L31 Extreme Budget Build

[L31MaxExpress]

Well I have been slow to update this for lots of other reasons. I finally worked at the shop the last two days. Mom's 2019 Titan needed new tires. Yesterday, I stole the Nismo 20s off the 99 Tahoe and put them on it. To make sure all was good with the fitment, I then cautiously took it a couple miles down the road and had some Hankook P275/60R20s put on the wheels in place of the ~10 year old P305/50R20 Coopers. I love how much better a simple clean factory engineered wheel can make a vehicle look even if it was built for a different body style. The older Titan wheels fit the newer truck perfectly, no rubbing or other problems. Even the OEM TPMS sensors and lug nuts work with them. I put some 16" NBS alloys on the Tahoe that a buddy gave me. No more tires dragging the frame on the Tahoe.

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[L31MaxExpress]

On to todays project....The hopped up L31 is in its new home. Honestly was not too bad dropping it in even by myself.

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[L31MaxExpress]

The Hooker manifolds fit very well. The Vortec accessories are much more compact than the normal G-Van accessories. I threaded on the (GASP) F150 5.4L 3V 11-bladed fan as well and mocked up the OEM G20 fan shroud. When it is properly aligned it will sit perfectly with good clearence. I ordered an OEM replacement 1988-1991 G30 454 radiator with the 28x17x1-3/8" core and factory oil cooler. Nice and easy cooling system upgrade for this pig.

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[Supercharged111]

That bellhousing would drive me nuts behind that squeaky clean engine.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

That bellhousing would drive me nuts behind that squeaky clean engine.

Don't worry, it is getting cleaned. I could not get to that part of it when I pressure washed the rest because I had it held in place against the floor board with a transmission jack. I still need to change the modulator, transmission pan and transmission mount as well.

I need to pressure wash the accessory brackets and fan shroud as well. I just found the fan shroud stashed above the office in the shop.

The exterior of the torque converter is rusty as hell, but it is staying in place until the transmission gives me trouble.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

As expected based on my prior use of one on my old TBI 350 in my 83, the 454 air cleaner fit with plenty of room to spare. I need to hit the wrecking yard tomorrow. Hopefully I can find one of the square body air cleaner lids that fits a 5" tall filter. Still searching for the holy grail though. The 454 G30 van air intake tube. Took me a while to find the last one and when I went away from TBI in my 83, I gave the tube and other 454 air cleaner to a buddy with a SBC 350 powered G30 cutaway RV. It fed the TBI 406 we later put in the van with abundant cool air. Add the air cleaner to the list of things left to clean and paint.

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[Scottm]

Nice! That Summit efi intake looks like maybe a rebadged Edelbrock Pro Flow. Are you using the ecm it came with? Will that ecm run the trans too? I wonder if a 0411 could run it all too.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Nice! That Summit efi intake looks like maybe a rebadged Edelbrock Pro Flow. Are you using the ecm it came with? Will that ecm run the trans too? I wonder if a 0411 could run it all too.

It was a ProFlow4 just clearenced cheap in the Summit Bargain Cave in the Arlington, TX store. It was open box, but new. Harness and ECM were still sealed even.

It only runs the engine and has a fan output. This 87 has a TH400, so not really worried about transmission control. All I had to add was a detent switch on the gas pedal to activate the kickdown relay formerly controlled by the TBI computer. Overdrive is nearly pointless with the 3.08 gears GM gave these vans. My 83 G20 had the same 3.08 gear with a 700r4, hated the gearing.

 

[Scottm]

No emissions test hassles? Lucky...

 

[L31MaxExpress]

I had to make a run out of town last night and tune a truck this afternoon, but back on this tomorrow. Spent a little more time on it this evening. I am going to have to relocate the hole in the floorboard under the driver seat to bring in the ECM harness. The OEM TBI harness enters behind the driver seat frame, outside of the "frame rail" after passing underneath it. I need to move it to the front of the seat and inboard of the frame to get enough length. I do not understand why Edelbrock does not make their harness 18-24" longer. The one they supply is too short for almost anything I have messed around with the system on. Holley does the same thing on their harnesses. Atleast Painless offered 2 ft longer versions of the OE style TBI and TPI harnesses that would actually fit in almost any application. I hate having to drill new holes in firewalls and floors when the OE body already has suitable holes if only the companies manufacturing this stuff actually tried to install their product in some kind of OE bodied car and not some dedicated race car or fiberglass show car. Then again what do I expect from companies that do not even have an AC idle kick up feature on their EFI systems to compensate for AC compressor load. Trust me when I say I left a stock 4X reluctor behind the timing cover, a crank sensor on the cover and a knock sensor in the block drain. It may very likely get a P59 on a HP Tuners custom speed density operating system that can be real time tuned. I have a spare DBC LS harness and a 24x reluctor kicking around too.

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