222 replies to this topic

[ReDnekZ]

Well, sold the remains of the van yesterday. Made $160 on top of what I spent and have the engine, tranny, ECM, and wiring harness besides.

haha nice, good job Mike. Thats always cool when you can pull off something like that.

[BLACK96regcabHighrider]

I've been searching here on what tranny to use with the 5.7. I have a 4L80E from the donor vehicle or I could rebuild my tranny. From what I found the 4l80e is around 2 inches longer, the crossmember will have to be moved, and it may have a few more plugs than that 4l60e? Would a different driveshaft have to be used as well? Has anyone on here used the 4L80E?

It would just be nice to have a tranny built before I pull my engine so I'm not waiting on that when my vehicle's torn apart.

[jwwaldschmidt]

I've been searching here on what tranny to use with the 5.7. I have a 4L80E from the donor vehicle or I could rebuild my tranny. From what I found the 4l80e is around 2 inches longer, the crossmember will have to be moved, and it may have a few more plugs than that 4l60e? Would a different driveshaft have to be used as well? Has anyone on here used the 4L80E?

It would just be nice to have a tranny built before I pull my engine so I'm not waiting on that when my vehicle's torn apart.

I can't say much about the actual swap, but I can speak wonders about the 4l80. We have an old fuel truck at our ranch, 99 k2500. With a 350/4l80. Tranny has 240,000 miles in low-speed, farm applications, as well as pulling around 15000+ pound trailers with equipment on it. I think my dad's changed the fluid in it 3 times, and that's it.

We cannont kill that transmission. Still shifts firm, even aftter dropping a fresh jasper motor in it.

[MWood]

I think Cknaffle has a 4l80e in his Z. Not too sure though. That is about a 3-4k investment. I had my 4l60e rebuilt and I am very happy with it.

[BLACK96regcabHighrider]

FINALLY getting this underway. Meeting with a shop next week about some engine work. Picking up a vette radiator for $50 on Monday, then start ordering all the parts in the coming weeks.

Two questions as of now…
What year-range Taurus fan should I be looking for?
Headers – Patriot has a ceramic coated conversion header, and a natural conversion header. I know ceramic would be better heat wise, but anyone using the steel headers having any heat problems? I just want to have an idea of where to put my money on this.

The plan is to pull the 4.3 the weekend after Labor Day. Need the truck to pull the boat until the end of summer, otherwise would have started long ago.

[ReDnekZ]

glad to hear it is getting underway Mike, keep us updated

[Rtrip9]

hope your swap goes easer than mine did, i ran into a few issues and still working out the bugs, my swap ended up costing me around 2200 total and i still have codes to get ride of. one thing i can say is dont take the cheap way out, you will regret it. its an engine DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME.

and i ordered my header off of ebay and they fit great.
and im running 2 12" pullers on mine with a vsc

[BLACK96regcabHighrider]

Two questions as of now…
What year-range Taurus fan should I be looking for?
Headers – Patriot has a ceramic coated conversion header, and a natural conversion header. I know ceramic would be better heat wise, but anyone using the steel headers having any heat problems? I just want to have an idea of where to put my money on this.

Nevermind on these, got em figured out.

[BLACK96regcabHighrider]

Engine is going to the shop on Friday! Will update sometime next week when I hear from them.

[BLACK96regcabHighrider]

Does anybody have info on wiring for a 96??? I have the black PCM. I can’t seem to find anyone who has done this swap into a 96/97. Just by looking at mine and comparing it to a 98, I know it’s a different setup with the lack of a fuse box under the hood. Will this affect my pinouts for fuel injection or require me to do anything different than a 98+ vehicle?

I’m not looking for a total rewire and hoping this wouldn’t be the case…

[BLACK96regcabHighrider]

Update:

Wiring – Talked to Jared at Current Performance after reading on their site about years 96/97 being the most difficult to rewire, decided I’ll be sending my harness to them.

Engine – Just got off the phone with the shop and they disassembled, degreased, magnafluxed, and inspected. No cracks in the block, heads, crank, or cam. They said the internals were in great shape and quite a bit can be reused. I’m meeting with them on Monday AM to go over some prices. Not sure if I’m going to tackle the rebuild or let them do it. I have a friend that’s rebuild quite a few old 350’s and is willing to help out (he put an LT1 in a Honda CRX!! It flies on the track! – I can post some videos up if anyone is interested).

As far as a PCM flash, I’m pretty sure I’ll be sending it out to TBI Chips, where Mike had his done.

Will give an update on progress…

…on a side note, picking up a set of 33x12.50’s this weekend.

[BLACK96regcabHighrider]

Met with the shop again. Having the crank ground, heads resurfaced, cylinders bored .030”over. Getting all the rebuild parts from the shop, new seals, gaskets, pistons, valvetrain parts, bearings, etc. Going to be using the stock cam for now since it was in great shape. I should be picking everything up this Friday or upcoming Monday and have it together by the end of the week if all goes well!

Dad is leaving for Colorado for two weeks and then Wyoming for the next two on a hunting trip so I get to drive the Saturn for a month. Hope to have the beast up and running by the end of September, I’m sure I’ll have A FEW questions along the way. Next post should have pictures.

[N2O_ZR2]

Going to be using the stock cam for now since it was in great shape. .

Might as well upgrade while it's out.

Have them zero deck the block, balance the rotating assembly, and run some flattop pistons if you're okay with running premium. ARP rodbolts wouldn't be a bad idea either.

[BLACK96regcabHighrider]

Going to be using the stock cam for now since it was in great shape. .

Might as well upgrade while it's out.

Have them zero deck the block, balance the rotating assembly, and run some flattop pistons if you're okay with running premium. ARP rodbolts wouldn't be a bad idea either.

I want to upgrade while it’s out but I’m on a budget. One more year of college left, starts in two weeks so my income will be cut in half for a while. I’m getting the tranny rebuilt for the swap too, which means more money there. I just want to get it running good this fall and work all the bugs out. Then when next summer rolls around make some upgrades to it.

Besides, I don’t want too much power right now, only have an open diff!!! G80 must have been optional in the early Z years? That’ll change next summer too.

[6speedblazer]

I suggest swapping to a 0411 style pcm while you have are at it. Might.as well be able to actually tjne the truck while you are at it.

The black box pcm's are super limited. My cam only 5.7 vortec ran like shit and my tuner said there was nothing else he could do to the black box. Swaped in the 0411 pcm and it ran night.and day better.

[BLACK96regcabHighrider]

I suggest swapping to a 0411 style pcm while you have are at it. Might.as well be able to actually tjne the truck while you are at it.

The black box pcm's are super limited. My cam only 5.7 vortec ran like shit and my tuner said there was nothing else he could do to the black box. Swaped in the 0411 pcm and it ran night.and day better.

Am I able to do that without getting an entire new harness? Maybe something I can talk to Jarod about. My harness is different than 98+. From my understanding the only difference is that I have relays mounted on the firewall and my ABS unit is controlled by the pcm as well, rather than having a central fuse box and an independent ABS system.

Definitely something I’ll look into, might have to take a trip to the junkyard.

Edit: Called Current Performance, additional $120 to rework my harness for the 0411 pcm. Anyone have one for a good price?

Edited by BLACK96regcabHighrider, 24 August 2011 - 12:14 PM.

[N2O_ZR2]

Going to be using the stock cam for now since it was in great shape. .

Might as well upgrade while it's out.

Have them zero deck the block, balance the rotating assembly, and run some flattop pistons if you're okay with running premium. ARP rodbolts wouldn't be a bad idea either.

I want to upgrade while it’s out but I’m on a budget. One more year of college left, starts in two weeks so my income will be cut in half for a while. I’m getting the tranny rebuilt for the swap too, which means more money there. I just want to get it running good this fall and work all the bugs out. Then when next summer rolls around make some upgrades to it.

Besides, I don’t want too much power right now, only have an open diff!!! G80 must have been optional in the early Z years? That’ll change next summer too.

$290 is too much? And I forgot that the max lift on the 5.7 vortec heads is .480, I'd get the valve guides machined down before assembly. If you plan on doing a cam swap later, the front accessories, balancer, intake/distributor , timing chain cover, valve covers, and maybe the oilpan have to come off. Not something that sounds like fun in an s10. Not to mention the radiator/ condenser and possibly the radiator support will have to come out to make room to pull the cam out. Or the motor will have to come out.

And the open diff will handle more power than the G80, they are turds.


Edit: you can get the LT4 hot cam for about 200 bucks, that would be a good improvement.

Edited by N2O_ZR2, 24 August 2011 - 07:28 PM.

[6speedblazer]

I suggest swapping to a 0411 style pcm while you have are at it. Might.as well be able to actually tjne the truck while you are at it.

The black box pcm's are super limited. My cam only 5.7 vortec ran like shit and my tuner said there was nothing else he could do to the black box. Swaped in the 0411 pcm and it ran night.and day better.

Am I able to do that without getting an entire new harness? Maybe something I can talk to Jarod about. My harness is different than 98+. From my understanding the only difference is that I have relays mounted on the firewall and my ABS unit is controlled by the pcm as well, rather than having a central fuse box and an independent ABS system.

Definitely something I’ll look into, might have to take a trip to the junkyard.

Edit: Called Current Performance, additional $120 to rework my harness for the 0411 pcm. Anyone have one for a good price?

you can easily convert a black box harness to a 0411 harness. just remove the pins from the old connector and place them in the correct connector on the new harness.

my 0411 swap took me all of 45 min.

if jared is going to be building you a harness it would be the perfect time to have it done.

Going to be using the stock cam for now since it was in great shape. .

Might as well upgrade while it's out.

Have them zero deck the block, balance the rotating assembly, and run some flattop pistons if you're okay with running premium. ARP rodbolts wouldn't be a bad idea either.

I want to upgrade while it’s out but I’m on a budget. One more year of college left, starts in two weeks so my income will be cut in half for a while. I’m getting the tranny rebuilt for the swap too, which means more money there. I just want to get it running good this fall and work all the bugs out. Then when next summer rolls around make some upgrades to it.

Besides, I don’t want too much power right now, only have an open diff!!! G80 must have been optional in the early Z years? That’ll change next summer too.

$290 is too much? And I forgot that the max lift on the 5.7 vortec heads is .480, I'd get the valve guides machined down before assembly. If you plan on doing a cam swap later, the front accessories, balancer, intake/distributor , timing chain cover, valve covers, and maybe the oilpan have to come off. Not something that sounds like fun in an s10. Not to mention the radiator/ condenser and possibly the radiator support will have to come out to make room to pull the cam out. Or the motor will have to come out.

And the open diff will handle more power than the G80, they are turds.


Edit: you can get the LT4 hot cam for about 200 bucks, that would be a good improvement.

i run an Lt4 hot cam and associated springs and rockers on my vortec 5.7 in my blazer. thing fucking shits and gets.

Edited by 6speedblazer, 24 August 2011 - 07:52 PM.

[BLACK96regcabHighrider]

[/quote]

And the open diff will handle more power than the G80, they are turds.


Edit: you can get the LT4 hot cam for about 200 bucks, that would be a good improvement.
[/quote]

I know open diff is stronger than the G80, I just mean from the standpoint of traction. And yes, LT4 hot cam was the one I was looking into. I'll stop in tomorrow and see what they can do, maybe cut me some $ on machining since I'm getting so much done.

Also, found a 0411 pcm locally for $30. Stopping in this week sometime. Thanks again everyone for advice and suggestions.

[jwwaldschmidt]

How fast has Jared's response times been with you? The first email I sent him took him 4 days to get back to me on. I called today and left a message at 1:00, during his listed "regular business hours", still haven't heard back.

Just gets on my nerves when a seller can't communicate. I'm sure he's busy, but c'mon.