86 M1008 LM7 Swap

[LateOnTheBrakes]

I got an instrument cluster from the junkyard and a mechanical fan. I wanted a tach, oil pressure gauge, water temp gauge, etc.

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[LateOnTheBrakes]

I dug into the diffs to change the fluid and see what gears I had. Whoever worked on this truck previously was a moron. Didn't properly seal the front diff from water, and the front pinion depth was so far off it ate into the carrier housing.

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[LateOnTheBrakes]

More shots of the radiator and fan, the wired engine, and the weights on the driveshaft. Is welding on washers a thing people once did?

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[LateOnTheBrakes]

Next was getting the reworked gauge cluster back in the truck so I could verify the health of the engine.

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[LateOnTheBrakes]

After getting the gauge cluster in with new bulbs the nighttime visibility was not impressive...

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[LateOnTheBrakes]

The front diff was leaking in water through the yoke, so I had to find the correct part (slinger?) to get it back together.

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[LateOnTheBrakes]

I bought a clutch switch (neutral safety switch) that I haven't figured out how to install to this day, bought the fuel pump and housing from an R10, and decided to finally install an exhaust that would carry the fumes past the cabin.

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[LateOnTheBrakes]

Spent some time with quality of life upgrades with the glove compartment and my fuel injection wiring.

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[LateOnTheBrakes]

I spent some time trying to figure out why the steering wheel did not have full travel to both sides, why the horn didn't work, and where the hell the clutch switch was supposed to install.

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[LateOnTheBrakes]

Working on some exhaust tubing and trying to coat the headers seeing their are bare steel.

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[LateOnTheBrakes]

At this point in the build I was not happy with the wiring or the tune. The drive by wire pedal position sucked, the truck would stall when I pushed in the clutch because it was looking for a VSS signal from a modern transmission, and I did not trust my homemade wiring harness.

This is where things took a turn with the build. I was happy enough with the truck and engine that I did not think it was going to grenade and I did not think the wheels were going to fall off so. I finally decided to start buying nice, new parts instead of making things work on the cheap with parts from the junkyard. First step was to bite the bullet and invest in a nice wiring harness and drive by cable throttle body.

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[LateOnTheBrakes]

The Holley system was so much cleaner, nicer, and let me go back to the original gas pedal with a tweak of the fulcrum to get wide open throttle. The K&N filter was too big and interfered with the radiator shroud and idler pulley so I had to swap to a short Spectre filter from Advance just to get clearance.

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[LateOnTheBrakes]

Next, I went down the rabbit hole of trying to find a cooling system I was happy with. I ended up buying the 454HD cooling radiator from NAPA, and got a Tejas Steelworks shroud, SPAL fans, and the radiator top mount that Tejas suggested.

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[LateOnTheBrakes]

The overall packaging with the new radiator, stock radiator hoses, and thinner fan shroud looks much better.

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[LateOnTheBrakes]

Next on the list was getting some replacement wheels, tires, installing shock because apparently they were missing, and getting some softer leaf springs for the front of the truck.

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