After I got them both home I spent a year working on the shop so I’d have a place to work on them and all of the other projects, finally got around to disassembly about a month ago, trying to fit it in right before we build our house.

the gasser truck was a 2wd so there was a little hesitation on how I was going to go about that swap but it came out super easy. I’ll have to grab some pics before I drop the front diff back in.

here’s a few pics of the dissassembly and throwing them in the shop

 

Fast forward a bit and I pulled the motor and tranny for a few upgrades, nothing major, just updates like the turbo inlet, up pipes, down pipe, and a full transgo kit.
First time in an automatic transmission and it went super well, 100k on the truck and the clutches looked brand new.

also pretty excited I got my beam trolley finished to pull the motor with. Unfortunately they don’t make cheap trolleys for 12” wide beams

 

With the weight of that engine, maybe it should read "fortunately"! LOL!
Really love that gantry crane setup, wish I could slip an I beam into the ceiling of my shop for this!!!

 

Now up to current times, blasted the gasser frame after plying around with the front diff mounts and the additional brackets. Primed and painted, nothing too special, just leftover single stage from old projects, once everything is in it will be soaked in oil before it hits salt again

swapped in the duramax rear end and she’s a roller again! I’ll be putting new wheel bearings in the front for the cv’s and ball joints while I have it apart. New bushings all the way around the truck as well. Seems silly to put this much effort in old trucks but these are definitely my favorite year and style without the price tag of an LBZ😂

Painted a few other odds and ends while I was there, painting in the wind is not my forte for sure.

hope you all enjoy the build, if you have any advice on what to do while I’m here, im all ears!

 

I’d say it wouldn’t be a horrible idea to do head studs, injectors, and possibly a cp3 while you’re in there. Progress looks great so far!

 

Looks awesome. Nice progress. I'm just finishing off my motor rebuild, cracked a piston in half. I've just got a few hoses and bolts to attach. I've removed the EGR, it was deleted and blocked when I bought the truck, previous owner. So, now I'm having to reroute the heater core hoses.

Quick question. I lost the small (negative side) nut on the starter solenoid. Any idea what size it is?

Any advice on restart procedures? This is my first diesel engine rebuild.