Looking for some guidance on an engine swap. I plan on replacing my bad early 1999 with an engine from a 2002. Both vehicles will be sitting in the driveway side by side. Anyone done this before? Any info on the problems I'll run into? Are the engine wiring harness the same? Does it matter which turbo I use? The intercooler from the 2002 is busted, so, I'll be using the one from the '99 model.

I'm thinking it will be easier to pull the engine and transmission from the 1999 and get the new engine and trans hooked together on the ground and then putting them back in as a unit.

Making the swap is not an option, it has to be done. I hope to have it completed this week. Any guidance would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Tripp

 

Having them both side by side will be a big advantage, from the 42 pin connector at the engine both wiring should be similar, unless the 2002 has a glow plug control module.

The choice on the turbo is more about preference, but they mount differently, on the E99's it is a shorter pedestal, and different up-pipes, also a different spyder and smaller intake plenums. I would want to use as much of the 2002 setup as I could do to the ease of parts and cheaper repairs.

I would leave the trans in place personally, it would be quite heavy and I'm not even sure you could get it out, although I've never tried.

 

In what way is the later turbocharger broken?

Edit: never mind. I see it's the intercooler, not the turbo.

 

I would leave the majority of the parts on the 02. The only thing I changed was the engine side of the wiring harness, since the E99 PCM has no provision for the IAH anyhow. I removed the IAH from the manifold and got a plug from my (somewhat) friendly neighborhood hydraulics shop.

 

Are there any differences between the two intercoolers?

 

This truck was hit hard in the front and didn't have a bumper or grill and all the aluminum coolers (radiator, Intercooler, A/C Condenser, Trans Cooler). This "modification" allowed me to step into the engine bay which made the job much easier.

In fact, I don't know if it all has to come off, but I'm going to pull it off the target truck.

 

On the 2002, the intercooler has plastic sides on the E99, the sides are aluminum. I have not checked the pipe diameter. However, it's my understanding the pipes going to and from are the same on both trucks. Assuming that's the case, I'll just need to use the boots from the E99.

 

One last thing, after checking the turbo from the 2002, it has a small amount of left and right play. The wheel hasn't made contact with the housing but this will need to be addressed if I use this turbo.

 

Not sure what happened - if this posts twice my apologies. I tried posting and thought I had updated my progress, but don't see it out there.

Made good progress today, pulled the bad engine from the E99 and managed to get the 2002 donor in hooked up to the transmission and motor mounts bolted down.

One obstacle remains - the clamp on the back of the turbo connecting it to the baby's butt. I spent an hour (maybe longer) fighting with that clamp before calling it quits for the day. Does anyone have any secrets on how to get that thing on there?

 

I lined up the collector pin first, then kind of "popped" the turbocharger base back a little and it dropped on to the pedestal alignment tube pretty easily.

 

Pikachu - A good nights rest and following instructions... I was able to get the turbo in and hooked up in less than 10 minutes this morning! Thank You.

A long day today, but finally everything is hooked up and back together. Tomorrow I get new batteries for this beast and try starting it up.

At this point, the only concern I have is the starter relay on the finder well vs the one on the engine. Not exactly sure how to resolve the easiest. When I pulled the engine, I pulled included the battery cables and wires going to the starter. This means the starter is now expecting the relay on the engine to get is signal. However, the truck is sending the ignition signal to the relay on the fender well.

In the morning, fresh with an ohm meter, I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Thanks guys!

 

I'm not sure what you mean by that. The relay on an early '99 engine is for the glow plugs. The late '99+ engines have two relays on them; the second one is for the intake air heater, which is largely useless in stock configuration unless you live north of about 5 degrees latitude

 

Finished hooking everything up today and have the truck running - running good in fact. This might be the only model with 3 relays - 1 on the finder and 2 on the engine. If I take the "extra" one off the engine, then I'll have a bunch of extra wires just hanging around. I don't want that. If I go to the trouble of removing those extra wires, I would have to separate the entire wiring harness - you know remove all the electrical tape, etc. It would be easier to just use the engine side harness from the 1999 except I found numerous places where the wires didn't have any insulation on them. That said, we're going to leave well enough alone.

Pikachu - Thanks for the friendly advice. I can't tell you how many times you've helped me... I value your opinion on this forum!

Walleye Hunter - I used the E99 intercooler, boots, and pipes. The boots fit at the Y just fine.

BigAlsPDS - I took your advice (and Pikachu's) to leave the transmission in place and use as much of the 2002 as was available.

AllaboutMPG - Maybe next time we'll be able to help each other out!

Thanks everyone.

 

I was just sitting here catching up on todays forum traffic and wondering how you were doing. really glad to hear that it went well that you got it running I know you were on a tight schedule. hopefully you won't have any more emergency maintenance that needs to be done but if you do holler at me and if the work schedule allows I'll take off and not drive north.

 

Congratulations on finishing the procedure. It appears relatively painless from here.