Thinking of pulling the complete driveline out of a '97 Chevy truck (305 TBI/ 4L60E) and placing them in my '51 Packard as a dependable long haul cruiser. Anyone out there have any problems with the computers or have any suggestions to make my swap easier? Thanks in advance...
I did an LTI/4L6oE combo in my rod. 95,000 trouble free miles. Used an after market harness from Ron Francis. there are lots of other harness choices now. would be a lot of work to sort out the original harness into a custom application like yours. there are maybe 100 wires to sort out. good luck! MIKE
Thanks Mike. I'll check into the cost of aftermarket harnesses. Anybody else have suggestions of vendors who sell harnesses?
I've only reworked the factory harnesses. A '97 shouldn't be a throttle body. Make sure you know exactly what year because it makes a difference in the transmission controls
97 and TBI ? Take the whole assembly, engine, trans, computer and harness and fuse panel. It's not extremely difficult to rework the factory harness for a TBI, they are pretty simple. 97 is a bit more involved but not bad. Ls series is a bit more involved yet harness wise but when the harness is complete its only a few wires to hook up to the car.
Price a stand alone harness and ECM for your project and you'll rework the harness you have. Check out "LTswap.com" for schematics and instructions. Guys name is Brandon, he reflashed my ECM and helped me through the 4L80 to 4L60 swap in my harness. Even an LS is a 5 wire hook up if you have the underhood harness and fuse panel. Easy. I've done 3 of them, no issues at all.
in 1996 vortec motors were brought in. No longer TBI's. My issue is sometimes when done these guys are getting much more mpg than carbs. My friend has a 59 panel(like a wagon) with a buick LTI/4l60E and only gets around 16-17mpg. His 56 chevy wagon with a T5, 350 vortec motor swapped to carb gets better mileage and I think is snappier. I'm going to give it a try in the near future.
What about just putting in an electronic tranny without using the tbi or tpi or whatever fuel injected engine. There are a lot of companies making controllers to do this. I saw a article in car craft recently about all the different options. I found this article, not sure if it was the one I read. But just another option to think about. http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/ccrp_1203_transmission_controllers_tested/index.html
I know my ('97 PU) 305 looks like throttle body injection. I'm not much of a chevy guy. Put a Ford 351W/T5 in my Roadster so this is kinda new. I used to own an 89 Suburban with a 350 TBI/700r4, drove over 250,000 miles and it was a piece of cake to work on. Wish I hadn't sold it. I'm not sure what the Vortec means, but I will do some more research. Thanks guys- Keep the suggestions coming. My head is a sponge....
My 97 Silverado was a 305 w/Vortec heads and TBI, which stands for Throttle Body Injection. The trans was a 4L60e.
The injection system commonly found on these vehicles LOOKS like TBI, but it's (I think) called Central Fuel Injection. It has a similar lay out but 8 poppet valves running through the intake going to each cyl. Injector module looks like this: http://partimages.genpt.com/partimages/1413615.jpg Big ugly spider thing. Not as good as the TBI with 2 injectors in my opinion.
Mine looks just like my 89 350 TBI, it just has a different air inlet ducting compared to the metal air filter housing the 89 had.
You could do that. 650 for the controller basic baked potato style. Harness extra TPS extra Blah blah blah extra extra extra. Cheaper to run bullet proof 700r4 at that point Oem drop out package and if you want a carb then just run one. I can do an LS base harness in about a day. Couple fuses, couple relays, and few wires to hook up. It's not hard but tedious. No tequila . If you can find a harness that's busted at the fuse box the boneyard Will just about give it to you to boot. You cut that plug right off anyway.
Check out Brendan at LT1swap.com He is very experienced with these swaps. He does modify existing harnesses for around $300. He can also reprogram your computer for $75. I am going with an LS 5.3 and will modify the harness myself, but intend to have him do the programming for me. He also has great information on his website that will help you if you want to try modifying the harness yourself. Hope this helps.
Most tunes or reprograms are several hundred dollars. 300 for a crappy one and 600 for a good one with tweeks. 75.00 is probably just an unlock and turning off the security. It's really hard to beat that 5.3 swap.
Looks like you are covered, just wanted to pop in and say I have a '95 LT1/4L60E in my Kaiser and it runs great. I used a Painless engine and chassis harness and it was plug n play as far as engine and tranny are concerned. I did have to make all the connections for steering column, gauges etc.
lots of great info here to work with. the 5.3 engine swaps are great. peppy little motor. your 305 should be fine for your project though
You are correct Gromit.... I just thought mine looked like the TBI in my '89. I looked a little closer this weekend and I do have the Central SFI (Sequential Fuel Injection) system. And I spent a half a day reading a Hanes Repair Manual and it sounds like every sensor ever made is on this engine/trans configuration and they control anything that spits, sputs or sparks. Having second thoughts. Thinking of giving the truck to the grandson and coming up with an older modern (oxymoron) driveline. Maybe I should just rebuild the L8 flatty in it and just convert it to 12 volts. Decisions, decisions..... Well here is a pic of my new Mistress that I will be bringing home this weekend. Can't wait!!!
The Jalopy Journal
