A long overdue update on my SAS and other things

[vdb11]

Hey all I thought I would finally up date my pictures with my SAS which has been 90% done for eight months now.

Truck now sits about 4" higher in the front and 5" higher in the back. Its a Dana 60 from an 87 Chevy, NP241 p-drop case (not hooked up yet), sitting on factory 1 ton front springs hung on front brackets made by me and rear hangers and shackles from ORD.Rear is 3" block and 2" add a leaf. I love the SAS so far, I would do it again in a heartbeat. I love the way the truck looks and it rides almost as smooth as before. In the future I may get some aftermarket front springs for a little more lift and suspension travel. These springs are starting to sag a little and I have very little travel.

All the fab work was done by me including front crossmember as well as a custom drop crossmember for the trans for the lower drop np241. Most of the welding was done by Kory (cub124 on here) and his portable MIG. I don't have pictures of everything with me, just some of the finished product, though I did document quite a bit.

I finally got around to buying some wheels for her, I decided on Mickey Thompson MT-88 steel wheels, 16x8 and a 3650# load rating. Just put them on a couple weeks ago. Now it just needs tires! The 265/75s on it now look really small ha. Trying to decide between 33s or 35s. It still has to be practical.

Anyways, yesterday the old girl logged almost 750 miles, traveling from PA to Hendersonville, TN where I will be for the summer for an internship. By the end of the day I was tired, but she wasn't. Anyone in the area we may have to meet up!

One last update, I bought another truck (and so the addiction/collection begins). Its a 1971 K10 that I put some used 33s on. Right now she has a carbed 350 and a t350 trans. Hopefully in a month or two after I get back to PA she will be rattling away with a NA 6.2 under the hood:hihi: already have the motor.

Just though I would update those of you that may have been curious about my SAS!

Alright I am in the process of uploading my pictures to photobucket....

EDIT: I hope this link works: http://s724.photobucket.com/user/vdb11/library/

 

[Burning oil]

Looks good. I also have a 70 4x4 and put a big block in it. The 4x4 67-72 never had a big block from the factory and I found out why. You have to do major mods to the firewall and I believe new cross member/motor mounts. Anyway The 6.2 is real close to same diamention as BBC........blah blah.....

 

[vdb11]

Funny you mention that Leroy I was considering the same thing when I first bought it ha.

I was thinking about a big block caddy since they are so cheap or even a late model 454. I joined the 67-72 forum and they pretty much said the same thing you did ha. The 4x4s never had a big block and there was a reason why. Although some people claimed they stuffed a BB without firewall mods...idk....

I figure a 6.2 would be perfect for a half ton 4x4. Hoping for 19-21 mpg in town. Now I just gotta locate a radiator, brake booster, etc, etc. ha.

 

[Burning oil]

BBC might fit without mods if you put it way forward :frown2: then that presents a down the chain problem for the rest of the drive train and the balance of the truck is affected too.
I thought about putting a diesel in mine to, but lately with the price of diesel fuel its not likely. Id actualy like to go back to a fuel effecient 350 and convert it to propane.
Propane is my big thing right now. I have it on my Titan and love it $1.39/gal!!

 

[vdb11]

For some reason the 350 in this thing is sucking gas like crazy, I am not sure what the problem is.

Do you fumigate it in or what? How often do you fill up?

 

[Burning oil]

On the Titan its sequential injected. I would try to figure out away to do the same on Chevy, but fumigation works too.
I fill up propane once every 2 weeks or 300 miles. I fill up on gasoline about every 2000 miles.
Propane for me today is 1.39/gal, gasoline is $3.49ish/gal.

So at 10mpg with propane to go the same 2000 miles its cost $278
and gasoline at 13mpg $698 for a savings of $420 per every 2000 miles
If you drive only 12000 miles a year the savings would be $2520 (someone check my math. I suck at it).

The propane convertion kit costs appox $2500-3000 installed and DIY its closer to $1800-2000.
So, for DIY it pays off in less than a year and is better for your engine. Supoosedly engine oil stays honey color for a very long time (have not changed mine yet). Also its less poluting than gasoline.
CNG is also a great way to go if you have the infastructure for it. I have kits for CNG and LPG.
When an affordable home refuling unit comes on the market I'd probably go to CNG.

 

[vdb11]

Hmm, very interesting! I had never heard of kits like that before.

 

[chevyCowboy]

what are you going to do for a Tcase to get the p side drop? is there going to be clearance for that.

 

[vdb11]

The tcase is already there I just haven't hooked up the front driveshaft yet. Its a np241 out of a 92 suburban, so it has the p-drop, but it has the hookup for an electronic speedometer. You are correct though the pass. drop case drops a good bit lower than a drivers drop for an IFS set up. I made my own custom drop trans crossmember. I wish I had some good pictures of it with me. Its basically 3 inch square tube and with a mounting plate on each end with a spacer in the middle that the stock rubber mount sits on to support the nv4500. I haven't decided whether or not I want to fab up some complex linkage to keep the floor shift on the drivers side of the tunnel like 88gmc did on his SAS or just put the floor shift on the pass. side. I would like to keep it stock appearing on the inside.

EDIT: If you look closely at some of the shots, especially from the drivers side, you can see the drop crossmember hanging down off the frame. Also, that ugly looking box on the pass. side is my relocated batteries.