2001 V6 Swap to a 2002 V8

Well here it goes. This will be my thread on my attempt to swap my weak but loyal V6 to a wrecked and somewhat rebuilt 5.3L V8. First off I want to thank in advance those on this board who have answered my questions and helped me through some small issues especially DUCKY (David). I also want to thank my sponsors and fans..... ok sorry that last part isn't true and I was just getting a bit out of hand.

The conversion thread was great on letting me know what I need to get for the swap. The only part where I fell short "Big Time" was the cost. I know what I was going to pay for the engine but I didn't put into count all the small stuff that I was going to replace along with the cleaning and new pistons. Yes I could have keep the water and oil pump. Keep the same timing chain and plugs not to mention plug wires. Hell I could have just threw the V8 in the truck. The engine, while dirty was running before it got pulled. My other love in life is flying and I'm not flying much right now, so why not take my time, do it right and have it look sharp once it's in. At least that's my thoughts on it.

The 5.3L came out of a 2002 Tahoe that was wrecked with 62k miles. I got the engine, wiring harness and all the accessory's for $800. The only crappy part is that the wrecking yard cut the back part of the harness and that's costing me a little bit to fix.

The engine had leaky valve covers, rear main seal and intake gasket. The engine wasn't supper nasty but I wanted to put in a engine that was clean. If you ask my wife, I spend more time cleaning the engine on our CJ7 then I do 4X4ing it. The last part of this engine swap is that I'm doing it for 2 big reasons. One, I flat tow my jeep and living in San Diego, I have to tow it down into the desert and I beat up the V6 in the hills on the way home. The other reason, I have 150k plus miles and the V6 is getting tired. I would love to have a bigger truck and a bigger motor but I'm just like the most of us. Paying bills and just getting by with what I have. So the cost of this engine swap, even more then I wanted to spend, will be cheaper then buying a new or used Chevy truck.

The engine should be coming back from the machine shop tomorrow. I'll start the build up this week and take my time. I want to make sure I didn't forget anything or needed parts. Below are some pictures from the break down. I'll post more as I start the build up.

Carnell

Some more pictures

Quick update,

I got the block back last week and I'm about half way finished putting it back together. Work has been busy and my playing Navy on the weekends hasn't help ether. I'll get pictures posted as I get close. I plan on dropping the engine in on the weekend of the 13th.

I just got done with my 02 swap from an avalanche. Once all was said and done, it was actually a pretty easy swap. I had the same experience with the salvage yard, they cut off the back of the harness. The nice part is, that your V6 harness is the same from there. I just simlpy spliced in the back of my 6 harness. The connections for the tranny and cats are the same. Hope that helps.
Blue Skies.

Thanks for the heads up. I have my harness at a electrical shop. I'm not sure if that was a good idea. They have had my harness for 3 weeks and it's been a pain in the ..... to get them to fix it let alone call me back. I hope this is the worst of it. I'll start my swap on Wed night!!!!

sorry it's been a while to get back on how my swap went. Right after the swap I was hit hard with 2 broken thumbs from a fall at work and then our neighbor lost her husband and we are very close with them. In fact, Allen was over every night checking in on me during the engine swap. So its been tough to write in more ways then one.

We got the swap done in 2 full 12hr plus days. Nothing to crazy to report on the removal of the V6. In fact, the first night we had the V6 out and by 2am the V8 in but not bolted up. Getting the V8 in was a bit of a chore but we didn't make it easy for us. We left the intake and exhaust manifolds on along with the belts, alt etc... So we had a tight fit trying to get that pig in. We ended up turning the motor sideways and dropped it in a little and turned it a little etc... till the engine was facing forward. The only "why did we do that" moment was with the fuel lines. We keep the fuel lines on the engine. Looking back, we should have put the fuel lines on the truck hard lines then install the engine. It was a pain trying to hook up and tighten the lines after the engine was installed.

We got the engine / frame mounts tighten up and the wiring harness hooked up to the transmission. The 4 O2 sens plugs on the V8 harness where different then the V6 harness so I had to do some last sec splicing. The other unplanned change was the starter. The stock V6 starter didn't match up with the V8 block so that sent me to Auto Zone. I also did the eletric fan converson with a fan wiring harness from Nelson Performance. That was a simple wiring hook up.

After all was checked and triple checked, we turned on the key, let the fuel pump prime and gave her a start. After a short few cranks she came to life. She was a tad rough at first but smoothed out. It also took what felt like a life time, for the oil pressure to come alive, in fact I was ready to kill the engine when the gauge came to life. I did get a P0408 EGR low volt engine code. The new engine didn't come with a EGR valve or pump so the easy fix was for Nelson to send out another Flashed PCM with the EGR removed from the tune.

That was it. The truck is running well. The fans are working great, the AC is cold with the new charge. It's nice to have some balls again on the road. I haven't gotten my foot into her yet. I'm still breaking her in. I'm now at a few hundred miles, I'll have the wife help me with the oil change this weekend and I should be good to go.

Thanks for all the help on the board with all my questions!!!

Also a big Thank You to Nelson Performance!!! The tune and fans are working great and I owe it to them that the truck started and was drivable on the first start.

Last but not least, I'm stoked that I got to share this build with my neighbor Allen. You'll be missed friend! Thanks for taking an interest in me and this latest build.

Carnell.

p.s. This was all typed out while wearing casts on both hands.. I need a beer......

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more pix

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I was just thinkin damn this dude can type! Then I read your p.s. Drink up my friend ;)

Are ya keepin the stock fan on with the E-fans? Pretty sure you dont need that now.

Stock fan came off once I was comfortable with the temp

I am getting ready to do the exact same thing. What did you do about motor mounts? Was there any problems with the transmission or drive shaft installing to the 5.3 engine?

The engine mounts are the same but the frame mounts on the truck are different and you'll need to by a new set. When you buy them, they are going to look different from each other and they bolt right up to the trucks frame. I have the 4L60-E tranny and it bolted right up. If you have a 5spd you might to look around on the fourm to see if people had to make any changes.

Chappy

I'm also doing the same - here are the frame mount part numbers from GM. Right side is 15113847 and left side is 15113848. ref: http://www.ls1truck.com/forums/v8-co...t-numbers.html

Well I flat towed my CJ7 down to the desert for the first time since the engine swap yesterday and what a change!! Going up the grade to the desert the trucked kept up with the other crew. I was watching the engine temp due to new e-fan swap and I didn't see anything higher then 204.4f. Now it was a cold 33f in the mountains but I was happy with the engines performance. Now on the way home was the big test, I have a huge grade to climb getting out of the desert and back into San Diego County. Again the truck did very well and was able to keep up with speed limit on the climb out. I did keep in the back of my head that I was running the 4L60E transmission, so I didn't run it too hard. I think for the summer I will want to put in a 160f thermostat and a trans cooler.