2007 GMC Canyon TDI Project

Did some work on the FMIC install the past few days


Bumper off to fab some support brackets.




Checking location with bumper on and hood closed.




Cut off the FMIC nozzles and looked at new nozzles layout





New nozzles installed.




Holes in Rad support in place and line up good.




FMIC installed, grill installed. Good clearance everywhere. Have to admit I was a bit worried being able to squeeze this big of a unit in there but in turned out really good.

stealthy indeed !.... this swap is really shaping up

TDIsyncro said:

FMIC installed, grill installed. Good clearance everywhere. Have to admit I was a bit worried being able to squeeze this big of a unit in there but in turned out really good.

Click to expand...

Man, I really like this FMIC install. Very clean.

Thanks guys. It was enjoyable work. The parts bolt on and off this truck really easy so it was a pleasure to work on. My new shop feels pretty comfortable to work in now too...have all the necessary tools close at hand for most anything. That and a friend that is good at welding aluminium.

I was going to pre-build the new tranny support too. After looking at it for about an hour I decided the factory one is more than adequate for fab'ing a short cantilever from it....so will just retain OEM one and mod with some plate work.

Have to advertise the 5 cyl pretty soon. Figure I will sell it and then pull it. No turning back then!

Just wondering what kind of highway mpg you're getting with this?

I have to admit it is not in yet! This TT rebuild has turned into way more work (and money) than expected. Tired of it 3 weeks ago. lol Helpfully roll it out of garage in two weeks then its will be Canyon swap time. I have to drive the TT while the canyon is under conversion. The things we have to suffer through!

Nicely done. Paint it black for an even stealthier look,

Cool...one last question: This is 2WD or 4WD? Couldn't tell that from your pics or comments (unless I missed something)...

chucky2 said:

Cool...one last question: This is 2WD or 4WD? Couldn't tell that from your pics or comments (unless I missed something)...

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it is a RWD with LSD. pretty sure it could work with 4x4 too...just one extra drive shaft to modify and possibly some shifter linkage stuff for transfer case depending on which unit you have.

Love this build! I often thought a last year they made them S-10 Crew cab would be a nice truck to swap in a TDI. Must be a 4wd and 5 speed for me though. Looking forward to watching your swap completed!!

OK. Starting to move things forward and doing final last checks.

I have to finalize a game plan for fuel system. I am thinking about a pressure regulator to drop tank supply pressure from 57psi to 15 psi>then through filter system>then through secondary pump to get pressure back up to +62psi for supply to HPFP. Thanks to 2micron and nate003 for some advice.

Speedo is not working with transmission controller...I think it is time to swap it with something else. Looking for suggestions. One that is not CANBUS based. The transmission controller can put out a +5 and a +12V square wave that can be calibrated for speed. Tach signal would come from ECU.

Building a new profile on transmission controller that I more compatible for TDI. It is as simple as starting with base map and drag and drop shift points. Will be testing this map this morning. I probably have the down shifts a bit too tight to the upshifts




Shift firmness can also be adjusted by setting desired line pressures. I will keep these fairly aggressive. Nice thing is I can keep two maps on the unit and toggle them on the fly. I will have one specifically designed for pulling a heavy trailer as a secondary.

awesome build and good work on the shift controller ... can't wait to see a drive video

I'm almost ready to work on my radiator, condenser, and intercooler. I'd like to get the pipe, fittings, and clamps ordered. Do you have any pointers on sizes and where to source this stuff. It's for my Tacoma/alh I'm building.

try frozen boost. There are lots of decent packages on ebay too. 2" is good for most applications.

Started the swap today. This is what it looked like this morning:





Jumper fuel pump relay to empty gasoline from the tank.



had to take front wheels off and drop truck down lower to clear the rad support. The 3.7L is a big engine!




This is where I left off for supper. Engine and tranny are out. Wiring is a mess. Was able to keep the steering pump just off to the side without disconnecting anything. Was able to move the A/C Pump off to side and no need to discharge the feon.

Dang, strong work for the first day! It's gonna look at home in that engine bay.

iwannajettatdi said:

Dang, strong work for the first day! It's gonna look at home in that engine bay.

Click to expand...

thanks.

I like lots of space around my motor..so I think I will have that!

day two was not as strong. Only had an hour today because of family matters.
It was enough time to determine I had a problem with my original transmission plan. I had had planned to use the 4L65e from the Canyon..this one is in mint condition. Just needed to swap bell housing to a SBC/LS unit. The surprise...the input shaft is about an inch shorter than on the standard LS/SBC trannies.

This is a 4L60e I have from a 1500 Silverado. It is pretty much standard in every way.




This is the Canyon bell housing and input. Note the shrinkage on the input shaft.




I was doubtful the 4L60e was in good enough shape to use but pulled te pan to check anyways.





The black grit and the amount of metal fillings on magnet do not give me a warm fuzzy about using this unit. I thought this was giving me a reason to pull out the 6L80e I have in the corner, however, the contact I had at PTAC left the company and nobody else there knows how to set up a stand alone. I called several other places and they all wanted me to use the GM PCM + standalone package...not going to happen. Looks like an input shaft swap on the Canyon 4L65e is next best option. Will do the fit up of engine and tranny in the chassis over the weekend so I can keep things moving forward. Then deliver the trannys to shop after the weekend for the swaparoo work.

Got in a full day of work on the project today. Decent progress.

This is the factory transmission cross member. It is a pretty beefy unit and very well mounted to the frame of the truck. I feel comfortable to make a bit of a cantilever with some pate work. I need to move the transmission ahead 5".


Here I have welded a new bracket on the cross member...hard to see in this picture but the transmission location is 5`forward now.


Anouther view.

The existing motor mounts are big and intrusive. They are also wrong design and wrong location and interfere with the TDI engine. I will cut these off and make new brackets from scratch.

Engine is dropped in and bolted to transmission. Clearances all look good. Very nice space on all sides, front and back for maintenance.







Lots of room at the back for bolt access and vacuum pump, etc.







You can see where I torched of the existing motor mount in this picture. It would of extended right into where the starter solenoid is located. Otherwise good clearance!




Cut this mount of with the reciprocating saw...a lot more effort but there were too many wires, hoses etc in area. Everything is looking good clearance wise on this side too. The plan for using the Canyon AC pump and steering pump is going to work out for sure. Very happy to see where things are now. Thank you Andrew (2micron) for the beautiful aluminium brackets and spotting the conflict with the steering box early on in my planning!




Lots of room at front of engine too!





Tomorrow morning I will get a good start on the engine mounting brackets. Then I have mud races to attend for the other half of the day. My plan is to have the motor permanently mounted by the end of Monday so I can continue work and planning on it while I am getting the transmission built. I can get my drive shaft measurements tomorrow as well and will get the drive shaft done this coming week.

TDIsyncro said:

OK. Starting to move things forward and doing final last checks.
I have to finalize a game plan for fuel system. I am thinking about a pressure regulator to drop tank supply pressure from 57psi to 15 psi>then through filter system>then through secondary pump to get pressure back up to +62psi for supply to HPFP. Thanks to 2micron and nate003 for some advice.
Speedo is not working with transmission controller...I think it is time to swap it with something else. Looking for suggestions. One that is not CANBUS based. The transmission controller can put out a +5 and a +12V square wave that can be calibrated for speed. Tach signal would come from ECU.
Building a new profile on transmission controller that I more compatible for TDI. It is as simple as starting with base map and drag and drop shift points. Will be testing this map this morning. I probably have the down shifts a bit too tight to the upshifts

Shift firmness can also be adjusted by setting desired line pressures. I will keep these fairly aggressive. Nice thing is I can keep two maps on the unit and toggle them on the fly. I will have one specifically designed for pulling a heavy trailer as a secondary.

Click to expand...

Do you mean that your transmission is working well with the standalone controller, but you just don't have anything to give a speed signal to the cluster? Does your ECU have a tach output? Figure out how you're going to do cruise?

Looks great! Be awesome to see this on the road.

nate0031 said:

Do you mean that your transmission is working well with the standalone controller, but you just don't have anything to give a speed signal to the cluster? Does your ECU have a tach output? Figure out how you're going to do cruise?
Looks great! Be awesome to see this on the road.

Click to expand...

yes. it was working very good. I tunned it to work for a TDI engine ahead of time. Felt a little funky on a gasser but not too bad. Speedometer is not working, that is correct. Cruise is an aftermarket unit that physically controls the pedal. I had to go that route of the trans controller does not hold the line pressure when the pedal is let off.
I decided to go with more unique solutions for cluster. GPS speedo. OBDII LCD display, perhaps through a tablet and dashcommander software. If you have any other recommendations in that regard let me know. I am still trying to figure out what raspberry pi is. lol

Things are still moving ahead. A lot of stuff was going very easy yesterday. I also was able to draw on some of the spare bits and pieces I have had laying around in boxes so that cut down on build time a fair bit.


Motor mount design was completed and all tack welded together.





Drive shafts are off. All are going in for new u-joints and custom length front piece.




Turbo down pipe is done complete with O2 sensor.




Motor mounts are done, but still keeping weight on hoist as they are only fit and tack welded. The intercooler piping is almost a complete straight line from turbo and only one bend from intake to intercooler. Need to add map sensor boss. Things are feeling a little crowded on the driver side.

Tablet and OBDII would do you well and be cost effective. If your transmission controller produces a signal, it'd be easy to use an Arduino or similar to convert it to a varying voltage signal to drive a gauge, or PWM depending on the gauge. I could code that for you. Do you have a writing diagram for the cluster? You can also get a color LCD screen for the Arduino, feed the Arduino any sensor or signal data you have, and display it on there. An Arduino would make a cheap and easy signal converter to run an analog gauge though.

nate0031 said:

Tablet and OBDII would do you well and be cost effective. If your transmission controller produces a signal, it'd be easy to use an Arduino or similar to convert it to a varying voltage signal to drive a gauge, or PWM depending on the gauge. I could code that for you. Do you have a writing diagram for the cluster? You can also get a color LCD screen for the Arduino, feed the Arduino any sensor or signal data you have, and display it on there. An Arduino would make a cheap and easy signal converter to run an analog gauge though.

Click to expand...

Arduino with an LCD screen sounds interesting. The trans controller does have a square wave output. 0V/+5V or 0V/+12V (dip switch selectable) to use as a speed signal. I need to drive my after market cruise control using the signal. Is there any issues driving more than one device with a single signal?

I don't think you'd have an issue running both off the one output. 5 volts is ideal for the Arduino, and the ADC is extremely low current. Worst case scenario, the Arduino can regenerate the signal and resend it.

nate0031 said:

I don't think you'd have an issue running both off the one output. 5 volts is ideal for the Arduino, and the ADC is extremely low current. Worst case scenario, the Arduino can regenerate the signal and resend it.

Click to expand...

that is good to know.
Any recommended web links on Arduino so I have a but better understanding of where this could go?

Here's the main Arduino site.

https://www.arduino.cc

To do what you'd want, the UNO would be perfect. I think it's $30 right now. If you needed a allot more I/O, there are more options, but I don't think you need it.

And here's a 2.8" color touch screen to go with it for about $35.

https://www.adafruit.com/products/1651

There are larger screens, but they start getting expensive, $150 for a 4.3". If you wanted much larger, like the size of an entire cluster, you'd be best using a 7" or so car TV screen and a raspberry pi. Much more capable and more powerful programming tools. It'd make it easier to make a graphical cluster however you want, but cost and complexity are going up. I think an Arduino UNO would serve you well to provide a simple speed output or signal output for a gauge, and it's cheap.

I think what I would like to do is feed the trans controller signal to ECU and use it as a VSS signal. I am not sure this is possible without conditioning. What is your thought on this?
I can then use OBDII to access lots of data and display on a 7" screen. A wish list would be two optional screens (software not physical) that can display info like speed, RPM, boost, EGT, coolant temp, air intake temp, oil pressure alarm, engine alarm for codes....still thinking. lol I watched some of the dashcommander vids. They have the right screen options and I lie the performance options too, however, I noticed there seems to be some annoying lag. Not sure I woul be happy with the lag. A dedicated system like Arduino or Rasberry Pi would eliminate the lag I imagine, but its probably getting very complicated to meet my wish list unless.... out of my league here. If I was using physical gauges, I am looking at $70-100 per a gauage so the larger screen is not unreasonable. I noticed Raspberry Pi has a 7"touch screen. I can also make the system modular so I can swap it into my project insane car, something I cannot do with physical gauges.

Awesome progress so far. Not to rush but I'm in a hurry to see this machine driving!!