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Not to shift your blog, but this may be the easiest place to find a bunch of guy's who have been thru the build/ info struggle. I'm beginning my 2002 NB to LFX conversion
tomrev, are you documenting your swap anywhere? I purchased my LFX dropout almost 2 years ago now but various delays including buying a house/moving, wrecking my turbo 10AE swap candidate in the mountains last year, doing a 2.5 swap into a cheap NC this spring (first startup was last week, yay!), and generally waiting for more documented builds have really slowed me down lol. My replacement car for the 10AE happens to be a 2002 so I'd love to see what you're doing.
To gooflophaze and portabull: I love this thread and will be utilizing it a bunch when I finally start my swap (hopefully) soon.
The guy's who have already started build blogs have been so helpful, I thought I might just add some of the small stuff that I didn't find. I'm probably like a lot of guy's, in that the welding, fab work, plumbing, etc. are all understandable, but some of the wiring is like figuring out a Martian rune. I'll post these things as I figure them out. Many thanks to Ryan, Portabull, Carnut, 1999LFX, and all who have shared their info on the process!!
The Mellings guide is useful, but not great - it doesn't list the harness interconnects very well and thats where a lot of wire colors change. See if you can get your hands on the factory wiring guide. In the NA, those two relays would be for the fan and the a/c clutch, with the main system fan relay being in the underhood fuse box. I don't know off the top of my head the NB.
To the second question - the fuel pump relay is already powered by the key, it needs a ground from the ECU to turn on. In theory all you have to do is ground that wire to make it work in that way - but I think that's less safe, since in a accident you can have fuel pumping. Which is why I added the inertia switch from a Ford.
Thank you,( and Dave ) for helping find the two relays. My 2002 has the AC fan relay as I.D.'d in the photo, and the engine fan relay is tucked just in front of the main engine bay fuse panel on pass. side fender, the rear most relay of the three mounted there. The ECU signal for running the fan will ground the relay via the red/yellow wire. The signal wire for the AC relay is the blue/white. Good idea on the inertia switch for the fuel pump. Thanks again!
Amazing info on this thread, really invaluable. Thanks for taking the time.
I'm hoping I get some clarity on the ECU. I didn't imagine it would be such a challenge to find the right one.
Here's what I think I've learned:
ECU needs to be a E39, not an E39a
ECU will be from one of the following VINs 1G1FE 1G1FF 1G1FG
Where is 'E39' found on the ECU?
If the ECU is from one of the above VINs , is it possible to still be from an automatic and thusly incorrect?
Is it possible to just order the correct ECU? Seems like the easy button.
E39 / E39a is on a sticker on the back. 2013 is the first year of the E39a, 2012 is the last year of the E39. The LFX was first introduced in 2012, but the E39 was used in a lot of LLT vehicles (2010+). So specifically you're looking for a 2012 LFX ECM. The real easy button is ordering V8Roadsters ECM that's already tuned and flashed, unless you're planning on throwing down $500 on HPTuners to disable VATS (vehicle anti theft system). Since we're doing 2 cars, it (was) more economical to buy hptuners ourselves - but I think it's clear we're beyond that point now. You might want to touch base with v8roadsters and see if the E39a is still an issue - newer hptuners might've solved it.
The difficulty isn't getting the hardware - it's getting the software. The software for a replacement ECM has to be flashed inside a Camaro (no bench flashing). HP Tuners, EFI Live, etc - don't load any "new" software on the ECM, they take and modify whats already on it. With older ECM's like the E38 (apparently) you can switch (via hptuners) from using Automatic.exe to Manual.exe. But the E39 only has automatic.exe installed (for example), so the switch doesn't work.
I'll look at the V8R easy button tomorrow. Was going (and likely still will) to get the HP Tuners suite to adjust for cams and corn but I think to ensure ease of getting things up and running I'll hold off on that until she runs well then I'll screw her up some more
I hope they can still reprogram the ECU. This what I got back from them: "E39 for the Camaro LFX. Service number - 12643248for manual transmission. You can source them new through rock auto. We can not change the VIN."
The question is how are you going to assign a VIN? Not so sure the dealer would do this.
So GM serv#'s are kinda a.. well, they're a pain in the ***. From what I understand - there are non-rewriteable areas of the eeprom. Some of the GM OS are in these areas - and while you can flash everything else around it, changing an acadia ECM to a camaro ECM is possible since they have the same serv#. However, differing serv#'s cannot be flashed to different models - since the static eeprom areas wouldn't align properly. Again, this is what I remember researching year-ish+ ago.
But having an identical Serv# does not mean it's specifically for model / transmission configuration.
VIN changes were possible with E38 ECM's, since you could reflash the ECM to non-GM.. like Mazda - and retain that data for emissions - I think it some emission states it flags mismatched VINS. E39 locked that down some more, though I think new hptuners allows it now?
Last edited by gooflophaze; 03-13-2018 at 03:36 AM.
I hope they can still reprogram the ECU. This what I got back from them: "E39 for the Camaro LFX. Service number - 12643248for manual transmission. You can source them new through rock auto. We can not change the VIN."
The question is how are you going to assign a VIN? Not so sure the dealer would do this.
When we go to program the vehicle it pulls the vin from the vehicle. If it isn't correct or you're replacing the module you can type in the correct one and program that. I haven't tried programming in a incorrect vin into one though.
When we go to program the vehicle it pulls the vin from the vehicle. If it isn't correct or you're replacing the module you can type in the correct one and program that. I haven't tried programming in a incorrect vin into one though.
What are you using? EFI Live? If so what version. One other question while I'm thread jacking: can you change from auto to manual?
What was spec's response to your disc? I know your pain. I thought my failure was from too few rivets in the assembly. Spec never responded to any of attempts to communicate.
Their response was to sell us another disc at a discount. Our new response from Passey's finding of the overheight cover plate is to install an OEM flywheel/clutch.
At the time, we couldn't find another OEM flywheel (GM prices were north of $600 for the flywheel by itself) or LuK DMF116 (never in stock at rockauto). Now it's available as a LuK kit 04-262 - https://www.summitracing.com/parts/luk-04-262
Soo... about that wiring guide..
I'm in the middle of modifying my harness for my LS3 swap and I think now would be a pretty good time to try and document it. This'll be more generic and less specific, but I'm using what I learned from the LFX swap to make it more straightforward. The LFX swap was 2-3 weeks sitting on the floor watching TV and tracing wires with the wiring guide. This is going a bit quicker, but most of what I've done so far has been removing tape, identifying wires and pulling out some unneeded wires. I'm trying to reuse as much of the stock fusebox and relays as possible.
Are you guys all using the V8R downpipes? Has anyone tried these? Cant imagine they'd be too hard to make fit, or should I just start with stock pipes and mod away?
Seems V8R downpipes are in short supply right now.
[QUOTE=adam daly;1476163]Are you guys all using the V8R downpipes? Has anyone tried these? Cant imagine they'd be too hard to make fit, or should I just start with stock pipes and mod away?
Seems V8R downpipes are in short supply right now.
I did use the V8R pipes; the ones you show might work fine, but we know the V8R's will clear everything, and fit well; doubt that the Camaro pipes would get by without some chopping, so unless the wait is pretty long, I'd opt for that.
07-02-2017, 10:22 PM
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