db caissie

over the years of me playing with cars and trucks I somehow managed to influence my dad into doing the same, or more so me doing stuff for his vehicles, which works out okay cause its his money not mine, and he mostly lets me do what I want too! this truck is a 98 silverado 1500 that he's had since new, it actually has somewhere in the neighborhood of 500,000 kms on it, but pretty much everything has been replaced at least once, or twice even. I've painted it twice myself over the years. I've also put in a warmed up l31 350 that we've been somewhat dissapointed with, so that leads to the latest chapter.

db caissie

I researched over the last few years about doing this for a truck i used to have which was a 97 c1500 just a short cab long box, but never did get to that project before i sold it this spring, so i talked my dad into letting me do it on his truck. like i was saying we were particularly dissapointed with what we put into this l31 350 for what we got out of it, and we've been chasing an intermitant ignition missfire that was finally the straw that broke the camels back. so out it comes

db caissie

I've allways thought that i could make this work with the factory ac mounting down low on the passanger side, it would take a lot of cutting and sectioning to make it work, but I'd rather invest the time in that than having an after market setup like the holley or dirty dingo or something like that up high on the side. Did a lot of research to see if somebody has done this and i havn't seen much at all for it, and i also had somebody say I can't do it... I'm sure there is a few of you out there that are like me, don't ever tell me i can't do something! so i'm gonna give it a shot!

db caissie

I'm actually was past this point as of today so i'll get a bunch more progress pics up shortly.
got most of the assembly done for the lq4 done, the one in the teardown and mockup pictures is actually just a dead core that i have had sitting around for a while, just using it for mock up purpose. We are using another 6.0l that i've had the 317 heads milled .030, using gm performance ls6 valvesprings, a jegs cam similar to the gm hotcam grind, gm performance lifters, 36lb flex fuel injectors, schoenfeld headers, and a few more little odds and ends as i get into it. this project is an over the winter afterhours thing for me, family life and average joe job and day to day obligations get in the way so i'll keep it updated as i go.

db caissie

here it is with the ac compressor mounted on there, its tight but it fits, i actually had to trim another wedge out of the front side of the notch so i could wiggle it in there if it ever needs to go on or off with everything else in the vehicle.
I've previously done an 0411 pcm swap on this truck so i'll be using that existing ecu that i've allready liscenced with my efi live. What i've done is used just the sensors/wires for the lq4 and removed the l31/350 wires from the ecu, also have to swap over a couple pinout locations to change the ecu back to the ls engine function vs the l31 function, all other trans, emissions, etc, etc stayed in same locations. for those of you that have any questions about either this or the 0411 pcm swap for the l31 you need to get a hold of lextech, hes has spreadsheets for doing this and tons of info, he's been a major help for both of these projects for me, big thanks for him.

db caissie

here is the flex fuel injectors from an 2008 and up lc9 5.3l, listed at 36lb hr, so should be good for the upgrades this engine will have, have to splice in the uscar style connectors for this.
90 percent of the wiring is done, i will go back over all of it with a combination of some cloth loom and tape, and some heat shield in some areas.
headers fit in nice, just a little trim of a pinch weld on the rh side where the rear most tube is at the firewall. some applications may fit without it, but this is where i positioned the mounts to work with the original trans mount so i didn't have to change anything else.
using the original throttle pedal cable, works just fine, the cruise control cable is about a 1/4" short, from the bracket mount to the nub on the throttle body, i think i will modify the bracket slightly to make that work.
will still need to mount up an intake setup, and wire the maf, also plan on getting an electric dual fan set up, we'll see where the budget is at over the next few weeks for that.
also to note, for the wiring, with swaping over the wires from the lq4 harness, and routing them back behind the engine, underneath the intake, i really only had to lengthen, shorten a few wires, turned out how i planned it mostly.

db caissie

here's some assembly for the lq4 i'm using, the bottom end looks good, it's could have used a hone i'm sure but if we were to go down that road, the budget would have been all shot to **** with new pistons and bearings and machine work, i'm sure it will have a little blowby and some piston slap, we'll go down that road next year if we have to.

db caissie

here is some progress as of the end of december,
fuel lines ran, using a few russell adaptors part#s shown in a pic, i will be building some trans cooler lines out of the same stuff as well. slight change of plans for the ac compressor, i felt that it was just too tight with the electrical connection on the back of the unit and with the fittings pointing the way they are, i will be using a dirty dingo low mount sanden compressor, still same position just a lot more compact and brand new compressor too. also modified the throttle cable bracket so the cruise cable will work correctly, these are both the original to the 98truck cables too so that worked out good

db caissie

also to note is i've drilled and tapped the original 98 l31 coolant temp sender in the waterpump, keeping the lq4 sender in the head, running to the pcm, also used the 98 l31 oil pressure sender with an autometer adaptor, so both of those will keep the original gauges functioning correctly, wanted to use the oil sender as it is also used as a fuel cut off switch too. power steering pump is as well the original 98 l31 pump, with the variable pressure switch on it keeping the lines original to the truck too. and a couple pics showing the shoenfeld headers outlet, they're a tight fit, i will use some heat wrap on the shifter cable

db caissie

got the dirty dingo low mount compressor kit in, lots of room in there now with the notch that i have made in the frame, also like much better how the fittings are pointing for the ac lines, will be tight for space with the heater hoses but i'm sure it will work fine. Also have the intake setup mostly done, still needs a little attention to get it to look like i want it, used a cheapo ebay CAI, threw the filter and the box in the garbage right away, i'll have to paint the blue elbow and connector black or some black heat wrap maybe. I have the oem 2001 truck airbox mounted with a combination of the rubber mounting bolts on the 98truck battery tray mounts, the bottom of the box is cut out for lots of airflow underneath the headlight/grill area, i will put in a k/n panel filter. Getting there, slowly, be done by spring, need my garage back for my own project sitting neglected out in the snow right now!