Swap complete! 4.3v to a 5.7 v 1997 K1500 Cheyanne
Working on my 97 k1500 engine swap project and thought i would share my experiences with doing this rebuild and engine swap. As of 3/6/13, the swap is finally complete! I have worked my butt off on this over the last few weeks and alot of dumb issues came up along the way that could have been avoided had i known then what i know now! I have found random threads on this but nothing with all the info, atleast what i needed.
Started with a 1997 4wd 1500 with a manual trans and a 4.3 that ran ok but eventually blew a headgasket and i had no heat so time to get to work.
I chose an engine from a 1998 silverado that i purchased just to do this swap, trans was fried and i got it cheap so it was perfect. Unfortunitly i pulled the engine, kept the few things i thought i would need to do the swap and sold the truck for scrap. (this decision has haunted me through the entire project. Especially after i found the engine had a spun bearing and would need an overhaul too...
Finished the rebuild in 2011 minus a cam and the money to finish the project, so it sat for another year. Engine is bored .020, new pistons, rings, rods, mains and a crank. original heads were cracked, ended up getting a set from the machine shop all ready to go, the had been decked, all new valves,
upgraded valve springs, screw in studs and guide plates.
Got a Comp Xtreme4x4 level 2 cam, and Comp roller tip rockers, installed 2012.
***double roller timing sets do not work without modification in the vortec engine***
Set out to do the swap 3 weeks ago. Pulled my engine trans and transfer case, to assess what i would need for the swap. Well with 140k on my truck
i ended up needing ALOT of stuff, mostly bolt in.
Firsrt off make the 350 set in the truck, i had to remove the 4.3 motor mount brackets from the frame of the truck and replace them with 350 mounts i purchased from advance.
I knew i would need some stuff, and wanted to clean and reseal evrything from the trans back, thats why i pulled the trans so i got a trans mount also.
All of the accessory components on the front of the engine will work from the 4.3, but i replaced the water pump, also the radiator, all the hoses and belt.
I also had to get a flywheel for the 350 it is weighted different than the 4.3, replaced the clutch, pressure plate, and throwout bearing. Also had to put a pilot bearing in the crank and replace the internal slave cylinder.
Replaced the transfer case gasket then engine, trans and transfer case are setting in place.
Now is when the fun begins, i learned that the stock pcm has the drivers in it for the 8 cylinder, i just needed to find an 8 cylinder fuel injector connector, decipher the wiring schematics. run 2 wires from the ecm to the injection connector. I should have got this connector from the other truck but forgot. Was able to obtain the inj connector from my dealer. all the pins are in different loctions in the 6 cyl, so basically i renumbered all the connector terminals and installed them in the new connector to correspond with the connectors on the ecm. Then i had to add 2 wires to the red connector of my pcm to account for the extra injectors. also has to tap 2 more positive feed circuits for the extra injectors. The harness was a little short so i had to untape it and reroute it a bit to make it work, but turned out awesome. Had to extend the wires to the evap purge solenoid and the knock sensor and that does it for the wiring. This was all time consuming and tedious to do it right, No pigtais or but connectors. All factory terminals
were used and all connections were soldered and heat shrunk.
installed a tuned pcm from performance, and installed an upgraded spider injection unit.
installed new oil cooler lines, engie oil and filter and primed her up
Installed a new distributor, plugs, wires, cap and rotor.
Found out the stock airbox doesnt fit the v8 (wont line up with the air box. Ended up installing a K&N setup.
Exhaust is shorty smog flowtechs, goes to the exhaust shop tuesday for the rest, right now its running on the ty stock crossover with no muffler.
Also as i was putting things together i realized my factory a/c compressor was shot. Got a new delco unit fpr a great deal off this site.
Note the throttle bracket and throttle cable had to be changed as well The cable is too short and the bracket wont line up.
Went to install a new orifice tube, all the threads pull off my condesor when unsrewing the line, now i need a condensor too
Oh well, let that go, for now. Truck is running, GOOD! i will work on a list of the things needed, but if you got the motor mounts, engine harness, air box, radiator shrouds and anything else you could salvage from the donor vehicle. I thoguht thid would be easy, for the most part it was but it was also a bunch of pain in the ass dumb things that slowed me down.
If you bothered to read all of that, Thanks. I am just keeping a log of this, and letting you know i have completed this swap if anyone has any questions. After i get my exhaust done on tuesday. I will tally up all this crap and see what this adventure actually cost me!, lol... Pics to come...
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Working on my 97 k1500 engine swap project and thought i would share my experiences with doing this rebuild and engine swap. As of 3/6/13, the swap is finally complete! I have worked my butt off on this over the last few weeks and alot of dumb issues came up along the way that could have been avoided had i known then what i know now! I have found random threads on this but nothing with all the info, atleast what i needed.
Started with a 1997 4wd 1500 with a manual trans and a 4.3 that ran ok but eventually blew a headgasket and i had no heat so time to get to work.
I chose an engine from a 1998 silverado that i purchased just to do this swap, trans was fried and i got it cheap so it was perfect. Unfortunitly i pulled the engine, kept the few things i thought i would need to do the swap and sold the truck for scrap. (this decision has haunted me through the entire project. Especially after i found the engine had a spun bearing and would need an overhaul too...
Finished the rebuild in 2011 minus a cam and the money to finish the project, so it sat for another year. Engine is bored .020, new pistons, rings, rods, mains and a crank. original heads were cracked, ended up getting a set from the machine shop all ready to go, the had been decked, all new valves,
upgraded valve springs, screw in studs and guide plates.
Got a Comp Xtreme4x4 level 2 cam, and Comp roller tip rockers, installed 2012.
***double roller timing sets do not work without modification in the vortec engine***
Set out to do the swap 3 weeks ago. Pulled my engine trans and transfer case, to assess what i would need for the swap. Well with 140k on my truck
i ended up needing ALOT of stuff, mostly bolt in.
Firsrt off make the 350 set in the truck, i had to remove the 4.3 motor mount brackets from the frame of the truck and replace them with 350 mounts i purchased from advance.
I knew i would need some stuff, and wanted to clean and reseal evrything from the trans back, thats why i pulled the trans so i got a trans mount also.
All of the accessory components on the front of the engine will work from the 4.3, but i replaced the water pump, also the radiator, all the hoses and belt.
I also had to get a flywheel for the 350 it is weighted different than the 4.3, replaced the clutch, pressure plate, and throwout bearing. Also had to put a pilot bearing in the crank and replace the internal slave cylinder.
Replaced the transfer case gasket then engine, trans and transfer case are setting in place.
Now is when the fun begins, i learned that the stock pcm has the drivers in it for the 8 cylinder, i just needed to find an 8 cylinder fuel injector connector, decipher the wiring schematics. run 2 wires from the ecm to the injection connector. I should have got this connector from the other truck but forgot. Was able to obtain the inj connector from my dealer. all the pins are in different loctions in the 6 cyl, so basically i renumbered all the connector terminals and installed them in the new connector to correspond with the connectors on the ecm. Then i had to add 2 wires to the red connector of my pcm to account for the extra injectors. also has to tap 2 more positive feed circuits for the extra injectors. The harness was a little short so i had to untape it and reroute it a bit to make it work, but turned out awesome. Had to extend the wires to the evap purge solenoid and the knock sensor and that does it for the wiring. This was all time consuming and tedious to do it right, No pigtais or but connectors. All factory terminals
were used and all connections were soldered and heat shrunk.
installed a tuned pcm from performance, and installed an upgraded spider injection unit.
installed new oil cooler lines, engie oil and filter and primed her up
Installed a new distributor, plugs, wires, cap and rotor.
Found out the stock airbox doesnt fit the v8 (wont line up with the air box. Ended up installing a K&N setup.
Exhaust is shorty smog flowtechs, goes to the exhaust shop tuesday for the rest, right now its running on the ty stock crossover with no muffler.
Also as i was putting things together i realized my factory a/c compressor was shot. Got a new delco unit fpr a great deal off this site.
Note the throttle bracket and throttle cable had to be changed as well The cable is too short and the bracket wont line up.
Went to install a new orifice tube, all the threads pull off my condesor when unsrewing the line, now i need a condensor too
Oh well, let that go, for now. Truck is running, GOOD! i will work on a list of the things needed, but if you got the motor mounts, engine harness, air box, radiator shrouds and anything else you could salvage from the donor vehicle. I thoguht thid would be easy, for the most part it was but it was also a bunch of pain in the ass dumb things that slowed me down.
If you bothered to read all of that, Thanks. I am just keeping a log of this, and letting you know i have completed this swap if anyone has any questions. After i get my exhaust done on tuesday. I will tally up all this crap and see what this adventure actually cost me!, lol... Pics to come...
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