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

[74NovaMan]

After that, I need to get it to the frame shop and then back in for alignment.

[DanStokes]

Yes, they CAN be too low. Truck hits the bump stops on one particular lump in the pavement here in town but is fine nearly everywhere else so I live with it - he has a Belltech lowering kit.

Dan

[milner351]

this is a great build thread with allot of great information on parts that work and went together smoothly. I'm personally not a big fan of super low vehicles, mostly because I've lived in the midwest my whole life and our roads are generally crap, so - lowered usually means fixing broken stuff.... ALOT. I hope you find the happy medium for this truck so it will fullfill your styling desires as well as retaining the utility of the truck. I really like the idea of air bags on the rear - that allows you to keep it lower than stock, but pump up the air and still tow safely, makes a lot of sense to me.

[SuperBuickGuy]

this is a great build thread with allot of great information on parts that work and went together smoothly. I'm personally not a big fan of super low vehicles, mostly because I've lived in the midwest my whole life and our roads are generally crap, so - lowered usually means fixing broken stuff.... ALOT. I hope you find the happy medium for this truck so it will fullfill your styling desires as well as retaining the utility of the truck. I really like the idea of air bags on the rear - that allows you to keep it lower than stock, but pump up the air and still tow safely, makes a lot of sense to me.

move? or, to quote a former great contributor... Samsonite?

[DirtyWhiteBoy]

I really like this project, however it has convinced me NOT to go LS in mine just yet.

I'll save my LS virginity for phase 2

[74NovaMan]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I spent some time with my project spreadsheet yesterday categorizing the different expenses and came up with some interesting results. The first stage is just general truck costs that would have been incurred if I had not LS Swapped it:

79 CHEVY TRUCK - NON LS SPECIFIC ITEMS
2,775.50	Purchase Price incl Tax Titile & License
611.85	Misc Parts, Tune up, Grille, Mirrors, Radio
208.59	Rear Bumper
105.00	Tilt Column & Seats
197.89	HVAC Rebuild
72.31	Inner Fender & bolt kit
600.38	Brakes & Front End Rebuild
641.76	Tires
811.80	Lowering spindles/springs & Flip kit
172.82	Body Mounts
168.14	Shocks front & rear
110.00	Sway bar front
1,168.87	Posi, Gears & Bearing kit
1,272.27	Dual Exhaust
750.00	Trans Rebuild
9,667.18	Truck Total

[74NovaMan]

Here is the LS Swap breakdown:

79 CHEVY TRUCK - LS SWAP ITEMS
1,050.00	Donor - 2003 Suburban
(1,782.00)	Parts Sales - 2003 Suburban & 79 C10 only
328.64	LS Swap Headers
490.00	Fuel System - Tank, pump, lines, filter etc
306.00	LS Motor mounts, crossmember & ECM bracket
245.00	Second LS Motor mounts & crossmember
322.25	Fans, shroud & wiring
271.70	Water pump, idler relo, hoses, belts
343.00	Junkyard 5.3
761.29	Drive Shaft
690.56	Misc LS Swap - See Separate List
3,026.44	LS Swap Total

Breakdown of the Misc $690.56:

Misc LS Swap Items
107.57	Wire for harness rework
24.31	Temp sensor 12551708, tx111 or tu280 (3 Mfgs)
13.73	pigtail - pt2139, s619 or 1p1065
28.40	Oil Pressure sensor - AC Delco19244932
7.38	Weather Pack connector
15.83	Fuse/relay box
25.00	Battery tray bracket - drivers side OE type - reuse tray
54.01	O2 Bungs and welding
89.65	Relay/fuse box, oil & temp senders, connectors
71.00	Gas Pedal
58.00	Air intake tube and elbows
93.00	Instrument Cluster 1990
52.88	Oil Pressure Sensor, Brake switch, Steam Port Fitting
25.00	Relays - Bosch - Amazon
10.85	Evap Delete - Ebay
13.95	metric adapter - Autometer 2268
690.56	Total

[74NovaMan]

And then we get to the scary number. The 5.3 rebuild cost for the motor that is not assembled:

5.3 LS REBUILD
260.41	Cam Swap
299.47	Gaskets, Oil Pump, Timing Chain
156.86	Crank - Polish & Bearings (Crankshaft Supply )
465.29	Rods Scat - 2-350-6125-2100
476.21	Pistons Forged .005 over
98.92	Piston rings
176.59	Head Bolts (ARP 134-3609)
126.52	Intake Valves - Summit
27.81	Cam Bearings
73.81	Knock Sensors
49.23	Knock Sensor Harness
81.53	Head Gaskets Felpro
210.99	Lifters
238.42	Rockers
664.27	Balancing, honing, cam bearing install, block prep
550.00	Heads - Machine work - and clean misc parts
3,956.32	LS Rebuild Cost on Motor Not Used

[74NovaMan]

My plan when I bought the junk yard motor was to run it for a while then swap it out for the rebuilt one at a later date - selling the JY motor to recoup some $. If I was on track with that plan the truck would have the new motor in it and the one in the truck would already be sold. As it is now, the motor in the truck seems to be running very well. It has 60lbs of oil pressure and probably enough HP & torque for what I want it to do. This has me wondering what I should do with the rebuilt mill after assembly. We've tossed around the idea of using it in the Caddy but we are not sure that is the right choice. We've got time to make that decision though as the soonest we would start blowing the Caddy apart is next year in July (after the 50's weekend). The Nova is also another option, but that runs so well and is so generally "right" I really don't want to mess with it that way.

Stopped at the frame shop yesterday and he is confident it can be fixed. Unfortunately, he is crazy busy and doesn't know when he can get to it. I am hoping for sometime before spring. My new front springs showed up a couple of days ago so that is this weekends project. Stay tuned for revised ride height pictures.

[SuperBuickGuy]

need new project for 'unloved' motor you're welcome

[74NovaMan]

need new project for 'unloved' motor you're welcome

I had actually though of that. The Caddy is next up though and I don't have room for everything I have. Maybe I can trade the 5.3 for lumber to build more garage!

[74NovaMan]

Its been 2 years since the last update. Shortly after the last update I swapped out the front springs and instantly had an uneven condition left to right by a noticeable amount. I played around with spacers and finally ended up about 1.5" up. iirc - the springs are supposed to be a matched set but I have a spacer in one side to get it level.

[74NovaMan]

I have been unsuccessful in getting it to the frame shop and have been wondering lately if I got it aligned at all. Based on the following picture, the answer is kind of:

[74NovaMan]

I did this in November of 2021 after I got the front height "right". It tracks well and the tires look ok as far as wear goes. In the 2 years I've had it on the road I've logged about 6,300 miles. After we got the front end squared away we added the receiver hitch to the back and started doing truck stuff:

[74NovaMan]

Did a bunch of miles for project Annie since then as well: