3500 swap questions

[IsaacHayes]

Hmm sounds like the larger W body space actually might have more issues than a j/l body.

The stock oil sending unit on mine is by the starter... is there one there you can use?

[PCGUY112887]

Pic thx to Superdave... mine is setup the same.



The only thing you can't see in that picture is where I have the sending unit for my Autometer right now... the little metal piece above the oil filter neck blocks it's view.

Does the PCM just use the oil pressure sensor or what? Like I said I have no guage in my dash for it... only a "Low Oil" light which I think is controlled by the pan sensor.

EDIT - I could use that plug just to the right of the oil filter neck... but I would have to put a nipple a few inches long on it, then a 45* or 90* elbow to use the sender...

[PCGUY112887]

Bump... (well not really, this is a sticky!)

I figured out the headers (I think). I was under the car looking and there is a large thin sheet of metal for a heat shield from almost the middle of the car to the firewall... you could see that the shield was scratched from where I was rotating the engine forward and the header flange was hitting it. I cut about an inch off the heat shield and now the engine moves up fine, I could pull the engine and get the dog bone mounts in with 1 hand vs before 2 guys could not pull the engine forward enough to nearly reach the mounts.

How bad would it be if I left out 1 transmission bolt? The very top center tranny bolt... well there is no way for one to go in with the headers there, the bolt would have had to be slipped in before the headers went on. I could pull the front headers again to get it in there, but then I would have to pull the mount off again and ugh... no way I want to do that, it was all hard enough to fit on there when the engine wasn't in the car. I tried some shorter bolts, however the only one I can manage to get into the hole with the headers in the way is a bolt that is just bairly too short to thread into the tranny. I have one just 5mm longer than that and I can't get it in there, so I am kinda screwed there.

[PCGUY112887]

You guys must be sick of me and my engine noobness :P

I finally got a bolt in the top of the tranny... a slightly shorter one than original. I had to take a hammer and force it in, put a good scratch on the header but I got it in there and torqued it good.

My new problem is this rear engine bracket that goes between the tranny and block... all 3 holes in the block are close to mounting but not quite there... I would have to do some serious work to the bracket to make one work right.

However right now I have the bracket bolted to the tranny and it is VERY tight against the mounting bosses where it's supposed to bolt to... I can't decide exactly what kind of force is put against it... so I can't decide if I want to try to just leave it with no bolts or fab up some sort of bracket. I am afraid it may hit the block some if I leave it, maybe giving false KR and who knows what else...

Also the AC compressor, well the 1 bottom bolt does not line up on the 3500. I could have swore it did, I measured it out before I even got the engine but now it doesn't want to fit, bottom bolt is about half of an inch or so away from threading in. Anyone ever run a compressor with only 2 top bolts?

[Superdave]

Pics?


I beat up my 3.1 rear mounts pretty good to make them fit.. took a few hrs of work.

[3400-95-Modified]

You need to bolt that rear trans bracket down somehow, it prevents the trans from flexing back away from the motor...

Also the AC compressor Mine currently has only 2 top bolts in it, so no worries on that.

[IsaacHayes]

LOL Jon, lost your 3rd bolt or something? I'd worry about the A/C but I guess it could be ok since there are 2 top bolts and they go into steel. It would not be hard to fab a spacer/adapter type thing I would think for the 3rd bolt. Maybe even without a welder.

[3400-95-Modified]

My third doesnt fit without slight mods to the compressor... 05 3400 oil pan, And I wont do that till I replace it.

But if you think about it all the force on the compressor is pulling towards the motor so its not like those bolts are holding it from being pulled way from the motor.

I haven't had any issues yet

[PCGUY112887]

OK, more info.

DOHC fuel injectors - easy way to use them with the 3100 clips, just take a hack saw blade and very carefully extend the little groove around the injector... stock the groove only goes 3/4 of the way around, but on 3x00 injectors it goes all the way around. A tiny bit of work and the clips will fit on your DOHC injectors like a dream.

OK now for the bracket...



Almost impossible to get it into focus at the angle I was laying, but you can make out what the problem is... it's close but no cigar.



Where the bracket bolts to the oil pan... it must be a newer pan thing if 3400-95-Modified's 05 pan does it too. I probably could have just put on my 3100 oil pan so I would get the oil level sensor in the bottom of the pan, and the bottom bracket hole would line up... but oh well too late now.

Any good ideas on getting that thing to work? I could beat on the bracket but damn seems like an aweful lot to beat, that bracket is fairly strong. What about the bracket from the newer engines? What do they look like?

I am also in the middle of splicing the 3500 MAP sensor connector onto my 3100 wiring harness so I can use the 3500 MAP... I wanted to ensure I had the wire colors right (if anyone happens to know).



The wires I am holding are from the 3500 map sensor plug.

Thanks.

[bszopi]

Can't use an older pan on the 3500 block, as there is 1 bolt hole that is in a different location, as well as the oil pan being notched for the rods. So you'll have to adapt the bracket to work.

[wasas9]

hey, just some new info I got about the coolant thread type. It is not the 1/4" SPT as you stated earlier. I have the correct adaotor on order. It is a 12 mm by 1.5 or something. Ill let you know exactly what it is.

[PCGUY112887]

Where did you order the adapter from? Does it look like coolant will be able to flow around the sensor at all? Will the sensor "probe rod" part that sticks out even fit into the adapter?

[3400-95-Modified]

the head sensor is M12x1.5 thats what I had my sensor re-cut to.

Oh and my trans bracket did not have those problems. Mine lined up perfectly...

Its my AC compressor hole on the 05 3400 oil pan that is slightly out of wack in comparison to a 95. or a 01 for that matter.

[PCGUY112887]

Then I guess it's a 3500 thing :-/

[3400-95-Modified]

Exactly... This is why I put a 3400 under my 3500 parts... Remember I bought both complete motors for under 500 bux, with only 4k on them... I had the opportunity to drop in a 4k mile 3500, but with these changes/problems I said F-it, I'll stick with the lower end that I KNOW works with no issues... since this is my daily driver and all. Car was only down for 2 weeks during the swap because i blew the old motor... swap only took 1 day though.