TroyHog

Hey guys - my 19 yr old daughter always wanted a Bandit clone and so we have pulled one out of the tree row and are diving in! I figure whatever keeps her in MY shop at night is good at this point. Anyway - we have the 403 olds boat anchor and trans out and the front clip is off - I bought a 5.3 out of an 02 chevy pickup with the 4l60E, harness, and CPU. Of course I have an infinite number of questions but right now I am wondering what modifications I will need to do to the trans cross member if any and if anybody can help with placement. I will post some pics soon. I have ordered some billet adapter mounts for the engine that allow like three different distances from stock - so if anyone knows which is best that would help also. I am anticipating a different radiator also. Thanks in advance to anyone that chimes in!

bamabob

Glad to see another one getting saved. I have not done that swap but am guessing you only have to do minor mods on the tranny cross member to make it work. You will most likely have to change the oil pan to get the motor low enough in the sub frame to get driveline angles correct. There's a lot of info here that should be easy enough to search out. Good luck on the swap and be sure to post pictures of your progress.

2slowTA

In my '81 I moved the cross member back one bolt hole and re drilled the sub frame to accommodate the rear most bolt. I used Dirty Dingo slider block mounts with the factory clam shell mounts on the frame. Those must be in the small block chevy mounting position. Yours is an Olds so, keep that in mind. The frame is pre drilled from the factory for the various motors, just need to locate which ones. This worked very well for me because you can place the motor where you want it. A radiator from a 4th gen f body will go straight into same position as factory. Truck pan will hang too low. You can shorten it and re weld or find an f body pan. This will get you started anyway. I'm sure more questions will arise.