a_ahmed

Hey guys, how are you, I have posted a little bit but I'm starting my own newb thread.

I am in the GTA area, Ontario, Canada. Young guy, but finished school and married. Alhamdulillah (Thank God), happy with life, car, wife the whole shabang, so I'm very greatful to have this car and I wish to have the opportunity to do something as good as the LS1 swap.

I'm totally amazed at the ls1 and all the other LSx engines and in general small block chevy engines as i've learned a bit about them and their potential. Totally cool, more so I am impressed with the s chassis swaps

So here I am, with an S13 that has lots of upgrade suspension parts, upgraded brakes system (mbc, calipers, rotors), 5lug conversion, bunch of other crap long two page list. And its automatic. Where do I get started?

I have a project plan for the car, how i want it and what i want, that im constantly adding to/updating (this includes wheel/tires, suspension, chassis, aero, interior, and finally engine and power train).

I first wanted to do a 400whp kat setup but then thought what the hell, LS1 is so much more worth it imho, and thats what im sticking to.

So, the time spent budgeting/planning a kat swap was not a complete waste of time as i learned a thing or two, but now i am going from scratch for the engine/drivetrain work with the LS1+T56 swap and of course I'm clueless

My goals are stock LS1+T56 in the start. I can plan for later things like cnc'd heads and all that other shabang, but that's not my goal nor necessary.

My goals are to have the engine as far back as possible and as absolutely low down as possible, as the goal of the car is handling and road grip more than anything else. I'm not sure on the clearance issues under the car, inside the car or under the hood. So I'll need some info on this...

I plan to run pretty thick swaybars, so I will need some info on that. Right now I will be putting a nismo power brace, yashio factory brace brace (that attaches to chassis and nismo power brace), spl tension rods and inner/outer pro tierods. Not sure how that will affect clearance. The two set of swaybars I plan to run are either Largus swaybars or ARC pipe stabilizers (not to be mistaken for the ARC cooling company). They are in the 30mm range.

Other goal is yes to Power steering but, no AC, no heater, no radio/stereo/cd player (its out already just need wires stripped, no interior only things I want working is turn signals, reverse lights, brake lights, low/hi beams, no interior lights, no hicas (already removed mechanical and electrical), no heater/hvac/whatever controls, no antenna (need to remove but removed antenna cable and fuse/ground already).

I will want custom gauges for water temp, oil temp, oil pressure, voltage, speed (320km/hr speedo is it available in aftermarket form?), rpm (up to 7000rpm), fuel quantity guage, what am i missing here? The stock cluster will be junked, and ill do my best to do this around custom fabbing/mounting/fiberglassing whatever myself as i will not want the stock dash in completely. Oh yes and eventually i would like the power windows to be gone, but door locks working on both sides when locked, but for the time being the power windows to work, until later i can afford some carbonfiber manual doors.

Last but not least no emission crap at all... The stock motor is ODBI but meh.

The reason I'm mentioning the above is due to wiring issues and the fact i dont want ac, heater/hvac, only thing i want is power steering. Heck I even removed cruise control which was on the car.

So that i think sums the above up.

So onto more things, I've been told of the hinsonsupercars kit in part, but again what do I know.

I reckoned things would go like this but im not honestly too sure whats gona be what, and so in a sort of baffled guess of some of these things they would be like so in US dollars:

-Walbro 255lph Fuel pump $89.00 (ebay?)
-Complete dressed LS1 engine from 98-02 camaro/firebird $2,000.00 (?)
-T56 six speed trans from 98-02 camaro $1000 (?)
-Custom LS1 wiring harness $400.00 (hinson)
-Custom Exhaust headers for LS1 $?835? (LSX v8 ss headers from hinson?)
-Custom Aluminum driveshaft $450? (?hinson?)
-Custom hoses to connect power steering, brake lines $? (?)
-Aluminum Koyo Radiator S13 KA $400 (?, i can get 430 canadian shipped)
-Stock Altima radiator fans About 60$ Canadian dollars from ebay or something. Not sure if this radiator and fans will be adequate this was going to be for my KAT build but no more.
-Custom exhaust $? (?)
-Stock C5 Z06/LS6 clutch and pressure plate $? (?) -> I read these are a good upgrade, also LS7 is even better. Not sure on pricings but I heard its relatively good priced.
-12lbs Fidanza aluminum flywheel (I read on one of the forums the stock LS1 is 51lbs!?!? Is this true) $? (?)
-T56 clutch master cylinder+slave (hydraulic throw out bearing design) $? (?) --> The car I have now is automatic remember that, so no idea what ill need this way-wise, as I don't have a stock clutch master either, always contemplated the nismo unit as its stronger (when i wanted a kat) but now no idea..
-LSX V8 Premium Mounting Equipment Package $1,213.30 (GTO oilpan, subframe modified?, corvette mounts? huh?)
-Adjustable fuel pressure regulator $?150? (Hinson?)
-Snap on fuel rail adapter#6 $??? (Hinson? necessary?)
-High flow fuel filter $85? (Hinson?)

That's all im thinking... but im not really thinking so help me think better here haha, if theres errors in my writing well, its night and its 4:30am lol.

And I guess this is a good big opening to get me started on the research/planning/budgeting, etc...

What am I missing, what am I not including here, can i get the above thats listed in better choices/better prices, whatever, any suggestions/changes, how much are some of the things i mentioned, whatever goes, etc...

PS - I posted this on v8silvia forums too as thats more S chassis oriented... but hey this forum seems to be really good with some nice builds too.. so thought id get started...

LS1POWERED240

Sound like a decent setup u got there but dont go with hinson there stuff sucks and isnt worth ur time and money...my 2 cents

natedawg

get the LS1 and get going!!

I dont know if i'd change the front sway bar mine is a stock s14 22mm or is it 26mm and it seems to rub. but it's mainly because my bushings are shot. but i can't imagine a bigger sway bar working as I don't have to much clearance with the GTO oil pan set up.

My car was a stock auto 97 240sx.my first mod was the ls1, but that was because my car was blown.



-Walbro 255lph Fuel pump $89.00 (ebay?) - YES
-Complete dressed LS1 engine from 98-02 camaro/firebird $2,000.00 (?) average price
-T56 six speed trans from 98-02 camaro $1000 (?) average price
-Custom LS1 wiring harness $400.00 (hinson) do it yourself. its like 5-7 wires to make the car run. and since ur doing custom gauges thats half of the wiring u don't have to do. Also by doing it urself u'll know how to fix it really fast if there is a problem or issue.
-Custom Exhaust headers for LS1 $?835? Only hinson product maybe worth ur money just make sure you put them on b4 u mount the motor in. otherwise u'll be taking them back out. I have 1997 corvette c5 steel manifolds modified. (you'll need a welder)
-Custom Aluminum driveshaft $450? (?hinson?) go to driveshaftshop.com they are far better.
-Custom hoses to connect power steering, brake lines $? (?) no brake lines. powersteering lines can be bought from www.jegs.com. need to know the fittings to the 240 rack and the ls1 p/s pump. they are on here somewhere. u'll need hose, elbow fitting, straight fitting, and 2 adapter fittings to -6an. it was around 75bux for everything i believe.
-Aluminum Koyo Radiator S13 KA $400 (?, i can get 430 canadian shipped) i think u can get them cheaper from ebay. i thought 260 range. look into the sr20det radiator i think that one has the outlet and inlet on the passenger side which is what u want.
-Stock Altima radiator fans About 60$ Canadian dollars from ebay or something. Not sure if this radiator and fans will be adequate this was going to be for my KAT build but no more.- i have some fans from www.Jegs.com
-Custom exhaust $? (?) tubing and welder buy it
-Stock C5 Z06/LS6 clutch and pressure plate $? (?) -> I read these are a good upgrade, also LS7 is even better. Not sure on pricings but I heard its relatively good priced. i have a spec 2+ i'm happy with it paid 350ish on ebay for it.
-12lbs Fidanza aluminum flywheel (I read on one of the forums the stock LS1 is 51lbs!?!? Is this true) $? (?) - have that too. nice i'm happy with it.
-T56 clutch master cylinder+slave (hydraulic throw out bearing design) $? (?) --> The car I have now is automatic remember that, so no idea what ill need this way-wise, as I don't have a stock clutch master either, always contemplated the nismo unit as its stronger (when i wanted a kat) but now no idea..
- u need a s13 clutch pedal $40 at junkyard over $100 on ebay.
- wilwood master cylinder $60
-clutch line-$25
-adapter- $15
- T56 slave 80-100$ ebay make sure you get a 2002 one if u get a heavy clutch or u will have problems.
There is a few threads on this on LS1tech.com
-LSX V8 Premium Mounting Equipment Package $1,213.30 (GTO oilpan, subframe modified?, corvette mounts? huh?)
Save the money read the forum look at what you have to do. and do it. make ur own mounts. go to the hardware store and buy steel.
Gto is 210 from gm but you need other things like pickup tube, dipstick, etc. hinson sells a oil pan kit which isn't to bad of a deal i think it's 335. you could order it from SDPC for prob 280ish. or EBAY it.
- save ur self 1200 and buy a Welder, saw and grinder= maybe 600$ for everything. i'd recommend a Hobart 140 mig. thats what i purchase for my swap. and worked great for making exhaust, manifolds, notching subframe, etc.

-Adjustable fuel pressure regulator $?150? (Hinson?) - no need
-Snap on fuel rail adapter#6 $??? (Hinson? necessary?)- no need
-High flow fuel filter $85? (Hinson?)- no need
Get a vette fuel filter 40bux on ebay or at ur local parts store. get the fittings that plumb into it another 25$ and some extra fuel injection hose.

Word of advice. i prob spent 10-15 hours on this forum reading and making notes on wordpad to know everything i needed. I'd budget at least 5-6k for everything.

GIGAPUNK

iTrader: (2)

Depending on how serious you are about getting the engine low and back, you'll have to go custom. I got my **** so low that now the GTO sump sits 1.75" below the steering rack! I second the motion to buy a welder and metal working tools. If you want to build a custom car, you need custom tools.

natedawg

holy crap! my car is stock ride height, oil pan level with cross member. And i'm worried about it hitting over big bumps. hope u dont drive that car on the streets or it's lowered.

wajouba

iTrader: (1)

if you guys were in the middle east u would have finished all your engine + car + swap money for about 6000 Dollars lol...

My swap: S13 canadian (1800$)
LS1 98: 1500$ including everything Harness ECU, but auto tranny
Fitment I used the 735 BMW mounts they cost 14$ lol, and Labour cost 500$ for everything drive shaft and everything...
wirring the LS1 cost me around 200$ (still in process)

but the advantage u get over me is that u have parts if something broke I don't

Goodluck to everyone going with this swap...

Just wanted to add this post to tease u guys a bit

hughretro

Your setup sounds like good. I'm just going to build a custom cross member for my S13.

1991ls13

iTrader: (1)

this is going to help me out, lets keep this going cause i have enough to get mine going to...well at least the engine and tranny set up
my only problem is not know ing the little things i need and the tricks that can save you money.
although im getting cams and little things like that while its out.