Getting things ready for my LS swap. LQ9 bored to 6.2L, 6L80E transmission mated to my LT230 with a self fabricated adapter. Holley Terminator X Max ECM and TC. Fabricated brackets for a disc and caliper conversion for the parking brake. Going to use a classic front caliper and rotor for the parking brake and master cylinder actuated by the hand brake lever mounted inside at the rear of the new trans tunnel. The front end will change also as I'm going to move the 7" headlights to the outside and will have 5" headlights towards the center so it will have 4 headlamps.

Reinforcing the frame for the engine mounts and tranny cross member/mount. Found a crack on each side under the front fenders so straightened out the supports, welded up the cracks and 1/8" reinforcement plates welded in. Got things torn down and gutted.

Fabricating a new dash and center console as well and made the transmission tunnel taller and wider also for custom shifter and handbrake locations. . Cutting out the center of the hood and raising it too and will have a vent at the rear for heat dissipation and clearance for the snorkel as the intake will face backwards and the snorkel tube will run under the cowl and them up the driver's side edge of the windscreen.i have my air filter mounted at the top of the snorkel with a self fabricated rain guard.

Waiting on some parts so I'm fabricating a "wide body/fender flare kit for all four corners as the superduty axles that will go in are a full 12" wider.





Any interest in a bolt on "wide body" kit for classics? Still finalizing the design and then I'll start cutting steel. Going 16ga steel for it. I'll post pics later of the mock up once I have a style finalized. Deciding if it will be bolt on or full fender replace. Would have to bolt one piece to the rear doors though. The fronts will be full fender replace. Not sure if the rear will be though. Still deciding. Pulling one of the rears off tomorrow to study them. Also replacing the far rear windows with storage boxes and also removing the back glass and boxing in it on with steel for more room. Will still open, just a step box insert instead of glass.

 

For those who may be interested. This is the front driveshaft clearance from an LT230 to the 6L,80 4wd trans (in my case a 6L90). Plenty of clearance. All that is required is trimming the transmission mount tab from the passenger side of the 6L80 at the rear housing, then a 1" adapter plate between them and a an input shaft to the LT230 that is 4" longer that slides over the trans output shaft. The 6L80 was damn near made for the LT230. Overall length increase is minimal at 4". I'll be mounting the LT230 in it's original factory location to avoid new driveshafts and the remaining transmission mount tab lines up perfectly with the diff mount so a cross member will be fabbed up that uses the factory trans mount and ties into the diff mount on the other side. There's a production machine shop where I live that does prototyping so I'm going to talk to them about the shaft and adapter plate. Once I know the costs, I'll see if there's interest in an adapter plate/shaft/crossmember combo and offer them at the lowest cost I possibly can which would most likely be my cost plus 10% plus shipping. Hoping the "kit" will come in under $500 total. I'll post once I have the info. I know what the costs are to keep a classic on the road so I'm hoping to be able to offer them at the lowest possible cost for anyone interested.

The bottom pic shows my D2 front driveshaft I've used for years. The driveshaft next to it with orange is the front driveshaft for a 2010 Ram 2500 4wd truck. They are virtually identical but the Ram 2500 driveshaft is 4" longer. With very minor modifications it will be used when I swap the D60's in as I will be adding about 2" lift on top of the two I already have by using classic HD rear coils on the front and defender 110 HD rear coils in back. Just a reminder that parts can be found searching other vehicles.

My LT 230 is a 28D with the 1.22 hearing gearing. If anyone has 1.4 gears and would like to swap input and high gears, hit me up.

 

I believe I still have a complete 1.4 case at the shop. Shipping would be spendy unless your local to Georgia to stop by. Maybe fastenal wouldn’t be to bad.

 

Please let e know. I'm really just looking for someone that's interested in trading their input greates gearset and 1.4 high gear for a 1.2 high gear and corresponding input gearset. With the 6L90 and the 3.73 gears the superduty axles have, I need the 1.4 high gear and input gears for good performance and to not blow past 1st gear and straight to second. Probably going to get an Ashcroft ATB down the line also. Budget is tight with the LS I built up from a bare iron block and the transmission. Not to mention the steel for the widebody front fenders I'm making and the rear fender widebody flares I'm fabricating as well. Still need a few more minor parts for the engine. Pulled my dash and I'm completely redesigning it. And a custom center console. The plan is to show it at SEMA this year. Working on a couple of sponsors.

I think I've got out figured out to adapt my rangie wheel hubs to the Dana 60s. I don't want to have to buy a new set of tires and I like my steel rims, especially after I cut, flipped and welded the centers to widen the stance. Hoping to build up a few sets and offer sets of 5 flipped and welded at a discount if cores are sent so I can keep churning in them out.

Working on rear window gull wing hatches with or without storage boxes as a preassembled ready to install bolt in kit with all hardware included as well. Getting ready to fabricate a prototype rear window replacement that would keep the frame but replace the glass with a steel or aluminum box insert for extra room. Would stop be able to open the lift gate as normal but works have the box insert instead of glass. My classic is more of a mini RV now that my kids are grown and gone. No backseats but a full size air bed connected to a permanent air hose and regulator so it never deflates in until I want it to, cabinets, 24" TV, deep cycle batteries, solar panels etc. instead. I can go camping anytime as it's always ready.

 

I have plenty of the 1.2 cases around and the 1.4 not looking to trade it though. I would be open to selling it.

 

Been a while since I last posted. Lot of life changes, Dad passing away, leaving everything behind and closing business to move 200 miles so Mom wouldn't be alone in the house, starting business and life and everything all over again. But a lot of progress has happened as well. Engine built and complete, engine mounts welded in, working on modifying the frame to fit an F250 steering box so it's in place when it's Dana60 time. Modifications to the firewall to run the snorkel up from the engine compartment and under the cowl, and starting work on fabricating the trans tunnel now that the trans is mounted. Moved the drivetrain 1" to the passenger side by modifying the passenger side mount and fabricating a longer driver side mount. Modified the mounts to use the stock locations on the frame but moved the entire drive train 1" to the rear. The machine shop screwed up the 1"x12"x12" aluminum plate i took them by drilling the transfer case mount holes reversed of how they needed to be (decided a machine shop with a mill would be best but should have just done it myself like i originally intended) and they were going to take far too long to have another one so had to buy an adapter and shaft from RW Engineering. The shaft in their kit was only 1/4 " longer than what i had designed and was going to have made but no machines shops in this state could make a flanged shaft but one that wanted $3,500 to do it. RW was going to sell me one of theirs for $900 but with no adapter plate i just bought the whole kit. Fabricating brackets for ignition coils (wanted smooth valve covers), etc. So the engine is in, just need to finish up the last cuts for the intake tubing (intake faces backwards), and brackets for the D2 shifter I'm going to use as it has 7 detents matching the 7 positions of the 6L90. Modified the cable bracket on the LT230 to use the cable shifter from a D2 instead of the linkage shifter from the D1 (the angle of the bracket has to be changed slightly for clearance for the 6L90). It's progressed a lot actually.

Waiting on a few fittings for cooling lines and the radiator from the radiator shop. Had to go to early shock towers mounted on the coil seats instead of the softdash towers as that space was needed. The steering prop shaft flex joint at the firewall hit the header but flipping the shaft 180 so it's at the steering box fixed that issue. Once I do the final fitting of the intake and tubing and make the last cuts, I'll pull the engine one last time and start welding in the new sheet metal at the firewall and get the cowl back on. The cobra head 90 elbow at the throttle body also required modification on the windshield wiper arm for clearance which was essentially cutting the linkage bar and offsetting the height 1/2" so it wouldn't rub the elbow. All this was only necessary because i didn't want to run intake tubing from the front which would have been easier. The area under the cowl will still be separate from the engine compartment as the silicone elbow will pass through a grommet into the space under the cowl which is just big enough for the 4" OD intake tubing. 3" intake tubing is 5/8 smaller than the throttle body opening and I didn't want to choke it down and rob myself of HP. Rather than an intake tube 16mm smaller than the throttle body I went 8mm larger (92mm throttle body). So with everything that's gone on, I've still managed to make progress and barring any major setbacks, should have it all wrapped up by the end of the month and hoping for a first start up next week.

I've also stripped out all electronics except for the ABS computer, valve block and brake pump. Nothing else is left or was needed. Got rid of the power seats for racing seats, power windows work with simple relays as well as headlights, taillights, blinkers and wipers. No heater core or blower box as my new low profile roof mounted hearing and cooling unit with thermostat is waiting to go in (I've had solar panels and deep cycle batteries for a while now for camping so the heating/cooling unit will run off that) Always warm in the winter and always cool in the summer because of the thermostat just like my house. Removed the rear glass from the frame and boxed it in with sheet meter for more space. Still opens like normal, just no glass. Using 1/2" conduit for the frame for the new dash. Tablet for digital gauges. Touch screen control of the electric water pump and electric fans, touch screen control for the transmission and engine tuning and adjustments will all be mounted in the dash. Push button start requiring an rfid tag to activate the circuits. I took the tag apart and put it into an old hotel key card so my "key" will have to be inserted into a slot in the dash which will put the chip in the center of the sensor ring mounted behind the dash face.

A couple of pics. Wanted to do a full write up and step by step progress but life wouldn't let it happen. Actual working time hasn't been that much, the bulk of the time has just been waiting on parts as one thing has to be in before another can be fit so one part can hold up everything and a lot of time gets wasted just waiting. A lot more options and suppliers in a city of 500,000 I moved from than in a city of 45,000 I live in now. Can't just run to the performance store and grab AN fittings, hose etc or exchange something that won't work. It's all by mail or a planned 400 mile round trip with only one day out of three in that trip to hit all the places I need to go.

Couple of pics.



Looks good in there.

A nice, new engine. Well, used 6.0 iron block bored out to 6.2. All new internals except crank and rods (original). 706 heads (unshrouded valves), 600 lift, short duration cam, flat top pistons, 12.5:1 compression. Powerband idle to 6000rpm with peak torque around 3,500rpm and peak horsepower around 4,000rpm. On paper it specs to around 550hp and about 580 torque. No dyno around here so true numbers I won't know. My numbers are based on formulas for the parts used.

Looks good in the engine bay

Lot of unneeded wiring and a lot bigger than the ZF4HP22. Relocating the ABS computer to under the dash with the Terminator X Max ECU.

Tight fit and more trimming needed but will be worth it. Will have a 45 degree elbow coming off the cobra head, through a grommet and into the space under the cowl and then 4" OD tubing for the snorkel with the air filter mounted at the top of the snorkel. I've run my air filter at the top of the snorkel for years with no issues at all. No filter or box in the engine compartment.

Engine sitting on it's own weight. Intake will face backwards but haven't cut into the firewall yet.

 

Lots of changes and lots of work. It sounds like you should have a great vehicle when you're done.

 

No more hole in the firewall. Need to do s little more sanding and finishing at the top but not easy with the windshield in. Fresh air vent had to be closed up for the 4" intake/snorkel but don't need it anyway as I'm going a roof top mounted heating and cooling unit.