y5mgisi
1 ton status
I'm gonna just leave this here....
Dont you make this an easier swap! Dont lead people like me down the road to temptation!
CK5
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Project Penny - All good things must come to an end
- Thread starter Russell
- Start date
Dont you make this an easier swap! Dont lead people like me down the road to temptation!
The engine is a bit down on compression, needs glow plugs and has a bad coolant leak somewhere between the block and bellhousing in the adapter. I may have a local fella picking it all up (LB7 / ZF6 combo) for $4500 bucks. Its a bit of a steal at that price (the LB7 is worth 2k, clutch and injectors cost 4k, trans is worth about 2k) but I can't expect to get my money back on it...
I am getting the new LBZ donor truck complete less the rear diff, t-case and front seats for 4k. It has about 115k highway miles on it (vs the 150k of abusive farm miles on the LB7
) and has never been chipped / hot rodded at all. Dude had a front end collision with it that ruined the front suspension but didn't hurt the engine any.The 6 speed allison will be going into the truck and should help me a fair bit when it comes to gearing on the highway with that deeper overdrive gear. It also allows me to run a normal Edge monitor with the juice tuner on it for on the fly tuning (I really liked that on my old 07). I'm going to miss rowing my own gears, but this will make the truck a whole lot faster, easier to drive offroad and very quiet compared to the noisy ZF6.
The engine is a bit down on compression, needs glow plugs and has a bad coolant leak somewhere between the block and bellhousing in the adapter. I may have a local fella picking it all up (LB7 / ZF6 combo) for $4500 bucks. Its a bit of a steal at that price (the LB7 is worth 2k, clutch and injectors cost 4k, trans is worth about 2k) but I can't expect to get my money back on it...
I am getting the new LBZ donor truck complete less the rear diff, t-case and front seats for 4k. It has about 115k highway miles on it (vs the 150k of abusive farm miles on the LB7
The 6 speed allison will be going into the truck and should help me a fair bit when it comes to gearing on the highway with that deeper overdrive gear. It also allows me to run a normal Edge monitor with the juice tuner on it for on the fly tuning (I really liked that on my old 07). I'm going to miss rowing my own gears, but this will make the truck a whole lot faster, easier to drive offroad and very quiet compared to the noisy ZF6.
Thats a great deal on the lbz!!
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If I had known you were selling it for that I would have been on your door step with cash and a trailer 
If I had known you were selling it for that I would have been on your door step with cash and a trailer
When do you plan to arrive? First with cash takes it home
I picked the truck up today. We'll see if I wind up using it or not. I was not able to start it or check the mileage / hour meter before purchase. I'm going to fix up the electrical system tomorrow enough to power up the instrument cluster to find that stuff out and try to start it. If everything seems good, I'll run it. If not, well, I have all the electronics and will start saving for a rebuild. The only thing missing from the engine is the air intake ducting, which was broken in the accident. Fortunately, the guy was smart enough to save the mass air flow meter before he got rid of the broken intake bits. Lots of stock intakes available on the local classifieds, guys upgrade them all the time.
The transmission seems to be in pretty decent shape as well, it was easy to look at sitting where the passenger seat is supposed to be :P The oil is nice and cherry red, not burnt. I'll need to find a dip stick for it, but everything else is there.
russel what did you do with the NV4500? also if the deal falls through on the LB7 I would be interested in the ZF
I have a spare dip stick for the ally if you need it.
When do you plan to arrive? First with cash takes it home
I just looked up where Fort McMurray is, and um never mind...
DEMON44
Low-Tech Redneck
Lol. Right on.
I just looked up where Fort McMurray is, and um never mind...
Epic road trip! You know you wanna!!
Dean, yes, I do need the dip stick please! Also need one for the engine too. I fear that a part of it is sitting in the bottom of the oil pan
That said, I got the truck powered up enough to check the mileage and hours. She has 233k (145k miles) and 5300 hrs. I sold my 07 which idled for several hours a day on the remote starter with 190k (118k mikes) and it only had 2400 hrs on it for that mileage. That means this truck idled, a lot...
I am kind of considering flipping the LBZ and fixing the LB7 up. Everything fits, all the gauges work, and I friggin love that manual trans (drove it today, and was constantly thinking how boring the truck would be if it was auto...). I can make some very good profit on the LBZ if I have it all wired up and programmed stand alone to drop into someone's hot rod.
All the LB7 needs is the adapter plate replaced, and a set of glow plugs. Maybe a cylinder hone and re-ringing to help with compression too. It runs awesome, has no smoke when warm. That said, when it is cold outside it starts like an old 6.5L does, and smokes like one when it does finally fire up. If I dropped the 1 - 2k I'd make on the LBZ, that should get the engine refreshed and fixed up.
What say ya'll? The LB7 has the same mileage as the LBZ, but half the hours. It also has brand new injectors and a brand new solid flywheel / south bend clutch.
y5mgisi
1 ton status
I wish i knew enough about the duramaxs to help with that choice!
Keep the lb7 and the standard.
You can have the dip stick if you like, but I think they are only about 40 bucks from the dealer. If you can wait I could bring it to Renes... not sure when we can get there yet though.
Hoping soon.
You can have the dip stick if you like, but I think they are only about 40 bucks from the dealer. If you can wait I could bring it to Renes... not sure when we can get there yet though.
Hoping soon.
Some of the fastest Duramaxes are still lb7's!
I'm not sure why.
I'm not sure why.
LB7 = 300 hp and 520 ft lbs. Static turbo .72:1 OD with the ZF6. That puts me at 2400 rpm @ 70mph
LBZ = 360 hp and 650 ft lbs. Variable pitch turbo (no turbo lag). .61:1 OD with the 6 speed allison. That puts me at 2000 rpm @ 70 mph.
If I keep the ZF6, I either need to step up to 40s, or re-gear to 4.56 and run the 37s. I have too much gearing right now, the engine is roaring at 2400 rpm on the freeway. 2000 RPM would be about perfect.
LB7 is known for injector problems (though mine are new). The truck doesn't start as well in the cold (may just be injector problems, the 03 LB7 my dad owns starts no problem like my old LBZ used to)
The LBZ would allow me to run an Edge tuner to do on the fly power changes in the truck unlike with the manual trans equipped LB7. It would be a bit easier to wheel. And it would make the truck much faster too.
The LB7 makes great power, the truck pulls very hard, and it sounds great (variable pitch trucks whistle at idle, LB7s rumble).
The LB7 needs the adapter plate replaced (they corrode, dissimilar metal mating faces), a leaky injector return line replaced, and possibly glow plugs / re-ringing to help with the poor cold starting.
The LB7 has all the gauges working, everything is functional except my water in fuel light (laziness on my part, haha) and the cruise control (not sure what the problem is there, it is hooked up but is not functional). The LBZ would require me to install all new sending units on the new engine and wire them up as the LBZ does all it's gauges digitally. This includes adding a DRAC again to run the speedo. The LB7 needs new engine mounts to drop the engine down 3/4" and a new transmission crossmember to get the transmission down far enough that it isn't touching the floor pan. I get a lot of transmission noise into the cab of the truck (the ZF6 is a very noisy transmission with a solid flywheel)
I know and trust the LB7, this LBZ's history is unknown, I haven't even heard it run yet (TCM grounding issues kept me from starting it ahead of time)
You are clearly the authority on this subject, but i say keep what you've got in there....and make a profit on the LB7.
Seems like a lot of work for a motor who's history is pretty unknown.
Love the truck man!
Seems like a lot of work for a motor who's history is pretty unknown.
Love the truck man!
y5mgisi
1 ton status
You clearly are wanting to stick with what you got. I sorry, but thats probably what you should do.
DEMON44
Low-Tech Redneck
No doubt. Rebuild the known unit right. And you'll be miles ahead in the long run.
Russ get efi live and build the lb7. Then you can have 5 on the fly switchable tunes. You can then monitor balance rates and are if its an injector or say cp3. smoking when starting could be the fpr in the cp3 causing higher then normal rail pressure or not enough. Mine doesn't start hard but I cycle the glow plugs twice. I do need a set I glow plugs as wellI keep throwing p0089 code. Did you keep the block heater? That helps Soo much and getting into a warm truck is nice.
I do infact have EFI live already
I never even considered the DSP5 switch... That said, I'd have to come up with my own tunes for it. No one makes LB7 tunes for manual transmissions.I listed the LBZ up for sale again this morning... We shall see if I can flip it for a tidy little profit...
I'm going to tear the LB7 down and refresh it a bit with new headgaskets, head studs, a hone / re-ringing, and go through the bottom end to make sure all the bearings / rods are happy. Should give me the cold start performance I want by restoring compression and allow me to fix a few other little issues while I am in there (weeping water pump, move the OBA compressor etc)
I do infact have EFI live already
I listed the LBZ up for sale again this morning... We shall see if I can flip it for a tidy little profit...
I'm going to tear the LB7 down and refresh it a bit with new headgaskets, head studs, a hone / re-ringing, and go through the bottom end to make sure all the bearings / rods are happy. Should give me the cold start performance I want by restoring compression and allow me to fix a few other little issues while I am in there (weeping water pump, move the OBA compressor etc)
Im sure eaglemark could help you delete the trans out of any tunes that you get on duramaxtuner or any of the other efi live sites. Just check out the injection section on here and send him a pm.
