'88 62 gets a 5.3L and

[octavio62]

Friend of mine bought an '88 fj62 yesterday, no toyota engine or tranny, fenders, hood and grill are also taken apart, but the person who sold it to him included a 2007 Chevy Vortec V8 LM7 with 28,000 miles tranny Chevy 4l60E and JBA headers. My friend is a chevy guy but after seeing my 62 and the other LC's around he could not pass up this deal. He also is hiding the truck from his and left it with me to do the install. 2007 Chevy Vortec V8 LM7 with 28,000 miles tranny Chevy 4l60E and JBA headers. Here are some pics.

too lazy to take my own pics stolen from CL

 

[NLXTACY]

Octavio you are an animal. After seeing your truck in person...damn you are bad ass

 

[Aubs]

I'll be very interested to see how this goes. I'm looking to do the same to a 62, though will an older engine/drivetrain combination unfortunately.

 

[Theycallmenica]

I am now considering the same thing on my 55 and seeing this will make me more interested, the cost for a vortec 5.3 is about $800 or less. any idea how much does the wiring goes for?

 

[Aubs]

I am now considering the same thing on my 55 and seeing this will make me more interested, the cost for a vortec 5.3 is about $800 or less. any idea how much does the wiring goes for?

Your best bet is to find a junkyard (I don't know what CA is like) or find a wreck, buy it cheap, and harvest the wiring harness and other parts you may want. You'll only find EFI engines in all likelihood, so you're going to need all of the wiring, computers, sensors, etc...

There are no rusted out hulks in CA probably, so that option is out. Here in the rust belt a lot of otherwise good drivetrains find the junkyard because the rest of the vehicle rusts away and won't pass safety inspections.

I'd go with junk components if you can find them cheap. For instance, there is a junkyard near here with $75 engines this week. I could have 12 of them until I would have paid for one rebuilt...

 

[Aubs]

Of course, my other idea is quick-disconnects on everything (within reason) to and from the engine. That would make a swap if the engine goes faster and easier. I got the idea from a prototype HMMWV where you could swap the drivetrain out in under 8 hours so you could rebuild/service the components while they were out and get the vehicle back on the road with a drivetrain unit from off the shelf. Then you'd have more time and an easier time doing the work to the removed unit. Can't say I know if this has made it into HMMWV production however. But I liked the idea.

 

[chicago]

Im in the process of getting all the parts in place to this same to mine, only with an 01 motor and 02 trans.
The harness custom built is spendy!!!! In the neighborhood of 5-700.00 depending on where you go. As Im learning, this is the "easiest" route to go. Youll need to get a matching ECU and have it re flashed for your rigs set up. This is about 120-150.
Om not sure what youre considering to do with this rig, but you might consider adding an NP203 t case in front of the split case for deeper gears if its gonna be a wheeler. The cost to do it is pretty pricy though, as Im finding out. However, what ISNT on a crusier!

Good luck.

Chicago

 

[octavio62]

The guy got the wiring for this engine and had he ECU flashed for 500 total not bad at all. I have yet to start on this one, found out the intake manifold is cracked from the wreck, and I have my hands full installing a 6.0 on a 70's wagoneer at the moment.

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

Looks like a great project! I've been eyeing my dad's 1999 Chevy with the 5.3. Do you think he will notice any power difference with the 2F?

TK

 

[octavio62]

Looks like a great project! I've been eyeing my dad's 1999 Chevy with the 5.3. Do you think he will notice any power difference with the 2F?

TK

It would take him about two days to figure it out.

 

[esh]

Neat project. I would love to hear more from people that have installed 5.3s (vs 5.7s or 6.0s). I was looking at one for a conversion but ended up going a different route.

 

[wngrog]

5.3 Chevy motors are dirt cheap.