clarion69374

So now I'm at the current progress of tying up the loose end in the engine bay and prep it for paint. I built the outer frame for my mirrors will try to get those finished soon with some pics. So far for the motor swap my checklist is the following.

Paint engine bay
Condense my wiring for the 4.3 (what a PITA)
Build the motor
New radiator
Install
Connect all plumbing & electrical
Shifter
Exhaust
Driveshaft

Still a hefty to do list but I'm getting closer. It's also been long enough that this truck has been 3 different colors so this week my buddy and I have been sanding and prepping so I can hopefully spray it all primer black by tomorrow. Eventually it will get a "nice" paint job but for now this will do

clarion69374

Been a little bit since my last post. Been super busy with my wedding work yadayada. Rebuild kit is in for the 4.3. Taking the block back to the machinist today to have the cam bearings pressed. Heads and manifold are built and ready to go on the block. Hopefully I can get my block back today and start on the rotating assembly. I will try to get some pics posted tonight.

RMP8080

Nice, I'm doing a swap to my 87 pickup using a 4.3 V6 TBI, yours is looking good, best of luck...Bill

clarion69374

Thanks man. For simplicity reasons the TBI is a good swap. Also very reliable.

I got the block back yesterday but ran outta steam by the end of the day so didn't make much progress but gonna hit it hard today and hopefully have the lower end done by tonight.

clarion69374

Alright I finally feel like I've made some progress with this swap. So far the motor and tranny are in the truck and I'm pretty close to done with the wiring. I will try to go through everything starting with the motor build.

clarion69374

So here we go from the top. As I stated earlier this 4.3 was a junk yard motor. Relatively clean and seem to have been taken care of but still it was inevitable that it was due a rebuild. No biggie.

Block and crank cleaned now it was time to do a dry bolt in of the crank to check all of the oil clearances. Everything checked out nice and tight so I was able to clean up the crank again lube it and torque down per factory specs



Next for clearance checks were pistons rings and rods. I check my oil clearance for the rod bearings and again everything came out tits. I then fitted each piston and adjusted ring gaps accordingly. The pistons I'm using are Keith Black hyper flat tops and per KB they call for a slightly larger end gap so that was taken into consideration as well. Oil pump and balance shaft were also installed.



Pretty

4runnedup

I got a couple questions first off are you gonna put t100 axles under the front to keep it 4wd and secondly arnt you scared of shearing that stock wimpy spindle? With a lt kit that you made why not make your own custom spindle or mod the stock one like a lot of people do and guesset the crap out of it for strenght and cumfort. Just my 2 cents

RMP8080

sweet, 4.3 looks good....

clarion69374

No. I'm keeping it strictly 2 wheel drive. One of these days I'll build a 4x4 runner for my wife. Who said the stock spindle is wimpy? Pretty good platform if ask me. By the way my spindles are gusseted and the heim steering is double sheared. As far as making "custom" spindle not everyone has the money for the tooling to do it RIGHT. Point proven with my brothers truck when some jerk off thought they knew how to make spindles and both of them broke IN HALF. I think I'll stick with what I have for now.

clarion69374

Thanks man stay tuned trying to find a hour to sit down and post but trying to get this truck together too lol

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

Just went thru your thread. You have great welding abilities. Looked like some really solid pieces you made. Great job.

4runnedup

I'm not trying to dog on your build at all I'm just saying if you have the skills to build that kit why not build spindles. I come from a desert racing back round and I wouldnt trust my safety going that fast through whoops with some gussets on a stock cast spinde also you can get snout blocks made for what 75 bucks and then build off that I would figure with those fancy coilovers it would be able to make it into your funds. But once again my 2 cents gl with the build

clarion69374

A valid point but have you personally seen one break that was properly gusseted? People have run these spindles for years and even the dime guys use em. They are a good low budget alternative to spending say $150 for the snout blocks, $200 ? In hubs, bearings, plate to build the spindles. See where this is going? Ya I bought coilovers but it was obviously a necessity. Some day when this turns into a RACE vehicle and not my DD/toy I'll build custom spindles for now I have plenty of other things to invest my money into. Thanks it's been coming along great and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon

clarion69374

Thanks Terry. I've tried to approach this project with the "build it stronger than it needs to be" mindset lol. The welds managed to turn out pretty clean in the process the fab shop I used to work for was super strict on weld quality which is a given but it engrained some good habits

clarion69374

Alright so back to the build. Before I could button up the lower end the cam, timing gears, chain and cover needed to be put on.

Everything timed perfectly



One last look at the rotating assembly. Everything lubed and torqued.

4runnedup

I have seen some broken before but yes I do agree if gusseted properly they will be strong enough and by looking at your fab skills I don't doubt that you didnt do it properly. Everything looks clean. Where I was going with those nice coilovers is that buying new coilovers I would think you might have a budget for the spindles cause when I did my low budgetest build I just bought a used pair of of coilovers saved quite a good penny. As I stated before I do like the work your doing and not trying to rag on it what so ever.

clarion69374

Lower end done now it's time for the heads and valve train. Since the computers for the 95 CPI are a little touchy and there aren't any tuning options I opted to keep the cam kinda mild. I got a custom grind hydro roller .488 lift int. & exh. 264 duration 112 lsa. Should produce some decent results without making the computer wig out. To complement the cam I needed stiffer springs so I'm running Elgin 943x springs also swapped over to Comp Cams roller tip rockers. It was also very critical that I ensured my valves were sealing so for good measure I lapped in all the valves.





I thought I took more pics of the heads by themselves but I guess not.

clarion69374

Thanks again. I considered getting a used set but I only wanted to buy em once lol. At the time I bought my fox's FOA wasn't producing anything because of the unfortunate fire but my original intention was to run FOAs so I could afford my bypasses for the front too. When I do the back ill probably sell the fox's to run all FOA

clarion69374

After I got the heads on everything seemed to go pretty quick. Since this is a complete rebuild it didn't make any sense to use the stock spider injectors and fuel lines so everything in the manifold was replaced.



Valve covers and lower half of the manifold installed



Top half on and everything torqued.

clarion69374

Now that the motor is basically built it was crunch time to get this thing in the runner. But first I wanted to get the pulleys on and headers on before she went in.