5.3 LM7 GenIII & NV4500

4wdtravel

Well-known member
I've seen your photos elsewhere - youve done a nice job. Not many with the NV4500 as most are using the 6 speed auto.
 

AdamSanta85

Well-known member
Very much looking forward to this. I ideally want to keep my truck manual transmission with the LC9 engine.
 

Landy_Andy

Well-known member
Thought I'd start to drop some pic's in here... so, these were the dim's Nick gave me for the NV4500 to hi-lo shifter.

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Centre of sticks = 8"

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Height of gear stick stub to hi-lo shifter = 5.5"

That should give anyone a good reference to where things will come through the trans tunnel.

*** Now for my build please NOTE my engine has been moved back 1" to accommodate the Alisport V8 radiator & the t'case has moved back 8" to accommodate the Behemoth doubler box. ***

So, it looks like this assembled.

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And in the truck.

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My trans tunnel is also custom, so your on your own for that :eek:
 
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Landy_Andy

Well-known member
Can't remember where I stole this pic from but you can see the transmission will clear this type of x-member, think is a V8 one ??

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This is my 3 link x-member, it's based on the other so we're all good :D

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Now onto the engine mounts, as noted above mine are moved back 1" to accommodate my radiator as it has a fan shroud. If you use Nicks radiator or mount your electric fans direct to your radiator you'll be just fine.

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This gives me this clearance to the radiator fans from the water pump snout, it's about 3/8".

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Landy_Andy

Well-known member
Now some part numbers. These are the Advance Adaptor bell housing I used :

AA Part #712576 bell housing
AA Part #715535 hydro clutch slave cylinder bracket

My clutch slave cylinder is :

Napa Part #NCF 73117 Clutch Slave Cylinder

I used a st/st dash-4 braided flex hose from the master cylinder to the slave, on the master cylinder it's a M12x1mm thread & I used a banjo fitting I got from Merlin Motorsport in the UK.

https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/p/goodridge-m12x1-banjo-bolt-in-mild-steel-g-992-04-m121p

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More parts numbers for the clutch install :

#12557583 - GM Clutch pilot bearing (SKF #6302VSP43)
#11569956 - GM Flywheel bolts x 6
#12561465 - GM Clutch cover bolts x 6
NFW1050 - Sachs 4.8/6.0 flywheel (doesn't need a spacer)
LuK clutch kit #04-049 (as per AA sell in their kit)
1377-C - Throw out bearing
#12558718 - Inspection cover
#12561536 - Inspection cover
 
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Landy_Andy

Well-known member
Now onto the throttle assembly. I wanted to keep things as simple as possible as my trucks going to spend 99% of it's life off-road. So, good old fashioned cable linkage.

I used the outer of the old Chevy Silverado cable I salvaged from the donor truck and the inner of the old V8 cable from my D90. With the truck inlet plenum reversed it fitted perfectly & looks totally stock.

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I made up a little solder pot out of an old tire iron & put a new nipple on the end of the inner after carefully working out the position of it.

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If your using a later drive-by-wire then just follow the directions Nick sends with his pedal bracket.
 
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Landy_Andy

Well-known member
Now onto exhausts, with having the external clutch slave cylinder I couldn't find any headers that'd fit & tuck into the narrow frame rails. I ended up making my own using schedule 40 weld elbows & some flanges I got from CBR Performance.

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This is how they arrived & the fit with a 1.5" elbow.

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I assembled the manifolds using the 1.5" elbows, 1.5"/2" reducers and 2" elbows. A 2.25" v-band clamp coupler will match up very well with the 2" elbows and give a goo transition into the Y-pipe.

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And once complete I gave them a good coating of VHT paint, cured in the oven whilst the wife was out.... :rolleyes:

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That's most of the custom work needed for the NV4500 install, rest of the motor work will be specific to the year & model you use.

Hope that helps !
 
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Landy_Andy

Well-known member
Little update... found I couldn't get the bonnet closed as it fouled the plenum on the 5.3, so, after a bit of work with the zip disc & a clean up it's all good now. The MAP sensor will need remote mounting as it wouldn't clear the bonnet even with the front cross brace cut out but that's no big issue as there is a spare port on the side of the plenum that it can be piped into.

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The bolts for the throttle bracket needed swapping out to button heads and the boss behind them was trimmed also for extra clearance.

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Other than that I just need to extend a few wires as I also moved the loom back a bit for extra clearance and there short now and find a permanent plug for the old MAP sensor port.
 
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Landy_Andy

Well-known member
Got all the brakes finished & fluid in for the clutch too. Unfortunately, found that due to the LR master cylinder being 3/4" bore and the slave 13/16" bore I'm not getting enough stroke to fully disengage the clutch. I had suspected I might have a problem but thought we'd see how it went.

Looks like the simple (and cheapest) solution is to swap out the master cylinder for a Dorman #CM106439 as it has a 13/16" bore giving us a 1:1 ratio again. There is an excellent write up on the other site by 'nathanwind' for his upgrade kits.

Link to Dorman product : http://www.dormanproducts.com/p-12919-cm106439.aspx?origin=keyword
 

Landy_Andy

Well-known member
Got all the brakes finished & fluid in for the clutch too. Unfortunately, found that due to the LR master cylinder being 3/4" bore and the slave 13/16" bore I'm not getting enough stroke to fully disengage the clutch. I had suspected I might have a problem but thought we'd see how it went.

Looks like the simple (and cheapest) solution is to swap out the master cylinder for a Dorman #CM106439 as it has a 13/16" bore giving us a 1:1 ratio again. There is an excellent write up on the other site by 'nathanwind' for his upgrade kits.

Link to Dorman product : http://www.dormanproducts.com/p-12919-cm106439.aspx?origin=keyword

Did the swap, adjusted the clutch pedal to get max travel on the master cylinder and have full disengagement now. :D
 

Boswalt

Well-known member
Keep the updates coming. I'm gathering parts for a 4.8 / NV4500 / LT230 conversion. Your parts lists are really helpful
 

Tbaumer

Technical Excellence Contributor
Just read this thread and had one of those moments where I wondered where I was when I should've been in an auto class.
A lot of respect for someone who can build it from scratch.
 

Boswalt

Well-known member
Can't remember where I stole this pic from but you can see the transmission will clear this type of x-member, think is a V8 one ??

NV4500xmember_zpsa02c7cb3.jpg


This is my 3 link x-member, it's based on the other so we're all good :D

RaRo3linkcrossmember_zps237a73a9.jpg


Now onto the engine mounts, as noted above mine are moved back 1" to accommodate my radiator as it has a fan shroud. If you use Nicks radiator or mount your electric fans direct to your radiator you'll be just fine.

BCDBE83B-D9EF-4A5D-8BEE-8D6B119F2C63_zps7taqjc2i.jpg


This gives me this clearance to the radiator fans from the water pump snout, it's about 3/8".

398506AD-C8B4-4D13-88CE-385DFAA04337_zps9cnqdojo.jpg

Sorry to quote the whole post but is that a disco 1 transfer case bracket in the first photo?
 
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