5 day ls swap...can it be done

[aknovaman]

Quit posting replys to my dumb comments and get back to work.

You have a deadline, remember.

[Rich84]

Another Airtex pump here..4 years running no problem.

[Ackattack]

Dinner update:

The wiring harness on the engine has been taped up and organized/routed and covered in tubing.

The flexplate and spacer is installed. Another note: during my research for the project I had read that to bolt up the TH400 torque converter to the flex plate, you had to elongate the flexplate holes just a little to get it to line up.

Well last night when removing the torque converter bolts, I was surprised when they were metric. Well that gave me hope that this "metric" converter would just bolt up. So I pulled out the converter today, and what do you know, the torque converter lines up!



Then for the rest of the afternoon I hopped in the engine bay and started cleaning up the truck wiring. I found a large switch wire that went to the coil that I'll wire up to my fuse block. I have to do a little studying of wiring diagrams to see what else I can eliminate and figure out how the the A/C is configured, the kickdown, and speedo is all wired up.

[Zane M]

Looking forward to the progress of this project.

[dec010974]

im looking forward to the update also.

[Ackattack]

So one of after dinner tasks was to make the adapter plates. Well I had 1/2 hour scheduled to make them. Well I had some issues with the plasma table and then had a heck of a time drilling out the holes to the final size, so those only took 4 hours!!!!! So now I'm behind schedule....hope tomorrow goes better!

[Ackattack]

Here are the adapter plates I made:



I made a run to the store the morning for the parts list I had accumulated. I stopped by one hardware store and my heart about sank as they only had up to 6mm countersunk bolts. I was fearful that would be the case at all of the stores. Luckily I stopped by another store and they had the 10mm bolts I needed. So a little modification to the stock engine mounts, and I got them bolted on.




Then I was like, guess I'll but the engine in. Initially I had the chain bolted to the back of one of the heads. Well basically the engine has to sit too far back, and I didn't have enough room for that method. Luckily, I was able to hook up the chain to the sides of the heads and was able to lift it with that method. Then I slid the engine into place. It took a little bit of fussing with as I couldn't tilt the engine back enough to clear the bellhousing. Eventually I got it. The motor mount bolts lined up like it was designed to do so....and the engine is in!!!

[msgross]

nice progress

[Ackattack]

Tonight we had some friends over, so that took up some time working on the truck

After they left I worked on some wiring. I made a little fuse panel to run the engine:



I used this info here:
http://www.lt1swap.com/fuseblock_obd2port.html

I didn't wire up the relay for the fuel pump cause I'll just use the existing relay. I'll just have to re-wire it to be controlled by the new PCM.

[LockDoc]

-
Looks like you are making good progress. I have another one to do this Spring.

LockDoc

[Aruba1]

I was going to make my adapters also until I found a set of nice adapters with bolts on ebay for $45. For the time spending cutting and drilling and purchasing bolts I was better off just ordering them. You are making good progress though.

[Aruba1]

I may just order a set just in case I do another conversion. The price went down to $34. These things just keep getting cheaper.

[Low Elco]

What manifolds are you using? Any issues?

[slotard]

Are those adjustable? If so how much? Just the distance between the holes on each pair?

[Ackattack]

Progress took a step backwards. I got the engine in as I had showed you all. When I went to finish bolting in the transmission, I realized that the engine didn't have the dowels installed to help line up the transmission. So out the engine came again, put dowels in, and back in. Now this time lining up the transmission and engine was a pain and it took several hours to get it to line up. It would have gone much faster if I would have had a helper, but oh well.

Originally Posted by Low Elco

What manifolds are you using? Any issues?

They're the stock truck manifolds. No issues. I'm actually in for lunch and I'm in the middle of making the y-pipe. I'll have pictures later tonight.

Originally Posted by Aruba1

I was going to make my adapters also until I found a set of nice adapters with bolts on ebay for $45. For the time spending cutting and drilling and purchasing bolts I was better off just ordering them. You are making good progress though.

Yeah, they're too much work for a "basic" set. Oh well, live and learn.

[Nodnarb76]

Good job keep us posted!

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice work so far and keep at it!

[Ackattack]

Here is the passenger side:



driver's side:



So to make the y-pipe, I cut the 454 y-pipe in half that way I could line up and adjust each side independently. The passenger side was pretty easy:



The driver's side took a little more work, but no biggie.

I happen to have a 2-1/2" coupler that I used to join the two pieces back together and a band clamp to connect the y-pipe to the rest of the system.



I'm sure that the factory LS y-pipe would fit, and pretty must just mate up to the original exhaust, but I didn't have that piece. Oh well, this worked out pretty well. I do have to add in a couple of oxygen sensor bungs that should be here tommorrow.

After the exhaust was done, I pretty much spent the rest of the evening working on wiring. I'm soldering the wires together and then using heat shrink, so it takes awhile. I pretty much got all of the wiring soldered together and connected except for the OBDII port. I'm going to try to find the wire for the factory check engine light and use that. Should make for a nice clean appearance. Also, I'm just going to remove the OBD1 port and install the OBD2 in its place.

The oil pressure sensor/switch connector just plugged right in to the sending unit that was on the LS engine, so hopefully that will just work. I'm going to have to do something with the temp sensor for the gauges, but for now I'll just monitor them with computer.

[Ackattack]

Well I'm sitting in the truck waiting for the original ecm to download, and then hopefully I can upload a new tune and she'll fire up!

[MalibuSSwagon]

Nice work!

[Ackattack]

Last night I got the tune loaded up and tried to start the truck. "Tried" being the key word. It acted like it wanted to start, but just wouldn't quite do it. After cranking for awhile I pulled the ECM and checked the grounds and power wires, and they were good.

I'm wondering if its the old fuel that was probably in the fuel rails. I'm also going to do some double checking on some of the sensor grounds.

So close!!!

[aknovaman]

Timing light to verify spark, then a squirt bottle of fuel into opened throttle body and it should fire. Seems like i have been getting stuck injectors in all my latest junk yard engines.

Salute and carry on soldier.

[Ackattack]

Originally Posted by aknovaman

Timing light to verify spark, then a squirt bottle of fuel into opened throttle body and it should fire. Seems like i have been getting stuck injectors in all my latest junk yard engines.

Salute and carry on soldier.

I have a spark tester, and verified I have spark. I was wondering about a stuck injector too.

[aknovaman]

If it starts with a healthy squirt of gas in intake, I soak them overnight in diesel or kerosene then blow them out with shop air. Then test with a battery across the terminals. No click, re-soak. They usually resoundly click loud as a relay.

[Ackattack]

Originally Posted by aknovaman

If it starts with a healthy squirt of gas in intake, I soak them overnight in diesel or kerosene then blow them out with shop air. Then test with a battery across the terminals. No click, re-soak. They usually resoundly click loud as a relay.

Cool, good to know.