S-10 My First LS swap

GMC

Sonoma

1997

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Project truck before pulling the V6. Donor vehicle in the background

Hmm milkshake.. guess I’ll need a new rad.. not worried about the trans. Will be using the 4L65e from the Yukon. Just need a few parts out of this one to convert the AWD to a RWD.

Speaking of drive.. I’m not sure the factory rear end will be up to the task the 6.0l will be demanding.. pulled this 8.8 4L10 rear end from an Explorer.. pick and pull for $200.00 gives me a disk break upgrade. Limited slip upgrade all rolled into a package that is up to the task.

Some wire brushing.. break cleaner.. and Por15 later. She’s good as new!

Now for the 6.0… drove the Yukon to the shop for the final ride in its current form.

Love living in the rust belt… more rust the the Titanic! Better get a tetanus booster…

Figures.. at least only 6 of them were broke…

And it’s out! And yes! I can finally work indoors! Just in time for winter!

Call me weird. I enjoy wiring so why not start there?

Pretty well done with that for now.. may change a couple things up later on.

Difference between AWD and RWD… transfer case so awd has shorter output shaft and just a stabby coupler between trans and transfer case.. took tail housing from the 4L60e and the shaft and do a swapy swap… unfortunately,

That means pulling all the guts out of the trans.

While we’re at it.. why not upgrade a bit… sonnax pinless accumulators we’re highly recommended to me but I couldn’t get an answer regarding using the transgo instructions AND the sonnax ones for one of the steps so I did both? I have a feeling I’ll be back in here to make adjustments..

This is the transgo instructions for the 2nd accum. I installed as photographed here but using the pinless accum..

Trans conversion completed. Fingers crossed.

Craigslist rebuild time. Just poking around to make sure everything is good.. going to keep this cheap!

Whoops! So I was starting to rush and was cleaning the intake surface on the heads and knocked a bunch of crud into The Valley and onto the cam… guess I’ll be taking it apart and cleaning it out… just as long as I don’t look at the cam bearings right?

Sigh… so much for keeping this cheap… may as well make some calls to a local machine shop…

Meanwhistle.. clean the pistons up a bit…

Heads are stripped.. guess I’ll get a cam and springs while I’m at it.. at the end of the day, I don’t need to eat do I?

In the end I think I made the right call… they measured everything and made sure everything was within sped. Block was perfect.. they got tanked it, polished the crank, quick little hone, and just the slightest skim on the deck to make sure.

Valves ground and heads tanked measured etc etc.. lol

New main bearings. Plastiguaged just to be sure. Rings on order.

Appears I should have checked these sooner… message a friend online and see if he can bail me out..

Cam installed. Front a rear covers recycled and new seals installed

Mods

1997 GMC Sonoma (Chevy S-10)
2006 Yukon Denali 6.0 LQ4
4L65e trans swapped from AWD to RWD.
Elgin 1840p
PAC 1218 springs.
2000’s Chevrolet grill and headlights swap.
Maybe more to come?

Build story

I had a 2006 Yukon with low mileage but suffered from the see through doors and floors… was no longer safe to drive… decided to do my first LS swap.. but what to put it in… I know.. a Nissan 240… nope, can’t find one in decent shape that’s also affordable… miata? God no! I’m 6’ tall…. Hmm I’ve always liked the S-10’s… it’s been done thousands of times so I’m sure I can google anything I’m not sure about.. why not..
And so it began.

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S-10 My First LS swap

Mods

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