67 goat

Hey everyone. I'm reasonably new here, but have been lurking/researching for about a year now. Back in October I bought an 88k mile LQ4 that I've been working on slowly over the winter. I thought I'd use more of the LQ4 stuff, but I basically just kept the short block (which looked great internally).

I've owned this car for about 16 years. Did a frame-off resto in high school with my dad and basically restored it to stock. Then in college raised the comp. ratio and put a 236/242 cam in it. Of course, the power is decent (just over 300hp to the wheels) but it drives like crap......same old story. Hence the LS swap.

A few year ago I put a mild Pro-Touring setup in it from SC&C, a TKO-600, and a hydraboost. Besides the motor lacking some driveability, the car is a blast to drive since the pro-touring upgrades.

A pic of the car as it stands today



So anway, onto the LS build!!!
Here's the motor the day I bought it.....gross. I hate New England salt in the winter! It was cheap.



Beginning disassembly



After lots of wire-wheeling and some paint. I'm going with the "muscle car oil pan" from GM. I know some complain about ground clearance, but it's shorter than the pan on my 400, so it should be fine. It should be just about flush with the bottom of the motor cross member.



Here's the plan for the motor:
L92 heads, LS3 intake, Lingenfelter GT11 cam (215/231 and .631/.644, 118 LSA).
Truck accessory spacing with Kwik Performance brackets, F-body water pump with truck pulley swapped on.
Edelbrock cable throttle body

67 goat

GT11 cam



Cam going in.



L92 heads on!!!



Rockers going on.



And the motor as it stands today. Although the Edelbrock throttle body is on, but not pictured.

67 goat

Here's the car in it's final resting place for the swap. I plan on pulling the Pontiac 400 on 4/2 weekend and maybe test fitting the LS if I have time.

67 goat

I plan on using a PSI wiring harness. They seem to be the least expensive for the brand new aftermarket harnesses. I have the harness from the LQ4, but it's in rough shape and this is one place I'm just being lazy. I don't want to deal with the wiring and I'll just spend the money. I talked to one of the guys from PSI and he was very helpful and informative. They are in NJ, and I'm from NJ originallly, so I guess I have some interest there too. I've spoken with Speartech, and he was equally helpful and informative.

Exhaust.
I'll probably go with S&P shorty headers and full Magnaflow exhaust, eventually, but it's not in the budget right now. For now I'm going to run F-body manifolds with my existing exhaust and just make it work. I know it's going to choke the motor a bit, but it'll just be temporary to get it up and running until I can afford $1000 plus on a full exhaust.

Fuel system.
Another budgetary nightmare. Everyone knows all the issues here. Expensive, but awesome stainless tanks. Less expensive, but problematic Spectre tank, or external Walbro pump and even worse starvation. Not sure what I'm doing here yet. Might just run a walbro external to get it up and running until I an afford a Rick's tank......I'll just have to keep it above 1/2 tank for awhile.

Clutch.
I've got a bellhousing on the way from Keisler to adapt the LS to my TKO 600. I'm going to stick with the Z-bar linkage for now. I'm pretty sure I can make it work with the F-body manifolds, but we'll see. Keisler sells a nice hydraulic kit, but it's pricey. Anyone have cheap DIY recommendations? Haven't researched that one yet.

I think that's about everything for now. I hope to have this baby up and running by July.

-Jeff

LustrousWS6

iTrader: (1)

Just wanted to say that's a gorgeous car and one of my dream builds. Best of luck with the swap and hope all goes smoothly!

67 goat

Thanks!

john 67

Nice car, it looks like you may have some clearence issues with the front of the oil pan- as the tie rods are concerned that was my biggest issue , I'm not sure how much the trans. will let you raise up the motor to gain some room up front.did you look at the tanks inc. setup?I have not had any starvation issues , you can use your existing tank with a little work.Your Pontiac siblings are not going to be happy JOHN

snipes67

Awesome project! 67 Goat is my second favorite car... I am in the research stage right now and just read John 67's thread. I look forward to reading more about your project!

mcdonald77

iTrader: (21)

did you have any piston to valve clearance issues?

darksider

That car is gorgeous! Good luck.

67 goat

Thanks. Are the LS motors that much different than the Pontiac motors as far as where the location of the bottom plane (oil pan face) is located? This oil pan is actually a lower profile than the Moroso pan I had on the 400. I'd be surprised if I had clearance issues, but I guess we'll see. I hope I don't, because without modifying my floor pan (again) I don't have much room to go up.

I've seen the tanks inc. setup. So you're happy with that? My fab skills are decent. I have a milling machine, lathe and mig welder, so it shouldn't be a problem. The biggest part of that job is cleaning the fuel out of the tank I would imagine.

-Jeff

67 goat

Nope. The lift is reasonably large, but the duration is relatively small, so there's plenty of room. I forget exactly, but I had well over .120" on both intake and exhaust.

johnnynumber5

iTrader: (7)

nice build!

john 67

As for the differences between the pontiac motor and the ls I'm not sure but from looking at other builds as well as my own it seems that the oil pan and the trans. clearence are the two biggest issues.You'll see when you get it in .if the trans allows you to move the whole setup up a bit the oil pan might not be an issue.I tried to keep my motor as low as possible to have room for my large trans ( 4l80e ). that in turn brought my oil pan down. I have about 1/4" between the inner tie rod and the corner of the oil pan.the pass side head is about 3/4" from the firewall. The tanks inc pump was not a problem , cut a hole ,flatten out a spot for the mounting and cut the kit to the needed depth for the pickup, the real pain was all the russell fittings to plumb it out.I see some guys are using high pressure nylon with push on fittings? If you order the s&p shortys order the copper gaskets and the inner bolts on the collecters are A REAL PAIN to get tight.keep us posted and please , MORE PICS. thanks JOHN

jfg455

iTrader: (5)

Nice looking build. A good friend of mine just picked up your old 317 heads from you and told me to check out your car. It should be a fun ride when you are done! Give a shout if you run into a jam.

Tramminc

Nice, I in the middle of a 1968 Pontiac Catalina build, installing a C5R 427.

hookemdevils22

iTrader: (12)

and i'm subscribed. it's a shame you're not going T56/TR6060. let us know how the muscle car pan and accessories work out.

darksider

Nice, I have a 68 Bonneville, let's see some pics!

Tramminc

I will, but not on his tread site. kudos to his GTO build.

67 goat

John,
thanks for the tips, I appreciate that. I'm definitely leaning towards the tanks inc setup. I'll have some pics of the motor install after 4/2 weekend.

-Jeff