06 LQ9 into 89 Suburban Fuel Delivery/CA Smog Issues

[Ydtrack]

Thank you in advance for any help, it is much appreciated.
I am swapping a 2006 LQ9 into my 1989 V2500 Suburban and I am going to make it CA smog legal, which complicates things a little.

Have you talked to a SMOG referee before getting started? I was going to do this on my '83 C10, but the bullshit from the BAR to make it CA legal was rediculous. I am not saying it can't be done, but you may be in for more headaches than you can believe.

[socoinslo]

No I have not actually spoken to a bar ref. My understanding is that I will need to incorporate everything emissions related from the 2006 donor vehicle, which now that I am in the process of doing is a pain in the arse. What about your research or conversation with the bar ref made it not worth it to you? So far the hardest part of the emissions stuff for me has been getting the vapor system check to function properly. I have so far obtained the charcoal canister, vent valve, purge valve, fuel tank pressure sensor, fuel tank level sensor, and the filler neck. Getting all of these installed properly should allow the computer to perform the vapor system check. To get them installed, so far, I have taken a newer style tank and cut out all the mounting rings and welded them to my 89 fuel tank. This let me get the newer style sending unit mounted in the tank which has the level and pressure sensors in it already. Now I will mount the vapor canister next to the tank somewhere and hook up the vent valve to it then run the purge line from the motor to the canister. Since the donor vehicle is a 2006, I have to also swap out filler necks so that I have the ORVR valve as well. Please don't freak me out man... I feel like I am so close!lol

[socoinslo]

The only other thing that I have heard is that I may have to have same trans that the motor was mated to... That is baffling to me!

[kewljay223]

Have you talked to a SMOG referee before getting started? I was going to do this on my '83 C10, but the bullshit from the BAR to make it CA legal was rediculous. I am not saying it can't be done, but you may be in for more headaches than you can believe.

LMFAO ok dude, I myself and another member on here just passed our motor swaps within a few weeks of eachother. Yes it can be done and let me tell you its not that hard. The hardest part is exactly what soco said....getting the pressure sensor in the tank if the donor tank doesnt fit. the only other hard part is maybe the exhaust but on a truck with all the space... ha minor adjustments and your good to go. hell my truck is a 4/6 and it still clears the ground.

Sounds like you just want it to all fall in place for you and just cant handle anything more than that. but As long as you have some basic fabbing skills and arent afraid of a little challenge, a truck motor swap in cali is honestly a piece of cake as long as you do your research before hand. which it sure looks like soco did since hes almost there. just because you talked to one ref and it scared YOU, doesnt mean you should be trying to shy people away from it. ESPECIALLY since you never even tried going through the process. and if anything, its WELL worth the small hoops to jump through as you will benefit from MORE power with the same and most likely better MPG aaaand, its cleaner for the environment!! talk about a win win.

so soco, keep on truckin (pun intended) on your project. glad to see i helped you get this far. sounds like you got it all figured out. dont listen to negative comments about cali swaps as most people dont know what they are talking about. and i hope your taking pics along they way. im really interested in seeing how your tank turned out. i think i might pull mine in the future and do it that way also. you should do a thread about it also. you might cover material that i left out in my thread to help anyone interested in doing it out. keep us updated!!

[jaysonolson]

If you use the fuel rail on the drive side of the 2001 through 2003 you can used the factory fuel return system of the suburban and just put a 255 gph pump in the original tank sender unit.