Motor swap #2 94 Z71

[beertestr]

Pics of the engine bay.. wiring almost cleaned up, and I need to paint the PVC induction. Someday I will reroute all of the wiring that goes over the intake, just not this week ..
Also need to build an enclosure for the air filter and pull cold air from the fender. If I ever go e-fans, I'll build the induction to go to the front left side of the CRFM and punch some holes in the sheet metal to pull air from beside the radiator on that side. Right now with the mech fan and the alternator location, it's a tough way to route the intake. I have a complete Trailblazer SS induction system, and a 2004 Sierra induction as well. Neither of them fit without mods, but the TBSS induction has the noise tuners that run along the right side of the intake manifold. If I can get that to fit, the induction moan will largely go away.... a nice plus from a refinement standpoint.

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[beertestr]

Quick update. Due to the sudden loss of a company vehicle, I had to get this Z71 into a running state at a pace faster than I had been proceeding. I got it running just before the 4th of July weekend.

Found out that the steering was completely shot... like a chatter bump would get the front end shaking so violently that it was hard to keep a hold of the wheel. Shocks did not fix it. Ended up replacing the tie rods (not stiff, but not loose), idler arm, idler arm bracket, and the pitman arm.. all three of which were looser than a wh**e... well you get the idea..

Washed the truck, shampoo'd a large portion of the interior to make it tolerable, loaded my motorcycle in the back and drove it from Detroit to Ithaca NY and back. Had to put a front axle bearing (just inboard of the right side CV)... that was fun doing that with the auto parts store 25 miles away, and my uncles half-assed tool set (half may be overstating it, maybe 1/4-assed)

Got home with something in the driveline HOWLING.... Checked the fluid level in the axle by adding 1.5 quarts... thought it was the rear axle, the remaining fluid stunk like hell. So I blew it apart, put in fresh 3.73's, Eaton Gov lock, new bearings and seals throughout. That was not only a small part of the problem, oh and that axle holds 2.5 qt's, so it was cooked, just not as bad as I thought.

The howl was something partially engaged in the t-case. I cycled the t-case from 2-hi to 4 low.. actually 2-low because the electrics for the front axle are not wired up yet.. drove it about 1/2 mile and then shifted it back to 2-HI.. noise went away... hmmmm.

- Still need to clean up some wiring, I have a battery drain somewhere.
- Still need to wire up the front axle 4WD actuator, oh, and upgrade the front axle from 3.42-3.73.
-Will need to look into the t-case. Might need new bearings or something.
-Still need to fab up an AC bracket to run the old R4 compressor. I am working on that design while in meetings.. I love AutoCAD on my laptop, though I wish I knew UG better.
-Still need to clean up the body. It needs to get wheeled out bad. Needs some bed rail covers, and some minor paint work where it looks like a bed cap wore off the paint on the bed rails. Oh, and I need to paint my spare tailgate, the one on there is beat to hell.

It's kinda a DD now. Just been riding my CB750 to work the last few days.. I have over 1000 miles on it with the road trip..

[beertestr]

Haven't updated this in a few months, largely since I have not really done anything to the truck. I figured out what I wanted to do for a new engine harness fuse/relay panel, but I have not wired it up yet. The truck is a full time DD now, so I have to be careful on tearing into it. I will build the panel with room for two electric fan relays so I can go efans at a later date. Most people report over 1/2-1 mpg with this swap, since it's a DD, I'll take the improvement. I did FINALLY mount the ECM last weekend. I removed the charcoal canister, and installed a left side battery tray, modified a PCM bracket to attach to the battery tray, and bolted it in. I'll upload pics soon.

I picked up a 94 Yukon trans and t-case. I now have a spare t-case to work on/refresh and swap in. Still looking for a good 3.73 front diff.

[HPICamaroSS]

Fantastic storyline. It helps me understand what I am going to be doing to my '94. If I could I would like to ask you a few questions. In (most) of the other posts, "they" say that the new harness for a LS1 wont connect to the 12 pin connector on the 94 trannys. So what do I do?

My other question...my truck has a 9" lift on it, do you think I will have any problems with headers hitting my front drive shaft? Thanks!

[beertestr]

Fantastic storyline. It helps me understand what I am going to be doing to my '94. If I could I would like to ask you a few questions. In (most) of the other posts, "they" say that the new harness for a LS1 wont connect to the 12 pin connector on the 94 trannys. So what do I do?

My other question...my truck has a 9" lift on it, do you think I will have any problems with headers hitting my front drive shaft? Thanks!

"They" are wrong. It plugged right in. You will need to have your controller reprogrammed to eliminated the ECCC, which is what pulses the converter clutch. This functionality can be turned off so that you just get a regular lockup. The 94 trans does not have the ECCC capability, and will throw a code when it does not detect the circuit. You won't have ANY TCC until you get the reprogram due to the error code. I had this cal changed, and it's been working fine for 4 months now.

as for the lift, can't help you, I am at stock ride height and using the stock LS truck manifolds.

[bowtieguy79]

Nice write up. I have a 94 SCLB as well. Just bought an 05 5.3/60E pull out from the local junk yard. Going to use the 05 fuse block, fans, harness etc. Nice to see your pics, gets me motivated

This will be my second LS swap into a OBS. Did my dad's 95 2wd last winter.

[beertestr]

Thanks. I recommend you don't bother with the fuse box, you only need a few relays and about 7 fuses. I have a panel that I am making up using some off the shelf 40A heater blower motor relays. I got some sealed connectors and will mount them on a panel with some fuses. The relays are commonly available at any auto parts store so they won't be an issue if something pops out on the road. I'm putting in 2 extra relays on the panel for when I get around to putting electric fans on the truck, which will likely be next summer.

Other updates:
I picked up a 3.73 front axle from a 99 Tahoe, the outer seals showed a little leakage, so I'll toss in some new seals and install it in the next few weeks. Likely will do U-joints over my Christmas/ New years shutdown, it's the next time I can be without a DD for a little bit.
Attached is a pic of some cosmetic repairs I did before the weather went south here in Motown. I got gallon of Herculiner, and coated the bedrails, inside of the tailgate, top of the rear bumper and the the areas of the bed where the plastic liner rubbed up the paint. The 1 gallon is only good for an "under rail" coating on a 6' bed, so there is a lot of the the bed that has no coating. I wanted to put the plastic liner back in anyway, so it worked out. The bed rails were pretty scratched up, a previous owner must have had a cap on it, as it was bare metal and starting to rust a bit. This protected the areas and cleaned up the appearance quite a bit, exactly what I needed. I also found a guy on craiglist locally that had a new tailgate off a dually. He pulled it and put a v-gate for a 5th wheel on it when new. He did paint on the side, and he shot the gate in my color for the cost of the paint. It wasn't perfect, but the place where the paint sagged was going to get covered in Herculiner. Worked out great. I brought it home, and let is cure some more in my shop while I was out of town for a week, bingo.
Lastly, I got a litel time to play with cleaning up the paint, and wheeled out the hood and roof. 1000% better, just need a warm Sat (I'll take 50's) to wheel and wax the rest of the truck, and it'll look very good for a slightly rough, but rust free 94. IMG00149-20101117-1455.jpg

[beertestr]

Nice write up. I have a 94 SCLB as well. Just bought an 05 5.3/60E pull out from the local junk yard. Going to use the 05 fuse block, fans, harness etc. Nice to see your pics, gets me motivated

This will be my second LS swap into a OBS. Did my dad's 95 2wd last winter.

Nice, is your SCLB a 2WD or 4WD?
This was my second swap, I also helped a little on my buddies L92 swap in his 95 Impala. I am slowly piecing together a 402 with an Ls2 block, LS7 crank and rods, Arias pistons made for LS7 rods and crank (same weight as stock LS7, but 4.005 bore), CNC ported L92 heads, and possibly retaining the dry sump. Not sure what it's destined for, but I'm going a "conservative" 600 FWHP. If I find a nice 77 Impala Coupe, it'll have a home with the T56 I have been saving.

Only a few more motor builds for some others, and I should have the $$ to finish it up.