Hey guys, Im just starting to plan an LSx swap into my 83 C10 lwb. I am considering installing an LQ9 4L80e. All I have now is the truck which has the stock 305.

Heres what I have come to understand so far from my research and by purchasing “How To Swap A GM LS-Series Engine, into almost anything”.

Now, I don’t know much about wiring, but I have a few people who do and are going to assist when it comes time to.

To install the motor I need the mount adapting plates. I am going to make sure I get the ECU and the wiring harness with the motor. Now to use the harness, does it get tied into the harness already in truck or does the wiring from the truck get pulled or what? I’m confused on that. Any help will be greatly appreciated and please make it a bit understandable to someone who has never wired a harness or a car. I have know of a guy in Green Cove Springs, FL (EFI Alchemy) that a few of my buddies use to do tuning.

The drive accessories, I will just have to make fit depending on the stock arrangement on the motor and possibly any bracket adjusting I have to do, I have seen a lot of info on this, so I can figure that out easily enough I believe.

The Tranny will require me to modify the cross-member, which wont be a problem. I have seen people use the factory column shifter but could it be possible to do a floor mount shifter or will that not work with this truck/motor/tranny combo, or even worth doing?

I will have to adjust the length on the drive shaft and have the proper yoke for the tranny.

The gauges, I was thinking about using Autometer gauges. Will the harness from the motor go directly to the gauges / or tied into the existing gauge wiring?

I need to have AC bc I live in FL and the humidity is a drag. I plan to convert the non-working R12 to a R134a system. Can I use the LQ9 compressor accessory on the truck system? And besides buying the required components what else does an AC conversion require?

The exhaust system, I am still researching that and haven’t yet found what combo of the 83 C10/LQ9 will work with ????? headers or manifolds, but that should be easy to look up on a few different forums.

The fuel system, my truck has 2 tanks ( I don’t know how common that may be) but I believe with the mechanical fuel pump in there now it has a dashboard switch that allows me to choose the tank to be use. I have a feeling this can not be re used. With upgrading the in-tank pumps and what ever filter I will need, what have people done in regards to still using or deleting a gas tank?

And I’ve read I can use my stock radiator, but need a better trans cooler thank what is on the old 4speed,

Now I just hope the stock 10-bolt rear is not worn down and need replacing too.

I plan maybe to put about $4-5 into the swap. So I might have to change some plans around.

Can you all think of anything else I haven’t mentioned that I will be facing?

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

Why not use a painless wiring harness they come out the box ready to install by average joes? Next your doing the LSX swap is that the 454 or 427? Also go with long tube headers they make more power as well as look better. For the shifter i would look at a steering colum from a company called ididit.com they make one that has an electric power steering on the column to save room in the engine bay. Plus it removes the shifter. You can use any floor shifter you want you will have to modify the trans tunnel to fit the bracket for the floor shifter but it looks better. Autometer gauges will wire right up no issues however what are you doing for the housing? custom or factory with custom gauges? diff being the latter of the two being more work you fabbed a new dash.One last thing fuel injected or carburetor cuz if its fuel injected you should know you will send lots of time tuning on a computer.which equals money.


P.S good luck with only spending 4-5 g's cuz with what your talking about your gunna need more. Do not i repeat do not use your stock radiator. im sure you can however with a bigger engine comes more heat and demand use a good dual corp radiator with twin 16 inch fans for cooling both engine and trans.

 

Read this its long but is worth every second.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=350986
Jay

 

for the harness you have to modified your stock one (make it stand alone) so that way you dont have the ugly fuse box and connections not needed, for the a/c base you can use the one from the lq9 just have to do a little modification to make it fit, and for the motor mount I have a pair laying around sbc to ls1 conversion.

 

as for the speedo jus get one from a 88 91 suburban those are the same as your 83 but electronic and that one will work also, as for the fuel system I used a gas thank from a 87 I believe and bought the 97 pump housing and I installed the 5.3 fuel pump on the housing