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vortech in an 81 k5...?

noJeepshere

noJeepshere

I Drove Trains!
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the other week, some yoko's stole our 98 suburban and joy rode it to the top of a pile of rocks.:eek1: the insurance company gave us a check for the rig with the option to salvage it. that means they park it in our drive way. amazingly, when the turds wrecked it, the sub got launched OVER the rocks, preserving the engine and tranny. they are in perfect shape. i was wondering, how much work would it take to get the vortech and tranny into the 81 k5? :confused: seeing as ill have a full rig to pull parts from, i want to keep the fuel injection system. are there aftermarket kits for this kind of conversion and where could i find them?

the jimmy currently has a 350-sm465-np208 combo. the sub is 350-4l60e-np241? unfortunatley, the front diff sacrificed to save the engine, and took the t-case with it, as it got pushed back. so i have to keep the 208, will the autobox hook up to that? or do i need to find a new t-case?

thanks for your help

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personally, I would see if painless makes a harness for it, I saw one in a 78 p/u, but the harness was spliced in everywhere, and they used the column and gauges out of the donor, only thing would be 02 sensors, and dual cats if you want to keep the engine light off. but there is ways around that too.
 
You can get a 89-91 K5 241 for the pass drop. I think its a great Idea! Always thought that if I wrecked my 03 sierra I'd put everything into a K5.
 
from the pics, it looks like you could throw a solid axle under the front and everything would be good, but I imagine the frame is toasted too.
 
Jason4x4 said:
from the pics, it looks like you could throw a solid axle under the front and everything would be good, but I imagine the frame is toasted too.
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yeah, the frame is twisted hardcore, the drivers side of the rear bumper is 4" higher then the other. and the bumper aint bent.
 
ouch. Yea you could do that fairly simply. The entire harness and PCM are underhood on the Vortec 350s so it makes it a little easier. Just the DLC and some misc wires running to the interior. Biggest hurdle is the VATS. 98+ had a built in anti-theft system that wont let the thing run without it. I think Painless and some others make a harness that works around that, or you could send your PCM off to someone like Westers and get it not only performance tuned but also remove the emissions stuff and the VATS. I say go for it.

The Vortec engines arent by any means AMAZING but they are a lot better than an 81 carb 350. It is a completely worthwhile swap I say, especially if you already have the vehicle.

Pull the engine and trans, throw them in, throw a passenger side drop 241 behind it, and have a sweet reliable fuel injected Blazer, WITH OBDII diagnostic capabilities. Maybe it is the Auto Tech in me talking, but I love OBDII and would love to have it on all my vehicles. After all that, fill the burb with scrap metal and have it hauled to the junkyard for some extra cash out of the deal. Scrapping the burb will probably pay for the PCM reprogram and a few performance mods.

Oh if you do this swap, put some long tube headers on it, remove the EGR valve(make a block off plate), plug the EGR port on the manifold, and you will solve one of the biggest problems those engines have. If you get the PCM reprogrammed to work without VATS, you can have them deprogram the EGR stuff out of it too.
 
i did this with a '96 vortec, wasn't very hard at all. in my case, i bolted my np208 to the 4l60e so that i could keep the mechanical speedo cable running to my guages. i also installed a vss to the transmission so that the cpu speedo signal. you'll have to install an electric fuel pump that can pump out a minimum of 60 psi. there are some inline ones out there, but a lot of people say that they have a high failure rate due to over heating. best way to go is to use a intank pump just like how your burb is. only problem is i don't think you can use the pump from your burb because i think starting in '98 gm started using a sending unit that the pump was incorporated into as one solid unit. in previous years you could purchase the pump motor seperate from the sending unit. long story short, you need a sending from an '87 or newer k5, and a fuel pump from a vortec motor from an earlier year gm truck. i had a few questions here and there during the swap, but was able to get all the info i needed from this forum. the swap was well worth it, i highly encourage it.
 
sled_dog said:
Biggest hurdle is the VATS. 98+ had a built in anti-theft system that wont let the thing run without it. I think Painless and some others make a harness that works around that, or you could send your PCM off to someone like Westers and get it not only performance tuned but also remove the emissions stuff and the VATS. I say go for it.
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is the VATS the system where there is a chip in the key? that way it wont run w/o that key? because i had a spare key cut at ace hardware that was a peice of stamped steel. anyways, ive got a electrical whiz to help with the job, now i just need a garage, anyone near Ehprata, wa. with space?
 
Thats what VATS used to be, but not what it is now... Not entirely sure how the new system is suppost to operate, anyone here know?
 
you have to have a chip burner company remove it from the cpu, i think they link up to it and do some rearranging of some sort. i sent one to a place in texas that did it for $150.00. i don't remember the name of the place, but i can dig out the receipt if anyone needs the name.
 
pennsylvaniaboy said:
buddy rammit how easy was that swap i have a 9'96 i can get its complete i wanna swap it into my 79 and keep my 465
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it wasnt that hard at all. i think the most time consuming part is getting ahold of all the parts you'll need. pretty much everything just bolts in without much modification. '96 is the best year vortec to use because you dont have any reprogramming to do on the computer. i don't think that the 465 sould be a problem, you'll just have to get rid of the flexplate on the new engine and throw on a flywheel. you'll need to add in an electric fuel pump to feed the fuel injection with. there are a lot of inline fuel pumps that you can use but i hear a lot of failure stories about them, plus they're kinda noisy. the best way to add the fuel pump is to use a gas tank from a '87 or newer blazer or suburban because that was the year they went fuel injected. they use a sending unit with an intank fuel pump. i could go on and on, if you get the engine, hit me up and i'll break it all down for you.
 
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