Aussie GMC C3500

[Clinton]

Here is a photo of the engine mount

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[Moparmat2000]

You have that battery tray battle half won then. The batt tray on the L/H at the Rad support is the U.S. location for the second diesel battery. The stock location on U.S. spec trucks with gasoline engines was the R/H rad support area. There should be dimpled spots in your R/H inner fenderwell you can drill to mount it, or even possibly prepunched holes, as well as a spot on the R/H fender itself for a clipnut. I will send you pix of the mounting of my R/H batt tray but it will be mirror opposite of your L/H tray.

I am assuming here that OZ spec Holden 'burbans w gas engines used a battery tray on the L/H side, though i dont know why they would do that, when the gas engine starter motor is typically on the right side. If a Holden suburban used a battery tray on the R/H side, thats the one you need, its a direct bolt in, or see if a member here has a good used R/H batt tray with hardware and battery hold down block they can sell you.

On my US spec firewall R/H side i have that monstrous overflow reservoir, but can see how GM could have put a battery there. Plenty of room for it. Does it look cobbled up in there, or clean?

I will send you pix of my U.S. spec layout to help you out if you want. Its not a diesel though, its a 350 gas setup.

Matt

 

[Moparmat2000]

Heres a pic i found on the net of a holden diesel suburban. It has a battery on the R/H side. Looks to have a puke tank on the L/H side over the inner fenderwell. Finding that stuff out of one of those might be your best bet.

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[Moparmat2000]

Heres some pix of my engine compartment. Its a 1994, gasoline and LHD so some stuff is gonna be different. The box with the primer green lid on the L/H side of the engine compartment is the .50 cal ammo storage box i am in the process of installing as a storage box.

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[Moparmat2000]

Another interesting thing i noted when looking at those Holden suburban sale ads was it looked like the holden emblem is just put over a standard silverado grille, and i bet theres a spot for a bowtie under there if its removed, also a bunch of em have the 88-90 pickup style glass sealed beams with the 94 up grille and they are all 4x4s.

From this i can surmise the glass lenses because they were more durable with the UV rays beating down on them , and rocks kicking up because of unimproved roads compared to plastic. Were also easier / cheaper to replace than the plastic lenses back when these trucks were new. I would imagine with the fact that they are all 4x4s you have a lot of unimproved roads out there especially when you get into the outback.

 

[Clinton]

Thanks Mopar that's a huge help and I appreciate the photos too. Interesting to know I have the LHS battery tray, so I just ordered a RHS one to match the Suburban and pretty much everything else. What had me confused is how it's wired when both batteries were together, so it will take a bit of work making it like original.

What I like about separating the batteries is that I can put the puke tank next to the RHS battery kinda where it is at the moment and I have room for the air compressor now over on the LHS. I'll take a photo when I go outside soon and post.

When converting they moved moved the brake booster obviously, but left the ABS module where it was, so the hydro boost lines cross under the radiator, and a million wires cross over from the battery to alternator, starter etc.

 

[Clinton]

Here's some photos of the engine bay. Don't mind the mess I've looped the earth and battery cables over to give me room to see the fenders. I also ordered another accumulator after the AC lost all its gas, and one from an 95 model with inlet and outlet on opposite sides so it lines up with the compressor - the current setup has that thick pipe in a loop which is rubbing on stuff and almost broken through anyway.

Instead of a coolant crossing over the radiator, I have a starter cable from the LHS battery so I'm hoping to have the new RHS battery powering things on that side and keep the crossover cable for battery to battery charging?

As you can see, clutch master is going to be an issue!

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[Moparmat2000]

Thanks Mopar that's a huge help and I appreciate the photos too. Interesting to know I have the LHS battery tray, so I just ordered a RHS one to match the Suburban and pretty much everything else. What had me confused is how it's wired when both batteries were together, so it will take a bit of work making it like original.

What I like about separating the batteries is that I can put the puke tank next to the RHS battery kinda where it is at the moment and I have room for the air compressor now over on the LHS. I'll take a photo when I go outside soon and post.

When converting they moved moved the brake booster obviously, but left the ABS module where it was, so the hydro boost lines cross under the radiator, and a million wires cross over from the battery to alternator, starter etc.

Sounds like a wiring nightmare. I cant help on the dual battery wiring, but somebody else on here probably can. An alternative might be to get a factory service manual on CD rom. Print out copies of whatever you need and not worry about em getting messed up. I have printed out wiring schematics, and put em in clear sleeve sheet protectors and put em in a 3 ring binder i kerp on my book shelf in the shop.

 

[Clinton]

Yeah I'll take my time with it and sort the wiring out so its practical. While the bell housing was off I was able to see the engine numbers, and a little shocked. It's a 2000 model C3500 but has engine number 12555506, which makes sense, but the build date code is F176 meaning it's a 96 model engine. It's also got Goodwrench written on it, but strange they would replace the original engine at some stage with an older one.

 

[Moparmat2000]

Someone may have blown the original one up, and this was a remanufactured engine. My brother bought a goodwrench manufactured cadillac 4.9 V8 for a sedan deville he had years ago. Dumb design too. Aluminum block and iron cylinder heads. Seemed bass ackwards to me. Anyhow his replacement emgine was a goodwrench GM remanned engine, he payed a core charge and got that core charge money back when he returned his original engine nolted into the crate his replacement one came in. Ironically the common problem with these caddy 4.9s was the aluminum block had a tendency to crack. The new remanned engine came with GM brand "bars leaks" radiator and headgasket stop leak. And they recommended you put it in the radiator with the remanned engine install. Effin snake oil crap. I told my brother, get it running with the remanned engine and sell it. Good lookin car, really bad engine design.