Mad Greek Off-Road

10/10/2024

More test fitting & mockup. Got the 5.3/TH400 where I would like it. Brought it a little lower in the chassis from where it was originally. It was originally sitting at 5 degrees but I had to bring it down to 4 degrees which I’m happy with. Test fitted the shorty C10 style headers & they fit with lots of room to play with. Also won’t have to get creative squeezing exhaust tube between the motor mount, drive shaft and under the oil pan with these. Onto the intake. I had a sneaky suspicion the stock truck intake was not going to fit & I was right. Currently the map sensor is sitting just above the hood line. So plan is to swap it out for a TBSS GM intake or an FBody one. I’m heavily leaning towards the TBSS because bang for buck & performance wise it’s the best stock intake you can get. Anyways nothing earth shattering here but happy to get an eyeball for things so I can start mapping it all out. Plus it’s nice not looking at an empty chassis lol. 🤘🏼😎

#53

06/10/2024

More progress on the Rock Lizard buggy. Got the 5.3/TH400 bolted together & dropped in. Everything is centered & the engine is tilted at 5 degrees. Gives me the ability to start taking some rough measurements & figuring out how I want things to lay out. Working on getting a mockup Atlas or I’ll just end up using the one I’ll be ordering soonish. Anyways nothing earth shattering here but happy to be making small moves towards a larger end goal 😎🤘🏼 That freshly rebuilt engine looking good on that chassis if I do say so myself 😉 #53

27/09/2024

27/09/2024

Now for the fun part! Almost ready to start laying things out, taking lots of measurements and eyeballing it once or 100 times LOL. More parts need to be ordered still but nothing is stopping me from getting the 5.3 & TH400 put in so I can start pulling some early measurements and get a general idea of how it’s gonna sit in the chassis. That’s all for now. Happy Friday you awesome people 🤘🏼

24/09/2024

Full write up on this build here!👇🏼 & Full video on YouTube!

Engine is a 2000’s 5.3L LM7 from a Chevy truck. Had 122k on it & I was able to hear it running before it was pulled. Pre disassembly I got the entire block cleaned up with heavy degreaser! This stuff was recommended by none other than a long while back and this stuff did not disappoint! Took the block from old and busted and got it prepped for it to become some new hotness! LOL. aluminum exhaust and intake covers were used when cleaning to keep water out as well as to have for long term storage on this project.

Stripped it down to the block only keeping the pistons in place otherwise everything else was stripped. I cleaned as much carbon off the piston heads as I could and primed, painted and clear coated the block using engine enamel with ceramic.

Installed a Stage 1 Truck cam. Cam specs are as follows: 206/212 .553”/.553” 112LSA. Along with a new timing chain and oil pump while I had everything apart. I also went ahead and upgraded the lifters to LS7 style ones and got a set of new trays.

I gave the stock aluminum cylinder heads a refresh as well once again using engine enamel with ceramic paint. They cleaned up super nice! I installed beehive springs, hat seals and 7.400” long, 5/16” Chromoly Pushrods with .080” wall thickness. I also upgraded the rockers and went with the upgraded bronze bushing to eliminate the weak point of needle bearings.

Stock oil pan went bye bye and I was able to score a cheap brand new GM FBody oil pain off a Brant new crate engine that a speed shop was selling. Came with a new pan seal, windage tray and oil pickup tube which was a bonus.

Finally to finish things off I went with some LS1 valve covers in black to keep that black on aluminum look consistent through this build.

I did use on some of the key areas of this build as well as through this entire build. Special shoutout to the supplier of a good portion of these parts . Talk about fast shipping and friendly customer service.

22/09/2024

Final video on this engine build is out! Mild spicy build. Can’t wait to hear it one of these years LOL. Hope y’all enjoy 🤘🏼😎🤘🏼

In this final episode for this engine build I get everything put back on this 5.3L LM&7 engine. New FBody oil pan, BTR valve springs and new 1 piece seals, u...

19/09/2024

Making baby steps to a much larger end goal!

10/09/2024

Photo dump of this engine build. Video of everything in more detail will be on my YouTube channel as well.

08/09/2024

New video on the LS engine build for the new buggy is now live.

In this episode I start putting back together the 5.3 LS engine that I'll be using for the new buggy project. I install a new BTR Stage 1 truck camshaft, tim...

04/09/2024

Out with the old! Finished the last bit of stripping last night. Oil pan, lifters & trays, timing chain, oil pump and stock cam are all out! Bye Bye! All the NEW fun parts for this engine are in & reassembly of this 5.3 for the new buggy project is about to commence 😎

04/09/2024

This princess is ready & very excited for this new build. She keeps asking how & when she can help. Looking fwd to finding ways in which she can help out with certain bits of this project.

30/08/2024

As I’m sure a lot of you have seen by now. I’ve officially kicked off a new project! In the garage is a Trail Lizard chassis. The video I posted on YouTube goes into full detail for this project and what’s to come so if you want all the info be sure to checkout that video. Excited for this new project and to share its evolution with you all as I build her.

https://youtu.be/pPSVXDvs6L4?si=YTmsHAGRfi7rs_4T

25/08/2024

Video is now live. Enjoy! 🤘🏼😎🤘🏼

I’m back and this time with something g wild! In this video I finally reveal the new 4x4 project I have going down in the Mad Greek Garage. I still can’t bel...

24/08/2024

The long anticipated wait is over. Finally get to share this exciting news with y’all! Video goes live tomorrow Sunday August 25th at 4pm eastern! Enjoy

15/08/2024

24/07/2024

Today was all about getting as much carbon off the pistons as I could and I’m very happy with the end result! With the engine upside down pistons facing the ground I started the slow process of gently scrubbing the top of each piston using hard bristle tooth brush with a 50/50 mix of ATF & Acetone. Each piston took me roughly 20-30min of scrub, wipe & repeat to get some of that aluminum to come through. Anyways all 8 pistons are now as clean as I deemed acceptable. Inspected all cylinder walls and all have nice cross hatching. Oiled it up for storage and bagged her for now. More to come on this turd polishing build 😂😎

20/07/2024

Minus the oil pan which is gonna get swapped out for an F body pan the LS is fully stripped. Now the fun part of more cleaning and then the fun fun part of some upgrades 😎

17/07/2024

Block primed & panted. Now to strip her down so I can paint the timing chain cover, valve covers and heads along with some top end upgrades & refreshed internals 😎

13/07/2024

Before & After! This LS is mostly degreased 😎

10/07/2024

For those of y’all who know what a great feeling this is 🤘🏼Both rear manifold bolts were broke and both are now out. Big win!

31/05/2024

The strip down on this Gen3 5.3L LM7 has begun. Time to polish up a turd & rebuild the top end. 😎

23/05/2024

New Motobilt truss & ram mount is a wrap! This Kingpin 60 is coming along nicely. Now the question is…..what’s it going under??? 🤔😎

20/05/2024

It was a sloppy weekend for camping and wheeling. We had the full family out with us and it was my 3yo boys first time out camping and wheeling. He was a trooper but it was a long day and by 3pm he was done…and I mean done LOL. My daughter however almost 5yo now was having a blast and just wanted to keep going 😎. Would have been nicer if it was dry and no rain but we rolled the dice and made the best of what we got.

11/05/2024

Little MIG & TIG 😎 Getting this new truss ready