Phishincruisin gets a vortec

[phishincruisin]

Wow, sorry, it seemed like there was some confusion from other folks. Sorry if I offended you guys. It took me some time to understand that "vortec" didn't mean gen III/IV for truck engines and that the 5.7 was actually a gen I.

I'm not offended. A year ago when I was researching this swap I spent countless hours trying to determine the difference, and even this fall when I had the issue with the flywheel I spent some time and no one here seemed to know. Everyone said ask Downey, and I did, and never got a straight answer from that avenue. Now that I had the issue and figured it out, everyone seems to know the difference. If you look at the exhaust port locations on the head you can tell gen I vs LSx (gen III/IV). Gen I has the center ports next to each other, and LSx has them equally spaced.

I used to have a great image showing the dimensional differences between the two generations, if I find it again I'll post it up here.

 

[Elbert]

yes vortec is not an exclusive term to refer to one specific GM engine or series of engines regarding cubic inches or liters.

One way I look at it...is; there are truck / suv engines and then there are the rest of the pile.

I believe "vortec" is exclusive to the Truck engines though.. 5.7, 4.8, 5.3, 6.0... and the 8.1 and the 4.3 ? If I'm wrong on that please elaborate.

Not sure if a 5.3 vortec ever came with a manual transmission from GM.

 

[phishincruisin]

There are actually I4, I5, I6, V6, and V8 Vortec engines. These range from 2.2, 2.8, 2.9, 3.5, 3.7, 4.2, 4.3, 4.8, 5.0, 5.3, 5.7, 6.0, 6.2, 7.4 and 8.1L. Except for the 2.2L I4 that was used in the Cavalier and Sunfire, the rest of the motors have been in light to heavy duty SUVs and trucks. The Vortec name goes all the way back to the late 80s. Thanks wikipedia; I had no idea either.

 

[Elbert]

ok... my assumption proved wrong.

 

[phishincruisin]

Now that I'm done with school I finally have a time for an update. I had another successful trip from Montana to Moab to Vermont. We went wheeling today at Mettowee Off Road Extreme Park in New York today. They have a good trail system and a lot of fun obstacles to play around on. I'll post some video from that a later. I know there have been some people wanting Vortec swap videos, so they'll be coming.

This fall I built myself a set of rocksliders. They are made from 1.75" .120" wall DOM round tubing with a 2x3" .250 wall square tube along the bottom of the rocker panel. I think they're pretty stout.

Right before Moab I built a front bumper. It is not complete yet but it is close. Still needs a hoop of some sort and some gussets. It is made from the same round tubing as the sliders, and the winch tray is .250" plate and the mounting points/recovery points are 1x3" bar stock. The bumper is designed to accept a winch. When I get a winch I'm going to cut a slot for the fairlead. In these pictures I have a set of 35" KM2s mounted and I flexed and it looks like I can just barely clear them with the OME lift.

 

[phishincruisin]

here is a clip of one obstacle we encountered at Mettowee this past weekend.

 

[EOE_overland]

Great video! Any update on the mileage over your last trip back to VT with the VSS changes? Thinking about a similar swap in my 62, and I really like the way you did your swap.
Thanks for all the explanations...even if you did feel like there was a bit of

 

[phishincruisin]

On my last trip I was getting 17-18 mpg at elevation (montana to moab and through colorado) doing about 70-75 with a completely loaded truck. When I got closer to sea level my mileage dropped to 14-16 mpg. All I can think is that the thicker air provided for greater drag, and that more oxygen in the air meant more fuel would be burned at lower elevation. I've been getting 16-17 driving around town, and I definitely play with the motor a bunch.
Thanks for the compliments, I've been really happy with my swap so far. It really makes the truck a nice daily driver.

 

[phishincruisin]

oh, and here is the whole video from that wheeling trip a couple months ago.

 

[dbleon]

HEY!!! Wen did you go SOA???

 

[Landcruisin'60]

He didnt.

 

[dbleon]

was that you? damn smurf cruisers all look the same i guess. lol

 

[Landcruisin'60]

Haha yup I'm the SOA 60 in the video.

 

[phishincruisin]

I ordered up a lock-right from Kurt for the cruiser this past week and installed it over the weekend. It was a very simple, quick install. The difference it makes off road is tremendous, and it doesn't make on road driving too much worse. It definitely pushes through turns more, so I imagine it won't steer as well in the winter.

While I was finishing up I received a phone call from a guy with his wife's 2004 Land Rover Discovery stuck in a mud hole. He tried to use one of his old Land Rovers to pull it out, but managed to rip the bull bar off the ARB bumper. I tugged on him for a good while and finally yanked him out. It took all my weight, power and traction to get him out. It would have been easy with a winch, and because I pulled him out, he's giving me a winch!

 

[ElHefe]

It would have been easy with a winch, and because I pulled him out, he's giving me a winch!

Not a bad deal!

 

[scarydriver]

Not a bad deal!

No kidding, I wish I had friends like that!

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I ordered up a lock-right from Kurt for the cruiser this past week and installed it over the weekend...

Thanks again!

 

[phishincruisin]

No kidding, I wish I had friends like that!

Funny thing is that he was just a random guy. His buddy posted up on a local wheeling forum that his friend was stuck and needed help. Turns out the guy that posted (who now lives in Texas or something) has had to pull this guy out of similar situations. I quite enjoyed showing him how my Toyota was superior to his Land Rover.

Thanks again!

Thanks for the quick shipping! I had a little too much fun with the locker. I have some more body damage after this past weekend. We were the only 3 Toyota's with a bunch of j**ps. 2nd gear, WOT caused me to bounce into a tree. whoops!

 

[phishincruisin]

Since I know everyone likes photos I'll throw some up here from last weekend. We went on a club run (Green Mountain Crawlers) with my brother (Landcruisin60) a friend of ours in a Taco, and a bunch of J**ps. It was fun to see how much the longer wheelbase helped my truck get around. I was able to go places that fully locked J**ps couldn't. I must admit, I am envious of their lack of sheetmetal, and how most of it is flat and can be protected with plate steel.

I've been incredibly impressed how well the drive train has held up to the 5.3L. It has over 250k miles on it, and has held up (knock on wood) to repeated 2nd gear WOT bounce off the rev limiter and bounce around situations. Its pretty hard to just crawl things in the east when there is wet dirt/mud everywhere. My brother tried to climb a couple hills in 2nd gear WOT with his 2F and it just bogged. I think he needs a V8 now too.

 

[phishincruisin]

and here is one showing where the tree met my quarter panel and rear window...