Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

Looks great. Where did you get the hood insulation? Mine is hammered and it kind of drags down the look of everything now that it is clean otherwise.

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

Got it from LMC Truck for $40.
Got the clips from Rock Auto for $5
After I got it and opened the box, my cats decided to jump inside the box and play around, inside the box with the insulation. Needles to say it got a little roughed up with my cats.

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

Well it's done!
Took it out today for the first time in 5 months and filled it up.
Runs and drives perfect!
Now just have to make the motor look pretty and hook up AC.

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

Managed to get the new engine covers on today.
Keep getting a CEL codes P0171 & p0174. I can reset them by disconnecting the battery but under hard acceleration it comes back on. Hear this may be because I have e MAF mounted to the throttle body. Going to move the filter and MAF further away to see ifs if it helps, parts should be here next week.

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

Cut a small hole for the fuel pressure gauge.

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

Looks great. Good Job. :metal: :metal:

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

Nice work that looks awesome. What are those codes?

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

Keep getting p0171 & p0174, too lean on banks 1 & 2.

Thanks for the kind words!

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

Nice work. What are you getting for fuel mileage now? Did you move your filter and get the codes figured out?

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

Thank you, I'm getting around 14mpg (mostly highway driving). I have clocked about 2000 miles on my tuck since the swap and everything seems to be going fine with no problems. I moved the fuel filter/Regulator down a little bit on my firewall with no issues. I did get the CK engine light figured out, turns out the people that did my exhaust left the bolts loose that connect the exhaust to the manifolds and that allowed air to get into the exhaust and past the o2 sensors creating a lean code.

Here is a recent pic of the motor after everything was done.

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

Very nice. I want to build a 6L myself even though I don't have anything to put it into besides my K10 right now.

How is the power?

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

Just read through your thread. Very nice setup! I would live to have an LS swapped 3/4t burb. Lice the two tone combo also!

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

Thank you for the kind words!
it was a lot of work and a lot of money, but in the end it was definitely worth it.

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

Wow really nice burb.who tuned the ecm? I have the p0171 ans p0174 and cant get rid of them either. Bolts are tight. I need a serious retune i only have a stock tune from psi conversion. Who did your tuning? You have hgen 3 you can send it quick anywhere to want without having to take out tcm like ua hen 4 guys. Sounds good i have same mufflers on a 6.2. Did you end up shaving tabs off tranny for manifolds? I had to switch to ls3 manifolds.:metal::metal: nice build! Do you tow anything?

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

I found an exhaust leak at the manifolds where they meet the exhaust. Got that taken care of and codes haven't come back. I would recommend running some seafoam through your motor, and see if you see any smoke/leaks.
My ECU came already tuned with my harness/motor from LSX4U.com. Good people to work with.
I did have to cut the tabs off the transmission with a sawsall for the exhaust to clear.
I don't tow anything but if I wanted to, I feel I could with no problem.
Good luck on your build, I hope you get those codes figured out.

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

Nodnarb, Awesome build! I've read this thread through a couple of times, had a couple of questions

How much of your stock wiring harness did you retain/reuse with the new harness?

Removing the TBI harness—that includes the ECM, right? Did you go off of a GM shop manual or did LSX4U give you the instructions on what to delete/what to keep on your '87?

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

Thank you for the kind words!

when I did my swap I un-plugged the factory TBI harness from the motor. then found where the wires went into the firewall on the driver's side. I was very nervous but I cut the wires where they go into the firewall and left the TBI harness plugged into the stock connector with the cut wires coming off the connector. I did leave enough wire at the stock connector in case I had to re connect a wire I removed. I took the TBI harness home and took an entire Sunday afternoon and traced every wire on the factory harness and probed them with my multi-meter to make sure I knew what each wire did. I realized the majority of the wires were 12v switched on power for the various sensors on the motor, and of course some wires going to gauges, etc. I did remove the TBI ECU. After I removed the stock engine harness I had moment of truth, I reconnected the battery and wanted to make sure I didn't remove anything that needed to remain. I checked and all of my lights, wipers, turn signals, horn, blower motor, radio, windows etc all still worked. Thank goodness everything still worked, and I had not removed anything that I didn't need to.

The LSX4U harness was great to work with, just follow the instructions they send you, the hardest part was wiring the torque converter lockup relay.

I also made my own harness for the fuel pump/gauge sending unit and ran it back to the tank, and other end to the LSX harness and my new fuel gauge.
I figured I might as well have new wiring for everything at that point lol.

Good luck with your swap, let me know if you need anything else.

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

While I'm posting also wanted to show off my intake I painted.

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

Truck looks great. Have you been driving the wheels off of it? How's the performance and economy been?

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

I have put about 7500 miles on it so far and it runs great.
I love this truck!

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

This suburban would make a great tow pig for my son's '84 SWB. It has the same color combo!

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

How did I miss this one? Great stuff!

Re: 1987 R20 Suburban LQ4 4L80E swap
 

I could be totally wrong, but could you have used the "Upper Radiator Mounting Panel" below to mount your radiator? It steps down a couple inches or so vs the SB mounting panel???? My radiator did the same thing and I put a 1"x 1" x 3" square tubing on the bottom of the radiator core support and put the mounting cushion on the tubing.

Just thinking out-loud. :)

Mike