Need some help

Noah schirck · January 28, 2020

I'm swapping in a 6.0 from a 2012 k3500 Silverado into a 2009 Silverado k1500 with a 5.3. I'm also swapping out the 4l60e and trans case for the 6l90 and trans case. Should I swap over the computers for the engine/trans aswell? Will using the computer from the 3500 negate some of the accessories on the 1500? I want to swap out the mechanical fan for the electric fan in the 5.3, and keep some other features on the truck. I'm also camming the truck and I want to install some long tube headers. I would like to use the exhaust from the 3500 on the 1500 because it seems to be a bit larger and I want to do actuall dual exhaust coming out the passenger side of the truck. Will I come into any clearance issues on the exhaust? Also I'm parting out other stuff on the 3500 if interested, it has a large utility box in place of a bed and a nice interior.

CamGTP · January 28, 2020

That's kind of a can of worms you're dealing with. You can't install the 2012 computer in your truck. All silverado's with the 5.3 use a E38 computer. The heavy duty trucks used the E38 from 2007-2010 only, then they switched to a E78 computer in 2011+ for that body style. The E78 would never communicate with your 2009 correctly and the whole harness is different anyway.

I'd be more inclined to having a shop that does the tuning flash the computer with a 2009 2500HD file as a base starting point. Doing it this way is far easier because you can keep your E38 computer that you must use anyway and just have it flashed to start with a stock 6.0 file that can be tuned from there.

swathdiver · February 1, 2020

^^^ What Cameron said plus you'll want the cluster and think the shifter too. Does the 1500 have the K5L HD Cooling system? If not, you'll want to upgrade the radiator and change the fans and motors from 500 to 700 watts. The computer for the transmission is inside the transmission, I reckon it would need flashing to talk to the E38 but don't know that much about such swaps. You could do stand alone stuff from GM or Holley but don't think they'll talk to your instrument cluster.