ebk06

iTrader: (5)

First off sorry if some of this wording doesnt make sense. I just copied and pasted off my thread on a mustang website.

I got the car around august with the intentions of throwing the guts from my current hatchback into this one to save on paint/body work. ITs a 91 with 85k on the body. Well after some researching costs/leg work, and a few other things I was convinced to go with an LSX swap (once I saw/heard my friends Studebaker with an LS1 it threw me over the edge :wow: ). All I really did for the first montha I got the car is buying parts and more research.

The guy that owned the car before me started cleaning up the engine bay and was about half done. I finished the grinding of a few welds and bondo, primer/paint. Hindsight I should have painted the engine bay black. While the paint looks great, what you dont notice is that its faded a little. Once I painted the engine bay you can tell a big difference. But Im not making a show car and it will not be extremely noticeable once the engine is in there (lol maybe).

Once I finished painting I dug into the "new" rearend that will be going on the car. I planned on rebuilding the trac-lok (03-04 cobra spec) and throwing everything back in and swapping rearends the next day but nothing ever goes to plan. The bearings on the diff seemed a little worn out and after failed attempts to pull the bearings off i figures out i had the wrong puller. I did get the Northrace brackets installed. I repainted the ugly yellow calipers and brackets black and mounted the new 95+ vac booster and m/c.



Steeda wing






















Need fuel level gauge still. Custom panel should be here thursday.


Moser fox length axles




Unisteer rack and pinion


Front brakes


Brake upgrade stuff


AJE LSX swap k member


Silver FR500's 18X9 265-35 18X10 285-35. Should be fun turning with these up front.




Out with the old


In with the "new". QA1 adjustable rear shocks, some new axle housing bushings, SS brakelines, freshly rebuilt trac-lok to 03-04 specs.


285-35-18 Got a fender roller on the way and once the rear is lowered I can tell Ill need to roll the lips for sure.


Got my coilovers in and mounted them on Lakewood shocks. I ended up ******* up one shock trying to modify it to fit the coilover. So I had to buy another shock. :facepalm:


Also got in a cnc gauge panel from MC Machine. Im very impressed with the quality of it although its a little pricey, its going to look great with the Phantom II gauges in it.








And yes the car sits high. Partly due to the car having nothing in it and partly because the coilovers need adjustment.







Im 100% aware theres no gas tank in there lol. I just wanted some pics and to get the cover out of the way so it didnt get scratched up.


LS1/4l60e out of an 04 GTO with only 12.5K on the clock




Ill be install this stuff over thanksgiving weekend.
228R 112 lsa cam, PAC single beehive springs, chromemoly pushrods,ported oil pump, double roller timing chain, and a gasket set to install it all. After more research 400rwhp should be very close with these full exhaust and a cold air intake.

At this point any hopes to keep this within my budget have gone out the window lol.









This last weekend I finished up the fuel system and bled the brakes. I do have a couple questions about the trans shifter install. As you can see the trans didnt come with a shifter assembly. Will an aftermarket one bolt right up or do I need brackets or anything else that was stock on the trans?

knievel

iTrader: (11)

Looks like a nice start to a fun ride!!


I also see that you have the motor mounts in the right direction! quite a few on here don't =P

ebk06

iTrader: (5)

Haha yea I saw a lot of threads where people had the mounts on backwards. You'd think aje would make an indication somehow so peope know which way they go.

redmen031

iTrader: (1)

Looks like a fun project! Seems like a good choice on the cam, what are your goals for this car? Street/strip/cruiser?

Keep up the good work!

ebk06

iTrader: (5)

I dont really have any goals set in stone. Im hoping for close to 400rwhp and its going to be a streert car with maybe the occasional track night.

xcoldricex

iTrader: (2)

the straight side of the mount is supposed to be pointed to the rear? i swear i called aje and they said the opposite. no wonder i've had so many fitment issues, i swear i tried every combination and couldn't get them to line up right (that may have been the custom trans mount's fault though, since the ls1 motor was already in the car with a modded stock k-member and custom trans xmember). i ended up modifying one of the aje engine mounts. then i realized i had to replace the custom xmember because my exhaust wouldn't clear, but now the aje xmember doesn't line up - probably because of the modified mounts and one being on the wrong way :\. time to buy a new set of engine mounts.


project looks great by the way!

ebk06

iTrader: (5)

Thanks. I actually havent updated this in a while so here i go. I got a TSP228r installed along with PAC1518 springs, ported oil pump and a JP double roller chain. The trans has been dropped off to get built up, the harness is at Speartech. I just got the ecu back from getting a base tune so it will run decent until I have time for a dyno tune.

Im still trying to figure out what im going to do for an exhaust. I assume a foxbody cat back will bolt right up and that Ill just need a mid pipe made. This coming up weekend I plan on getting the battery relocated to the trunk and the wires ran.

Also the fuel system has been completed. Ill let the pics do the rest of the talking.









Heres the corvette fuel filter which has the built in regulator.


I hate messing with anything fuel tank related now lol. Its kind of hard to tell but I mounted the filter exactly where the factory fuel filter goes. I simply removed the original bracket.




Can you see the m/c is now full? lol Also the fuel line on the same side. I ran -6 AN the whole way except the return line is 5/16. I may need to go back and reroute the line where it goes over the axle. I didnt really like where its at but it should be fine.








New cam cleaned and oiled.







The cam is degreed, it was only off by half a degree (TSP ground it almost perfect). The springs are shimmed (correctly I hope) and installed, new MSD wires, NGK plugs, double roller chain, and ported oil pump and chromoly pushrods are all installed too. One thing I can say about the LS1 compared to the 5.0......the gaskets are all reusable. Im sure most of you know how much of a pain it is to scrape and clean surfaces to prep for new gaskets, I know I hate it. Now everyone cross your fingers that nothing goes wrong when I fire it up for the first time (hopefully by the end of the year).









Got in my new shifter. I tried getting 2 stock gto shifters off ebay but was outbid each time. This one ended up being cheaper anyways and is adjustable so hopefully it will fit in the existing shifter hole in the floor pan.

bjamick

iTrader: (31)

Are you going to try and use the stock trans x-member? I've heard the stock 2 hump x-member with a different mount worked with a th350, just not for sure with the 4l60e. I ask this bc I am putting in an lq4 with a 4l60e into my 93 coupe.

dmracing

iTrader: (78)

How exactly are the fuel lines connected to the top of the tank. What fitting did you use. What size pump are you running?

dmracing

iTrader: (78)

Nice build by the way

ebk06

iTrader: (5)

Im going to use an AJE cross member. You can call them to order one because they dont have them listed online. Just tell them what trans and car you have.




I running a 255 fuel pump. I used this diagram for everything except the fitting to the fuel tank.



I used this write up to get the fitting to the fuel tank. Also as you can see in my other posts, I just used a regular fuel line secured with a worm clamp to the return line. I used AN fitting in the other side though. If you search around here the guy that wrote this article posted the entire thing in a bit more detail. I want to say he goes by powershiftking but i could be wrong. I know i saved the thread to my other computer so ill try and post it later.

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/tec.../photo_10.html

dmracing

iTrader: (78)

So did you have to cut and weld the lines coming out of the tank?

ebk06

iTrader: (5)

Nope, those metal lines are the factory lines. Once you remove your tank you'll see it looks exactly like the pics i have above.

GETUSUMM

Nice project!

cammed_z

damn. quite the transformation!

ebk06

iTrader: (5)

Thanks guys. Also I got the battery relocated to the back this weekend and got the interior wiring cleaned up a little and ready to hookup. The rear and front left brake lines were leaking a little and I got those tighten back up and no more leaks. I dont know if the sudden cold weather had anything to do with it.

Got my transmission back friday and its good for 500hp now. Speartech called and my harness is on its way back to me. I have some odds and ends to get finished then I should be able to install the motor and trans. With christmas and new years coming up, after this weekend I may not have time to work on it until after the new year.

bjamick

iTrader: (31)

How many total feet did it take of fuel line? Also where did you get your fuel line from?

ebk06

iTrader: (5)

I got the fuel line from Jegs. I think I ordered this one exactly. http://www.jegs.com/i/Russell/799/63...oductId=745139 I went with 20' "just in case".

ebk06

iTrader: (5)

Well I got some stuff done this weekend. First off we tried installing the motor and hit a snag. Of all the research Ive done I completely over looked the most obvious. The LS1 that came in the GTO had a front sump oil pan........this conversion only works with a rear sump oil pan. Its a big deal but its not at the same time. All ls1 oil pans are interchangeable but a used oil pan from an f body is damn near impossible to find used. I've found some on ebay but thet still want an arm and a leg for them. Im going to try not to get impatient and wait for a decent priced one to pop up though.

I did get the shifter mocked up on the trans though and i think it looks rather nice. Depending on where the shifter will mount on the bracket it shouldnt have any fitment issues.



Also ran the wiring harness and am trying to figure out where to mount the ECU. The harness looks like it will be about 4 inches too short to mount under the passenger seat. Its too big to mount where the original ecu was at. Its also too big to put in the glovebox. I would mount it in the engine bay but I would like to keep that as clean as possible. That wouldnt allow me enough wiring to hook up my gauges either. Anyone got any ideas?







I got the horn hooked back up and working also. I also discovered what the blue connector was for......one wire powered the horns. As you can see all you need to do is run the blue wire back to the horns and jumper it to the second horn and finally you will have sound.



I ran the horn power through the only hole you can see light through. I had a grommet that fit in here perfectly.



This was just my mock up wiring to make sure it worked.


Also mounted the trans cooler and got the fbody radiator to fit right in. You can see in the right side of the lower radiator support an elongated hole. Well I kind of missed my mark lol. Actually the support has some tabs on it that stick up. You have to grind the on furthest to the right down. Then you can properly mark the pin on the radiator that is used to hold it in place and then drill a hole for it. I kind of did this backwards because I wasnt informed how to do it.



As you can see its almost like GM designed it to fit in a Ford. Even the stock radiator support brackets work. If I can con the sheetmetal workers to one day make me some custom stainless brackets I will though. Nothing fancy just something a little bit more presentable.

Also I working on wiring up the autometer gauges......not very fun.

boostnut

iTrader: (7)

I wanna know more about your trans & shifter combo, looks interesting.