Here's what that company (which I just realized coincidentally is right down the road from me) had to say:

Hey Jacob,

In the past six years we've only had a couple of failures both were due to improper installation (too close to exhaust). We sell quite a bit of these to competition drivers mud, Rock bouncing, rock crawling. We also offer adjustable shift detents that allow you to adjust The force required to move your shift rails. The cables are rated at 80 pounds push/pull, at 100% duty cycle

Thank you for your interest,
Jon

 

Sweet...sound like they make adjustable detents for a reason as well.

 

Here are some neat carnage shots from the old engine. The lifter apparently wore out at the bottom to the point that oil was getting out of the bottom of the lifter! all the slop caused for a broken pushrod it looks like. fairly cheap and easy fix. maybe if I did fix it I would use better oil haha

 

Working on some wiring this weekend. I got my hands on a digital 1,000 page shop manual and thats been really helpful with the control + F search.

 

For the transmission, I removed the factory cross member, cut the big rivets that hold the side braces to the frame, moved the side braces back about 2", welded where the rivets use to be, and made a little box/ pedestal that the 6l80e can bolt to using its rubber mount (it has a stud that sticks down, thats why this box is so tall. I drilled three different holes to have different mounting options and ended up using the middle one. So the engine and transmission are completely bolted in place now!

 

Heres what the transmission mount looks like in place. this 6 speed is so much bigger than the old 4 manual that even with my new spacer it barely clears the cross member by the pan. driveline clearance will also be tight with this sitting up

 

my new fan shroud for the electric fan

 

for my air intake, I'll be using the air intake box, filter, and MAF off of a 2014 silverado. I'll be cutting into the inner fender here to make it work and building a new housing. this will be a "cold air intake" in the sense that it draws air from outside of the engine compartment.

 

Does anyone have pictures of the shifter linkage, around the transmission and exhaust area?
Im working on exhaust and want to make sure I don't shoot myself in the foot by getting in the way of the linkage. I still don't have an automatic column, one of the many things on the to do list

 

Here are some more pics from today. upgrading to 1350 U joints (really not that big but still better than the tiny old ones). nothings finalized under the hood but playing around with mounting locations

 

I think your shroud is too restrictive.

Also seems like a good time to upgrade radiator to cool the extra HP

 

With these newer engines being a lot more efficient, cooling isn't as big of a problem as you might expect. I have a 450 horse LS1 in another car with a smaller, 1950's style radiator and have been in triple digit weather stuck in traffic, AC on, and no overheating. The aluminum blocks also dissipate the heat a little better. I will update when its finished, but I expect this to be more than enough cooling.

And also I've blown the budget and cant afford a good radiator LOL

 

HP is heat.

I am not saying it's inadequate...just seems like a good "while I am at it" point for a new rad. Those thoughts have had me blow all budgets though so good for you to stay strong.

I have never seen an OEM shroud with the plenum area you have on yours. A new piece of aluminum and a brake would be ideal IMO.

 

Got the automatic steering column put in today. it was from a 2wd and had different joints on it, so I end up disassembling them and putting the original shaft in the new one. the shifter linkage looks like it can be hooked up without too much work. Also got a little radiator plumbing done today

 

x2 on shroud, while it may be fine, I see the area at the fan keeping very cool while having 'hot spots' on the rest of the radiator/shroud due to the plenum area being pretty restrictive. Again, may be fine, but check it after the swap is complete.

I'm excited to see the power and drivability when finished, having power right at your foot. I really enjoy that red too, have a truck that will be getting paint soon that was originally red/white, I wanted something deeper instead of the fire-engine red.