78_elky

I imagine this build will go quite slow, but I wanted to get some insight into what I'm in for before I start doing too much.

I got a screaming deal (for this area) on a 6.0L from a wrecked truck. It has 170K miles and I haven't opened anything up at this point. I plan to freshen it up before I put it in my car. Just a cam and swap the heads (a couple of bolts sheared off at the exhaust manifold) , the truck was a 99 so I plan to run a 4L80 unless there is an alternative (I kind of like the idea that it is a pretty strong trans out of the box).

I'd like to know what books/manuals you guys would recommend to someone getting into LS motors. I have rebuild old small block Chevys in the past and never had any problems but I know these motors are different.

The other problem is that the person cut the harness right where it comes out from under the engine cover. I have all the pieces but is it even worth salvaging or should I just start over? The computer connector is also smashed, so it makes me wonder if it even works, can I check it somehow?

Anyways onto the pics!
The El Camino is my first car and I'm in the middle of doing body work but I saw this deal and decided to get it now while I could and see what happens in the long run.


I have all the trim, it just isn't on the car right now
And the engine! It was strapped on a pallet so it is a bit taller looking in the pics.



Anyways any advice would be really helpful and thanks for looking
Jessica

Black98s10

I like the front end swap, what year grille is that? I had a 81, but got rid of it cuz it was getting to rusty and running out of room to store it. Good luck!

djleighk15

Nice, i will keep an eye on this build

78_elky

The front end is from an 82. I bought it from a guy who had it in his back yard in an old plastic bed liner. I shaved the emblem mount and when you use the later style front ends you should swap the later style fenders with the rectangular side marker lights. I didn't do that and I also welded up the ones in the rear of the car so now I have no side marker lights
Like I said I've been working on body work. My plan is to get it all semi gloss black and paint some green stripes on the hood.

I feel kind of bad the car is so rough looking so here are a couple pics of the interior that looks a lot better than the outside. The seats are leather and from a 95 Camaro and the console is from an IROC with a B&M shifter.

You can't see it but I have a custom gauge pod with autometer gauges as well as front and rear kick panel speakers and 2 subs in the floor.


I've gone through this car almost from top to bottom so....Hopefully I didn't bite off more than I can chew with the engine swap!
Jessica

78_elky

My engine is in my fathers shop so I can't get into it too much, but I have been working on getting the wires off and the exhaust manifold removed. The drivers side only had one bolt left holding it on, the rest were sheered off. It looks like I'm going to get a lot of quality time with the easy out in the future.

The only wires left to take off are attached to the starter, The coil packs are unplugged but still bolted to the valve covers for the time being.


So my first questions are should I spend my time fixing these heads or should I buy some new ones? I was thinking of getting some L92s but am not sure what intake I will need to use with them. I'm sure once I get them off I will know more about what needs to be done with them.

Also the wiring is a huge mess, there are tow bundles that go to the back of the motor, one up high near the manifold and the other lower near the starter (could one go to the trans and the other to the BCM). Both are cut just like the main bundle that goes to the ecm. Any advice on that? Should I be looking for new wiring or should I try to fix this mess?
Jessica

cruisin'73

iTrader: (8)

Nice build you got going here! I am swapping a 5.3 into a 73 Nova right now. If the engine is a 99' 6.0 it probably has iron heads as oppostie to AL like every other Gen III engine. For the weight savings alone I would consider a head swap. Probably save 40 or 50lb. And if you go to L92 rectangle port heads you will also have to change the rockers and pushrods ($$$) There are a ton of guys pulling big power out of 6.0 and standard cathederal port heads. Keep an eye on the classified sectin here, I bet you could find a good set for under $500. Also check the classifieds for new harnesses, which I think would be a better option then attempting to repair the cut ones.

And for the tranny, the 4L80E is much larger then the 60. using the 50 may require quite a bit of tunnel "massaging". All food for thought! good luck!

78_elky

Good to know, I'm still pulling what is left of the wiring and some other sensitive parts off of the motor now. I read that the 99 and 00 6.0L had a longer crank so they did not work with the 4L60E trans (I do believe they work with older transmission though). The engine with all the accessories cost me $350 so I figured even if I buy another crank or build another motor this one has all the sensors and accessories for less than a re manufactured starter.

I was just going to try and use a 4L80 because it is stronger and maybe easier to get it working with the engine but I may also just bolt this to a 200R4 or some other overdrive once I get an idea what will and won't work with it.

Jessica

78_elky

I pulled the valve covers off today, and I am pretty surprised that it looks this good inside. The motor had 170K miles when it was pulled.


I'm hopefully going to get the AC compressor and starter pulled soon and maybe get the wiring the rest of the way off. The front of the motor is resting on a log, and I didn't realize that the wiring runs under there. I think the split loom and the bracket are pretty messed up now.
Jess

78_elky

I got my painting 90% done on the car...I'm in the process of tucking the bumpers a little, once that is done it should be back on the road!

78_elky

Not a whole lot to report. I picked up a few cool things at the junkyard this weekend. I got a set of braces that mount to the front of the radiator support, as well a one large one that goes under the radiator. The best part was I fund a radiator top plate from a Cutlas that is metal instead of plastic like most G bodies.

The last bit is a dual fan setup from an '04 Impala I want to install soon. I also got the bumpers back on the car. It was not easy, the rear brackets on El Caminos are not shocks. And because they are solid you can't collapse them so you have to either cut and weld them shorter or build new ones. I went the really easy route and bought two front shocks and mounted them in the rear and compressed them so the bumper is tucked.

I didn't get a pic of all the cool stuff I pulled but I did get the car out on the road, I just have to mount the mirrors and it'll be ready to go.



So the list of things to do is getting shorter. My plan is still to do things that move the car in the right direction for the swap while allowing me to keep it on the road.
Find wiring and ECU for the engine
Find heads cam and intake for engine
Pick a transmission
Continue to tear the engine down
Fix the brake master cylinder and booster
Replace sealed beam lights so I can drive it at night

Hope this thread isn't too slow going for you guys
Jessica

78_elky

I need some advice from you guys, I have an LQ4 but I want to replace the heads and the intake and I'm stuck between using L92 heads with an LS3 intake or using an LS2 top end. I think I want to keep the motor NA so I don't think the L92s are going to raise the compression as much as the LS2 heads. The ports on the L92s are really good and don't benefit as much as the LS2 heads. Plus if I do port them then I'd make the chambers larger and closer to the L92 specs Its a lot to think about!

Onto the build progress!
I went to pick up an LS2 intake, water pump, injectors, coils and some other parts this weekend, but when I got there they guy had just sold them to someone else. It all turned out Ok though, I got these for free!

And the guy is a friend of mine so he said he'd help me with my accessories (he has boxes of LS2 mounts and stuff) when I get to that point! So it was a pretty good weekend. I also got the side view mirrors mounted and finished spraying the inside of my door jambs. The only thing left to do is get the new actuators installed for the power door locks and I can get the door panels back on the car and it'll be back on the road.
I also picked up a dual electric fan from an '04 Impala and it's off to the left in this pic with my spare radiator and other parts.


All in all it is looking like things are going in the right direction, thanks for any advice!
Jessica

78_elky

So the engine has been on a pallet on a lift for the last month or so and I've been taking my time with it.

Today I got the torque converter and accesories taken off and a lot of the other little stuff removed. I got it off the pallet with some help with the forklift and its on my engine stand now!


Not sure what the game plan is now but at the least I'm going to clean it up with some degreaser tomorrow and hopefully get that darn fan off the front.
Jess

78_elky

Well I've cleaned up the outside of the block pretty darn good. It took a lot of simple green engine degreaser and water. Now you can touch most of it without turning into a tar monster.

Then I took the valve covers off to polish them up

Then I took the intake off and wiped down some of the valley.


At some point (hopefully this week) I am going to have to figure out how to hold that pulley and get the fan to unscrew!
Jessica

superbean

I notice you have a 99/00 engine with iron heads.. you could put some 5.3 heads on there for a little bit of a compression bump and have aluminum heads..

L92 / LS3 would be nasty.. there was a cam only L92 setup on the dyno before me that made 501 whp all motor.

78_elky

Yeah the plan is to get the L92/LS3 stuff and make this thing a bit of a monster I'm not sure when I'll get it finished I'm still collecting parts and trying to buy a house...the house is a much bigger priority than the car but I've got my eyes peeled for good deals.
Jess

78_elky

Well I was able to get he fan off and then I got the water pump off and that tubing that is above the valley cover...I'm saving all the parts and pieces and when I'm done what I don't use I'll sell or give away


Have a great weekend everyone!
I'm going home to install these in the El Camino so I can see at night and figure out my ignition wiring problem.

Jessica

Oh and I cleaned up my ignition coils and brackets. I also am going to try to polish the valve covers.

78_elky

Well I started to sand down one valve cover to get it shiny. I spent 2.5 hrs at it and I think I've got at least that long left before I get a good smooth surface to start polishing.
I also got the car out of the garage this weekend because it wasn't rainy and crappy (just cold) and went to a cruise in and generally went bombing around in it!






Hopefully I'll have some shiny valve cover pictures and wiring pictures soon!
Jessica

wild1100

iTrader: (3)

Great build so far. I would go with the l92 heads and ls3 intake. On ebay i have ran across a ls3 intake rails and tb for 300.

78_elky

That sounds great! I am leaning towards the LS3 stuff, I think I'll just buy a set of bare heads from the GM dealer and then assemble them with my yellow springs (if the cam I go with isn't too aggressive).

I'm a little confused on the throttle bodies though, my wiring is DBC and the LS3 parts I see are all DBW. I was thinking the computer doesn't really care if its one manifold or the other so its just a matter of me putting a DBC throttle body on the LS3 manifold. I'd rather run a throttle cable than have to find a pedal and a throttle body. Could I just use the throttle body from my LQ4 on the LS3 intake?
Jessica

mikeselky85

iTrader: (1)

I have an 85 elcamino ss that I just got done doing a 6.0 iron block engine, forged internals and backed by a 4l80e transmission. So far my engine is pretty much stock, but I'm sure the forged internals can explain some of the plans haha. Good luck with hour build, I had one hell of a time fitting mine in with ctsv pulley setup I bought from gm. Had to notch frame and made my own mounts and trans crossmember

Looking good so far, ill keep an eye on your build