2003 Z71 Tahoe - Cummins 4bta Swap

[AcIdBuRn02ZTS]

Hey guys...

I put a lot of pictures from my swap in my intro but didn't notice this section of the forum... so I figured I would go on and make a complete build thread on it.

What started this whole project is seeing a Jeep Scrambler at the Indy 4-wheel drive jamboree that had a 4bt dropped in it. Turning 38s, he was claiming mid to high 20s for fuel mileage...

My daily driver is a 2003 z71 Tahoe... loaded out the wazoo and just under 100k miles on the clock. Turning 35s, I was averaging 11mpg on a good day.. so once I saw the jeep... it was all down hill from there.

Here is the truck as it sat when I first bought it...

About a month later... I installed the 3" body lift and 315/70/r17s

Then I quickly realized that it drastically cut my fuel mileage and dumping $75 a week into the tank just wasn't gonna work. So after much research... I got this little guy... Less then 60k on a cummins rebuild and came with the Destroked GM adapter and flexplate

First things first... I went on and did the KDP fix

Cleaning and painting...

Tahoe ready to undergo surgery..

Pulling the engine...

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[AcIdBuRn02ZTS]

5.3 meets its replacement...

In place for motor mount mock-up

Hydroboost brake swap - Was able to use stock gm/Tahoe booster feed and return lines... they bolted right up to the cummins pump. Booster came from an 05'

Motor mount frame sides tacked in place.. (using the liquid filled lord mounts from the step van)

Boxed and fully welded

Engine side of motor mounts...

I Chopped and ported a 6bt manifold

Swapped on a vertical oil filter adapter and installed the manifold

Mounting the stock Tahoe alternator...

Stock h1c turbo cleaned and painted... some plumbing done.. (oddly enough, I was able to lightly modify all of the stock coolant lines and they all worked nicely with the 4bt.. it was meant to be I had also painted the valve covers by now and installed stainless hardware for them

8 rib pulley from an expedition swapped on to the alternator and new belt measured/routed...

Crappy video of first start up (fuel source was a small can sitting under the hood and I had bled the lines)
[ame="http://smg.photobucket.com/user/AcIdBuRn52383/media/Z71%20Tahoe/4bt%20Swap/MVI_0103.mp4.html"]MVI_0103.mp4 Video by AcIdBuRn52383 | Photobucket[/ame]


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[AcIdBuRn02ZTS]

And then the real fun began...

Still not quite finished to date with cleaning up the wiring... but its getting there...


Next is the stock fuel tank modifications...

Tank dropped...

Stock pump basket assembly

Pump deleted

Several fill holes added to the basket and reassembled (the stock pump was also used to keep the basket full... without it, the little fill hole in the bottom of the basket wouldn't keep up)

.......

 

[AcIdBuRn02ZTS]

USShift.com trans controller and harness

Remote TPS

Controller install...

Stock fans from an '05

Found out the hard way that the Destroked GM adapter and flex plate isn't for ALL 4l60e transmissions as it was advertised... when the LS engine came out, the bell housing length, input shaft length, and converter all changed... I ended up crushing the front pump on the 60e that was in the truck :bang

Tracked down a used '98 60e that had less then 50k miles on a rebuild and swapped it in...

First drive down the block... open downpipe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4oHAO95wDU

 

[AcIdBuRn02ZTS]

Started building exhaust...

4" goodness... an 1" of diameter per cylinder should work

3" downpipe to 4" straight...

Banks 4" monster muffler (freebie)... whole setup BBQ black

6" polished stainless tip (need to bring it out further... tired of getting soot on the side of the truck... lol)

And a few custom decals made by a friend

 

[gneal02]

Nice, how long did the whole process take? I have a 94 Sonoma I'm thinking of doing the 4bt swap in place of the 4.3 Vortec, hopefully sooner than later. Did you find the engine locally or find it online? I've looked around online but most don't seem like very good deals.

 

[AcIdBuRn02ZTS]

Ive been working on this truck for nearly a year now... it would have taken MUCH less time if I would have had the money all up front and wouldn't have killed two transmissions... but anyways... it wasn't a bad swap at all.. I would strongly suggest hitting 4btswaps.com and doing your research first.

I gave 3200 for the engine with the adapter and flexplate... considering the adapter and flex run nearly half that total cost.. I don't think it was a bad deal.. but you can do better by finding a running driving step van and going that route.

Anyways...

The h1c was too laggy with its huge 18cm exhaust housing (huge for the 4bt anyways...) So I swapped to a gated hx30w with 6cm housing.. 20psi in any gear by 1400rpm and EGTs are safe.

Then started building a custom gauge pod and switch panel...

Switch panel... Using the automated engraver at work.. I came up with this..

Switched installed..

Panel installed and wired up..

Ive got a few projects in the works... I think I have located a stock intercooler from a 2500hd to replace the water to air charge cooler... then I plan to build a compound setup using the hx30w with an hx35.. from what Ive seen, its a great combo for the street with the 4bt.. capable of 550+ lb ft. and over 50psi of boost. :st:

I also plan on getting a secondary fuel tank setup.. Ive got all the electronic valves for the supply and return lines... but plan on running a dual fuel system.. pump diesel in the stock tank and W80 (80% wmo and 20% kero) in the 20 gallon fuel cell.

Hoping to get this all done soon...

Anyways.. more to come soon hopefully!
-Chris

 

[Penni]

very impressive sir!

Sent from phone

 

[Knoberman]

Nice job!

 

[Freezingsystems]

Nice swap and custom build thanks for sharing. So your main reason for the swap was mileage what's the average now?

Chris

 

[Corn Fed]

Sweet build

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[will24]

Awesome! Inspirational, maybe I need to finish my 450 lol

 

[SmokeShow]

Looks great!!! Whats your fuel mileage been?

AC? Cruise control? You couldn't utilize the oe Fuel level gauge in the gm cluster?

 

[AcIdBuRn02ZTS]

Thanks alls...

Fuel mileage... upper teens to lower 20s which is an estimate.. the odometer hasn't been functioning correctly...

The 2nd fuel gauge is for the dual fuel system... all the stock gauges work currently... just have a few gremlins to work out..

I used the stock 5.3 oil pressure sender, a temp sender from a Camaro (npt thread instead of metric... but same plug), 5.3 crank position sensor (got a 24x reluctor wheel from gm performance and attached it to the front crank pulley.. then made a mount for the stock cps)

I need to swing by my local stealership and see if I can talk their service department into hooking it up to a TechII and seeing whats going on with the stock ecm/bcm... I'm getting a reduced power warning on the digital readout on the cluster yet I'm not throwing any codes...

I had black bear performance tune the ecu.. shutting off all the antitheft crap, all trans related controls, and disabling almost all engine related DTCs...

The issue im having with the odometer is when the reduced power warning is up, you cant access the odometer... and its very intermittent.. not sure if its wiring related or what as of yet... and a simple code scanner wont tell me anything.

One of the main reasons for the build was mileage overall and towing mileage. Then I discovered WMO. Ive got a WMO processing setup built now and over 300 gallons on hand ready to go... Ive ran as much as 50% w80 to 50% diesel but here is the issue with that... I have a really short drive to work now.. 1 mile or so. Running w80 in the main tank on such a short drive leads to injector/ring coking...

So... plans are to add in a 20 gallon aluminum cell... I have a set of greasecar high flow electronic valves which will be controlled on the switch panel... straight pump diesel in the stock tank... w80 in the secondary... and anytime the engine will reach operating temp, I'll switch over.. but will always start and shutdown on pump diesel to help eliminate coking and excess smoke.

I've also gotta tweak the VE pump a bit.. with the converter having such a low stall... even with the hx30w and 6cm housing.. I still get a decent puff of smoke out the pipe at nearly every take off unless I crawl away from a stop.. which makes it look like I do it on purpose.. which I cant have.

My goals overall with this build are this...

High teens-Low 20s mpg or better.
550+ ft. lbs. to the pavement.
Reliable.
Factory installed appearance.

I think it will be fairly easy to do once all the little bugs are worked out.

For the AC system, I have to relocate the alternator and mount the compressor in its place to keep from having to change the lines. The truck was drive by wire previously so for cruise control, I will have to come up with an aftermarket solution that will be wired into the stock controls.

Anyways... more to come soon!
-Chris

 

[AcIdBuRn02ZTS]

Damn photobucket.

Sent from a pay phone... using Tapatalk v2.0

 

[AHall]

Pics no worky.

 

[B.A.Ram]

Pics no worky.

What he said

 

[95-12valve]

Pics no worky.

This

 

[will24]

Damn photobucket.

Sent from a pay phone... using Tapatalk v2.0

What he said!

 

[AcIdBuRn02ZTS]

I know thiiisssss... mmmaaaannnnn!

Apparently I ran out o bandwidth on photobucket... I'll try to get them back up soon.

-Chris