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Thread: 1996 Suburban tuning options

  1. #1
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    1996 Suburban tuning options

    My brother recently acquired a Suburban that he put an exhaust in that we'd like to do a slight tune, disable the rear O2s, turn off the EGR, and adjust for bigger tires. It has the 5.7L with the 4L60 and is 4wd. I've tried reading into what options we have and it sounds like the Savanna computer is an option (which he has a 98) or the 411. What exactly are the advantages of the 411 over there Savanna computer? Will either work without issues?

  2. #2
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    Only 98+ black box is supported through hp tuners. I own a 97 truck and did the 0411 swap about three years ago. Tunability is phenomenally better than the black box. Really it's a pick your poison kinda choice. Imo 0411 hands down.
    97 ext cab short bed silverado 5.7 411 swap, edelbrock 29135 intake, lightly ported 906 heads milled .035 thou. factory press in rocker studs & rockers, comp 787 retainers & stock locks, ls6 springs. Comp cams 08-503-8 T56 swap

    86 SWB crate vortec 5.7/th350 The wife's truck

  3. #3
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    Everything I've read mentions it's better. But, it doesn't give details. What are the limits of the Express computer?

  4. #4
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    Thanks oleblu
    Do you have the details to the pinout and which computer you used?

  5. #5
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    For pinout information get ahold of lextech. I pulled my computer from a wrecked 02 Tahoe. Just make sure the serial numbers end in 0411. 5800 rpm limit is going to be your biggest drawback of the black box computers. The newer 0411 computer has many more tunable parameters.
    97 ext cab short bed silverado 5.7 411 swap, edelbrock 29135 intake, lightly ported 906 heads milled .035 thou. factory press in rocker studs & rockers, comp 787 retainers & stock locks, ls6 springs. Comp cams 08-503-8 T56 swap

    86 SWB crate vortec 5.7/th350 The wife's truck

  6. #6
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    oleblu was your suburban a 1500 or 2500? my 2500 has different pinouts than 3 sheets I have looked up, and did you have an auto trans? I have had a hard time getting that to work correctly.

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    I swapped the pcm in my 97 Silverado c1500 with an nv3500. I then built a separate trans harness after I swapped to the 4l80e.
    Last edited by Oleblu; 03-24-2018 at 08:43 PM.
    97 ext cab short bed silverado 5.7 411 swap, edelbrock 29135 intake, lightly ported 906 heads milled .035 thou. factory press in rocker studs & rockers, comp 787 retainers & stock locks, ls6 springs. Comp cams 08-503-8 T56 swap

    86 SWB crate vortec 5.7/th350 The wife's truck

  8. #8
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    Ok the 97 has a different harness, and different 4l80e than the 96, found that out this year. the 96 4l80e is different than the 95, and 97. Made it difficult to find a replacement, and expensive to have rebuilt.

  9. #9
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    Interesting bit of info there. I pulled mine from a 2000 c2500 classic. Found a reputable builder to do a rebuild for 1,350 shift kit included. They claim a 12 month no questions asked full build warranty. Not sure what kind of prices your running into where your from. I just used a pinout sheet from lextech for the swap.
    97 ext cab short bed silverado 5.7 411 swap, edelbrock 29135 intake, lightly ported 906 heads milled .035 thou. factory press in rocker studs & rockers, comp 787 retainers & stock locks, ls6 springs. Comp cams 08-503-8 T56 swap

    86 SWB crate vortec 5.7/th350 The wife's truck

  10. #10
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    3500 if i removed, the electronics in the 96 and 97 different, 97 upgraded. in all accounts on pinouts the pcm had pins where there shouldnt be any, I could trace the motor out but trans always short shifted. I found a used trans to put on the road for now, may swap to a d-max later, already looking at a doner truck.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by dkustom View Post
    Ok the 97 has a different harness, and different 4l80e than the 96, found that out this year. the 96 4l80e is different than the 95, and 97. Made it difficult to find a replacement, and expensive to have rebuilt.
    1995-2005ish 4L80Es are all the same electronically. It was the very earliest ones from like 1991-1994 and the later ones that are different. Around 1998 they changed some of the hard parts and moved the cooler return fitting to the middle of the case. 4L60E is a different story though. Those are much more year specific. 93-94 are the same IIRC, 95 is one year, 96-97 are the same, etc.