97 454 L29 Vortec into a 80 K25

[TubeTruck]

I totally get that.

Here is the pricing as I see it for a Vortec to CNP

Reluctor wheel $175 from Efi Connection
Crank sensor $10 from Amazon
PCM pins $10 from either Efi Connection or Mouser
Coils and connectors $Varies depending on the junkyard, mine cost $60
PCM You area already getting one of these it looks like and if it came from an LS based engine already then the cost is just tuning (2 credits). If it is tuned for the Vortec then HPtuners would be 4 credits at $50/ea. EFI Live may be different... it may be cheaper to just buy a PCM from an LS engine as they are a dime a dozen...

I have EFI Live, $100 for a VIN license and you can do whatever you want for the rest of your life.
My 0411 is out of my old 2001 2500HD truck with a 6.0L. That might actually be worth it then.

 

[Markmx6]

I have EFI Live, $100 for a VIN license and you can do whatever you want for the rest of your life.
My 0411 is out of my old 2001 2500HD truck with a 6.0L. That might actually be worth it then.

HP Tuners is kinda stupid. you need two credits to license the PCM and that includes the tune that is currently programmed. Then it costs 2 credits to license a new tune even if it is one you download from somewhere else so you can upload it to the PCM... For instance if you get a random 0411 (mine was a v6 tune) then I had to download a tune for the express van I had to pay $200 total.

Now that I have the tune licensed I can upload it into any other PCM's I have licensed. Because I have done it so many times I can license any 2002 truck or van PCM's or tunes for free.

 

[Bextreme04]

HP Tuners is kinda stupid. you need two credits to license the PCM and that includes the tune that is currently programmed. Then it costs 2 credits to license a new tune even if it is one you download from somewhere else so you can upload it to the PCM... For instance if you get a random 0411 (mine was a v6 tune) then I had to download a tune for the express van I had to pay $200 total.

Now that I have the tune licensed I can upload it into any other PCM's I have licensed. Because I have done it so many times I can license any 2002 truck or van PCM's or tunes for free.

Ooof... screw that. I paid $60 for the OBDx ProVT and will read and write to the PCM using PCMHammer or LSDroid and tune for free using TunerPro. The 2156 has .bin files and a very good .xdf file that allows you to tune anything you could need to tune.

I have EFI Live, $100 for a VIN license and you can do whatever you want for the rest of your life.
My 0411 is out of my old 2001 2500HD truck with a 6.0L. That might actually be worth it then.

The stock distributor harness will get you the 12v power and ground. You will need a 5v ref ground back to the pcm that goes to each coil and also 8 individual 5v signal wires from the pcm to each wire. Each bank of coil packs will go into a 7-pin connector with each coil having 4 wires. So each coil will have a 12v+(You can take this from Distributor plug), 12V-(ground straight to block), 5v -ref(Should go to 5vref ground on PCM), and a 5v+ trigger for specific cylinder from the PCM.

So basically you will need to run at least 9 new wires from the PCM to the distributor area in order to support going CNP in the future. I don't believe those pins do anything on a non-CNP OS, so you can probably hook them up now and just make sure they are taped up in the harness at the distributor. That way you can create a harness in the future that just plugs in right there and goes to the individual coil packs.

 

[Catbox]

Why put the pro flo when your have the EFI already? Save your money and use the factory EFI. It's good to 550hp or so.

I just bought the long block with no intention of ever using the stock setup.
The carb and intake cost me $225 total so far.

 

[Bextreme04]

I just bought the long block with no intention of ever using the stock setup.
The carb and intake cost me $225 total so far.

I'm surprised you even have that much into extra parts. Since you already have a 454 in your truck, you could just swap it straight out for the long block you have in there now and pick up quite a bit of power. The only thing you should have to figure out is how to get fuel to it, since the Gen VI block doesn't have any fuel pump boss.

 

[Catbox]

I'm surprised you even have that much into extra parts. Since you already have a 454 in your truck, you could just swap it straight out for the long block you have in there now and pick up quite a bit of power. The only thing you should have to figure out is how to get fuel to it, since the Gen VI block doesn't have any fuel pump boss.

I totally bought the junkyard engine for another vehicle.
That's why I have the Edelbrock Performer 2.0 intake and Holley carb.
But Max keeps trying to get me to put the Gen6 into the truck.
Now he works for Baxters and things have some steep discounts, so we shall see what I do with it.

I do have another set of the L-29 heads from the junkyard that were to be for the GenIV in the truck.
They just need to be rebuilt and Baxter's has a full machine shop that I now get discounts at as well.
The 2.0 intake may now also find its way into the truck with these heads as I can get a better intake for the other engine.
Or will I just skip that step and strap the Edelbrock Pro Flo Fuel Injection onto the engine that goes into my car.

So many choices...

 

[carl_tone_garage]

I stumbled across this thread, because I'm probably buying a stretched '81 camper special dually, and I want to do a complete L29 swap from my '99 Suburban. I was going to run the stock ECU, but I may go the 0411 route also in case i do an L18 swap later.

 

[Michael Benardo]

So, while I’m waiting on those parts I started working on the intake manifold. I’m not going to run EGR or the Evap canister since my truck doesn’t have any of that now. Those two bosses are big and ugly on the stock manifold and I’m planning on painting it anyways sooo....

Here’s what it looked like originally

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you can see where I started to cut. After lots of cutting, grinding, and smoothing, I’m down to this.

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The threaded hole on top is for a fitting for the vacuum output to the vehicle systems. The pressed fitting next to it is for PCV. The two holes left at the bottom will be either welded shut and then smoothed or I’m thinking of using some POR-15 epoxy putty I have to fill them. They are tapered on both the inside and outside so I won’t have to worry about an epoxy plug getting sucked into the motor or pushed out.

EGR really hurts power at part throttle, to getting rid of it is a plus, but I hope you realize that if you eliminate the EVAP, you need to use the old-style VENTED gas caps, or have the tank-to-canister line(s) routed to a safe location, not plugged, or else it will seemingly run out of gas after a few minutes - a vacuum will be formed in the tank.

 

[TubeTruck]

Finally finished my engine stand. Been piecing it together for a while now. I'm glad it held and it didn't even flex under the weight of the BBC. Eventually I'll make the plate for the 15:1 gearbox and crank handle.

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#1 cylinder had about 1/4 cup of oil in it. The valley is really gummed up. I had to use vice grips and lots of twisting to get the lifters out. The bottom end turns over super smooth. I'll grab my stamps from work on Monday to mark the caps and rods. Hopefully I'll have it in the machine shop by the end of January. Gotta sell my King Demons to get the cash to build this thing.

 

[Bextreme04]

EGR really hurts power at part throttle, to getting rid of it is a plus, but I hope you realize that if you eliminate the EVAP, you need to use the old-style VENTED gas caps, or have the tank-to-canister line(s) routed to a safe location, not plugged, or else it will seemingly run out of gas after a few minutes - a vacuum will be formed in the tank.

My truck is an 80 K25 with federal heavy duty emissions.. it never had evap from the factory. The L29 evap system will just be completely removed from the system and I'll be running a corvette filter/regulator that will plumb the return back to the tank. There are 4 connections on my fuel sender. Fuel out, Fuel Return, Vent to filler, Vent to atmosphere. The vent to atmosphere will have a one way bobble valve on it to prevent mud/water from going back in, but also allows pressure to vent both ways.

 

[Bextreme04]

Ok, finally got some time over Christmas and New Years to get out to the shop and put some work in. Most of that went to port matching and cleaning the intake manifolds and cylinder heads.

The intake manifold upper and lowers were just gross and full of tar like oil residue from the last 288,000 miles of operation. I smoothed them out and ran them for a few days in my heated parts washer before hosing them off. Then I used a heavy duty degreaser and let it sit for a while before doing it all over again. It was realllllly bad. I’ll get a picture of them all cleaned up tomorrow since I forgot to get some tonight. I’ll be working on them some more later this week and I’ll post pics up when I get back to them.

The heads actually were pretty good after the machine shop tanked them and redid everything. I port matched the intake side and just flowed it into the runner a bit without smoothing it too much.

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The exhaust side I port matched and then polished while also smoothing out some of the rough edges also. Again I seem to have forgotten to get a finished exhaust polish picture.

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the head design is actually pretty darn good. I’m excited to see how this thing runs. I also just smoothed the edges on the compression chamber and rounded the edge of the sharp point between the valves.

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[Bextreme04]

Then I decided since I was done with the heads and intake for now, I’d get back to the rest of the engine. So I cleaned the new cam and stuck it in.

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Its a regrind of the factory L29 roller cam done by Delta camshaft in Tacoma, WA.

Then I got the cam retainer on and the timing set installed.

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Also, for anyone doing this themselves in the future, make sure you transfer the timing mark from the crank sprocket to the reluctor before pressing it on. You can’t see it once the reluctor wheel is on and it’s a pain to figure out without pulling the press fit reluctor wheel back off.

Once I had that done, I took my deck clearance measurement so I can verify my head gasket thickness is correct for compression ratio and quench.

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Plugging that and my known values into a compression ratio calculator, I ended up with 9.51:1, which should be just about perfect for a fun daily and occasional tow pig. The deck clearance of -.009 combined with the del-pro compressed thickness of .042 gives me a quench of .051, which should also be perfect for this application.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to get the lifters and lifter retainers in and maybe get my pushrod length measured so I can get them ordered.

 

[Catbox]

Things are looking good the man!

 

[Bextreme04]

Here’s the port matched and polished exhaust ports on the heads. It probably won’t do much of anything, but I had never done it before and wanted to give it a try.

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And here’s the port matched intake side

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[TubeTruck]

Here’s the port matched and polished exhaust ports on the heads. It probably won’t do much of anything, but I had never done it before and wanted to give it a try.

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And here’s the port matched intake side

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Everything looks really good. Can't wait to see it all together. What color are you painting the engine?