Duramax Engine Swap into an Impala SS?

Adsonic · 08-11-2006, 01:14 PM

It‚Äôs my first time posting here so ‚Ä¶ hello everyone

Anyway, I was just brain storming the idea of putting a Duramax engine and transmission in my 96 Impala SS

and I was wondering if you could help me on this knowing that mpg and passing emission isn‚Äôt a factor (I guess money too) what would you think of the following:

1- What model would you suggest to be more "flexible" to this swap?
2- Going with a manual transmission does it make the swap easer than an auto?
3- How hard / easy is it to use or modify the Duramax stock harness?
4- Do you know any links to projects like this?
5- Your best guess for all the small parts I might need?

I appreciate any comments or feedback you might have,
Adsonic

**05_LLY** · 08-11-2006, 01:23 PM

Welcome!
Sounds like a wild project but will be bad A$$ when finished, THe biggest probleb would probally be fitting the trans under the body either one the zf manual or the Ally are rather tall tranys. AS for the electronics i would use a early lb7 01 to 04.5 dmax just because of the standard style turbo your best bet would be to find a salvage truck with all good electronics because you will need the ecm and tcm if you use the auto and if you use efi live for your programing you can make alot of things happen as far as contolingthe trans and the engine to make things work or not work!

Later
CAleb

**Diesel Nut** · 08-15-2006, 10:55 PM

Will thaat motor fit into that body? Going to need some front end work to hold that big ol sucker up off the ground! Sure will be cool if you can pull it off. this is the place to ask.

How close to doing this are you?

Adsonic · 08-16-2006, 07:59 AM

Thanks for the replies.

But first I would like to point out that it‚Äôs just a thought that‚Äôs way too far from happening (for now that it

)

As for the donor car, I was hoping to get my hands on a truck that was T hit and hopefully didn‚Äôt catch on fire too so that I could pull every single thing needed to plant that engine and transmission (manual transmission).

I don‚Äôt know how big the engine really is, but someone did manage to put a 502 ZZ engine in an Impala with enough room to spare. So how much bigger is a Duramax engine compared to a 502 engine? and how much does it weight?

And yes I do agree that stiffer springs and stronger shocks are a must.

EFI-live sounds very interesting, are there any programmers out there that can E-mail a new program (tone)?

**ob_1jr** · 08-16-2006, 11:41 AM

Don't forget, you would probably have to reinforce the frame to keep it from twisting and maybe even use a different rear end and driveshaft. Just throwing that out there, but I don't know much about the impala SS drivetrain. I know they came with a big block, but I don't know the dementions of the dmax. I would like to see that car if it did ever get built. Sounds like a cool idea.

**05_LLY** · 08-16-2006, 06:41 PM

IIRC a fully assembled dmax weighs about 900lbs give or take a couple!

Did A Dura Do Dat · 08-25-2006, 10:24 PM

This isn't the first time I have heard of someone wanting to put a diesel into a car. I have seen pics of a cummins in a car, but the car was a very old 30's or 40's boat sized car with a very large engine bay. I think it would be tremendously difficult to make such a torqey and heavy engine fit and work in a modern car especially a unibody. Are the impalas unibody? It would really be a lot of R&D and likely a large PITA to make everything fit and work. Not to mention the tremendous hood you'd need. You'd really have to strengthen or change just about every thing. But, if you can make it work and have the patience go for it.