The "help save my marriage" LSx swap!

[Goldhawg]

Well, not really. But my wife is legitimately tired of being a garage/car widow. I'll spare you some of the details, but I've done some earlier upgrades where the time and $$ were far greater than anticipated. Such as this one w/my Cutlass (which I'm still working out a few bugs):
http://ls1tech.com/forums/conversion...dayton-oh.html
My current saga started when my daughter totaled our 2004 minivan Christmas Eve last year (best Christmas present was she and other driver unhurt--thank God). So I started thinking about a replacement utility vehicle and my wife was beyond the minivan stage of life, and I always liked the full size 2-door Tahoes, so I bought a rust free tahoe from California. I liked it as is, except I wanted a bit more power and fuel economy, so I upgraded the exhaust and went w/Mark VIII fans and 0411 ECM. The day after I got it home from dyno tuning new PCM, I was pretty happy--nice pep, great drivability and efans work properly. But that night driving home I get a "check gauges" light and have low oil pressure and then an engine noise. I don't know what, but something internal is messed up. Long story short--if vortec motor has to come out for any reason, an LSx motor has to go in!

So I bought a 54k mile 2002 LQ9, and have been gathering parts and info to make this the quickest, easiest swap ever. Major goal is for wife to be amazed at how little time this takes: I want the actual swap of the engine to be over one weekend and some time before and after to button things up.

So in pursuit of that I'm slowly getting everything I need, here is what I've done so far:
Bought Beertester mounts to keep engine exactly in stock location WRT tranny
Bought Lextech's accessory brackets
Will send Lextech both my stock tahoe harness and the LQ9 harness for integration
I'm picking up a complete 2003 LQ4 "core" that apparently won't run $200 today that has all the little things my LQ9 longblock didn't (starter, passenger exhaust manifold w/o EGR, downpipes, truck D535 coilpacks)--it was in an express van that rolled and the engine was not hit at all.

Since LQ9 is out, I've been getting "must do" upgrades now, and I decided to get both a TBSS manifold and an LS6 valley cover. Anything else I should do prior to engine going in? For the manifold, I made a small bracket to mount the corvette fuel filter to the fuel line, and welded a bracket to convert the DBW to DBC and got a Ballistic Speed TB, and swapped my TBSS injectors for the stock LQ9 injectors so no changes to wiring harness needed. Only issue is the TPS doesn't tighten fully on the TB; I just unbolted from the stock TB and put it on--does it need a new gasket or something when swapping that will give me that little extra so its secure and tight?

[Goldhawg]

How do you say score?! Pick up a $200 LQ4 for core parts that is frozen up, and the engine isn't frozen at all! Also very good is that the 150k mile Express Van it came out of didn't originally come with an orange painted 6.0; at some point the engine was replaced. So I have a $200 low mileage LQ4 to backup the LQ9! Pretty stoked. I have it sitting on a harbor freight wheel dolly for cars that is rated @ 1000lb; with the pan in the dip of it and a 4X4 wood block on the front part it rolls around great.

[Chevydillan]

That is not fair

[Goldhawg]

That is not fair

I agree...but if it makes you feel any better I way overpaid for the low mileage LQ9 (especially when I ended up needing some parts--working w/business several hours away puts you at a significant disadvantage)--so maybe this is just averaging out things a bit. But assuming the LQ9 does great I'll sell this one and recoup some of the swap costs.

[Goldhawg]

Any comment on the TPS issue? I think I'll just put a lock washer in between the sensor and the small bolt to get it to snug up. Next issue is the fuel hookup. I'm thinking about buying the dorman fuel line kit:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...pf_rd_i=507846
this will connect to the fuel filter on the rail easy enough, but not sure how to connect down to the fuel lines. Since I haven't taken those off yet, any suggestions as to how to connect nylon lines into those?

[Goldhawg]

You guys are falling down on the job! I guess saving my marriage is up to me--but I guess that's the way it's supposed to be. :-)

Well, the swap is well in play now--had a friend from church that's retired w/plenty of time on his hands say he'd love to help me, so we've been busy. Vortec motor out, complete stock wiring harness out, LQ9 in. Had a few hiccups, but on my way now. First removing the entire harness was a bear. I didn't know there would be so much down on the tranny. Fortunately their is a lot of room (at least w/4WD) to get to the connectors, although several were hard to pull. I'll never remember the way the stock routing was, but as long as I can put it back in and connect everything, wire ties will keep it working, even if not as neatly routed as the factory. After quite a while pulling wires I began thinking I should have just integrated the LSx harness wires myself with the engine out of the bay, but its done now and both harnesses are in the mail to Lextech for integration. I think this is definitely harder than just adding another aftermarket harness in addition to the stock harness, but in the end it should look much cleaner. We'll see. Filled a large box, and cost $45 to ship to Lextech via UPS
Not pictured but also done is I cleaned the rust off of my 03 LQ4 manifolds (w/EGR blocked off) and painted w/Eastwoods silver hi-temp manifold paint. I've had good luck with it in the past.
I read on some other posts that people have pulled vortec motors in an hour. Wow. I'm basically 2 full days in at this point, plus internet time scouring for parts and such.

[Skylark]

You are going to have a really nice ride when you get done!

[Goldhawg]

I need an additional vacuum source for the PCV; I plan on using the one on top for the vacuum brake. Two options at least; I have some sort of opening that needs a connector that I believe was in the stock TBSS air intake. Any ideas how to use this for my source? Alternatively there appears to be a sealed vacuum source that I could cut off the end of the barb and attach the hose there. Thoughts?TBSS intake source 2.jpgTBSS intake vacuum source 1.jpg

EDIT: My non-car guy brother just fixed--duh! He looks at the stock manifold that has some sort of plug, "Can't you use that one? It looks just the same." Well, it was a plug not a connector but sure enough it perfectly plugs the rear source and I simply cut off the barb in the other picture to open that vacuum source, which is much closer and convenient for the PCV anyway. Prob solved.

[Goldhawg]

I've been away from home for two weeks, so back at it today. Accessory drive installed. Minor pain in the butt cuz I had a new LS truck accessory drive from my 2010 L96 that I put in my Cutlass; but I hacked a piece off trying to make it work in the Cutlass and it never did. So I wanted the 2k mile power steering pump on the older bracket from the LQ4. So I cleaned and painted that bracket and had to get a puller for the pulley and swap it all over. Then installed Lextech's A/C relocation kit. All looks good. Still have a ton of wiring connections to figure out, but I'll be back at it Wed afternoon.

[Goldhawg]

Maybe a major fiasco; the 2010 PS pump doesn't have the electrical connector. I'm sure this has something to do with the variable speed steering; what happens if I leave the newer pump on and don't have the connector hooked up? I'm probably going to hydraboost at some point in the future if that makes a difference. Thoughts?