My 1999 OBS C1500 LQ9 6.0 LS Swap

Ive been visiting this forum for quite a while now and have slowly made more and more progress on this swap. Started collecting parts about a year and a half ago and just wanted to share my progress. Here is my truck along with a bunch of pics of the progress that Ive made up until now. Im sure I may have some questions as I get closer to that first start up. I know you guys have been helpful on builds that Ive followed in the past so hopefully I can come here for help. Anyway on to the Pics!

Here's the truck, 1999 Silverado 1500 which had about 50K on it when I got it. It had a 5.7L Vortec w/4L60E. The truck treated me well until it rolled 150,000 miles and I discovered oil was getting into the coolant. It had either a blown head gasket or a cracked head, not sure. Decided to go ahead and pull it and do the LS swap.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...S%20Swap/1.jpg

Here's where it started. Gen IV LY6 from a 2500 Chevy van.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...S%20Swap/2.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...ne52012393.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...ne52012388.jpg

First thing I did was make a lift plate to get this thing around easier.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...7565FE9225.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...S%20Swap/6.jpg

Then took it to the machine shop to have it hot tanked and decked. Just had a clean up pass done to get it true.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...04B5A6DF5D.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...f49ccd07b1.jpg

Painted the block and got new LQ9 pistons and a 24X Crank. Then me and a friend built the shortblock.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...C44034CB73.jpg

Also had new cam bearings put in.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...6BC6345D78.jpg

More progress. Got the cam in with an LS2 timing chain and cam gear. New front timing cover and the oil pan and balancer.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...CE7D648E30.jpg

Then made an engine cradle to get it back home!
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...CFCCFA98D0.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...CE14ADAE9F.jpg

Nice looking shortblock. I wish I were stuffing that in my project vehicle.

Thanks, its been a very slow build. Can't wait to get back behind the wheel. Heres some more progress. Getting closer to where its currently sitting..

Here's what showed up next!
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...A45F5C0079.jpg

PRC Heads from Texas Speed. LS6 heads (243/799 Casting)
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...DF3AE27B6D.jpg

Starting to look a little more like a motor here.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...4D7BB105F5.jpg

Then I ordered the Schoenfeld swap headers. I sandblasted them then primed & painted with the VHT Flame Proof paint from Oreilly's.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...0EE12D645E.jpg

A little mock up..
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...40C8CC307F.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...900F244943.jpg

These are the headers and ORY off the 5.7, sold them not long after I pulled them off
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...60064244C9.jpg

Decided to keep the 4L60E and got one for cheap from a 2001 Silverado that needed a rebuild. This way I could run a LS1 style converter and not have to worry about adapting to the older style. A good friend builds them all the time so I got all the parts needed and we did a full rebuild. Then got a 9.5" PI Vigilante triple disc converter. Its supposed to be a 3800-4000
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...D2D13485BA.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...24F970E269.jpg

All bolted up!
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...2E49A4C325.jpg

lookin good man. word of caution tho. i see your truck is dropped a bit... im guessin 2/4 or maybe 3/5?? your gonna wanna check clearance on that pan. mine is a 4/6 and i had about 2-3" from ground to pan and was forced to get an ls1 pan for clearance. just letting you know now cuz you will have to pull the motor back out if you end up having to swap it. but anyway keep up the great work!!

This is a nice build man good job. How does that paint you put on the headers look like it will hold up?

Thanks guys!

kewljay223: Thanks! I think I remember reading somewhere on here (may have been your thread) that the oil pan does sit kinda low. I didnt notice until I brought this motor home that the oil pan I have is shallower than the usual 4.8/5.3/6.0's that I've seen. Not sure if it's because this is a Gen IV motor or what. I'll have to ask a friend of mine. He told me something about it a while back, just can't remember what he said. Thanks for the heads up though! The truck is 2/4 now but I do want to go 4/6 once the swap is finished!

baronsmith98: Thanks man! I blasted the headers to bare metal and primed, painted, and cleared them. All with the VHT stuff. The picture you see with the old headers and ORY was after about 4 years & 50,000 miles of use. They aren't the prettiest, but they have minimal rust. This VHT paint is a lot better than what comes on the headers for sure. I won't be driving this truck everyday, so I expect them to last a decent amount of time.

This here has been the most exciting part of the build yet! Pulling the 5.7 and getting the LS in! This is 5 minutes after the 5.7 was out. Needed a lot of cleaning!
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...0D302F568B.jpg

After pressure washing and adding some paint. Looks freshened up now. Also put on some new motor mounts!
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...C303265596.jpg

Finally got it in. To anyone doing this swap with the Trans Dapt adapter plates, make sure you grind the hump off the back of the original cup mounts before bolting them on! Setting it into its new home..
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...B8777EA03D.jpg

All bolted up!
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...178E99E580.jpg

Next I got the headers on. The passenger side was a little more tricky than the driver side, but they do fit nicely.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...EC842EDE55.jpg

And here is the point where I am at now! Currently its sitting about like this. I had the power steering/alternator bracket powder coated so it looks almost like a new factory one. Also changed the powersteering pressure hose to one from a 1991 C1500 V6. It bolts up like it was made to be there. The transmission linkages are all hooked up and the driveshaft is in. I still need a few more things here and there. I have a new custom wiring harness for a 99-02 truck w/4L60E so that should make the wiring a little easier hopefully. Anyway, Im working on it here and there making progress. But heres how it sits as of now...
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...5BC4737912.jpg

Looks great. You'll love the LS power!!!

looking great man! great sight to see. but if i was you, i would get that ls1 pan on there now before you go through all the trouble of hooking everything up and putting the fluids all in and everything cuz your just gonna have to disconnect and do it all over again later.... especially since you said you wanna drop it lower to 4/6 anyway which will for sure require the ls1 pan. i know you wanna get things moving now but trust me, you will regret it down the road if you dont do it now. much easier at this point with nothing in the way.... just my .02 cents. anyway, keep up the good work and good luck!

Liking the progress on this swap! Keep up the detailed pics, it's helping me see what's what for my swap that I'm just now starting. I'm doing a 6.0 in my RCSS.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChevyMan90

Finally got it in. To anyone doing this swap with the Trans Dapt adapter plates, make sure you grind the hump off the back of the original cup mounts before bolting them on!

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I actually like to put the cups in a press and flatten the hump out.

Jeff

Good looking truck!! Looking forward to the progress of this.

good looking truck!! nice swap!

Thanks guys! I may go ahead and look into doing that LS1 pan. At the moment Im working on getting my intake ready to put on. Im going to run a TBSS intake with the older return style rails. Just finished welding -6 AN bungs to modify the crossover. Got some LS2 injectors as well!

Great looking build! I didn't see what cam you went with. I'm assuming you're not keeping it stock with those heads.

No, not keeping stock cam. I'm running a Thunder Racing custom grind. Its their TRuTorq Level 5, 227/239 .614"/.621" 115LSA. I know a few people locally running it in their trucks and they have made good power with it. Got the intake just about finished and going to work on the fuel lines next.

Nice looking truck. That has been my favorite color on the OBS trucks. Im subscribed to this one as mine seems to not be going anywhere till the weather breaks.

Been a little while since I've updated. Installed a Tru-Cool 40K trans cooler. Had to modify a few things and made some brackets to mount it and make it work but I think it came out good.

BEFORE:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...BC3C9C98E3.jpg

Sectioned this front support to make room for cooler.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...4B20632A13.jpg

And here is the cooler installed.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...D506EDE53A.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...892E905E54.jpg

Got my intake fixed up too. Modified the stock 99-02 fuel rails to keep the return style system. Also added a Nick Williams 92mm Throttle body!

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...4FFE028588.jpg

Here it is installed.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...B50007D3CF.jpg

This is where I'm currently at. Ready to start the wiring. I have a new stand alone 99-02 harness I will be using so that should make things a little easier.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...64F2EFFBF8.jpg

Truck has been running for about a month now! Haven't had much time behind the wheel due to being busy with work but I have some more pics and a video.

Modified the water temp sending unit to fit the LS head.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...FD472CE4CA.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...0D23C6C003.jpg

34" Radiator with 05' and up Electric Fans
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...E84A067D70.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...341F9DB658.jpg

Here's a quick video of it idling. Excuse the wires, this was like 5 minutes after the first start up! I still have a lot of cleaning up to do with the wiring and all. Im currently working on the exhaust myself. Bought some 3" mandrel bends and I've been slowly getting that done. This video is open headers..

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...FCB8A9F8D9.jpg

Truck sounds awesome. You do good work. I like the mod for the trans cooler. What method did you use for the water temp sending unit? The grinder or the lathe? What size tap did you use?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChevyMan90

Modified the water temp sending unit to fit the LS head.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...FD472CE4CA.jpg

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Thanks man! For the water temp sending unit I used a lathe to turn it down. The new threads to fit the LS head are an M12 x 1.5. Some people drill and tap the head to make the sensor fit but couldn't see doing that on a brand new set of heads.

That sounds soooo good! What did you do for the throttle cable bracket? Fabbed one up?

Thanks! Yea I modified the 99-02 throttle cable bracket and welded another piece to it so that I could get 2 bolts holding it down.

Ok cool, I was considering doing the same thing. Thanks for the info!

Thanks for sharing! This is exactly what I want to do with my '96 when funds and time allows!

No problem! I enjoy seeing all the other builds on this forum so I figured I'd share mine. I made a radiator/E-fan mounting bracket a few weeks back and had it powder coated black.
I also did the exhaust a few weeks ago. It came out awesome, but was not easy doing it on the ground! A lift would've made it 10x easier but its done now and I'm very happy with the way it sounds! Its done with all mandrel bent tubing that I bought and fabbed up using 45's and 90's. Dual 3" with an H-Pipe into two 14x4x9 Magnaflow mufflers. Its got turndowns on it for now. Happy with the sound for sure! Only real thing left now is to clean up the wiring. On to the pics!

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...BEF1F593E0.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...6C7EA08C37.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...F4795AAF37.jpg

And here is the exhaust. This is coming off the headers:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...D60256F476.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...B60B61E619.jpg

All welded up:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...CA456B9DE7.jpg

And the rest of it. The H-Pipe, cutouts and Magnaflow mufflers.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75...9E6B4F29FF.jpg

Looks good. That's almost a mirror image of the exhaust I built for mine. I did add tail pipes though. Mine is kinda raspy at times, have you noticed that at all?

Fantastic work! I'm curious, do the Shoenfeld headers drop below the frame rails, engine crossmember, etc?

Thanks guys! I have turndowns on it as of now. The little bit that I have driven it so far I haven't had any rasp. I find that the Magnaflow mufflers get a lil louder over time so hopefully I won't have any rasp later on. My Schoenfelds do not hang below the frame or crossmembers at all. The only real concern I have ran into as far as clearance goes is that the LS truck oil pans hang a little lower than the pan did when the truck still had the Vortec 5.7.