Builds A 1994 80 Series gets an LQ9 GM V8 (2 Viewers)

[35inchoverdrive]

Looking Good!
Would the stock manifolds work at all?

Maybe I missed it, which manifolds are you using?

The answer to "What manifolds work," has a lot to do with what engine mounts are used and how you set them up. On this particular swap, we ended up using a set of headers from Hooker. They are a block hugger with a center-ish dump. Here are some shots to show how they fit with mounts.

There are probably several manifold setups that could be made to work, depending on how you set up your engine mounts and route everything.

 

[35inchoverdrive]

Stainless looks boss....

Neither of us are big on shiny stuff, but this exhaust turned out pretty enough for us to both make an exception.

 

[35inchoverdrive]

Everything connects to the existing stainless exhaust that runs from the cats back.

 

[35inchoverdrive]

...AND the starter can still be changed out with the exhaust in place. It does require a little twisting and turning, but it comes out through the top and the only other thing you have to remove is to unplug one of the plug wires.

 

[35inchoverdrive]

...mounting the fuel filter and finishing up some of the plumbing.

 

[BOOSTED80]

Nice conversion..very neat .Looking forward to more updates.

 

[Dirty Koala]

How far out are you from start up? A video is essential.

 

[35inchoverdrive]

We're hoping to fire it up early next week, but we've got a lot of buttoning up to do on the truck(things that aren't necessarily related to the drivetrain swap).

 

[RockJock82]

Do you plan on tuning it via HPtuners or going to run the tune from Turnkeymotors?

 

[Skrewball]

Planning to start with the tune from turnkey. They are using Howell for their street packages.

I'm expecting to have to play with it a bit with HPtuners.

We will keep this thread as up to date as we can until the truck leaves. After the truck is gone, we will report back on the mileage and any problems that may show up.

 

[rockrod]

Love the exhaust routing! It's getting pretty close to that first light off. Hopefully is as undramatic as mine was (turned key and started on first try).

 

[35inchoverdrive]

...slowly but surely going back together.

 

[35inchoverdrive]

...further assembly with the filter housing & intake tube painted.

 

[Finnyfam60]

Purrdy

 

[35inchoverdrive]

This is backtracking a little, but here's the heat shield that we fabbed up for the starter.

 

[Dirty Koala]

That is looking sexy

 

[35inchoverdrive]

We've taken a couple of short, hoodless, drives with the truck. We hope to everything buttoned up to the point that we can take the first serious trip(100mi) tomorrow. Right now the A/C is getting charged up.

I wish I was enough of a wordsmith do describe over the internet how powerful this truck is. The idle has a very sweet tone that continues up through light acceleration. Under moderate throttle(still in the break-in period, so we are going to wind it out just yet) the tone and the power really start to wake up. From the way it sounds, to the way it scoots(and will no doubt tow), this truck is everything we hoped it would be. Once we get some non-lame videos(I can't stand the shaky, dimly lit ones with an engine idling for a few seconds, or the in-cab drive videos that have no frame of reference for how quick the truck is), we'll post those up. We've got a supercharged/intercooled 80 with similar lift, tires & armor for acceleration comparison, so that should be fun.

 

[mikedamageinc]

Alright, can't wait to see some drag racing 80's! (I'm local if you need a cameraman, driver, bystander, etc)

 

[Summiteer]

Sounds amazing, can't wait to see some videos of it in action!

 

[Onefastrx7turbo]

Great job on this. I had a question. Would the truck intake manifold fit? the reason I ask is because I guess the truck intake is better for low range grunt while the car intake manifold flow better above around 3900 rpm if I remember correctly.