Phantom Rebel V8 Swap

[doyoulikeithere]

Dying to hear the motor going.

Me too...
Post a vid of the first start up?

[AquaAngel]

lol, hoping that it will start the first time. LOL i don't want to be embaraced by cursing like there is no tomorrow to figure out why it ain't startting, but i can cheat i guess

[AquaAngel]

Not only that i am doing the motor Swap, but i have finally got my Spacers to give my van a 2" lift, more are coming in August.
All new suspension and steering.

looking forward to take that van apart about a week left. ;), YAY!

[doyoulikeithere]

So,
howz it coming along ?

[AquaAngel]

i had to put everything on hold for a while "My cats got sick, Vet, you know ..." so it had to put everything on hold for a little bit then ordering parts was a joke as buying new parts would of cost me an arm and a leg with the brokerage fee, so i went with plan B.

Parts are 99% here and going to get my last parts "Bolts for the body mount" this Thursday

All my other parts are in and if all goes as plan? this week end i attack the rear end and will move on the front end after. Got some new tools too to make the work a little easier

[1Gary]

One of the biggest regret with my 383 build is not building a LS engine.

[AquaAngel]

Finally got my project going now. "About time"

The rear suspension is finally done and will soon do the front suspension and currently under the process of removing the tranny and motor and the rest of the goodies that will soon follow.

Will post some pictures of my progress other than the guy at Lordco forgot to order and extra pair of lower control arm bushings, not that it really matters right now as i will have to spend more time onto doing something else as all the steering and suspension will be done a little later on after the motor is replaced and...

... Also happy that to find out that all my accessory brackets fits like a glove on my new motor, they just need to be cleaned up and maybe painted a little and will soon be installed on the new Block.

So excited......

[AquaAngel]

All things are starting to take shape now.
My new tranny met the motor earlier this week and thursday, the motor and tranny met the subframe.

Sometime next week, i will finish up the suspensions, steering and tie rod ends, calipers and will finally put the wheels back on and wheel everything back in with the new 2" spacers for the lift.

Hoping to connect all the sensors by the end of next week if all goes well.

Here are some pics:

Rising up the body



Cleaning up the Subframe



My cleaned up control arms with it's new bushings and ball joints


My cleaned up sub frame with it's new "Cushions"


Motor beautifully landed on it's new Subframe


Rear ends never looked so good.

[LiftedAWDAstro]

Awesome job on the subframe. The engine/tranny looks great too.

[AquaAngel]

Thank you

The sub frame took me about almost a week to clean up and took about 2 days to under coat it, plus finding a good shop to press in my new bushings
was another story, but found one none the less and he did a good job.

Now as of tomorrow, i have to insure my other truck and will carry on, on working on my van, now that i have a back up vehicle.

[356redux]

Looks awesome. Can't wait to see it done. Quick question did you use oem "cushions" on the subframe? If not where did you get em?

[markmitchinnh]

nice job most of the early pics are not showing up but I like what I did see. as for body bushings you can get poly bushings for a 80's to 90 K -5 blazer and they fit I know cause I have them in my 89

[AquaAngel]

Yes i use the OEM bushings from the Chevy dealer, wasn't cheap either, but worth the money as my original one were shot.

[AquaAngel]

First day of 2013, resuming my project.
Got my new water pump installed, My new Custom made Fuel lines are installed, some wires done, put tranny fluid in the tranny and i was hoping to do the same for the motor, but Lordco gave me a wrong oil filter

I need to do some break work, both front and rear, break lines and ignition and also a new Starter and hoping to have a first start.

Now i have a question for some of you out there as i am planning on putting a new front bumper as my 2" lift will expose my subframe and will be held by only 2 bolts instead of 4. i was wondering if any of you might know of a company that have those heavy duty front bumper that we see in most Dodge pick ups such as this one:


as i have seen of your astro out there with some sort of a bumper that looks similar to this.

Cheers

[1Gary]

If memory serves me correct,I think Dean had something like that on the SPB.