I bunch of 5.3 Swap questions.

[1980mailbuwagon]

Planning on doing a 5.3 swap on my 1980 mailbu wagon. If anyone can chime in and help me out it would be great! motor will out of a silverado truck.

What are people using for A/c set up? i believe for everything that i have seen the Factory location will hit the frame??

Is anyone using a 700R4 behide these motor. I have a built 700R4 with Speedo Cable that I would like to use. Anyone know what to do with the kick down cable? or am i better off using the 4l60e and doing the digital gauges? and running the harness for the Transmission.

will the truck pulleys work. going keep the factory 5.3 intake for now. may go to a LS6 intake later.

Can anyone recommend Mounts ?

Will factory Truck Exhaust Manifolds work? or factory F body Manifolds or do I have to run headers.

Does the A/c heater box have to be trimmed?

 

[83LSWagon]

1) For A/C, I notched the frame so the factory compressor would fit. I used F-Body Accessories though so the compressor might be located differently.
2) I had a 700 in my car until I got a hold of the T56. The one I had was stock, and held up fine. As for the kickdown cable, I frankensteined 2 TBs together to make it work. I'll snap a pic tomorrow.
As for the truck accessories, I am not sure. I thing maliburacings father son project used them but can't remember.

 

[MalibuRacing]

Planning on doing a 5.3 swap on my 1980 mailbu wagon. If anyone can chime in and help me out it would be great! motor will out of a silverado truck.

What are people using for A/c set up? i believe for everything that i have seen the Factory location will hit the frame??

Is anyone using a 700R4 behide these motor. I have a built 700R4 with Speedo Cable that I would like to use. Anyone know what to do with the kick down cable? or am i better off using the 4l60e and doing the digital gauges? and running the harness for the Transmission.

will the truck pulleys work. going keep the factory 5.3 intake for now. may go to a LS6 intake later.

Can anyone recommend Mounts ?

Will factory Truck Exhaust Manifolds work? or factory F body Manifolds or do I have to run headers.

Does the A/c heater box have to be trimmed?

I used a custom A/C setup. It works great, has a little vibration but I think it is a "feature" of the radial compressor. See here for more info: http://www.maliburacing.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=79059

There are other A/C options. I believe that the factory truck setup will work without notching the frame if you use the BRP kit (click on advertiser at top of page). Also, there is a company that make an adapter kit using a sanden type compressor, see here: http://www.kwikperf.com/lsx_ac.html

Depending on the motor mounts, you can use the truck accessory drive without any problems (other than A/C). If the mounts have the engine sitting too high, you will need to use a cowl hood, especially with truck intake. I was able to use the stock hood, but could not use the Vortec intake (cosmetic) cover. Everything else cleared.

I set the engine back slightly, to allow alignment with a 4L60E trans crossmember in the stock location. I did not have any clearance problems with the A/C box. It was close though.

The driver's side truck manifold will NOT work. It will hit the frame. I used F-body (Camaro/Firebird) exhaust manifolds, which worked out good, but I had to fabricate a plate to bolt to the driver manifold. It has a funky flange pattern. Also, had to plug an O2 sensor hole. the O2 sensor would not fit in that location, I had to install the O2 sensors in the downpipe. Again, no biggie.

I suggest you check out the Father/Son Project thread. It should address most questions. I learned a lot and would probably do some things differently, but it turned out pretty well. Anyway, here's a link: http://www.maliburacing.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=34

I'll be happy to answer questions if you have any.

 

[1980mailbuwagon]

thank you phillip!!!

 

[Scorps]

I'm bad for bumping, but I will need to use this thread as reference soon, lots of question I was going to ask.

 

[uneek1976]

1) For A/C, I notched the frame so the factory compressor would fit. I used F-Body Accessories though so the compressor might be located differently.
2) I had a 700 in my car until I got a hold of the T56. The one I had was stock, and held up fine. As for the kickdown cable, I frankensteined 2 TBs together to make it work. I'll snap a pic tomorrow.
As for the truck accessories, I am not sure. I thing maliburacings father son project used them but can't remember.

I would like to see pics of the kickdown cable bracket as well.

 

[Fatkaz10]

I can't speak to the a/c compressor, heater core/evaporator box, or manifolds (running manifolds upside down for the turbo, don't have a/c mainly due to my box being already notched, grrrrrr).

But if you want to run the manual throttle valve trans check out Bowtie Overdrives pn TVEZLS1BR. This is exactly what you need, but when you order it tell them you are running the truck manifold, the kit will come with the correct bracketry. I would recommend going with 4L60E, they are way easier to tune and that throttle valve kit is pricey. There's only so much a guy can to to get a non electronic trans dialed in.

I'm using the -1 plates with modified clam shells, I cut out the hole in the clam shell that mounts to the adapter plate b/c mine didn't line up quit right. The power steering pulley did hit the gear box, I found a dorman part number for a smaller 3inch-ish pulley that worked. The smaller pulley had to be installed waaaaaay down on the shaft, I had to use button head bolts and cut a small hole in the ps/alternator bracket to tighten one of them. I got the alignment pretty close but it does squeak a little when cold but goes away when it warms up.