Hello all,
I am a little hesitant to post here as I don't know much about LSx's. My 14 year old son and I started to pull a 2000 LQ4 and 4l60E [I believe] out of a 2000 truck today. I have been reading and reading here for the last 7 or 8 months off and on but must admit I am a V8 newbie........ How do I make a long story short? I grew up with Volkswagens and I spent '05, '06 and restoring a '64 convertible bug from the ground up.

I bought a 67 Chevelle [malibu] a few years ago with no motor and no trans

and my brother passed away last May which left me with his 2000 Chevy 2500 truck. Of course this is when I started researching putting a modern motor into the chevelle.....

Questions......
1] I know for sure I need motor mounts and a different oil pan to start [still researching to decide what parts to start with] any suggestions?

2] Thinking ahead.... My chevelle did not have power steering or AC, can I utilize these off my bro's truck? or will I have to go after market for these? I was thinking maybe I can use PS pump with after market PS box? No? What about AC? use compressor off bro's truck or have to go strictly after market for AC?

Oh yeah, one more......no matter what I search for in these forums, I get no results. What am I doing wrong?

I have already learned so much from all of you here at this site and I thank you.

Thanks

Rob

 

Never hesitate to post ,the worst thing is your question wont be answered,ask specific questions , theres plenty of help around here. if you go to the top of conversion & hybrids to the a body thread section there is plenty of info there , you will either have to notch your frame or go for some aftermarket setup for ac ,oilpan choice - steering and trans were my issues in choosing an oil pan. you will probably need headers too .this is all my experience so far . pistopete is also diong a 67 .JOHN

 

Thanks John,
I have been through your thread a few times. The more I read through the forum the more questions I have. I got my chevelle with literally nothing under the hood. So the more I can use off my bro's truck, the better off I am. I am not doing a body off restoration. Just hoping to get this thing running for the kid with the least amount of money possible. Then do the body work and paint later.

Has anyone here added functionality to their "conversion" from the stock LSx accessories [AC, Power Steering....]

I will keep reading.

Rob

 

This may be your problem, when searching. I think this happens to a lot of people.

 

Thanks LS1MCSS!
I swear I tried that before........

Does anyone have any negative thoughts on the whole BRP LS1 swap kit including the oil pan and cross member? Here?

From all the reading I have been doing, it sounds like this kit is as close to "bolt in" as possible. I also like the thought of running AC with as little modification as possible.

Thanks again!

Rob

 

Hello,
I am 6 bolts from removing my LQ4 from my 2000 2500 truck. the 6 allen bolts that hold the flex plate to the torque converter. I cannot break them loose. I cannot fit my impact gun up in there and my air ratchet doesn't have the *****. I have tried a 2' pipe on the 1/2" wratchet and still no luck. Just not enough space.

Any ideas? they aren't reverse thread or something like that, are they?

I know most of you pull the engine and trans at the same time. I have never done this before and the book I have shows how to pull engine alone. I would be going backwards to have to bolt the tranny back up to the block. please give me any thoughts on pulling 6 bolts from underneath the truck.

Thanks

Rob

 

no way to fit a univresal & extension? it probably require the help of a buddy to steady it. with mine, as soon as the impact hit it the bolt was vey easy. put some pb blaster on it too.

 

thanks jomomma,
I ended up with a short extension, a U , and a long extension to the impact and still no go. I have gone ahead and bolted up the tranny back up to the engine and started disconnecting that to pull it all as one. I really don't have the room for that, but I don't know what else to do at this point.

Rob

 

the Tq bolts are a Bitch you will need to have to people to make it easier.
you will need a 15/16 for the crank pulley bolt and have some one turn it to the sweet spot,"dont forget to drop the starter if you havent already"
then on the starter side you can get 1 bolt at a time and use some brut force.
i also had to take the motor mount loose to get a impact in for one bolt.
good luck

 

Thanks mred,
I broke a universal and a few knuckles trying to get the tranny split while in the truck. I decided to pull it in one unit and finally got it today. I am hoping it might be a little easier to split out of the truck.

Got this....



out of this.....



Time to start stuffing into this......



Thanks for the help,

Rob

 

Cool project man, I like the Chevelle. Was there something wrong with the truck? You could have bought an already pulled motor from a wrecked truck at a junkyard for cheap, and used the truck to haul it home. And it is WAY easier to split the trans from the motor while it is sitting out of the vehicle.

 

Hi,
long story man. I have plenty of trucks [I work for a general contractor]. This truck was my brother's truck. He passed away last May. I have had the Chevelle sitting waiting for a game plan for a few years with no engine or tranny. It just all made sense. My mom didn't want to deal with the truck, the truck is a "construction" truck [my bro was an electrical contractor], and the truck/engine/trans was free..........so there you have it. I will either part out truck or just junk it.

Rob

 

Welcome Rob and good luck with you project.

 

I will definitely be following your thread as you are doing EXACTLY what I hope to accomplish (down to the 67 chevelle). This site is excellent, especially with the ls info, but when you get down to throwing wrenches at the chevelle be sure to go over to chevelles.com. Excellent site for straight-up chevelle info.

Shane

 

Nice set up you are doing. I am doing th same thing. I have not started a thread but will be shortly. It was long trying to do the research. I am going with a 2002 5.3 w 4l60e about 40k miles on it. I am pulling my sbc 350 and th400 this weekend. I am using a H3(LH8 pan) and edelbrock motor plate and headers. I also cut cost by using the stock cross member cut flip the braket and weld it. C5 z06 disk brakes front and rear with hotchkis suspension all the way arround with qa1 adjustables. All the accesories should work with no problem. You may also want to look at Pro-Touring.com thats were I spend most of my time.

 

Thanks rocky topper, Shane and 71_chevelle. I appreciate the help from all you guys already. Great forum! I have checked out chevelles.com before, but not pro-touring.com yet. My build will be a budget build for sure. mock it up, get it running, then maybe pull it all to attack body work and paint.

oh yeah, just figured out that the trans is a 4L80E not a 4L60E. If I remember correctly the 4L80E is a little bigger but should still fit in the chevelle, correct?

So how would I change the name of the thread [4L80E instead of 4L60E]?

Rob

 

i think you will need a lead hammer and go to town on the tunnel or you can cut it and weld in about 1-2" in.

 

Depending on what Oil pan you go with that 4L80E might be a tight fit. Might look into the CTS-V pan to get the engine a little further forward. I would say that is a great surprise those those 4L80s are tough trannies in stock form.

 

I am doing the same exact swap. It has been too cold here to get much done but I will catch up soon.

 

ahhhhh, Maybe ordering the short/wide mounts was a good move also. My CTSv pan just came in about an hour ago. I would rather 'message' the tunnel as little as possible, but I am willing to do whatever it takes to get 'er done.

Supershift67,
a little cold? where are you. It isn't exactly warm here either. But I guess Cali is a bit warmer than some places right now..... It's all relative, right?

Rob