M4wd&Fabrications
Projects place => Projects Section => Topic started by: M4wdFab on October 10, 2023, 09:45:11 PM
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brought this home today. (adventure)
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decoded vin tag
this guy is an 1952 L112
127" wheel base
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coming up blank for anything thats a 127" ish wheelbase modern GM
hmm
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2002-2009 CHEVROLET TRAILBLAZER,EXT 129"
2002-2009 GMC ENVOY, ENVOY XL 129"
2004-2012 CHEVROLET COLORADO 125.9"
2004-2012 GMC CANYON 125.9"
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shit 4 or 5 cyl motors or DOD v8s bah
might have to chop a van chassis!
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rolled off trailer today, noticed clutch operated fine as a brake on and off to a locked motor in gear.
pulled valve cover, nasty
pulled head, not bad
5 pistons locked solid, one shows movement.
no breaky free with lots of bang and PB
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rolled a van chassis into the lift bay to look at for this
needle scaled about 3/4 of it. frame has a couple holes. might abandon and pull engine/trans ect
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considering using existing frame for a quick and dirty ls swap and go. need to put this thing on lift and look at it.
i have a 4.8/4l60 ready to go, or i have the big cam motor and another 4l60 i could patch together both 2wd
almost grabbed a service body for another flat build also not sure.
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still procrastinating about this build to find a 127" wheelbase solution but need to get doing something as im caught up on shop work right now 100%
i have a clean PA van 8 lug chassis that has an 8.1 EGR motor on it (need to pull and store for customer), and the frame (free) looks easiest i have to shorten down to 127".
then i have the cam motor 5.3 on a stand, another 4l60 with a blown 4.3 connected to it that needs to be swapped on, or just pull a 4.8/4l80 from another rotten van chassis that i think is too far gone to save, let alone fix / shorten. it could be fixed and used for the next chevy truck / flat bed build though i guess.
lots of musical chairs and moving things around, lost interest this morning with current temps ha
need more HD pallets
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express van 8.1 chassis pulled in. Motor removed and pallitized.
removed all frame crap, ready for a good cleaning and map out the sectioning to 127" WB
might need to rotate steering box and looks like it needs front shocks at least
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chassis half needle scaled in 5hours today. should be finished tomorrow.
new air compressor pump head still keeps up with IR needle scaler pretty good
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all de scaled except rear axle. what a job. but it looks good!
need to remove 9" out of center frame section and re weld like factor GM section weld.
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frame separated at factory rear joint. 8" removed and re welded same as factory so 135" to 127" i need for the L110
big cam 5.3 mated to 4l60
need to get some swap mounts or fab some. i thought i could magic some adapter plates with what i had, almost succeeded but some how mounts are about 1" to wide. need too look at it again.
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clean work. nice job.
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planing to start to pull cab and box tomorrow from L112. new motor mounts came in so i should be able to drop the 5.3/4l60 on to chassis also to mock up a trans mount adapter to where an 8.1/4l80 use to sit in 2001 chassis.
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box and cab pulled, started to fit to new chassis
new shocks installed front of new chassis
box fits mint on new chassis, will have to cut firewall on pass side head area but not too bad and should fit up nice.
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Did the shocks fix the camber issue?
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yes all good tight and right now.
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body within an inch where i want it.
massaged fire wall instead of cutting for LS head clearance
sold chassis in less than a day for 250$ guy left deposit traded a mint front bumper instead of cutting this one off. win/
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desired ride hight and fitment achieved. should be able to fab up the rest of mount needed and then pull for plumbing / paint.
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all body mounts done
alum drive shaft tig'd up
tank fitted
should be ready to pull for frame paint soon after jeep work this week then start on plumbing and final assembly.
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need to grab a 1350 to 1410 ujoint
Moog 499
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Didn't you have issue with your big cam 5.3?
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ya it sucked for rock crawling. idle tuneing was near impossible. even with a converter change.
it should be fine for a street car. mechanically there was nothing wrong with the engine. also a motor change on this truck would be 5x easier than a motor swap on the buggy.
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cab and bed pulled for final welding / chassis paint.
first time spraying HF bed liner with the under coating gun, not bad. could have used a bit more than a gallon but made it work. was on clearance for 33$ a gallon
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body final bolted down on rubber.
steering box is going to be odd. for some reason the older express vans they have the box input pointing way up straight unlike any other express van or truck i have done. might have to get creative. doesnt look easy to rotate box on frame of course.
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most recent picture shows this one well. some other Express vans have a different config with some angle on that input shaft?
This definitely looks like it'll need 2 joints to get back to a normal truck column area. Agreed it doesn't look straightforward to change that box position. Sector shaft is almost dead horizontal with a pitman arm straight down?
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ya i have been procrastinating dealing with the steering box.
they changed how the box was mounted with the body style change in 2002. i need to confirm i cant just swap to a newer box but im guessing its not that simple.
it will need 3 joints and a jack shaft, or a chain drive lol
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1350/1410 conversion joint installed, rear shaft in
front steering column modifyed and shafts built. just need to mount heim support.
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steering finished, works good
steering plumbed
Rad hung and mounted
trans cooler mounted
amazon harness came in today (i know ill regret a 70$ LS harness)
i guess fuel system and a battery box are next to start on some wiring.
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got bored with this so it got pushed to storage end of barn for a couple months?!
i guess really i didn't feel like going to J&J in cold haha
grabbed everything for motor i needed, pushed over to lift bay this afternoon.
coolant sensor, map sensor, cirp belt installed
transmission shift lever, cable, dash PTO shift style knob fab'd and installed
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fuel tank mounted
working towards a battery box, fuel system, wiring to fire this thing so it moves under its own power soon
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fuel lines run to motor, fuel tank vent, Filler neck done
battery box / battery mounted
LS oil pressure and coolant senders mounted
fuse box and PCM mounted, turn signal switch mounted
starting on wiring to get motor fired this week.
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going to be a cool truck. 8)
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i guess i need to slap a tune together or find something for the bigger cam shaft in attempt to be closer
big cam
DBC
4l60
red/blue
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wiring and plumbing for engine finished and first crank attempt was a fail.
looks like its not happy with crank signal agreeing with cam signal. hopefully its just two pins swapped on the ebay harness and it will make spark then ha.
dash gages look sweet and fit right in! super happy that the ones i use on chevy trucks (that are a pain to fit) just bolted in with no mod. Ill probably get another set for my other international truck. GPS speedo is nice.
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more time wasted on this thing and no fire.
my scan tool i cant seem to find CMP signal for this model year. tried swaping pins and i do get a few pops now.
verified fuel pressure, injectors are free and flowing fuel. checked PCM is spraying fuel on #1 and #2
see cranking RPM (crank signal?) but have Cam signal code.
i assume its trying to spark because i have some pops and bangs.
bah
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pushed this thing back into the work bay for the first time in months.
pined out some things and did some diagnostic work.
found MAP and CMP senor plugs (same plug) swapped on engine after pinning out sensors to PCM
fresh 5.3 base tune and got it fired finally! starts, stops, moves, steers.
i was about to give up on this ebay harness. be good to get back working on it this fall!
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intake plumbing started
full exhaust done today. 3" flowmaster sounds good.
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3rd gen tahoo seats mocked up
petals shortened and adjusted.
need to get going on this and finish it up- i guess to list in spring?
Hit list
wire up dash gages
front grill tin work
front lights
mount front bumper
fab rear bumper
rear lights
finish light wiring
mount side steps
address fender, firewall, bed floor rot issues
door cards / headliner cardboard replacement
mirrors
engine cam tuning