project Rentedmule

The truck is still kicking.  I won FSP this year but there were hardly any other competitors in the class so it's not really an accomplishment. 

Since I last updated I swapped the fuel pressure regulator and the exhaust, both of which had been leaking for at least 6 months.  I went with a Summit mandrel bent 3" kit with a no-name turbo muffler.

It was nice and clean in the intake manifold - there's no EGR on my '03 so I guess that helps



fat pipe


Right now I'm running winter tires on the 16" rims that came with the firebird - it's hardly high performance 

Small, wheel-related updates:

Sold my C5 Z06 wheels a few weeks ago since one was cracked and it was going to cost a fortune to replace.  I picked up a set of 17x9" Trans am wheels for what I sold the 'vette's for.  I may use these on my firebird and swap the C6 vette wheels from that onto the truck after a coat of black plastidip.  I'm looking forward to being able to rotate tires.



On the firebird, I changed the front brakes, have a set of SLP-valved Bilstein shocks on the way from Strano, I've already added a throttle body air foil and changed to a smooth intake bellow connector, and have a 160 thermostat in the mail.  I'll get it tuned after I install all of that junk.

Rotating tires is such a luxury haha

Keep the updates coming.  I'm excited for my own progress as well as everyone else this year.

Finally put the wheels on. Went with some skinny 245/45-17's since the wheels came with 2 good ones and I'm only going to use them on the street.  It's a real luxury to park without huge tires rubbing the frame!

Found a pin-hole bit of rust through on the passenger cab corner and some surface bubbling on the rear wheel wells despite undercoating it every year. I may have to get that fixed...

Stage 3 of the mule has begun!






I bought a <40K mile drive train from an '03 2wd S10 complete with the clutch, flywheel, master cylinder, pedals, console, column shroud, shifter, and clutch line (although it is damaged). I only paid $500 for the package which is less than half price around these parts. It's nearly impossible to find a 2wd S10 NV3500 here - I've been actively searching for over 2 years and this is the first one I've seen for a reasonable price.

I think I'll clean up the motor and possibly do a generic heads/cam build. I may leave it N/A or possibly boost it sometime far in the future. For now, the 5 speed swap is a priority although I don't know if it will happen before the snow flies.

Also, when I pulled that leaf a while back it really cut down on my payload capacity. I had about 1 inch of rear suspension travel and I had to drive 150 miles with that stuff in the back! I really need to cut my bump stop brackets down...

I'm liking this stage 3.  I also like your lumber bed liner hahaha

I had 850lbs of scrap steel in the back of the Isuzu a couple months back and I was impressed with how well it handled it on the ZQ8 leaves.  I didn't have any removed, so I'm sure that helped.  How much did you stiffen up the shocks out back? 

I cranked the shocks up pretty stiff and it was still useless!  I still have 3 leafs plus the overload but it did not handle the ~550 lbs very well.

Might as well cut the whole bumpstop bracket out. I don't have any problems with mine bottoming out on the frame, but then again I never haul a lot. I can tell with usually just a 100lbs the ZQ8 leafs start to feel a lot softer.

You got a killer deal on the new power plant. I'm jelly of the transmission. I don't mind driving an auto everyday but a stick would make it a little more fun. The truck really looks good with those wheels on there too!

I'm planning on cutting off the brackets sometime this week - I've just been lazy and should have done it long ago!

I got the engine in the air and onto a stand last night





I pulled the clutch and flywheel before mounting it and both looked like new to me, although I really have no idea what a worn clutch looks like

I needed to buy bolts to mount it to the stand - I used M10x90's with a few washers to space them back. That put the threads far enough into the block that they were almost bottomed out. I bought grade 10 point something bolts as I read a few blogs about them breaking on the stand and dropping the motor. They were only $5 vs. $3 for the cheapo bolts so it was piece of mind.

There seem to be some differences between this engine and the one in my truck, even though they're both 2003s. This one has a metal 3-blade clutch fan and mine had a plastic one with 5 or 6 blades - maybe a manual vs. auto thing? Also, it was an A/C delete truck - I should have bought the blower box while I was there...

ive never seen a metal 3 blade... maybe aftermarket?
both my 98 auto and my 04 manual have the same plastic multi blade one.
metric 10.9 is similar to grade 8 imperial
8.8 is roughly grade 5.

That barn looks like a nice space to work in.  And you keep it really clean (at least for the pictures).  Too bad the floor can't handle a hoist.

Looking in the parts catalog it appears that the trucks without A/C got the 3 blade fan.  Less restriction without the condenser?

I guess it could be aftermarket but the truck was owned by an old fart that had all of his service done at the dealer.  On a related note - are the threads on the fan reversed? I can't remember from when I pulled mine for the e-fans.

I hadn't even heard of grade 10.9 before yesterday. I asked for grade 8 and they didn't have any.  How comfortable should I be when I'm wrenching on this while it's on the stand (rated for 1000 lbs)? Is it safe to lean into a bolt if its stuck? This is all new to me, I could barely change a spark plug when I first bought this truck.

The barn is in great shape but the floor is just 2" planks on cedar beams. It's plenty strong to hold vehicles but it definitely can't handle a hoist since it's a few feet off the ground. I even need to be careful to spread the load across boards with a floor jack and stands.

You mentioned a heads and can build on this engine, unfortunately the only heads that flow better than what you have are obscenely expensive and require a different intake manifold too. Cam can go along way and LS6 valve springs with 787 retainers work with stock locks to give 525-530 lift at the valve. That'll do a 280 can without issue. If you want a custom grind or one of the lunati grinds with more lift you have to do a bit of machine work to the heads to cut down the valve guides.

interesting about the nonAC 3 blade fan. sounds like an easy upgrade for a better flowing fan from the AC trucks then?
I really don't remember if they are reverse thread or not. I know i struggled for a looong time in one direction, then decided to try the other way for shits and giggles and it came off super easy...
engine stands always scare me. they never seem stable enough to lean into. worst case just hook your hoist onto it so it wont topple all the way over.
you dont want to lean into a stuck bolt anyways. impact loads are better at breaking loose. hammer the wrench!

On the heads I was thinking about porting and a 3-angle valve job to improve upper RPM flow. I know vortecs are tricky to port but I would probably have them done professionally (if I do that). I want higher RPM capability (6500 would be nice) so I would spec the cam and valve train to do that.

I also have a pair of sy/ty manifolds coming in the mail so it's possible (likely?) this may turn into a turbo build at some point. They were cheap and in Canada so I figured they were worth grabbing. I had a pile of parts for a remote mount system years ago so I've done a lot of the background research already. I don't have big power goals in mind, I'm well versed in the cost/power/reliability compromise. It's all bench racing at this point anyway, I don't expect to move on it for a while.

Thanks for the info on the fan and engine stand. I was going to hammer the wrench last night and then it occurred to me that I may be tightening it rather than loosening it! I think I'll take your advice and hook it to the chain hoist - I don't want 450 lbs falling on me.  I was able to pull the other things I removed with an electric impact without stressing the stand.

I've only had 3 wheeled stands try to fall over on me.  The 4 wheeled versions have given me no trouble, but the extra safety from the hoist is a quite reasonable backup.

Have you thought about the fuel requirements too?  Marine intake gives you modern injectors, but certainly weighs more.  Al (Bliazaer) on here has been wanting to go Sy/Ty turbo setup with his marine intake too, but that's very much a long term plan like you.  The swap to the marine intake went quite smoothly and we found clean/solid solutions to the usual hurdles.  We've got Ryo's old 4.3 stripped of internals for future Sy/Ty turbo mockups too.

I'm just going with the wynjammer 36 lb poppet setup and a better fuel pump. For my goals and mechanical abilities that's the most effective route for the money. They have them in higher flow ratings as well but I think the 36's should do me for 6 psi and maybe 300ish crank HP.

I was likely over 250 crank HP when I was running 9 psi and meth injection on my powerdyne and all I had was an FMU then.

For that kind of RPM with Vortec heads you're going to need to open up the exhaust side to a 1.60 valve and call Crane Cams. They have the biggest production 4.3L cam I've seen, 230/234 @ .050 on 112° but the exhaust side lift is ~.540, which may be fine on 2003 heads, you'll have to get the springs and retainers on there and measure your max lift before binding.

Cut off my bump stop brackets this weekend - what a crappy job! It took about an hour per side. I need to pick up some low profile stops to mount directly to the frame. Any suggestions?





I also got rid of the front bumper braces to shed some weight. While I was at it, I opened up the core support in front of my air intake and notched the side of my grill to let more air in. I forgot to take pics but there was a decent pile of sheet metal and plastic on the floor when I finished.



I still haven't managed to get the clutch fan off the motor yet. It's standard thread but I need a second person to hold the fan tool while I hit the wrench.

just use the old belt and wedge it with a prybar. or even vice grips around the belt works too.

if you are adding a stop to the open C section I'd reccomend boxing that area in with a doubler on the impact site too