JacobJ

I am probably not your average member on this forum because I've never owned a car that came with a chevy engine from the factory, but I have owned and built multiple classic cars with LS engines. Here is some info on my current project, a 1956 Buick that has been in storage since at least the 70's. I have a 2015 L83 5.3 and 6l80e out of a silverado I am swapping in it. It's also getting Jaguar front and rear suspension out of a late 70's XJS. I've done a couple Gen 3 swaps, and a 1994 LT1 swap, but this is my first Gen V. Currently the motor mounts are welded in and I'm still working on finalizing the transmission crossmember.

truckdoug

iTrader: (25)

very cool. my first project car was a '55

vannatta20

iTrader: (4)

Great swap! Since your using the 6l80e and the factory harness it will work great. If you need help modding the harness let me know.

late2thegame

Subscribing

JacobJ

Here are some more pictures. I have a power steering pump and bracket coming soon, I'm a little nervous because I did not test fit that for clearance before finalizing the mounts. as you can see, the driver side is a tight fit!

Also it looks like the AC pump and vacuum pump are not able to be mounted with the motor mount conversion plates (ICT Billet 551363). But it looks like I can grind a little material off of the passenger side one and still mount the ac pump. I think with a check valve running off of the factory intake, I will be ok with out the vacuum pump.





Here is a look inside the car, I had to cut the tunnel to make room for that big 6l80e. Im planning on switching to bucket seats anyways so not too heart broken over it.

brandon6.0

iTrader: (32)

I just installed a l83 into a customers c10. we had to cut the trans tunnel as well for the 6l80e. we just finished it up 2 weeks ago. we used the ict billet mounts and had to cut them as well. Will also need a power steering pump of some sort. we used ict kit for it. all in all everything turned out nice. plenty of power! will blow the tired off from a 30mph kickdown! youll love It once finished!

Bob@BruteSpeed

iTrader: (16)

The floor looks amazingly solid for as old as it is. Nice job! Bob

JacobJ

I was able to get some more work done on the special this weekend. The jaguar rack and pinion uses a 3/4" 48 spline shaft, while the buick column uses a 2 bolt flange. Some good old fashioned CAD programming and plasma cutting did the trick. I was also able to get the firewall booster and master cylinder installed, as well as make some progress towards a new air conditioning setup on the passenger firewall.

JacobJ

Here are the pictures of the jaguar suspension conversion. These rear ends fit under these cars so well and make for such an improved ride! although it is welded to the frame, I am only welding the cage mounts so the hole rear end can easily be removed / installed. I'll put some pictures and details about how to do the support bars down below later. I haven't yet drilled holes through the 2x4 for mounting bolts in the pics. I will be going with different wheels that have less backspacing to fill the fender gap better, as well as taller tires.

bamabob

Awesome build!

Motown 454

iTrader: (15)

Sweet build.

KiwiStarChief

Very interesting build. Please keep the reports coming, as I'm right into these 50's LS swaps.

jangus

Excellent looking project. Kudos for keeping all the modern accessories and fuel injection.

JacobJ

I made some progress on the AC. This has been rather difficult because with the new engine in there, there isn't enough clearance for even the factory non AC air box. Like the brake box on the other side, I am doing this without cutting or modifying the firewall. Depending how much spare time I have this summer I might work on a new heating system. With my other car being a convertible theres no such thing as too much heat or too much AC when you need it. I am using a mid 2000s Silverado evaporator. I will need to make a couple adjustments but overall I'm happy with how its looking.







Heres a later model heater core I was thinking about installing. At first I wanted to do a firewall mounted setup with both heater and AC but ran out of room in a hurry with just the AC so heaters staying in the factory location

1989GTA

Signing on to the build and this thread.

JacobJ

These pictured didn't turn out the best, but heres how I attached the trailing arms for the jaguar suspension. I used 20" threaded tubes with 5/8" threads and 1/2" eyelets on the rod ends. I welded a 2x2 bar between the frame rails. the bottom of the bar sits 1" below the frame to have clearance for the exhaust to come through the frame. The bar has two 30 degree cuts in it to fit the X in the frame. I'll put pictures of the measurements to help anyone doing the same thing on a 56.






Overall:


Longest part of angled area:


Shortest part of angled area:


In front of the rear driver tire:


A little undercoating fire:

JacobJ

Here are a couple pictures of the power steering conversion using the ICT billet kit. very pleased with it. I've used a few of their products and its been nothing but the highest quality. They should be paying me to say this lol

JacobJ

Ok, so this isn't the 56 buick thats in the other pictures, but its one I've been working on and driving a while. I put an LSXRT intake on it recently and have been extremely impressed with the improvement! other performance parts on the LS1 include a 224R cam, LE2 heads, Yank 3200 converter and headers. I'll be back to working on the special this weekend

Jimbo1367

This is looking pretty cool. Thanks for sharing.

JacobJ

The air conditioning project has turned out to be a lot bigger of a pain than expected. the main issue is making it so that it has clearance to be removed with the engine in place. right now it bolts together from 3 pieces, and does clear this engine, so it has a smaller profile than even the factory non ac box. I also found out that the factory blower motor housing couldnt be bolted to a flat surface, so the flange for that had to be spaced out 3/4". here are some pictures