TFLtruck purchased this 1985 Chevy K10 truck several months ago. We named it “Big Green“, and the entire team fell in love with it. The truck looks mean with its suspension lift and Mickey Thompson tires. On the other hand, this truck is slow and quiet. The original 305 cu-in V8 and a tiny exhaust system, meant for taking the truck hunting, do not match the bold appearance. What are we to do? How about a Chevy Performance ZZ6 350 cu-in V8 engine swap!
We purchased the truck for $5,000 and performance minor maintenance. Now, it’s time to more than double the power! We were fortunate to get this ZZ6 turn key engine package from Chevrolet, in support of our Big Green project. The carbureted ZZ6 is rated at 405 hp @ 5,600 rpm and 406 lb-ft of torque @ 4,600 rpm. This is a far cry from the 160 hp and 240 lb-ft of torque that the original engine produced.
Naturally, the engine swap is just the beginning. We decided to keep the original 4-speed manual transmission. We will be going through the rest of the driveline to check the condition and possible upgrade the components to handle the additional power. We will be working on the brakes and all other components to make the truck a great daily driver, and an awesome off-road machine.
Get every painful detail of the engine swap (day 1) from this recording of a live video feed. This video is more than 2 hours 15 minutes long. We actually get the new ZZ6 engine bolted in place at the end of this video.
