454 to 6.5 TD swap

[Supercharged111]

I converted a diesel truck to a 454, but they were 98/99 trucks. The interior harnesses were different too. Does the diesel donor use a throttle cable? Mine had an electronic throttle. Easy enough for me to simply not plug it in, you'd be adding that stuff. Best bet would be to yank the dash and change out the harness. Fuel senders are different, wiring harness to fuel pump/tank is different, filler neck is different, gauge cluster, no charcoal can, having a donor truck is huge. Fuel lines are easy to change over, they disconnect by the filter/lift pump. Radiator is different, radiator overflow is too.

 

[smdk2500]

Does the diesel donor use a throttle cable? Mine had an electronic throttle.

93 was the last year of having a throttle cable. 94 was when they went to the electronic pump. Just a fyi for you.

 

[Will Ferrell]

93 was the last year of having a throttle cable. 94 was when they went to the electronic pump. Just a fyi for you.

Yea mines a 93 mechanical, changes things completely, rather easy to get running and driving, minus the wiring bits

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Yea mines a 93 mechanical, changes things completely, rather easy to get running and driving, minus the wiring bits

If it is a DBW engine and harness the pedal swap is 3 bolts. Actually have a DBW pedal in my 8.1 Tahoe. Was super simple to install and route the harness through the accelerator cable hole in the firewall. Removed the factory cruise control on the firewall and the TAC module bolted into its place. Moved a couple of wires around from the body side of the harness that came off the brake switches and cruise switches and the factory cruise control connector plugged into the TAC module. The 2nd TAC module harness plugged right in. The engine harness on my 8.1 came out of a van and it was near perfect length to marry to the stock Tahoe harness that I had removed the engine harness from. building that harness was only slightly more complicated than an 0411 swap. The ~450 hp 8.1 is so tame with DBW my mom has driven the Tahoe when we took a trip to my sister's house. Drives as tamely as if it had the stock 350 until you plant your foot into it. Set the cruise st 80 mph and it holds speed with almost zero variation from the set point.

 

[Jdoggat22]

I converted a diesel truck to a 454, but they were 98/99 trucks. The interior harnesses were different too. Does the diesel donor use a throttle cable? Mine had an electronic throttle. Easy enough for me to simply not plug it in, you'd be adding that stuff. Best bet would be to yank the dash and change out the harness. Fuel senders are different, wiring harness to fuel pump/tank is different, filler neck is different, gauge cluster, no charcoal can, having a donor truck is huge. Fuel lines are easy to change over, they disconnect by the filter/lift pump. Radiator is different, radiator overflow is too.

Exactly.
For the tach go to dakota digital and get a tach module. It adjusts tach signal from the W terminal on the alternator to match the ending rpm at the tach.
Not sure i would change the dash harness, i did a cummins swap in my 98 with out pulling the dash harness. But i had to nearly cut the entire engine bay harness out and make a bunch of splices to make the gauges and everything else work right. 95 will be much simpler.

 

[395detroit]

Been working on swapping a 97 4.3/nv3500 c1500 to a 6.5/nv4500 for last couple of months, so not exactly the same. You can wire the fuel shutoff solenoid and lift pump relay to the key by finding a hot wire when the key is on but I just put a toggle switch on the dash running both, I've even toyed with getting rid of the key altogether. Don't use a toggle switch for the glows, get a momentary push button for those, it only takes forgetting to turn them off once. The speed sensor, water temp, oil pressure, and fuel gauge plugs are the same. I haven't figured out the tach yet, I think if you connect the wire coming off the back of the alternator that the 6.5s use to the factory harness it might work. My knowledge of gassers is minuscule but I think their tachs count coil pulses, and I know that the 6.5 tachs count the a/c pulses of the alternator.

 

[99xcss4]

hate to bring back a nearly 3 year old thread but I am doing the same thing but the other way around the swap is complete every in the cab works dash lights up starter turn no ignition no fuel I had asked about the dash harness and got some good info I do not know if that is the problem though I read some threads on the ''hot fuel module fuel pump driver'' I do have a 454 do I need it note engine ran before the drive train was pulled now it will not start every thing except dash harness was swaped over

 

[99xcss4]

I hope I can get a good harness in a junk yard there no way I would pay any where near this price https://www.ebay.com/itm/3852099354...FPhymbK0Ha6lpgNoKADAImUfcA==|tkp:BFBM-LqNit1h for one

 

[Schurkey]

the swap is complete every in the cab works dash lights up starter turn no ignition no fuel

WHAT YEAR DONOR VEHICLE? WHAT YEAR RECIPIENT VEHICLE?

Does the computer have an engine-cranking signal? Pickup coil for TBI, crank sensor for Vortec.

I read some threads on the ''hot fuel module fuel pump driver''

You have a TBI 454? Was there a "Hot Fuel Module" in the donor vehicle?

 

[99xcss4]

had a 92 k2500 suburban that got a 94 454/4l80e swap before I owned it removed the pcm engine trans t-case and engine bay harness other truck is a 94 c2500 was born a 6.5 turbo diesel. long story short cut the front part of the frames out and grafted the suburban front end to the back half of the truck frame pulled the diesel drive train and installed the gas drive train. conected the the coil and fuel pump directly to the battery just to see if would start and it would not start without starting fluid it would not stay running and would die