New Heart Same Soul

[rover67]

yup, the calipers bolted straight up with a little bit of cutting on the dust sheild. honestly it was pretty easy with the angle grinder.... and they are fitting under what look to be the stock wheels. as far as a sheet with total cost goes, i have a pretty complete spreadsheet started with part numbers, prices, and vendors that i am using to make sure i have all my parts. i can post it as the list gets more complete. there are of course the many trips for random crap that may not get recorded though. looks like in total it is probably going to be roughly a 6500 dollar deal. thats with no skimping on parts, but looking for best deals and shopping around. also realize i do all my own welding and fab work... so stuff like exhausts just costs me the parts (u bends, ect.) .

anywho, thanks for the intrest!

marco

 

[rover67]

got a lot more done finally. took the whole front end apart and pulled the motor tranny trans combo. Had a good last drive in the truck to IA and back to memphis with the old combo... cant wait till the new stuff is in and running.

welded flanges to the headers, put the motor mounts on the engine, started to set up the marks kit and clutch, and am off to pull apart the transfer case tonight. hopefully i cna get it all apart tonight and start cleaning.

Also pulled the heater core out to figure out where the antifreeze leak was coming from, man that was a bear... had to take the WHOLE dash apart and out to get to it. hopefully i never have to do that again.

Motor came out without a hitch, just hoisted it like you see in the pics, it tilted back to clear the transfer case shifter and slid right out with little effort.

enjoy the pics..

 

[rover67]

motor and stuff will be for sale....

 

[rover67]

yikes.

 

[Elbert]

what are your plans for the radiator, fan and shroud?

 

[rover67]

stock rad and ford contour fan. we'll see if it works...

had the rad rebuilt a few months ago, so hopefully it will be up to snuff. The old engine overheated some, but I think it was due to a faulty thermostat and worn out fan clutch.

 

[philos1]

LOOKING GREAT! Welcome to the Vortec club! you will love it- mine has the H-55 too and I can do 75-80 EASY up hills with room to spare

 

[MANUCHAO]

stock rad and ford contour fan. we'll see if it works...

had the rad rebuilt a few months ago, so hopefully it will be up to snuff. The old engine overheated some, but I think it was due to a faulty thermostat and worn out fan clutch.

I wish I could use headers.........

I thought of going with a stock rad but ended getting a custome made one with both spouts coming out on the same (right) side and built in tranny cooler since I gotta keep the original Engine/tranny combo....

Looking good eh !!

 

[rover67]

got the old tranny and transfer case off of the 2f tonight.

took for ever to blast all of the grease off of the old parts at the car wash... but they are finally getting close to clean. The transfer case had almost every bolt loose in it, it is a wonder it was running fine the way it was. should be a lot smoother with everything tight again.

thanks for the props, i appreciate it!

see ya'll later.

-Marco

 

[djawahir]

Hey Rover, do you have the part number for the Mark's Adapter you're using? Is that the adapter that requires no drivetrain mods? Did you get it from Cruiseroutfitters?


Manuchao, I've ordered the L59 Vortec like you did, but I'm going to hook it up to the H55F. I'm in San Diego, but I'll try to jump through the hoops to get it certified in CA...keep your fingers crossed for me.

I'd love to see a parts list for this. I'm going to start on my conversion in about 3-4 weeks.

 

[Carpe Discus]

Why not the 5700?

According to Wikipedia, the L59 was sold in the Tahoe and Suburban. California says it has to be the same vehicle class, so no commercial engines (I'm looking at you, 4BT). This also means no pickup truck engines, because it would be easy then, you know?

Anyway, I also assume that engines from a >6000 lb vehicle are also verboten, because of the same rule. IIRC, vehicles over that are considered commercial (and don't have to publish EPA mpg estimates, and had a bunch of tax loopholes, etc.).

 

[Carpe Discus]

Oh, and djawahir--I'm dying to drive a converted FJ, so I hope you'll be allowing a few test drives when you're done.

 

[Bryan062087]

random question.

What kind of muffler did you run on the 2f?

 

[rover67]

i had a flowmaster 2.5" in and 2.5" out on my 2f. loved it, quiet, flowed well with the webber carb. want it?

 

[rover67]

i'll try to get the parts list together tonight and send it. pm me if you want it.

 

[djawahir]

Hey Discus, I'll definitely let you test drive the L59 when I get it done. I'm excited and nervous to get started. I'm compiling a list of parts right now and I'll probably do a writeup too!

I chose the 5.3L since it's a Generation III engine and I think it's more efficient, more powerful, and more efficient than the 5.7L. (I think the 5.7L is discontinued as well, but that's not really an issue for me.) Oh yeah, I also thought that running ethanol could be cool to do.

So, I bought an L59 with less than 100 miles on it from Schram on Ebay and I am going to build it with the H55F and defy the laws of CA by not running the 4L60E transmission.


Bryan, I also have a 2.5" flowmaster 50 series exhaust and catco cat and I could feel more power from my 2F, especially at higher speeds.

 

[rover67]

the marks kit i got was PN 713025-EK from man-a-fre, and the clutch is a 712500T from Advance Adapters. Clutch kit listed came with everything i needed, flywheel, clutch bolts, flywheel bolts, dowel pins, ect. and the marks kit has everything else as far as getting th etranny bolted up goes. The only thing that will be different for the 5.3 will be the temp sender adapter. it looks like there is a port on the right head near the back that plugs a water passage, I am going to try to tap into that to get my stock gage and sender to work again. oil pressure I am going to try and tee into the vortec sender and put in the LC sender to keep that dash gage also.

Didin't get anything done last night since we went to a dinner at a freinds house, but tonight hopefully i can paint a few parts and get the transfer case onthe new tranny.

c ya.

 

[djawahir]

Thanks Rover. It sounds like you've got a good bit of knowledge on this stuff. That is the marks kit that I was looking at. So, I'm assuming that with the marks adapter and the clutch kit from advance adapters, I'll be able to button up the engine to the tranny. Perfect!

I'd still like to get that parts list from you if you've got it... Email me at: superdylan@yahoo.com

I got my L59 engine today...I'm excited and nervous all at the same time.

Look out for another thread on the L59 to H55F conversion! Coming soon!

 

[MANUCHAO]

So, I bought an L59 with less than 100 miles on it from Schram on Ebay and I am going to build it with the H55F and defy the laws of CA by not running the 4L60E transmission.

Yah got more cojones than I do !!

I almost went that route but getting different answers from different smog refs made me a tad nervous...... Good luck to yah and do let us know how the conversion goes...specially when it comes down to the Smog refs..

Lates....

 

[rover67]

got the marks kit, cluth and tranny all bolted up and adjusted tonight with the help of brian062087 here in memphis. looks good. Also washed up the transfer case and pulled all of the bearings out of it. Hopefully tomorrow I can start bolting up the transfer case, and can fix a bellhousing bolt I stripped when torquing the bolts from the marks adapter to the new block...... which means i have to pull it all off again to helicoil the threads in the block. fun stuff. Alos ordered a bunch of small items from cruiser dan to replace all the rubber bits and 4wd shift linkage bushings.

Brian is also the new owner of the old exhaust, gratis. enjoy!

later,
Marco