Stepping up to a Vortec (LM7)

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Here is a pic of the oil pressure port that I tapped, I have the one in the middle and that port is solid. I just bought a 1/8-27 NPT Tap and the correct drill bit and tapped it for the sender.

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The oil sender fits nicely behind the bracket for the slave cylinder

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Autometer metric adapter for their cylinder head temp senders

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Here is the 3" hole I made on the firewall around one of the existing holes. I have found several 3" OD grommets but the ID is too big. I am thinking if I add some of the existing harness I can up the diameter of the engine harness and make up for it. I should have started with a 2.5" hole and gone up from there, much easier to find grommets in that size range. I have 4 coming from McMaster Carr I am going to try out and see how they work.

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Here's where the PCM will end up, I have looked at places in the engine bay, but couldn't come up with anything I was comfortable with. I noticed ICON puts them on the drivers side fender but in my situation it would be pretty close to the headers.

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So make a two-piece sheet metal plate that bolts over the larger hole and drill that plate for a more-appropriately sized split grommet. I believe the large wireway grommets for late 70s firewalls are still available.
 
Looking great. Your pedal assembly is huge! Mine came from an 01 Avalanche. I made a mount and had to cut down the arm considerably to get it to fit without scraping the trans cover. I am really liking your drivers side battery mount. I have a primary positive wire coming from the pass side under the radiator and over to the main power. I put my ECM behind the drivers side fender following Icon theme. It fits well and so far seems to not suffer from too much heat. I am more fearful of getting it wet.

Looking nice!
 
Thanks sgirt,

That pedal assembly is gonna go, I took the PN for my tac module to a dealer and there are a few options out there for me that should be plug and play. I guess mine is so big because the suburban that year had an adjustable throttle pedal. The PO had a bracket made for the gas pedal for the sbc that I am hoping I can reuse. It fits around the steering column and I'm hoping puts the pedal in a good spot.
 
How is everyone solving the problem of getting fuel to these I am trying to figure it out and maintain some type of fuel gage etc obviously I am not the first person trying to do this so why reinvent the wheel?
 
Coop 0331 EMT said:
How is everyone solving the problem of getting fuel to these I am trying to figure it out and maintain some type of fuel gage etc obviously I am not the first person trying to do this so why reinvent the wheel?
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Coop,

From my reading you have 3 options:

1. Quality inline pump.
The Pro's: easy to replace in the field can be pretty cheap depending on which model you get.
The Con's: can be noisy, vapor lock issues in high heat situations etc. Could (depending on your setup) get starved for fuel off camber

2. Tanks Inc. - You cut a hole in your tank, and then this pump systems is cut to fit. Cost was around $250 last time I looked.

3. Aeromotive universal in tank system. Costs a lot more than tanks inc or an inline pump but the pump will be quieter since it is intank and will allow some time off camber since it pulls fuel from that basket. This will be the route I go in the future when I get there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JCNpDGvm1U
 
Made a trip to the junk yard before thanksgiving and scored the aluminum spacer found behind mini truck vacuum booster as well as DBW pedal assembly from a totaled suburban. It will still take some work to figure out but it's a lot closer than the original adjustable pedals.
 
go, go, go....can't wait to see and hear this thing roar!!

Running stock axle and drive shafts? I've always read that engines like this can push breakage points further down the line. Just wondering for my own budgeting purposes.

goodluck!
 
Griffin said:
go, go, go....can't wait to see and hear this thing roar!!

Running stock axle and drive shafts? I've always read that engines like this can push breakage points further down the line. Just wondering for my own budgeting purposes.

goodluck!
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I have heard that as well. This rig will see pretty light duty while I work all the kinks out. As far as I know everything is stock except the drive shafts. They are still oem toyota but they have the bigger 11mm flange bolts that were a pain to track down.

warpdriv said:
I have some part links on my build thread that may help: https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/403256-another-texas-ls1-swap.html

HTH
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Thanks! I'll cruise through your thread and check them out.
 
Keep up the good work badsamaritan! Would love to see your rig one day, I am just in Black Diamond and also have a 69. Mabey we could meet up for a beer or two:cheers:
 
I'm putting a 5.3 in my 55 and have enjoyed reading your build. Very useful information, keep it coming! you're doing a good job.

Thanks, Ron
 
Thanks for the fuel tank ideas,

for those following along getting started or thinking about this I am compiling a spread sheet on google dox and when I am done I will share it to all to know the parts I used to build mine
 
I used the tanks inc cut to fit pump in mine and have not had any issues w/ it.
I went to great lengths to put a fuel pump IN the tank. It just seems to be the superior way for longevity of the pumps.
I added a sump too to keep the pick up submersed in fuel at any angle.
I found a vent valve, that operates off of pressure so there won't be constant venting, if you're interested. It was a bit spendy, about a hundred bucks, but worth it to NOT have fuel vapor constantly venting off.
 
Thanks Chicago, any info you have would be great. I am going to start off with re-using my re-pop FJ tank since it is brand new and see how far it takes me. I was concerned with the tanks-inc trough system because the stock tank doesn't have a true sump. It does have a "belly" section that sits into the recessed part of the floor board but it's not deep enough to keep the pump submerged all the time. This is where I am hoping that aeromotive setup will shine by keeping that pump trapped in a column of fuel in that foam cylinder.
 
Coop 0331 EMT said:
Thanks for the fuel tank ideas,

for those following along getting started or thinking about this I am compiling a spread sheet on google dox and when I am done I will share it to all to know the parts I used to build mine
Click to expand...

Sounds good, I always like seeing what parts and pieces people find to solve their particular issues.
 
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