What all does an engine swap entail?

[drmiller100]

there is a fuel pump in the tank you will have to remove and replace with rubber line and sinker.....
you have to figure out how to mound the chevy power steering pump and AC. And the chevy alternator is 100 amp or more, super cheap, so pretty hard to not use it. But the pulleys are all serpentine belt - don't know what kind of belt the diesel is.

what rpm will the diesel turn? If not 2400 or so, you are going to have limited top speed.

i'm pretty sure the 94 is a 4l60e.

[Waerben]

Well the 4BD2TC has a red-line of 3,500 which actually even with my gas 350 i try not to go over 2,500 engine rpm unless I'm merging onto the highway or something so even though my gas 350 red-lines at about 5k I never go over 3k so it's not like the average engine rpm's are drastically changing. I just don't completely understand what I need the transmission controller for? Is it for re-assigning the shift points lower? Or what exactly is that for? Do you think i will have clearance issues with my steering column?

[drmiller100]

the 4l60e is computer controlled. this means the computer sets the shift points by reading RPM, TPS, and vehicle speed.

without the computer the transmission start in second or third gear and stays there.

if you are ambitious, you can manually shift the transmission by manually controlling the shift solenoids.

[Waerben]

Does that mean I would have to push buttons on the transmission controller all the time to be able to up shift and down shift? Just as if I was driving a manual? Or with the help of the transmission controller could I just re-set the shift
Points to correspond with the new engine.

[drmiller100]

that means without the complete harness, stock engine, stock engine ECU, and everything else, you would need to setup some sort of set of electronic switches to manually shift gears.

There are aftermarket transmission controllers out there - here is one

Transmission Controller, Transmission Computer, Stand-Alone Computer, Monster Transmission, 4l60e computer, 4l80e computer, 4r100 computer, 4r70w computer, 4l85e computer, 4l65e computer, aode computer, e4od computer, 4l60e controller, 4l80e controll

there are probably other options. it would not be very hard to make one with a an arduino but I don't know how.

Inputs are RPM, Throttle position, and mph.
Outputs are power or ground to two solenoids for shifting and a third control for torque converter lockup.

[me and my metro]

Any swap is complicated but possible. I built a crew cab on a Suburban chassis and used a 6.5 with a manual pump and a 700-r4 so I do not have a computer of any kind. If you want to use GM stuff it is possible to use a Duramax and an Allison automatic from a 01+ pickup. I have a friend here in town that did that swap to a 98 Chevy pickup.

[oil pan 4]

Sounds more and more like a PITA.
Tons of work to get the roughly the same peak torque as the 350 but only around half the horse power.

[me and my metro]

Yes but my 6.5 gets 11 mpg towing my 35' travel trailer. I never got more than 7 mpg towing the same trailer with a 350.

[oil pan 4]

There are more efficient turbos out there for the 6.5L.
A more efficient turbo and turbo set up will give better milage and power all around.
The OE turbo set up that is on most of the 6.5Ls is not that great, its an undersized turbo on fairly restrictive exhaust plumbing.

[Waerben]

But I don't want an engine that big, I dont want a fullsized big V8 dura max. I certainly don't want the allison and the have to replace my entire drivetrain! I want to make it as non invasive as possible. But I do understand that there is some fabrication in order putting that Isuzu diesil in my engine bay. I really want to keep the transmission. Even if it means a headache with the controller. I want to keep this as simplistic as I can while still getting what I want. I want this small diesil because it will save money on fuel. I realize I will lose power. However I don't use this thing for hauling anything besides people. I just want to be able to drive down the highway going 60 and Not be able to watch my gas gauge go down. I think a small I4 turbo diesil would do me just fine.