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LTX and LSXPutting LT1s, LS1s, and their variants into Third Gens is becoming more popular. This board is for those who are doing and have done the swaps so they can discuss all of their technical aspects including repairs, swap info, and performance upgrades.
Cleaning up pics on iPad and decided to catch up on my progress. I am completely done my wiring now! It took a lot of hours from start to finish but everything works exactly as I wanted it to. I'm glad I did it my self because I learnt alot about alot of things by doing it and totally understand why premade harnesses are so expensive to buy. So here is the before pic again, it's bad but it worked and that was my goal, to make sure it worked before I put so much time into making it pretty.
Some of the differences other than clean up and looming wires from the before to the after include.... Deleted evap and egr stuff, I removed AC blower housing and replaced with a non AC need a new fan as the fan from an AC car is too big to fit in the housing. I tried to remove the fan from the motor so that I still had the more powerful fan and it was so close to fitting but was too deep by an 1/8", so I cleaned up and painted the fan I found with the housing at the wrecker. I rerouted the hoses for the opti vent and in doing so I learnt that I got the motor with the hoses screwed up. I now have it routed properly to the top of the air Intake elbow and the manifold. Also I installed my fuel pump and fan relays down behind the battery. The pic doesn't show them cleaned up and loomed. I let but trust me I did those wires also, haha.
I wanted to do my motor rebuild this winter but th the CAD sucking so bad I figured I would drive stock LT1 for one year the. Hope for better value for my dollar next winter in which case I will give Loydd Elliota call get my self the LE2 package and build. So for now I am pretty much finished under the hood but have my engine cover I am working on. I bought an engine cover off eBay and have been working on it. It just needs paint and decals and it's done. Some places online said it's an easy swap from the vette to the f body but there is quite a bit of work involved. First off I don't like them saying corvette so the letters have to get filled in. Some say bondo and others say no (I agree) due to shrinking and cracking. So after much research I'm trying an unknown...JB weld plastiweld putty (not epoxy). It fills, is sandable, and flexible. Time will tell if this is a good product for this just b. So I removed the vette logos and scratched up inside of the letters as well as the logo location. I then rolled the plastiweld into little strings and filled in then pressed in the putty to the letters. I decided not to fill the logo spot and instead am having a decal made for it. I let it cure then I sanded it down. Next I began cutting to make it fit. The passenger side needs a spot for the pvc hose and the map sensor needs a little more room. I removed the second brace for the alternator for time being instead of cutting for it. If I find I need it, I prob will just fab up another way to support the alternator, but it seems sturdy enough without it in place. On the drivers side there was more work as I cut a spot for the fuel lines, made a little extra room for the fuel regulator and then had to grind some metal off the regulator because it sticks up too much for the cover to come down enough. Some guys were shimming the covers but wanted them down as much as possible so that's the route I went.
With swap stuff taken care of I have turned my attention to the interior. I re tinted the side windows from 35% to 15%. Yeah it's illegal here but I've been getting away with it for years though I feel 15% might be pushing my luck, but it looks so good! I've replaced my door panels with some I found at a wrecker, I was going to get them redone but at $600 for the pair it's not of interest to me yet. The panels from the wrecker after cleaning up and swapping some good top rails on turned out pretty decent (I like them way more then I thought I would). I replaced the boot around the shifter by using the leather off the one on the 95, that turned out nice also. My console has new switches, I got the window switches from Hawks but the hatch switch I could not find anywhere. Mine worked but the logo was gone and I wanted them to match so I bought a corvette one off eBay (which are plentiful) and thought it would need rewiring to work but was happy to discover that if you disasemble the switch you can just replace the sliding part that has the logo so now they all look the same. I also picked up a 6 speed sticker from Hawks while I was ordering (I love the way it looks). Once Im done detailing the interior I will get some pics up, as well as when my engine cover is painted I will post some pics of that also. And with that I am up to date with my car. The snow is gone here and I hope to pull it out next week!
Nice job, car looks great, and many thanks for sharing the info. Like you, I just really like the 3rd gen body better than the 4th. Used to own a 95 TA T56 and loved it, but 3rd gen has been growin on me and surpassed. LOL
I have a 91 RS that was a V-6 car, but had a carbd 350 swapped in (this particular motor would be great in a truck). It's a basket case all over but nice body and no T tops.
Anyhow I found a LT1 / T56 Camaro for dirt cheap and couldn't resist the swap. Problem is it's a 93, so has the early opti spark and also the ECM (not flashable PCM). So trying to decide what to do about that. I know I could buy the chips and such, but I don't think EEhack will work with the 93 ECM- is that right? I know a guy who has a PCM and harness from a 94 Vette, so that could be a means to get there. Anything odd about the Vette harness that you may have heard about?
Planning on adding headers and a cam in the 220/230 ish area, maybe some light porting, etc. Maybe Comps XFI line. So wanting to be able to tune, delete all the unneeded crap etc.. The fbodytech site is a nice one, thanks for sharing. He doesn't show any support for the 93. Thought I heard you can buy the XDF for the 93 for TunerPro, maybe it's on their site somewhere. But then still stuck with burning chips, etc.. And it's a speed density car too, which sounds like it's not a terrible thing really. VEMaster supposedly can take a log and "auto correct" using the BLMs from what I understand to give a good VE table. A couple rounds of that and it's supposed to be pretty darn close.
All in all, meant to be a "low buck" build for a fun driver. I have a 3rd gen road race car that I run in NASA American Iron, so have that outlet for my need for speed.
, but I don't think EEhack will work with the 93 ECM- is that right? I know a guy who has a PCM and harness from a 94 Vette, so that could be a means to get there. Anything odd about the Vette harness that you may have heard about?
So wanting to be able to tune, delete all the unneeded crap etc.. The fbodytech site is a nice one, thanks for sharing. He doesn't show any support for the 93.
Thanks! I don't know much about 93's, but I specifically went looking for 94/95 cause I knew those were golden years for tuning. Also I don't know much about vette, set ups. There is no doubt it is worth it to be able just to delete stuff on the ECM rather than mess around with by passing vats, etc. As far as the vette harness goes, I don't know why a guy couldn't just plug and play. To me it seems that lt1 harnesses are pretty much the same, except I know different locations for ECM as well as vette has different accessory locations, as far as connections go I would think they are the same, so you would just have to lengthen some ends perhaps to make it work or Maybe re route them. Either way for a nice clean swap you are doing some harness work, u may as well get a tuneable ECM while you are at it.
Time to revive my thread.... I am ready for Phase 2! I got myself a 383 with ported heads Port matched intake splayed caps forged bottom end and supercharger. Gone through the motor I think it's ready to go in, just need to pull the old setup out transfer some stuff off of it and throw the new one in.
Nice looking engine. I would be interested in all the vacuum lines and sensors installed when you get there. Also, where you are going to run the steam pipe to the cooling system? This is our trial fit and it sits in there very nicely.
Hey strick1 that swap is coming along! Looks good! I like the blue intake. Not sure what you mean by steam tube other than the piping along the back of the block. Everything else I pretty much deleted..IE air pump and all lines involved including connections on exhaust manifolds. You will have to clarify for me.
The "steam pipe" is on the back of the engine (connects heads and runs to the front as part of the reverse flow coolant system). I just wonder where you are connecting it to the coolant system up front? I deleted the EGR and AIR pump, but I still have vacuum for the fuel regulator, opti venting, and the EVAP.
Are the coolant sensors that go on the water pump and also on the head, the same part #?
Here are pics that should help....u can see the steam pipe wraps around up to the front and connects to the throttle body. The throttle body gets its coolant from the upper corner on the rad...just below the top hose.
As for the sensors...the pic shows the connection on each, so I'm assuming different sensor part numbers.
Steam tube from back of.block Pinky and index finger pointing to coolant in and out of the throttle body. Water pump on left and block sensor or right
These are very helpful. I did a throttle body bypass as down here in SC we don't see temps cold enough to need the TB to be anti-iced. You answered my question about the temp sensors. As far as vacuum requirements, I guess all I'll need are the brake booster, opti venting, fuel regulator and the PCV. I guess the rest will get plugged. Did I miss anything? I still haven't figured out what to do about headers. What are you doing about EVAP system? Never mind I just went back ands you removed it.
What about the HVAC system? Do we need vacuum to run the doors in the HVAC? I haven't thought about that system at all.
yes you would need vacuum for that. I however deleted my air conditioning as well as my coolant lines that run to the heater core because I pretty much use the car when it's very nice out and I always drive with my windows down because my my windows are majorily illegally tinted plus I like listening to the sound of the car above all else.
Here we go again.....phase 2. Out comes the Lt1 and t56. As I do this again there are a few things I'm going to try again or redo. The most important to me is the dam exhaust! If anyone wants exhuast advice here it is....just by dyno dons mid lengths with y pipe and route it the factory way. I have spent so much time and money trying different things to make long tubes work nicely that I could have bought a set and been at the same spot financially and would be days ahead of wasted effort. Now I am in too deep to abandon the long tubes. My new strategy is to Fab my own tranny crossmember and run my pipe along the side of the transmission. The reason I haven't done this until this point is because I have a spoon crossmember which is impossible to work around with pipe. I also will have to custom make a bracket that will hold my supercharger if I want to use it. The LT1 bracket for ProCharger mount it to low and it hits the steering box I have to raise it 9 and 1/2 in in order to use it so we'll see how that goes and then I have to find a belt that will work.
You wouldn't have a T-56 tranny inspection cover laying around?
Exhaust-----I'm at the point where I'm going to have to decide which headers to go with. I see that Hooker has a long tube set for 82-92 Camaro's in Summit. Is the problem running pipes from long tubes to the rear? My only problem with Don's headers and Y pipe is he is in CA and I'm in SC. And he doesn't accept checks, cards or pay pal, just cashier's check. Not much protection.
Is your super charger a ProCharger? I thought they mounted on the passenger side of the engine.
You wouldn't have a T-56 tranny inspection cover laying around?
Exhaust-----I'm at the point where I'm going to have to decide which headers to go with. I see that Hooker has a long tube set for 82-92 Camaro's in Summit. Is the problem running pipes from long tubes to the rear? My only problem with Don's headers and Y pipe is he is in CA and I'm in SC. And he doesn't accept checks, cards or pay pal, just cashier's check. Not much protection.
Is your super charger a ProCharger? I thought they mounted on the passenger side of the engine.
No inspection plate laying around but if you find one ask if they have 2, cause mine is also missing.
Buy dyno dons from here it's a legit store
http://www.top-downsolutions.com/dyno-don-1-34-ceramic-coated-headers-with-air-tubes
Yes I have a procharger D1sc and they mount low on the drivers side, too low for Lt1. The 88-92 procharger mounts high on the drivers side but the bracket won't work because the blower units r different.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F302436642274
Here’s a reproduction cover. Don’s legit. I sent him a postal money order and he sent me the headers and y pipe. I was very nervous about it initially, but he’s been around a long time and has helped a lot of people on the forum.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?m...2F302436642274
Here’s a reproduction cover. Don’s legit. I sent him a postal money order and he sent me the headers and y pipe. I was very nervous about it initially, but he’s been around a long time and has helped a lot of people on the forum.
I didn't mean Don isn't legit just offering the option to alleviate strick1's concern. I spoke with Don and he directed me to top down solutions back when I was shopping around because he wouldn't ship to Canada...so I'm saying both are legit. 👍
With motor out I figured I would swap mounts beacuse I always felt my motor sagged towards the passenger's side. After removing the mounts a d comparing I am rather optimistic that the new mounts will help my headers clearance issues. To remove them I was able to do it quite easily after I removed my wheel. I just used ( 2) 5" extensions with a universal and they come off pretty quick. Only tip I have is that I taped my universal so that it would stay straight out instead of dropping down all the time which makes of difficult to get on the nut. Way more difference between these two parts than I ever thought.
I got the 383 booted up and idling....still trying to get the tuning to work for anything other than idle. Everything went in pretty straight forward. I did encounter a few things though with this new motor...not sure if it's new motor mount or maybe these heads are slight different than the old ones but the headers would not fit. I had to lift the motor 6 inches just to be able to slide then into place. Also the transmission is further back as I have maybe 1/32" clearance in the opening i originally cut for the shifter. Last issue I have run into is with the new clutch. When I first pushed it in it made a terrible noise. It sounded like metal was running on the fingers of the pressure plate....I quit pushing the clutch in so much (I have not yet modded the master cylinder rod because it worked fine with my stock clutch). I thought I had that problem solved but then I had it running and pulled it out of the garage and started to makema serious banging sound. I was worried I had engine knock, but eventually I narrowed it down to the transmission. Got underneath again and pulled off the slave omit to find many metal chippings inside. So I pulled off the space and noticed the damage to my pretty blue spec pressure plate... I concluded that the mark and shavings were the result of me over extending the clutch. However the knock sound was not that's. Eventually I realized the fork had fallen off and thats what was banging and why the clutch wasn't responding will. I did some research and found that guys cut down the T that holds the fork in place (usually take off 1/4") also I think adjusting the master cylinder rod works to alleviate the scraping on the pressure plate. As for the falling off I have no idea.... I put it back in and am hoping for a better result this time. We will see... It's too late to fire it up tonight. Which by the way, I cannot believe how much louder this 383 is over my 350... She is definitely pumping out alot more sur
All scratched up, dang it! I was going to go black intake but I'm kind of digging the lt4 colors.
than before.
04-03-2016, 02:59 PM
