My 5.3 Engine swap

[humvee]

Thank youu.
How do I make it learn the crank angle?
Is this what we're talking about?


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[humvee]

So we just fired it up for a few seconds. No exhaust yet. I'm excited!!

https://youtu.be/ywD8ENtLXxs


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[humvee]

Parts update. So far these are the parts I needed to do the swap. Amrg left some of the accessories mounted on the engine when he sold it to me. But, if you're only getting the engine block and intake manifold, expect to buy a whole lot while putting it together.

ENGINE PARTS, ACCESORIES & ELECTRICAL
Power steering pump - ACDELCO 25932020
Starter Assembly - 19180529 and 11610787
Indicator (oil level) - 12610053
Tube Oil level - 12563918
Waterpump
Alternator
Alternator bracket 12567922
Tensioner pulley - 12609719
Idler Pulley - 12580771
Power steering pulley - 12605507
Clutch fan
Belt AC compressor - 19210691
Belt - Fan and water pump - 12626222
Engine mounts - http://www.currentperformance.com/shop/04-08-colorado-canyon-v8-engine-mounts/
AC Compressor - ACDELCO 1522146
AC Compressor mounting bracket - 12554026
AC hoses - 15865705 and 25813637
Heater hose
Air intake assembly (top housing + intake pipe) - 25813589
Engine Oil Pan + gasket- 12624621
Oil pan drain pipe
Radiator hoses
Knock sensor - 12623730
Fuel pump

TRANSMISSION - Only if you wish to adapt 2008^ i5 4L60E to work on the Alpha LH8.
4L60E Alpha style input drum / with reluctor - http://www.bulkpart.com/2/product/D74554GA.html
4L60E Alpha specific stator shaft - A74529E
Transmission oil filter + gasket
Torque Converter
Torque converter seal- 24202535
Crankshaft seal
Transmission to Transfer Case seal
Bell Housing - ACDELCO 24236707

EXHAUST
Exhaust manifold - 12598548 and 12600527
Alpha exhaust downpipes + cats (I went custom) - 20784217 and 25844505
O2 sensors (Only inside pre-cat, deleted post-cat set)

OTHER
Custom extended or Alpha fuel lines
Wiring harness

More will be added on as I find receipts and remember.

 

[humvee]

So now that everything is almost in place. Here's what we've been doing over the past couple of days.

We were troubleshooting a tranny leak for a day, turns out we had a defective seal between the tranny and T-case. Once that was sorted, we started working on the custom exhaust. If you guys recall, I wasn't able to get my hands on the OEM manifolds, which should point back and downwards to avoid contact with the frame on the passenger side. Instead, we had to work with the straight down orientation, leaving us little to no clearance. So far so good. We cleared the frame with a bend straight out of the manifold without problems. Here's the design.

We took a look underneath an alpha, and mimicked the exhaust path there, cancelled most of the stretches were Hummer had flattened the exhaust, the outcome remains to be seen but Sam assures me it has enough wiggle room. They removed it for insulation so I don't have a pic of that yet.

Further down, we had to cut the exhaust and push it back to make room for the Y-pipe, where left meets right. Simple chop and weld? No.. they had to reposition the entire catback sightly in order for it to line up.

Back on the engine side, we completed the trans-cooler setup, isolated the stock cooler within the radiator and rerouted it to this baby. Margo was kind enough to give me one of his stock Spal fans, Jamie had made a relay on the harness for this.

We also got around to installing the passenger side crossmember bushing, will do the other side on Saturday.

And this brings us to Saturday! Tomorrow, somewhere between the Champions League Soccer final, and a film deadline, I'll be taking my H3 home.

Wish me luck friends, will update soon.

 

[Ghostbuster]

Good job!

 

[humvee]

During our last check underneath the truck, we realised that the fuel lines run too close to the exhaust. While clearing them, the lines came loose from the engine side. I asked the guy if he had extended the fuel lines like I asked, he did not.

Now that everything is in place, I don't know how difficult this will be. The fuel leak source can barely be seen from underneath.

While they do that, I need help with the following..
Theres a plug for the fuel pressure sensor. Jamie put it in the exact same place as it was on the old harness, but the electrician cannot find it. I'll go underneath an alpha today to see if there are any differences, but I found this image online.

Here's the plug on the harness, anyone can give any insight on this?

 

[humvee]

Today I took the truck out for a test drive after they extended my fuel lines. The exhaust was touching the frame at 2 spots. Went back in for minor adjustments, will need a few more.
The nice thing about this custom exhaust job is that we eliminated all the original flat exhaust sections. Im pretty sure ill need to hammer in a few bends in, but its still better than the setup it was before.

Now, the truck seems very underpowered. It dwells in 1st before changing to second. And full throttle barely gets it moving. Will see if this is the tune or something else.

Some bugs need to be sorted, i think the manifold is leaking, getting a clicking noise that's consistent with the rpm.

This will need a bit more time


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[humvee]

Quick update. Washed the Hummer and brought it home... Confirmed that the manifold is leaking, quite badly too. This should be the reason for the loss in power, cz the tune I had flashed was stock alpha.

Exhaust gets in contact with the transfer case when I hit mild bumps, and when I go over 40mph. Will go in tomorrow for tightening and adjustments.

Also, the AC isn't cooling that much. I read that AC Delco ship their compressors with a small amount of oil in them, but may not be enough to function as intended.
Now that everything is in place, I'll have to get back in there, and do what needs to be done with the compressor.

Took out the oil level dipstick for a check, and it wouldn't slide back in. Mechanic said he has the bolts tightened too hard. Covered it up with some tape and added it to the list of things to do.

All in all, I'm very happy to be behind the wheel again.

 

[650Hawk]

This is/has been helluva install. Not what anyone would typically attempt. That said I wish you the best of luck getting the final pieces into place. Your V8 install would make most of us simply look for an Alpha. You've shown us that it's possible to make the conversion (to a V8), but it's probably not practical for most of us.

 

[humvee]

You've shown us that it's possible to make conversion (to a V8), but it's probably not practible for most of us.

If we look at Chris's swap, he was able to get a V8 off a totalled Blazer with its tranny for a very good price. That can make the difference worth it.
The dealer here sells parts at 3-4 times the price. For example, AC lines cost me $520.
If I had the full list of parts before I started, I would've ordered it all at once. Lacked some research and there was a lot of trial and error along the way.

Another thing to look out for... I'm now running a V8 on the i5 aluminium differentials and 35" tires. Thats not ideal for ya'll if you're rock crawling. I won't worry about that on the dunes.

 

[humvee]

Some more images of the exhaust work.

 

[06 H3]

glad to hear its up and running! Now its time for all the tinkering/perfecting the odds and ends.

 

[CaddyStrophic]

I've been following you all the way. Just wanted to say congrats on the swap and I hope you get all the kinks worked out.

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[humvee]

Thanks guys! Just a matter of time now I hope


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[humvee]

Im facing what I believe is the final issue on this build. Its Fuel related.

The harness Jamie made came with a plug labelled 'fuel pressure', this is meant to go into the fuel line on near the cat on the driver side. However, when plugged in, I don't get a fuel pressure reading, and getting the P0192 code (Fuel rail pressure sensor circuit low input)

BUT.. I found that the correct plug is found on the body harness, which wasn't connected. I replaced the two and immediately got a pressure reading.
But now we have a loose plug on Jamie's harness, with no where to plug into.

So after close examination of a stock alpha, the electrician decided to strip both plugs and join them together. I didn't get a change to run a diagnostics before merging the wires, but after merging, I started getting the P0001 code. Which could and should be faulty wiring.

The 3 drives heavy. Tomorrow I'll ask them to separate the two cables so i can run a proper diagnostic. But I feel the problem could be from the fuel pump control module (20759945). Its the same part number for both i5 and V8, but they should be programmed differently.

 

[humvee]

So the fuel pump control module wasnt the problem. Codes cleared out when I flashed the stock tune in there. I'll keep it stock and wait a few cycles to see if anything returns.

But... Found an engine oil leak. Must be the crank case seal. Will keep a close eye and top it up over the weekend.

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[humvee]

Closer inspection showed that theres too much oil. The new dip stick isn't helping. Pressure built up so much that it forced its way out past seal.
We can't remember who it was that filled it up from the service team.

Doubt the seal will survive this


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[CaseyS]

This is the troubleshooting phase I was speaking of. Hang in there. My trans came down three times over the first two months. Just keep a log of the issues, prioritize and tackle them one at a time. If it were easy, everyone would have a v8.

 

[06 H3]

Agreed, that is not only to the V8 swap, it's to any major mod. Getting it done is half the work then troubleshooting is the rest...hang in there!

 

[humvee]

Thank you guys for your kind words. All seals sorted, no more leaks. but I'm having other issues.

The oil light keeps going on and off, mostly if I'm parked at an incline.
When I turned off the truck and checked the engine oil dipstick, white smoke was coming out of it. I linked the video to this below.

While the engine is off, but still hot.

https://youtu.be/K0gCHlCDU2Y

EDIT: Oil levels are normal

 

[4speedfunk]

I think I will just sell mine and buy an Alpha.

 

[JPaul]

I think I will just sell mine and buy an Alpha.

I think humvee is having all these problems because he's in Qatar. It's a lot easier to get all the parts you need here in the states. Also he's relying on other people to do a lot of the work, which they may or may not be competent enough to do it right. This should be a straightforward swap, considering that year had an option for a V8. It's not like other swaps that you're truly having to do custom work to get everything to fit and work.

Heck, swapping in a 2.4 into my Neon to replace the 2.0 "should" have been straightforward, since the only real difference on them was the firing order (swap some pins around in the harness), the block height, and the front engine mount (it'd been done enough times that you could buy an adapter for the mount either used or new easily), trim the hood braces due to the increased height, and a handful of other parts that needed to be changed out to make it fit. The transmission bolted right up, as did the two other engine mounts, the head was the same so you'd use existing intake/exhaust. The Neon forum had a complete step by step for the whole process. Even then though I still had to do a number of customization's to make it actually work.

For a 2008+ H3 swapping in a 5.3 should simply be a matter of collecting all the parts the factory used and bolt it all together and turn it on. I do not think you should even need to reflash the engine controller as you can just get a V8 version and maybe reprogram the VIN or something minor like that. Get it all in and working and then mess with the tune if that is what you want to do.

But yes, I think that selling your H3 and buying an Alpha is a much easier and probably cheaper option. Only downside to that is you are getting a used engine, and I prefer the idea of rebuilding whatever engine you are swapping in so that you have a nice fresh engine instead of one with unknown life left on it. That being said, if my warranty will cover fixing my 3.7, I'm just going to go with that and then in a couple years sell my H3 and get an Alpha, and then probably pick up a 6.0 or 6.2 to rebuild and swap in.

But if it doesn't get fixed by the warranty, then I'll be re-reading all of humvee's thread to figure out how to swap in a V8. It's been a very helpful and detailed thread.

 

[4speedfunk]

Also not sure I would ever sweat this much for a 5.3L. Its a great motor but, that just too much dickin around to make your own bone-stock Alpha. There several other larger-displacement V8s that are the same physical size. I saw the GM off-road racing H3 in person a few years ago...it had a 7.0L Corvette LS motor. Awesome! Same amount of effort...same cost (except for the motor itself)...triple the horsepower....

And no doubt that stock IFS would explode the first time you nailed it. :giggle:

 

[CaddyStrophic]

Also not sure I would ever sweat this much for a 5.3L. Its a great motor but, that just too much dickin around to make your own bone-stock Alpha. There several other larger-displacement V8s that are the same physical size. I saw the GM off-road racing H3 in person a few years ago...it had a 7.0L Corvette LS motor. Awesome! Same amount of effort...same cost (except for the motor itself)...triple the horsepower....

And no doubt that stock IFS would explode the first time you nailed it. :giggle:

I'm guessing that's a one-of-a-kind hood? Because I kiiinda need that in my life.

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[humvee]

Theres truth in this.. I didn't want a 6.2, too much power for a dd.
And its true that its a hassle, but sometimes overlooking a small detail can complicate the hell out of whats meant to be simple swap.

I think I found the source of my smoke problem. The mechanic broke off the vaccum pipe on top of the intake manifold a while back, and did a terrible job at gluing it back together.
Its not doing its job, Some research is leading me to believe that this is also behind the fuel codes.

Power steering hose keeps popping, second time now. Maybe the hot air from the manifold leak is behind this.

Took the truck back in to see if they'll get it all right this time.


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