74 NovaMan's 1979 Chevy Truck - LS Swap - 5/6 Drop

[74NovaMan]

This weekend, I hope to tackle the transmission leaks, the remaining valve cover, and the seat. I took the blankets off the seat to wash them and am planning on securing them to the seat in a more semi-permanent fashion. Here is what it looks like without the blankets:

[74NovaMan]

Next up were the new heater and radiator hoses. No pictures of any of that but I did test the coolant and while it looked decent it only tested to about 15 below. I got rid of the coolant I drained out and added half a gallon on concentrated coolant and filled the rest with 50/50. Only notable was that the upper radiator hose connection was smaller than the hose by a significant amount. The hose looked to be a size or two larger than it needed to be to fit properly. I looked at the old hose and it looked like that one had the same issue but it had clearly been on there a while so I clamped the new one down with a new clamp and called it good. I suspect that the radiator is probably a replacement and that the inlet is not the correct size.

After that was done I tried to start it up to set the timing and enjoy the fruits of my labors. Of course it ran like crap and did not want to stay running. After a while, I figured out that i forgot to reattach the PCV hose at the base of the carb. Runs great now! In other news, the temp gauge works much better when the wire is connected to the sender. This only leaves the speedometer to fix as far as gauges go. (I also desperately need to replace the cluster lens)

[74NovaMan]

New distributor and wires in:

[74NovaMan]

Seemed a bit scrungy but not horrific. I still need to do the other valve cover gasket because I only had the one laying around. Next up was swapping the distributor and installing the new wires. Fortunately I had an extra distributor laying around (an accel distributor I bought in 2004 for the Nova but did not use in the latest iteration) as the one I pulled out of the truck seemed awful wet under the cap.


Edit: You can also see the remains of one of the valve cover grommets in this pic.

[74NovaMan]

Next up was replacement of the PCV valve, air filter and breather. The air filter and breather went fine but I had to cut the PCV out of the grommet. The grommet must have been original equipment as it was rock hard and had also been painted when the valve covers were done. Fortunately O'riely's stocks the grommets, so I picked up 2. During the PCV debacle, I wound up removing the drivers side valve cover. Here is what I found under the cover:

[74NovaMan]

Started with the spark plugs. Most came out fine, but a few took some effort to remove even after breaking them loose. I used some anti-sieze on the new ones to hopefully ward off future issues. This one (#5) was the toughest one to remove, so much so that I contemplated leaving it in because I was worried about stripping the hole.



The others looked like this:

[DanStokes]

So far it looks like pretty minor stuff. Good to see it coming along.

Dan

[74NovaMan]

I spent some time under the hood assessing needs and convincing myself not to pull the motor and transmission. The plan is to get the leaks under control, address basic maintenace issues, and get it running and driving well for the time being. Before Pics:

In this pic I was trying to show the starter wires going around the outside of the exhaust pipe. The steel sleeve is still there but it is laying on the exhaust pipe (it should go between the pipe and the block.)



New wires are on the list. This one has been chewed on by something.



That zip tie was the only attempt to keep the wires off the manifold.



Quadrajet with rubber supply line. I suspect this carb is not the original as the kick-down cable does not connect to it and the throttle connection is odd as well. It did seem to work well outside of that so I will probably use it for a while. I will probably try to replace the rubber supply with steel at some point though.



Little coolant leak. My Nova does this over the winter as well. I believe that the intake is a cast iron factory piece that was painted silver. (Ironic because I recently painted the aluminum intake on the Nova orange.)

[74NovaMan]

After that, I crawled under the truck to assess the transmission leaks. The puddle extended around the front of the passenger front tire and more that half way to the rear end. I need a pan gasket for sure and probably o-rings for the speedometer take off, dipstick tube and kick-down cable. This fell on me while I was under there:



I'll be ordering a full set of body mounts for about $140 from LMC in the near future.

[74NovaMan]

Last weekend I started with the mundane (maintenance) stuff I mentioned a while back. First upgrade:

[74NovaMan]

Thanks for the input. Just went out and checked the truck with the extreme drop in mind. It appears that 3" in the front is probably the most I can get away with given the current rim and tire combo. That leaves me needing 5" in the rear for an almost level rake. I'm guessing a shackle kit will get me close.

[1badmonkey]

i drag the hitch on my suburban ALL the time. Im super excited to see this truck slammed!!

[DanStokes]

I dropped the Dodge 4" front and 3" rear (the most commercially available). It looks REALLY LOW when parked next to a stock 2500. I occasionally hit a driveway apron or some such as I pull out (I think it's usually the hitch which sticks out a bit) but really no issue. I say "go for it"!

Dan

[74NovaMan]

you are still planning to "work" this truck?

i do believe in the old saying "praise the Lowered" , but that is LOW for a truck you are gonna work.

how are your roads?

and above all, DO IT

Truck will need to pull a loaded car trailer once and a while. Roads are good.

I'll have to check on the clearance for the stock rims as I do want to keep them.

[1badmonkey]

also, please verify the backspace requirements for that spindle. your stock wheels might hit the lower control arms