5.3/4l60e swap into my 1981 C10 Stepside

[nucknoel89]

120's a bit low, you gonna race this thing?


still better than 98 though, lol.

Ha ha, no racing, it's my daily driver.  I just told the guy to improve the performance.

[roadrage41]

drive it for awhile and throw the most basic cam in it.

look for a z06 cam and springs to come up used, i see em every once in awhile for 150 down here, (of course now that i want one noones selling...dang vette owners)

they add a decent amount of power and the 5.3 wakes the heck up with a cam. in keeping the truck manifold your powerband stays torque oriented just in case you need to run it past a significant other.... (honey, ill finally be able to haul that oak dresser home from the antique store....)

150 bucks to put an extra 20 or so horse on the pavement is a -_- deal.

oh and swap to the arp balancer bolt as a safeguard if you do. theyre like 29 bucks or so. the factory gm one is "reusable" but it only takes one time of having the bolt backing out on they dyno under load to see that they can be an issue. ask me how i know.

[nucknoel89]

Okay, so I'm planning on using 91 Blazer temp and oil sensors (to go with the 91 Blazer cluster).  I'm waiting to get the oil sensor but got the temp sensor and it's 2 prong.  One is big and one is small.  Which one goes to the cluster?

[nucknoel89]

Got it running, it seems to be idling kinda high, though I haven't run it for longer than a minute. About the oil pressure sensor, I heard you can just use the stock 5.3 sensor. Where do I tap into it?

[nucknoel89]

Tried to put the trans in gear, it's not engaging.  It has fluid, the plug in the back is connected, and I put in the relay.  Any ideas?  Does it make a difference that the engine was originally mated to a 4 wheel drive transmission?

[beastie_3]

I dont think it should matter.

[Captkaos]

What the motor was mated to makes no difference.

[nucknoel89]

Think the probelm may be the relay to the transmission?  I think I have it connected to the right wire to the trans but I think I wired the relay itself wrong.  From what I've been reading I need some sort of brake signal for the lockup and I don't have anything like that connected to it so maybe that's why it's not engaging.  It's at the muffler shop right now so I can't do anything with it at the moment.

[nucknoel89]

Still workin on the trans but I have a question about the O2s.  Ditched the rears but how do the fronts hook up?  There's only 2 plugs total on the wring looms that look like they'd be the O2s.  One goes further back (rear O2s?) and the other one is closer to the front (front O2s?).  So then that would mean I only have one plug for the front sensors?  And both the plug on the loom and the ones in the pipes are male connectors?  Did they change them over the years?  The pipes/sensors were't the ones that were originally on the engine but I'm pretty sure they're all from the same year truck.

[Captkaos]

take a picture of the connectors.  There is generally 1 front and 1 rear sensor.

[nucknoel89]

take a picture of the connectors.  There is generally 1 front and 1 rear sensor.

Found the correct sensors at the wrecker.  I guess in 03 they used more than one type of O2 sensor.

[nucknoel89]

I think I posted earlier that I was having problems with the tranny not engaging.  Had a transmission guy look at my truck, he said there's something wrong with the pump or manual valve, looks like I'm gonna go back to the wrecker and get a different transmission.

[nucknoel89]

Shot a short video of my truck today for those who are interested.  I realized there's some stuff that I could have shot but forgot to.  Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmFBUSHK2MQ

[captain carnage]

Very cool, I'd love to do that conversion on my 2wd.