Wow what a great site! I’ve spent my long Thanksgiving weekend reading all sorts of threads on here. You guys know your ****. So that’s why I am asking for some advice.

I’ve had plenty of fuel injected cars but I’ve never worked on one let alone built one.

I have a 65 Malibu that I am looking to upgrade. I’ve got a line on a L92 from the local dealership for $4,195. So all my questions start with that.

Obviously there are some pretty big parts still to buy after getting the motor. Not that I’m looking to go the cheap route but I’m not looking to spend a bundle. So in what areas is it safe to buy used parts and when should I buy new? More specifically the engine wire harness, trans, intake and accessories.

There are so many choices with a blank slate.
- Change the intake to a L76 or something other?
- Should I retain the vvt or swap the cam out before I ever put the motor in the car?
- BRP’s kit looks like a slam dunk for getting the engine in the car.
- Should I look into a 6A or stick with the tried and true 4A trans?
- Does the harness for the engine have to match the harness for the trans?
- How easy do these late model harnesses attach to this older fuse box? Get rid of it?
- Headers for the L92 heads, what size do these prefer?
- The very popular question of accessory brackets to use. (So confused on this one.)

I’d like to thank you in advance for guiding me down the right path.

Everything I’ve learned I’ve learned from making mistakes… I think I’m tired of learning.

 

You'll end up with less money in the swap if you find a complete drop out. Find one with the tranny, pcm, harness and all accessories. Ebay is a good place to start looking.

 

Man, it's pretty nice to see someone else doing an L92 project, let me give you whatever advice I'm able to... (FYI, I've skipped the questions that are "vehicle-specific", since I have no experience w/ A-body cars...)

FIRST off, let me tell you right up front: one of the things that's been a serious PITA for me is the fact that the engines are so new - because of that, you're very likely to have an issue with finding parts. After a few weeks of fruitless looking, I finally wound up buying the ECM & engine harness new. (Luckily, I have a "hookup" for stealership parts, but it was still a fair chunk of change.) Things might be better now, but I'd still STRONGLY advise you to get absolutely everything you can when you buy the engine - trust me on that one...

I'm still trying like hell to come up with a diagram of the engine harness, although I've found pinout info for the E38 ECM at LS2.com. I'm just hoping that it's the same for the truck platform...

Might depend on your hood clearance. If you have enough room, I'd lean toward keeping the truck intake, it's supposed to be a VERY good intake for the street.

Personally, I'm trying to keep it - even though the engine supposedly won't fit in my car (I might need to move the radiator forward a bit, I should find out more in a couple of weeks or so).

VVT engines have some SERIOUS potential for N/A power, just search on my username & "vvt" & "bmw" to see some of that info. In addition, Mast Motorsports currently has a cam/ECM kit for around $2k that is supposed to bump power up to the 500, 535 hp range. Throw a pair of well-ported cylinder heads (see Richard at WCCH, among others) into the mix, & the possibility exists that you could see power numbers that are normally reserved for power-adder cars...

Many of us are "customizing" our harnesses so that the new engine harness (& a new/junkyard fuse box) handles engine functions, & the original fuse box retains the chassis/lighting/dash functions. YMMV.

I'm using 1.75" headers, but depending on the power you're shooting for, you might very well have better results with 1-5/8" primaries.

(Yes, I know that at least 3 or 4 people just died of massive heart attacks after reading that, just register on headerdesign.com, plug in some realistic data, & see what it says. Everyone seems to want to start with a 1-7/8" primary - even though I've read on here that Lou Gigliotti {and others} haven't found any advantage in it - and that strikes me as just silly...)

I'm going to let an A-body expert tackle that one - although if you're planning on keeping the VVT, you'll have to keep the L92 front acc'y drive.

No problem man, good luck with it!

Don't feel alone man - don't feel alone...

Hope this helps.

 

On the A body cars most people are using Vette accessories. The problem areas will be if you want to keep A/C then you will need to notch the frame for the compressor and depending on the mounts you might have some clearance issues with the power steering pump pulley and the steering box if you use truck accessories. This can be resolved by either going to the newer smaller style steering box, changing engine position in the mounts, or using a smaller pulley on the pump. The truck intake and the accessories will fit under the A-Body hood but most change them to the car intake. The truck intake makes a little more low end torque but runs out of air at higher RPMs.

To keep the VVT (which I recommend) you will have to keep the truck crank pulley which normally would mean you would have to use the truck accessories however if you contact Mast Motorsports they have a spacer set that will allow you to use the F-Body water pump and accessory drive with the truck crank pulley. They are getting 530 to 540hp on NA engines with their cam kit and tune. Their computer and harness setup is really nice and you can pick up a long block for $3000 or less if you look around. I paid that for mine shipped with 200 miles on it. Talk to Shaun at Mast. He will get you going in the right direction.

 

With the F-body accessories its a tight fit between the alternator and the power steering box not the power steering pump. I agree with others about keeping your eye out for a used motor with low miles but I can understand the comfort of buying new as well. For what its worth Hot Rod magazine recently did a test on headers on a big block with around 500 hp. They tested like 10 different headers with various primary sizes etc. The results were the bigger the better really even the 2 1/8" headers made the most power but you do give up some torque. I would think at the power level you are looking at 1 3/4" to 1 7/8" stepped headers(like the ones from Edelbrock) would be a great option. Although I believe L92s may have a different exhaust port design double check me on that.

The BRP kit is a pretty good deal as far as bolting in but you should know the oil pan hangs significantly below the crossmember and for me that is unacceptable. If you are not lowered you might be ok with that. The CTS-V pan hangs a little below but is much better. The F-body oil pan doesn't hang below at all but it is a very tight fit stabbing the engine in but once it is in there is sufficient room(F-body is what I used). Check the above A-body Sticky if you haven't already there is some good info on my swap as well as others.

 

There is actually one up there right now but it has the all wheel drive 6l80e trans. Has anyone ever taken the transfer case off of one of these and used it? Plus at $7900 it’s not exactly steal.

But I will be keeping my eye on there. Thanks. That is the direction I was leaning before I found that i could pick one up new for $4200.

 

And in the rarefied thin air of Colorado as well. I have actually read quite a few of your posts without noticing where you were located. Thank you very much for your through response. I’m glad to hear you are looking to retain the VVT. I would also like to keep the VVT but had read threads to the contrary on here. But sometimes I read them without noticing how old they are. Nice to know that Mast has it covered.

I had heard these heads breathe extremely well in stock form and that’s why I was unsure on the header size. I suppose that would be a good question for Mast or someone along that lines that have been toying with these for peak numbers. I’m looking for 450 to 500 but I’m not fooling myself; more is always better. So I’m not looking to close any doors if you know what I mean.

Again thank you for your response. I’m sure there will be plenty to follow.

I’m all over it! Thanks.

Well I am lowered. Good tip. I went out and measured and I am 4 ½” to the K-frame and that’s with the 283 in it. I’ve got to think it’s going to settle a little bit more after a good shake down (just finished putting the full BMR kit in it.) and the new engine will add at least 100 pounds or so.

Wow that doesn’t sound pleasant. I guess so long as I’m prepared for a fight… right? I had seen some threads showing so notching but I thought it was for the AC and I thought BRP’s kit and pan combination did away with that. But I guess I wasn’t even thinking about how far the pan was going to be hanging down.

Thanks again to all the great responses.

 

If $ is an issue,use the F Body accessories with an alternator relocation kit like the one I used from Smokinhawk.Inexpensive and works well.I recommond using LS1engineharness.com.I am using a 200R4(non computer controlled trans)but had the 4L60 wiring installed in the harness so if I change to a 4L60 in the future all I have to do is pull the wiring and plug it in.You will not have to attach but one or two wires to you existing fuse box so keep it.Most or the engine harnesses are 4-6 wire hook ups.You might look at my thread for some help,just search on my user name for other threads I've started.Good Luck!

 

You might also want to check out my build thread. Link in sig.

Andrew

 

There are a lot of A-Body guys to question and read up on there build threads and posts.

Mind is using the old BRP Style plates with a CTS-V oil pan and with F-Body front accessories. Tight fit with the steering box and also near the rear passenger head and the firewall / AC box.

 

If you don't plan to run power steering and decide to use the fbody acc. drive you can get rid of the power steering pump and move the alternator up to avoid clearance issues with the steering box and give yourself more belt wrap on the crank and water pump pulleys too. All you have to do is modify the stock alternator bracket a little.