6.2L L94 & 6L80 into my 1992 Blazer

[Nak]

Thanks! An LS Stepside would be a nice rig!

So much for cable shifting! I was planning to switch to cable shifting with a kit from "IdidIt", but there is no way to hook up the linkage to the steering column. There just isn't enough room between the steering column, the frame rail, the vacuum assist brake can and the exhaust. It works on the 6L80 side, so maybe in a different vehicle. After a few hours playing with that, I gave up. Went down to the local trans shop and took some careful measurements on a 4L60e. It turns out the shifting shaft on the 6L80 is 1 3/16" aft and 1/8" down compared to the same shaft on the 4L60. So I'm going to get 1 3/16" welded on to my original shift rod. After the trans is in, I'll see if the rod that goes across to the trans needs to be lengthened/shortened. Should have just done this to start with. The shifting shaft on the 6L80 is clocked identically to the 4L60, so this should work pretty well. At least I hope so!

Also, I was planning on running the charcoal canister from a 2012, another bad idea. Too, big, no place to put it. There would be room with single exhaust, but with duals--no way. After further investigation the stock canister from 98-99 mounts right to my new battery support and will work just fine using the 98-99 vent solenoid as well. I'll run 5/8" line from the tank rollover valves to the can. Should work identical to 2012 setup; actually maintenance on the system will be easier. I'll need a new gas cap as well.

 

[Nak]

Woo Hoo! Engine, trans & Transfer case goes in in the morning! I've so busy between work & the swap I haven't had time to post. I'll post pics later, but what I've done: Run a 5/8" line from the rollover valve to the engine bay for evap. Run the fuel lines. Finished organizing the '92 harness. I'll put on the corrugated loom after the engine is in. Dealt with a total length issue. (More on that later...) Designed the new shift linkage. Spent hours on the Trans mount to trans bolts torque spec. The service manual is wrong I believe. It says 49 ft pounds. No way. M8 bolts into aluminum? I don't believe it. I'm going with 36 and loctite 242. Trimmed the boss that I pointed out earlier on the block. I tried on a motor mount, less than a sixteenth of an inch clearance. After trimming, about 1/4". drilled new holes for the trans X-member and the shift linkage. Lots of misc stuff.

 

[Nak]

And in! Pics to come...

L94, 6L80, NP241 and the rear drive shaft are in.

The L94 fits like a glove. No news here, lots of people have done this swap. Although it surprises me I've never seen anything about that one boss I cut down. It was 1/16" or less from the motor mount. WAY too close for my taste. Any movement at all and you'd be tapping block to mount. Not good. I trimmed it down to where the reinforcement webbing started. Just about 1/4" clearance now. Very glad I did this.

The 6L80 fit's like it was meant to be there. Pics to come, but here are some notes you'll find important if you ever want to drop a 6L80 in this year range OBS: I moved the Trans cross member aft one inch. That was perfect for the standard 1" setback motor mounts. (Keeping the rear of the engine in the original 1992 location.) It fits just right. The original shift linkage fits perfect with NO modifications. (Rod type linkage.) I drilled a hole 1 3/16" aft for the linkage--I shouldn't have. The original hole works better. The 6L80 gear shift shaft is clocked identically to the old 700R4. The distance from the frame to the trans works perfect for the original linkage too. Again, NO mods are required for the rod type shift linkage; it fits just fine as is. The stock truck pan sits 1 1/4" above the frame rails, so it fits just fine too. Plenty of room to go with the low profile PML pan if you want to go that route. No need to go with a really low profile pan like a G8 pan. The dipstick tube was somewhat easy to install after the engine, trans and Transfer case are in. No need to mount that before bolting the trans to the cross member. The cross member installs somewhat easy after all is in too. Just jack the trans up as high as it will go. This isn't high as the 6l80 does not have tons of room between the trans and the body. About 5/8" clearance or so at the top? Because of that, you have to work the trans mount into place on the cross member BEFORE bolting the cross member in place. Then slide the cross member in to position and lower the trans to the cross member, then install the trans mount to trans bolts. If you bolt the mount to the trans first, you don't have room to get the cross member in place.

Sequence: Engine in--1" setback, trans in and bolted/torqued to the engine, transfer case mounted to trans, raise trans as high as it will go, put cross member in place, install trans mount to cross member, loosely start mount to trans bolts, install cross member to frame bolts--1" aft of original location, torque trans to mount bolts. This ends up with the transfer case being in the same position as it was originally.

I went with the Holley R4 AC bracket, so I wouldn't have to disconnect the AC at all. That didn't work out so well. The bracket moves the R4 considerably more outboard than it was, enough so that I'll need new hoses. I got it mounted, but I had to bend the hell out of the hard line mounting to the back of the R4, and it still has the hose in a bad place. To do over again, I'd have had the system emptied, and gone with a Sanden AC compressor instead of the R4. Oh well... The R4 has always kept my rig plenty cool. Nothing bad to say about the Holley bracket, it just moves the R4 where it can fit. It looks very factory.

I ended up going with KDS instead of Dirty Dingo motor mounts. I like the KDS mounts a lot better because of the way they locate the mount properly. Just drop the engine down onto the locating pins, throw in the thru bolts and done. Just that easy. The negative about the KDS mounts is that I don't like the way they come. They are not welded completely around, I'll show pics of this later. I had mine welded up completely. This warped the mounts since no jig was available. No big deal, because 10 bucks took care of that at a custom metal bending shop. Then I had them powder coated. So, I'm into them about $170. I have no idea why they aren't completely welded from KDS. They are water jet cut and designed very nicely. Great mounts. But leaving crevices is just an invitation to corrosion and failure in my humble opinion. Nothing wrong with the DD mounts either, just harder to get the motor perfectly level. Very doable and lots of people have done it, I just like the KDS style more. Closer to the way the factory mounts are designed.

I did not leave any engine mount bolts loose as Dirty Dingo and KDS recommends. I measured very carefully, and got the mounts set in precisely the factory location. The front surface of the rear motor mount plate--the part that mates to the rear of the frame mounted mount--needs to be 14" on both sides. I used a straight edge across the back of the engine so I could measure straight back and not at an angle. I torqued the mounts down and used loctite 242. This worked out perfect. Just make sure you measure VERY precisely. Fore and aft an 1/8" won't make a big difference, but the left side MUST be exactly where the right side is. Otherwise the trans mount will be off left to right.

 

[Nak]

Dirty Dingo and KDS motor mounts. The dirty dingo mounts have more range, the KDS are 1" setback +/- a little bit. The KDS have locating slots that mate with the factory motor mounts and make installation a snap. The Dingos are fine to use as is, I had the KDS welded completely up, straightened and then powder coated. (The welding warps them.) I don't like the way the KDS come partially welded. Nothing wrong with the Dingos, I prefer the KDS after they are finished up. The Dingos are probably easier to tighten up the bolts if you leave them loose for installation. I'd rather make damn sure they're in the right position before dropping the motor in.

 

[Nak]

Some post install pics: (The middle one is the trans cross member, the last two show trans shift linkage.)

 

[Nak]

One more...

 

[Nak]

The AC post install:

 

[Nak]

It seems like there's just a million little details... I've got the power steering done. The stock return line from a 2012 works perfect; I had to fab up the pressure line because of the electric fans. I cut the 2012 hard line from the pump where it comes even with the front of the pump. Then had a -6 AN male fitting welded on. I put a O-ring to -6 AN fitting in the steering box then ran a line between them. I'll add pics later.

I'm using the factory hard lines for the Trans cooler. I had to cut them half way up the engine block for clearance. Had -6 AN fittings welded to them there, I'll run hose the rest of the way.

The factory hard lines for the oil cooler don't fit at all, so I'm going with an improved racing low profile adapter/thermostat at the block, then hose from there. http://www.improvedracing.com/oil-c...ler-thermostat-for-ls-engines-180f-p-209.html

I found out that the Alternator I have won't run without massive work, so I'm swapping the 2 pin voltage regulator for a 4 pin voltage regulator off of an AD244 alternator. The alternator I have is a 160 amp model with 5 miles on it, so well worth keeping.

I have to trim the fan shroud some more; the evap can interferes with it a bit. Just a bit of trimming will fix it.

The original harness is all trimmed and covered with nylon corrugated loom. I re-routed it a bit to keep it further away from the exhaust. All splices were done with Ancor marine grade wire and Ancor marine grade butt splices with adhesive line heat shrink. That keeps all of the connections waterproof, plus the marine grade wire should outlast the truck. I have like 10,000,000 feet of loom leftover. I couldn't find nylon loom anywhere but at Waytek wire in 100' rolls. Couldn't find it locally and most of the online stuff is polyethylene. Several online places sold what they claimed was Nylon, turned out to be poly.

The intake goes on tomorrow, I'll get what I can get done this week and then it goes in for an exhaust system on Thursday. Mandrel bent stainless dual exhaust is my plan right now. I want both tubes to dump out the passenger side though. I've heard that dumping out both sides sounds terrible in V4 mode...

 

[Nak]

Got the heater hoses done. I used a stock 2012 return line and standard hose for the hot line. The stock return line has a 3/4" connection to the motor and a 5/8" connection to the heater core. Perfect. It also has a tee to the surge tank. (I'll be running the 2012 surge tank.) The hot line is 5/8" out of the motor and 3/4" into the core. I just used an adapter to mate the two.

I also got a bunch of minor details done, tons left to go! Still on track for the exhaust on Thursday.

 

[Nak]

Wiring pic... Nothing running down by the exhaust now. The starter solenoid is re-routed around and in from the front.