Andy’s 1995 CCLB 7.4L TBI to Vortec Swap

[andy396]

Time to start the swap!

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[andy396]

I couldn't bring myself to put that pretty engine and transmission back into that ugly chassis. Yes, it was solid as a rock, but GM didn't really paint the frames. It just had some kind of cheap asphalt like coating that practically washed off. I wanted it to look deserving of the engine and trans. I also wanted to preserve how solid it was. While I don't plan on driving it every time it snows, it is our only 4x4. So it isn't unreasonable to think it will one day see road salt. So I decided to powerwash all the grease and grime off and sandblast the entire chassis and paint it with epoxy primer from Eastwood. It was all just light surface rust, so it went pretty fast. In some places, like up near the engine where it had been coated in oil, after powerwashing it was virgin bare metal!

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[andy396]

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[andy396]

Getting to the underside got tricky!

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[andy396]

Putting things back together. Like Supercharged111 suggested the plan is to swap as much from the '00 to the '95, but since the donor was a RCLB and my truck is a CCLB some things were too short and missing this or that. I had to figure out a way to marry the L29 exhaust to the crew cab. You can't get replacement intermediate pipes for a CC any more so we're talking custom. I also didn't really want aluminized steel. I wanted to keep it all stainless if I could. I know, I know. Just go true duals custom exhaust. One of my criteria for this project was to only spend what is necessary for reliability. I didn't do any tweeking to the engine other than all the typical reliability upgrades like Bosch injectors, new fuel pressure regulator, new aluminum body distributor, etc. So looking at the stainless y-pipe that was still in good shape from the L19 I decided to make my own custom exhaust. GM originally put two 2 1/2 pipes from the cats into the muffler and out with a single 3" I did a similar thing in a different way, and kept everything stainless. In the process I also discovered that one of the cats from the donor truck was empty! I hadn't noticed that before. So I took the single cat from the L19 and incorporated that in place of the empty cat.

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[andy396]

Another thing that had to be converted was the fuel system. This included the fuel lines, fuel tank, fuel pump and associated wiring. As you can imagine the tank from the donor truck wasn't any good. I happen to score a 96+ tank on LetGo for $10 that was in good shape, so I epoxy primered it and put it in. I put a new AC Delco pump in the tank, which came with a new connector. Matching the color wires on the pump end and transferring the pins over to the '00 connector at the engine bay in, I think I'm good to go on using the '95 CCLB front to rear chassis wiring. As far as the fuel lines go, mine were in excellent shape so I hated to by new ones, plus I'm not sure you can even get them for a CCLB? I did purchase new flex lines to run from the chassis up to the engine, but back at the tank I came up with this solution. Dorman makes repair lines, so I cut off the '95 hoses and spiced these in.

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[Supercharged111]

Your Vortec lines would have bolted right to the existing TBI lines, but I'm guessing all teh Vortec stuff was rotted to hell and back. There's a union for the return near the filter and the feed swaps out at the filter. I learned all this swapping a diesel truck to a big block. Got lucky on the fuel tank and rear lines, scored clean parts from a truck with identical wheelbase.

 

[98chevy2500SS]

Do you mean on the parts truck? It was used a farm truck up in NY where it then made its way down to PA as a plow truck. The front was the worst. They already welded braces to hold the front cross member in.

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Wow, that is badly rusted, especially for a truck with only 114K miles, but I hear up in NY its very heavily salted, so I can see why it's rusted so badly.

 

[andy396]

Your Vortec lines would have bolted right to the existing TBI lines, but I'm guessing all teh Vortec stuff was rotted to hell and back. There's a union for the return near the filter and the feed swaps out at the filter. I learned all this swapping a diesel truck to a big block. Got lucky on the fuel tank and rear lines, scored clean parts from a truck with identical wheelbase.

You got it exactly right, they were too rotted to trust long term. I bought replacement Vortec lines and they did bolt right up to my old TBI lines on the engine end. It was the tank end I had to modify. My other option was to switch out the pump only with one GM used on TPI cars in the early 90’s because it operated at the pressure the Vortec needs, but I wasn’t comfortable putting that pressure through 24 year old hoses that weren’t rated for high pressure.

 

[JCribb]

I’m enjoying this build, sub’d for more.