i'm calling her Mia

[Lsx10]

okay, since i'm starting this thread after a few weeks of tearing into her i'll combine what I have so far.
I bought her as an unfinished project fromsomeone who already installed a 5.3, small stall and a built 4l60e. his original plan was for a front mount turbo, but only got as far as installing the intercooler. when I took the project over my original plan was to install a ls6 valvetrain and finish the truck. but when I started reading more about the gen 3 engines I decided to do a few more upgrades. I found everything I wanted to put into the 5.3 and finally started working on the little truck. truck is in great shape, these pictures were from the day i got it to my new house.





then I tore her down.


and thats when I found this

the rust is clearly more then surface, and its really the only one that wouldn't be fine with a light hone. but if you can even see the pistons are flat top pistons, which only came in the 4.8s, besides the HO's but this wasn't one of them. so I got in contact with the guy I got the truck from and we worked something out so that neither of us should lose much in the end.
So now was time to find Mia a new heart, after searching a few days I found a great deal on an lq4. So now my plans for the little truck are a little higher. I want to run 11's all motor, which is possible with the right mods.


and all the goodies going on it.
ported ls6 oil pump, yella terra roller rockers, tsp220(trying to upgrade) stage 1 ls6 heads with prc double springs.




new cooling system


blazer tank(sits behind axle instead of under driver seat)


both engines are torn down, the engine and tranny should be out of the truck in the next few days when I have an extra hand.
for now i'm cleaning up the engine and engine bay. all engine covers and valve covers will get this finish.


let me know what you think

[MidnightRider]

nice project truck man it should be tits when its done

[LSXmyford]

Momma mia.

Good luck

[GasGuzzler]

When your done, I'll know how to do my 2000 Blazer...

[Lsx10]

When your done, I'll know how to do my 2000 Blazer...

My Blazer Build - S-10 Forum
My 6.0L Blazer build - S-10 Forum

these might help.


Thanks for the comments guys, progress is going to be slow for a little while, but it should get done somewhat soon.

[ducky]

soooo awesome

[Chevy-Art]

That's gonna be one bad a$$ S-10.

[Lsx10]

thanks guys, you should be seeing some more progress on her tomorrow, worked over the weekend so I have tomorrow off.

I am also selling my cam and upgrading to a tr224, and my rockers are 1.8's.
that should put me at 224 with .59x lift on a 112. should be as good as the tsp 220 in the 5.3.

[Lsx10]

update:

been busy all weekend, but i got a little time to work on Mia.

finally got the cab lifted and the engine and tranny out.





now I have to try and clean all this up





I'm going to redo the notch and engine mounts. I don't like these at all.











cleaned up the timing chain cover, this thing was a whore. but I like how it turned out. and its going to be the hardest one to clean up.





I picked up a set of stripes this weekend





so now after I did all my work and progress i'm going to have me some of this.





tomorrow I'll be pulling the pan on the tranny, cleaning and repainting the new block, and whatever else I get around too. the valve covers should be shaved and brushed this coming week sometime.

[Lsx10]

Update!
so the headers are finally getting coated and will be here in a few weeks. Later then I wanted but I think it was worth it. I ordered the long tubes but i'll post a pic of the Mids in case anyone else is interested.





A place called brp hotrods is making them, I don't think they are a sponser so pm me if you want details and contact info. they will be available in 2 weeks and will be coated. they also made 2in primaries for anyone making a drag only truck. they were designed on the old body style but i will be testing them on mine to see how they fit on the new body style s-10. oh and they fit with the stock ac system.

on to my other small updates, I notched for ac and tore her down a little farther, I'm done with the valve covers except for painting the stripes to match the engine block. I
ground off the old engine mounts, the guy put them on very well, too bad they aren't what I needed. I''ll be plating in the notch, fixing the oil pan notch, fixing my ac box and hopefully painting the firewall this week.






I still need to clear them and the rest of the covers, but I am happy with the way they came out. i'm ordering my gaskets head bolts and everything else I need to finish putting the engine togather, if anyone has a hookup at a tucson az dealer shoot me a pm. if not i'll be waiting a week till everything is shipped to me.