About to ruin one of the nicest C3500's with an Ls.. Pictures

[louu]

I just sat the intake and ugly cover on there to make sure I had Hood Clarence. I think I might paint the cover the blue like the truck to continue the black and blue under the hood

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[89Suburban]

Awesome project hillbilly neighbor! Where in Joisy are you? I am in King of Prussia, Pa.

 

[Big Ray]

Well hopefully not, I guess I'll start a swap thread here since I have plenty of downtime away from the truck 3-4 days a week with that terrible thing they call work.

I have an absolute beautiful 1986 GMC 3500 with a big ol fo fiddy fo and T400 that's a smelly gas guzzling, gas spewing hunk of oil leaking iron that's gotta go. My daily is a 2002 silverado with a genuine Vortex engine made out of tornadoes and Bruce Lee movies. I put over 360k miles on that bad boy and would love to have that kind of awesomeness in my 86.

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That thing is clean!

 

[Roccaus]

I was also able to fit the stock AC compressor. One thing I'm having trouble figuring out is what suction and discharge hoses I need. I called some places around here to see if anybody can make me some but they don't think they can. Does anybody have any info on what I need to do? Or where to get the proper hoses ?

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What did you end up doing for your ac hoses?

 

[louu]

Man it hasn't been going good. I got it done and running about the end of May. It took a while to get it tuned because I used universal patcher to delete vats and rear o2's but if you ever use that program it locks up your pcm so no one can use hp tuners to do anything. I had to get another pcm and start over again. The engine is all tuned and sounds amazing with this cam... The transmission is another story. The trans was perfectly good it just was a 4wd one and I needed it switched to 2wd. I brought it to a place in downstown nj called trans pro on route 40 to get it beefed up and switched to 2wd. Unfortunately they have no idea what they are doing so it lasted about 40 miles and is completely smoked. I gave them almost $3000 to destroy my trans. I pulled the pan off before I pulled it out and it looked like the glitter from a hundred hobby lobbies exploded in there! It smells so bad I don't think the garage will be inhabitable till after people move back to chernobl. I brought it back to them Thursday and they acted (they won't be winning any academy awards) like that's never happened before. I'm gona give them a week and try to get my money back. There's no way I can ever relax taking this thing camping with the family. If it goes towing the camper in the middle of summer my old Bulldog will probably die in the heat and I'll have to go full Liam Neeson on those guys!

 

[louu]

What did you end up doing for your ac hoses?

Awesome project hillbilly neighbor! Where in Joisy are you? I am in King of Prussia, Pa.

I didn't get to the AC hoses yet I found a place that said they might be able to do it but they want to look at it and it's dead in the water right now.

I'm in south jersey

 

[wlwarnke]

Did you already make a bracket for the old AC compressor? Is that the old 75 pound compressor that takes 75hp to spin?

I’d swap it out for something like a Sanden. They take like zero hp to spin and are rated for atleast 6000rpm. Not to mention all the nice brackets and fitting available.

If running electric fans, add a pressure sensor in the liquid line.

The rest of the stock AC will be just fine as long as all your dampers are good and you remember to hookup the vacuum signal with an accumulator and check valve.

I know, nickels and dimes add up, especially towards the end of a project, but since the trans is out, you need something n to do, right?

 

[louu]

Did you already make a bracket for the old AC compressor? Is that the old 75 pound compressor that takes 75hp to spin?

I’d swap it out for something like a Sanden. They take like zero hp to spin and are rated for atleast 6000rpm. Not to mention all the nice brackets and fitting available.

If running electric fans, add a pressure sensor in the liquid line.

The rest of the stock AC will be just fine as long as all your dampers are good and you remember to hookup the vacuum signal with an accumulator and check valve.

I know, nickels and dimes add up, especially towards the end of a project, but since the trans is out, you need something n to do, right?

I was able to use the stock brackets, just bought the oem ls style compressor. Yeah I have 2 spal fans being run by the pcm, I think they are set around 200 and 205.

What are dampeners and where does the check valve go? The truck has all the original 1986 air conditioner stuff in there except for this compressor being changed to the new ls one and just that line set needing to be remade. It did have that giant old black compressor on top that was like the size of a small block chevy sitting on top of my big block chevy lol

 

[wlwarnke]

I was able to use the stock brackets, just bought the oem ls style compressor. Yeah I have 2 spal fans being run by the pcm, I think they are set around 200 and 205.

What are dampeners and where does the check valve go? The truck has all the original 1986 air conditioner stuff in there except for this compressor being changed to the new ls one and just that line set needing to be remade. It did have that giant old black compressor on top that was like the size of a small block chevy sitting on top of my big block chevy lol

The dampers that change airflow from floor to dash to defroster. These are vac controlled. The old truck should have had a “black ball” connected to a vacuum line between the engine and passenger side firewall.

Without that vacuum source, you vents will only blow out the defrost I believe. And without the check valve/black ball, at full throttle the vents will again only blow out the defrost. I don’t recall where the recirc damper will default to without vacuum.

 

[louu]

The dampers that change airflow from floor to dash to defroster. These are vac controlled. The old truck should have had a “black ball” connected to a vacuum line between the engine and passenger side firewall.

Without that vacuum source, you vents will only blow out the defrost I believe. And without the check valve/black ball, at full throttle the vents will again only blow out the defrost. I don’t recall where the recirc damper will default to without vacuum.

Oh yeah, I thought it was something in the AC lines or something I didn't know about. Yeah I had to snap off a little nipple on the 6.0 intake and put the vacuum hose on there. It works like it did stock and switches through all the different vent. This truck has the hydro boost asis for the brakes and steering so I didn't need vacuum for the brakes. The pump on the 6.0 is way better than the pump on the old 454 for the 15 miles I did get to drive it.

 

[louu]

I got my transmission back finally. Unfortunately with what happened with the trans and being that now I'm stuck with a trans that was built by a place I have no confidence in, I lost motivation to work on the truck. I had to buy another hundred and fifty bucks in ATF, New lines and a new cooler. I could have saved the lines but it's not worth my time. The cooler was the core stye so it would be impossible to clean out. I'm kinda pissed about that because that thing was really expensive.

 

[consti2tion]

I used a combo of the stock AC lines from the Square and the stock lines from the donor (2001 Suburban 2500) on my 86 Suburban, I also used the stock LS low mount compressor. I had hoses made up by coldhose.com for my aunt's 86 C10 LS swap.

Coldhose sells adapters for the Denso compressors so you can put threaded fittings on them. This dude has a google document with all the parts needed for the AC lines.

1985 C10 LS Swap Partslist

Sheet1 Category/Name,Price,Part Mark,Source,Notes,Purchased Motor/Drivetrain 2001 5.3 LM7,650,FB Marketplace 4L60E,450,FB Marketplace Alternator,130,advance auto Alternator bolts (2),15,GM 11516360,<a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GSF1DSZ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?smid=A2BJPMG06ZTO6H&...

docs.google.com

If you aren't confident they will be clocked into the right position you can at least use his parts list and mock them up on your truck, mark the locations with a paint pen and take them to Napa and have them crimped.

I have documented my 2 swaps on youtube. You're pretty far into your build but it might help with a couple things.

https://www.youtube.com/@cwsgarage

 

[louu]

I used a combo of the stock AC lines from the Square and the stock lines from the donor (2001 Suburban 2500) on my 86 Suburban, I also used the stock LS low mount compressor. I had hoses made up by coldhose.com for my aunt's 86 C10 LS swap.

Coldhose sells adapters for the Denso compressors so you can put threaded fittings on them. This dude has a google document with all the parts needed for the AC lines.

1985 C10 LS Swap Partslist

Sheet1 Category/Name,Price,Part Mark,Source,Notes,Purchased Motor/Drivetrain 2001 5.3 LM7,650,FB Marketplace 4L60E,450,FB Marketplace Alternator,130,advance auto Alternator bolts (2),15,GM 11516360,<a href="https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GSF1DSZ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?smid=A2BJPMG06ZTO6H&...

docs.google.com

If you aren't confident they will be clocked into the right position you can at least use his parts list and mock them up on your truck, mark the locations with a paint pen and take them to Napa and have them crimped.

I have documented my 2 swaps on youtube. You're pretty far into your build but it might help with a couple things.

https://www.youtube.com/@cwsgarage

That's amazing thank you so much!

I got the trans all back in and buttoned up. I got new headers that fit pretty good so I have to do a little welding to finish up the exhaust. I'll have pictures soon.

 

[consti2tion]

It is satisfying doing your exhaust system! I did it on both of mine and it was a beating without a lift but rewarding when you hear it.

 

[louu]

Allright, got her back up and running again with a lot nicer exhaust this time. I'll get some pictures of the bottom next time. These headers are a pretty good fit, I'll post the Amazon link. I wrapped the 2 tubes next to the starter because I can't fit a heat shield in there.

I'd say I'm pretty much buttond up except I got a better air filter but need a straight pice of tube and the one I ordered has that bend to them like they all have. Also the upper radiator hose is terrible. I'm gona go to the parts store and route through the hoses to see if one will fit better.

It sounds amazing with this cam. I can't really drive it yet because the trans shop said to take it straight there so they can check the pressure. I'm hoping I'll have time Friday.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BVFM237N/

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