I needed the oil pan from the 5.3 for the 6.0 so i popped that off to swap it over and found all kinds of wonderful glitter inside.



Nice and clean and ready for the 6.0

 

Finally got my parts in to put the engine back together.
Measured and ordered the correct pushrods today, so as soon as they come in i should be able to slap the engine in the truck and fire her up.




I present......the polished turd.




I also upgraded the trunion bearings on this one. Im trying to prevent the previous failure.



While i had it out, i pinned the crank to prevent it from slipping.

 

Since im still waiting on the last couple parts to put the engine back together and while i have her torn apart, i took your advice Lesmyer and picked up a set of caltracs and 2in drop split monos.
I had been looking at these for some time now to help prevent axle wrap and wheel hop.

 

Will it level out with the front?

 

Its currently sitting on 2in drop blocks, so it should stay at about the same height....I hope
Im planning to take the blocks out and be able to just run the drop springs.

 

I think you will like them a lot. They are an ingenious invention for leaf springs. Very cool how they work. Couple of things........ You will need to get shorter shocks for the rear when using the drop springs, as the position is changed from when using drop blocks. Cal-trak makes adjustable rear shocks for the drop spring application. As I understand it these are the old Rancho shocks, rebranded. I have a set. The other is to correct the driveshaft angle when dropping the rear 2". To do this you need to raise the transmission 3/4" (IIRC) at the rear mount. Jags that Run makes an aluminum spacer just for this purpose. I also have this.

For driveline angles, I use a free app on my cell phone called Clinometer. Having the centerline through the engine be parallel in all ways to the centerline through the pinion, with 1 degree opposite angles at the two u-joints is ideal for crusing. For drag racing I have the front u-joint angle at 1 degree and the rear at 4 degrees, so the driveshaft angles theoretically go equal under full power when the rear yoke moves upward. I just bought a nice little HD USB camera I can temporarily mount underneath the vehicle this year, and see exactly what is happening during launch and the rest of the run. I saw a video of this one time and it was very cool to watch. I think I can use the adjustment on my Cal-Tracks to control this.

On engine swaps, don't forget the driveline angle also goes right and left. You can check this using a cheapo bore-sighting laser that is made for 7.62x54R rifles. Because it has a rimmed cartridge, the 7.62x54R has a relatively large flat surface on the end. Just turn on the laser and hold it against the end of the output shaft on the trans. Make sure the laser hits your rear yoke where you want it. You can rotate the lazer tool and see if the dot moves. The center of the movement is your true orientation.

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the info Lesmyer. Ill have to check all of the angles when i get the engine back in. I like to use the Tremec app and i also use a angle gauge to verify.
But i was able to get the springs and caltracs installed today. I had to shave some metal off the bumpstop mounts but they fit great.
Ill have to order some shocks to fit properly.

 

Looks good

 

Yep, looks great! But the CalTrac logo will give you away to a certain crowd! No one spends the money on CalTracs unless they are pretty serious. I invite anyone who is interested to look up the physics of how these traction devices work! For leaf springs there is no comparison to these and the old style traction bars.

This is a factory 8.625 rear, right? FYI I ran my 8.625 with wrinklewall slicks and close to 500 HP for several years until I bought a trans brake (trans brakes are death to spider gears with slicks but no one told me that before - silly me). The S10 axles in these are short and these are 30 spline axles - so quite strong in comparison to most stock axles. Also the 8.625 rear has bigger carrier bearings same size as a 12 bolt. So I think you would be OK to really hook it up as long as the shock to the drivetrain is not too great. Wrinklewalls would be better than radials for this situation - that's what the wrinkles do. Take up the shock so they don't spin and waste motion. I use Hoosier 10.0x28.0 slicks on 15x8 Drag Lites. If you sit and spin - you lose - it's really difficult to make up that lost time! But where in North Dakota is your track?

This build is getting better and better as you go!

 

Ill have to take a look at slicks in the future depending on how these drag radials run. Do you run screws and tubes in your slicks or do you just run tubeless?
I think foot braking is what has allowed me to run for years on the stock rearends in these trucks. My trans builder could have put a transbrake in this trans, but i opted to not have it for fear of breaking more stuff. Haha

The track im looking at is in Glyndon, MN right next to Fargo, ND. But i have not been there yet. I was racing at Alamo Motorplex in San Antonio, TX when i lived there last year.