Thanks for the replies. Raising the engine will mean raising the trans. With the rear flipped the driveshaft is at it's limit I think and wouldn't want to push it further really. Plus I think this will serve what to look out for for future swap attempts.

On a side note looks like my mounts are pretty much the same as the ones on JTR website. They claim the engine is shifted over to the pass side to help clear the steering shaft. Perhaps that's why the accessory bracket interferes with the frame. Had we known ahead of time would have made a proper notch and boxed it in and retained ac. I chose to delete it because I didnt want to guestimate how much to notch. Oh well.

 

Wow, this thread is full of good lead-the-way info, nice build so far!

 

thanks again, because well a picture is worth a thousand words, here are some:

teaser of the lt1 in swap progress:


throttle cable hybrid of lt1/vortec:



trans cooler installed on inside of rad, we installed the slim fans as pushers mainly due to clearance:


this item was ordered thru the local parts store, i believe its meant to hook up some sort of temp guage, it has a npt thread so we installed a nipple so we can run a coolant line thru the tb and the reverse cooling heads:


now i know JTR sells a one piece part for this purpose, but i dont have time to wait for parts, LOL.

 

?? flipped? Assume pinion shaft above center of diff, then, so.... are we talking about driveshaft length?

A point here:

The trans output shaft and the rear diff pinion shaft must be parallel to each other so that each driveshaft end universal runs at the same angle. Usually fixed by rotating the rear axle housing.

- sure you know that but just to get it on record for other readers.

 

sorry should have been more clear, the trailmaster 5" lift along with other 5" or more suspension lifts incorporate a flip kit for the rear end. pinion angle as been set already. with the flip kit i know the drievshaft comes out a little from the output of the trans more then stock, raising it an inch may or may not increase. i know pinion angle can be re done but it honestly didnt want to open up another can of worms.

that and having to rip the motor out again then prop the trans and fab spacers was not what i was looking forward to do. especially since i bought a relatively bolt in mount kit. but hey the option is out there for future swappers.

im mainly doing this because i had the spare lt1, the 4.3 had blown gaskets and with the 33's the truck needs some ***** ( i know gears would have remedied it too but just need an excuse for a v8 swap, lol ).

 

here is the upper rad hose installed with the T, unfortunately i can help anyone as to which rad hose this is, it was grabbed off the floor with a bunch of other hoses. i can however let people know that i did order the rad hose for the 93-97 f body which i had googled would work but was too short, due to the body lift im sure. the stock upper fan shroud from the blazer was cut as well, mostly to just secure the rad in place.

 

lookin good. How was the oil pan clearance during all this? Ive read that can be a problem with these swaps. Also did it line up with the bell housing smoothly?

 

bellhousing lined up perfectly, using the stock b body oil pan, the suspension lift drops the diff so there is no need for the modified pan.

heres my last pic entry for the weekend, the other rad hose. we had a heck of a time figuring out which one to use, so many different ways from searching, the most common was to use the f body and or b body hose. but locally no parts suppliers stocked them for some reason. so we had to improvise. due to the body lift it makes things tight. we ended up using a rad hose from a 96 s10 rwd 4cyl pick up. lined up perfectly and had to chop some up by the thermostat housing. the gates part number is 22037 in case anyone needs it. the outlet on the rad is larger then the thermostat housing. the hose was sized for the thermostat housing, but with some lubrication and massaging it was forced over the rad outlet.

 

Loving what i see here. cant wait to see a video of it firing up!!!!

 

Thanks, same here. Were still waiting on the harness from current performance. Just a heads up to anyone planning this swap, the wait time is about 8 weeks for a harness. Were almost done in the engine bay, next week were planning on building an exhaust and then parking it while we wait for the harness.