Increased power for Chevy 3500 Class C
We recently bought a 1999 20' Chateau on a Chevy 3500 cutaway chassis. We love everything about this RV. Just took it on a month-long trip out west and everything works as it should. The engine is ...
Forum Discussion
Engine Swap Cautions:
1. Be sure the 350 and 454 use the same CHASSIS. That's right, Chassis. I do NOT know about GM, but when we had a Dodge, I went to replace the anemic 318 engine. What I wanted was a 383 big block but wound up with a 360 small block. A man who had worked for Dodge told me "Good Thing - They used different crossmembers for the Slant Six, the Small V8, and the Big V8.
2. Particularly if you have to emissions test, you're on track about Donor Vehicle. It is VERY possible that not only is the Engine Control Module different, the wiring harness might also be different. This may go deeper than you want to cut.
Counterintuitive that the 350/5.7L will fall short and the new 6.0L does a decent job, but true. It's a different engine, not just 0.3L displacement.
If you want to get radical, you can Stroke your 350 to 6.2L (377, 383, something like that. Also years ago there was a 400-CID small block. I think it was a special block, though, not something you can create from a 350.
Any case, you'd have to allow for, or be sure the ECM allowed for, greater fuel demand from the larger engine.
1. Be sure the 350 and 454 use the same CHASSIS. That's right, Chassis. I do NOT know about GM, but when we had a Dodge, I went to replace the anemic 318 engine. What I wanted was a 383 big block but wound up with a 360 small block. A man who had worked for Dodge told me "Good Thing - They used different crossmembers for the Slant Six, the Small V8, and the Big V8.
2. Particularly if you have to emissions test, you're on track about Donor Vehicle. It is VERY possible that not only is the Engine Control Module different, the wiring harness might also be different. This may go deeper than you want to cut.
Counterintuitive that the 350/5.7L will fall short and the new 6.0L does a decent job, but true. It's a different engine, not just 0.3L displacement.
If you want to get radical, you can Stroke your 350 to 6.2L (377, 383, something like that. Also years ago there was a 400-CID small block. I think it was a special block, though, not something you can create from a 350.
Any case, you'd have to allow for, or be sure the ECM allowed for, greater fuel demand from the larger engine.
