1996 Silverado 6.5 Duramax swap

[Nick 6.5]

So it's been about 2 years since my last post on this thread. A lot has come about but then it hasn't. Truck is almost done, but if people are still interested I'll post what I have been dojng.

 

[DieselSlug]

Definitely get it updated. Looking forward to the pictures.

 

[Will L.]

Heck Yeah! I remember waiting for the next post and thinking “I don’t want to push for it, he’s
Obviously busy...”

Making 2 big upgrades to the truck at same time of sfa and the dmax is a task for Sure. Plus maybe hoping to see some offroading pics or video putting that flex to use

 

[BIGR]

So it's been about 2 years since my last post on this thread. A lot has come about but then it hasn't. Truck is almost done, but if people are still interested I'll post what I have been dojng.

Of course we like to see truck projects, pictures, off road adventures, you name it. Post any pictures that you have.

 

[Nick 6.5]

Ok well that's a good response! So basically the long overdue posts is cause I was working a dead end job. When I started the build I was making decent money, but had to leave due to medical issues with the job. So I started working a dead end job with a massive pay cut. BUT! I'm amking good money again so I've made some decent progress. Also i had to sell my blazer a while back to help pay for fines. So if you remember this thread originally started with a 96 extended cab short bed K2500. Because I sold the blazer I kinda stripped the diesel of parts and turned the original thread truck into my daily/off roader. Now these parts I built the diesel with are the parts that were on the brown truck in the following pics. So I will kinda give a brief follow up on the parts in case anyone is interested in Sas-ing thier vehicle. Then I'll get back to the diesel.

 

[Nick 6.5]

So the SAS kit I used is from off road design. I posted pics of the brackets a while back. The are very stout! The great thing about this kit is its 100% bolt on! It also comes with all bolts necessary to install. You only need to supply shocks springs and cross over steering. I literally only drilled 36 5/8 holes in the frame and bolted it up! The down side and by far the most time consuming is cutting the independent control arm brackets and front diff brackets off the frame and making it look pretty. If you can acquire a plasma cutter that will greatly reduce time. Using a torch took forever the first time I did it. Chevy did a very good job welding and beefing up all the brackets. So it's a bitch with a torch! Again the springs I'm using are Alcan springs from Colorado. 2.5 smooth body resi shocks and 16" stroke. And I have used every inch of those shocks! The springs made the Truck very capable off road. So this is the k2500 with 8" lift and 37" tires when it was together. Drive train was '96 vortec 7.4/4l80e and Borg Warner 4401 tcase and 4.10 gears. Gearjng was a little low for the tire size but made driving highway very easy without having to worry about rpms

 

[Nick 6.5]

These pics are from big bear California on the trail John Bull. It's a black diamond trail and parts of it are extremely technical especially in a full side 20 foot truck. If you look it up on you tube you will see. I didn't get many pics cause it was getting late in the day and didn't want to wheel that trail at night. The last pic is from cleg horn fire road. This will conclude the brown truck build. Now back to the diesel.

 

[Nick 6.5]

.

 

[Nick 6.5]

So whike I was enjoying the brown truck i decided to try to get some kind of work done on the diesel. It took Me and 6 other buddies (who aren't srconny) to lift the crew cab body and put it on the Toyota chassis for holding. It no joke probably weighs close to 2k. It was a huge pain in the ass. So I knew I was going to need a fork lift to set it on the crew cab frame safely without a shop lift. I got a 6k fork lift from my work and dropped the cab on the frame. I was anticipating problems of some kind cause that's my life. But the process was really straight forward and fast. Like ferm said in his thread on his burban there really is plenty of room all around! I ended up getting the fenders, hood and core support from a T-boned burban on the junk yard. While I had it apart still I pulled the turbo and got it rebuilt since I had some movement in the shaft. The compressor wheel was just starting to touch the housing. I ended up deciding on the batmo wheel to install instead of the factory wheel. It was a bit more expensive than other companies but from the research i did it seemed to be a better wheel. And since the turbo was out why not upgrade to the banks big head.

 

[Jaryd]

Following.

 

[Nick 6.5]

Aaaand while I had the turbo out I figured why not delete the egr and factory bridge pipe smog bs. I do not have pics of that process tho sadly. Because I was trying to be budget conscious I ordered a bridge pipe from werhli custom fab back east. They modify the factory tube and weld on 3" pre bent pipe for the engine. It still uses the actual factory bridge so there's no fitment issues of completly fabbed aftermarket parts. The new brige pipe went in as easy as the factory came out. I did have to bend the fuel lines just a smige to not rub on the 3" inlet. So to the front clip. If you followed ferms thread at all you know that he had to cut the sh*t out of the core support on his. I too had to do the same. Originally I wanted to use the 6.5 radiator and a different intercooler. But just for ease I decided to hack it up and just mount the oem duramax intercooler and radiator. I really wanted to use an aftermarket Trans cooler as well but didn't have the energy to fab up tabs for it. Idealy down the road I want to eliminate the heat exchanger in the radiator completely. My buddy had an aftermarket radiator and his heat exchanger cracked internally and pumped his Trans full of engine coolant. Obviously that wasted his Trans. Another thing I didn't want to deal with was routing Trans lines . So I bought the fleece performance rubber lines that eliminates the plastic clip in style lines. There was more then enough line to route it comfortably without there being excess. If I was buying this for a gmt800 I would be very pleased with fit. I was very pleased with the fit in my truck.

 

[BIGR]

That is some serious rock climbing and off 4 wheeling there...sweet.

 

[MrMarty51]

I too am following this thread.
I like that big Banks.

 

[Nick 6.5]

So the time line of the stuff I did is a little out of order in comparison to the pictures being posted. After the core support was cut up to fit the radiator and intercooler I started to put the suspension back under it. I learned wth the off road design kit that the shackles included will bind the bolt on the eyelet of the spring to the bracket at full compression. So I ordered thier super shackle. Witch it for the 2" shackle flip kit rear leaf spring. I ordered them UN welded and trimmed them then asked them up. So in the pics if you see the shackle in the front hanging low that's why. The original shackle is 4" eye to eye. After I got the front end bolted up I really wanted rear disk brakes. I thought about doing a disc brake conversion but didn't like the idea of no parking brake. On my rock crawler im doing a mechanical line lock but just didnt seem right after all the money I spent elsewhere. So off to the junk yard. I was looking for a 11.5 Aam but had to settle with a newer 14 bolt with disc brakes. I cut the leaf spring perches off and mocked up the new perches. Width wise the old perches were only about an inch or 2 wider than the original.

 

[Nick 6.5]

For the rear suspension I'm using (for now) the stock 3500 springs for 96. Again went back to off road design for the rear shackle flip kit. It lifts the truck 4".and a 2" steel block. I will sit a little lower in the rear but I don't mind it that much. Off road design has made a lot of money off me. They build very nice quality products. I'm also using thier 4 link kit on my rock crawler '53 dodge you can see in some of the pics. But anyway!

 

[MrMarty51]

I thought that flat fender was a Dodge, I like them too. I hve a 59 dodge W100, tough old bird.

 

[Nick 6.5]

So this is when I was having issues starting the damn thing. I drove the crashed truck so I figured it was electrical. Turns out it wasn't. It was the fuel pressure release valve. It was only allowing 700 psi in the rail to build up. The squeak you hear is just the cold air intake rubbing as it vibrated. It's saying the video file is too large. Anyone know I can fix this? Using an iPhone

 

[Nick 6.5]

I thought that flat fender was a Dodge, I like them too. I hve a 59 dodge W100, tough old bird.

Yessir! It's a '53 dodge m37. It's the attic model and was an airforce troop carrier according to its data tags. To me they are so ugly they are beautiful. Always wanted one since high school and scored this gem for 800 last year. She's sitting and waiting for heart turn

 

[MrMarty51]

Is there a way to convert it to a low resolution video, in the I phone ?
If not, You might be able to edit out part of it to get the file size smaller.
I have the Utube app on My Iphone, I just load videos straight to that, they then can be linked into here.

 

[MrMarty51]

Yessir! It's a '53 dodge m37. It's the attic model and was an airforce troop carrier according to its data tags. To me they are so ugly they are beautiful. Always wanted one since high school and scored this gem for 800 last year. She's sitting and waiting for heart turn

I have also been wanting one of the old flat fenders for a LOT of years now, just none left in the country around here that might be for sale.
Are You familiar with vintagepowerwagons.com ?
They have every part and piece for those old beasts.