Tomolu5's 09 z71 street truck sleeperish build

[Tomolu5]

Ok, so I found this forum while doing some research for parts compatibility, and it seems to have some traffic, soo I joined. I didn't find a whole lot of information about what I was trying to do anywhere, so I decided to figure it out for myself, and forged on. One aspect in particular, the 8 lug conversion, seems as though not too many people have gone this route, but I am in the middle of it, so hopefully this thread might help somebody else that is attempting this while giving them a real world example of the cost, but more on that later, I am going to start from the beginning.

 

My goals weren't terribly clear when I decided to tear into my truck, which is an 09 z71 1500 flex (lmg) with 3.73's and a g80 locker 4l60e truck. I knew I wanted more power, and a healthy sound, but not too loud, as I live in a neighborhood and usually idle my truck for at least 15 minutes every morning in the winter.

 

So the catalyst for this build was a substantial oil leak that I couldn't seem to find the source of without tearing into things. I'm not one to get very deep into any engine without trying to improve it on my way out. I did a little research, and after speaking with geoff @ engine power systems he recommended a cam for my setup (at the time I was planning to only do a cam/tune). We went with their "truck torque 1" cam, but he ground it on a 112 LSA, and springs pushrods and such. The cam is a 214/[email protected] .600/.564 112lsa. He said any more cam wasn't going to work well without some long tubes and more gear and a stall converter. The cam install also required that I delete the AFM, which requires that you replace the lifters and the valley cover. Some trucks came equipped with VVT, and this would have been deleted during this process as well if my truck had it.

 

Between the time when I ordered the cam and received it, this is when things snowballed. I did a few side jobs, and had the extra cash to pick up a set of pacesetter long tubes and an off road y pipe, an electric cutout, a CAI, and no doubt a few other things I am forgetting. While it was apart, and I was breaking the heads down anyways, I decided to do some minor port work, and milled .030" off the head for the slight bump in compression(approx half a point). Once everything arrived, we went to work, and inside of a weekend(had to swap out the pushrods a couple days later, the 7.375's we guessed at were a bit too noisy) we had it up and running, minus the dyno tune (I did a baseline pull bone stock for my own curiosity). Stock the truck made 250hp and 275 tq. After all was said and done, it made 329hp and 320tq. There was probably better numbers to be had, but we didn't wanna do 3rd. Gear pulls on the stock driveshaft. I have higher goals now, but I need to get the supporting mods finished before I give her any more power, the 4l60 isn't going to live very long, and I don't think the 10 bolt was gonna put up with me much longer. Pics in next reply. Feel free to question/comment.

[Tomolu5]

Forgot to mention this requires swapping to a 3 bolt cam gear, all of the components except for the springs, cam, and pushrods are stock gmc parts, mostly ls6 stuff

 

 

[Tomolu5]

 

 

[Tomolu5]

[Tomolu5]

So that brings us almost up to speed, I had planned to build my rear end, and front end with quality components and 4.10 gears, because she is still a slug off the line. I mean the power is great up top, she runs like a champ on the highway, does about 90 just resting your foot on the pedal, but still won't get out of its own way from a stop. It really needs a stall converter, but more on that later. So I came across a really good deal on a 2013 1 ton chassis with 4.10 gears, a 11.5" 14 bolt, and a g80 locker. Even with the unexpected costs I have ran into, I couldn't build my differentials to put up with me cheaper. The rear end swap required a 1410x1350 adapter u-joint, and the front diff. Is gonna require custom made spindles that I am currently waiting for. I still have to do a bit of fab work to line out the emergency brake, and my ABS and stabilitrack have gone by the wayside. I currently have wads of electrical tape shoved into the led pods behind my gauge faces so my dash doesn't look like a Christmas tree while I am trying to sort out the details of how to hack the CANBUS system to properly disable those systems. The only downsides that I have encountered so far is that the rear brakes, being much larger disks now need some proportioning adjustment, they lock up well before the fronts. I don't plan to mess with that until the fronts are installed, because the bigger fronts might just balance it out. Also for some reason related to the abs system being unplugged, if the truck sits for more than a few days the brakes need to be pumped a bit on the way out of the driveway, it's like the booster isn't working at first. It is very possible that I may have to remove the abs module entirely, and plumb it in old school style.

[Tomolu5]

My future ambitions include a 4l80e swap, a 3200 stall converter, and most likey a lsa blower with more cam. My goal is high 500s whp, and maybe mid 12's 1st. Yes I am aware that I could approach my goals with a diesel and a tuner, but that's just not quite what I'm into.

[GrumpyGhost]

Nice build, looks like a big headache/lots of fun!

 

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