keitholivier Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Well, the decision has been made. I did a ton of research and have reached the conclusion that for me, repower is going to be via a 2004 GM 3400 V6 (which I already posess) run by an ECU from a 95 Camaro (originally with 3400 V6) and driving the stock rear axle via a Camaro 4L60E 4 speed transmission. The 3400 V6 is a great high torque low speed motor that will suit the application well and provide for quieter highway cruising than is currently possible. The new catalyst and muffler I fitted a month ago is large enough to deal with the bigger motor. The ECU was purchased on Ebay for $30 and I also purchased a VATS bypass module for another $25. Transmission has not yet been purchased, but availability on Ebay is good ($300-$500 for a good used unit). I have been thinking about a sensible method to remove the entire coachwork / cab in one shot, to allow me to do some work on the chassis. I would like to have the entire Chassis sandblasted and primed with zink rich primer. I also want to remove all the suspension components and replace ALL bushings. The front suspension needs a lot of work in this regard. I would like to put softer springs in the rear, backed up with air springs. I bought the air springs earlier but ran out of time to install them due to the need to cut away some of the chassis extensions to get them to fit. I'm certain that this is a better solution that simply using rock hard leaf springs (which appears to be the case with the current setup). I would like to expand fuel capacity and will evaluate whether I can find a way to fit a 20 gal poly tank from a scrapped Venture in the underfloor somewhere. With the side exit exhaust I fitted there is a lot more space than before. Wish me luck ! First step is to get the engine running and build the custom wiring harness. Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
86rader Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Good luck! You'll need it. Especially with that idea of yanking everything off the frame. What sort of mileage do you expect it to get? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keitholivier Posted June 10, 2007 Author Share Posted June 10, 2007 86Rader If one actually cruises significantly faster, then the fuel consumption will certainly increase. On the trip out to Colorado, I felt pretty uncomfortable driving faster than 65 (generally downhill !) so unless the fixes to the suspension make a major improvement in roadholding, I don't think I will be driving that much faster. On average I may be a little quicker due to not dropping down to 2nd gear for every hill and actually being able to hold 4th gear on the flat even with some headwind. On this last trip, I guess I was able to use OD for only about 300 out of nearly 3000 miles. That makes for a pretty noisy cab where you have a hard time hearing the person sitting next to you. The whole idea behind this swap is the cost. The 2004 3400 engine was $850 (with less than 30k miles) The tranny will be around $400. $30 for an ECU, $25 for a module to bypass the theft deterent system. There will be more for harness connectors, wiring, new engine and tranny mounts. Some fabrication of cross members for engine and tranny. New radiator with electric fan. New oil cooler (mounted BELOW radiator). Dump all of the front AC components (at least for now). The system was discharged at some time and I don't know what the problem is / was. I just spent over $1000 rebuilding the 22RE motor and it still is just a little itty bitty motor for these huge vehicles. The 22RE certainly is reliable, but I would hate to be in the middle of nowhere and have a problem with the toyota auto transmission. The rear axle even worse, but for now I will stick with it... The big speed differential makes circumventing cities pretty stressfull (why do city folk allways drive 80-90mph ?). If I moved over to the center lane to let someone in at an onramp I would instantly have a stream of traffic passing me on the right and nobody would pause to let me move back over to the right lane. This was the situation for Chicago, St Louis, Des Moine and Ft Wayne. In CO folks seemed more accomodating of the RV's and could anticipate what you were going to do. I'm a little surprised that more owners have not tackled chassis work. Anything this old, unless it has been parked in the garage all winter (or all year) all of its life, will need work on the chassis. Without removing the bodywork most of the areas are simply inaccessible. Before I left on vacation, I had to replace both steel brake lines since they were rusted out. I wanted to replace the steel fuel lines too, but ran out of time. Thankfully our luck held and we had no fuel leaks.... With the bodywork off, all of this stuff can be properly attended to without being a giant pain in the behind. I was hoping that someone has gone down this road before me, but if not I will have to go it alone... Thanks for the good wishes. Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoprat Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Yo Keith ! Good luck on the change-over. Be interesting to see how it progresses. My brake lines and fuel lines looked in excellent shape when I was underneath, but I can sympathise with the thought of " While your there, might as well". Been there , done that, got the t-shirt, had it shrink and turned it into gun cleaning rags. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bajadulce Posted June 11, 2007 Share Posted June 11, 2007 Wow! sounds pretty trick! Make sure to take some pictures now and then cause I sure as oooo wanna see this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keitholivier Posted June 13, 2007 Author Share Posted June 13, 2007 Mr Bajadulce.. I envy the agression with which you tackled your project. Have you weighed your beast to determine "travelling weight" ? I have the impression my Dolphin is really heavy. I am looking forward to the orgy of destruction in fall, when I intend to cut the beast down to just the cab/chassis (if I haven't found a way to pull the cab/coach in 1 peice). If I could find a replacement Cab, I would be tempted to plonk that on to make a cab chassis to enable the vehicle to be useable while I completely rebuild the coachwork next year. I have a few really crazy ideas for the coachwork including a "forward control" version which will eliminate the overhead bed and toyota cab and basically stretch the coachwork forward like a bus. Driver and passenger will be elevated above the front wheels and step down into the main cabin. Put in swivel seats so that one can face rearwards. Build the whole thing unitary fashion (self supporting) and have 6 distributed coach/chassis mounting points. The front axle could be widened (oooo, I'm doing so much work on the front end as it is...) in fact it should be if the vehicle will be the same width all the way to the front. No more ducking under the front overhang to get in, no more whacking your head on it when getting out.... I'm still torn regarding what material to use for the rebuild. Listening to the wind noise from the "brick like" aerodynamics for 1200 miles, I really had some major fantasies about how quiet a nice smooth aerodynamic nose made in composite might be. Something like the front of the Sprinter based RV's.. Direction undecided, but the road will go somewhere... Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VWTick Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 I have an 86 22RE A43D and I rented a Sprinter chassis Gulfstream (11' tall front bunk model) when my fuel pump went so we could continue our family vaca. Wow was it nice and $$$$, cruise at 75 and get 16MPG, but it was still a little noisy. With a new fuel pump my toyhome could actually handle 4th gear, until I blew my tranny on Sunday on the way home. much quieter in 4th while it lasted Visited here from yahoo for the tranny rebuild article. I have the same problem, bushings in the extension housing, just got a new seal a month ago and the seal went big time on the highway. I look forward to hearing about your experience with the upgrade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joecruel Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 Hey keith. I like the idea behind your swap. But just a bit of advice for you. The 3400 engine has a nasty habit of leaking oil and coolant from the lower intake manifold. I have seen this happen at 10 to 15,000 miles. There is an upgraded intake gasket kit and intake bolts from GM to fix the problem. Make sure to use grey silicone to reseal the valley of the intake. Also while there, remove the oil pump drive and install a new o-ring. Give that o-ring a generous helping of the gray silicone as well since they are very prone to oil leaks. I am a Master ASE and GM certified tech. If you need any help just drop a line here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keitholivier Posted August 1, 2007 Author Share Posted August 1, 2007 Joe, I thought this had been solved during the time the engine was in production. The engine I have is a 2004 model year and as far as I know GM made several sequential improvements to eliminate this issue. The original engine in my wifes venture 97 model failed though a lock in the closed position thermostat, after which we had the coolant leak issue. As far as I am aware I should be in the clear with the 2004my engine. And if not, at least it will be a oooo of a lot easier to fix than in a Venture or Montana.... The Toyota V6 has some head gasket issues of its own... Keith Hey keith. I like the idea behind your swap. But just a bit of advice for you. The 3400 engine has a nasty habit of leaking oil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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