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Ok fellas, I'm wrapping up building a ls1 swap 70 Camaro right now for a good buddy of mine, when it is done, hopefully in the next 4 weeks, I will be diving into my own car which is a 69 Camaro that I am wanting to put a turbo 5.3 in.
Here is what I have so far:
69 Camaro with fresh 12 bolt 3:73 posi
05 LM7 with 60k on it, complete top to bottom with wiring harness and ecu
t56 from 00 z28
76 mm on3 turbo .96ar
ls1 intake manfold with ls6 rails
60# injectors
LS6 cam, springs, and pushrods
I plan on using the dirty dingo slider mounts to mount to my stock tower mounts in the car. I will use the truck manifolds as my turbo headers, mig weld all the piping. I need to figure out what other big parts I need to secure while I finish up this other build so I can hit the ground running when it's done.
I need help on these:
Innercooler
wastegate
bov
boost controller
to convert EV1 ls1 injectors to fit my 5.3 truck harness injector clips
what clutch to run
what to do about tuning, I'm in Montana and i had a shop in idaho quote me $600 to dyno tune my car after someone unlocked the computer, so bascially i would need to get it base tuned and transport it to them 4 hours one way, ouch! Thoughts?
Anything else I will need to think of or get?
couple pics of the car as it sits now.
Last edited by snowhunter87; 07-20-2015 at 11:01 AM.
Save yourself money & frustration and spend the $1400 on the holley hp efi. Use the built in boost controller & closed loop 02 sensor tuning.
Don't cheap out on a good wastegate. I recommend a PTE 46mm. A Tial 50mm bov is a good one also.
A good dual disc clutch is preferred but you can get by with a nice single setup also.
I would go with 80lb injectors. You'll have more room to grow.
Also, think about your valvesprings, you might need something more stout.
As far as tuning, you could self tune for the most part with the Holley HP efi. That will also take care of your injector wiring issues as you can get the HP with the harness.
I forgot to mention my goals with the build, sorry fellas.
I have picked up this 5.3 for $500 with the intention of this being my trial run for building a turbo motor. I have wanted to fab my own turbo set up for three years now, and I figured this would be a good one to practice with. My tranny is my weak link right now, it is bone stock, so with that in mind, I am planning keeping the boost around 7-9#. With this build I want to be very conservative and learn as much as I can by actually doing it myself. The plan for next year is to pull the 5.3 and install my 6.0 that I have has waiting in the shop for three years!!! So if that helps, I think the 60# injectors will work fine for now because I'm not going to be pushing the double digit boost numbers.
As far as tuning, would it be more cost effective to get a HP Tuners licence and learn to tune my car?? I'm not a dummy when it comes to how engines work, just have never looked into tuning it myself, anyone have any opinions on this?
You are money ahead going with the Holley hp efi.
Built in boost controller, data logging, closed & open loop tunable, water/meth injection built into it, ect.
$1400.
Compare the prices of a boost controller, tuner, harness, injector mods, ect & you are well over that for an inferior factory ecu.
I'll keep my eyes open, but everything I have found so far puts those systems between 1600-1800. The resto-mod scene has definitely increased since 2012, some things are way more than they were when they first started out.
I used the treadstone 1000hp air to air intercooler in my current 69 camaro 5.3 jy turbo build. Very tight fit in front of the rad support but it does fit!
This sounds like a great build. Although it might be a tough pill to swallow up front, i agree that an aftermarket ecu is the way to go. I was stubborn and didnt believe it would add up as fast as everyone says, but by the time i got a new harness, bought hp tuners (i do plan on doing other factory ecu's so that will help), boost controller, going to do meth injection etc etc, it would have been way cheaper to go aftermarket. Denmah is using a gold box on his latest fairmont, and the thing looks awesome. He wired in a factory meth sensor and some other goodies. Its the cheapest and most inclusive setup in my opinion.
Just google efi source gold box, i dont think im allowed to put a link. Pm me if you cant find it
thanks for the input fellas. I'm not a member of yellowbullet, maybe I should!!
As far as getting efi hp, i'm ok with it, i've just alway thought it was a way for them to appeal to those who don't want to take the time to do it themselves the good old fashion way, but maybe i was wrong. I will look into it some more.
80 lb injectors are only a few bucks more than 60s. You don't want to run into issues down the road with not having enough fuel. They aren't any harder to tune either. There is very little reason to do the upgrade if you haven't already bought them.
I would upgrade valve springs as well to something like PAC 1218s just to prevent valve float. You can still run stock pushrods with them.
Do you plan do daily drive The car? A plug and play Microsquirt setup is less than half the cost of the Holley and far more user friendly than HPT for about the same cost.
I already have 60# injectors and the ls6 springs, pushrods, and cam, so i may have jumped the gun but like i said, i dont plan on running high boost and maxing out my hp, i am running a stock t56 trans so I will be limited by how much it can take.
Thanks nova, I will check it out for sure!!! Like I said, this is a test run, if I burn it down or blow it up i wont feel bad, I paid $500 for the motor and $300 for the new turbo, don't have a ton invested at this time.
Looks like it's almost $800 for the link you sent me, was there another one for $400 or is this the one you meant to send?
Good looking build! I'd definitely have to agree with running a Holley setup, as they will allow for so much more than the stock ECU can handle and will always turn out cheaper than piece by piece.
03-22-2015, 10:45 PM
76mm turbo 6.0L in 69 camaro 
