1972 SWB Build

[beaterku]

Originally Posted by knomadd

I installed a 2016 L96 out of a 3500 Express van with the 6L90E trans and no AFM/DOD. It has VVT, which I kept so I could let the engine adjust to keep the power in the sweet spot. It uses the E78 ECM that you're trying to stay away from, BUT... I did find a company that would build you a custom harness for that computer. Look up Modern Vintage Systems on Instagram or Facebook. They can give you a quote of what something like that would cost. I don't remember what he told me since that was over a year ago.

I got a brand new harness from GM (mine was damaged by the freight company, so the seller put in a claim and got me a new harness) that I wound up cutting down on my own, so I don't have any experience with them. I have seen some of their work and it appears to be good quality stuff. A few other places I looked at told me I'd need to buy an E38 ECM from them to go with their harness in order for their stuff to work. That's an option still, but it wasn't going to work for me, since I had no idea if it would control my trans.

I say all of that just so you don't have to rule out the E78 ECM setups. It won't narrow your search so much, and you could find a great deal because so many are trying to avoid them too.

It seems hit and miss on what L96's come with the E78. Seems some have it while others don't. I've talked to a couple tuners in town and they are trying to steer me towards E38's. I think I am being too picky when it comes to miles, I am trying to find something with less than 50k miles. I think if I ease up to 75k or less I will be just fine. That opens a lot of doors as well.

I looked through some of your threads and am concerned about some of the anomalies with the E78. It doesn't control electric fans like the E38 correct? Are there any other quirks you have found?

EDIT:Just talked to the guy who is going to tune it for me and he said run, not walk, away from the E78. He said it was designed from the new LT motors and adapted to the LS motors. Said it's a nightmare to turn for cams, heads, intake, TB swaps etc...

[Low Elco]

Call Kent Roberts at LKQ in KCK. 1-866 478 2164. Good guy. Tell him what its for and you want a "Good one" He found us an awesome one!

Also, 150tunes did me a great harness and tune, twice. Deals only in email, but a great value and product. Tell him Chip Chandler sent you. He can make anything talk to anything.


And come to the Truck Nats this weekend and have sausage with us!

http://alltrucknats.com/wp/schedule/

[beaterku]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Call Kent Roberts at LKQ in KCK. 1-866 478 2164. Good guy. Tell him what its for and you want a "Good one" He found us an awesome one!

Also, 150tunes did me a great harness and tune, twice. Deals only in email, but a great value and product. Tell him Chip Chandler sent you. He can make anything talk to anything.


And come to the Truck Nats this weekend and have sausage with us!

http://alltrucknats.com/wp/schedule/

Appreciate the contact! I'll give him a call this afternoon. I spoke with 150tunes a few years back and he is very knowledgeable.

I might try to make it out on Saturday. I've got the Shawnee show on Sunday with my pops.

[knomadd]

Well, I don't have a different cam, heads or intake swap, but I used a tuner out of San Antonio who uses HP Tuners (Nelson Performance). I have it at home too, but don't really know how to use it so I let him tune it. He was able to do everything I needed and has worked on the new LT motors for a friend of mine who recommended him to me. I think it completely depends on your tuner. Some are just affraid to touch it because they don't know about the LT motors, others are familiar with certain ECMs and prefer to stick with those. I have absolutely no problems with mine, but we'll see if it stays like that if I go with a bigger cam later.

Edit: I have headers, and a larger intake tube that messed with the MAF sensor. Took a bit of tuning to get the MAF tables right based on the larger tube diameter, but it all worked out fine. He even gave it a "performance tune" to up the power and run on premium fuel. I don't think it should be very difficult to tune all of those things into this ECM, but then again, I'm not the one doing it. Good luck!

Oh, and no, it doesn't control the fans. There is a setting in HP Tuners that my tuner turned on, but I don't have wires in my harness for it. I know this ECM is used on a few 4 cylinders that have fans in them, but I haven't tried to run it that way. I just use a Dakota Digital fan controller hooked up through my DD OBD-II BIM module for my gauges.

[beaterku]

Originally Posted by knomadd

Well, I don't have a different cam, heads or intake swap, but I used a tuner out of San Antonio who uses HP Tuners (Nelson Performance). I have it at home too, but don't really know how to use it so I let him tune it. He was able to do everything I needed and has worked on the new LT motors for a friend of mine who recommended him to me. I think it completely depends on your tuner. Some are just affraid to touch it because they don't know about the LT motors, others are familiar with certain ECMs and prefer to stick with those. I have absolutely no problems with mine, but we'll see if it stays like that if I go with a bigger cam later.

I agree 100%. I had planned on buying HP Tuners myself, but I am by no means qualified. My options are pretty limited around here. I unfortunately need to go with someone local so I'm stuck. I did some digging and you can convert an E78 controlled engine to E38 with a harness and ecm swap and reprogramming of the TCM, but it's $1500. A little steep for my wallet. I am going in all stock at the beginning, but am going to swap cams at some point.

[beaterku]

Originally Posted by knomadd

Edit: I have headers, and a larger intake tube that messed with the MAF sensor. Took a bit of tuning to get the MAF tables right based on the larger tube diameter, but it all worked out fine. He even gave it a "performance tune" to up the power and run on premium fuel. I don't think it should be very difficult to tune all of those things into this ECM, but then again, I'm not the one doing it. Good luck!

Oh, and no, it doesn't control the fans. There is a setting in HP Tuners that my tuner turned on, but I don't have wires in my harness for it. I know this ECM is used on a few 4 cylinders that have fans in them, but I haven't tried to run it that way. I just use a Dakota Digital fan controller hooked up through my DD OBD-II BIM module for my gauges.

Interesting idea on the DD fan controller. That's something to think about.

[beaterku]

Talking with a buddy this morning he says "you could have built the 6.0 you have sitting in your shop in the time you've been searching for a complete dropout" Got me thinking about just dropping the bottom end off at the shop to have it gone through, slapping some new heads and a cam in and calling it good. I've got a 4l80 sitting here as well. Might be money ahead.

Decisions...

[knomadd]

Originally Posted by beaterku

Talking with a buddy this morning he says "you could have built the 6.0 you have sitting in your shop in the time you've been searching for a complete dropout" Got me thinking about just dropping the bottom end off at the shop to have it gone through, slapping some new heads and a cam in and calling it good. I've got a 4l80 sitting here as well. Might be money ahead.

Decisions...

If I had one already, I would have gone this route too. That way you can build it the way you want and not worry about doing something later. Add your cam, heads (or head work) and intake, have the trans gone through and buy your harness. If you need a new ECM, get it from the guys building your harness or run an aftermarket system like one from Holley, FAST or MSD.

[beaterku]

Originally Posted by knomadd

If I had one already, I would have gone this route too. That way you can build it the way you want and not worry about doing something later. Add your cam, heads (or head work) and intake, have the trans gone through and buy your harness. If you need a new ECM, get it from the guys building your harness or run an aftermarket system like one from Holley, FAST or MSD.

I am leaning that way. I'm going to call my machine shop and see how backed up there are.

[1971Stepside]

Glad to see you figured out the direction for your motor and trans. Interested in what the rebuild cost for your 80e. I am crossing my fingers that mine is as good as they said it was and just going with it. If it has problems after I am completed we will pull it then. Next time in the KC area I need to hit you up.

[beaterku]

Originally Posted by 1971Stepside

Glad to see you figured out the direction for your motor and trans. Interested in what the rebuild cost for your 80e. I am crossing my fingers that mine is as good as they said it was and just going with it. If it has problems after I am completed we will pull it then. Next time in the KC area I need to hit you up.

It's getting there. Since I didn't have any history on mine, I opted to have to have it gone through. Turns out it was actually in pretty good shape. Now it will last the life of my truck.

Sure thing, I think there are a bunch of us up here. Maybe we can get everyone together.

[beaterku]

A little update. I haven't worked on the truck. We had friends in town for my class reunion this past weekend. Trying to find free time has been hard. I did get the heads and a bunch of parts back from Texas Speed.

Heads are the stock 317 heads. I did their stage 1 kit. For my application, the stage 2.5 was not needed. It only flows 6cfm more peak and I don't need the stainless valves. These have PAC dual valve springs, titanium retainers and a full cnc port job. I also have them mill the head .030 to bump the compression closer to 10:1 since I am still using the stock dished LQ4 pistons. I went with their 224r cam.
They came back looking amazing!

The Circle D 2800 stall converter also came in.

Just waiting on the bottom end to come back from the machine shop. I am hoping this week. We shall see.

[1971Stepside]

Wow! Those look great. I too am finding it hard to get much done on the truck lately.

[beaterku]

Originally Posted by 1971Stepside

Wow! Those look great. I too am finding it hard to get much done on the truck lately.

Thanks, I think they really knocked it out of the park for the money. Local shop wanted almost half of what texas speed charged to do a valve job and reassembly only.

It seems like there is something going on every day these days. Couple that with the obscene amount of rain we have gotten this week. We are 10" since Saturday with 2 more coming today.

[beaterku]

Not much progress lately. I spent a few hours cleaning some of the parts before assembly. The front and rear covers, valve covers and valley cover were disgusting. Gave the trans the wire brush treatment. Motor is supposed to be done at the end of this week. I have started gathering more and more parts. Trying to keep most of it under the wife's radar.

Hopefully have some more progress soon.

[beaterku]

No real progress. Last weekend was a bust and I've had my IT had on at work the last 2 weeks. I have been amassing more parts. I've got a truckload of new Delco parts for the motor, alternator, water pump, gaskets etc... ) that showed up this morning.

Last night a about 5:30 I got a call that my shortblock was done. So I scooted up there at lunch today and picked it up. She's so shinny and clean now. No surprises in side. Just did a quick hone job. Stock dished pistons, stock rods and crank. New clevite bearings throughout. She's all wrapped up and snug as a bug in a rug.

I've got to remove the inner wheel wells to have them powdercoated as well as the bling bling stainless battery tray I bought. I didn't realize it was going to come so shinny. Too much for me, so it's going to be satin black like the fenders. I still need to remove the fuel lines, but that requires emptying the fuel tank first. So I may tackle that one night this week.

Sorry, just rambling...

[mcbassin]

Looks like you have everything going the right direction on this build.

[beaterku]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Looks like you have everything going the right direction on this build.

Thanks! I've got 8 weeks to get this wrapped us so it's crunch time!

[redneckgames]

Good looking truck, interesting build.

[beaterku]

Originally Posted by redneckgames

Good looking truck, interesting build.

Thanks!

[beaterku]

I feel like I am not making progress but things are getting done. I am finally to the point where the motor can go in. I am going to start assembling the motor this week. Finally!

You Tube

You Tube

[beaterku]

Spent a few hours on the truck this morning. I buttoned up the long block. Everything went to plan with no hiccups. I ran out of time and I wasn't feeling to great so I called it a day. Hopefully smooth sailing from here.

Here is the latest YouTube update:

You Tube

[Stickman]

Very Nice

[Low Elco]

What's the trick? I have to paint one soon.

[1971Stepside]

I am going to order the radiator, boyd tank, dakota guages and a few other odds and ends this afternoon

Please order two of each....HA!