Alphius

iTrader: (6)

In November of last year my 340RWHP mild MegaSquirt'ed Holley Stealth Ram 355 died. I decided to go for an LS1 and a T56. I received my engine and transmission on December 28th.



Here's the car it is going into. '84 Z28 originally L69/T5 with a long mod list.
Built '01 T/A rear end with Eaton 3.73, Auburn Pro, girdle, LS1 brakes
'01 SS wheels and Nitto NT05 tires
C5 Z06 front brakes with Earl's lines
Lots of red suspension parts
Founders caster/camber plates
Koni Yellows all 4 corners with cut springs
Many more mods not listed



I ended up staying with the GM ECM, I had it tuned by Frost. He did a great job. I redid the wiring harness myself and relocated the ECU to the factory location under the passenger dash with an extended harness. I ended up going with a full set of AutoMeter gauges, and did some cool things with the dash that I haven't seen done before.

I used the stock '02 exhaust manifolds and had a friend make a custom y-pipe to my specs to hook up to a brand new 3" MagnaFlow catback. The whole exhaust is mandrel bent. Here's a picture of the y-pipe for reference. It has great ground clearance as well, the T56 is actually lower than the exhaust most of the way back.





I ended up getting it running on March 10th, meaning my car was down for about 4 months total. It took me a month and a half of that time to get my new engine shipped to me. I did procrastinate more than I should have but it did finally end up getting done. I had one problem on the whole swap, I missed the coilpack ground for the 1, 3, 5, 7 bank so first start ended up being on 4 cylinders. It ran pretty well considering that fact. It was a quick fix and it ran way better.

Running after I fixed the coilpack ground:

I ended up going with an Airaid oilless air filter, I have to show off how huge this thing is! It's a really nice quality filter.



So now the car is running, here are some pics including an engine bay picture. I have replaced the wiper motor with a late style motor for more room now and cleaned a few more things up under here. Also put on an LS1 brake master cylinder which really cleans up the engine bay and looks a lot better.



Full AutoMeters with incandescent backlit factory-style turn signal, high beam and check engine light. No stupid bright LEDs. I have to get rid of that silly steering wheel though.








So that brings us to today... I just rolled over to 1000 miles on my swap trouble-free. I ran it on a DynoJet a month or so ago and made 320RWHP/340RWTQ, which is a nice strong healthy number for a stock cam LS1! I also manage about 28-30mpg on the highway, so I am very happy with it so far. It's overall a great improvement from my old engine.

Dyno video, excuse the dirty car, I drove down there in a downpour!

So that's my swap story. I'm glad I finally did it after waiting so long.
If anyone has any questions I'm here to answer. I tried to do my research and take my time and do everything right on this swap so I can have many years of trouble-free driving.

kmcn47

nice car

coptzer

iTrader: (2)

good job man! everything looks like it turned out great.

I have had my swap setup sitting in my basement for over a year now and it seems like all I've managed to accomplish is to buy high performance parts. Props for a quick turn around.

92z28outlaw

congrats man, very nice camaro and really great numbers with some an awesome mpg

25th327RS

iTrader: (2)

Glad to see you post your swap, was wondering how it turned out. Injectors are great BTW!!!

Alphius

iTrader: (6)

Thanks guys! I am impressed with the power on a bone stock LS1, although the free-flowing exhaust and intake help along with the tune I am sure. I actually have comparison numbers on the same dyno from a bone stock '99 Z28 w/T56 that indicate I am about 25-30hp above what a stock 4thgen makes on the same dyno.

I'm definitely happy with how it drives so far. Sure makes me want to throw an LM7/4L60E swap in my truck next... Currently a 350/TH350.

STREETDEMON

tape deck for the win! my kids were digging through an old box the other day and found some of my tapes, wanted to know what these "things" were. nice car, very clean and simple upgrades. love the 10 spokes.

nice C10 also! my 82 K5 is getting the 5.3 treatment in the near future.

GoFaster2

What did you use for the wiring harness? I have an 84Z that I pulled the L69 and am installing a LS3 headed LQ4 in there. I plan to install VHX gauges and Vintage air to clean up under the hood and give me more room also want to use a stock GM PCM. Im looking to build it as a nice daily driver with comfort,handling and MPG.

Alphius

iTrader: (6)

I reworked and extended the 2002 Camaro LS1/T56 harness. Your goals for your car are about the same as my goals were, and an LSx engine is definitely the right way to achieve those goals.

I used an aftermarket Bussmann relay/fusebox (5 relays and 10 fuses) that is weather sealed and located under the hood for all the engine electronics. I didn't really use any power or wiring from the C100, C207 or factory fusebox, it was more work than it was worth since my car was originally carbureted so the C100 and C207 didn't have the right connections for the LS1 harness like later FI cars had. All aftermarket wiring was done with GM-style weatherpack connectors so I can take it apart for maintenance in the future without cutting anything.

I also found an OBDII port in the junkyard that used the exact same mounting holes under the dash as the factory ALDL connector, so my car is fully OBDII compliant with a factory plug under the dash still.

These are really the only harness in progress pictures I took, but if you read Pocket's harness thread he has lots of good info in there that basically duplicates how I have always built my harnesses. I've done more for MegaSquirt than anything else, but the GM PCM wiring work is not bad at all.

My harness all taken apart.


After routing, before extending and wrapping.

Alphius

iTrader: (6)

Have a few more pictures.

Engine bay as it sits now, cleaner and with a couple more upgrades:


Excuse the dirty interior, but check out my newly recovered steering wheel:


Some better pictures of the car that it's all in. I daily drive this thing. This is the first paintjob I ever did by myself and it still shines pretty well 7 years later!

STREETDEMON

Car looks great!