THEREALONEONLYBONZO

I've been wanting to put an LS motor into my 1988 Cutlass since before I bought it. I swapped an LT1 into an 87 Cutlass back in the mid 90's and that seemed way simpler than this. I'm wanting to go with the 6.0. Been leaning toward the LQ9 for some time because of price and performance.

I'm about to start buying the parts and am wanting to get opinions on my choices. I have read and reread the Gbody swap thread. Lots of help there.

Starting at the heart, there is a low mileage SS Silverado take out I can pick up. Motor, 4l65e trans, wiring, ecm, and pedal. If I had the money I'd buy a complete CTS V motor, but there too pricey and scarce in this neck of the woods.

Mounts: stock small block chevy mounts. Seems like the 1 inch back are more for the people using their original trans?

Accessory drive: I'm hoping to use the stock truck accessories if I can. I intend to keep the AC on my car so I may or not have to massage the heater box?

Cooling: I've seen people use LT1 fbody radiators as well as Gbody radiators.
Might have to switch to a small block chevy radiator for a monte? I intend to use the stock truck hoses if I can.

Oil pan: I've been looking at both the CTS V pan and the LH8 pan. I don't mind notching the crossmember if that is the case for the pan or an accessory.

Fuel tank: I'll either get the Monte 4.3 or Grand National tank. I've seen people on here use both. Not so sure about the Walbro pump. I may just cross reference the GM part # and get an airtex through Autozone.

Wiring: Most likely I'll send my wiring and ecm/pcm off to Speartech for conversion.

Exhaust: Not a fan of headers so I'll use the truck manifold one side, fbody on the other from what I've seen on here. I'll keep the cats, they don't cut down on power enough for to want rid of them. Either a G Force or Summit dual crossmember for the 4l60.

That's ALL I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure theres Tons more involved really, but I'll see what hits me over the head.

BP Automotive

iTrader: (3)

Looks like you have a good list there!

If you need fuel system parts or harness parts, just let us know. We can help with that! Inline or in tank pump, doesnt matter!

kainedogg

iTrader: (23)

Is the 4l65e from an awd truck? If so you may have to get that trans modified to a 2wd. Any good trans shop can do it. Good luck

THEREALONEONLYBONZO

It's the 2wd Silverado SS. Thankfully.

kainedogg

iTrader: (23)

Lol, great!

psiconversion

iTrader: (5)

The CTS-V pan fits perfectly on the g-body. One thing you have to be careful of is if the engine goes too far back the valve cover will hit the A/C box. We used Dingo mounts and CTS-V pan with G-Force crossmember for the 4L60E and had no issues with alignment in our '86 El Camino.

Jon
PSI

THEREALONEONLYBONZO

Thanks for the offer BP, I'll definitely keep you in mind for my wiring mod.

Psi, with the Dingo mounts how was the hood clearance with the intake and accessories?

psiconversion

iTrader: (5)

LS1 intake fit no problem, now I am trying a Trailblazer SS (an R/D experiment we are working on). I dont have the stock hood on yet, but it looks like it is going to be close. The truck intake will be similar to the TBSS intake. Im sure you can find confirmation on clearance somewhere on the board. Just a side note, i used both F-BODY exhaust manifolds. We have good deals on the mounts and oil pan kits if you need them.

Jon
PSI

THEREALONEONLYBONZO

I've picked up a set of transdapt 4592 for the early gen 1 style Chevy. I got them 20 bucks so I may try to make them work or resell them.

cbrrmike

iTrader: (10)

The Tbss intake is a truck intake

THEREALONEONLYBONZO

Well my motor came in today.


It's a 6.0 LQ9 out of a Silverado SS 2wd. Had 53000 on it. Still attached to the 4l65e.
Came with all pulleys, wiring, and tac with pedal.


I'm gonna be putting it into this.


When I get done she'll look more like this.

classiccaprice

iTrader: (2)

Subscribed. Nice Cutlass. How much did You have to dish out for the SS drivetrain?

THEREALONEONLYBONZO

I gave 3600 for it shipped to my work. I hear of better deals out there, but I have searched and searched car motors and truck motors on craigslist, car-part.com, my local yards, and ebay since before I got my cutlass a couple years ago. All the ones I've found near me had gobs of miles on them and nothing with them (missing accessory pulleys, ecm, harness, etc,) or far away they were better on mileage but had nothing with them and had been separated from their transmission already. I liked that this was complete, with a warranty, and I was given a chance to see a video of it run in the truck before it was pulled.

THEREALONEONLYBONZO

When I got the transdapt mounts I noticed the instructions said they would not work with the truck AC. Well I took the exhaust manifolds off to mock up the engine mounts and I had kinda forgot that part of the instructions. I might be able to cut or grind the AC bracket and make it work or I'm going to have to swap either the mounts or the AC itself.