97 tahoe 5 speed swap

[87carl]

Yesterday I bought a 97 tahoe for 800 bucks. It's engine transmission and transfer case were rebuilt less than 50 thousand miles ago. I got it so cheap because it's got a small Crack in the frame which is an easy fix just got to drill a hole the top of the crack so it can't grow and weld it shut and I will weld some 3/16th plate to the inside of the frame to reinforce it. And gotta fix a couple door handles and a few other small things. That's all easy to do and I will have a good running tahoe but it would still be automatic and I hate automatic transmissions especially in chevy so last night I went on Craigslist and found a 97 single cab shorted 5 speed 4wd z71 pickup with a frame that's snapped in half. It's clutch and flywheel were replaced about 15 thousand miles ago has a posi rear end and 4wd shift on the floor and it's engine runs excellent and is a 5.7 same as the Tahoe I bought yesterday. So I bought that truck today for 400 bucks and will trailer it home Thursday morning.

 

[87carl]

I have done standard tranny conversions on several 70s and 80s cars and trucks but never anything from the 90s so any tips info or help is greatly appreciated. I tried searching online but haven't found much about people swapping into a tahoe. I think it should be a fairly simple swap because I got whole parts truck that is the same year and same engine. And I should be able to sell the trucks engine and the Tahoe auto tranny for atleast as much or more than the 400 I paid for the parts truck.

Will swapping the trucks computer into the Tahoe eliminate any worries of it throwing codes from not having the computer controlled 4l60e in it? That's my biggest question.

 

[87carl]

 

[87carl]

also with the parts truck being a z71 is there anything else I should swap off it? I plan to use its posi rear axle and front axle so I know gear ratio is right. And it's skid plates. Does anyone know if z71s really had stronger Springs and torsion bars? I know the z71 has a larger air cleaner with a new filter that's going to be put on the Tahoe to get rid of a cheap cold air intake that's on the Tahoe. Is there anything else on z71s?

 

[#1taho]

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[87carl]

Does anybody know were to download wiring diagrams for free? I was jus looking under the tahoes dash and there's a at least 15 or 20 wires i have found that are cut and just dangling. So gotta go thru find and fix all of them and will also need wiring diagrams when i wire up the clutch switch and neutral safety switch reverse wires and everything else for the 5 speed conversion. Hopefully the trucks wiring won't be so cut up and i will be able to use a lot of its harness to fix this mess.

 

[willxfs]

Check out the link below. I haven't tried to get wiring diagrams yet but stumbled across it recently in another post and bookmarked it just in case.

http://bbbind.com/tech_database.html

 

[87carl]

That site is amazing they have a lot of wiring diagrams thank you

 

[SunlitComet]

tell me what the wires go to. i can get you the wiring fro the tranny swap. as for the computer just reprogram it for the manual tranny and any tire gear change info that way it keeps your vin and other data tables exactly the same. people do the swap here. What tranny did you get?

 

[87carl]

I got to go threw and trace all the cut and unhooked wires go still i don't know were half of them go yet. Do to the broken frame i couldn't squeeze under the z71 to see which tranny it is probably just a nv3500 i will pick the truck up with tractor when i get it here Thursday. Would prefer a nv4500 but i am on a tight budget so 400 for a whole truck makes it worth it even its only a nv3500. And would the vin tables on the computer matter? When i title and register it i will probably give the dmv the title to both the Tahoe and the truck. I can't remember what the form is called rite now but it basically makes my truck be registered with both vin numbers. So when it is inspected and plugged into the computer the vin will match. I have had to do that before. I don't think i will have money for a reprogrammed computer rite between buying the tahoe and the z71 and a clutch kit my wallets starting to get a little thin