GNxS10 swap

Interior almost together, waiting on some wiring changes to the dash before final installation. Pioneer 6.5"'s in the doors and 4x6" plates in the dash...	Casper's knock gauge installed where the 4WD switch would have resided, had this been a 4WD. Blaupunkt Santa Monica head unit in place...	Buick GN harness stripped of it's covering and the fusible links (the truck's are a much better design). We'll also be removing most of the wiring on the pass side (see above).
Here's a good comparison shot of the two rears. The Ford is behind the stock 7.5" (DUH!).	Here it is all narrowed, cleaned up, painted, and ready to put in.	And it's hung! Yes, those are CalTrac bars hanging down there. I figure it'll take around 5 1/2" backspacing with this particular rear end.
This is a cardboard "Mickey Thompson" 29-12.50x15 street tire fitted up and looking like it'll clear OK.	Here's what the Jet-Hot 2000° coating looks like in blue.	Ahh, here's the PTE-52 hiding behind a Jet-Hotted stock turbo heat shield.
Side shot with the Hoosier 325x15-15 QT's and CalTrac bars.	Stock intercooler next to the "small" CAS front mount.	IC mounted in place, showing lots of visible radiator. May cool OK... YEP! Cools great!
Interior finished!	Gauge pod containing Dakota Digital EGT°, fuel pressure and boost gauges.	This one's for people who complain about working on their GN's - ya got it EASY!
Another shot showing severe lack of clearance around the front of the engine.	Corvette radiator with homemade SPAL fan mounting brackets. The GN fan mounts directly to the core body.	Finished core support, Corvette radiator, and stock GN cooling fan ready to be installed - NOT!
After further consideration, we decided to use the SPAL fans. The engine is now running, and it cools fine on just one unit!	PTE budget hydraulic roller cam next to a well used stocker. Both are junk. See "camscam" below.	Here's my torn down motor awaiting a new cam. Just glad I caught it before firing it up... Thanks to all on the TurboBuick board who warned me... and I actually listened!
A shot of the "new" billet roller's nose pieces - actually they're old pre '78 odd fire parts. At this time I do NOT have the recommended Torrington thrust bearing yet...	My wonderful 19 yr old "assistant" torqueing the pan bolts. Note the dual spin-on filters with -10 hoses in the foreground.	New A/C lines bent and installed. Original compressor seal leaked, so had to add a reman to the list. Notice the "stock"ECM for fooling the inspectors.
A pic of the truck on it's (ill-fated) maiden voyage...	Notice the head gasket material in the lifter valley.	#6 hole blown out - there were 3 blown cylinders with "0" compression.
Dave Weber's fine machine work on the torrington thrust setup. I also stepped up to T/A Perf's HD rocker shafts and Comp #941 springs.	Some serious measuring - numbers on block are "below deck" displacements, numbers on pistons are depths below deck.	Numbers are cylinder head volumes. Compression ratio figures out to 8.6:1 with (2) steel gaskets per side. Note the fresh-milled surface.
Here's the crack - both HV front covers broke the same!	My new bed in transition...	2 coats of PPG DBU in "50-U" and 3 coats of Rubber-seal clearcoat
Hood with GN "bulge" installed, painted and buffed out.	Travelling windshield installer doing his thing, total cost was $155.00.	Back end finished up, notice the Hoosiers and Cal-trac bars! Son's 383" MCSS in the foreground.
Holes in the spoiler are for the intercooler, not sure if it'll work, but looks pretty good.	3/4 front view, sticker on side is a home printed mockup.	Nice side profile, think I can cut down a GN hood liner to fit?
Side shot of motor...	Man I love this shot so much I didn't reduce it's size, it's HUGE! But it looks so factory, I couldn't resist.	Another 3/4 front shot with the hood closed. Notice the lack of "legality" in the lower corner of the windshield. Buying insurance tomorrow so I can get stickers.
Here we are at Port Neches park for some pix. This is just after weighing in at the local cement plant - 3640# with me (235), a half tank (70), the full spare (50), and bed cover (150). That makes for an empty weight of arounf 3130#	Still at the park, just prior to checking out the new G-Tech Comp Accelerometer. We ran at 3790# (2 people) and whipped off a pair of 12.80 runs! That's with 2.3 60 ft times and crossing the 1/4 at 2800 rpm's - can you say "lift"?	The rear window treatment prolly wouldn't look good with anything but white or black paint. We still have some minor problems to look into, but after 200 miles, it's definitely a BLAST to drive!
Here's a shot of one of the stickers I made with my new 24" Roland PC-600 vinyl printer/cutter.	Here's another shot of the side sticker. Notice how it somewhat resembles the stock Grand National emblem.	Rear view of the 3.8 SFI emblem.
My motor was machined at Conley's in Houston, TX. It is a .030" over '86 block with studded steel (center) main caps, TRW +.030" pistons, stock .010" -.010" crank, stock rods with ARP bolts, studded full race-port heads, 40# red stripe injectors, PTE-52 turbo, orange stripe converter, and otherwise stock BRF tranny. Plumbing changes will be: power steering (done), fuel lines, A/C, and heater hoses. Many electrical system changes are needed - the GN harness uses Weather-pak connectors and the truck uses Metri-pak fittings, so lots of cutting and splicing are in order. I'll use the stock instrument cluster, along with some Dakota Digital stuff: electronic speedometer interface, digital boost, fuel pressure, and EGT gauges (in a pod on top of the dash). Next on the agenda is installing a Ford Ranger 8.8" 3.73 trac-loc rear end. It's 3" wider than the S10, spring pads are the correct width, but top-mounted instead of underslung. I'll have to redo the spring pads, and change the bolt pattern on the axles and drums. 03-12-01 Well, after some months without an update, here's some new info: The Ford rear is complete, fully installed with the left side narrowed 3" (this centers the pinion), a new RH axle for the left side, redrilled axles & drums, new studs, drums and brakes, all for less than a grand! A new 3" driveshaft was built and installed. A Precision PTE-52 turbo is in place, and a CAS front mount intercooler is on order. We've started wiring the dash, and done a little bit on the engine. Had a small (but troublesome) problem with the brakes - after bleeding, the combination valve refused to center (this would cause the brake warning lamp to stay lit). Also, fluid was being violently ejected from the rear reservoir of the master cylinder with the cap off. The pedal felt hard, but we knew something wasn't right. After completely disassembling, cleaning and reassembling the master cylinder and combi valve, everything was working as expected. I guess while doing front pads, dirty fluid was forced back up into the combi and master cylinders. It was quite dirty! We finally found an excellent source (after spending long hours looking) for wiring terminals, connector bodies, shrink tubing, tools, etc. Waytek Wiring has all we needed to get going on the wiring swap! 06-15-01 The last 3 months have been busy, good and bad. Good news is the CAS intercooler is in, plumbing is finished using Turbonetics hoses and locally purchased mandrel bends. Radiator support is done, all clearances checked and fit up. Wiring is done and checks out good except for some odd readings on TurboLink, my ecm diagnostic program, which may really be bad sensors. Bad news is that the PTE budget roller cam kit I bought (and overpaid severely) contains a junk cam (see camscam below). But, I did get the news before I cranked it up and ruined the rest of the motor, like a bunch of others. So, it's now torn back down waiting on a new billet cam. I went with a Comp Cams BV6-3108/3107-HR112+4 which spec's out at 215°-210°/.516".516". This put my retainers real close to contact on the intake guides, so I bought some +0.050" 10° keepers and retainers. These also increase the coil bind (was @ .575") to .625" with a slight reduction in seat pressure due to their increased install height. As a side note, I've since found out that not using a thrust bearing of some type between the cam and block will result in the (stronger) steel alloy of the camshaft actually wearing into the block's cast iron surface. I'll take my chances for now... 07-29-01 It's ALIVE! This was the day it was all worth it. We filled the radiator, charged the battery, turned the key, and it came to life. We were getting some bad data from TurboLink, and several buds from the List thought it might be because of the ScanMaster patch on the Lubrant chip. We are getting a new Jay Carter boost sensing chip burned. One small oil leak, no leaky head studs, runs at 165° on only 1 SPAL unit. Had a couple of electrical glitches, mostly in the VSS circuit, but they've been repaired now. We're now struggling through getting the A/C working. This involves using the truck's condensor, evaporator, drier (relocated), liquid line, and orifice; the GN supplies only the compressor and manifold. The lines had to be fabbed up locally and pressure tested. Since the truck's air system was designed for R134A, an R12 port had to be installed in the vapor line for the cycling switch. It should hold 6 oz of PAG oil and 32 oz R134A. 10-04-01 NOT! After a month (over 28 man-hours!) of working on the "oil leak", we got it fixed - turned out to be the oil pump pad on the front cover was never machined flat, causing the pump cover to leak. Now we finally felt confident enough to make a run around the block: BANG! blew both head gaskets out! After disassembly and a MUCH closer look, we found that none of the four head/deck surfaces were flat. We set the bare heads on the block and could "rock" them .030" from corner to corner! Oddly, I had checked them all with machinist's rule and .002" feeler gauge and they checked out perfectly. A local shop decked all four surfaces for $70.00 and it's now ready for reassembly. I also sent my billet roller to Dave Weber for his torrington thrust bearing mods (as the block thrust surface was already starting to wear), bought new Comp #941 springs, and T/A Performance HD rocker shafts. It will be assembled with 2 steel shim gaskets per side. 11-29-01 Well, it's back together and running again, but not for long! Now a few of the lower studs are seeping coolant (I tried not using the seal-tabs) along with some big oil leaks! Replaced rear main seal and pan gasket. Oil leaks turned out to be a missing bolt in the front cover above the pump and a cracked front cover at the top crank sensor bolt. After pulling the front cover, the cam sensor gears had noticeable wear, but were reinstalled as is. A new (2nd) HV front cover is ordered, machined for cam thrust and installed. This is when the crack was discovered. Also, note the 1st HV cover is broke in the EXACT same place! 02-03-02 Ordered and machined a new (3rd) GM front cover, sent my cam gears back to Weber's for inspection. Dave sent me a new drive gear (after a 6 week wait), installed all the stuff and new front cover, along with MSD 50# injectors and new chip. Here on 04-01-02, engine cranks, pops, but no fire! 04-21-02 I've been ingoring the engine problems and doing some of the body and paint work. Was lucky enough to find a new bed for $400 delivered! It was black, but not for long... I suspected that the cam gear was installed a tooth off, so we pulled the front cover again to check - NOT! The gears are straight up, but the new GM front cover is cracked too! There is definitely a (nother) problem with the "motor from hell" involving piss-poor machining! My new motto is "If it leaks oil - keep pouring!". I believe I've learned my lesson on leaks, you can't fix 'em - they only get worse! 05-28-02 Finally got the mtor finished up (again) and again - NO START! Folks, we worked on this problem for a few weeks and decided to take the summer off and start over in the fall. 08-08-02 Well, it's running again, we tried everything from replacing the fuel to replacing all the sensors, and what finally got it going was a new cam sensor. Not sure, but I think I was setting the sensor on the wrong edge of the window. It was popping and banging, but not starting until after messing with the cam sensor. The old one checks out fine on the bench... Could be... NAH! Oddly enough, all the oil leaks are currently in a state of... NONE! 11-18-02 Finally got the rolling cab over to my bud, Ray Henderson for paint. I painted the bed and fenders, but ran out of gumption after looking at what all needed to be done. Ray has painted over 20 cars and does VERY nice work. 12-05-02 Got my truck back from Ray's paint job. Slowly working towards a finished vehicle. 01-08-03 Here it is! All I need now is an insurance policy to get my registration and inspection. Should be on the road in a week or so. 01-14-03 Well, the day of reckoning has arrived! Have insurance, registration, and now... HAVE INSPECTION! Actually, I went yesterday, but blew an intercooler hose on the way and had to turn back. Lot's of small bugs happening: severe overboosting due to having a bad "Y" fitting orifice (0.033" too small, drilled out to 0.052"), Jay Carter "variable boost" chip not allowing ANY boost over 0.0# (swapped back to Lubrant chip), big rattle from dash (passive crossovers moving around - removed them and wired front speakers direct), driveshaft was rubbing on the safety loop (removed upper half of loop, as the floor has a doubler plate there anyway), speedometer was off 33% (one DIP switch set wrong on D-D SGI-5 interface box), ESC circuit possibly not working (no resolution yet). All in all, the little white truck is a gas! 02-19-03 Still haven't got the JC chip back. Still haven't checked out the ESC circuit. Did manage to install a PTS shift kit and part of the PTS pressure regulator kit. That was a huge undertaking! The PR kit should NEVER be attempted with the tranny in the car - you WILL have gravity doing it's best to thwart you! I ended up having a tranny builder (thanks, Kevin!) come by the house and try installing it - after 45 minutes of frustration, he finally (successfully) installed the (new) PR valve & spring, along with the (old) reverse boost and TV boost valves and sleeves. For some unknown reason, the PTS valves were not fitting. I'll install them whenever my tranny comes out for a new PTS Xtreme 9x11 converter. It shifts decidedly harder and quicker, though. The truck now has over 200 miles on it and we managed to make 2 (incomplete) passes with the G-Tech Comp meter. I wasn't sure I'd crossed the 1/4 mile mark and lifted early both times, but still managed to eek out a pair of 12.80's while crossing the mark at 2800 rpm's! 0-60 times were 4.60's and 60 ft times were horrible 2.30's from lack of spool. *03-30-03* thru 09-03-03 Got the ESC circuit working, the pins in the shell (at the module) needed tweaking for better contact. Installed OGS Propain system, MsBC boost controller with dual solenoids, Nitto DR275-60x15's (Hoosiers are PAPER-THIN!), new ECM (found pin C16 was sheared off), added ProForm shift light, and Testa chip. This thing is very consistent and fun to drive now. 11-19-03 Got an excellent deal on a Precision Industries 9.5" 3400 stall (#6 pump) Vigilante converter. Pulled tranny and installed converter, along with the rest of Bruce's pressure regulator assembly (took all of 3 minutes with tranny out!). What a difference the right converter makes! This alone dropped 0.6 seconds off the 60 ft time and 1.2 seconds off the ET. Now running 1.75's and 12.17 @ 115.6 on Nitto DRs. Will definitely be trying the Hoosiers again, as traction is now an issue! GN motor into S-10 swap (ongoing) problems list: Dealing with crappy business practices- or - my "wonderful" experiences with Conley's Performance Parts in Humble, TX. Crossmember interference (possibly not): I didn't want to chance it, so I built a new dropped crossmember. Motor mounts: I built my own, after doing this, a friend sent me a copy of Advance Adapter's catalog showing their Buick 3.8 swap mounts for $150 - they looked identical (mine cost me <$5! Steering shaft interference: I relocated the steering column using pieces from Borgeson U-Joints. This moves the column away from the driver side header, leaving it intact. Rebuilding the xover-pipe entry into the pass side header: This will be necessary to avoid butchering the front suspension, as the rear A-arm nut is in the way. Rebuilding the xover pipe: See above. Downpipe clearance: Lots of reconstruction of the firewall and passenger footwell area is needed if you intend to run a 3" downpipe. A stocker may fit here without mods (don't know for sure, though). CoilPack interference: Had to build a new coil pack mount, as the stocker put the coil against the windshield washer motor. The new one drops the pack 1.5" and moves it back 1". I don't think this is a problem with 1st gen trucks, though. Intercooler clearance: I gave up trying to fit a stock location cooler and will run a front mount, even though we have HOT summers here (110° heat index from May - Oct). Radiator core support: This (late model, gen II+) swap WILL require serious core support mods, and an '85 - '89 Corvette radiator in order to have enough clearance for an electric fan and intercooler plumbing. Even with all the mods, clearance is very tight. Wiring: GN uses weather-pak connectors, S-10 uses Metri-pak connectors (in 3 different sizes!) - what can I say? Can't buy terminals, even from GM, BUT, finally found someone who does sell them (see above). Still, it'll be a btch to do... Air conditioning it'll be a meld of 2 different systems, unique and expensive... Now that it's driveable, I've got an ESC circuit that I suspect is not working. I think* I hear knock, but nothing ever registers on the Casper's gauge or on T-Link... PTE "camscam" From what I can discern, several people, including myself, purchased a roller cam kit from Precision Turbo & Engineering (PTE). This kit was billed as a budget roller setup, at a price of about half what a billet roller cam kit would cost ($550.00), designed, built, and billed as "THE" solution to end cam lobe failure. Unfortunately, the cams were machined on flat tappet blanks, NOT designed for use with roller followers. It is strictly hearsay, but rumor has it that Competition Cams, who actually ground the cams, had warned the staff at PTE that doing this would result in major problems. Comp Cams was assured by PTE that their design had been thouroughly tested and was holding up well in the field. Comp did what the vendor wanted, and months later in the sales cycle, numerous people began having problems with lobe damage. Seems the roller wheel was spalling off flakes of cast iron from the cam lobes, dispersing them throughout the engine. It has now been recommended by PTE to remove the cam and replace it with a billet stick. At this time, PTE is offering a $139.00 credit when purchasing a "step-up" cam. The price after the "rebate" is an additional $510.00. For some people, this does NOT set well, myself included. Sadly, PTE has NEVER publicly voiced their side of the story, so we may never know exactly what happened here. I have since purchased the correct billet cam and attendant pieces from other sources, and will soon be putting it all together again. With the money I now have "vested" in roller cam stuff (over $1100.00!), I could have bought a top of the line roller kit and flew the wife to the Bahamas for a weekend. The kicker is: I'd have been happy with a regular old flat tappet hydraulic cam & kit for ~ $300.00 or so, but for a little more money... UPDATE: Harry Hruska finally made a public statement on TurboBuick.com, very well worded (especially after Dan Strezo, the initial thread starter's rude comments). Still didn't offer to make good on the buy-back, but at least we now know where they're coming from. At least I didn't trash my moter because of it... My experience with Conley's (or) the motor from HELL!: In Jan, 2000, I bought a nice'87 long block (HP455175) from a fellow Buick buff (Judson Stahl) in Batson, TX which was a 500 mile round-trip for me. Took all my micrometers and dial bore gauge. His motor checked out PERFECT. Absolutely 0 taper and 0 ridge in any bore. Crank looked like it would polish up nicely without turning. The #3 main cap was cracked, but I planned on steel caps anyway. Brought it to Conley's a month later (Feb, 2000) with this intent: lightly hone the cylinders, polish the crank, install two center steel main caps and line bore. After 6 months, and several phone calls, I finally got "someone else's" '86 motor (GP441680) back. It looked to be a nice job, but it was .030" over and the crank had been turned .010"/.010" - certainly not what I was expecting! Needless to say, I was completely stunned. I'm sure one of the Conleys' "inner circle" is driving around with my good block right now... So you Houston guys - if you've got HP455175, ya got a good one! Got the usual er's and ah's; don't know how THAT could happen, etc. Lawrence called me personally and offered to do another "virgin" bore block, but when I asked him about the steel main caps and line bore, he waffled. In the end, he offered a $400 discount on a set of full-port heads and I accepted (what else could I do?). Oh, yea - did I tell you they added a $100 markup on my roller cam? I specifically asked Janace if I should order the cam or them: she said "we'll take care of it". I guess so! $100 profit for a 5 minute phone call! Not to mention the 8.5% sales tax I now have to pay: that $559 cam kit quickly balooned to $716.19. One more thing: I repeatedly told Chris (Conley) that I wanted my (6) stock pistons back after I found out "my" block needed boring. Repeatedly meaning no less than 10 times. Did I ever get them? NOT! Now fast-forward a year: My little truck is ALMOST done, had a "minor" oil leak, all wiring built and tested and engine has been broken in. Finally got the leak fixed (Hi-vol front cover had a poorly machined finish on the pump cover surface). Was so happy I took it around the block, no front clip! Got into it a little, and POOF! both head gaskets blew into the lifter valley. Smoke everywhere, lots of knock, horrible idle, nursed it back home and damn near cried. Took a week break, then proceeded to completely strip it back down to where it was a year prior. After inspecting the head and deck surfaces, it was found that there was a severe fit-up problem: (more of that fine machine work) both heads could be "rocked" from corner to corner on the decks, the driver side almost .030"! Yes, it was my fault - "I" should have personally checked this, but hey! Conley's is a top notch shop with a sterling reputation - aren't they? I mean, after 6 months I DID get "a" motor back, right? Why should I complain... Anyway, a local shop fixed that problem for $70 by milling all 4 surfaces to some degree. In all fairness to Conley's, the bottom end machine work was flawless, however after numerous talks with Chris, I got the impression that they do no in-house machine work - it's all farmed out. Personally, I'd never knowingly get within 10 miles of that place, EVER AGAIN! Stay tuned!

120k mile interior - very greasy!	My $1500 1996 S-10, delivered on 2 flats, I had to put on my spare GN wheels.	Looks big enough here, will have to figure out motor mounts, where to put the I.C.
Acura Integra seats fitted up and B&M MegaShifter being installed.	Shifter installed.	Fitting up the '98 Dodge Dakota console. Had to trim off the 2 front cupholders.
Front frame rails shaping up nicely	Firewall and engine bay awaiting a new mill.	Looks like lots of room, BUT!

Steering column detail - $200 worth of Borgeson u-joints and parts to move the steering column out 2" for header clearance.	Straight-on shot...	View of how tight the down-pipe clearance is to the firewall.
What was originally a Poston's 3" 2-piece down-pipe with some "mods".	Clearance at the firewall is tight.	Engine permanently installed.
Fabricated high pressure power steering hose ($45), secondary hoses, and reservoir.	Shot of A/C evaporator clearance.	Getting close to doing some wiring!