GEAR FREAK

Ok I am a newbie on here. I have a 85 GMC 2500 two wheel drive with a turbo 400 . I got a book on reto the ls engine ito this truck I am going to stay with the 400 I like the trans my Uncle had it rebuilt before he passed away and I have a US gear over drive system on it. I dont want to part with it.
Ok after carefully examination I have decided to go with a 6.0 Vortec I want to go with the 2003 and back becasue of the drive by cable system.

I had a guy I talked to say that he has done about 6 of these conversions and he had one with a drive by wire and he said he had one go bad on him and the truck wouldnt even back up out of the drive way because the switch had gotten dirt and crap in it and went bad at the peddle.

He said stay away from DBW! It makes sense to me. I used to be an Auto Tech but I am not savi on LS but trying to get educated on these.

The reason I want to go with the 6.0 vortec is I like the cast iron block and fromm what I am seeing they are getting some pretty good horses out of them even stock. If you have seen that horse power vid they got 386 hp out of a one of them with just rings and bearings and some headers. Thats impressive!

This truck will be used for towing and some cruising nothing eles so its going to be fairly stock.

Ok so LS guys whats your take on the drive by wire systems. With al the dirt mud and snow and dust and crap on the floor this makes sense to stay away from DBW. Any comments thanks

Z28 6spd

iTrader: (3)

I've never heard of many issues with drive by wire systems, but I have never liked the idea of an electronic device controlling the throttle on any car. To me, there should only be a mechanical connection between the driver and the throttle. It's worked fine that way since the beginning.

G-Body

iTrader: (4)

Both of my personal swaps have been cable TB, but thats mostly because when I did my first swap the DBW were too new to be crashed/cheap. Also I just don`t like the way the DBW pedal feels.

As far as reliability I don`t see a difference. You are probably almost as likely to break a throttle cable as have a problem with the DBW. My brothers swap is a DBW motor and he has not had any issues with it. The 6.0L that I picked up for my jetboat is a DBW and I will be using that pedal in a boat, from what I have seen it should be just fine even in a marine environment.

Pop N Wood

iTrader: (1)

I own 3 cars that are drive by wire and love them. They make traction control possible and made it easier to teach my daughter how to drive a stick cause the computer works the gas to help keep her from stalling it.

On a swap vehicle you get cruise control basically free and one less cable cluttering up the engine compartment.

I don't mind not having a direct connection to the throttle. I have had mechanical linkage come disconnected so don't know about it being less reliable. What makes me uncomfortable on new cars is having a computer between me and the brakes. No getting around that these days, at least not on a new car.

iliveonnitro

My specific LQ4 is DBC, but I would have no qualms about switching to DBW. These trucks last 250k+ miles with no issues, so barring any direct damage, there shouldn't be a problem.

Tramminc

I read, DBC has a faster response.

lsxRanger94

I'm using dbc for simplicity sake, But you are only limited to pedal placement by the length of the harness and voltage drop across it. So if you wanted to mount it in the trunk or on the tailgate in your case, you could. LOL Seriously though, you should be able to change the tune and get the throttle response you want.

fire67bird

If all the dbw parts are on the vehicle you are getting the engine from unmolested then I would definitely go with it. If anything is missing or damaged then do the dbc because its probably easier and cheaper in the long run. Mine was missing the throttle body and they are not cheap and they did some design changes so it can be tricky to get another part that works. I tried to get a 2003 tb to work with my 2002 motor to no avail.

aknovaman

iTrader: (7)

Lets see. How many corvettes (all DBW) have been built since 1997 till now, along with millions of 2003-up trucks are DBW with little to no issues. If the pedal, TACC, PCM and file all match it works like a champ.

DWS

on topic but not a LS example, I have almost 500,000km on my dbw F150 and have never had an issue not one. zero. I may continue using the dbw over the dbc for my LY6 swap into my 81 Firebird and the ONLY reason I'd go dbc is if I have fitmet issues with the dbw and the accessories...

Just my opinion, I could be wrong...


Ds

Gooker928

Both are fine.
If you put a LS intake on a truck motor you will have to go dbc and relocate the idler pulley.

lsxRanger94

http://www.justanswer.com/chevy/56xb...alls-5-3l.html

This is the only info on issues with dbw. I have not found the actual gm service bulletin yet.

Found it. Bulletin 06-06-04-042B

http://workshop-manuals.com/chevrole...8/p1516/u0107/

The Guy in MY 99TA

I don't care for DBW myself.

Jason454

A friend of mine had a dbw 04 Silverado. He had nothing but problems. It would randomly go to idle with no throttle. He had the throttle body changed along with the pedal. His mechanic finally gave up and he sold the truck on a day it was working

my duramax pedal has randomly not worked too. Mine usually only acts up for a few seconds. Im not a dbw fan.

bitterman

Wiring harness and ground issue can cause weird issues..... If both were replaced I bet the issue was in the wiring or grounds.

aknovaman

iTrader: (7)

Guess none of the nay sayers will be buying a newer gm vehicle especially the new c7 vette.

:-)

casias

iTrader: (1)

I have dbw in 1999 dakota swap. I had to fabricate a frankenpedal, which took a couple of hours. The entire drivetrain came together, already dbw. I think I would consider cable next time, just to see if the "quicker response" theory is true.

JetMech442

iTrader: (1)

I have dbw from an 05 escalade (lq9) in my cutlass. I have 28.5 inch tires and 3..23 rear gears, with a perfectly linear input the car was un drivable, but I was able to modify it so it was linear above 40 prevent. I've had no issues. Keep in mind also that even dbc cars have throttle relaxers to change the relationship to control torque, traction control, etc...
Btw,I put an ls6 intake in mine and only needed a camaro water pump and idler pulley relocation....easy.

aknovaman

iTrader: (7)

The relationship of the pedal to throttle butterfly is adjustable in the pcm file. It's operating system dependent so if you go to aggressive in the tables, you can brick the pcm. If you run a Vette. Or manual gto OS file the max table is already 100 percent across the board so there is zero lag or delay. Truck files have non linear tables and can go into reduced power mode if you get too wild on settings.

fieroguru

iTrader: (1)

My swap is DBW with the engine in the rear and pedal about 6' in front of the engine. Works like a charm and one of the easier aspects of the swap. I tweaked the opening rates in the tune and can't tell the difference between its throttle input vs. the other 3 cars that are DBC.