ryan23

iTrader: (5)

Embarrassingly enough, the only shot I have under the hood was taken by my friend Dino at the local car hangout:




Hey guys!
I'm about to kick off an ambitious project, swapping my TVR Griffith 500 from 5 liter Rover power to a warmed over LS1. I'm active duty military, stationed in Japan. I'm not new to swaps, back stateside I have an LS7 powered RX-7 (FD) that I built which has been sitting in storage awaiting my return.

The plan is to swap over to an EPA legal engine and petition the NHTSA for a "Show & Display" exemption. This car is one of three original "Blackpool 340" Griffiths imported into Japan for 1999. All told, TVR only produced 153 Griffiths worldwide for that year. I found the car in Saitama Prefecture while looking for a clean TVR Cerbera. It appears to have been garaged for most it's life, it only had 14,500 km (9000 miles) on the clocks when I bought it last Feb.

Few quick specs:
2300 lbs
Fiberglass body
Tubular steel chassis derived from the Tuscan Challenge racer
Double wishbone, IRS, coilovers, BTR diff
Full leather, hand stitched interior
Tremec T5
Sub-standard Ford brakes (that will be addressed)
5.0 aluminum V8 Rover engine, overrated at 340HP (more like 270ish)

I just made a deal today on an LS1 out of a 98' Camaro (auto). LSx engines are kind of a rarity out here and it's not too often you come across one for sale. This one was still in the car, 94,000 km (58,000 miles) on the odo. Didn't see much for mods other than a grounding kit and a K&N cone filter. Fired right up cold, no smoke and no knocking. Oil level was good and clean. Not sure how accurate the oil pressure gauge is in a Z28, but it was right in the middle of the range. Price was ~$1150 USD removed and placed on a pallet. Complete, intake to oilpan with harness. Does not include alternator, P/S, A/C comp, throttle body, MAF or ECU. I could have paid extra for those parts but it would have cost more than just sourcing them from the US. From what I understand, the 98' ECUs were problematic anyway.

So here is the plan. Feel free to give me a sanity check. I've been out of the LSx scene for a couple years now

99-02 9354896 PCM (already bought on Ebay)
30lbs SVO injectors (leftover parts from my RX7s first swap)
Speed inc fuel rails (" ")
ASP crank pulley (" ")
LS6 intake
LS6 243/799 heads (maybe)
Z06 MAF
EPS cam 230/234, .600, 112 LSA. Too much??????
Beehives
New lifters/pushrods
New water pump
Cloyes 3153-A, single roller timing set
Melling oil pump
Misc gaskets
Bosch 044 fuel pump
Tremec TKO600 5 speed (no room for a T56)
Monster Level 1 clutch package
Tune it with HPtuners (I still have 5 credits left on my cable)

The headers and mounting kit are being sourced from the UK as they already have a jig and have done this before. It's a little pricey getting parts from the UK but labor for custom fab is NOT cheap here in Japan.

Ryan

JohnFrazee02SS

iTrader: (23)

I'm not at all against swaps but that TVR is a cool car and very rare. I wouldn't change a thing, but it is your car so do what you plan.

Faught

cool idea but the tvr is cool on its own, whose r33 in the garage, that thing is a beautiful car

ryan23

iTrader: (5)

The GT-R is done. Time for another project

ryan23

iTrader: (5)

And so it begins...



Engine is home and in my tiny storage shed. Complete minus alternator, A/C and MAF. I'll start stripping it down some tomorrow.

Ryan

Mike@Diablosport

iTrader: (2)

Sick.

LSX-coupe

iTrader: (1)

Please do not forget ROD BOLTS. I would hate for you to finish it and then wam.

ryan23

iTrader: (5)

Good call, I'll add that to the list.

Ryan

gnx7

iTrader: (28)

going to be a killer swap. Love that Skyline as well!

narx66gmc

Wow!! This may b the coolest high end swap yet!! Keep the pix updated. That is a badass looking r33.

Shinmei2006

Bumping a 5 month old thread I know...but I'd like to see what has become of the TVR. I'm also in Chiba at the moment (saw the TVR's Noda license plate, but the R33 has Yokohama plates?) and would love to take a look at the LS swap and that sweet R33. Is the GC8 yours as well?

I want to ask you some questions about Shaken and stuff pertaining to swaps since I don't drive here yet (won't be officially moved into a job until Aug. but i'm currently visiting from Jan-May). Since your TVR is already a 5.0 V8 your tax probably wouldn't change with the 5.7L LS, but as for myself I'd like to swap an LS into a 180 or s13 (any S chassis really) here in Japan. So going from a 2.0L to a 5.7L will incur larger taxes i'm sure. If its OK, I'll PM you more info/questions.

Thanks