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93 pickup crawler

Discussion in 'Other Builds' started by Zizzle, Feb 2, 2017.

  1. Feb 2, 2017 at 10:19 AM
    #1
    Zizzle

    Zizzle [OP] Well-Known Member

    Joined:
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    Member:
    #146374
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    222
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    Male
    First Name:
    Matt
    San Juans, CO
    Vehicle:
    93' Pickup, V8 LS, wontons, dual cases
    Heavily modded over the years, I should have started a build thread a long time ago. This is the abridged version.

    Started out as a stock 3.0 with 4.56 gears.

    I nearly got stranded in a remote part of the San Jauns so decided to do some upgrades. IFS lift and 33" tires.

    Still couldn't make it up the wall on Poughkeepsie Gulch so installed a rear e-locker and front lunchbox locker.

    Got into going to Moab, bough a second hand dual case setup with 4.7s in the rear. Started breaking IFS parts. Nearly got stranded out near Canyonland when an idler arm broke. Limped home and bough a solid axle.

    While picking of the solid axle, the 3.0 blew a head gasket. So I found a 3.4 and did that swap before the SAS.

    Stepped up to 37s. Started pushing the limits of Toyota axles.

    Replaced the 14 bolt in my 1-ton van with one with a G80 because I kept getting stuck in the snow.

    So I had the old one laying around.

    [​IMG]

    Kept and eye out for a D60 for reasonable money and one eventually popped up.
    92 Dodge D60.

    [​IMG]

    14 bolt got a detroit, 5.38s, disc barkes and a shave.
    [​IMG]
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    D60 got gears, and e-locker, high steer arms, chromolly 35 spline axle shafts and a Toyota pinion flange.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    Winkle99 and Yetimetchkangmi like this.
  2. Feb 2, 2017 at 10:24 AM
    #2
    Zizzle

    Zizzle [OP] Well-Known Member

    Joined:
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    Messages:
    222
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    Male
    First Name:
    Matt
    San Juans, CO
    Vehicle:
    93' Pickup, V8 LS, wontons, dual cases
    The frame is wider on the full size domestics but the passenger spring perch is cast into the pumpkin.

    So I widened the front hanger and used offset shackles.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
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    [​IMG]
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    [​IMG]

    Testing drivehsaft requirements.

    [​IMG]

    Shakedown run was on Poison Spider for RT2016.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2017
  3. Feb 2, 2017 at 10:42 AM
    #3
    Zizzle

    Zizzle [OP] Well-Known Member

    Joined:
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    222
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    Male
    First Name:
    Matt
    San Juans, CO
    Vehicle:
    93' Pickup, V8 LS, wontons, dual cases
    My 3.4 was a good motor, but towing the teardrop camper on 37s was pushing it to it's limits. I missed Jambo 2015 because an injector started going bad as I went to leave.

    I have a 1-ton GM van that I LS turbo swapped with a $500 4.8. Sold the tired old 5.7 for $200.

    A year later I came across a 5.3 for cheap and put that in the van.

    The 4.8 was for the Toyota.

    The 4.8 has the same bore size as the 5.3, but shorter stroke, so I figured that the Toyota drivetrain would last a bit better with the less torquey 4.8. I really wanted the extra power for towing the teardrop around not so much for crawling.

    It's the best of both worlds. Still crawls nice with Yota dual ultimate setup, and really comes alive on the highway above 4k RPM despite the 37s and wontons.

    These LSs are pretty amazing. The 4.8 was probably 150k miles old when I got it. Then it spent a year taking a pounding moving a 6,000lb van, often towing while running 10 pounds of boost.

    All my factory gauges work, and last time I checked fuel economy it was doing better than the 3.4 I had in there. It's also good being able to walk into any parts store and get stuff off the shelf.

    I like these LS motors so much I have swapped all my vehicles.

    I ended up selling my 3.4 for nearly enough to cover the cost of the 4.8 and the swap costs.

    5.3 going into the van.

    [​IMG]
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    You can see the block hugger headers and Advanced Adapter conversion bell housing.

    [​IMG]
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    The swap moved the trans back more. The floor has been hacked so many times now.

    [​IMG]

    Hood pins since the core support is gone.
    [​IMG]

    Upgraded an modified radiator.
    [​IMG]

    I cut too much out of the core support so air was bypassing the rad at highway speeds. Added scoops to help direct air back to the rad.
    [​IMG]

    LED headlights.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  4. Feb 2, 2017 at 10:58 AM
    #4
    Zizzle

    Zizzle [OP] Well-Known Member

    Joined:
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    Male
    First Name:
    Matt
    San Juans, CO
    Vehicle:
    93' Pickup, V8 LS, wontons, dual cases
    For anyone looking to follow in my footsteps, make sure you get a dropout motor with intake, injectors, all accessories, harness and PCM.

    I used the Advanced Adapters 712516V bell housing.

    They advertise this as not for LS motors. But the bolt pattern is the same, the LS crank is just 0.4" shorter than the old small block. You can easily make that up in the clutch and flywheel.

    Specifically I got the RAM Clutches 1550 flywheel and a Luk 04-049 clutch kit.

    But I didn't use the clutch plate from that kit (it's for an 11 spline GM trans or something).

    I bought the Advanced Adapter clutch plate that is splined for a R series toyota trans. But when I got it, it was a McLeod 716105. So you can save a few bucks by just getting one of those more directly.

    I also got a FJ40 clutch slave and master. The slave bolts right up to the bell housing but I had to mod the firewall a little to fit the master.

    So it's probably around a grand in parts to bolt the LS up to the Yota gearbox.

    The headers are cheap chinese LS block huggers from ebay for about $100. Custom exhaust after that.

    I just cut and welded the toyota and gm power steering pressure lines together, but you can get adapters.

    I ended up getting the biggest name brand radiator I could fit. Since the motor is so close to the radiator, there is no room for a big electric fan so I have 4 smaller ones. 2 on the front up high and 2 on the back down low. I had to adapt the upper rad inlet to turn sharply. But if I were doing it again I'd just buy a 2 pass rad with the inlet and outlet on the passenger side.

    The GM PCM will feed good signals to most of the gauges or you just keep the Toyota sensor in the case of oil pressure & water temp. For the speedo, take the output of the gauge and feed it to the GM PCM through a 1uf capacitor. This is not required, but is useful for the PCM to know the speed. There is no point running the fans above a certain speed. If the PCM knows the speed that it can enable deacceleration fuel cutoff too.
     
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    #4
  5. Feb 2, 2017 at 12:16 PM
    #5
    la0d0g

    la0d0g Its 4 o’clock somewhere

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    running for the hills
    Vehicle:
    For crawling not hauling
    :popcorn: Lots of good info in here!
     
    malburg114 likes this.
  6. Feb 17, 2017 at 9:11 AM
    #6
    Zizzle

    Zizzle [OP] Well-Known Member

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    Matt
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    Vehicle:
    93' Pickup, V8 LS, wontons, dual cases
    Adding moar unsprung weight.
    Ruffstuff cover upgrade. Should now be able to bulldoze rocks with impunity (as long as they fit under the tie rod).

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Speedytech7 and Jimmynolife like this.
  7. Feb 21, 2017 at 10:14 AM
    #7
    4WALKER

    4WALKER Save the manual trans!!!

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    Dirt
  8. Mar 2, 2017 at 3:51 PM
    #8
    Pirhett

    Pirhett Instagram @pirhett_ship

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    San Diego
    Vehicle:
    2014 TRD Sport 4x4 DCLB MGM
    Stock...
    those diffs tho
     
  9. Mar 17, 2017 at 8:58 AM
    #9
    Zizzle

    Zizzle [OP] Well-Known Member

    Joined:
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    Matt
    San Juans, CO
    Vehicle:
    93' Pickup, V8 LS, wontons, dual cases
    I've been rocking a Viair and 2 gal tank which I bolt into the bed for the season.

    [​IMG]
    It takes up space and doesn't work that well.

    The initial blast from the tank when full is good, but only takes one tire up about 5 psi. After that it chuggs away pretty slowly.

    I'm often the slowest to air up. I'm the dick everyone is waiting on at the end of a long day.

    So I've had "engine driven compressor" on my todo list for ever.

    The plan was to use an old air conditioning compressor.

    I have done enough LS swaps that I have some GM ones floating around.

    First hurdle is that it doesn't fit in the factory location due to the narrower toyota frame rails.

    Nothing the plasma cannot fix.

    [​IMG]

    Boxed it in with a mix of 1/4" and 3/16" plate.

    [​IMG]

    Plated beneath the notch with 3/16" plate. The whole outer frame is already plated with 3/16".

    Of course nothing is ever easy and the radiator outlet now interferes with the compressor. So a bunch of cooling system mods later it's all back together.

    [​IMG]

    On the output side there is no air tank, just straight through to a screw-on air chuck.
    On the input side I have inline oiler & air filter. We'll see how it goes. Worst case scenario I blow up the compressor.

    The plan is to have a gauge and a switch for the clutch. Hit the switch to start airing. Let it go to check the tire pressure.

    The good news is the air up time. It can take on of my 37s from 14 psi to 30 psi in ~40 seconds.

    I don't have an exact number for how long the 12v compressor used to take but it definitely would have been measured in minutes not seconds.
     
    Speedytech7 likes this.
  10. Mar 18, 2017 at 2:08 PM
    #10
    Zizzle

    Zizzle [OP] Well-Known Member

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    Vehicle:
    93' Pickup, V8 LS, wontons, dual cases
    I've been running an early Marlin adapter with 21 spline 4.7s for the last 5 years.

    Now that I've got a motor that is double the displacement of the motor these gear driven cases came behind I figured it was time to upgrade to 23 spline 4.7 gears and a new adapter with double row ball bearing.

    Basically a bunch of work for no real noticeable change. Hopefully it is stronger however.

    [​IMG]
     
    Speedytech7 likes this.
  11. Jul 17, 2017 at 8:49 AM
    #11
    Zizzle

    Zizzle [OP] Well-Known Member

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    Matt
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    Vehicle:
    93' Pickup, V8 LS, wontons, dual cases
    The third radiator since the swap.

    Was getting warm with spirited driving while towing or towing up Monarch pass at the speed limit.

    Problem was probably 4 fold: rad slightly too small, front facing shroud not good for airflow, winch blocking airflow and rad to close to motor causing an air dam behind it.

    So $115 ebay radiator.

    Got rid of a lot of the remaining core support. Had to relocate the front body mounts. Moved the fan to a puller on the back, offset to the passenger side. Rad is also further forward meaning less chance of an air dam forming on the front of the motor.

    [​IMG]
     
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    #11
    Speedytech7 and malburg114 like this.
  12. Jul 12, 2018 at 2:55 PM
    #12
    Zizzle

    Zizzle [OP] Well-Known Member

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    Matt
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    Vehicle:
    93' Pickup, V8 LS, wontons, dual cases
    Need to update this. Now looking like this:

    [​IMG]
     
  13. Jul 12, 2018 at 4:39 PM
    #13
    la0d0g

    la0d0g Its 4 o’clock somewhere

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    running for the hills
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    Nice!
     
    Zizzle[QUOTED][OP] likes this.
  14. Sep 20, 2018 at 2:24 PM
    #14
    Zizzle

    Zizzle [OP] Well-Known Member

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    Matt
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    Vehicle:
    93' Pickup, V8 LS, wontons, dual cases
    In action:

     
    Flare side Taco Lover likes this.
  15. Dec 3, 2018 at 6:50 PM
    #15
    michael roberts

    michael roberts Well-Known Member

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    powder coated hood support.
    What a awesome project!
     
  16. Oct 11, 2020 at 2:03 PM
    #16
    Zizzle

    Zizzle [OP] Well-Known Member

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    Matt
    San Juans, CO
    Vehicle:
    93' Pickup, V8 LS, wontons, dual cases
  17. Oct 11, 2020 at 2:07 PM
    #17
    Zizzle

    Zizzle [OP] Well-Known Member

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    93' Pickup, V8 LS, wontons, dual cases
  18. Nov 12, 2020 at 7:37 PM
    #18
    Winkle99

    Winkle99 Don't Look Back

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  19. Dec 13, 2021 at 1:15 PM
    #19
    brettf

    brettf Well-Known Member

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    How many LS swaps have you done?? You're a madman! Love the truck and hope to see more updates in the future between here and IG.

    Appreciate you adding details on the parts and lessons learned for making the swaps work together.
     

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