The first thing I would like to accomplish before getting the engine installed in the truck is to sort out the stock harness. I briefly considered just throwing this swap together and getting it running first, but ultimately I knew I wouldn't be happy with the way it looked. I want to clean the harness up since there are quite a few components that will not be needed on my install. I also want to rearrange the wiring so I can get the pcm in the cab. Here is the stock harness before any modifications.
I used lt1swap.com to understand this harness and what could be removed. For the most part this site was invaluable, however, it did leave me with a few questions. After some searching on various forums I was able to answer all my questions and build enough confidence to tear it apart. Creating a "standalone" harness requires building a new fuse panel, pulling wires that need to go to external locations (like fuel pump relay, VSS, 12V power, etc), reworking the ground circuit, and weeding out any plugs that go to components that will not be used (like AC, EVAP, automatic trans, etc). Once the harness is stripped down you lose about half of the wires which makes it much easier to work with and reroute.
In order to reroute the wires, I started by plugging in the injector and coil plugs as my starting point. Then from here, I could reroute wires to exit where I wanted.
To get the main pcm plugs to route where I want them it would require shortening quite a few wires from the passenger side portion of the harness. Total length is limited by the drivers side section. I am hesistant do splice all these wires, so for now I am just going to tie them up within the harness at the rear of the intake. Since this is all an experiment and a first for me, I would like to not make too many wire splices and potentially introduce issues later on down the road.
I was also able to secure a transmission for the truck. I chose to go with a NV3500 from a 2001 Blazer Xtreme. I know, I know, this transmission is "weak" and I will blow it up. I've read many comments about the NV3500 and I am willing to give it a try given the price differential between this and a T56. I am not doing any power adding mods nor will I be driving this with any aggression, so it should be fine for cruising around. Down the road I may do some upgrades and will revisit my transmission choice at that time.
That's it for now. Hopefully on the next update I will be able to have the engine/trans joined and installed in the truck!
