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Today I finished my 70 Camaro swap, LQ4 from an 03 Silverado 2500. Was a pretty straight forward swap, I had put the motor in my 83 Jeep CJ7 before this but ended up selling the Jeep as a rolling chassis when I got the Camaro in trade for doing work on a friends car.
It used to be a street raced car with a seriously unsafe roll cage and racing buckets, so I cut the cage out and put a full interior in it, A new fuel tank with in tank pump from Tanks Inc. Headers are Schoenfeld (which didn't fit for ****) 3 inch exhaust, Rims are Foose Nitrous 18/20's.
Took it for a couple trips around the block, tires rubbed and exhaust rattled, took it back home, cut and massaged the quarter lips, and adjusted the hanger on the tailpipe to fix those issues, drove it about a mile no problems, temp good, electric fans work 40lbs oil pressure at idle, 60 when running down the road. Took it out again for a 10 minute ride, started sounding a little funny on the way home, as I turned on to my street it was ticking pretty good, checked the gauges again, zero oil pressure. Pulled it in the driveway and shut it off. It was fun while it lasted.
Last edited by blown67chevelle; 08-16-2015 at 11:42 AM.
Shift linkage is just the rear exit cable floor shifter. I tried to get the pan off in the car, no deal, the motor will have to come back out. There must be some problem with when I swapped to an F body oil pan from the truck pan. Whats weird is to have oil pressure then all at once have zero. Im assuming the motor is toast now.
Motors out, pick-up o-ring was perfect, when I put it in I put it in the oil pump first, lubed the pickup and installed it, came out perfect when I just disassembled it. But there is quiet a bit of a brown gritty material in the pan, looks like there might be metal in it too. Looks like its going to the machine shop, I think it may end up just going to a 408. What puzzles me is what actually happened, went from running fine to zero oil pressure. This isnt a new motor, it was replaced due to many leaks and gummed up lifters. I went threw the motor, new lifters, head gaskets and seemed to run well, till now that is...... good news is I can finally get the last two screws in my firewall grommet now.
Last edited by blown67chevelle; 08-16-2015 at 10:30 AM.
I wish I had a friend with an extra 70 Camaro sitting around that would give it to me for some side work.
You did an awesome job with it!!!
Thanks, it wasn't a little weekend job it was putting this car together: https://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-in...ld-begins.html
Hes a good friend that told me he wanted a 1000 HP street car and to build it the way I would build it for myself.
Tonight I pulled the windage tray and then a couple rod caps, the bearings still look new, no scores, no discoloration, also from the bottom all the cylinders look perfect.
What I am thinking happened is when I changed to the Fbody pan and windage tray it affects the way the oil splashes onto the crank? All the counterweight sections of the crank were crusty with oil but I was able to see where a bunch of it recently was washed off. (this motor was given to me 107,000 miles on it with gummed up lifters so bad it sounded like a rod knock) When I redid the heads, and lifters I ran it in my jeep with the truck pan on it for a month or so before pulling it to put in the Camaro. When I did the pan swap I should of inspected the bottom end better, lesson learned. All the crud in the pan is burnt oil off the crank, looks like it clogged the oil filter and the outlet of the fitting to my oil pressure gauge. bottom end is now pretty much spotless, new oil pump will be here tomorrow and hopefully motor back in the car Saturday.
As long it lasts me the summer I will be happy, that was the original plan, get the bulk of the swap done now, drive it to work out all the bugs then over the winter add some boost.
Put the motor back in with new high volume pump, let it warm up for about 5 minutes, then put another new oil filter on and took it for a 5 mile ride, then changed the oil and filter again, think I got very lucky. Also learned even though I used a brand new oil pan and pickup to always check the the clearance from pickup to pan, mine was only about an 1/8 inch and looks to be where the pickup just clogged up.
Feeling confident, I took it on a longer ride, no problems till I was pulling back in the garage, that's when the high pressure line for the power steering let go, what a mess. came apart right the fitting. Decided to have a real hose made up a local shop today which turned out to be the same price as making one myself, but this one actually holds. Adapting a P series pump was one of the harder parts of the swap, I got the motor with no accessories or brackets, so I made my own, not the hardest thing to do but 6 rib belts are not as forgiving as v belts.
Truly drove the car for the first time tonight, drove it normal, didnt baby it, got on it here and there, and got home with nothing broken or leaking (for the first time ever, I'm calling it a win. Now to just get rid of the 4:56's out back and try a highway cruise next time.
Just starting down this path myself. What gas tank did you go with? Motor mount adapters? I'm hoping to have mine in over the next few months and having the car on the road next summer. Anything you feel that can help make this a smooth process, please share!
The tank, pump and sender are all from Tanks Inc. best deal I could find, shipped right to your front door in a few days. Motor mount adapters are from Carshopinc.com LS1/LS6 1" setback plates puts the motor in stock location in relation to the original th350 bellhousing (they also sell them in their ebay store for cheaper) used in conjunction with poly smalblock mounts. Headers were my only issue, as I mentioned the ones I used fit like ***, but didn't pay alot for them seeing as I plan on going turbo next year. 4th gen factory ls1 oil pan fits perfect.
Ended up ditching the Foose rims for my old blacked out Weld Pro Stars, just wasn't my style.
What did you use for flexplate to the converter on th350? I'm doing same setup in a gbody. 01' LQ4 with built 350, 3500 stall and brake. I still have stock flexplate and spacer but bought SFI one with spacer cause with 80mm turbo i don't want plate coming out at me
No problem, hope it helps because this is where I found all my most reliable info also.
I just pulled the gears out of the rear and turns out they are 4:88's. I will be putting in the new 3:42's tomorrow, no more roasting the tires at will when shifting into 2nd, and chirping 3rd, (till the turbo goes in anyways)but also no more 4500K RPMS at 50 miles an hour.
I did sell the car about a year ago, the person who bought it from me put a new set of rims and tires on, painted on a set of stripes and a few emblems and resold the car, the last I saw it was bought by a fire dept in New York and raffled off for a fundraiser. Raffle Flyer
08-15-2015, 11:49 AM
70 Camaro, LQ4 TH350. 
