Engine swap.

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Terry Wilkerson

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I am looking at this as a possible engine for my 86 gmc. It's a 95 Impala ss engine and trans. I believe the trans is a 4L60. I think the engine would be factory roller. I would rebuild it before installing it. Question would it be a direct fit without a lot of modification into my truck?
Is the 4L60 a good trans and is it controlled by the ecm? Will the current column shifter work with this trans?Lastly do you think $1000.00 a decent price for engine and trans ecm plus other components?
 

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RustyPile

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The engine, transmission, ECM, accompanying wiring harness, along with some minor fabrication and you should be good to go.. As for the column shifter -- there are kits out there to make this change... LS swaps happen every day, why not this one???
 

Ricko1966

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This depends on what you call a lot of modifications. The LT1 is a different block,different heads,fuel injected and opti spark distributor. You can't just swap your manifold,carb and distributor and go. Yes there are aftermarket carb manifolds you can use, but you run into the same problems as running a carbureated Vortec engine.So if you don't mind wiring in an ECM, and going to a different tank and fuel pump it physically bolts right in. And 4l60 is the same physically as the 700r4 so again a bolt in other than speedometer and electronic shifting and line pressure control. $1000 if I trusted it to be a good engine and transmission,I'd buy it, if it's just cores I'd walk away.
 
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Terry Wilkerson

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This depends on what you call a lot of modifications. The LT1 is a different block,different heads,fuel injected and opti spark distributor. You can't just swap your manifold,carb and distributor and go. Yes there are aftermarket carb manifolds you can use, but you run into the same problems as running a carbureated Vortec engine.So if you don't mind wiring in an ECM, and going to a different tank and fuel pump it physically bolts right in. And 4l60 is the same physically as the 700r4 so again a bolt in other than speedometer and electronic shifting and line pressure control. $1000 if I trusted it to be a good engine and transmission,I'd buy it, if it's just cores I'd walk away.
I've been looking at wiring diagrams on line to see what wires I would need to save out of the harness to make it run in my truck. Problem is most of what come up is wiring a LS into am Impala instead of LT1 into a square.
 

Ricko1966

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I've been looking at wiring diagrams on line to see what wires I would need to save out of the harness to make it run in my truck. Problem is most of what come up is wiring a LS into am Impala instead of LT1 into a square.
Have you checked our engine swap section? My approach would be get the wiring schematic for the Impala see what all goes from the engine to the ecm,fuel delivery and ecm and transmission to ecm and save and use all of that. Leaving lighting and accessorie functions to the trucks original harness
 

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If you do pull the trigger on this one I’d recommend a Holley terminator pcm, they probably also make a plug and play harness for the engine.

The ‘95 4L60e is basically an electronically controlled 700R4, they’re decent enough but require a TCM (or PCM) to run them. The Holley terminator max can handle it. The computers that run these need a VSS signal from the output shaft to operate correctly, the factory also used that signal for the Speedo. Most likely the transmission doesn’t have an output for a mechanical Speedo cable so you will need to figure that out. Either new gage set or I’d bet someone makes a converter that will spin the factory gauge.

The guides on what needs to be kept from the factory harness should be same or similar to an LS swap.

Some of the cost and difficulty is with the fuel system:
‘87 tanks with baffles
‘87 sending units retrofitted with high pressure pumps
Fuel lines to handle the pressure of EFI pumps
Return lines from the EFI system
6 port ****** tank switch valve
Relay to power the pumps

Good luck Sir.
 
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