My 5.3 swap. Help!!!

[jkade]

Ok I have been reading for days now and this is what I think I am going to need.I am doing a 04 5.3 and 4L60E in a 72 2wd blazer. Am I going to have the clearence issues that the LS1 swaps have with the accessories? I have already won a auction on ebay for a set of electric fans off a 98 camaro, will my factory radiator work with these? I guess ece's motor mounts are the way to go? Will they bolt right up to the 5.3 and the blazer? Were do I need to get me a tank with the fuel pump? What about the 4L60E, will the tubo 400 crossmember work and what kind of mount do I need? I think I am going to order the kit from lokar were I can use my coulmn shift. I guess I will have to have the driveshaft shortened. What else do I need to get? I am going to send my harness to current performance to get it made a stand alone. Who is the cheapest on programming computers? Thanks in Advance, Kade

[68 short step]

ece mnts are percise and nice (im a poet), but IMO they are ordinary. auto x member will work , but will need to be located back (shifty has lots of pics in his signature of both xmember and ece mounts) yes they'll mount up to the 5.3 no problem. fuel tank i would highly recomend mark AKA fuelcellguy, not only the cheapest but highest quality too. as far as computer programming im leanong towards jesse at wait4me tuning.
good luck and one thing you didnt mention is do you want headers or manifolds? im going the header route, and when i get it figured out ill post pics and tell ya how i modified them to fit.
good luck
post lots of pics for us

[jkade]

Originally Posted by 68 short step

ece mnts are percise and nice (im a poet), but IMO they are ordinary. auto x member will work , but will need to be located back (shifty has lots of pics in his signature of both xmember and ece mounts) yes they'll mount up to the 5.3 no problem. fuel tank i would highly recomend mark AKA fuelcellguy, not only the cheapest but highest quality too. as far as computer programming im leanong towards jesse at wait4me tuning.
good luck and one thing you didnt mention is do you want headers or manifolds? im going the header route, and when i get it figured out ill post pics and tell ya how i modified them to fit.
good luck
post lots of pics for us

Thanks for the info. My old man said he would use jesse also. I think I am going to go the header route. I will see if I can find fuelcellguy.
Let me know how you are coming on yours.

[blazerboy72]

I am using wait4me for my harness and reprogramming, they only charge $320 including shipping. My harness and computer should be back this week, i will let you know how it looks.

[jkade]

Originally Posted by blazerboy72

I am using wait4me for my harness and reprogramming, they only charge $320 including shipping. My harness and computer should be back this week, i will let you know how it looks.

I will be waiting. Thanks, Kade

[luisduran]

speartech fuel injection do fine work too, and are very helpful over the phone(wich is very important in you situation) im waiting for my harness back, check LS1tech.com they are few diferents set ups for the fuel system,but for that beauty,i think you want to use in-tank fuel pump from fuellcellguy, im putting a 6.0 with a 4l80 from a 2004 van on a 72 blazer 4wd frame, board member shifty is installing a 5.7 in his truck with a t-56, i learn a lot from reading his posts, i think we going to see a lot of ls1 in 67-72 trucks in the near future.Good luck.

[jkade]

Originally Posted by luis duran

speartech fuel injection do fine work too, and are very helpful over the phone(wich is very important in you situation) im waiting for my harness back, check LS1tech.com they are few diferents set ups for the fuel system,but for that beauty,i think you want to use in-tank fuel pump from fuellcellguy, im putting a 6.0 with a 4l80 from a 2004 van on a 72 blazer 4wd frame, board member shifty is installing a 5.7 in his truck with a t-56, i learn a lot from reading his posts, i think we going to see a lot of ls1 in 67-72 trucks in the near future.Good luck.

Speartech is a little pricey. I think I am going to go with wait4me performance. The more I think about it I may just use my turbo 400 also, it would make things a lot easier. Thanks for the info

[davidh]

Isn't there clearance issues with the AC compressor on this swap. YOu have to notch the frame?

[68 short step]

Originally Posted by davidh

Isn't there clearance issues with the AC compressor on this swap. YOu have to notch the frame?

its very close, but no frame cutting for me

[shifty]

really? for me, the alternator was about half inch cleared of frame, but A/C compressor wouldn't fit. I am using 5.7 LS1 though.

can someone provide more information about Wait4Me's PCM and harness services? Speartech does killer work with your stock harness - $450 and they completely re-wrap your harness, add VATS delete when required, add ... well, here is what they do:

We will eliminate unnecessary wires from the harness and simplify the hook up end, adding the same features as our brand new harnesses, including a check engine light, a diagnostic connector, a fuel pump relay, as well as ignition and battery power up wires. When applicable, tach and gauge wires are also brought out for your convenience.

I'm not sure if Wait4Me does all that stuff.

Also, what exactly are you having modded on your PCM and why? Just curious.

jkade: More info on my swap can be found in my ls1edit thread - I think we've been PM'ing on that forum, I think?

[blazerboy72]

wait4me removes all uneeded wires and anything else that you ask them to. They claim it is an 8 wire hookup after they rework it. On the computer they will remove anything you ask them to and reprogram it for any modifications you have done. On mine I had them remove the vats, rear O2's all emissions stuff, 4wd, transmission shift points and wiring, and had programed for 92 octane. Jesse is a member on ls1truck.com if you want to ask him any questions.

[jkade]

I talked to wait4me today and they said they would do my harness and computer for $320 including shipping. That is dirt cheap and I have only heard good things about them. Said it usually takes about three days on the harness.

Originally Posted by shifty

really? for me, the alternator was about half inch cleared of frame, but A/C compressor wouldn't fit. I am using 5.7 LS1 though.

can someone provide more information about Wait4Me's PCM and harness services? Speartech does killer work with your stock harness - $450 and they completely re-wrap your harness, add VATS delete when required, add ... well, here is what they do:



I'm not sure if Wait4Me does all that stuff.

Also, what exactly are you having modded on your PCM and why? Just curious.

jkade: More info on my swap can be found in my ls1edit thread - I think we've been PM'ing on that forum, I think?

[shifty]

ok, i've been hearing good stuff about them and i'm going to go through them. that's cheaper than anyone else has offered to me so far and they've got a great rep at ls1tech. i'll hafta give a PM over there. thanks for the info jkade.

they don't add all that extra fun stuff though

[blazerboy72]

Did you ask them how long it takes to reprogram the computer when you talked to them? I figured if it took 3 days for the harness it shouldnt take but a couple of hours on the computer, I couldnt believe it when they told me it took 14 day to reprogram one.

[68 short step]

Originally Posted by blazerboy72

Did you ask them how long it takes to reprogram the computer when you talked to them? I figured if it took 3 days for the harness it shouldnt take but a couple of hours on the computer, I couldnt believe it when they told me it took 14 day to reprogram one.

it usually takes jesse 3 day from the time he gets the order with your specs to the time it gets to your door. dunno why 14 days was quoted to ya.

[shifty]

Originally Posted by jkade

Speartech is a little pricey. I think I am going to go with wait4me performance. The more I think about it I may just use my turbo 400 also, it would make things a lot easier. Thanks for the info

Search this forum for "wait4me" before you do that. Lots of good posts written on what you get from them, and it will help you solidify whether or not you really want to use them. I know, I posted at least half of them. I used Wait4me.

Something you will learn VERY quickly in this swap is, the more you skimp on buying things, the more problems and questions you will have later trying to put it all together.

Do you understand what wait4me provides? You pay $340, they give lifetime reprogramming and hack your stock harness. What you get back is a re-wrapped harness:

- 3 wires are exposed: 1 for starter, 1 for BATT power, 1 for ACC power
- A/C wires exposed and labelled if you say you ask
- You are required to figure out how to run all of your lines, fuses and relays for:

1. Cooling fan #1
2. Cooling fan #2
3. Oil Pressure Output
4. Malfuntion Lamp Control Output
5. Vehicle Speed Sensore Output to Speedometer
6. OBD11 Data Port
7. Tack Ouptut
8. Fuel Pump Relay Control
9. Plus 3 more wires for A/C if your leaving that in as well

Would you pay $200 more to have:

> All relays ready
> All fuse blocks attached and in place
> Plug-and-play, no cutting or splicing
> Harness that is fully tested on a working engine before you get it
> All extra wires (fuel pump, etc) in place and ready to hook up?

Using the Speartech harness (or letting Speartech hack yours) is going to save you at least a day's worth of work and a day's worth of research, and maybe another day's worth of hassle. Makes the $200 more seem like small potatoes to me.

If you want to see what a swap like this looks like, please click on the LS1tech link in my signature for a 13+ page thread with pictures of my entire install up to now. It will answer half or more of your questions.

Last but not least, Wait4me DID do good work and DID return a great product (the harness) overall, labelled everything very well, and gave me a wire diagram. Very helpful. My only beef was: They didn't explain all of the extra work I would need to do and they had the WORST communication ever - I emailed about 10 times and got one email back later. I was waiting for days. Called twice - voicemail. No returned call. I was amazed to see (while talking to someone over at LS1tech) that a PM was actually returned - someone was just asking for pricing and it took days to come back. This is what you can look forward to with Wait4me (and don't expect them to give you status updates after you mail out, it won't happen):

Originally Posted by Wait4Me

for $320 I can make an LS1 harness a complete stand alone and Jesse does a performance/code removal tune on the PCM. The extra $20 is for shipping.

Yes I make the harness a true stand alone, you need to hook up 3 wires and the engine will run. I remove the plugs that connect to the body harness then bring out wires for the guages. I also remove any wires from the harness that you won't be using, I remove rear 02s and EGR/Air, and the A/C if it isn't need, I can also remove the automatic tranny if your using a manual ( I don't like putting back in the tranny though!!)
The wires that you will need to hook via relays/fuses are
1. Cooling fan #1
2. Cooling fan #2
3. Oil Pressure Output
4. Malfuntion Lamp Control Output
5. Vehicle Speed Sensore Output to Speedometer
6. OBD11 Data Port
7. Tack Ouptut
8. Fuel Pump Relay Control
9. Plus 3 more wires for A/C if your leaving that in as well
I can pull any of those out if you don't them also. I also label all major plugs and include a wire diagram.

Turn around time is 1-2 days till aroudn 2 weeks, it just depends on how many I have in at the time. F-body LS1 harness won't take as much time as a truck harness.

Jesse will need to know rear end gear ratios and tire sizes if you have them if not the tune has free updates for the life of the engine we just ask for $8.10 for return shipping.

[shifty]

Wait....where did this thread come from? It was just at the top of the forum, but the last post before mine is March of last year?

[onetonk5]

magic