Impending Vortec Swap (2 Viewers)

[lazy]

Spreadsheet with everything purchased (updated 9/6/16)

Radiator/Cooling
Delta Current Control unboxing
Unboxing Steel Nutz Radiator
Radiator hoses for SteelNutz Radiator

Fuel System
Links to banjo fitting above fuel pump
Installing Fuel pump
Fuel filter location
Installing fittings above fuel pump
Fuel Line Routing

Wiring
Laying out wiring on motor
E7 pinout provided by bloc
Dakota Digital VHX 1060
Wiring Brake Switch to PCM 95+
Integration of GM & Toyota Systems to run
How Lazy wired fuel pump using existing Toyota relays
Using the "wrong" TAC to fix a limp mode problem

Engine
1st fit of drive shafts with 4l80e
Welding motor mounts
Improved Racing oil thermostat
Air hammering firewall and installing motor
Silicon Intake Parts
Exhaust gaskets for Hooker 8501
1st Start

Other Mods
DIY rear panhard adjustment bracket

I thought I might bounce off the gurus and bastion of knowledge what I believe to be true based on all my research of swaping a vortec into my '97 lx.

1. I can find very little info on some one stuffing a 4l80e into an 80 series, correct? Sorry, I've searched and searched, but I have never found anything other than people just talking about it.
2. If going to an LQ4 (6.0 gen3) I need to either find a motor that:
   1. came from an SUV/1500 and was mated to a 4l60
   2. find some type of flex plate adapter (like this one) if mated to a 4l80 and wanting to run a 4l60?
   3. Could also go to a '93-'96 4l60e w/ non-removable bell housing and not need a flex plate adapter.

I'd really like to run an LQ4 vs an LM7.

Thanks in advance for the help

 

[jamesurq]

@NCFJ

Tagged someone for you. I think he should be able to help - he's a vortec fan and I'd have probably had him install one in mine if I wasn't so set on throwing a big turbo on the stock motor.... Hindsight is always 20/20... Thankfully my truck will be done in 2 weeks.

 

[cme4lyt]

You might wanna reach out to RockJock82 in Arizona; he's done a few....and working on mine !

 

[Beau Diddly]

May I throw one more question out there? When doing an engine swap, how difficult is it to integrate the wiring harness?

 

[slow95z]

May I throw one more question out there? When doing an engine swap, how difficult is it to integrate the wiring harness?

its not hard to setup the ls harness, the fun is in finding which wires to hook into your vehicle. there are plenty of write ups on here on what goes where. get the FSM and study the wiring. you really only need about 5 wires to connect to your truck from the new engine.

 

[izzyandsue]

@NCFJ

Tagged someone for you. I think he should be able to help - he's a vortec fan and I'd have probably had him install one in mine if I wasn't so set on throwing a big turbo on the stock motor.... Hindsight is always 20/20... Thankfully my truck will be done in 2 weeks.

Stan is the man for this, many successful installs is his business. Some sweet videos on his business website below.

Hardline Fabrication Services | 864.590.0051

 

[lazy]

May I throw one more question out there? When doing an engine swap, how difficult is it to integrate the wiring harness?

People say it is simple, but when staring at a pile of wires it seems more daunting than they make it out to be. Not to mention some rewiring if I go with a motor originally fitted with a 4l80e and then switch to 4l60e. Again, just a couple of wires - m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u or whatever, move t to a, add blue and green here and here (just an example). It will take some time for me....

Stan is the man for this, many successful installs is his business. Some sweet videos on his business website below.

Hardline Fabrication Services | 864.590.0051

I get white paged on Stan's website, I'll try at home on a different computer.

So...anyone stuff a 4l80 in fzj80? I'm deciding on a motor with 60kish miles (mated with 4l80e) vs 120kish miles (mated with 4l60e). And I'd like to the get the motor and transmission in hand and fitted before I order the adapter....

 

[DieselDriver]

Read some of the swap threads,
The 4l80 will fit, but has a different first gear, and said to rob some power.

You will need to decide 4l80 or 4l60 and buy the adapter kit, as the motor placement is based on the transfer case in the stock location, you need to work off the transfer case!

What are the motor choices? 120k on a LS is low and would worry me, as long as it run tested'

 

[lazy]

i couldnt find a swap thread with a 4l80e, just people saying they didn't like first gear and that the 4l60 is plenty for normal cruiser applications.

I get VIN number, it is run tested, good ebay feedback and good things are said on ls1tech1.com. motor with 66k is gone, I should have pulled trigger this morning and asked questions later....onto 100k ish motors....

 

[lazy]

Found someone who did 6.2 w/ 6l80 tranny! link in case anyone is interested. 400HP 6.2L LS with 6 Speed auto swap....no lift. Plug 'n play swap kit in development

i'm more and more leaning towards the 4l80e to save having to modify some wiring, don't have to screw with the flex plate adapter, the adapter kit is a smidge cheaper and the "HP loss" doesn't really bother me for a beefier tranny (potentially towing an exped trailer in the future as well). I'm already @ 5.29 gears and I don't ever just "burn off the line" anymore. Although, reading kirk's ls2 swap thread and watching him tear up his field was good ol' fashioned fun. The 4" lift on my rig should help with clearances as well. thoughts?

Got final approval from the CFO. I had to trade in my 2017 heli ski trip though....

 

[slow95z]

i didnt think he ever finished that swap. wife and house and other things got in the way??

 

[lazy]

reading thru this morning, he definitely didn't finish. unfortunately, he got married in the middle of it. I probably could have stopped reading there.

anyone put a 4l80e in their swap? sorry, i know to search is the easy answer, but I've been at it for days and I have just seen people talk about it. probably going to pull the trigger on the lq4 mated to a 4l80e. plenty of workarounds if i need to go to a 4l60e....

 

[slow95z]

what has you so set on the 4l80? just find a wrecked truck/van/suv and rip it all out. i picked up my suburban for 1800 that runs great but the interior was shot out. pulled everything and stuffed it in the barn and then parted out the rest and hauled the scrap off. i think i am in the whole project about 500 bucks right now.

 

[lazy]

I wish I had the time to go down to a yard and find a low mileage wrecked vehicle and listen to it run. I'm aiming for the 4l80 because of most lq4's come mated to it already....

$500 would be awesome, but not in the cards for me.

 

[lazy]

Well, pulled the trigger on a lq4 w/ 4l80e. I think I already screwed up from the get go. I had read on the Mark's adapter that they based the tranny off of the 4wd output shaft length, but the 4wd tranny doesn't have the reluctor ring needed to for the adapter?

50-1702 : GM 4L80E to Toyota Land Cruiser HF2A Adapter Kit | Advance Adapters

The basic rule of thumb is 4WD transmissions up to 1996 should have a rear reluctor ring in the main transmission case. All 2WD transmission should have the rear reluctor in the main transmission case, and the 1997 & newer 4WD 4L80E transmissions have a sensor provision; however, the reluctor ring in the transmission is left out. [....] There are several lengths of the stock 2WD transmission output shaft and only one length of the 4WD. When designing our kit, we standardized off of the 4WD output shaft. The 1st gear ratio is 2.482; 2nd 1.482; 3rd 1.1, and a 4th gear ratio of .75. Before installing your transmission make sure it is equipped with the rear reluctor ring.

So, I'll either need to trade my tranny or is there a way to make this bad boy work without tearing the tranny apart and installing the ring?

 

[427060]

May I throw one more question out there? When doing an engine swap, how difficult is it to integrate the wiring harness?

Depends. I went way overkill on mine and it took me about 4 months of weekends. Difficult.. not especially. Tedious, yes. You'll have to look at each circuit one-by-one. Do I need a converter box for this tach signal? What scheme am I going to use to adapt the sensors? Does the A/C clutch need a relay? What gauge wire should I be running? Do your homework and take your time and you'll never have to worry about it after it's done.

 

[427060]

Well, pulled the trigger on a lq4 w/ 4l80e. I think I already screwed up from the get go. I had read on the Mark's adapter that they based the tranny off of the 4wd output shaft length, but the 4wd tranny doesn't have the reluctor ring needed to for the adapter?

The 4WD trans doesn't have it (as far as I know) because those vehicles take vehicle speed from the tcase so you can get an accurate reading in low range. I use a stealth conversions sensor that fits in-line with the speedo cable from the tcase.

Doesn't the stock FJ80 tcase have a VSS somewhere for cruise control? Maybe you could convert that signal using a dakota digital box or something.

 

[Beau Diddly]

Depends. I went way overkill on mine and it took me about 4 months of weekends. Difficult.. not especially. Tedious, yes. You'll have to look at each circuit one-by-one. Do I need a converter box for this tach signal? What scheme am I going to use to adapt the sensors? Does the A/C clutch need a relay? What gauge wire should I be running? Do your homework and take your time and you'll never have to worry about it after it's done.

Good info. So as not to hijack the thread, I was speaking in generalities. I'm looking at a diesel swap and have a FSM for the engine and obviously for my LC. Bringing it back to the topic, when you say homework, do you mean more than just the FSM? I see a lot of wrench talk on swaps, but very little (relatively speaking) wiring talk on these swaps.

 

[lazy]

The 4WD trans doesn't have it (as far as I know) because those vehicles take vehicle speed from the tcase so you can get an accurate reading in low range. I use a stealth conversions sensor that fits in-line with the speedo cable from the tcase.

Doesn't the stock FJ80 tcase have a VSS somewhere for cruise control? Maybe you could convert that signal using a dakota digital box or something.

correct, 1997&up 4wd 4l80e doesn't have the reluctor rings. I need to read up on the t case for the fzj80....

You are correct, the VSS is on the tcase...so it appears a work around may be possible. I need to read up if this Marlin Crawler widget ($49) will do the trick or if I need to go to something like stealth conversions offers. but something is going to need to convert the signal from what the widget puts out to the 40 pulse/rev the gm computer thing needs. should be possible somehow with a sine wave....

Anyone use JTR's swap book? V8 TPI & TPI Engine Swap, JTR V8 conversion manual If it's worth the $30, I'll be more than happy to purchase it.

Bringing it back to the topic, when you say homework, do you mean more than just the FSM? I see a lot of wrench talk on swaps, but very little (relatively speaking) wiring talk on these swaps.

I believe there is a lot, just not a ton on the mud swap pages. I believe @rockrod did a lot of spreadsheet work, and I hope to get my hands on it. He's shared it, just not posted it online. A few other links I've found on wiring (or places to ask questions):

ls1tech.com
Vortec 4.8/5.3/6.0 Wiring Harness Info - harness info, he also has step by step instructions on his facebook page, bottom link
http://www.lt1swap.com/2003-07pcmpinouts.pdf

tons of info out there.....

 

[427060]

do you mean more than just the FSM?

By homework, I mostly mean figuring everything out and drawing your own diagrams before you touch a wire. Then, assembling the harness on the ground and spending a day labeling/organizing before the dyke pliers come out. There are also little things to learn like how to properly assemble a harness (flex wrap and DR-25 FTW), and how to defeat specific security systems like Pass-Key. There may be some ECU tuning too.