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bigfranks84
bigfranks84 Reader
8/1/19 5:56 p.m.

Picked up a donor. It's an 03 with the 5.3.

It's in limp mode. 

Throwing a 342 and 1518. 

But for the price I think its going be worth it. 

Floating Doc
Floating Doc GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
8/1/19 8:59 p.m.

I'm waiting to see how things progress.

bigfranks84
bigfranks84 Reader
8/1/19 9:13 p.m.

Well this is where I got tonight. 

 

 

 

 

Why I pulled the intake. Not real sure how this got so bad. 

 

And I'm going have to get a new oil pressure sensor, It's leaking..

 

I want to make sure everything works like its supposed to before we pull it. 

This is my first "ls swap " so I'm sure there will be some hiccups. 

But with the purchase of the suburban,  tow bill, cam sensor harness,  cam sensor, oil sensor, and intake gaskets the total so far is right at 1k. 

 

Anything else I should change while intake is off?

 

I still need to get the intake gaskets,  is one brand better than the other?

Like I said,  I know nothing of these motors. 

LonH
LonH New Reader
8/1/19 9:39 p.m.

Hey man, love this truck. I'm a GMT 400 nut myself. Intake off? I'd do gaskets, pull valley cover to inspect clean every thing and go. Access to torque converter bolts is through a cover behind the starter. 

Shameless promotion, so sorry, here's a vid of my LS'd 88. Good luck, feel free to message anytime, if you need help.

 

https://youtu.be/t7Extt-7s78

bigfranks84
bigfranks84 Reader
8/1/19 10:34 p.m.

In reply to LonH :

Thanks,  it's not my truck but it definitely gets looks everywhere I go in it and everyone likes it. It will definitely look better once 4/6 dropped. But that will probably be over winter after it's proven reliable again. 

I like your fuel line setup, I need to go back and get those part numbers. What did you do for a fuel pump? 

Also need to go back and see what motor plates you used. I like that it runs the stock style motormounts. 

I'm hoping to be able to use the donor cluster. Since we all know how unreliable and inaccurate the 80s clusters are.  

 

LonH
LonH New Reader
8/1/19 10:46 p.m.

In reply to bigfranks84 :

Motor plates, are Car Shop. Be aware that the factory clamshells have a raised area that needs to be removed and plated, or like I did and put washers between the mounts. Fuel pump is a stock 97 Vortec pump. Just go in and tell the parts guy you need a pump for a 97 Silverado. I love the Ultra Gauge for gauges, but most of my OE gauges work. Speedometer has been a pain to get working so I just use the Ultra Gauge. 

infinitenexus
infinitenexus Reader
8/2/19 10:45 a.m.

I've always loved the stepside beds on trucks.  This having an LS swap just makes me love it even more.

bigfranks84
bigfranks84 Reader
8/4/19 11:01 p.m.

Thanks lonh. 

I'm thinking of getting a tuner. I'm not really planning on doing anything to this motor as of now. But I'd like to be able to disable vats and some of the emission systems. 

I was looking at the HP Tuners MPVI2. Any others that work better? 

 

LonH
LonH New Reader
8/5/19 2:00 p.m.
bigfranks84 said:

Thanks lonh. 

I'm thinking of getting a tuner. I'm not really planning on doing anything to this motor as of now. But I'd like to be able to disable vats and some of the emission systems. 

I was looking at the HP Tuners MPVI2. Any others that work better? 

HP is all I know of from friend's doing their tuning. My 5.3 is totally stock, and the ecm hasnt been tuned except for vats removal, and speed limiter removal. I had a local LS swap shop do that for me. When doing any tuning, you have to pay a license fee. I'm not very familiar with the prices for this. 

 

 

bigfranks84
bigfranks84 Reader
8/5/19 8:49 p.m.

Yeah,  I need to look into the license/ credit part. 

 

Changed out the oil sensor,  cam sensor,  knock sensor gaskets,  valley pan gasket. I think new knock sensors are needed...

 

 

 

 

Got knock sensors  and harness and the tb gasket on order. 

Worked on cleaning the the gunk off the intake also.  Forgot to take a picture of that.  

LonH
LonH New Reader
8/6/19 10:55 p.m.

Before you pull the exhaust manifolds, be ready for broken bolts. A lot of the swaps I've helped with have had at least one broken bolt in each head. 

1SlowVW
1SlowVW Reader
8/7/19 7:04 a.m.

In reply to LonH :

This is the truth, much easier to deal with it before you drop it in its new home. 

bigfranks84
bigfranks84 Reader
8/7/19 9:34 p.m.

Got the new knock sensors and harness on.  Fixed the cam sensor harness, put on the new intake and tb gaskets, and topped off the fluids and took it for a test drive.  

 

 

 

bigfranks84
bigfranks84 Reader
11/14/19 9:20 p.m.

Finally had a chance were our two schedules worked. 

 

So we  pulled the sbc engine out. 

 

He's going come by this weekend and power wash the engine bay.  Going work on scuffing and painting the engine bay black.  

bigfranks84
bigfranks84 Reader
12/14/19 9:48 a.m.

We got the engine pulled out the surburban. We just need to clean it up and we can work on getting it swapped over. 

 

 

Has anyone used or know if highperformanceinjectors standalone harnesses are good?

 

https://highperformanceinjectors.com/products/03-07-ls-vortec-standalone-wiring-harness-drivebywire-w-4l60e-4-8-5-3-6-0-multec

 

bigfranks84
bigfranks84 Reader
12/12/20 6:03 p.m.

#life

 

We finally had a chance to work on this again. 

 

New upper and lower control arms. New dropped spindle and it had 2in drop springs. So it will be a 4/6 when we are done. 

Gotta swap the rotors and brakes back on.  

 

Also dropped the motor in.  

 

Then remembered the a/c and frame don't like each other. 

 

 

Who's notched vs buying the a/c relocation bracket? Pro/cons of each?

 

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter)
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand UberDork
12/12/20 6:46 p.m.

Good to see this back.

SkinnyG (Forum Supporter)
SkinnyG (Forum Supporter) UberDork
12/12/20 8:59 p.m.
bigfranks84 said:

Who's notched vs buying the a/c relocation bracket? Pro/cons of each?

I notched the frame in my '61 C10 to clear, and I will box it all in once I'm ready to do final blasting and painting of the frame.

bigfranks84
bigfranks84 Reader
1/30/21 7:15 p.m.

Went with the dirty dingo bracket kit. It allowed us to keep the stock ac compressor that was on his truck and we left the ac system intact.

 

We got the brakes back on. We need to order  up a brake line kit. These rubbers are shot. 

 

We are also going to get outer tie rods and sway bar bushings and links. 

 

 

Tossed the hood and wheels back on. Fronts got 2in drop spindles and 2in drop springs. 

 

We took the bed off to start on the c notch. Then ran out of time. 

 

Hard to make progress. When we both need to have the same free time and it  has to be 72 degrees and sunny. Lol

bigfranks84
bigfranks84 Reader
3/21/21 8:56 p.m.

Forgot to update. 

 

C notch is in. We rattle canned the frame. 

Fixed the passenger shock tower.

Put on ss braided brake lines. Flushed the brake fluid while we we at it. 

 

 

bigfranks84
bigfranks84 Reader
3/21/21 9:01 p.m.

We also got the driveshaft back in.  

 

The engine adjusted over to the passenger side alittle. To fit the factory exhaust manifolds on the 5.3. 

 

Cut the suburban exhaust up and we will finish the exhaust later.

 

And I worked on the harness today. It's stripped down now. I got the 4 fuseblock and double relay socket deal on the way. 

bigfranks84
bigfranks84 Reader
4/10/21 10:56 p.m.

Got the exhaust on,  well the new gaskets and the downpipes with cats on.  We will let the exhaust shop finish the rest. 

 

We got the 97 vortec pump in

Got the bed on

And gave it a quick wash

Still need to get the pcm reflashed  though.

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter)
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
4/11/21 8:19 a.m.

In reply to bigfranks84 :

Getting close!

Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter)
Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) Dork
4/11/21 10:39 a.m.

Your ride quality will dramatically improve if you'll put some shock extenders on that rear setup. Not only do they lengthen the shock stroke but they correct the angle so they're not laid at such an angle. I've done a lot of flip kits and wouldn't consider skipping them. 

bigfranks84
bigfranks84 Reader
4/12/21 8:00 p.m.

In reply to Cousin_Eddie (Forum Supporter) :

Ah,  that's what those were for. The instructions weren't real clear and made it sound like it was for stock length shocks.  

We will toss them on when we get back under the truck.

Thanks

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