Is a 5.7 from a 99 Suburban worth swapping?

frankenyoter

frankenyoter

No Rain, No Rainbow
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Mar 17, 2009
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I have the opportunity to get a low mileage, old lady driven TBI 5.7 with all the goodies from a Suburban for nearly free. My Cruiser has the stock inline 6, 4 spd trans and split cruiser case. I will keep the beefed up FJ60 front and stock rear shafts in the FF FJ80 rear. A little power with an auto (th350) and a better crawl is my dream, but until now acquiring any power plant hasn't been remotely affordable.

Is it worth the effort of swapping this motor? Need passenger drop transfer case behind which trans. Reliability and economics. Any ideas?
 
My brother has a 99 5.7 4wd suburban w 180k and it runs strong, pulls his boat well too. I would jump on it even if you don't put it in you cruiser.
 
a_kelley said:
99 should be a vortec csfi, not TBI. If it's TBI I think it's pre-96.... If my memory is right. Get the whole truck so you have everything.
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Agreed, I had a 99 Tahoe with the vortec 5.7. The motor is not bad, has around 250 hp and 330 lb/ft torque if my memory is correct.
 
We have one in a 2500 suburban with over 330k on it all original and no smoke. Runs great.

I would definitely get it to swap into something.

While its out a small cam would definitely help wake it up.

That motor should have hydraulic roller lifter.
 
Had one in a '99 two door tahoe, loved it. I pulled my racecar with it, drove it everywhere and even mildly off roaded it. Only issue I ever had was one of the poppets/injectors went bad. I replaced it for $60. Sold that thing with 260k on the clock and it was still running flawless. IMHO That is a great little motor.
 
I had a 98 Tahoe with the Vortec 350 motor. I would replace the intake manifold gaskets while the motor is out. They are notorious for going bad. Mine went bad. I would go TH350 transmission and maybe an NP241 transfer case. You can buy an SYE for the NP241. They made both driver and passenger drop versions of the NP241. You might want to make sure that the NP241 can fit between the frame rails of your rig though.
 
My Jeep has the 5.7 or 350 TBI, my 99 suburban as the Vortec, I'd swap y tbi for a Vortec any day. Does have better power. If you happen to get the whole truck, let me know. I might be interested in some parts
 
Mac5005 said:
We have one in a 2500 suburban with over 330k on it all original and no smoke. Runs great.

I would definitely get it to swap into something.

While its out a small cam would definitely help wake it up.

That motor should have hydraulic roller lifter.
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Adding to this If you do change cams you'll need to do screw in rocker studs. To get away from machining the spring pockets, comp offers beehive springs and offset retainers that work well with up to .550-.570 lift. I just recently swapped a vortec roller cam setup into my 350 TBI in my k5, factory vortec roller cam specs are 191 intake/196 exhaust duration at .050, 117 LSA and .414 int/.428 exh. I wouldn't go to crazy on LSA and maybe would stick with 1.5 rockers.
 
they make great swaps. standalone. if you go for it i suggest you premptively fix the following

throttle position sensor
tb gasket
head gaskets < back corners notorious leak areas

i believe those are the roller cams which are awesome if you ever do a performance rebuild. and it has the vortec heads in that year, iirc

I planned hardcore on a tbi swap, and the only reason i went 5.3 is because i realized it was only 3 wires to hook up. full efi is way better than tbi on inclines and declines. and i enjoyed the illusion of better mpg opportunities.
 
Mmmm vortec and tbi manifolds don't swap. Port heights and bolt angles are different. vortec goes straight down into the heads, tbi are normal to the head surface. However you can use a marine intake or one from summit to go tbi on the vortec. 96 and up were all roller cam setups.
 
good engine , other than intake gasket issues , I had a 99 suburban , sold it at 175K , last time I talked to the buyer he had over 225K on it pulling his enclosed trailer . One of my uncles has a 99 3500 with the same motor and he has closed to 340K on it and he has never had to remove the heads or oil pan , original 4L80E too
 
Sounds like its worth the effort for the swap. I've always figured a th350 tranny. Any heads up on torque converter tech?

drkelly said:
I had a 98 Tahoe with the Vortec 350 motor. I would replace the intake manifold gaskets while the motor is out. They are notorious for going bad. Mine went bad. I would go TH350 transmission and maybe an NP241 transfer case. You can buy an SYE for the NP241. They made both driver and passenger drop versions of the NP241. You might want to make sure that the NP241 can fit between the frame rails of your rig though.
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Frame rails are fairly wide. How much room do I need?

Is there another viable option for transfer case (s)?
 
I say go for it. Use the factory 4l80e that came behind it and stick a np205 back there. A 4x2 80e is ideal as long as it's a full spline output shaft because the vss sensors are both in the transmission itself and allows the use of any transfer case without worrying about tapping a vss into the tail housing (albeit easy and affordable if need be). I can give you a complete parts run down to adapt a th400 np205 to the 4l80e if you'd like. I did this in my last buggy and loved the results.
 
XJsavage said:
I say go for it. Use the factory 4l80e that came behind it and stick a np205 back there. A 4x2 80e is ideal as long as it's a full spline output shaft because the vss sensors are both in the transmission itself and allows the use of any transfer case without worrying about tapping a vss into the tail housing (albeit easy and affordable if need be). I can give you a complete parts run down to adapt a th400 np205 to the 4l80e if you'd like. I did this in my last buggy and loved the results.
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Did the Burbs come with 4L80s? 5.7 we know, but don't know if it a 1500 or 2500.
 
rodney eppes said:
Did the Burbs come with 4L80s? 5.7 we know, but don't know if it a 1500 or 2500.
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As far as I know, yes in the 2500. Same as truck or van.
Not sure if the vehicle in question is a 1500 or 2500, but either way, he'd be getting a damn good tranny. Nothing wrong with a 4l60 either.
 
So after getting a little more info...

It's a 1/2 ton yukon. According to him is the 4l60 trans with whatever case would have been behind it. I should be getting it all. IIRC those are driver drop. What time case should I start searching for to get passenger drop. What donor rig should I keep an eye out for?
 
frankenyoter said:
So after getting a little more info...

It's a 1/2 ton yukon. According to him is the 4l60 trans with whatever case would have been behind it. I should be getting it all. IIRC those are driver drop. What time case should I start searching for to get passenger drop. What donor rig should I keep an eye out for?
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Good deal.

For a pass drop case, the ideal swap is an 87-91 blazer or suburban case.

It will have same spline count input and bolt pattern, but will have electronic vss on output to keep fuel injection happy.

You also could swap an older truck, blazer,suburban 208 psd case to get pass drop, but will lose the vss on the rear output.
 
Mac5005 said:
Good deal.

For a pass drop case, the ideal swap is an 87-91 blazer or suburban case.

It will have same spline count input and bolt pattern, but will have electronic vss on output to keep fuel injection happy.

You also could swap an older truck, blazer,suburban 208 psd case to get pass drop, but will lose the vss on the rear output.
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I wanna say it's the 90-91, 241 that has the VSS. I know they used np208s in the 87-88s, I'm not 100% on the 89s. Make sure to grab the shifter setup from the donor vehicle. It helps a lot and makes it look pretty clean.
 
frankenyoter said:
Sounds like its worth the effort for the swap. I've always figured a th350 tranny. Any heads up on torque converter tech?

Frame rails are fairly wide. How much room do I need?

Is there another viable option for transfer case (s)?
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I don't know, but I believe it is wider than say a D300/Atlas. The distance between the input shaft and front output shafts is greater by maybe as much as 2-3", so the overall case is wider.
 
drkelly said:
I don't know, but I believe it is wider than say a D300/Atlas. The distance between the input shaft and front output shafts is greater by maybe as much as 2-3", so the overall case is wider.
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I have a psd 241 and Dana 300 at my shop and can measure if you need. Just let me know. Also have a psd 208 and some other older stuff around.
 
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