Dbw or dbc setup for my swap
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Jan 2019
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
From: Caledonia, Ontario
Dbw or dbc setup for my swap Pretty new to the LS engines but I have been reading up like crazy on them. I recently I picked up a very low mileage 5.3L truck motor for really cheap, though the guy I bought it from didn't know what kind of vehicle it was from nor know the year for sure. I've torn it apart and inspected it and bought new bearings, rings, gaskets etc. Its getting a btr stage 2 cam, I picked up a fbody front accessory drive locally for a decent price along with a ls1 intake, fuel rails and injectors. Now a previous owner of the motor cut some wires when he took it out which is quite annoying because now I need to source another harness (blue/green connectors, 1 connector dbw throttle body so information online states it's an 03-06 motor). I also need to source a PCM which kind of makes it easier as I can just find 1 truck with it all and take it all from that.
Now I can go 2 routes. I can purchase a Hydra EMS standalone harness which comes with a standalone PCM and convert to dbc which is needed if using this setup. (This is $2500usd so pretty damn expensive but probably worth it)
OR
I can find a truck harness with matching PCM, TAC module and pedal and make a bracket to get the pedal in my car.
Is there any reason my dbw wouldn't work if I was to put the truck pedal in my car? My car has dbw currently so it would be a pain to convert to dbc. Also does the harness going from the truck pedal to the TAC module connect to anything other than the engine wiring harness? I'm trying to figure out what I'm getting myself into staying dbw.
Now I can go 2 routes. I can purchase a Hydra EMS standalone harness which comes with a standalone PCM and convert to dbc which is needed if using this setup. (This is $2500usd so pretty damn expensive but probably worth it)
OR
I can find a truck harness with matching PCM, TAC module and pedal and make a bracket to get the pedal in my car.
Is there any reason my dbw wouldn't work if I was to put the truck pedal in my car? My car has dbw currently so it would be a pain to convert to dbc. Also does the harness going from the truck pedal to the TAC module connect to anything other than the engine wiring harness? I'm trying to figure out what I'm getting myself into staying dbw.
I would use an aftermarket harness such as PSI Conversions for a gen III engine/trans which runs about $580. Go to a junkyard and pickup a TAC and ECU but not the pedal. Have the harness provider do the programming and provide a matching pedal. I like to use an aftermarket harness because they are longer which helps putting the ECU in the cab.
I would go with your second option. Go to the junk yard and get the PCM, harness, TAC and pedal and pedal jumper harness all out of the same truck. There's no reason that wouldn't work, been done a million times. There are 2 plugs on the TAC, one plugs into the engine harness and the other goes directly to the pedal, nothing else hooks to it. You will likley need to change the injector connectors though since the LS1 intake uses different injectors, but you should be able to either buy new ones or just grab them at the JY while you're there.
