99 Suburban 1500 4L80E Swap

[vanillagorilla]

I have what I think is a pretty easy question. I have a 99 C1500 5.7L Suburban with a 16263494 VCM running a 9365085 operating system. The burb is totally stock aside from a drop in K&N air filter. I've been towing with it more lately and the 60E is on the way out. I have an 80E in waiting and I want to swap it in.

I found a 98 C3500 5.7L stock tune in the repository. Comparing the two tunes, it appears the one for the C3500 is for an 80E. The operating system on the C3500 tune from the repository is 16263425. My question is should I do a segment swap or just change the VIN on the C3500 tune and upload it to my Suburban? I opened the two files and the segment swapper tool is still gray'd out, so I'm not even sure if this is possible.

The OS differences has me wondering if that's why there's an issue, but I downloaded a stock 98 Yukon file with the same OS as the C3500 and the segment swapper is still gray'd out. I've only messed with Gen III/IV stuff, so this Gen I stuff has me scratching my head.

[Markmx6]

Don't mess with VIN number changes unless you absolutely have to.

In order to do a segment swap you need to have tunes with matching os's. If you upload the new tune from the c3500 you will have to license it at $100, completely not needed for what your doing.

Find the right tune to pull the segment from and you'll be good. It just may be harder to find if you are running a blackbox PCM.

[vanillagorilla]

I don't believe it's a black box PCM. It's a 99 and I think those were 97-earlier.

Anyway, no dice on the segment swap still. I downloaded a 99 K2500 7.4L tune from the repository. Same OS and everything, but the segment swapper tool is gray'd out. Is this feature not available for a 16263494 VCM? Can anyone from HPT chime in on that?

99 Sub C1500 Stock Tune - Skips 7-11-2018.hpt
99 Sub K2500 80E.hpt

I've attached them for ya'll to have a look see.

[5FDP]

If it says "vortec" under the calibration details it's not like the P01/P59's where segment swaps work without a hitch.

[Markmx6]

Makes sense, I brainfarted and was thinking it was no big deal on mine, but I did do an 0411 swap. I didn't realize the blackbox PCM would act any different.

Vanillagorilla the Black box was used from 96-99. Just for the record (which is probably broken now) look into the 0411 swap, hands down the best mod I have made on my 98 Suburban and I will be doing it soon on my 99 Suburban.

[vanillagorilla]

Vanillagorilla the Black box was used from 96-99. Just for the record (which is probably broken now) look into the 0411 swap, hands down the best mod I have made on my 98 Suburban and I will be doing it soon on my 99 Suburban.

I did look into the 0411 swap, but I just can't justify it. I plan to do zero mods to this thing after the 80E. I'm not going to put money into a Gen I SBC when I could swap in a Gen III/IV and come out ahead. At that time I would obviously swap in a real PCM. I guess I thought not all VCMs in the late GMT400s were black boxes. So what was so good about the 0411swap? Is your Suburban relatively stock? Are you running could packs or something?

I'm willing to spend the extra $200 or whatever on credits to re VIN a tune and change the OS, just to not have to repin and spend hours messing with an 0411. I have an 0411 PCM collecting dust too...its locked, but i have it. It just seems more trouble than it's worth on a stock truck...my time is money too.

[Fast4.7]

I did look into the 0411 swap, but I just can't justify it. I plan to do zero mods to this thing after the 80E. I'm not going to put money into a Gen I SBC when I could swap in a Gen III/IV and come out ahead. At that time I would obviously swap in a real PCM. I guess I thought not all VCMs in the late GMT400s were black boxes. So what was so good about the 0411swap? Is your Suburban relatively stock? Are you running could packs or something?

I'm willing to spend the extra $200 or whatever on credits to re VIN a tune and change the OS, just to not have to repin and spend hours messing with an 0411. I have an 0411 PCM collecting dust too...its locked, but i have it. It just seems more trouble than it's worth on a stock truck...my time is money too.

The 0411 was used to control the 2001/2002 Express vans with the 5.0 and 5.7 with both the 4L60E and 4L80E.

I swapped out a street tuned black box for an 0411 I had bench flashed with some mile timing/pe fueling/torque management/shifting changes in my 1997 Express. NIGHT AND DAY DIFFERENCE in the way the same engine ran. 0411 ran so much smoother, more throttle response and better mileage.

[Markmx6]

My suburban is about as stock as it can get. Full factory exhaust, stock intake, stock engine. The only modification I made was putting electric fans on it.

I know it sounds stupid that the PCM running a basically factory program would make that much of a difference. The only tune changes I have made were to the VE table and power enrichment. The engine seems to just run smoother, but nothing I can quantify.

My original plan was to rebuild the motor as a 383 and run a new intake then add coil on plug and get rid of the crappy distributor, but I just bought a 3/4 ton 99 suburban, so this will remain stock until I finish the new one.

I'll say it again, don't change the VIN, unless you have to in order to register the vehicle. There is no, as in absolutely no benefit that I am aware of other than a waste of credits.

[vanillagorilla]

Ok, I bit the bullet and bought some PCM connectors and pins. It seems like it's a pretty easy swap. I think I'll have to burn 4 credits no matter what I do. 2 to license the vehicle from which the 411 PCM came, and 2 to license my Suburban. That's the same as doing a VIN swap on an old PCM, so it's a wash in my mind. I think what I'm going to do is the 411 swap first with the 4L60E in place. Work on the tune and work out any bugs first, then do the 80E and segment swap. I hate changing more than one thing at a time if I don't have to. I'd like to know if I have an issue, it's software and not hardware.

So now my question is, does anybody know how to get ahold of Lextech to get an accurate pinout spreadsheet and base tune? Is he a member of this forum or can someone PM me his email addy?

[Markmx6]

PM sent

Very good call on doing only one major change at a time, it makes any troubleshooting so much easier. It will cost you 4 credits unless you buy the PCM from Lextech, then he will send you a PCM with a base tune already on it, that way you will only need 2 credits. In fact the last time I talked to him he was selling the PCM and the connectors for around $300, the pinout diagram is free whether you buy anything from him or not. Keep in mind though that was over 2 years ago so prices may vary....

[vanillagorilla]

Thanks for everyone's help. I started a new thread on VINs and the 411 Swap.

https://forum.hptuners.com/showthrea...imple-Question