I got the trans installed and put enough miles on it to start opening her up.
It runs much better with the higher stall converter.
New problem is traction and wheel hop. Looks like some Caltracs will be in my future.

 

Very nice, I bet she'll burn through tires like nothing.

 

 

Great work ChuckNTruck. I have a 2000 Bravada. I love the remote controls for the radio from the steering wheel. Unfortunateley one of the four controls is out. The clockspring is the problem. They no longer are made by anyone. Salvage yard only solution, but they are just about non existant. Would a later model steering column and wheel, with these controls from the factory, be useable with the new type wiring harness? Still, your truck is aewsome. Look forward to more posts!
Thanks,
RTJ49

 

Awesome build and a lot of good information for an LS swap! I've been wanting to do this in the future with my build but looks like the engine bay is fairly busy. I may not be able to fit all that in there with my new shock towers and coilovers

 

You should be able to fit it without many issues. This engine is not much bigger than a 4.3. Mine looks really tight because of the A/C, ABS and everything else thats not really needed. I just wanted all of the creature comforts possible for it to be my daily driver.

 

Got it to the drag strip for a handful of passes, but i was having issues with high intake air temps of 130-150 degrees so the computer was pulling a ton of timing out during my runs. my fastest run was only 13.5 @97Mph with the hood off the truck at the end of the night. Not bad for weighing 3800lbs, but she can definitely go faster.

 

After fighting the high Intake temps at the dragstrip i decided to experiment with building an airbox out of sheetmetal. It seems to keep the temps lower than the open intake, but being made of sheet metal it still gets hotter than i would like.
Im going to buy some ABS plastic sheets and build another one to see it if works any better. If anyone has any ideas please feel free to let me know. When my intake air temp get high this thing is pulling as much as 6-7 degrees of timing out to protect the engine and id like to fix the temps rather than tweaking that portion of the tune.

 

Do you have any room to make a custom channel? Coming in from the vent on the right of the liscense plate, going up to the air intake. Maybe even incomperate the one on the left side as well, could use a mesh to keep debree out.

 

I was thinking about that, but id like to keep the air intake up higher if possible because i drive this every chance i can and we get a lot of standing water when it rains here in Texas. Id be afraid of sucking up water if i put the intake too low.
I have seen a truck where someone built custom piping down through the drivers forward inner fender and to the drivers fog lamp position. But thats very low for my liking.
I was also thinking about going to a cowl hood to get some of the heat out from under the hood at low speeds and stops, but i love how this thing looks stock and sneaky.