Altitude 65

This swap is a long time in the planning stages. I started last winter with upgrading the drum brakes to power disks and all new suspension parts as well. This winters project just arrived this week; I was able to get my hands on and LS3 out of a 2010 Camaro thanks to Adam at ADM performance. Thanks to his lust for power he pulled out this engine after only a couple hundred miles to put in an LS7.

New parts will continue to show up everyday for the next couple weeks. With the big ones being the pan, trans and harness. But for right now I am in love with my big lump of aluminum.

Cheers,
Jay

Bowtie70SS

iTrader: (10)

Your dog looks very, very impressed...he is smiling.

Altitude 65

In case anyone was curious; I’m sure it’s on this forum somewhere. But I threw a tape real quick on this pan once I took this motor out of the crate. It’s a monster! Biggest pan I’ve ever seen. The sump area is 7" deep by 15" long. No way is this going to fit an A-body.

I'll post some pictures of this pan tomorrow if anyone is interested.

Cheers,
Jay

Altitude 65

Thanks Bowtie she knows real power when she sees it.

Mike454SS

iTrader: (4)

Yeah...might be worth swapping to a different pan and pickup tube...but your dog is awesome.

Pop N Wood

iTrader: (1)

Damn. That pan is a new one for the LSx pan sticky. It must hold 8 or 10 quarts.

Altitude 65

Yes actually, its 8 ½ quarts.





On the 2010 SS Camaro’s they run a water cooled oil cooler. Here is a shot of the mounting bosses on the oil filter side of the pan. You can also see the open plug in the block where they get the water.



When I get this off from here later this week I will take some better dimension pictures of it if no one else has posted any of this style pan.

I still haven’t ordered a new pan yet. I think I’ll just flip a quarter between the f-body and the vette pan. I’m not sure why I’m dragging my feet at this point; I should just pull the trigger on the f-body pan and get it here. Anyone want to chime in one way or the other?

Till then Cheers,
Jay

bczee

iTrader: (12)

1) F-Body (can fit or notch it), 2) CTS-V or 3) aftermarket.. well be a lot less problems.

LH8, many are starting to use them, but IMO, it hangs too low.. my CTS-V pan just gets by with just a bit more than 1" below the x-member, I have hit it and my swap bar afew tiimes.. I would rule out anything more deeper than the CTS-V pan.

52 Rat

iTrader: (4)

I thought my LQ4 pan was deep! I think I'm going to change to a GTO or Corvette pan. Good looking mill!

john 67

Congrats on the motor,how bout some more pics of the car and upgrades so far.I believe the f body pan will give you the most clearence up front where the steering might be a conflict, what tranny are you going to run? JOHN

Altitude 65

I ordered the f-body pan this morning. Thanks for the nudge guys. Came to a little under 3 hundred which is why I suspect that a lot of people are using the LH8 kit. At less than half the price it’s pretty tempting. But it’s really not an option when the cross member is only 3 ½” off the ground. I’ll notch the cross member before I run a deeper pan.

So right now I’m looking into transmissions. Early on I had thought about running the 6 speed auto but I’m back to looking for 4L65e’s. Are their any sponsors here at the board I should look at?

As far as upgrades from last winter, I started by pulling all of the suspension out. When I put everything back it was with the Classic Performance Big brake kit with 13” slotted and drilled rotors. All the suspension arms, sway bar and springs were replaced with a BMR Level 2 kit.

Wish I had a before shot of the factory stance but I was too anxious to get started I guess.



At this point the new arms front and rear are in.



Here is a comparison of the factory springs versus the 1” drop springs. I’ve since went back to the factory springs. I know, measure once buy twice. I love your tag line John it’s so true.







The rotors are so big you can’t even see the cool hubs or tubular arms.



This shows the MASSIVE difference between the factory sway bar and the BMR bar. There wasn’t a rear bar from the factory but the rear bar in the BMR kit is even bigger then the factory front. This thing corners like a slot car now. I freaking love it.



This is with the BMR springs in. I hated to admit it but it was just too low. When you can’t get a jack under the cross member you just have to reevaluate your priorities. Looks versus practicality.



I’ve had this car for more than a dozen years. It still has the factory paint and factory interior in it. But down the road once this LS swap is complete those will both change too.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,
Jay

MelScrilla

iTrader: (2)

i love your car man. as far as transmissions go look at performabuilt and finishline their both sponsors and most guys use them anyway

bczee

iTrader: (12)

Once you put the LS3 in, which should be around 100 lbs lighter than a SBC.. your front end will come back up a bit... with my 1 1/2" springs and the B-Body spindles, I was should have been about 3" drop.. but after the convertion and swap which I did at the same time, when I got it down.. it was sitting about stock height with the front pointing up a bit !!!... I had to cut 1/2 coil off to get it down to where wanted it.. so.. my suggestion is to wait until the swap is completed before doing any more suspension mods..

But it is a great looking car.. keep us posted.

Altitude 65

That is so weird. I never really thought about this engine being that much lighter. This is a 283 car. I don’t think you could find a smaller small block.

With my conversion those are 2” drop spindles and were supposed to be 1” drop springs. You can see from the picture they were easily 3” shorter than the stockers. I know about spring rate and all that but those things slammed my car to the ground. Putting the stock springs back in gave me about a 2 ½” drop. After the LS swap I might switch to coilover shocks.

I’m not even sure why I research this stuff; I’m either not happy or it doesn’t fit.

Cheers,
Jay

john 67

I agree with bczee, wait and see what the height is after the engine swap.I bought my suspension components over 3 years ago and still dont know the final outcome.I hope you don't change the paint ,it looks great.JOHN

cutlass_455

iTrader: (2)

That car looks awesome!!

Also, my $0.02 on the oil pan is the LH8 one is WAY too low, I tried it too and now its collecting dust on the floor. So unless you can cut and weld it for free (keep in mind you gotta do the pickup too), consider the aftermarket stuff. The kicker with the aftermarket is you gotta run a remote oil filter, which muddies up a nice engine bay.

bczee

iTrader: (12)

283 is still a small block and weights in the same as any other SBC.. Also.. the Gen III/IV is about 1" shorter and about 1" to 2" wider that a SBC (depending oh how you measure the engine).

I have my engine about as far back as I could get it... While I was making my Cowl Induction setup.. without my Radiator and hoses in place, I was able to stick my head up in front of the engine from the bottom while the hood was closed to check clearances of the hood to air box....!

V8Rumble

iTrader: (9)

SWEET-looking car, & a neat project! I'm looking forward to watching your progress, & seeing it completed! You gonna run it at Bandimere when you're done? (BTW, watch for a PM some time today...)

John McGraw

I dropped mine in a 67 Chevelle last night, and used a CTS-V pan. It cleared well, and puts the engine about 2" off the firewall. the pan hits the crossmember just about the time the relay rod hits the front of the pan. I am going to set the pan 1/4" off the crossmember, and I will have good clearance. The only unresolved problem is the alternator clearance at the steering box. The alternator rides hard on the box, and unless I can find a smaller diameter alternator that mounts to my existing brackets, I may end up putting a Unisteer rack and pinion unit in. If I do this, I may lower the engine another 1" in the chassis. With a R&P, I would not have relay rod clearance problems and a small notch in the corners of the pan where they hit the crossmember, would let the engine come down some more!


Regards, John McGraw

Altitude 65

Thanks for all the compliments guys.

I’ve enjoyed keeping this car stock for more than a dozen years. I always took pride in the fact that it was the original engine, interior and paint. Survivors are always nice to admire. So I really never drove it much; I think I’ve only put a little over 3000 miles on it. But when I moved here to Denver 3 years ago, the container the moving company put the car in had a racking system over head. Needless to say that the roof took a 1000 mile beat down. That changed my mind on this car once I realized that I was going to have to repaint it. Now I’m going to make it mine and enjoy the **** out of it.