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Its about time I start my new project and giving this whole LS swap a shot. I grew up around street racing and played with small block chevys my whole life but have never touched an LS engine until now.
The car: I ended up trading a crankshaft and set of rods from a 1st gen sbc for a v6 1987 Camaro that was in pretty good condition just tore apart. I put the Camaro back together and ended up trading that for my 84 foxbody GT. The fox was a 5.0/t5 with a mildly built engine but didn't run worth a crap. After tuning the carb and adjusting the timing it ran surprisingly well but I've started the tear down and sold the transmission to afford some swap goodies.
Engine/trans: As of now I have a 5.3 with 862 heads that came out of a running truck. The bearings and cylinder walls look great but the displacement is a huge bummer for me. This engine and a built turbo 350 I have laying around was my original plan for the car but I now have access to a few trucks of my choosing. After a business shutdown my in laws have 3 early 2000s 6.0/4l80 trucks going to the scrap yard. 2 of these engines are blown while the 3rd has over heating issue (hopefully something easy) and I get dibs at whatever I need or want from these trucks before they get hauled off. I have already pulled the wiring harness, intake and ecu from one blown truck because it is the drive by cable truck of the 3. I would much rather have this setup than the drive by wire. Now I am pulling the blown engine and trans out of this truck to see what I can salvage and moving on to the overheating truck.
I have already purchased a AJE K-member and mounts for this swap and going to try to "budget" this build as much as possible. With a practically free car and drivetrain I am off to a great start. I will post more photos and updates as my build continues. Any thoughts or input is appreciated.
Condition of my 5.3. Cylinder walls have nice wear and the crank/ bearings look to have minimal to no wear what so ever. Scored this engine for $200 with a TBSS intake, 862 heads and an ecu/harness. Also have my AJE K-member ready to install.
Thank you. I was more fond of the aero cars but having this 4 eye has changed my mind. A little TLC and I will have this thing looking good and running great I hope. Pulling the 317s off the blown engine tomorrow to check out the damage. Seems a rod blew through the bottom of the oil pan straight in the center of the pan so maybe the block and heads are okay.
No real progress just yet. Looks like I will be dragging the car to the shop tomorrow so I can finally get the engine out and k-member installed and the LS installed for mach up.
I did get a little free time to clean up the TBSS intake. Not quite sure if I'm going to use the truck intake for now and add the TBSS intake on later or just buy the adapter to adapt the throttle body onto the TBSS intake. I'm wanting to get the engine in the car and running before I tear it back down and start the rebuild/restoration process of the car. Just moved into our new home and in the process of cleaning our land up to build my future shop. Having to work outside or drag the cars up to my work to do anything right now.
If your running an AJE Kmember you have options; you can reverse your mounts so the points are going forward or points backwards (common position) Points forward will move your engine back .750” or more, I did this and like the engine sitting as far back as it can and for some reason the mount on my TH350 ended up with perfect alignment using a QA1 T5-C4 crossmember. Then, you can cut off the pointed SBC-BBC part of the mount if it’s in the way of accessories. The other option is using the Hooker motor mounts made for AJE kmember, they offer two different sets, 1 set lowers your motor by 1/2-1”and that’s good for hood and trans. tunnel clearance.
If your running an AJE Kmember you have options; you can reverse your mounts so the points are going forward or points backwards (common position) Points forward will move your engine back .750” or more, I did this and like the engine sitting as far back as it can and for some reason the mount on my TH350 ended up with perfect alignment using a QA1 T5-C4 crossmember. Then, you can cut off the pointed SBC-BBC part of the mount if it’s in the way of accessories. The other option is using the Hooker motor mounts made for AJE kmember, they offer two different sets, 1 set lowers your motor by 1/2-1”and that’s good for hood and trans. tunnel clearance.
I will have to look into the hooker mounts. Going to try and utilize the truck oil pan if it gives me enough ground clearance.
If you consider using the Hooker Blackheart Brackets for the AJE K-member, just be aware of the differences in their design geometry compared to other brackets you may be using. All of the Hooker Blackheart Fox Body LS engine mounting brackets maintain the stock Ford SB crankshaft offset and height as well as place the engine/transmission mating plane in the stock Ford SB position. Due to that geometry, you will have to use them with a transmission crossmember that will locate the transmission mount in the stock passenger side offset position as well.
I got the AJE k-member installed and all of my front suspension installed.
My 5.3 long block is built and ready to drop in the car for fitment purposes.
I will most likely be using the 5.3 and turbo 350 trans until I can get the 6.0/4l80 out of the donor truck and gone through. Just anxious to get this car moving on it's own power again so since this is all available and pretty much ready to install I am taking this route for now. Pictures to come on Friday (Thursday's my off day from work so nice relaxing day with the family)
Started removing emissions wiring in the harness today that is not needed. Needing to get the vats and emissions removed from my pcm so I can get ready to fire it up. Motors just mached up for now. Weather has sucked and it has been raining so I cant work on removing the 6.0/4l80 just yet.
Got the Truck intake to clear the stock hood, worrying about the alternator but I'll deal with that when I mount the accessories.
Started removing emissions wiring in the harness today that is not needed. Needing to get the vats and emissions removed from my pcm so I can get ready to fire it up. Motors just mached up for now. Weather has sucked and it has been raining so I cant work on removing the 6.0/4l80 just yet.
Got the Truck intake to clear the stock hood, worrying about the alternator but I'll deal with that when I mount the accessories.
looking good, how did you end up installing the engine mounts ? Any plans of keeping the power steering ?
looking good, how did you end up installing the engine mounts ? Any plans of keeping the power steering ?
they're installed points facing forward. I had to slightly trim the firewall pinch welds to get the truck intake to fit but considering trying to trade my TBSS intake for a ls1/ls6 intake for a better look and a better fit. The TBSS would be awesome to keep but it just wont clear my stock hood and I'm going for more of a sleeper look on this build.
I do plan to keep the power steering. I think I have enough fittings to make the GM pump fit the Ford rack so that should be a easy hookup. I'm going to pull all of the accessories from my donor truck tomorrow to mach up and hopefully get the motor and trans pulled aswell.
Today Mark's 4 years since I sold my 92 GT that I SBC swapped. I miss this car it was such a clean and fast car.
No major updates but I did move the car from our shop back home. Front suspension and new brakes were installed and now I am focusing on the engine and wiring.
The wiring is about 90% done. I have rerouted all of the connectors to where my pcm and fuse block will be located under the passenger side of the dash. I wish I got a few photos of the harness because it was an absolute disaster at first. Once I took a few deep breaths and focused I was able to sort it all out and clean it up really nice.
Texas weather has been horrible and is getting worse these next few days. This will give me time to focus on the remainder of the wiring and completing the 5.3 long block. Pcm was suppose to be flashed today but my guy left his tuner elsewhere so we are scheduled for next week. Hoping I can get the engine fired up within the next 2 weeks and ready to throw in the car.
Been meaning to pull the 6.0 and 4l80 out of the donor truck but this weather has made me lazy.
PCM has been flashed. Vats, emissions, transmission and a few other things have been disabled and altered for my build.
Longblock is built, waiting for my brother in law to get me the flywheel so I can fire it off.
Completely tore apart my harness to go stand alone. What an absolute mess the factory harness is but with a look little work ive got it al lm sorted out. Only have the o2 sensors left to clean up and then I have to route and wrap my wires for a nice clean look.
02-15-2019, 08:54 PM
My first LS swap... 1984 Mustang GT 
