2002 5.3 in my 1997 K1500

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

borahshadow

I'm Awesome
Joined
Dec 4, 2010
Messages
613
Reaction score
23
Well I'm finally doing an LS swap in my truck. I've posted around this forum before since I've been looking into this swap for a while now. I originally wanted to do a 6.0 but due to financial limitations and the realization that a few more mpg adds up a lot over 100k miles I decided to go with a 5.3. I'm looking to dive into this swap in a month or so but I've got a few questions.


Flywheel: The guy I got the 5.3 from thinks that the flywheel it's got will bolt up to my current 4l60E just fine but I seem to recall that there is a difference between the 97 4L60E and a 2002 4L60E. Will I need something different or will my 97 bolt right up to this 2002?

A/C. I know that most people use the Sanden 508 compressor but I'd really like to avoid that if possible. Since this is a 2002 motor the compressor has a clutch on it and I believe it was still designed to cycle unlike the constant run compressors they went to in the newer years. I know that some people have issues with it clearing the frame rail but even if it cleared the frame rail I don't know that I want to use it because of the stories I've heard about the problems with low mounted compressors (and one of the reasons they went to the constant run compressor on the newer years) Anyways has anybody ever used the stock 97 compressor? I'm proficient with a cutting torch and a welder so I'm thinking about fabricating a bracket to use my stock compressor if that is going to be feasible at all.
Anyway that's kinda a long paragraph so to summarize.

1. Will the 2002 compressor clear my frame rail?
2. If so is it a good idea to use the low mount compressor?
3. Is it going to be reasonable at all to fabricate a bracket and use my 97 compressor?
4. Does anybody know what compressor the 2002 5.3 has on it? Or in other words who makes the compressor anybody like York or Sanden?


ABS: Has anybody ever been able to keep their ABS when swapping to a newer computer? I know it should be possible with a 411 but I've been talked into using the stock 2002 computer.

Torque Management Do the 2002 5.3s have a lot of factory torque management in the computer and if so should I have some of it turned off with the computer reprogram? I know that the 5.3 is going to be a little less torquey on the bottom end so if I can prevent the computer from artificially limiting my bottom end torque even more i'd like to do that I think.
 

chevydillan

Newbie
Joined
Dec 13, 2013
Messages
10
Reaction score
1
I'll see if I can help a little bit.
Flywheel I'm not sure about. I know that your factory converter will not bolt to the 5.3 flexplate. Just do quick search on that or maybe somebody will jump in.
A/C compressor. You'll need to do a bunch of cutting and boxing to get the low mount compressor to fit in your frame. Nothing wrong with those 5.3 compressors that I know of. Tons of them with well over 200k miles. But, get with lextech he has kit that keeps your stock compressor in its stock location on the drivers side and works awesome. I have this kit and didn't even loose a drop of freon when I did my swap. This is the very best way to retain your A/C.
ABS you absolutely can keep your abs and it will all function as it's intended. Once you do the 411 swap you'll be all set.
Torque management. There is a fair amount in the factory tune. Make sure your trans is good shape and I'd say have it all removed. But that's just me, of course that helps your drivetrain live a better life. That ones all on you.
Let us know how it turns out and I hope I can help you get it done. You'll be glad you did it.
 

chevydillan

Newbie
Joined
Dec 13, 2013
Messages
10
Reaction score
1
You must be registered for see images attach


Hers a pic of that a/c relocation kit when I did my swap. Work great.
 

borahshadow

I'm Awesome
Joined
Dec 4, 2010
Messages
613
Reaction score
23
I'll see if I can help a little bit.
Flywheel I'm not sure about. I know that your factory converter will not bolt to the 5.3 flexplate. Just do quick search on that or maybe somebody will jump in.
A/C compressor. You'll need to do a bunch of cutting and boxing to get the low mount compressor to fit in your frame. Nothing wrong with those 5.3 compressors that I know of. Tons of them with well over 200k miles. But, get with lextech he has kit that keeps your stock compressor in its stock location on the drivers side and works awesome. I have this kit and didn't even loose a drop of freon when I did my swap. This is the very best way to retain your A/C.
ABS you absolutely can keep your abs and it will all function as it's intended. Once you do the 411 swap you'll be all set.
Torque management. There is a fair amount in the factory tune. Make sure your trans is good shape and I'd say have it all removed. But that's just me, of course that helps your drivetrain live a better life. That ones all on you.
Let us know how it turns out and I hope I can help you get it done. You'll be glad you did it.

Thanks for the reply. From looking into it and asking around other places I think I just need a spacer to get the transmission to work. Like This one.

I will have to send Lextech a PM. I've never seen anyone keep their stock 97 compressor but I was looking into it and I actually designed a bracket that would hold my stock compressor in that location. Lextech's looks a little more professional though. I see that you just put your alternator on the passenger side. Did you get that bracket from Lextech too? I was thinking about either making a bracket for putting the alternator there (trying to figure out what to do about the tensioner) or using This low mount alternator mount. I'd rather keep my alternator up where it's easy to change but dirty dingo's bracket for up top is spendy at $250.

Did you do the 411 swap? I was originally planning on 411 swap but I was talked out of it and I was going to use the stock 2002 computer. Will the ABS work with the 2002 computer?

Well I was going to use my current 97 4L60E until it finally dies but it has 200K on it (probably 75% highway miles though) so I don't know if I want to hammer it any harder with removing all the torque management. I'm sure whoever I get to tune it will be able to advise me on this but can you just remove some or most of the torque management? Keep just enough to help keep my tranny alive?

What kind of gas mileage are you getting? I see that you've got a 2wd rcsb so you'll get better than I will but you've also got some engine mods and I don't know the MPG consequences of those.
 

Lextech

I'm Awesome
Joined
Jan 6, 2010
Messages
137
Reaction score
94
Location
Oak Forest, Illinois
The 2002 PCM is a 12200411. It will properly run the ABS and Fuel Gauge and everything else seamlessly. You can modify your stock 97 harness to run the Gen3 engine.

Jeff
 

chevydillan

Newbie
Joined
Dec 13, 2013
Messages
10
Reaction score
1
For sure get with him ^^ he is a damn genius. I had already 411 swapped my l31 prior to the LS swap. It was then and is now just like if It came from GM. Everything will work just as it should. The ac swap kit comes with the alternator bracket, bolts and pulley it is a very nice kit and well worth the money. As far as mileage, I don't really know. I can say it's much better than the old 5.7. It's so hard to drive it easy though.
 

borahshadow

I'm Awesome
Joined
Dec 4, 2010
Messages
613
Reaction score
23
I already PM'ed Lextech. Solves my question of where to put the alternator and saves me the work of building the bracket that I designed. Win/Win.

Are you able to fit the 5.3 shroud on there or does it hit the A/C lines? I was looking at mine and thought I'd have to redo the front (High Pressure?) A/C line as it looked like it would hit the intake. Your pictures show it clearing though...

I have this kit and didn't even loose a drop of freon when I did my swap. This is the very best way to retain your A/C.
Did you not even evacuate and recharge your A/C system? I was hoping that would be possible. I didn't want to evac and recharge if I didn't have to, but I was starting to think it might be unavoidable...
 

Blasphemy

Newbie
Joined
Sep 8, 2013
Messages
39
Reaction score
4
I already PM'ed Lextech. Solves my question of where to put the alternator and saves me the work of building the bracket that I designed. Win/Win.

Are you able to fit the 5.3 shroud on there or does it hit the A/C lines? I was looking at mine and thought I'd have to redo the front (High Pressure?) A/C line as it looked like it would hit the intake. Your pictures show it clearing though...


Did you not even evacuate and recharge your A/C system? I was hoping that would be possible. I didn't want to evac and recharge if I didn't have to, but I was starting to think it might be unavoidable...

I was just curious where you got with this swap. I'm picking up my LQ9 on saturday and I'm trying to do some research on the flexplate, A/C, harness, and guages issues. I want to retain as much as possible that came with the 6.0. Advance adapters makes a flexplate/spacer kit that works for swaps. But it says it's for 97 and older transmission, and I have a '98 so I'm wondering what the difference is between the 97 and 98 4L60E
 

borahshadow

I'm Awesome
Joined
Dec 4, 2010
Messages
613
Reaction score
23
I was just curious where you got with this swap. I'm picking up my LQ9 on saturday and I'm trying to do some research on the flexplate, A/C, harness, and guages issues. I want to retain as much as possible that came with the 6.0. Advance adapters makes a flexplate/spacer kit that works for swaps. But it says it's for 97 and older transmission, and I have a '98 so I'm wondering what the difference is between the 97 and 98 4L60E

My swap is actually finished (other than loose ends that I haven't had time to work on) I've been driving my truck daily for several weeks now.

That A/C was a piece of cake with the bracket from Lextech. Very worth the $250. It comes with the A/C bracke that will keep your 98 compressor in the same spot. Just like chevydillan I didn't even drain and recharge my system. I just put a piece of foam (actually a scrap of carpet pad) on the windshield and sat the compressor up there and tied it in place with a couple tie downs over the cab to the bed. The lines have plenty of flex to do that.

http://www.jegs.com/p/Chevrolet-Per...ine-Crankshaft-Adapter-Spacer/835483/10002/-1

That's the spacer I used. You can get them from other places but Jegs seemed to be as cheap as anyone else. Don't forget the longer bolts. My 5.3 had a dished flexplate on it and if you have a dished flexplate (which I don't think your 6.0 will) you put the flexplate on first and then put on the spacer. The spacer is just to support the torque converter. I think (I'm not 100% sure on this though) that if you have the flat flexplate (Which I think usually comes with the 6.0. Not sure about an LQ9) then you put the spacer on first and then the flex plate. One other thing to be aware of in case you run into it. On my 97 transmission there is a cover that shields the bottom half of the torque converter. It is it's own piece and it is called (strangely enough) the torque converter cover. Mine wouldn't fit back up in there with the 5.3 without some fairly extensive modifications to it. I'm not sure exactly why but since it is just a shield I wasn't too nervous about grinding it down and modifying it. Also FYI you won't use one of the bellhousing bolts. There isn't a hole in the LS block for the 2 o'clock bolt. If there was a hole there it would penetrate into the # 8 cylinder. Don't worry about it just use the other bolts.

Harness wise I don't know if what I did was easier or harder but I used half of each harness. I left the harness on the 5.3 and left the old harness in my truck. I used the newer computer (411 which there is a lot of information around here on that even for people with the 5.7 vortecs) Most of the engine sensors I kept in place on the 5.3 harness and anything transmission or chassis related (which I think ended up being a little over half of the wires) I swapped the pins over from the old 5.7 harness. I used Lextech's wiring spreadsheet and the information about the 411 swap. PM him for that spreadsheet. http://www.gmtruckcentral.com/articles/12200411.html That's one of the better guides on the 411 swap. I believe most of that info is here on this forum as well. Don't forget to tap into the transmission wires either at the transmission or in the dash like that guide talks about. I haven't done that yet and while my truck runs fine the computer can't see the park/neutral switch so I haven't been able to get a crank relearn done yet.

Gauge issues. I still don't have my tach working. I thought I had the correct wire connected but no matter what my tuner set the pulse divider to the tach doesn't work. So I'm going to have to pull the cluster out of the dash and run my own wire just to be 100% sure I've got the right wire. I've heard of other forum members doing the same thing.

Oil Pressure. I used the 97 oil pressure sender which required a special adapter to get it to work. LS engines have all metric threads and the older 350s used standard threads on most (all?) of the engine things. I went hose power and they were able to fit together an adapter that goes from M16 x 1.5 male to some size JIC fitting. Then from that JIC fitting to 1/4" NPT female. It works. My oil pressure gauge is a little bit jumpy sometimes but it gets the job done. Your only other options would be to have a custom machined adapter or drill and tap the block which I wouldn't do unless you were completely overhauling the engine. You don't want metal shavings in your oil (or anywhere in the engine for that matter)

I had them do the same thing for the coolant temp gauge. The problem with that was the adapter was so long and complicated that the temp doesn't read accurate at all. I was worried about that and it proved to be the case. The sender needs to be pretty close to the actual coolant to be able to read the current temp accurately. Mine reads abou 80 degrees lower than it should. In other words with the engine at full operating temperature it just barely registers on the gauge. Once again your only option would be a custom adapter or drilling and tapping the head. If I ever have that head off for any reason that's what I'll do. For now I'll keep looking for other solutions. Maybe I'll bite the bullet and have a machine shop make me a compact adapter that isn't 5" long. For your information I think the hole in the head is M12 x 1.5 and the 97 temperature sender is 3/8" NPT.

Any other questions?
 

Keepinitoldskool

I'm Awesome
Joined
Feb 23, 2013
Messages
995
Reaction score
72
Why not just use a aftermarket oil and temp gauge? Seems like that would be the easiest solution.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2
 
Top