"The wifes truck" 1994 K1500

[ETraugott]

My wife still has her first truck and honesly dont even think she would sell it for anything. She bought the truck from a family friend on payments. Its a 94 K1500 with a 4.3 V6 and 4l60E. The truck as of now has 278,000 miles and we were using it as a back up vehicle till it blew a heater hose. The motor was tired, leaked oil so i didnt even waste any time fixing the 4.3. It prob sat for 8 months and is now in its current situation. I decieded to go ahead and do a 5.3 swap. I got a complete 5.3 from a junkyard and found a 4l60E and transfercase out of a 2002 truck. I plan to keep slowly fixing the truck up so figurd i should start a thread to show the progression.

As of today i have the engine and trans in. The only real clearence issues i have is the a/c compressor. Holley makes a relocating bracket that i will be using. I am using the stock harness that I cleaned up. I used most all info and had computer programmed by brendan at lt1swaps.com. I am using the factory cats and y pipe from the donor truck. This truck wiil have to pass the "sniffer" test for emmissions so I left the cats on.

[ETraugott]

2000 truck 5.3 donor engine.

[ETraugott]

Tearing down to clean up and reseal.

[ETraugott]

Cleaned up

[ETraugott]

Old 4.3

[ETraugott]

Empty

[ETraugott]

Cleaning up the truck harness.

[ETraugott]

In the hole

[ETraugott]

Built a bracket to mount ECU in location of old air intake. I also moved the battery to the driver side and plan to run the factory air box fom the donor truck which will have to sit where battery is.

[ETraugott]

Mocking everything up.

[ETraugott]

Still need a/c bracket to verify clearence. Had to modify air intake also.

[ETraugott]

Mock up.

[ETraugott]

Here is a pic from a few years back when it was cleaned up. Sorry for the blurry pic.

[OutlawDrifter]

looks like you'll have a great driver

[Palf70Step]

Bout ready for another 270K-ish miles!

[ETraugott]

Holley relocating bracket and spacing kit. I got it installed last night. There is some clearnce issues if trying to use the stock intake piping fron filter box to intake manifold. There is a piece that hangs off the bottom. I cut it off and plugged the round hole. Also had to heat a small area on top with heat gun and push it down. The other alternitive is i know the spectre cold air kit off of a 2000 will work with no issues also. My buddies truck has one and i test fit it so it will also work. The low pressure line is a little to short, my solution is to cut the aluminum tube at compressor fitting and reweld for a better angle. I slso got the shift linkage hooked up last night. Had to modify it also for clearence because newer trans had the black box on side. Hopully tonight i will get the fuel lines connected and the intake bolted down for good.

[ETraugott]

Compressor installed. Belt length is around 108.5 inches. Will post part # when i find the best fit.

[ETraugott]

Its been a while since my last post. Truck is running and driving. Put a thrush muffler on it. Has a nice tone. Wife loves the sound. Still have a little wiring to finish up. I also changed the rear leaf springs from a light 3/4 ton, (6lug). May eventually put the 14 blot in it. The center caps were rusty. I came aross some stock center caps for free. Had to modify them on a belt sander to make them work but like the look. Today i swapped grill and put a less bent up bumper on it i had. Got a cheap ebay light kit. Looks good but lacks in quality.

[ETraugott]

Thrush muffler

[ETraugott]

Factory center caps with mickey thompson wheels

[ETraugott]

Before... Grille and bumper

[ETraugott]

After... Still need some cleaning on the grille and bumper but happy with the looks.

[ETraugott]

Oh yeah the leaf spring swap. I changed them for a couple reasons. The truck has a lean or sag to the left and she will be using to pull her small aluminum horse trailer. Well the leaf springs didnt fix the lean. Maybe a soft or weak tortion bar?

[rs74]

Have you read anything about using the TBI style AC bracket on the 5.3? I am going to look into this for mine since I am not going to notch the frame for it. I need to look into engine mounts too.

[ETraugott]

Havent seen that one. I used the holley bracket. Little pricey but works great.