1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap

[Nodnarb76]

Also got the dash and instrument cluster out.

[Nodnarb76]

Also got my compressor, starter, alternator, motor mounts, ignition coils, water pump, thermostat, and my sending units for oil pressure and coolant temp.

[Nodnarb76]

One more pic

[Nodnarb76]

Got the motor in tonight!
Also got the transmission in place.

[MTCK]

Nice work!

[Nodnarb76]

Like mentioned in the above post, we got the motor and transmission in Friday night. An interesting thing we encountered when installing the motor, the Dirty dingo mounts had to be swapped left to right. When we had them bolted up like they were supposed to be installed, the motor would not go in, but as soon as we put the one labels pass side on the driver's side and vice versa, everything lined up perfect! We didin't even have to move the transmission crossmember, it went back in the stock location! Still have plenty of room up front for the electric fans too.
A couple problems have shown up, the Enytopy radiator/fan combo is a little too short, so I am deciding whether or not to send it back and get one a little taller, or try and make some spacers to lift up the Radiator a bit.
Also my new AC condenser is too narrow to go back into the stock location.

[Nodnarb76]

Plenty of room in the back:

[Nodnarb76]

I got my IPhone camera fixed yesterday, I was able to snap some pics of the Hooker exhaust manifolds installed. Looks like I may have to trim the tabs off the transmission for the exhaust.
Also wanted to get everyone's opinion on my oil pan being so close to my crossmember. Once the motor is running and vibrating a little, I'm worried they may touch. If it does looks like I may cut a little off the crossmember for extra clearance.

Weird, from work I can post more than one pic per post.

[Nodnarb76]

Here are a few more pics of the motor/transmission installed.

[dwntwn]

Originally Posted by Nodnarb76

Got a lot more done today.
Got the TBI harness out.

Nodnarb, Awesome build! I've read this thread through a couple of times, had a couple of questions

How much of your stock wiring harness did you retain/reuse with the new harness?

Removing the TBI harness—that includes the ECM, right? Did you go off of a GM shop manual or did LSX4U give you the instructions on what to delete/what to keep on your '87?

[Nodnarb76]

Originally Posted by dwntwn

Nodnarb, Awesome build! I've read this thread through a couple of times, had a couple of questions

How much of your stock wiring harness did you retain/reuse with the new harness?

Removing the TBI harness—that includes the ECM, right? Did you go off of a GM shop manual or did LSX4U give you the instructions on what to delete/what to keep on your '87?

Thank you for the kind words!

when I did my swap I un-plugged the factory TBI harness from the motor. then found where the wires went into the firewall on the driver's side. I was very nervous but I cut the wires where they go into the firewall and left the TBI harness plugged into the stock connector with the cut wires coming off the connector. I did leave enough wire at the stock connector in case I had to re connect a wire I removed. I took the TBI harness home and took an entire Sunday afternoon and traced every wire on the factory harness and probed them with my multi-meter to make sure I knew what each wire did. I realized the majority of the wires were 12v switched on power for the various sensors on the motor, and of course some wires going to gauges, etc. I did remove the TBI ECU. After I removed the stock engine harness I had moment of truth, I reconnected the battery and wanted to make sure I didn't remove anything that needed to remain. I checked and all of my lights, wipers, turn signals, horn, blower motor, radio, windows etc all still worked. Thank goodness everything still worked, and I had not removed anything that I didn't need to.

The LSX4U harness was great to work with, just follow the instructions they send you, the hardest part was wiring the torque converter lockup relay.

I also made my own harness for the fuel pump/gauge sending unit and ran it back to the tank, and other end to the LSX harness and my new fuel gauge.
I figured I might as well have new wiring for everything at that point lol.

Good luck with your swap, let me know if you need anything else.

[Nodnarb76]

While I'm posting also wanted to show off my intake I painted.

[slotard]

I'm amazed that AC drops your mileage by 1/3, sounds to me like something funny was going on. Unless you run AC in town and not when on the highway or something...

[Nodnarb76]

Always compared it to a newer car/truck that will loose a couple mpg when the A/C is on, never thought about it being a 1/3 drop in fuel economy. I did run it mostly on really hot days when my kids are in the truck with me and we weren't moving fast enough with the windows down to be comfortable.
Either way that is all out of my life now, the LS swap with a Saden compressor should make a noticeable difference.

[slotard]

Yeah, at 20mpg I could see a 3mpg drop from AC... at 9mpg that's a TON of extra fuel. For a 100mi trip, 20 to 17 means you burn (100/17 - 100/20) = .88 gallons extra. 9 to 6 means you burn (100/6 - 100/9) = 5.6 gallons extra.

[Nodnarb76]

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I got a promotion at work which is the good news. Bad news, I have to work an extra day a week. Now I have only one day a week to work on the truck. Sunday's are off limits, that day is for my kids.
Last week I managed to get the manifolds on at least by comming in early and working on it before work. They fit perfectly and don't touch anything.
I was a little worried, because I fliiped the motor mounts left to right that I might have issues. So far so good.
I went to take some pics only to discover my iPhone 6plus' camera is broken!
All my pics are a blurry mess. Sorry I don't have any pics.

[72MARIO]

I am following along. I just picked up a 2003 LQ4 for the 1968 suburban along with the dirty dingo mounts

What manifolds are you using ?

[Nodnarb76]

Originally Posted by 72MARIO

I am following along. I just picked up a 2003 LQ4 for the 1968 suburban along with the dirty dingo mounts

What manifolds are you using ?

Sounds like a really cool project! Do you have a build thread yet? Would love to see pics.
I'm using the Hooker ls swap exhaust manifolds.

[MTCK]

Congrats on the promotion . Keep up the good work.

[72MARIO]

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=625017

Just getting started on mine.

[Nodnarb76]

^Really cool suburban, anyone who hasn't checked it out yet should.^

[MTCK]

Nice progress. Looks a little cozy with the cross member. Can you move the motor / trans back a little bit using those adjustable mounts? I would rather move the rear cross member than hack the front one.

[Nodnarb76]

The motor is as far back as it can be. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, I had to swap the Dirty Dingo motor mounts left to right to get the motor in, which moved the motor forward a little. I have plenty of room everywhere else. I hate to cut into anything, but if I have to, perhaps I can shave a little off the crossmember.

[SBTork]

Maybe swap the oil pan with a shorter one?

I used the dirty dingo sliders on my '85 Suburban and used the "Hot rod" oil pan kit that GM/Chevy Performance makes. It worked really well!

[72MARIO]

Would it be possible to lift the engine and heat up the crossmember and massage some more clearance ? Is that area single or double thick ?