Builds Red Wagon 60 - 1 Tons, LS/SM465/NP205 Build (1 Viewer)

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Looks like a trailer is in your future. 14k bumper pull for sale in thclubhouse. Dedicated wheeling rigs tend to snowball fast. Especially super wide on tons rigs because they won't fit on a normal trailer... ask me how I know.
 
Yea I saw Johnny's trailer for sale, but that thing is honestly way overkill. The biggest problem is I don't have a truck to pull that thing with and don't have space to park a trailer that big.

Realistically, I'd like to get some more conservative 37s so I can drive it to events, etc and then worry about a truck/trailer later on down the road. The 38.5 TSL's that are on it now are basically brand new, but are 10+ years old, so those will never see street miles.
 
TSL + street = dancing with the devil.

The 40 had TSL/SX's on it when we got it and I wouldn't couldn't go over 30 without fearing for safety of myself and all on the road around me.

A narrower tire would clear the fenders. Most trailers are around 70"-72" between the fenders. If you keep overall width under that, you will be fine. honestly, an 18' car hauler would do you with smaller tires, maybe go for the drive-over fenders and call it a day.

Like they told me when I bought the WarPig. Its a gateway drug. Once you start down the rabbit hole, getting back out is tough.
 
You know where I am, you can use mine when needed.
It fits an LX470 :meh:

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Put that lift on! Is it running ok, or still issues with the tank? Southern Armature dipped mine for $200 and did a great job.

Been out of town a lot. Slave went south and haven’t put new one in. Probably need tank done. Need to put the lift on. Maybe I’ll find time.

Hijack over. Your wanton looks like fun
 
TSL + street = dancing with the devil.

The 40 had TSL/SX's on it when we got it and I wouldn't couldn't go over 30 without fearing for safety of myself and all on the road around me.

A narrower tire would clear the fenders. Most trailers are around 70"-72" between the fenders. If you keep overall width under that, you will be fine. honestly, an 18' car hauler would do you with smaller tires, maybe go for the drive-over fenders and call it a day.

Like they told me when I bought the WarPig. Its a gateway drug. Once you start down the rabbit hole, getting back out is tough.
Yea I think an 18’ ft would be ideal. These beadlocks that are on it now have a pretty wide offset and mixed with the 1 tons it’s wide. I need to get some factory Chevy/dodge 8 lug wheels with ~5” BS to help the trackwidth and get some more streetable 37-40s.
 
Long overdue update, but I was able to get a decent out of work done on the red wagon over Christmas/NYE break.

Motor Mounts:
Turns out the old frame motor mounts for the SBC were a little off for the 5.3. So I ended up making a 1.5" spacer to put on the drivers side to help push the motor over to the passenger side and get it centered. As it sat without the spacer, the PS pump was getting into the steering box and the driver side manifold was hitting the frame. The spacer helped all of that. I had to take the engine out a few times to get everything squared, but it is in there for the final time.

Transmission:
I also got the SM465 bolted in. If you remember earlier, I had a 2wd version I got for cheap as a spare. But, I ended up sourcing a local 4wd 465 that has the np205 adapter and 10 spline coupler bolted to it. Got the clutch fork an throwout bearing all in and setup. I'm going to run a stock Toyota/Aisin clutch master and slave for this. I will need to make a customer bracket/adapter for the slave cylinder and run a new clutch line (was missing).

Next up is to get a trans cross-member made up. I've got some Energy Suspension poly mount bushings on the way that I will use.

Fuel:
I also got the newly dipped/coated fuel tank installed, along with fuel pump, and all the 6AN fuel lines run and connected to the stock 5.3 fuel hard lines. I used Russell twist lock line and fittings. Also replaced the tank to fuel filler neck fuel line and all the smaller vent hoses.

Wiring Harness:
Next, I finished up the stock harness and got everything cleaned up and re-loomed. I ended up buying a Current Performance SA-1000 stand-alone fuse/relay module. I've got the harness partially laid out on the engine and most all connectors hooked up. I will be wiring up all the C1/C2 wires to the new standalone fuse/relay harness.

Power Steering:
Ended up pressing the easy button and ordered Cam's LS PS hose adapter. Great fit and finish and fast shipping, thanks again!

-I'm terrible at taking pics, so I'll get some later today of the progress. Work on Red has slowed down over the last week to get ready for CCWS 3.0. Trying to get some maintenance/work done on my blue 60 and 80 (not sure which I'll take to Windrock yet).
 
Got the stock GM engine harness all complete and wired up to the Current Performance Fuse/Relay block. My main hurdle was figuring out where to put the "12v signal" and "Crank Signal" wires from the CP block into the stock Toyota ignition. After some digging and looking at schematics I figured it out. Now the fuel pump primes when ignition turned to Run and the engine turns over like it should when cranking. My biggest hurdle to firing it up was finding the elusive Drive by Cable throttle body.

I've been struggling to find a DBC throttle body at the local pull-a-part for months now, so I broke down and ordered one on eBay. It finally showed up Wed night, so I hooked it up and the 5.3 fired right up the first try. I will say, I was pretty nervous about the initial start-up because of all the modification I did to the stock GM harness, but the work really isn't that bad to deal with.

My main issue now is that it will die immediately when you let your hand off the key. I have ~60 psi fuel pressure when cranking and have tried a few other troubleshooting things (unplug MAF, unplug TPS, check grounds etc.). After a lot of googling, It seems like VATS (anti-theft detection) wasn't turned off on the computer. I sent it off back in December to a reputable guy and asked him to remove VATS and a few other things. It could have been an oversight, I'm not sure. But since he lives half way across the country, I sent my computer off to a buddy in Huntsville for him to check it over and make sure it's removed. If it is removed, then I have some more digging to do, but I'm really hoping that's the issue.

Here's the rest of my to-do list to finish up:

Engine:
-Add coolant and burp
-Wire in OBD2 port


Front Axle:
-Clean/grease driver side wheel bearings and install into hub
-Lug studs in new rotor/hub and add new hub seal
-Set spindle/hub preload
-Change front diff oil
-Mount calipers, pads, and brake line


Trans/Tcase:
-Cut off old/existing trans crossmember brackets
-Build transmission crossmember w/ poly mounts
-Replace tcase to trans adapter seals
-Source new bolts for tcase to trans adapter (3/8-16 1.25" x8)
-Change fluid in trans and tcase
-Source tcase rear output flange
-Measure for driveshafts
-Modify 60 trans tunnel cover

Clutch:
-Build slave cylinder bracket to mount off bellhousing
-Run hard/soft line from master cylinder to slave cylinder
-Bleed clutch and test throw

Throttle Cable:
-Modify 60 pedal
-Install GM cable and bracket

Power Steering:
-Remove 60 low pressure hose and hard lines
-Install Hayden power steering cooler and lines
-Add fluid and burp


Air Intake:
-Move overflow tank
-Install aftermarket air intake
 
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Quick update on the start then die issue...

Ok I’m about 98% sure I found my issue why it’s dying immediately.

I sent my ECU to a buddy to check over VATS. He confirmed it was removed. Now I’m really bummed bc I know it’s got to be something with my wiring or a bad sensor/connector.

I have been going over connectors and sensors, grounds, etc for the past couple days making sure everything was hooked up right. I couldn’t find any issues. Well, this truck was originally DBW and I converted it to DBC (you have to add an IAC and TPS sensor). When I went to add new pins in the Red/Blue ECU connectors for each of these sensors, I must not have pushed them all the way through in the connectors. Tip: you should hear the pin click into place.

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I popped off all of the red/blue connector covers to check the pinouts and noticed 7 pins were not sitting up flush like the others. I pushed them all back in and gave them a tug, all good now. I also made note of the color and number of each loose pinout, so I could cross reference to what sensor they went to. Low and behold they were all wires going to the newly installed TPS and IAC sensors pinouts.

Only bummer now is my ECU is still with my buddy and I can’t crank it up to try it out. He’s shipping it out today, so I should have it tomorrow. Stay tuned...
 
Got the ECU in the mail tonight. Plugged it in and ole Red fired right up. What a good feeling and I’m so glad I rechecked my pinouts in the ECU connectors.

Most of the stuff to finish up now is axle and driveline related, plus exhaust.

We’ve got a shakedown run planned for end of March at Hawk Pride with some fellow AL guys who are finishing up engine/suspension swaps and all of us will be on 37”+ tires. I can’t wait to get it out on the traila and see what it’ll do.

 
Got everything wrapped up minus the exhaust and getting the tcase shifter extended/bent.

K30 sm465/np205 stock trans crossmember I found on eBay with poly mounts, then welded up some angle to the frame for brackets.

For the clutch setup, I ended up ordering a clutch slave cylinder bracket from AA that’s designed for chevy bellhousings and a LC slave. I organically ordered the 85-87 60 slave and the rod wasn’t long enough. So I got an earlier 80-84 slave with the longer rod and drilled a hole through the clutch fork to get the throw I needed. All good now, got to drive it around the block for the first time last weekend.

Biggest hang up after getting clutch finished was the driver side ls3 camaro manifold dumps right over the slave cylinder and there’s no way you could have run exhaust. So I had to order an ls3 corvette manifold that’s a mid-dump. Got it in today and it fits great, but I forgot to order a stupid flange and gasket for the corvette manifold (it’s also a 2 bolt flange, but about 1/2” wider than the camaro manifold. I ordered some up tonight with 2 day shipping, ouch.

Last thing I noticed this week was how shot the shock bushings were. After removing all the shocks, all of the bushings crumped into a million pieces. The shocks were beyond shot. New ones on order.

Once the new exhaust flange gets in (hopefully Tues) then it’s off to Acme to get exhaust finished. Once I get it back I’ll install the shocks and bleed the brakes and clutch for the final time.

Friday, headed to Hawk Pride for break-in. Lot to do between now and then.
 
Red made his debut at wrench day yesterday. About a 30 minute round trip from home and it ran and drove great.

Next step is to work on the suspension and get it leveled out. The rear spring pack is pretty worn out (stock 60 springs).

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I'm still looking for some stock rear 60 springs!
@BamaHeel is about to put the lift on his 60 and I’m sure he’d sell you his stock rear pack.

Im going to put in an AAL to the stock rear pack first and see what it does.
 
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This build is pretty much done. Only few small things I have left are to extend the t-case shifter and put some heat wrap around lunch lines.

I ended up swapping out the rear spring packs (they were original 60 springs and pretty inverted). The pics above are with the new springs, but I have half of my garage packed inside with a ton of weight. Without the weight it sits about 1/2" than the front. Ideally, I want to remove a leaf in the front pack and take a leaf out of the rear pack as well. It sits up way to high for my liking currently. Last pic is it stored in a buddies warehouse for the next few weeks.

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With that RTT you’re #OLAF

looks good
Not sure what #OLAF is lol

But I can tell you that's basically a paperweight up there bc there's no way you're getting inside of it with the ladder on it now...I need a roofing ladder to get up there :lol:
 

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