LachieKb
Member
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2017
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- 35
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- 23
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- Age
- 23
- Location
- Nsw
- Members Ride
- VE SV6 Ute
Well I went ahead with the swap, and it was a success! And surprisingly a lot easier than everyone here was making out.
I purchased an LFX out of a 2016 SV6 and the cats off the same car, and that was all I bought. My brother luckily found a forum post from someone in the US who did the same swap in a V6 Camaro, and all he did was swap his LLT electronics and fuel system onto the new LFX, and it ran fine with no reprogramming. So that’s what I ended up doing.
Basically, we removed the LLT and pulled the wiring harness off it, along with all the other parts that weren’t included with the engine I bought (alternator, AC compressor, power steering pump). You’ll notice that the mounts for the AC compressor are different, and the LFX doesn’t have a power steering pump, so make sure to swap those mounts over as well. The LLT wiring harness mostly plugged straight in to the LFX, except the water temp sensor is further toward the back of the engine (but needs no adapting or anything), there is an extra sensor on top of the intake manifold on the LFX that we left unplugged, and the oil level sensor in the base of the sump is different, so you will need to swap the sump to accommodate. The engine mounts will then also have to be swapped as the LFX ones bolt into the sump. Once you do all of that the electronics should be identical to the original LLT and will give you no issues.
You also have to swap the fuel pump and fuel injectors as the LFX is E85 compatible, but the LLT isn’t. We tried running the ute without swapping the injectors initially, but they’re bigger and made the car run super rich and threw engine codes. So make sure you swap the whole injector assembly. The hardest part of this is removing the injectors from the LLT. They aren’t designed to be removed with the heads on, so you can either remove the heads, or do like I did and shave a mm or two off the back of the thermostat housing with a die grinder to give the first rail clearance to come out. The injectors will come off the LFX with a bit of wriggling. Once out, give the LLT injectors a good clean and a tiny bit of grease on the seals at the top to make them pop into the rail easily. Install the injectors and wiring first, then the rails should pop on easily.
Once all this is done and everything is hooked back up the car should start like normal without needing any reprogramming or anything. The car will not be able to tell a difference because all the electronics and fuel system are the same. You may not get the absolute maximum performance of the LFX doing it this way, but driving it I couldn’t tell a difference and still got good fuel economy.
My brother and I smashed the whole swap out in roughly 3 afternoons using a hoist, transmission jack and a forklift to pull the engine out. But it’s definitely possible and well worth it if your LLT is shagged. You’ll pick up a much better engine for the money getting an LFX.
