Attempting a 2011 5.3 swap.

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T

trailrider098

10 Year
Joined
Aug 20, 2012
Threads
7
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Well guys, I've only owned my 87 fj 60 for a little over a year now but I'm gonna be attempting to swap a 2011 Chevy 5.3L V8 and NV4500 tranny in very soon. I've tried reading every bit of info I can search up on this site so I'm pretty aware of what I'm getting into. I'm using a 5.3 LC9 engine, Chevy nv4500 style tranny, adaptor kit from advanced adaptors, and wiring harness/standalone ECU programmed from Chevy Performance.

Any tips of hints from guys who have tried this would be greatly appreciated. I have all the parts and rented a small shop near my house to do the work and will be starting in the next week or two.

-Jeff
 
GeologistFelix said:
I was under the impression that you needed a very rare bellhousing to bolt a 5.3 to an NV4500. Is there some workaround?
Click to expand...

No, an NV4500 out of a Chevy gasoline V8 will bolt right up to an LS engine. The only difference is in the flywheel and clutch since the rear crank flange is different from the old engines.

We use AA bellhousings in our Land Cruisers because the drive shaft is on the wrong side and interferes with the slave cylinder on early model GM NV4500s. The later ones use an internal slave cylinder, but people still usually go with an AA kit for the sake of trail repairs in the event of a malfunction.
 
From my reading I found the Chevy version of the nv4500 is also a bit shorter overall length then the dodge versions. And that there were early Chevy nv4500's and later ones, the later one has the correct pattern for the adaptor bellhousing I'm using.
 
Advise would be to mate all drive train together before pulling anything from your 60.
Get the right Exhaust Manifolds and drill and retap for a water temp (if you are using the original water temp gauge). I believe there is a plug on the rear pass side of the engine that you can use for this....
Label all the Original wires on the 60. This will take the guessing out when you install the stand alone harness.

2011 eh... nice...
Good luck..
 
The new harness plugs into all the Chevy sensors. Since I have the fj 60 dash cluster I plan on replacing the tach with a new one in its place and also finding a larger multi gauge to replace the left gauges in the cluster. The ECU has outputs for oil pressure, temp, voltage.
 
read through the various engine swap threads, pay attention to the wiring on the alt, run the mechanical fan clutch and fan clutch fan from the GM engine, make sure to setup custom fan shroud. If you have to pass emissions stop now to make sure you understand what that means relative to your engine swap. Get everything from under the hood on the donor vehicle if you have the chance.
 
Welcome to the V8 madness

Trailrider098,

Welcome to the V8 madness. I'm entring the final stages of my own V8 conversion. I have a 2004/2005 5.3 Vortec with a NV4500 transmission to the stock Toyota transfer case. I started this project about 15 years ago with just doing research and saving up bucks. This past March 3rd I started up the cruiser for the last time with the original 2F motor and pulled her in the garage for what I thought was going to be a 120-150 day build. (Wrong !!!!!). Here is a couple of things you should know before diving in:

1) you have the greatest collection of cruiser heads on this site. I have called on fellow members for help here and there. A special thanks goes out to Elbert. He has helped me out a lot. I will return the favor.

2) The choice of the 5.3 is perfect. Not to big not to small. Just right. Get the motor from a reliable source. (The engine/wiring guy I chosen turn out to be a real jac:censor:). If you have not pick out the year of the motor here is food for thought....5.3 until 2003 come out with a cable throttle. 2004 - 2005 can be fitted with a 105mm throttle body and the PCM can be programmed for it. After 2006 I believe you have to use the throttle body that is controlled by a wire throttle peddle. If that is the year you have for the motor or want get the peddle and the hardness.

2) NV4500 transmission. The best from my research is the POST 1996 Chevy 4X4. The Dodges were mostly made for the diesel motors and require a change out of the out put shaft. Plus there was a recurring problem with the Dodges that I can't recall at this time. I order a 96 chevy granny for a Phoenix junk and got a 1992 - 1995 NV4500. This required me to re-oreder my Bell housing. There is a slight difference the bolt patterns. The 92 - 95 have a bolt patten that is 4.5/8 from the top to the bottom bolt holes. The 96 has 5 1/2 inch bolt holes. Advance Adapters has both. Just have to knot which tranny you have to order the correct bell housing. All of the I genial parts are the same. I have the external clutch slave cylinder.

3) For the external clutch salve cylinder you have two options to make the stock Toyota line work. The stock Toyota clutch master has a hard Line that runs from the drivers side to the passenger via the fire wall. You can run a rubber hose from the pax side to the drives side to where the new location of the slave cylinder is. Or splice into the hard line and run the Lind down the fire well the the C channel frame and then front about 6-8 inches. Then a stock Toyota rubber hose/line will connect to the slave cylinder.

4) the stock Toyota transfer case is a split case that will require the case to be taken apart from the stock Toyota (H-42) transmission. There are four 19mm bolts thT hold the tranny to the transfer case. Two at the top.....LT/RT. Then the other two are on the bottom LT/RT but inside of the transfer case. Hens the reason why the transfer case a to be pulled a part. So this is a great time to also buy a transfer case rebuild kit. Go for the big kit that has all of the gaskets/seals and BEARINGS.

5) VSS........ Go to JTR (jags that run) web site and order one of their VSS adapter kit for the FJ60 cruiser. It's basically a copy of design of one offered by Downey. Downey call it quits in June of 2009.

6) Advanced Adapters offers a kit to install the stock Toyota shift for the transfer case. The kit is not perfect. It will need a little more fabrication in order to get the shift pattern correct. You have to put a bushing in between the AA bracket and the pivot shifter of the stock Toyota linkage.

7) Transmission hump plate will have to be modified. The NV4500 will require that an extra notch will have to cut out in the front. The transfer case shift will require triming of the back porting of the plate. Maybe 2 inches or more.

8) fuels system go talk the guys at Summti racing. Tell them what you are doing and they help you design a fuel system with a return line. Plus they have all parts so you only have to make one phone and one trip put to the mail box. Unlike the engine/wiring guy fu:censor: that wasted a lot of time and money.

Traileide098, let me know if this was helpful. I have a lot of picture I can post to help you out. Let me know exactly where you are in the project stage. Getting parts....or about to get parts??? Post some pictures.

Below is a picture of the cruiser about a 1/3 of the way done.

Enjoy Jason.

image.webp
 
trailrider098 said:
From my reading I found the Chevy version of the nv4500 is also a bit shorter overall length then the dodge versions. And that there were early Chevy nv4500's and later ones, the later one has the correct pattern for the adaptor bellhousing I'm using.
Click to expand...

Hijack: I am in the process of getting an NV4500 for my 83 FJ60. It already has the 5.3L and had the H55 (which I have sold). I found two NV4500 transmissions locally, one is a year model 93-95 and the other one is a 2003. do the bell housings have the same bolt pattern and bolt directly to the engine? I tried searching but still have questions.

Thanks and sorry for the hijack,
ML
 
NV4500 will require an adapter from the tranny to the toyota bellhousing as well as to the transfer case (if you use the toyota transfer case). As to the difference in the models I do not know.
 
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