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Truck Project, What was Old is now New


D-17_Dave

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Promissed a few here I'd get some pics of what I've been into lately. I posted some time back about my purchase of an 84 pick up. I then said it would undergo a few "minor" alterations before it became my regular used ride. It took me sometime to get things all lined up in order to get started, but I really wanted this project done before cold/bad weather made it miserable to work outside. My shop is barely big enough to get the truck into. So tight in fact that I barely have walking room around it with the door shut. But, I think the results turned out well. It started as an 84 3/4 ton 2 wheel drive camper special with a Big Block 454. That's all great and stuff but the gas mileage was killing me as a daily driver, plus anyone who knows me going to Fire calls and such I'm definately a 4x4 guy. I bought this truck due to the custom interior and it being a west Texas truck it is absolutely a rust free truck. The truck now has a 90 model grill and HID headlights. Is now 4x4. Now has a Vortec 350 V8 in it. Fuel injected, Comp Cam, heads shaved to bump the compresion a touch. Custom tune on the computer to match the cam, tranny, gear ratio. 700R4 4 speed tranny. All new 2.5" custom dual exhaust with headers and Flowmaster mufflers. I really can't describe all the stuff I had to do, (cause I probably can't remember it all). I can tell you that I couldn't locate a frame for it so I had to chop the frame ahead of the rear spring hanger on the front axle. This required the cab and bed to come off. The whole fuel system was changed to fuel pumps in the tanks and too a pressurised fuel system. Once I had the engine mods done I mounted the engine in the frame and disected the wiring harness so I could interface the new system with the exsisting wiring in the truck. I also rewired the rear of the truck while I was at it. I used the radiator from the 454 so I should never have to worry about an overheating problem. I also used the engine oil cooler and Huge tranny cooler. I used the Fireston air bags on the full floating rear axle and made a custom mount for a B&W pop up goose neck hitch. About all I have left to do is tweek the computer a little and mount a couple sets of Perlux fog lights front and rear. I'll hunt up some old style Diamond Plate bed cap rails and coat the bed with Rhino liner. It's hard to imagine just how long this truck is with 4 doors and a full 8 foot bed. The ride is great, everything works perfect and besides the pep the new engine has it sounds pretty good. So here it is.






Here's a couple shots of the engine conversion.




I tried to stay as close to OEM setup as I could so parts wouldn't be an issue. I was able to do most of this in around 2 months on and off. I'm pretty pleased with the results.
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Wow that engine swap looks factory! Prior to converting myself to Fords, I was a fan of the c/k series trucks, both big and small blocks. Ihe only issue I see is that it must have a huge turning radius! My issue here in NE was the rust factor as fast as I could fix it it would rust up again, of course I did lots of snow plowing so that didn't help much!
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Turning radius is a little more than normal but it's much better than I thought it would be. Unfortunately with the heavy cam and the completed truck grosses out at almost exactly 6000lb's the mileage is right at 15 right now. Hope to do a tad better when I finish tweaking the computer.
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Looks great!! For a bowtie anyway sm06sm06 15mpg for a full size, crew cab, long box 4x4 is pretty darn good mileage already. Heck, if I was able to get 15mpg I'd be jumping for joy!
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454 is long gone. Sold it as it was a virgin engine. Guy that worked for a race team was building a mud bog race truck and wanted a big block.
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Vortec models used from 96-2000 I think are the same model. These still use the old style 350 with cast iron heads with Seqencial fuel injection. Not a true multi-port setup but definately an improvement over the TBI setup. Only differance in the base engine is a roller cam and a single roller timing chain with a narrower gear so you have a rotor for a crank position sensor. This setup os out of a 98 Suburban.
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  • 2 weeks later...
My comment is probably so far off that he is LHAO right now. How am I supposed to know these things? I am quite a bit older than you are Dave.
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