RacnJsn95

iTrader: (4)

After a few mission aborted LS swap thoughts into previous cars I've owned due to budget constraints, I've finally decided to pull the trigger. I think I got a pretty good deal on an L76 / 6L80e drop out from an 09 G8 GT which is en-route to me now


More images of the eng/trans can be seen here at the moment

I picked up this 72 Chevelle in Sept. 2011 for $800. Running, straight body, minimal rust, but had a lot of electrical issues which led me to put that project on hold for a few years once I hit that wall...


Fast forward to today, I've replaced the wheels/tires, and added a Goodmark SS hood, and new rear valance panel. The car got a new wiring harness installed just last week, so my electrical problem woes are no longer a worry, at least until I start to install the L76 and they begin again, but at least I won't be fighting two electrical systems now.





Plans for the L76 include a set of Ported LS3 heads, ported ls3 intake, small cam and DOD delete.

Things I know I will currently have to assess:

I'm not planning to run a/c so I'll ditch the compressor. I'm thinking I would like to relocate the alternator to the upper passenger side, which will hopefully keep me from having to notch the frame/crossmember.

I would like the 6L80 to be shifted from the column shifter, so I imagine I'll have to come up with a cable affair? I think I've seen something used in 1989GTA's skylark build?

There seems to be little info available on the G8 oil pan, and belt drive accessories. Are they the same as the GTO stuff? This would be handy to know when looking for alternator relocation brackets. If the G8 oil pan won't work, I imagine I will go with the LH8 pan kit? Holley's 302-2 pan seems like a great option, but the price is pretty steep for an oil pan?

The biggest problem I've just noticed while looking at pictures of the L76 is that it looks like the major portion of the harness where the most wires are utilized has been cut... (look closely at the ecu in the picture of the engine above and see below) Kind of a bummer. Looking at the pics, it looks like it was cut at the connector at the E38, and the loom flopped up on the pass side exh manifold. I guess I'll have to solder all that back together, hopefully it won't give me issues down the road...

1989GTA

Yes I did use the column shifter with my 6L80. I went with the Lokar unit I think was for a 700R4. I had to modify the bracket to fit the transmission but not a big deal. You may be better off just spending the money and go with the Holley oil pan. Less headaches down the road and maybe more money spent.

When you get the motor in your possession you will be better able to see exactly what needs to be fixed regarding the harness. You should have no problem getting an alternator relocation bracket. Holley makes one that puts it higher on the drivers side. Looks like a fun project.

shanex25

iTrader: (3)

Where did you find those wheels? Wished I would have seen them before I purchased the boss wheels that I have now. Are they 17s or 18s? I had the factory 15in ss wheels like those and liked them enough that I almost kept them. Still wanted a larger wheel for a pro touring look though. Those are awesome.

lownfast

iTrader: (4)

I used an Fbody oil pan, kept the factory ac compressor and didn't have to notch the crossmember.

Lots of $ saving options if you look around.

BP Automotive

iTrader: (3)

Looks like you have to good plan! If you are planning on using the harness that came with the engine check and make sure the X1 was included. Just like on the GTO, the G8 donor harnesses are often missing that connector!

I look forward to the updates! That was a real nice score at $800!

Bill

RacnJsn95

iTrader: (4)

They are a reproduction of those 15" wheels, in 17x9, I think they are available in 17x8 also. My inspiration for the car is this picture (minus the vinyl top):



YearOne sells these wheels in a 17"... I had 16" wheels on my previous 68 Chevelle, and knew I needed to go 1 or 2" bigger just because of the lack of available tire size options in a 16" wheel. These pictured on my car are all 17x9 w/ 5" BS.

https://www.yearone.com/Product/wheels/gzw179k

They were a lot cheaper back in 2011... Plus, I had a 20% off coupon at the time (I see they are now discount exempt, I probably ruined that one for everyone), so they ended up being stupid cheap IMO.

I may investigate the F body pan option. Yours is another thread I have scoured through with great interest... Thankfully, I've got a TIG welder, and I'm not afraid to use it as long as it doesn't seem like a complete waste of time trying to modify a pan I already have.

The Chevelle is not an original A/C car, and I don't plan to add aftermarket A/C, so I'm going to ditch the compressor... However every swap i've come across so far that has run the G8 engine has had to notch the frame or cross member to clear the alternator, which is why I want to relocate it. Seems to be a G8 thing???

The X1 connector on the ecu? Why would the g8/gto donors commonly be missing that connector? Is it highly sought after?

Assuming the engine/trans shows up as pictured, it looks like the X1 connector is still attached to the ecu, some idiot just cut the whole harness off of it... I was hoping to use the harness that came with the engine. That was part of the reason behind buying a complete dropout.

I did score the car... So much so that I kind of felt bad.

N8Long

Im putting the same 6l80 trans in my 71 chevelle. Does it look like you're going to have to cut the trans tunnel to get it in there?

RacnJsn95

iTrader: (4)

I really can't say as the engine and transmission are not due to be delivered to me until next Tuesday... But based on the searching I have done, every A Body swap that's gotten a 6L80, it looks like everyone has had to cut the tunnel to get it to fit.

I'm kind of hoping I can just cut the tunnel, raise it up ~2", reuse the top and add a filler to take up the space I raise it. Won't know for a while yet if that's possible though.

1989GTA

That is what we did. I think we only had to raise the tunnel maybe an 1".

1989GTA

I want to add that with your welding capabilities that opens the door to the type of oil pan you can use.

RacnJsn95

iTrader: (4)

1", even better. I hoping to keep it under 2" of additional height. I currently have plans to run a bench seat, but your GTO seat swap is looking awfully tempting now that I see the installed pics.

I hate welding cast aluminum, but I'll gladly spend a couple hours modifying a cheap pan than spend a few hundred on another pan.

Based off of pan pictures and dimensions I've looked at, I'm going to attempt to shorten the sump of a truck pan by 2-2.5"... I may look at whacking the front off if I can/have to if there are steering clearance issues. (see pic below)

A friend of mine is going to hook me up with a complete truck pan/tray/pick up tube. I've got a junk 4.8 block I can bolt the pan to while welding to keep it from attempting to warp.

I also have one of those P-AYR LS1 mock up long blocks, so that's something else that should HOPEFULLY help with checking of the pan modifications, engine mounts, placement, etc without having to deal with installing/removing a heavy engine over and over.

1989GTA

I like the picture of the Chevelle in post 6. Your car is going to come out real nice.

marbs34

iTrader: (1)

Looks like a great plan, I wish I had even a weekend to myself to spend fixing up a stock oil pan instead of buying the holley. As it is I'm envious that I won't be able to do most of this stuff myself like it sounds you will. Have fun doing it.

RacnJsn95

iTrader: (4)

Thanks, I think it may come out pretty good... Not going to put a vinyl top on it though, but can't find a decent picture of an all yellow one... This pain scheme is support to just hold me over until I either win the lottery and can redo the whole car, or when I'm old and hopefully have the $$ to redo the car.

Well don't get too jealous, I don't exactly have time to do these things myself either, but I neither have the cash to drop it off somewhere to let someone else do it, and even if I did there is no one locally that does anything like this that I would trust to do it. I basically work three jobs (70-80hrs a week), and only have one day off a week, so this thing isn't going to come together overnight by any means. I've been a fabricator/designer by trade all of my adult life, so I'd prefer to do what I can myself rather than get someone else to do it.

That said, the engine/trans showed up today... Not much additional damage than I anticipated there would be. 1 broken coil, the wiring harness was indeed cut where I thought it would be, but it looks as if the important connection was kept, and perhaps the wires to the BCM were cut??? Pics of the setup below, please feel free to point out potential issues, as it is/was supposed to be a drop out, and it does have a 90 day warranty according to the paperwork...







I have no idea what the harness with the white boxy thing is, and the connector slightly above and to the right is in the 3rd picture of the engine. I had assumed the part of the wiring harness from the cut connector to the ECU would be hanging about somewhere, but I see nothing that looks like anything that it would have been cut from?

And so, after receiving the paperwork, I managed to Google creep some images of the car this engine and transmission came out of... I'm just a little scared of the condition of the engine and trans at this point considering these pictures...







Didn't see these pictures prior to purchasing the eng/trans combo... Not particularly excited now that it's all on my doorstep... I do plan on changing the cam and lifters, as well as add ported heads and intake manifold. I figure while I'm in that deep I might as well put some new rod/main bearings and piston rings in it...

Thoughts on the engine condition, and wiring mysteries?

oldgoat69

The donor does not really look that bad. Others have taken engines from far worse with no ill effects. About the only thing I would look for is a bent water pump or something in the accessory drive.

RacnJsn95

iTrader: (4)

Well that's good to hear, I it looks like a pretty hard hit and I was slightly concerned about internal damage to the engine/trans... The engine is going to come apart anyway so I guess I'd find it eventually anyway...

Couple more pics:


Is this salvageable? Not sure where the other end of the harness is? I'm guessing it goes to the BCM in the car?? Near as I can tell, for the most everything that looks like it's connected to the engine goes to the connector still attached to the ecu.


??? No clue what this is


??? Or this.


Broken coil

1989GTA

Couple of thoughts. Make sure you get a factory coil replacement. The after market ones are hit and miss. The yoke on the 6L80 can be replaced with one from the likes of a 4L80 if you want to. That is going to take some work to wire up the connector that was cut off form the E38 ECM.

What you need to do is find the engine wiring diagram for the car that the motor came out of. It might be easier/cheaper to get another harness. One thing I have notice is that all the basic wiring is the same for all the cars and same color codes. Some motors have VVT and some don't as an example of differences in harnesses. Some are manual transmissions and some are automatic. Again a difference in the harness.

As said above the wreck does not look all that bad from a motor/transmission damage standpoint. I wonder if that car has power bucket seats?

RacnJsn95

iTrader: (4)

I've got access to the wiring diagrams/pinouts through AllData. I may post that once I have it in a legible file for others... Perhaps I will shop for a complete G8 GT harness. I can't even find where the X2 connector(the cut one?) was even cut free in the harness? It's like it's missing...

I imagine most of the stuff is the same harness wise, just more or less connectors depending on VVT, AFM requirements, etc. This engine does not have VVT, but it does have AFM, which I plan to get rid of anyway.

As for the yoke on the trans... I have an aluminum drive shaft from a 4th Gen LS1 Camaro A4 car... I've been seriously considering trying to use it... Especially if the yoke will fit the 6L80. It seems on the short side, but the 6L80 appears to the eye that it may be longer than the run of the mill TH350... If I'm REALLY lucky, it will just fall into place... If I'm kinda lucky, I'll be able to shorten and reweld it then take it to be balanced. If not so lucky and I have to lengthen it, I might just buy a new shaft or have one made...

I believe all G8 seats were power, they just may or may not be leather, or heated... This particular car looks to have the power leather heated seats based on the picture of it's interior:

If the car is still at LKQ, it's in TN.

I actually have a 2008 G8 GT currently, the seats aren't bad, but I still prefer the seats from my old 04 GTO. Surprisingly enough though, the G8 seats can be bought cheaper on ebay than GTO seats.

I may contact LKQ and try to raise a stink as the engine was advertised as a "Dropout in good used working condition"... It's not just gonna work with a broken coil and a hacked harness... Maybe they can give me a replacement harness and coil, or refund some $$ so I can buy them myself. They have several G8's in various locations, even a couple about 4 hours north of me.

DW SD

They should have given you the DBW pedal, as well. The way I see it, a new used harness is a few hundred $. You could apply that to a custom harness and be about even.

As for driveshaft, I would probably consider installing a telescoping unit (like you might see between a transfer case and a live axle in 4x4 applications). Suspect you could take that camaro driveshaft and have it converted. Then you could account for articulation of the rear end, but not have to swap the 6L80 yoke.
I mention this as....
I can tell you 100% that the 6L80 4WD output shaft is different from 2WD for trucks. I had to convert mine from 4WD to 2WD which meant unstacking the whole trans to swap the output shaft to 2WD. I wouldn't be surprised if the fixed bolt-on yoke requires a different output shaft, too.

Plenty of ways to solve these problems.

1989GTA

Here are most of the things on the X2 connector.

1. Throttle body motor control and senors.
2. AOD control which you do not need.
3.VVT control which you do not need.
4. All eight fuel injectors
5. Engine coolant sensor.
6. Knock signals, left and right.
7. Alternator control.
8. Oil pressure.
9. O2 sensors, both banks.
10. Map Sensor.
11. Crankshaft position sensor.
12. Ignition coil packs, all 8.

That gives you an idea.