My rebuild thread (maybe I'll finish this one)

[low91]

So my 91 has been down for about seven months now since the trans went out and now that I have a totaled out short bed to snag a frame from I'm going to combine the two trucks into the low rollin LS powered beast I've always wanted. I've about got all the parts rounded up and have made a huge pile of parts outta the 91 so heres a few pics to give an idea of what I'm working with.

The 91 RCLB, or whats left of it.


This is my current dd and future parts truck when I bought it. It doesn't look so great now that a scum sucking peice of s**t got stoned and flew down a residential street at about 40ish right up under the back of my truck while I was turning.


I gained 27 RWHP over stock by switching to the "Calico Kitten Intake", well not really but she keeps the feild rats outta my parts trucks.

[flattopwill]

Looks like a cool project. So the 5.3 has been in and running and then back out or what?

WOW your current DD was CHERRY when you bought it. Id seriously love to find a truck like that. One that has never been fucked with. I love my truck but it has been to hell and back before I bought it and then again after I bought it. I need to find some old grampa with rcsb obs he bought brand new and never messed with and is in good condition. That way I could start with a clean slate.
Anyway, back to your project. If you need some help and Im off I could swing by and give ya a hand. Ive got a real soft spot for OBSs and I like to see them come back to life.

[Chevy-Art]

Too bad about the blue one, that one was nice. It will be a nice project once you complete it. What is damaged on the blue one?

[low91]

Yeah it was in and running for a while then it came out for an fbody oil pan then a few months after that the trans. went out. I didn't have a way to fix it at the time so I bought the 95.

I couldn't believe I found an obs that nice, it was a one owner vehicle, all the original documents even the window sticker were still with the truck. The only damage were a few hail dings and the missing air dam. The interior looked like it just left the factory. The engine runs awesome even with 170k miles.

The damage is repairable but I want to use the 91 cab and other parts in the build. It's really sentimentle (sp?).


Bed sides messed up pretty bad too.


The frame actually flexed and the bed hit the cab hard enough to shatter the back glass, my gf was picking glass out of her hair for days.

[fubutx]

good luck with the build, keep us updated

[low91]

Got the cam in but still waiting for the springs to get here and painted a few things while it was torn down. The specs on the cam are 212/218 .557 .562 115+4. It was a brand new custom spec'd comp cam. It wasn't spec'd for my setup but it was close enough to what I wanted and it only cost me $255. I'm no cam expert so I got a few questions for those who are.

1. What type of stall would you recommend for this cam?I'm sure more info is needed so just ask what you might need to know. I have a 1800-2k that I bought with my transmission, I'm hoping it will be enough. I want to go with as small of a stall as I can without issues.

2. I measured the base circle of the new cam at 1.49 and the stock cam at 1.55. Will I need longer push rods?

3. Anyone care to guess what the power range of the cam should be? Heres the valve timing specs: int.open 5-BTDC, int.close 37ABDC, exh open 48BBDC, exh close 10-ATDC.

4. How well would it respond to forced induction?

[flattopwill]

I couldn't believe I found an obs that nice, it was a one owner vehicle, all the original documents even the window sticker were still with the truck. The only damage were a few hail dings and the missing air dam. The interior looked like it just left the factory. The engine runs awesome even with 170k miles.

I want to find one like that...

Got the cam in but still waiting for the springs to get here and painted a few things while it was torn down. The specs on the cam are 212/218 .557 .562 115+4. It was a brand new custom spec'd comp cam. It wasn't spec'd for my setup but it was close enough to what I wanted and it only cost me $255. I'm no cam expert so I got a few questions for those who are.

1. What type of stall would you recommend for this cam?I'm sure more info is needed so just ask what you might need to know. I have a 1800-2k that I bought with my transmission, I'm hoping it will be enough. I want to go with as small of a stall as I can without issues.

2. I measured the base circle of the new cam at 1.49 and the stock cam at 1.55. Will I need longer push rods?

3. Anyone care to guess what the power range of the cam should be? Heres the valve timing specs: int.open 5-BTDC, int.close 37ABDC, exh open 48BBDC, exh close 10-ATDC.

4. How well would it respond to forced induction?

That thing looks sweet after you painted it all up.
Im no cam expert either but Id say how big of stall you need should correlate with how peformance oriented you want it to be. Basically the higher the better performance. The cam in mine has an "rpm range" of 1700-6500rpm. Im running a 2800rpm stall and it could really use about a 3500rpm stall to completely eliminate a dead spot.
Questions 2&3 are over my head but for #4 Id say it would respond well since it has fairly high lift and high lobe seperation will allow little valve overlap.

[low91]

Does anyone have any thoughts on the push rod length questions? my springs arrived the other day (thanks chevyLee) and I want to have the correct rods before the valve train goes back together.

[molitor]

if there is almost .100'' difference in base circles, your gonna need longer pushrods.

[low91]

if there is almost .100'' difference in base circles, your gonna need longer pushrods.

I guess the difference would be about .06, does that sound about normal for a cam of that spec? So if my maths right I would need 7.43" rods correct? Doesn't seem like much, any chance I can still run my stock rods?