Builds A 1994 80 Series gets an LQ9 GM V8 (1 Viewer)

[35inchoverdrive]

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.

Just looking at the truck, I don't see why the truck intake would not fit, but we have not personally installed the truck intake setup into an 80. I think either one or both rockrod & RockJock82 installed the truck intake into their 80's so maybe they will chime in.

 

[RockJock82]

The truck intake fits but requires you to drop the motor down further in the frame rail for hood clearance. You do loose some bottom end with the car intake but doubt you will even notice it. Both intakes are great options. Plus the car intakes have cooler covers IMO

 

[35inchoverdrive]

We're about to head out on the first serious test drive. It's about 130mi round trip to the Capital Land Cruiser Club meeting. Off we go...

 

[35inchoverdrive]

We've got just under 200mi on the truck now. We did a lot of monitoring on the way up to the Capital Land Cruiser Club meeting, but didn't want to change any aspects of the tune on the first real outing.

 

[35inchoverdrive]

We are about 700mi into the test drive and this truck is rocking out. We also did some other bells and whistles on the truck and this one is too cool not to share. We picked up a Foxwing Awning from the guys at Southeast Overland.

It deploys and packs up super easy...

...and it's HUGE.

 

[35inchoverdrive]

...more shots of the hugeness...

It also clears the Wagongear windows just fine.

 

[RS6tofj80]

LOVE those windows ....... and the damn motor !

Any plans to dyno ? seriouly think I need to do this once I get rack and misc sorted....

 

[Lionsgarage]

Any chance you would share the Griffin radiator number along with upper and lower rad hoses?
I am gathering parts for my 5.3/6L80 swap.
You 2 do nice work! Thanks for the build thread.

 

[OGBeno]

If you guys are down south right now, perfect timing to stop by ONSC's run this weekend at URE.

 

[cipstinger]

This is just amazing I love it

 

[35inchoverdrive]

LOVE those windows ....... and the damn motor !

Any plans to dyno ? seriouly think I need to do this once I get rack and misc sorted....

The Wagongear windows are super handy.

A trip to the dyno is never a bad thing, but we don't have one scheduled for this truck. We've monitored everything with HP Tuners and everything looks good blasting down the road. The only thing we ended up changing were some of the characteristics of the transmission shifts and the temp at which the fans kick on. Dyno tuning would be an option for any customer that wanted it on a future swap.

We'll be delivering it on Saturday, and we've been driving the tires off of it to make sure we get rid of every squeak, rattle and drip.

 

[35inchoverdrive]

Any chance you would share the Griffin radiator number along with upper and lower rad hoses?
I am gathering parts for my 5.3/6L80 swap.
You 2 do nice work! Thanks for the build thread.

The radiator we used isn't 80-specific and you have to modify quite a few things to use it. I also think that the radiator hoses would be different on your 5.3. It's sortof like the "what manifolds fit" question from earlier in the thread. If you're using a slightly different engine with different accessory positioning, then LOTS of parts will change. In order for this build thread to helpful as a blueprint, you would have to use a Turnkey Engine Supply LQ9 with the same accessory layout. Hopefully we'll be doing some swaps in the future with takeout(junkyard) engines and then we'll have a better handle on what works with those. It takes very little to change the parts/labor requirements for an engine swap.

 

[35inchoverdrive]

If you guys are down south right now, perfect timing to stop by ONSC's run this weekend at URE.

We'd really like to(I can't really think of an event that I wouldn't want to attend...), but we're at the limit of what events we can go to and still keep our shop open and our marriages intact. We've got the Overland Expo, Appalachian Rendezvous and Fall Crawl coming up fast. We cashed in some chips last weekend to go hang out at the Bro Lite Cumberland Cup. We're delivering this 80 to the customer this weekend, so we've REALLY got to do some family time until the event-pocolypse of October.

 

[OGBeno]

with takeout(junkyard) engines

Nooooooooooooooooo!

 

[mikedamageinc]

Nooooooooooooooooo!

Why? Iron block LS engines are a dime a dozen in the yards and don't take much to freshen up and make a ton of power.

 

[OGBeno]

Junk=Junk.

Spend all that money to have craftsmen create a thing of beauty and use a junkyard engine. Worst possible choice.

Just my opinion, as is yours.

 

[johnalex]

Junk=Junk.

Spend all that money to have craftsmen create a thing of beauty and use a junkyard engine. Worst possible choice.

Just my opinion, as is yours.

+1. The engine is probably the least expensive thing in this build.

 

[Kernal]

What rpms do you see running at 70mph, any mpg estimates yet? What does a turn key conversion like this cost?

 

[rockrod]

Junk=Junk.

Spend all that money to have craftsmen create a thing of beauty and use a junkyard engine. Worst possible choice.

Just my opinion, as is yours.

worse possible choice is keeping the 1FZ for any reason. A boat anchor is a boat anchor.

 

[rockrod]

The Wagongear windows are super handy.

A trip to the dyno is never a bad thing, but we don't have one scheduled for this truck. We've monitored everything with HP Tuners and everything looks good blasting down the road. The only thing we ended up changing were some of the characteristics of the transmission shifts and the temp at which the fans kick on. Dyno tuning would be an option for any customer that wanted it on a future swap.

We'll be delivering it on Saturday, and we've been driving the tires off of it to make sure we get rid of every squeak, rattle and drip.

Awesome job guys. You really knocked it out of the park with the quality of this build. You should be very proud.