Conversions & Swaps LSX Engines in Non-LSX Vehicles
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Converting an 86 K10 to an 04 Silverado

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Old 02-24-2012, 08:07 PM
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cool build man!
Old 02-24-2012, 09:07 PM
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Did a swap in my little brothers 79 chevy a few months back. I wish he would have went with those dingo sliders but he didn't want to pay for them so it was a pita to get everything in and bolted up on his. Ended up having to move trans/tcase forward 1 inch.

Anyways was going to tell you to check out the autometer cruise control converter I believe it is called, they are sold on summit. We used one of these hooked up inline out of the tcase mechanical speedo output for his vss signal, works great but you need to keep the wires ran away from other because of the interference!

Gm dealer won't be able to do any tune changes for you, gonna have to send it off or get efilive or hp tuners to do it yourself.

You might want to check your fuel pressure before the regulator, little brother hooked up a walbro 255 on the frame rail to feed his 5.3l using the stock lines from the tank to the bellhousing then ss braided from the bellhousing to russell conversion fittings at the fuel rails. He had all sorts of runability issues, misfires, drooling rich,etc and we found the fpr (stock truck rail mounted) was blown, replaced it and hooked up fuel pressure gauge and found it had like 90psi at the rail! We found out that the sending unit is restricted on the return side on those trucks(his is 79) and we had to drill the fitting out to remove restriction to get fuel pressure down where it belonged. Something you might wanna check to make sure yours isn't restricted also and screw up your vette filter/regulator setup.
Old 02-25-2012, 02:02 PM
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Real world Fuel mileage Figures

Just took a trip to the nearest town. Its exactly 100kms away. I topped up on fuel when I drove down, and then after running around town for a bit, topped up before heading back home. On the way down to dryden, I was going about 95km/h. We stopped once for a bathroom break, and passed a few vehicles along the way. There is a small stretch of transcanada that only last about 30 km into dryden, and there I was running about 105km/h. Including town running, it took about 15 litres to top the tank up.

However, when we left (after making tim hortons drivethrough), we drove straight home, no stopping, averaging the same 95km/h. Topped up as soon as I rolled into town (Sioux Lookout) and it took 11.6 litres to fill. And that was having a bit spill out the filler neck.

I ran the numbers through a calculator using the last good number (11.6 per 100 km). The calcuator spat out 20.36 miles per gallon, which included the 5-10 minutes of idling in the drive-through line.

This was with 3 in the cab, an empty wood pallet, spare tire, 4 bags of wood pellets, tools, jack, and about 150 lbs of snow (500 or so total). Truck runs on large 33 tires giving me about 2300-2500 rpm down the highway (3.73 gearing). Tires are also 12.50 inches wide. Truck weighs about 4400 lbs empty (no driver).

I couldn't be happier. I think unloaded, summer time driving I should be able to net 22 or so. And this is with a NON OVERDRIVE TRANSMISSION. The engine seems to be right in its power band at about 2400 rpm, and is not lugging whatsoever during highway driving. I'm looking at a ranger overdrive that would bolt in front of the transmission, which would act like a doubler, giving me 8 gears, with a .82 overdrive final gear, which should drop my rpm even more.
Old 02-25-2012, 02:12 PM
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Originally Posted by rennat_2006
Did a swap in my little brothers 79 chevy a few months back. I wish he would have went with those dingo sliders but he didn't want to pay for them so it was a pita to get everything in and bolted up on his. Ended up having to move trans/tcase forward 1 inch.

Anyways was going to tell you to check out the autometer cruise control converter I believe it is called, they are sold on summit. We used one of these hooked up inline out of the tcase mechanical speedo output for his vss signal, works great but you need to keep the wires ran away from other because of the interference!

Gm dealer won't be able to do any tune changes for you, gonna have to send it off or get efilive or hp tuners to do it yourself.

You might want to check your fuel pressure before the regulator, little brother hooked up a walbro 255 on the frame rail to feed his 5.3l using the stock lines from the tank to the bellhousing then ss braided from the bellhousing to russell conversion fittings at the fuel rails. He had all sorts of runability issues, misfires, drooling rich,etc and we found the fpr (stock truck rail mounted) was blown, replaced it and hooked up fuel pressure gauge and found it had like 90psi at the rail! We found out that the sending unit is restricted on the return side on those trucks(his is 79) and we had to drill the fitting out to remove restriction to get fuel pressure down where it belonged. Something you might wanna check to make sure yours isn't restricted also and screw up your vette filter/regulator setup.
Thanks for that. I'm looking at sending the ecm out to have someone redo the settings and make the change over to the 8000ppm count, and then wire in the stock dbw cruise. Dunno if its going to work, but I'll have a look at the autometer once just for kicks. Any idea on part number at all?

I haven't checked fuel pressure at all. Haven't had any running issues really whatsoever. Do have a slight stumble if I'm working towards full throttle in high gear, but I attest to this all happening due to the lack of vss input. Could be wrong. I know on the older trucks (ie 79), they may not of even had a return line. Perhaps he was using a vent line? for the return, which would be way smaller.

My tank has a tbi sending unit, with a 3/8 feed, and 5/16th return, plus an 1/8th inch for venting. There may be some resistance, but I can't see it being a whole lot more than maybe 3-5 psi than the line pressure. There is nothing getting in the way of fuel coming out of the regulator back to the tank, other than the small line. The tbi return line just ends about an inch above the bottom of the tank. The fuel may increase in volume due to the smaller size, but there is nothing other than the smaller size to cause a resistance. I went over this with an aircraft AME, and he seemed to think the pressure would be the same in the line to the engine from the regulator, as the pump to the regulator. I was concerned with this since I want to run and aftermarket switching valve, which is only rated to 65 psi. So I SHOULD be good.
Old 02-25-2012, 05:00 PM
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You should be fine then, He actaully switched over to a TBI tank to cure that problem and a starvation issue when on angles.

Pretty sure that the one he used is this one right here...
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ATM-5291/
Old 02-25-2012, 05:56 PM
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Thats interesting. How did he hook it up to the computer? By that I mean, the computer shouldn't register it in the 16 pulse range from what I understand. Is it something he had editted into the ecm, or ran 'as is'? Was he able to use the cruise control?
Old 02-25-2012, 06:23 PM
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Nice work, I love the K10.
Old 02-26-2012, 01:39 PM
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that may or may not be the right adapter deal that was just the first one i found on summit i'd have to talk to him.

We left the 2 trans speed sensor wires in his harness and that is what he hooked up to the output of the sensor/adapter deal. I dont know if the speed is actaully correct going down the road or not but the main reason why he installed it was because we couldnt get the truck to idle below like 1000rpm's without the PCM seeing 0 mph input while sitting still.
Old 03-09-2012, 10:42 AM
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From what I can tell, you can use that adapter, or the popular one from digital dakota. They can be tuned in the ecm for it to read properly, allowing a proper vss signal. However, if you want to retain cruise control (which I do) you need the 40 pulse per driveshaft revolution.

JTR sells a kit that bolts a sprocket on the backside of the differential yoke. This may work fine on a car, but not so great in a truck (offroad obstructions). I may still go this way, and add a Slip yoke eliminator to the 208 transfer case, so I can transfer the sprocket up to the topside of the driveshaft.
Old 11-08-2012, 08:39 PM
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Default 1987 TBI Fuel Sending Unit inside 1986 Tank

Did you have any issues installing the fuel sending unit from a 1987 fuel injected truck into your OEM 1986 gas tank? I know the 16 Gallon gas tanks are identical in size; however, i've read that the actual receiving hole where the fuel sending unit mounts is smaller on the 1986 gas tanks and isn't compatible with the 1987 sending unit. Any clarifications would help. Thanks.
Old 11-08-2012, 09:41 PM
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Originally Posted by fbizzie
Did you have any issues installing the fuel sending unit from a 1987 fuel injected truck into your OEM 1986 gas tank? I know the 16 Gallon gas tanks are identical in size; however, i've read that the actual receiving hole where the fuel sending unit mounts is smaller on the 1986 gas tanks and isn't compatible with the 1987 sending unit. Any clarifications would help. Thanks.
He used everything out of the tbi tank
Old 04-28-2013, 05:34 PM
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What headers are you using?
Old 12-07-2013, 10:56 AM
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Sorry, no issues installing the tbi unit into the older tank. Sending units bolt in the same; post 87 fits pre 87 and vice versa. I have 2 20 gallons tanks now, with the high pressure switching valve, and have had no issues other than one fuel pump failing (was warrantied, replaced and fine since).

Using the stock, 2004 silverado exhaust manifolds. The have no provision for egr (not egr that year) on them, so no frame modifacations had to be made.

To date, I've done in excess of 20,000kms since the swap, including a 2500km long road trip half way across canada towing a large loaded car trailer. Only issue I had was the same one I discovered early one, a maf issue. Replaced it with an oem one, and its been fine since.
Old 05-19-2014, 12:54 AM
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Sorry to dredge this up from the dead, but did you ever figure out something on the slave cylinder not having enough stroke? Or did you just continue running it as is? I'm in the process of gathering parts/ideas for a similar swap in a two wheel drive.
Old 10-25-2014, 07:49 PM
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I am getting ready to do the same project in an 84 silverado sb 4x4, I'm going for the lq9



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