I know, I know, shame on me there's a ton of swap threads. But I would like to have my questions answered directly and not sift through pages and people arguing and such. I digress
I've got my 88 Formula with 305 TBI and 700r4. I just picked up a 5.3 out of a 2000 silverado, complete with harness and PCM. I've read about (and was referred to by the seller of the engine) Painless Wiring, also some of the threads have mentioned Pocket. My main question is about the difference in going through Painless or summoning the Legendary Pocket, as well as how to route the harness and integrate old with "new".

Appreciate any info

 

Welcome aboard thirdgen.org.

I'll offer an opinion here: As I see it, there are two possible routes with these swaps - 1) Pay someone a ton of money to do the swap for you; 2) do the work yourself.

There may be something in the middle, and, frankly, the harness is where a lot of the tweeners compromise. But, if you chose Door #2, you will be doing a lot of reading up on what you'll need to do (unless you happen to know this stuff already).

As you might be able to tell, there isn't anyone who can tell you which route to take - that's completely up to you. And, you should be able to figure out that in order to make that decision, you'll have to do a little studying up.

So, what I would suggest is you go to the LS1 Swap sticky in the top section of this forum, look for the link to Pocket's harness thread, and read it. You don't really need to read it all, the first several posts will do. That will give you an idea about the level of effort required to do the harness yourself, and whether you would prefer to shell out hard-earned cash instead of doing the job yourself.

Personally, I think too many people give up because they try to eat the entire elephant at once. Yes, it takes a little time, but it's easier for me to find a couple of weeknights to do the job than it is to find another several hundred $s in a project that is going to run multiple-$ks regardless. Take it one circuit at a time, and you can get the job done.

But, it's really up to you which way you go.

 

I couldn't have said it better myself.

I did this swap on my 88 GTA earlier this year. From past experiences I decided to do everything myself. It benefited me because I know where every circuit is, know how I assembled it... and so on. It certainly helps with troubleshooting. Point of the story is... the more you do yourself - the more you know about your set up... the easier it will be for you down the line.

If you decide to have someone else do the harness- I would talk to Pocket. But as was already mentioned - decide for yourself..... good luck and have fun!!

 

Thanks five7, and Alex I'm learning quite a bit from your post. Nice notchback by the way! Had one for 5 hours about 9 years ago....it caught fire on the drive and burned....Anyhow, Glad to have found this page, lots of things learned already!


I'll probably try it myself first, with the aid of electrical guys from the shop. It'll give us something to do during the long cold nights of the Alaskan interior.


I've mapped out quite a bit of thing I need for the swap, my plan is to do this as a winter project. I'll continue reading the stickys and forums, and search for answers, but will continue to post things I cant find here, if that's ok.


Will the 4l60e directly fit in place of the 700r4? I've seen something about needing a notch, but all I can find is the A/C compressor k-member notch.

 

Haha - I did mine as a winter project.

The only mod I had to do to get the 4L60E to fit, was cut off this ear looking thing on the casing. I think it depends on where you get your trans. (It took me like 1 minute with a jigsaw). Also if you don't get the trans from an f-body - then you might need to source a tailshaft with provisions for a torque arm mount (if you wanna stay stock) - Relocation torque arm transmission crossmembers can get pricey - upwards of $400 for a good one. (tailshaft is held on by 6 bolts - fairly simple to swap.)

As for the A/C notch - I found a crossmember on here for sale that had the notch already in it - someone did it and then the project fell apart. Which was good for me, cause my car was in an accident in its earluy days, thus a different crossmember ensured me that the frame did not suffer any.