I reinstalled what I had left of the stock engine harness next. I am going to attempt to retain the abs, which is most of what is left.
I am also reusing the stock under hood fuse block. I have several extra fuses now that I will use to power most of the Holley harness.
I also installed the upgraded "Corvette Servo" previously discussed. I put a little good luck insignia on it! We will see if you guys get the reference, and are as nerdy as me!
garaithon said:I also installed the upgraded "Corvette Servo" previously discussed. I put a little good luck insignia on it! We will see if you guys get the reference, and are as nerdy as me!
Nerdy?
Uh, yes.
I have been making good progress on this beast, just taking my time updating. Here is a shot of the spacer needed when using an LS with an older SBC transmission.
If you are using a newer style dished flex plate like I have you mount it transmission side. If you are using a 99 to 01ish flat flex plate it would mount engine side. It really just centers the torque converter up for the most part.
Here you can see me test fitting the flexplate and spacer after drilling out the holes larger to fit the old style torque converter.
This is gonna be sweet, but I am a little sad that LT1 wagons got a little rarer. Ive always wanted an LT1 T56 longroof. Id put a much more raunchy cam than I normally recommend for a street car in it. I think the combo of a big floaty boat, and a high RPM screaming engine, backed by a stick, with a bunch of gear are not two things that sound good on paper together but would be an absolute riot
And then it was in!
And out, and then in, and several turns of that...
First interference was the heater core and rear passenger coil area.
Should have took that stud out...
Next issue was the crossmember to oil pan clearance. I put the engine mount plates in the most forward position, like the instructions recommended, but the oil pan was resting on the crossmember on the passenger side. So back out, and I moved them to the rear most position.
Much better! I did bend the front brake line up on top of the crossmember instead of on the back side. There is only about a 1/4 inch of clearance on the passenger edge of the oil pan. Tight fit, but it fits!
In reply to Opti :
I thought hard about building the ol' LT1, but the LT1 specific bits are getting tougher to find. I plan on this being a "keeper" and I plan to put slot of miles on this thing. There are quite a few low mileage ones out there, due to the original target audience for these.
The next issue I ran into was the truck intake would not fit under the firewall/cowl area. I was really hoping to use the truck intake to save some money and play to the "sleeper" aspect, but there was no way it would fit with this mounting location. Enter $450 of Ls3 intake and fuel rail.
This caused another problem which is obvious here:
Luckily ICT billit offers an idler relocation bracket that works and is cheap to boot! It just requires "modifying" the P/S bracket. You will see the removed section of the bracket here:
Now there is room for the throttle body!
Looking Good!
Looks like the power steering lines are going to be simple. I should be able to reuse the stock return line cut shorter. The pressure line looks like a hose from about an 03 4wd pickup will work.
I ended up sticking with stock manifolds, mostly to save a little money and get her on the road! I used manifolds of an 03 Trailblazer (Thanks Indy!) The drive side fit as if it was a factory part for the Whale. The passenger side manifold flange interfered with the frame. I solved this by removing one of the mounting flange studs.
There are honestly better ways to go about this, including direct fit headers, and I'm sure if I mixed and matched other stock manifolds there is probably one that would clear. I think this will be "fine" for now. It also looks like I can reuse my stock transmission cooler lines!
Looks like you're making great progress on your swap. These old boats are awesome. American big body cars in general seem to be making a comeback with enthusiasts.
I would highly recommend installing a set of performance valve springs, even if you don't plan on revving the motor high. The stock springs won't be able to keep up with the more harsh lift and duration, and may eventually break, allowing a valve to drop, kiss a piston, and possibly throw a rod. Ask me how I know this...happened to me in a 6.0 powered E39.
You can get the PAC1218s for under $200, and they are well worth the peace of mind.
Oh, and how long until the turbo goes on? :)
A quick blurb that suggests why it's important to run the right valve springs for your setup...
In reply to nsogiba :
Yea, I am definitely playing with fire in the spring department. We have seen a lot of broken springs at work on stock low mileage engines, as a matter of fact. I plan to build another "backup/ boost ready" 6.0 once I get the car on the road and it will get springs for sure.
Im going to try and hold off on the turbo until I get a trans and rear differential that can handle it. I'm also thinking about having it repainted this winter in White Diamond Tricoat, but we will see what order all that happens in!
The the change to the LS3 intake also made another problem for me. The LS3 injectors use a larger O ring on the intake side. You also have to remove the isolators on the injector tips for them to fit in the LS3 intake.
The truck injectors are also taller than the LS3 injectors, I just used 4 washer to space the fuel rail.
I actually had bought some LS3 injectors but a buddy was further along on his project and ended up needing some last second. So I made these work. I will definitely be upgrading in the future as the stock 30lb injectors are just enough to support my current configuration.
I decided to install my original oil pressure switch in the oil cooler block off on the oil pan. There is really no good reason, as I will use the original 6.0 sensor as well, but I had the right tap and a little redundancy never hurt!
Here it is installed:
The wiring will need to be routed around the manifold to keep from melting it but that is easy enough.
Does anyone know if anyone makes a close out for using the older style 4l60e with an LS? I have looked, but not real hard yet. Thanks!
I worked on getting the rear coil on the passenger side to "fit." The heater core inlet and outlet occupies the same space in the stock configuration of the coils. I simply cut the rear part of the coil bracket and moved it under number 6 coil. I had to reroute the coil connector as well.
I may upgrade to some of the sweet looking remote mounted coil setups in the future but this should get me going and was free. Drivers side fits with plenty of clearance for everything.
Time for an update! I have made a lot of progress just haven't updated for awhile. I'll try and get us up to speed!
Here is the truck accessory bracket installed with the stock idler pulley mounting removed for LS3 intake throttle body clearance.
That worked well after some trial and error. There is a reason those LS swap accessory drive are so expensive, they will save you a ton of time mixing and matching.
Here is the stock intake duct installed. It clears everything barely.
I was hopeful the stock resonator would fit but the alternator is in the way. It looks promising in this photo though!
The truck mechanical fan won't work with the LS3 intake either. As you can see:
Next I ran into another issue, the throttle body cam is hitting the water pump outlet. This is the 08 2500 water pump.
I tried a LS3 water pump but the heater hose ports are too close to the upper a arm on the passenger side. I also started mocking up the belt routing.
I also tried an earlier style truck water pump and it hit the cam worse but I didn't get a picture. It comes up straight, instead of at a 45 degree angle like the 08 pump. Ultimately I could either grind on the pump or use a throttle body spacer. I didn't want to use the spacer because it would make my already tight throttle cable even tighter, but I went that way as I didn't want to risk a coolant leak. I went with a 1 inch spacer, but in hindsight I could have probably got away with just a 1/2inch.
I also went with a AC relocation bracket from LS Simple. They have a bracket that moves the stock H6 compressor up to the passenger side. You can also see my final belt routing.
Thanks for the update. I miss having a full size wagon, so I'm enjoying the thread.
In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
I miss driving it! Haha!
I was able to use a stock 04 pickup upper rad hose. I didn't even trim it! I did have to put some conduit around it where it crosses over the ac bracket to keep it from running. The lower hose is made from a 91-93 GM B Body lower hose cut in half, sliced together, and trimmed.
I have been dreading this part...
However, I got it out without breaking anything! I went with a Holley in tank pump. You can see the old pump next to the new one. I did have change the electrical connector and swap the pick up hose.
Getting really close to running at this point!
Well this happened:
How do I post a video? We need noise!
garaithon said:Well this happened:
How do I post a video? We need noise!
AWESOME !
How's it drive?
I kinda took a break on this project for a bit. I had some fuel pump problems shortly after getting it running, which turned out to be a bad solder job by yours truly, on the in tank fuel pump connector. It took me three tow truck rides to figure it out though! I needed a change of pace for a bit...
So I bought a 1.0 ecoboost Fiesta in need of an engine for a change of pace. It took me much longer than anticipated to source an engine. I put that together, drove it a bit, then trade it while used car prices are still nuts since it had low miles. Traded it on a Matrix XRS plus bonus money!!! Then the clutch exploded on the XRS promptly after purchasing it so then I did that job. I also sold and traded a couple trucks. I have probably put about 400 or so miles on the swap but I didn't touch it for a couple months.
I still have plenty to do, including a trans swap in the near, rather than later future, and I would like to start accumulating turbo parts over the winter. I took it out today to pick up some balloon installations my wife had done, and it did great other than the first gear in the old 4L60.
I think I am going to go the TH400 route after a lot consideration. I think it's the best option on a heavy turbo LS combo, at least in my budget range, but I am open to suggestions!
So this happened:
I had some nibbles on selling this thing but nothing really lined up. So in typical GRM fashion I started dumping more time and money in it, and slowly convincing my self that just one more car won't take up that much room or time. I used the F2B pedal adapter to bolt Fbody pedals in.
We are going to put this thing to the test:
It's the same length as the 4L60 and the shifter is an inch or so of the T56 location so theoretically everything should be close. I have the Fabot kit already and the trans was cheap. If it explodes it uses T56 clutch assembly and I can just swap it out.
Anybody have an opinion on the clutch return spring? Mine is missing and it doesn't appear this pedal set has the holes for it? People seem to not use them and it "fine."
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