Conversions & Hybrids - G-Body CTS-V And John B

Wanted to show the results and fit of My LS2 GTO motor in my 1986 Monte Carlo SS with John Bzdels Motor mounts and his recommendation to use them with the Caddy CTS-V pan.

First off, the reasons I chose John Bs mounts.

1. John had done a lot of work to position the motor as close to stock as possible ( Center, Height, front to back for weight distribution)

2.This consideration placed the 4L65E tail right where I needed it to use the stock cross member mounting holes and rest on the perch of the stock cross member at the correct height with enough room in the trans tunnel . ( A plus for someone like me that doesn’t want to have to fab a cross member or worry about drive line angles)

3. I was able to use the CTS-V pan kit which I got at a more than reasonable price and it only hangs about 3/4 of an inch below the engine cross member..



For the trans tail housing.. I knew the GTO tail was not going to work so I had to obtain another tail.. I also needed to do something about the stock speedo working so with this in mind I decided to kill two birds with one stone and purchased a kit that retains the reluctor for trans control and adds a provision for a mechanical speedo gear..

http://www.rd-eng.com/pagetwo.html

You can also go the Cable X route if you already have the correct tail for cheaper

http://www.abbott-tach.com/cablex.htm




Below is a picture of the engine bay with John bs mounts..

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/1234/mattsmonte007.jpg


Engine with CTS-V pan going in..


http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/4136/mattsmonte006.jpg



Engine in...



http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/4452/mattsmonte010.jpg



CTS-V Pan Clearance..


http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/9623/ctsvpanfit009.jpg



http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/1641/ctsvpanfit003.jpg




Shots of Stock Xmember in place (notice bolt holes are only a hair off.. All I needed to do is extend the slot slightly in the cross member to fit) also a shot with new tail housing kit installed and comparison to GTO tail..

http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/3577/adapttailonstockxmember.jpg


http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/3466/gtotailvsadapttail4.jpg

Thanks John for all your help..

Best regards,

Matt

Very nice. How much clearance do have, or will you have, between:

heater box and right rear coil pak
alternator and steering gear
driver header/manifold and steering shaft

I wish he still had his mounts available.:bang: Nice work on the swap.

Very nice. How much clearance do have, or will you have, between:

heater box and right rear coil pak
alternator and steering gear
driver header/manifold and steering shaft


The heater box and last coil was tight.. I ground off some of the bracket and raised mount boss as John did to give it more room..

However, I did have enough room to mount the stock GTO 4L65E trans Dip stick with minimal bending..

It will be fine now but just think of the passenger coil as your distributor in a standard small block when installing (Basically.. What I mean is.. its a good idea to remove it before installing). Mine was on in the photo.. but quickly removed once I saw it was an issue..

Another issue, I must confess, was the orientation of the hoist in the picture I posted. The front approach does not give enough travel to insert the engine far enough...and I had to switch to the side.. (If I would have paid attention to Johns images I would have known this :emb: )

Basically.. I didnt snap off another picture after I removed the coil and moved the hoist but keep that in mind if doing the same..



The Alternator was tight as well.. But thats only because the snout of the GTO alternator extends out quite a bit more that others I have seen..

As for the Exhaust.. Theres enough to fit Fbody headers on the driver side with no issues.. The pain is the passenger side..

I will have to make some measurements if your looking for exact numbers..

Matt

The LH8 pan will also work very well for this application. thats the pan I used for my swap in my GN.

I bought the CTS-V pan for my swap (84ss) if those mounts are not available anymore what other mounts are guys using with out cuting the frame?

Thanks

I will have to make some measurements if your looking for exact numbers..

Thanks for the info. I was curious because my clearances at each of those spots is tight. Moving the coil bracket is on the to-do list. My alt-to-gear clearance is slightly less than the drive belt thickness. My BRP header to steering shaft clearance is motivating me to swap out the factory shaft to eliminate the plastic and rubber bits next to the header.

[QUOTE=pmgm;13586457]I bought the CTS-V pan for my swap (84ss) if those mounts are not available anymore what other mounts are guys using with out cuting the frame?

Thanks[/QUOTE

I was thinking the same thing.

I bought the CTS-V pan for my swap (84ss) if those mounts are not available anymore what other mounts are guys using with out cuting the frame?

Thanks

I have seen some use the trans dapt mounts in the G-body swap thread and the BRP mounts I believe have been advertised as allowing the motor to either sit forward as to allow low passenger side AC mounting.. Or to the rear as to position the motor closer to stock..

I have also seen these

http://www.spohn.net/shop/1978-1987-GM-G-Body/LSX-Swap-Parts/

and I called to get an idea where they place the motor but I missed the return call from thier support guy.. Sorry.. :bang:

Maybe someone can follow up where I fell short and report back?

Matt

I used those mounts for my car ('84 MCSS w/ '01 LS1) with the factory block-side mount. I don't have exact measurements for you, but few of the factory cross-member holes lined up with the brackets. I had to drill and clearance holes. I pushed my engine far back as possible. I need to modify the right rear coil mount. I also used a Kwik Performance AC bracket.

I used those mounts for my car ('84 MCSS w/ '01 LS1) with the factory block-side mount.

What mounts? The John B., Spohn, or BRP?

What mounts? The John B., Spohn, or BRP?

Spohn

Spohn

Thats not a bad price,I may pick up a set for my swap. I need to make sure it will work. I would like my motor to sit in the factory location, Im going to run a turbo and also try to keep my A/C...

Spohn

Thanks

Matt, glad to hear that it all worked out! Congrat's!!!

Sorry I didn't reply earlier but I'm back in Italy for a while with very limited Internet access.

Matt, glad to hear that it all worked out! Congrat's!!!

Sorry I didn't reply earlier but I'm back in Italy for a while with very limited Internet access.


No worries John.. From our previous conversation i knew that you were out of the states quite a bit..

Good to hear from you!

Thanks again! :cheers:

Best regards,

Matt

Nice job on the swap, the monte looks pretty nice to :chug: Wish Johns mounts were available, i would pick some up for sure.

I just picked up a caddy pan for my ly6/4l80E swap into a 87GN.

I've been looking at the BRP mounts it looked like the fit pretty well in Boost-box
GN. I'm not sure if he had issues with the coils hitting the A/C though.

Kinda interested to see how close the caddy pans drain plug comes to the 4L80E flex plate:confused: