Dave's
S10 BuildUp - Upgrade from a 2.2 Liter 4 cyl 5 speed to
an LS2 with 4L80E
We
are trying something a little different with the photos
on this page. Since this page will become very large with
updates, we decided to try something a little different.
If you place your mouse pointer over some of the pictures,
it will swap the image with a different view to give you
a before and after look . . . give it a try and let me know
what you think.
Hint:
Photo sections with a lime green
border have images that will switch.
You
can email me directly at:
Stan@AutomotiveRewire.com
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Dave's
S10 arrives for many upgrades. We will be installing an LS2
engine from a 2006 Trailblazer SS and installing a new front
end to handle the horsepower that we will be dropping under
the hood!
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Here
is a look at the 2.2 liter 4 cylinder engine that is currently
under the hood. There is also a 5 speed manual trans that
will be replaced with a 4L80E automatic. The photo on the
right is the LS2 that we will shoehorn into this truck.
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We
drained the fluids and started to dismantle the front end.
You can see that the truck had a little damage in the front.
Once we pulled the bumper off, we noticed that the frame horn
was bent. We will need to address this at some point before
the new front panels are installed.
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As
expected, the aluminum LS2 engine has a considerable amount
of oxidation. We are replacing the intake so we removed the
original fuel rail, intake and coil packs and hit the block
with a brass wire wheel on a right angle grinder to clean
things up. It looks alot better already!
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At
the end of the day, the photo on the left was what we had
done so far. The photo on the right is the radiator support
that we will cleanup and repaint before re-installation.
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| Today
we pulled the trans . . . one step closer to pulling the motor. |
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| On
the left . . . everthing in the engine compartment is disconnected
and as you can see on the right, the motor is out! |
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| On
the left you can see another view of the engine compartment.
The photo on the right is the 2.2 liter that we pulled out. |
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LS2 is on the stand and we are busy cleaning and installing
some new components. We installed the new oil pan, cleaned and
clear coated the valve covers and set the new intake on to see
what it would look like when installed. |
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| Looking
pretty cool! |
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| We
disassembled the control arms and steering. When we pulled out
the coil springs, we found a new way NOT to lower
your vehicle. Apparently, someone heated these coil springs
with a torch until the desired height was obtainted. Please
do not do this at home . . . or in the shop . . . or anytime! |
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| With
everything apart, it is now time for cleaning and prep for paint. |
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| We
removed the cowl vent cover so we could throughly clean the
cowl area. This will also be painted. |
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pic on the left shows the cleaned firewall and frame. We removed
the cruise control and wiper motor so we could paint behind
them. The pic on the right shows the freshly painted firewall,
cowl, and frame. We painted it a semi flat black because it
will make the engine compartment look great when it all goes
back together. |
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| With
the kits from Spohn and Wilwood, we had to do some extra prep
work before we could install the components. The original upper
A-Arm bolts had to be removed and replaced with new bolts. The
lightweight disc kit from Wilwood required us to cut the spindles
and drill and tap the caliper holes to accept the new lightweight
caliper brackets. This is a great setup for this build! |
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| Today
was the day . . . we get to install the engine and trans! We
tried everything to save time by installing the engine and trans
as one unit, but it simply would not fit. The sump on the new
oil pan wouldn't allow us to angle them both in together. We
took the trans off of the engine and dropped the engine in on
the floor . . . then it was off to the lift to install the trans. |
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| The
engine fits great and we are excited to start installing accessories! |
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| The
inner fenders needed a little TLC. Hold your mouse over the
pic to see an "After" shot once they were cleaned
and painted. |
The
LS2 is looking great! We installed the new serpentine system,
sway bar and cleaned and installed the coil packs. |
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| The
bench seat and console were removed an replaced with bucket
seats and automatic console. We had to patch the floor where
the manual shifter originally was. |
The
new front end will have fog light, so we had to replace the
light switch. While we were in here we ran wires for the auto
shifter and shift indicator light. |
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We cleaned and painted the radiator support so we could mock
up the radiator to look for any clearance issues. |
Keep
checking for updates . . . this page changes almost every day! |
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Craig is starting to layout the exhaust. |
Mandrel
bent tubes are used to make the exhaust flow well and look great. |
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The mufflers end up in front of the rear suspension. |
We
had to modify the radiator support to allow us to sink the radiator
into the support to provide more room in the engine compartment.
We also installed the new AC condenser and original trans cooler. |
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need to mount the computer the drives the LS2 somewhere inside
the truck. Finding an open area for the computer isn't going
to come easy! |
This
is the passanger side coil packs wired and ready to accept the
new harness. |
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| The
hood latch needed a little TLC. |
Here
is the latch that we media blasted and painted. We will also
put in a better cable return spring during reassembly. |
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| We
decided to mount the ECM in the glovebox. To do this we had
to replace the original screws that are in the ECM with longer
ones so we could mount onto a custom bracket. |
We
fabricated a stainless steel bracket and secured it to the bottom
of the ECM. |
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| There
isn't a lot of room behind the glovebox, but we were able to
fit the ECM where it would be safe. Our plan is to make another
plate to hold the fuse box . This will more than likely end
up in the space behind the panel under the ECM. |
We
had enough room to mount the fuse box next to the ECM in the
glovebox area. Now all we have to do is to drill the 2"
hole, route the wiring into the engine compartment and tie-in
the cab wiring. |
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| The
best place that we found to drill the 2" hole required
for the wiring was in the tunnel as in the photo. It is perfect
because it is behind the AC/Heater floor vent and will be completely
hidden once all of the dash panels and console are reinstalled. |
We
searched through shelves of radiator hoses at our local parts
store and found a perfect upper radiator hose for the truck
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| We
installed sensors and started to rough-route the wiring. The
wiring kit was not made to hide any of the wiring so we will
do our best to neatly run these wires before we are done. |
A
bracket was made to hold the cold air intake in place and
everything was run away from any of the pullies, etc.
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| We
still need to route and tie-in the AC lines, power steering
cooler lines, and water lines from the radiator to the heater
box. |
Keep
Checking For Updates!
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| We
had to fab a stainless bracket that was elevated to clear a
sensor on the intake. We made the bracket adjustable so we could
adjust cable slack. |
This
is a view of the bracket from the front of the truck.
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| We
need to run the trans lines to the radiator, but as with many
things with this project, space is an issue. We decided to bend
a 5/16" hard line to clear the cold air intake. |
Now
we can tie-in the braided trans line to the hard line.
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