Finally gonna get a start to my swap!!!

[i0kepa]

So if anyone remembers from my s10 I was mentioning that I might have had a line up on a rolled over silverado with the 5.3. Well my dreams have come true and the truck is getting dropped off tomorrow afternoon. The truck has less then 100k miles on it and just about all higway miles at that. It still starts and shifts through all the gears. It is a 2wd auto and I'm getting everything I can take off the truck. From the fan clutch all the way back to the tailshaft of the tranny all for a whopping $500 bucks!!

Does anyone know if the s10 handbook covers anything regarding the 5.3 swap? My plans are to swap just about everything over to my 98 EXT Cab Sonoma that unfortunately has the 2.2 right now. I have been told I may need to either rewire or buy an adapter harness to allow me to use my stock bcm so I can still utilize my stock guage cluster.

This truck has the 4L60E tranny so I should be able to just swap it into my truck and use my stock shift cable correct? If anyone has any info please let me know. I'll purchase the handbook if it will cover what is needed to put the 5.3 in my truck.

I'll be sure to add pictures as soon as I get the truck here.
Thanks!!

[Rinkrat456]

If you do not touch the internals of your motor or transmission, you're looking at a bill under $3000 for the entire swap.

Look into Current Performance wiring. It's the most expensive part you'll buy, but damn is it worth it. I've gone through them twice now with excellent products shipped to me and the technical support is bar none! Every time I call there with a question, Jared - the owner of the company - answers the phone. Not some Indian halfway across the world on a 1-800 tech number named Sam because his real name is too hard to pronounce...no, Jared himself answers, and the company is based down in Florida. $800-850 well spent in my opinion. If you do not have the abilities or interest to tune your own vehicle, then have him set you up with a programmer and base tune as well to get rolling. The end result will be a box shipped to your house with a better-than-OEM-quality wiring harness that plugs into your existing PCM so everything works just like stock, as if it came from the factory with a 5.3L.

Also in that box you'll most likely have a Predator programmer where Jared can send you tunes over email, and let the programmer upload them to the PCM. The stock 5.3L tune is horse $hit by my standards, and in your lightweight 2wd I would not be surprised to see 25mpg highway in stock form with nothing other than a tune. I'm not sure what Current Performance sells those programmers for, but if the programmer and his basic tune sells for over $600, you're better off spending the money on HP Tuners and learning how to tune yourself with a laptop computer. Either learn how to tune, or find someone locally with the software who will most likely charge $100-250 depending on how long it takes him. I can help with this if you'd like, as I have HP Tuners Pro.

So first step, call Jared. I know it seems like a lot of money, I've been down your road. Muster up and just buy it, I promise you it's worth it. 1-727-862-1921


Next on the list would be exhaust. If you are one for fabrication then look no further than 98-99 LS1 F-body exhaust manifolds. Don't spend more than $50-60 bucks on the pair because they're all over the net for that price, shipped. Obviously they flow well enough to support an LS6 boasting over 400hp, and have been dyno proven far more capable than that. All you do is hack off the end of the manifolds and weld on collector extensions with O2 bungs, about 4" is needed on the driver side and about 7" on the passenger side. From there you can either run true duals all the way back or cross the driver side exhaust manifold under the transmission and hook up with the passenger side in a Y pipe or run true duals back on that side...either way works, pick your flavor.

If you are not so inclined to modify and would rather bolt on your exhaust, Current Performance also has your shorty headers. A quick call to Jared will order them along with your harness and whatever else. They are fairly pricey in my opinion but you're paying for convenience, I think upwards of $250 uncoated, but they will bolt on and require no modifications so pick your poison I guess.

Mounts...you can always build your own. Then again there are conversion mounts available. The conversion mounts are metal plates with tabs welded on and slots cut out so you can move the motor side to side, back to front, up and down, or completely flip flop the mounts and move the motor in a completely different forward position with all the same adjustments mentioned before. Well worth the cost IMO, but Current Performance is a tad pricey on the mounts they sell. The same mounts can be found elsewhere on eBay and Google Shopping for $50-60 instead of $105, and just stop at your local hardware store to buy the frame pads meant for a 2.8L S-truck. They bolt right on to your frame, and sit the motor lower than any other frame pad out there, short of just bolting/welding to the motor directly to the frame.

Cooling...this is where you can spend next to nothing, or a fortune. I honestly have more money into my Sonoma's cooling system than I do into the build of the motor itself. However, I have also built another with far less. You're going to need a new radiator regardless because the 2.2L radiator is not up to snuff. The 4.3L radiator is a good choice for the economy builder. It will adequately cool the motor with (a) good electric fan(s) but is not without it's own problems. Starting with the truck motor your accessories are all sticking out 1.5" further that that of a Corvette serpentine setup, and about 3/4" further than that of a Camaro/F-body. What this means is that your accessories are in the way of an electric fan placed on the backside of the radiator, if you keep the 4.3L radiator in the stock location. You have many options.

I guess from least expensive to most:
1. Run the 4.3L radiator in stock form and put the most powerful fan(s) you can in front of the radiator, pushing through it.
2. Run a smaller radiator (like the Corvette radiator for example) and mount it inside your core support. You can either push it in there completely and relocate your A/C condenser, or push the radiator in as far as it will touch up against the A/C condenser. Relocating the A/C condenser gets expensive onto itself, but this is about cooling the motor so make your choices. With a radiator pushed at least 1" forward of the stock 4.3L radiator, you may have just enough room to run stock LS1 Camaro/F-body fans, or some version of the Taurus/Sable single 16" fan. Either will work, both flow plenty for a mostly-stock 5.3L.
3. Find a junkyard LS1 5.7L from a Camaro/F-body and take the front accessories from it, and bolt those on to gain 3/4" of clearance, then push the motor all the way back to try and use the stock 4.3L radiator and e-fans. Use any portion of methods 1-2 to make this work.
4. Buy Corvette accessories and bolt those on, gaining 1.5" of clearance and no radiator issues whatsoever. Remember, I'm listing these in order of least to most expensive. Vette accessories are not cheap.

So you have some research to do and choices to make.

Lastly you'll need fuel...but that depends on what year truck Silverado that is. GM changed their fuel delivery system between 03 and 04, and the year will depend on what route to take.

Good luck.

[carshop]

Check out my thread at the top of this page... I used the vette radatior had it mounted forward and the stock condensor, it cost me 80 dollars to make the lines and fittings at a local parts store. You have a few options for pans, you can cut the crossmember out big time to clear a f body pan.....



http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m162/Hugger2/tomchevelleswappics003.jpg
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m162/Hugger2/tomchevelleswappics004.jpg
Or you can run a LH8 and hang a little low, except on two wheel drive blazers and jimmys

On my new setup I am using the 4.3 radiator with a custom shrould and perma cool fans.. I am lucky and know a guy who makes cool stuff... This unit is forward mounted and the give you a example of room check out my intercooler behind the grill...
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m162/Hugger2/tomchevelleswappics010.jpg

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m162/Hugger2/tomchevelleswappics008.jpg