Gor a junk yard 5.3 but what 5.3?

[thmzand]

Hey,

Sorry if I'm off topic here.
Got a junk yard 5.3 out of an '09 Express Van for a kit kar transplant, 8500 miles.
Van VIN is supposed to be 1GCFG154591121721. So, LMF 5.3 is expected.
It's for sure a truck (vortec) LS. It's an iron block with the truck intake and no DOD. It's got 243 heads. Thing that puzzles me is there?s no VVT with only three pins to the cam pos sensor, was there such an LMF in the US for ?09 or is this a bastard export (I'm in Sweden)?
Engine sticker says *10SAC W082691354* 515 if that helps.

I'm happy to have no VVT or DOD, just curious as to what this engine really is?

Got a C6 Corvette DBW pedal working with the Van throttle body and the the E38 ECM (service# is 12625455). What would be the best to flash for manual gears, PWM fans and no engine mods at this point? Will of course have to tune for different intake/exhaust.

Oh and it's only pin X1 58 for PWM signal right? Not two separate, one per cooling fan?

Thanks,
/Thomas

[brandon6.0]

maybe some body swapped engine out before and added 243 heads. I thought only the newer aluminum l33 5.3s had the 243 and 799 heads. U shoud be able to use the block id numbers to figure everything out. Does it have the front cam sensor? 58tooth?

[5FDP]

Per the internet the LMF was is the AWD vans from 2010-2014 but was also used in the 2WD express vans from 08-09.

Tons of differnet motors have 243/799 heads. Basically any LC9 motor, LS4, LY5, LMG, LH8 and the LH6 could all have those cylinder heads.

My parents 2012 silverado has 243 on their LC9 block and my 2012 silverado built 3 months later has 799 heads.

[ke5gnz]

vvt will have only 3 pins on the cam sensor. the vvt is mounted in the front cover behind the water pump. vvt didn't come into play until 2010 so depending on build date of the donor van it could be built with or with out vvt, there are 2 wires. the fan control is 1 wire from ecm to a fan control relay that then sends power to fan high and fan low relays trucks and vans were not a PWM control fan. in 2008 gm used 243 and 799 heads in trucks and vans the only difference between the two heads is manufacturing plant. the difference between these heads and the ls2 243 heads are the valve types. they flow the same numbers.

[verlon]

Look at the left side of engine near flywheel.

http://www.justanswer.com/chevy/3kq7...4-z06-ls6.html

There you can find reduced VIN.

[thmzand]

Thanks guys,
Yup, number on engine matches last 8# of van VIN 1GCFG154591121721. (2wd 1500 Express, US Built, LMF 5.3)
Cam pos sensor is 3 pin located on timing cover.

Should I flash a Manual Corvette OS matching the service # on my E38 to get PWM fan output to get started, or can I choose PWM with the stock van OS...
Manual gears vs the automatic OS is OK?
First run ever with HP Tuners :-O

[thmzand]

So, kind of gathered that VSS might be the reason to go for Manual OS. Seems all autos get VSS from TCM over CAN but as I'm running a standalone E38 ECU w/porsche manual tranny and separate cog wheel/sensor for VSS I need manual OS? If VSS not needed for ECM to do it's job, I still want VSS to be spit out on CAN to my AIM dash. Problems with idle when at speed shifting for example?
PWM fans seems to be selectable. (If it actually works in van OS?).
OS on my E38 is 12630501, so according to "Google truth" (or some spreadsheet i found) it is a "mainstream 2009 E38".
Also found a 12628990 Corvette 2009 LS3 ("stock") hpt file that is supposed to be compatible with my E38, seems to be a Manual one although I read somewhere that 12628988 is the manual LS3 vette?
A lot of confusion here...

So, condensed:
Have 2009 5.3 with its E38 on 12630501 OS. It's going standalone into kit car w/manual.
Going for PWM fans and want/(need) VSS from cog wheel.
Corvette 2009 LS3 E38 OS 12628990 or 12638988 way to go or stay stock?

Thanks
/Thomas

[Jon S.]

What throttle body and accelerator pedal (APP) are you using ?

The above, and the base E38 programming, need to be compatible.

To change to a Corvette platform means changing hard parts, and having the E38 flashed with Tech 2 / MDI, etc.

You can run the truck tune, and set the ECM transmission type to manual, and reconfigure the speedometer output - the scanner will likely always read 158 MPH (looking for a TCM), but the speedometer should still work.

[thmzand]

I got a Corvette C6 pedal working with the Van calibration by simply resistance metering the pedal and re-pinning to match. This is Van ECU, TB, my custom harness and C6 pedal on the shop floor watching angle of the pedal/throttle body as I moved the pedal through its range. It opened and closed fully and was smooth with the pedal sweep. Doesn't say much about driveability though...

So, write entire with the Corvette .hpt file brings nothing to the table (or doesn't even work) is the bottom line?
Finding a GM dealer who knows anything about this stuff in Sweden is, well, no. Might be some specialized speed shops though. I would prefer licensing the Van VIN/ECU/OS if PWM VSS functions are there.

So, maybe I'm cheap. What's a few HPT credits extra to try the Corvette file? Well it's still my dumbass first run with this so just trying to research before doing all the upcoming stupidness. :-)

Thanks
/Thomas

[Jon S.]

I got a Corvette C6 pedal working with the Van calibration by simply resistance metering the pedal and re-pinning to match. This is Van ECU, TB, my custom harness and C6 pedal on the shop floor watching angle of the pedal/throttle body as I moved the pedal through its range. It opened and closed fully and was smooth with the pedal sweep. Doesn't say much about driveability though...

Transposing 2 wires in the 6 wire APP connector changes the configuration from Truck to Corvette. Sometimes a Corvette pedal will work with a Truck setup, other times not. Sometimes it will work fine for 4 or 5 runs, then a dead pedal may occur.

Some people have used a Camaro pedal (which mounts similarly to the Corvette pedal) to avoid using the Truck pedal.

So, write entire with the Corvette .hpt file brings nothing to the table (or doesn't even work) is the bottom line?

HPT used to only write 6 of the 8 segments within the calibration. I believe it may now have an option to include the Slave segment, but I have not experimented with this new feature.

Only GM software can write to all areas of the E38 flash memory.

Finding a GM dealer who knows anything about this stuff in Sweden is, well, no. Might be some specialized speed shops though. I would prefer licensing the Van VIN/ECU/OS if PWM VSS functions are there.

I assume you mean the ability to drive a Speedometer in the dash ? The van ECM can be configured to do this.

So, maybe I'm cheap. What's a few HPT credits extra to try the Corvette file?

Experimentation is how we all learn what works and what does not. If you don't mind spending the HPT credits, go ahead - E38s rarely brick, but they can.

[thmzand]

Jon:
(C6 Pedal with Van ECM)
Yes I think, in the end it was just swapping two wires going from truck to C6 reading my scribbled notes. If it will translate to dead pedal eventually, I don't know. All I know it worked for couple of test runs (<1 hr) on the shop floor. I read somewhere that it's not the actual voltage of the single one of the two internal pot's but the relating voltage between the two circuits that was read. Now, sorry for my foreign technical english terms and I'm not even sure I'm right, Google truth.
Camaro pedal, good tip.

(Slave segment)
As for HPT not being able to write to that, I'm not sure what slave segment actually corresponds to. All these ECMs expect some kind of TCM or other modules like BCM, EBCM for that matter, are these the "slaves"? And if so, how much is needed for a standalone ECM setup? I have not found an answer so far.

(Speedo in the dash)
Yes, if i can get the vehicle speed into my dash over CAN I'm good. If the E38 needs accurate vehicle speed and that's screwed (I've seen some get 158MPH regardless), well I'm toast anyways. In a manual OS , why would it need speed? In an autoOS talking to the TCM, yeah not unlikely. Revmatching up/down shifts and whatever.
If there's a channel in the CAN stream providing me Speedo from the hardwire inputs, and E38 is good with that, all is good.

(Bricking vs cheap)
Not that afraid of bricking, I think the OS/service#'s above are OK. Yeah. Cheap:-)

[thmzand]

Licenced the Van os and ECM. Still have the engine on the shop floor (waiting for Afe/Pfadt mounts), but ECU, parts of main harness, pedal and Throttle body connected.
TB Blade follows C6 pedal inputs smoothly and TPS log shows in HPT scanner.
Change to PWM fans seems to work, 128 Hz signal on ECM pin (connected to +12V via resistor) follows VCM Scanner fan changes on oscilloscope. Nice square wave.

[thmzand]

So, finally got the GTM to go-kart stage. Some short test drives so far still on Express VAN OS 12630501. Apart from vehicle speed it all seems to work. Corvette pedal, PWM fans and AIM dash fed from CAN works but no speed as I have no TCM to provide rep TOS.
So, should I switch to Manual Corvette OS and use my "real" VSS and get rid of possible auto/tcm not present issues or is there a way to convert my VSS to rep TOS (Dakota Digital?) and leave the E38 as is?