i'm calling her Mia

[Lsx10]

now to catch up on what went on before starting it. many trips to the parts store and a little fab work to make this big square peg fit in a round hole. excuse the dirty pics, the dust makes my engine bay look like crap.



first off the radiator hoses. these are numbers from orilies/checker auto and with a little trimming they fit better then most hoses made for stock trucks.



upper hose





lower hose





numbers, sorry I dont remember which was top and wich was bottom. but these will fit currents radiator with a 07 and up truck water pump. the lower hose should fit any truck water pump.



next up is spark plug wires. after i raised the coils my stock wires didnt fit, so I got a set of make-your-own and cut them to fit





I installed my brake system, computer, and most everything else, in the engine bay.





installed my condencer again after trimming so that I can get some lines onto it when I install my ac in the summer. then installed my tranny cooler, its a b&m plate style cooler.





I had some questions about installing the filler neck so here are some pics and info on that.

-I notched the frame for the filler neck, then welded in reinforcements so it was still solid.

-I took some measurements and went to my local exhaust shop and had them bend me a 2" tube. I had them cut it 30" long and do a 90 degree bend in the middle, then trimmed each side at home to my liking.

-I cut a hole when I wanted my filler neck to enter my bedthat was large enough for me to work in a little.

-I welded on the top of my old filler neck onto the tube at an angle of around 40-45 dergrees so it pointed inside the bed. be sure to weld on the little vent tubeon the side or it will be a pain to fill up.

-I ran a soft line on the vent side from the top by the filler neck down to the tank, get some large fuel hose, do not use heater hose or it will deteriorate quickly.

-I used the stock rubber ends off the stock blazer tank to connect the exhaust tube to the tank.

-once I had everything in place I marked where I wanted to put some tabs and welded them on to keep the new filler neck in place. I welded nuts to the tabs then welded the tabs to the filler neck so that I wouldnt have to worry about holding a nut on the inside of the bed while turning a bolt on the other side.



all in all it did not take me much time once I had it in my head what I wanted to do. working by myself i did it in an evening and total cost was less then $50. it fits with plenty of clearance too.



onto the pics

tank to frame(note the plate welded in place.)



frame to bedside



up the bedside



and lastly the filler neck in the bed







to do list

-install drive shaft

-bleed brakes

-install grill, lights and bumper.

-tune

-make intake

-intall wideband

-fab exhaust

-find bedcover

-burn tires off

[LS1GMCTruck]

Excuse my ignorance, but I have a question regarding the 8.8 inch rear-end. Is this a Ford rear, and out of what Ford vehicle? What size are the disc brake rotors they come with, and what width are these rearends? Just checked out your thread for the first time & admire your attention to detail. Thanks

[Lsx10]

Excuse my ignorance, but I have a question regarding the 8.8 inch rear-end. Is this a Ford rear, and out of what Ford vehicle? What size are the disc brake rotors they come with, and what width are these rearends? Just checked out your thread for the first time & admire your attention to detail. Thanks

out of any explorer, or mountaineer before they switched to irs. 95 and up have disk brakes.

It's 59.5" wide (between wheel mounting surfaces), It comes with 3.55, 3.73, or 4.10 gears from the factory, also most of which came with a posi(trackloc) that is rebuildable for cheap(the ford racing carbon clutch kit I did cost me $100, stock replacement can be had for around $50), they have 31 spline axles.
The tubes are 3.25" in diameter, The 8.8 tubes do neck down to 2.75" just before they enter the brake housings.

I narrowed mine 3 inches if I remember right, rebuilt the posi, changed out the axle and pinion seals and put in new wheel bearings, all in all I dont have more then $500 into a rear end that will hold up to my 6.0 and has disk brakes.

not sure on the size of the brakes, but they are not as nice as the new silverado brakes. but they were a good upgrade from my stock drums.

that answer everything?

[68 TT]

out of any explorer, or mountaineer before they switched to irs. 95 and up have disk brakes.

It's 59.5" wide (between wheel mounting surfaces), It comes with 3.55, 3.73, or 4.10 gears from the factory, also most of which came with a posi(trackloc) that is rebuildable for cheap(the ford racing carbon clutch kit I did cost me $100, stock replacement can be had for around $50), they have 31 spline axles.
The tubes are 3.25" in diameter, The 8.8 tubes do neck down to 2.75" just before they enter the brake housings.

I narrowed mine 3 inches if I remember right, rebuilt the posi, changed out the axle and pinion seals and put in new wheel bearings, all in all I dont have more then $500 into a rear end that will hold up to my 6.0 and has disk brakes.

not sure on the size of the brakes, but they are not as nice as the new silverado brakes. but they were a good upgrade from my stock drums.

that answer everything?

Which axles did you end up getting?

[LS1GMCTruck]

I think that covers about everything, lol. thank-you

[Lsx10]

Which axles did you end up getting?

just used 2 stock short axles, the pumpkin is offset to one side so I grabbed an extra axle out of the short side at a junkyard and cut the rear accordingly to fit it. stock axles are pretty beefy 31 spline units so i dont see a problem untill I get ready to spray her, even then I should be okay.

[68 TT]

just used 2 stock short axles, the pumpkin is offset to one side so I grabbed an extra axle out of the short side at a junkyard and cut the rear accordingly to fit it. stock axles are pretty beefy 31 spline units so i dont see a problem untill I get ready to spray her, even then I should be okay.

Good idea, how wide did it end up being after you used two short side axles?

[68 TT]

to do list

-install drive shaft

-bleed brakes

-install grill, lights and bumper.

-tune

-make intake

-intall wideband

-fab exhaust

-find bedcover

-burn tires off

- paint front side of radiator black

I didn't do this at first and it sticks out like a sore thumb so I went back and painted mine later.