Stumbling my way through an LS Swap (1 Viewer)

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Should be getting the parts in on Friday to finish the install.

I really recommend getting a CC installed, it might be a placebo since I just installed mine last night but the fuel pump is quieter and the engine just seems to run better. I had the vent line capped and was probably building up excessive pressure in the tank since it couldn't vent properly.

Oddly enough there would be times I'd have to prime the fuel pump twice to get it to start, now it starts on the first time. I have no idea how the CC managed to fix that but I'm stoked.
Don’t ask about it, done by PO. Works and never had any problems, all GM I believe with Mods.
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Air Conditioning Install/Setup New
With it getting hot as hell in AZ I needed to get the A/C going. I overthought the hose situation for a while, but it was actually really simple to make my own lines and get it done. Here are the parts I bought to get it done:

Line Connections:


(You may need a different adapter depending on which LS engine you have, this one works for the compressors found on Gen III LS engines)

Condenser:


Drier:

(With Pressure Transducer + Binary Switch)

The drier above is the exact same as the one sold by Coldhose below at a fraction of the cost. For the first time install it is nice that the BP Automotive one comes with the pressure transducer and the binary switch included.


Hose Crimper:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MYX3QLG?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1

Prior to building your lines your going to want to find a place to mount your A/C drier & condenser. If you’re running the stock rad you can just mount it in the stock location, if not you can mount it on the fender or somewhere along there. I ended up fabbing a little bracket to relocate the stock drier bracket to go off of my battery tray which ended up working really well.

XLOmi7.jpg

1749231789234.png


To mount the universal condenser I just copied what @BurntToast did in his thread which is linked below. @cruisermatt is working on some universal mounts as well which look really nice.

Builds - BurntToast's FJ62 Build "Hoss" - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/burnttoasts-fj62-build-hoss.1291363/page-20#post-15496169

fBz0NW.jpg


Now with everything mounted you can start building the lines to connect everything. There are 4 lines for the whole A/C system that are as follows:

  • From the evaporator to the compressor
  • From the evaporator to the drier
  • From the drier to the condenser
  • From the condenser to the compressor (high side)

I found it easiest to build one line at a time and thread the fittings where they need to go on that particular line. Then get the hose cut and fit on both fittings, mark their orientation with a paint marker, remove then crimp. For a first time crimper they came out pretty well, here’s pictures of all of my connections.

USYYjb.jpg

yXLwEa.jpg

sRtDhQ.jpg


With everything connected the last thing you need to do is get the wiring sorted to get the compressor to kick on. There are a few different ways to do this, keeping with my plans to follow the path of least resistance I just decided to use the FJ60’s factory A/C system to engage the compressor. To do this you’ll need to remove the amplifier and cut out the resistor that requires a RPM signal to get the compressor to engage. Here is the one in question:

1749232108657.png


Once that is done you’ll need to get the A/C connector for the compressor. The one below is for the Gen III compressor.

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/.../a/3734/automotive-suv-2003-chevrolet-tahoe?0

You’re going to buy a male spade connector that will plug into the factory spade connector that went to the old compressor. For the GM Compressors, the green wire is positive and the black is ground. Hook up the wire that plugs into the green wire on the compressor to the factory compressor connector using that male spade connector. Run the other wire to the fender to ground it.

If you've bought a BP Automotive harness it already has provisions for the A/C pressure transducer, so you'll just hook it up and then have your tuner enable it so that the engine idles up on it's own when it senses pressure from that sensor. I haven't hooked up my binary switch yet, but all I would have to do is hook a wire from the original compressor connector to one terminal and then have the output going straight to the compressor plug. This will give you a high pressure cutoff switch. I'll post pictures once I get that installed.

With the A/C system completed that basically wraps up my LS swap on my 60. It has been an incredibly fun process and I have put over 7k miles on it since I finished the swap as a daily driver and it hasn't given me an ounce of trouble. It is singlehandedly the best mod I have ever done to any vehicle I've owned.

Final pic of the engine bay with everything connected and installed.

a3yh42.jpg
 
Nice work :cool:
 
Nice job!

I built a Chevota fj60 30+ yrs ago. I remember thinking how well the sbc fit and how easy it was to do, almost like Toyota built Cruisers to be upgraded.
 
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With it getting hot as hell in AZ I needed to get the A/C going. I overthought the hose situation for a while, but it was actually really simple to make my own lines and get it done. Here are the parts I bought to get it done:

Line Connections:


(You may need a different adapter depending on which LS engine you have, this one works for the compressors found on Gen III LS engines)

Condenser:


Drier:

(With Pressure Transducer + Binary Switch)

The drier above is the exact same as the one sold by Coldhose below at a fraction of the cost. For the first time install it is nice that the BP Automotive one comes with the pressure transducer and the binary switch included.


Hose Crimper:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MYX3QLG?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1

Prior to building your lines your going to want to find a place to mount your A/C drier & condenser. If you’re running the stock rad you can just mount it in the stock location, if not you can mount it on the fender or somewhere along there. I ended up fabbing a little bracket to relocate the stock drier bracket to go off of my battery tray which ended up working really well.

XLOmi7.jpg

View attachment 3922967

To mount the universal condenser I just copied what @BurntToast did in his thread which is linked below. @cruisermatt is working on some universal mounts as well which look really nice.

Builds - BurntToast's FJ62 Build "Hoss" - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/burnttoasts-fj62-build-hoss.1291363/page-20#post-15496169

fBz0NW.jpg


Now with everything mounted you can start building the lines to connect everything. There are 4 lines for the whole A/C system that are as follows:

  • From the evaporator to the compressor
  • From the evaporator to the drier
  • From the drier to the condenser
  • From the condenser to the compressor (high side)

I found it easiest to build one line at a time and thread the fittings where they need to go on that particular line. Then get the hose cut and fit on both fittings, mark their orientation with a paint marker, remove then crimp. For a first time crimper they came out pretty well, here’s pictures of all of my connections.

USYYjb.jpg

yXLwEa.jpg

sRtDhQ.jpg


With everything connected the last thing you need to do is get the wiring sorted to get the compressor to kick on. There are a few different ways to do this, keeping with my plans to follow the path of least resistance I just decided to use the FJ60’s factory A/C system to engage the compressor. To do this you’ll need to remove the amplifier and cut out the resistor that requires a RPM signal to get the compressor to engage. Here is the one in question:

View attachment 3922970

Once that is done you’ll need to get the A/C connector for the compressor. The one below is for the Gen III compressor.

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/.../a/3734/automotive-suv-2003-chevrolet-tahoe?0

You’re going to buy a male spade connector that will plug into the factory spade connector that went to the old compressor. For the GM Compressors, the green wire is positive and the black is ground. Hook up the wire that plugs into the green wire on the compressor to the factory compressor connector using that male spade connector. Run the other wire to the fender to ground it.

If you've bought a BP Automotive harness it already has provisions for the A/C pressure transducer, so you'll just hook it up and then have your tuner enable it so that the engine idles up on it's own when it senses pressure from that sensor. I haven't hooked up my binary switch yet, but all I would have to do is hook a wire from the original compressor connector to one terminal and then have the output going straight to the compressor plug. This will give you a high pressure cutoff switch. I'll post pictures once I get that installed.

With the A/C system completed that basically wraps up my LS swap on my 60. It has been an incredibly fun process and I have put over 7k miles on it since I finished the swap as a daily driver and it hasn't given me an ounce of trouble. It is singlehandedly the best mod I have ever done to any vehicle I've owned.

Final pic of the engine bay with everything connected and installed.

a3yh42.jpg
Nice write up. I am planning to work on mine over the weekend and I may reference this when I work on the hoses.
 

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