Shreck's 6.0 build

[67C10BUB]

Very cool build. You are going to enjoy it when it's done.

[Hduramax]

Like your build, very nice truck, like the 6.0 swap,hope everything works out, I will keep an eye on your posts for sure. Getting ready to tackle a 8.1 swap in my truck

[67shortie]

OK, weird thing here but I like it because the O2 sensors are working

I started taking apart of the harness apart chasing wires, making sure they are in the right places and everything came out clean and every wire was where is was suppose to be with no fray or lost connection that I could tell.

Looking at a wire schematic of my harness I did find that the sensor plugs were on the wrong side but that's it. Plugged them in to test and voila' no smoke. I still havean SES light glowing but I imagine that is because it might want a few cycles to reset.

Going out to the store to do some shopping, and see how it does

[68chevyLQ4]

Nice truck man. Your going to love the 6.0. I just bought my 68 it already had the 6.0 4L80E swap done. I was surprised by the power first time i drove it. btw Im in the Fresno area. congrats on getting it running.

[67shortie]

Thank you guys,really I very much appreciate the kind words, it's been an adventure for me and need the support here and there

Took it to the store, SES light went out Oil pressure is good, I am getting 30lbs at 500rpm and 50 at 2500rpm hot. Have not had it much past 4K but this engine pretty much boogies when pushed Looses traction from a slow 15mph roll with the go pedal not even down all of the way.

Still wants to stall/low idle when I come up to a stop. This could be the VSS signal. Smells a bit rich too but this could be the non emissions tune the computer has in it, but the computer is still on learn mode so time will tell. Plus no cats, plugs are clean and white, so I am not going to worry about it. If it bugs me later, cats may go on but I doubt it.

Getting closer everyday, now I am going to check the VSS connections and dial this 700 in a bit. Wants to hunt around light throttle in and out of OD so I need to get a little more agressive with the cable input.

[VA72C10]

sounds good. Glad to hear things seem to be working better! Maybe a little computer learning on the O2 sensors?

[67shortie]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

sounds good. Glad to hear things seem to be working better! Maybe a little computer learning on the O2 sensors?

Don't know, I am kind of baffled about it. I could have made a connection to a wire that was weak or not there when I went into the harness but either way, it works

Drove it to work this morning, no engine issues other than the alt bearing started squeaking kind of loud (always something) and it drove awesome. Trans I think is still a little low on fluid so that will get re checked before i head home.

Going to put gas in it today, and drive it again tomorrow to work I will try to roughly start tracking fuel mileage and compare to my old setup.

[67shortie]

This week got about 100 or so miles now.

Driving impressions, comparing to the GEN1 350 that came out all i can say is this a different animal but in a good sense. To those who have the LS platform may agree with me here, but I am never going back if I have a choice. This 6.0 has tons of torque and effortless power stock, quiet smooth idle, anytime start and go versitility and this engine stock feels like a well built small block, a hot rod with manners. Sounds good too, good modern noise coming from the flowmasters. Freeway driving is just as good, just a small amount of pedal input puts me at freeway speed cruising along with traffic, push it a little bit and you can hit 80+ without even knowing (except for the wind noise ) There is no comparison to the 305 that I bought the truck with, worlds apart.

Initial gas mileage, only have 2 trips back and forth to work in it so this is a rough guestimation only for now. Yesterday I put 4.5 gallons in it, gave me a little under a 1/3 tank. I drove it home, to work and about 15 miles towards home before I hit the same needle spot as when I pumped fuel in it. that is about 80 miles, so if I burned 4.5 gallons that is about 17mpg. About. Compared to my old 350 with a q-jet of 12, even at 16 that's a gain of 4mpg improvement, awesome, and on 87 octane And if I can keep my foot out of it I may get more out of it.

[5150.4.67]

Nice going! Did you get the o2 sensor issue ironed out?

[406 Q-ship]

How did you do the DLC connector? I am starting the same project too, mine is a 2001 LQ4/4L80E complete with the wiring and ECU. I have all the underhood harness but will be needing to put in a diagnostic link connector and was wondering how you handled it, I looked through and didn't see that if you showed it.

[67shortie]

I did get the O2 sensor issue fixed but honestly I don't know how. All I had done is inspected the routing/pinout location and checked connections. Plus I found out I had the plugs on the wrong side, but not sure if that was it or not. The only thing I can come up with is the high side voltage input is very specific to left/right banks, but I am not to sure yet but either way they work and the SES light is out.

The OBD port, there is a wire that comes from the PCM that needs to be connected to the port itself plus 2 ground wires and a constant hot.

I got my info from www.lt1swap.com lots of information there for the do it yourselfer like me Follow the links to the wiring harness info, and you will find part numbers so you can order all of the connections and adapters. Very inexpensive too, I don't think I have more than $20 in everything that i needed related.

[Ed 72 Sierra Grande]

By far the one of the best builds I've read so far. You give the DIYer the confidence needed to tackle this swap.

Great Job on the engine and the truck looks sick too.

Enjoy the ride.

[usmcchevy]

Glad you got her going and like it! Hope mine turns out as well as yours.

[67shortie]

Enjoying this engine, took the truck out today just driving it around running errands and couldn't be happier

Changed the oil too, getting the breakin lube out of there and fresh stuff in the block.

Hasn't skipped a beat yet.

[ControlFreak]

Just got done reading your build. Congratulations. I have been thinking of doing this to my 71 with 68 front clip. Your build does help guys like me build our confidence. Great Job. Awesome truck. Looks great for not being a show truck.

[thor]

Did your LQ4 come with drive by wire or cable? If it was originally drive by wire and you converted to drive by cable, did you have to change the tune in the computer, or is the throttle position sensor work the same with either DBW or cable? Then to run the 700R4 you simply turn the tranny controller "off" in the tune, correct? How do you like the Bow Tie Overdrives TV cable? Shifts well? Also, where did you hook-up the VSS?

Reason I'm asking is I have a 700R4 right now and am very interested in an LQ4 but I thought they were all drive by wire and I was not sure how to make it all work together.

Thanks for your time!

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by 67shortie

Enjoying this engine, took the truck out today just driving it around running errands and couldn't be happier

Changed the oil too, getting the breakin lube out of there and fresh stuff in the block.

Hasn't skipped a beat yet.

Man, that's awesome! Glad to hear you are getting to enjoy the fruit of you all that labor. Too cool

[67shortie]

Originally Posted by thor

Did your LQ4 come with drive by wire or cable? If it was originally drive by wire and you converted to drive by cable, did you have to change the tune in the computer, or is the throttle position sensor work the same with either DBW or cable? Then to run the 700R4 you simply turn the tranny controller "off" in the tune, correct? How do you like the Bow Tie Overdrives TV cable? Shifts well? Also, where did you hook-up the VSS?

Reason I'm asking is I have a 700R4 right now and am very interested in an LQ4 but I thought they were all drive by wire and I was not sure how to make it all work together.

Thanks for your time!

Thank you guys for the props again, truck feels great to drive but after driving it tonight to work in 90+ degree heat AC is next on the build list Getting 16-17 overall MPG too, but with gas still $4 a gallon you do feel the 'pain at the pump' but it's worth it to me.

Thor, the engine longblock is an '04 but the intake and computer are from an '01 so it did have the drive by cable. The tuner turned the trans control off but I did keep the harness intact in case one day I do need to swap over to the 4L60. Then all I would be doing is sending the PCM back and having him turn it back on.

I do like the BTO throttle body conversion for the TV setup but I am still doing minor tweaks to get it just right to my tastes, overall shift quality is very good. My 700 works quite well behind this engine and don't regret it at all over the L60.

The VSS is a dakota digital unit a DAC-4160 from Summit for about $36. Works great, install this between the speedo output on the side of the trans to spin it and then the other side has the boss for your factory speedo cable. Then hook the grey and black wires to the low and high input of the PCM pins 20-21 for the red connector. your tuner will have to convert the PCM to read 8000 pulse instead of the 4000 factory setup.

[thor]

Thanks for the info!

[67shortie]

Anytime Thor

Double checking my work a little bit, and found my VSS was hooked up backwards. Newbie mistake, but what I did was hooked the 'signal' wire which has the speed referenced voltage to the low reference wire and the low reference, ground, to the signal input to the PCM.

Hooked them up right, and the engine kind of hunted around a little bit when I started it up settling down a little bit after a min or so. Driving it home was differerent too, wanted to surge a little bit for the first few miles then settled down.

Gas mileage is better, don't know how much better yet but it is.

Power too, to a point. Mid range torque feels crisper, idle is different and overall is a better running animal. Full throttle has not changed much, good sounds, and even stock put some RPM to it the power keeps pulling the higher it goes just like a healthy cammed small block. Those with LS based setups know what I mean.

I will be taking it on a 300 mile trip this weekend, and try to get a good estimate on what the freeway gas mileage is.

[thor]

What did your tuner do to the computer? I can guess remove VATS and rear O2 but did he also remove/dial-down the torque management? Remover other emissions items? Play with the timing? Just curious. Thanks for all the detailed info. We've all learned along with you so thanks for sharing.

[67shortie]

From what he told me, the vats, torque management, AC/trans stuff (I use a 700r4) rear O2's, and put a general performance tune on it and removed emissions related programming. Don't know what that means totally but it runs pretty good.

Mail order too, Brendan at www.lt1swap.com I was glad to give him my buisiness after he spent so much time putting that info out there to help the hobbiests and do it yourselfers like me do this themselves.

Great learning experience so far

[smokinstang70]

Completely agree about Brendan @ www.LT1swap.com... he has been a huge help to me!!! Plan to send him my computer very shortly.

[harnalien]

Looks awesome! Do you have any pics of how to mount the bracket for the throttle cable? I accidentally bought the ls1 kit and had to order the cable and bracket for the vortec kit. I can't find any instructions for how to mount the vortec bracket. Thanks!

[67shortie]

Don't know if this is what you needed but these are pics of the throttle cable bracket and the BTO hookup.