5.3 swap into 98 Tahoe
 

Needless to say, my 98 tahoe with 190k on the clock finally started eating itself last week. I went ahead and rolled main & rod bearings in it so I could have transportation, but who wants a ride that knocks? (slightly)
I don't think putting another gen 2 vortec in it would be worth it, so i've decided on a 5.3 swap.
I just have a few quick questions. I've tried searching but i'm not having luck

-Can I use the 4l60e thats in it right now? (its rebuilt)
-Do I need motor mounts
-can I use most of my harness with just a few splices? or is a full harness swap a better idea

i'm not worried about deleting stuff, I have HP tuners already so thats not hard.

4L80 crank spacer and ls series 4L60E flywheel solves the transmission question. Don't let anyone tell you a LS series trans is heavier, everything behind the pump to the tailshaft is the same as the Ls the difference being the converter and pump and one additional hole in the bellhousing. The only heavier LS trans is the 4L65E

Harness wise the easiest route is to use an LS series 99-02 truck harness and then weed out the 1998 engine management stuff from your existing underhood harness and then marry the two using this existing underhood fuseblock fuses etc.

Your current fuel pump will do the job.

As far as engine mounts their are a couple of other LS powered 88-99 OBS chevy trucks here. There are different ways of doing it and the best bet is to locate the people who have done it and then pm them with questions or pictures or related posts.

Thanks...so i'm guessing no 5.3 trucks came with a 4l60e..hmm. Would it be smarter to swap in a 5.3/4l80 combo?

5.3's did come with 4l60E's never an 80E.

5.3 Swap
 

How have you decided to go, with the A/C?

It will have everything. This is a DD tahoe.
Will the gauges and stuff work still?

yes, they will all work.

I'm about to start a V6 98 to 5.3 conversion :nod:

You can buy engine mount adapters on ebay, or from street and performance. There are a few great sources for info around, I will pm you some links.
The physical swap is so easy it's ridiculous. The wiring is all I'm worried about, but I'm doing it just as posted above. I already got the 5.3 computer tuned for the swap

The A/C wiring is the only semi-difficult task for me on these year swaps, as they were transition years for wiring('96-'98). Would love to know the specific wiring course you go with, when you get to that. Thanks in advance.

Right now my plan is to do the swap and then start plugging things in wherever it will plug in. Beyond that I don't have a "plan" because I don't know what I'm in for :) I was going to wire the engine standalone like most "wiring specialists" do, but I figure it'll turn out that way by the time I plug it all in, get it working, and cut off the extra connections

I did an install for a friend on a tahoe that had converted his CPI injection on the vortec to SPI. He got the conversion harness from Arizona Speed and marine. Thought the harness may help since it would enable you to wire it for 8 injectors.

I'm doing a simular conversion into a 95 gmc short bed. I bought a 6.0 with a 4l80e. I've been buying the additional parts needed to make the swap including SD performance 551 lift cam. I bought springs, retainers and locks. New timing set, oil pump and push rods plus a cam gasket swap kit. I bought my motor mount adapter plates off ebay, shipped to my door for $49.00. Half the price as street and performance. I bought a set of edelbrock shorty headers for a 99 to 06 from jegs, part # 350-65022, ceramic coated. Cleaned and painted all my brackets and pulleys, valve covers etc. I think it should put out about 420 lbs of torque and around 410 hp at the crank. Thats according to Bryan at SD performance. I'm having a 2300 stall built out of the original converter, should be a nasty little short bed. I'm also building my own cold air intake, I'm using spectre performance modular parts as I did on my tbi motor. I'm having a wiring harness built buy the guy thats installing the package, (417motorsports) in springfield, mo. Should have it all done by April fools day.
locrzn

I'm also thinking about a similar swap so I'm subscribing. Looking at a 90 454SS chassis thats in cherry shape. Thinking a mild cammed 6.0L 4L60 swap would make it a nice DD

Thanks for all the help guys. Looks like a whole 4.8/w tranny is what i'm working with now. Just waiting for it to get here.
After this i'm doing an lsx s10! got my work cut out for me

is doing a 6.0 swap in a 2000 yukon denali 4X4 the same its got the gen II 5.7,4L60 i just want to keep my four wheel drive

Sounds like a nice little package.:nod:

I have never done a Gen3 engine to Distributored Vortec truck swap, But I have installed the 12200411 LS based PCM into these trucks. Here is what I have found with the A/C systems. The 96 is different than the 97-2000 Distributored Vortec trucks. When going from the Black Box PCM to the 0411
on the 96:
C2-9 Dk.Grn/Wht goes to 0411 C2-43
C3-25 Dk.Grn/Wht goes to 0411 C2-17
Pin C2-55 has to be grounded on the 0411 when doing a 96

on the 97-2000:
C2-9 Dk.Grn/Wht goes to 0411 C2-43
C3-14 Dk.Blue goes to 0411 C2-11
C3-25 Dk.Grn/Wht goes to 0411 C2-17
C3-30 Dk.Grn goes to 0411 C2-55
C4-7 Dk.Grn goes to 0411 C2-33

Hope this helps.

Jeff

I am in the early stages of collect parts to swap out my stock 5.7 Vortec in my 2000 Escalade (4x4) in favor of a LM7 5.3 LSx. I have already swapped a 5.3/4L60e into my '69 Chevy C10 SWB and it screams while getting 22+ mpg.

Here's a nice write-up from S&P: http://www.hotrodlane.cc/PDFFILES/Lisa%20Tahoe.pdf

i cover most of your questions in my thread

http://www.performancetrucks.net/for...d.php?t=443736

5.3 swap
 

i have a 1997 chevy k1500 with a 5.0 vortec with 200000 on it and just bought a 2004 5.3 with computer and harness and want to do a swao what do i all have to do to make it function properly