ID
Stirring the pot since '05.... "When all is said and done... There will definitely be more said than done..."
i used the corvette radiator from the carshop and the fans they supplied. i recessed mine in the core and the fans are pullers. i have lots more room than yours like yours is now. i would suggest the corvette radiator for sure.
2001 trans am - dd all stock - 13.8 89 S10 - carbed 5.3, 700r4, 3.42s
Slowly making more progress. My buddy welded the oil pan up with some difficulty due to being cast and having had oil in it for thousands of miles. After checking the pan with water there were couple of pinholes so he will be tacking those up this week.
We preheated the pan first to avoid issue with cracking
Then got to welding
I didnt get a picture of the finished product before i sent it back to him so that will have to wait.
I went ahead and ordered an aluminum radiator for an 80's vette. I really only needed a stock one but i found an aluminum ebay special for 90 shipped so figured what the hell.
Anyways i notched out the core support and got the radiator set back, allowing plenty of space for intake tubing and puller fans now.
I was then forced to relocate the condenser to the front of the core support and i am still working on mounting for that, which may end up waiting till summer.
Finally, i got engine harness all spliced back together and a fuse/relay box splice in after what felt like thousands of splices. At this point it is ready for loom and then ready to put in the truck, where it will require about 10 more wires to connect.
I have also been messing around trying to find belts, hoses, lines, ect which can be time consuming with nothing being just off the shelf, resulting in many trips to the parts store.
The plan is to try and get this thing up and running in the next few weeks, but we shall see
Looks good Tyler! I know what you mean about time consuming. I thought my swap might take a month or two but ended up taking most of the whole summer. And I still have some loose ends to tie up yet. Keep chipping away! It will be worth it!
2001 trans am - dd all stock - 13.8 89 S10 - carbed 5.3, 700r4, 3.42s
I have been making some good progress over the the last week.
Got the welded oil pan back and installed in the truck. Which means that the engine has gone back in of the finally time ( I hope )
I also found a belt that works with the whole 4.3 a/c setup im using. I had to replace the idler near the alternator with a smaller diameter pulley to keep the belt from contacting itself at the top of the waterpump.
I got the harness loomed and installed on the truck but still need to hook up wires for the speedo, data link, etc.
I took the cluster out of the dash because the truck has a mechanical speedo currently so i will be swapping that out with an electronic version. I am even considering a digital dash swap while im at it
So here it is currently with the core support in place. I finished making fuel lines, power steering lines, and coolant lines. Also got the intake bolted down and started making the intake tubing.
I decided to order a set of shorty headers because i didnt really like the way the f-body manifolds fit. They would have worked but they just didnt fit quite as well as i had hoped with the steering shaft and the a-arm on the passenger side. The headers are some ebay specials but they look very similar to the car shop shorties and should be here this week.
Once i finish reworking the exhaust with the headers, it will just be a matter of tieing up the loose ends and filling with fluids before i can fire it up.
Last Edit: Feb 28, 2013 0:52:47 GMT -6 by thirdgen60
Post by thirdgen60 on Feb 27, 2013 17:06:10 GMT -6
Yeah ill probably only ask 20 bucks for them if you pay shipping or pick them up. The passenger side is pretty hacked up and the drivers side I dented in some for my steering. Just pm me if yore still interested
Last Edit: Feb 27, 2013 17:07:06 GMT -6 by thirdgen60
Well over last weekend a quite a bit happened with the s10. Had a few friends over to help speed up the progress and get the truck running. And heres a chessy video
My headers came in last week and they looked pretty pretty nice for an ebay piece. I did have to bust out the BFH on the drivers side header, because i am too damn stubborn to ditch the column shift and move the engine back.
Another pic of the beating
Also cut the extensions off my manifold that i had made and made them work with the headers in order to stick with the vbands.
Had to cut and tweak one side of the y-pipe and also install o2 bungs in the manifolds but here is everything together, after some hi temp paint.
Current state of the truck.
Here she is with the front clip bolted up and backed out of the garage under its own power
After a short test drive i found out that i may have some transmission issues. It shifts to 2nd fine but when it shifts to third it feels like the trans is just in neutral. I was hoping that since the truck that i got the engine and trans out of was wrecked that both would be in working order since it was obviously in running condition to get wrecked.
Anyways before i decide that the 3-4 clutch pack is smoked and it needs a rebuild, i need to check over my wiring to make sure there are no errors on my part there. I also found out that if you unplug the transmission wiring harness, it will default to 3rd gear so that is an easy way to find out if it is a wiring issue or mechanical issue. (ie unplug the trans connector and try to move the truck in D)
Im always open to other ideas though for all you transmission experts out there (Glen cough cough ;D)
There are still countless little things that need to be finished including fans, wiring, wideband, tuning, etc.... Pretty much just got everything together just enough to start the truck
Thanks for looking, Tyler
Last Edit: Mar 7, 2013 13:07:55 GMT -6 by thirdgen60
Post by thirdgen60 on Mar 10, 2013 11:53:12 GMT -6
Thanks a lot guys!
After some more troubleshooting, double checking wiring and scratching my head, i believe i may have found my transmission problem. The engine and trans came out of a wrecked truck and the first time i changed the filter i had to beat a dent out of the back of the pan. I didnt think anything of it a threw it back on. Well when i back the pan back off, i borrowed the scanner from my old work and used if to click the shift solenoids on and off and the 2-3 solenoid barely made any noise compared to the 1-2 solenoid. So i got to looking at it and found this, the 2-3 is on the right.
The plastic at the top appears to be cracked and smashed in. So with any luck i will go get a new solenoid and be on the road.
Last Edit: Mar 10, 2013 11:53:54 GMT -6 by thirdgen60
Post by thirdgen60 on Mar 18, 2013 21:02:46 GMT -6
Iv been pretty busy working on odds and ends since i fixed the transmission. I got the title switched over last Friday and iv run a few tanks of gas through it since then. Its a pretty fun little truck to drive around but i do have one complaint so far...... its too damn low in the front!!!! So i think ill be getting some different springs too help improve the ride and not drag the air dam on everything in the world.
So here are just a few pics of where its at currently. Still some spaghetti wiring to clean up on the drivers side but its coming along.
Found a puddle/water box and got a little carried away. Peg-leggin
Went to best buy Sunday and picked up a radio for it because two days of no radio was enough for this guy. Plenty of other things left to finish but i should have the electric fans and digital gauge cluster here this week which are the main two priorities right now. After that i need to work on my tuning skills and get this thing dialed in for some gas mileage.
Post by thirdgen60 on Apr 16, 2013 15:32:54 GMT -6
Well its been a while since iv had an update so here it goes. I got a digital dash off ebay and luckily i tested it before i cut all my gauge wiring to the stock gauges because it was junk and i had to send it back. But I finally got luck over the weekend and found a digital dash in a blazer over at hickory grove. Also added the crown jewel to the truck, aka ladder rack...... thats right a ladder rack
After a little hacking to the dash backing and wiring, here it is. I did a little bit of work on hp tuners to calibrate the speedo and tach and they are good as 1991 O yeah and the truck actually lost 70,000 miles in the process ;D
And here she is all racked up!!! The rack is actually so ugly that the photographer at cars and coffee would not take a picture of the truck HAHA mission successful. The fender also got some body work and primer put on it. Once i get some time we will order up some paint and spray it.
I have started the learning curve on hp tuners. I figured out enough just from research on the intardnet to log wideband data and make the corrections to the VE table to smooth out a few part throttle lean spots i had. But in the interest of better learning the correct way to go about things, i called in some back up. 300 more pages to go until im a pro
Finally just a pic of some of the last remaining parts in the line up. Im still running around with no cooling fans but with no overheating issue, my ambition to install them was lost.... nevertheless i should probably get on that sometime soon before the weather turns. Cruise control will be next on the list after that, for that luxurious feet free cruising ability on long road trips.
Until next time...
Thanks for looking, Tyler
Last Edit: Apr 16, 2013 15:47:02 GMT -6 by thirdgen60