opinions on my LS swap setup

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TotalyHucked

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Danggggg those Recaros look good! I've been wanting a set of those, you lucked out finding a blue cloth set! Color me jealous!
 

Ricko1966

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I did the LS thing a few years ago and it's by far the best thing you can do to these trucks. Here's what sticks out to me:

- A) Pick a better cam. That cam sucks in a heavy truck. My buddy's got it in a suburban and my god is it a dog.
- B) The 706 heads are a good choice to bump compression. They won't hurt flow (unless you're turning it 7500+ and then any OE head is going to be limited)
- C) The only way to know for sure if your cam will work with the heads/not have PTV issues is to check PTV yourself. You can also talk to Texas Speed and they can give you a rough yay or nay but the only way to know for sure is to check it yourself
- D) That AR-5 isn't going to last long if you plan to beat on it. Drive it nice and hopefully never hook up, with a good clutch and you'll be ok. I have a Vengeance Clutch dual disc in mine with a T56 and it's awesome
- E) Stock truck manifolds don't clear the frame. Get headers or the Hooker manifolds
- F) You should already be drive by wire being an '06 engine. The TBSS intake is a good power bump on any LS
- G) You lost me on the computer side. I used the donor Envoy E40 computer that came with my engine and my buddy/tuner tuned it with HP.


For the suspension, you're going down a rabbit hole nobody else has been. Also, there are literal thousands of 5x5 wheels, there's no benefit whatsoever to go to 6-lug. Most 6-lug guys with the older trucks convert to 5-lug. Also, that 2000 Silverado rear end won't have the correct mounting pads or anything to mate up to your leafs most likely. Not to mention it'll have the GM "Gov-Loc" that is not at all desirable (it's called a Gov-bomb for a reason) and a terrible rear disc design that never works well. I would highly suggest just using your original 10-bolt and building it up (I did mine with 30-spline stuff from Quick Performance that should be good through 6-700hp) or pick up a 9-inch from QP that's set up for these trucks.

I'm running a ~425hp 5.3 (LH6 with flat top pistons, ~10.2:1 compression, 799 heads, TBSS intake) with a TSP Bald Eagle N/A cam, T56 Magnum with a Vengeance Clutch dual disc, 4" custom driveshaft and the original 10-bolt built as stated above with 3.90 gears and a Yukon Duragrip posi unit. Got 41k on everything but the trans swap, almost 15k on the T56 setup. Regular drop spindles, cut springs up front, flip kit and a shackle in the back for a ~5/8 drop. The only thing I don't like about my setup is I need more gear (going 4.30) and it wheel hops real bad so it needs traction bars (but I have TCI full pro-touring suspension to go on it). Otherwise it's a riot
Try curing your wheel hop by clamping the front 1/2 of the spring pack. Also you can clamp a 1/2 leaf on the top . Front 1/2 of the spring is where wheel hop starts try to bind up the front 1/2 so it can't get S shaped on launch . I ran across this little tid bit. Learning about rear suspension instant center on a GM G body, going with explorer rearend.( Its an internet thing, you can be researching best gas chainsaw and you end up on a page for solar powered sawzalls),but it stuck in my mind, and now you can use it. Did my best to get you an example.
 

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vwnut8392

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Danggggg those Recaros look good! I've been wanting a set of those, you lucked out finding a blue cloth set! Color me jealous!
i've had those seats for a loooong time. they are rare with only 1200 VW jetta's being imported in 1989 only in this color. the car was themed as a helios blue jetta GLI 16V. most common are the gray cloth recaro's that where standard in all GTI and GLI 16V's from 1987 to 1992, than you could stumble across a pair of trophy recaro's from an 87-89 jetta GLI as well which are leather bolsters/headrest with gray cloth inlay in the middle. been in the VW/audi game for 25 years and managed to amass 2 sets of trophys, 3 sets of grays and only this 1 set of helios blue.
 

vwnut8392

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Try curing your wheel hop by clamping the front 1/2 of the spring pack. Also you can clamp a 1/2 leaf on the top . Front 1/2 of the spring is where wheel hop starts try to bind up the front 1/2 so it can't get S shaped on launch . I ran across this little tid bit. Learning about rear suspension instant center on a GM G body, going with explorer rearend.( Its an internet thing, you can be researching best gas chainsaw and you end up on a page for solar powered sawzalls),but it stuck in my mind, and now you can use it. Did my best to get you an example.
honestly i havnt even got to drive the truck barely at all yet because fabbot fabrication still hasnt sent me the 2WD to 4WD back plate for the 4WD colorado transmission yet! was literally the first thing i ordered in late june and here we are in august and i still dont have that part. they sent the rest of the AR-5 to LS kit which worked out beautifully though.
 

Ricko1966

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honestly i havnt even got to drive the truck barely at all yet because fabbot fabrication still hasnt sent me the 2WD to 4WD back plate for the 4WD colorado transmission yet! was literally the first thing i ordered in late june and here we are in august and i still dont have that part. they sent the rest of the AR-5 to LS kit which worked out beautifully though.
I meant that for @TotalyHucked sorry.
 

vwnut8392

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ok guys, found a problem i cant seem to figure out. when driving and i barely touch the brakes the passenger rear wheel completely locks up. my truck was originally a manual brakes and i installed a vacuum assist power brake booster and master from an 87 K5 blazer that i had access to for parts. did i miss a proportioning valve or something? also i will mention that i put a 1 way check valve in the vacuum line from the back of the intake too. just a random VW part that i had laying around that fit and seemed to work.
 

Ricko1966

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Have you checked the backing plate for gear oil or brake fluid.. Rears work at same pressure equally so, if you have a problem at 1 rear wheel it is isolated to somewhere on that axle.Not further up stream. Axel (just testing)
 

vwnut8392

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6.0L LS
Have you checked the backing plate for gear oil or brake fluid.. Rears work at same pressure equally so, if you have a problem at 1 rear wheel it is isolated to somewhere on that axle.Not further up stream. Axel (just testing)
well i just lowered the truck so i had to bleed the back brakes after flipping the axle and everything was/is dry with no fluid. i was starting to think that it needs a proportioning valve because on like 99% of other vehicles the front brakes do most of the stopping. its like a 70% front 30% to the rear on average. 50/50 is no good.
 

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