I am kinda new to the site, I love the LS motor but never had a reason to post until the past few months (finally got a lq9 motor and t-56) Going to put it in my 1970 chevelle. Here are a few pics of my build, feel free to ask questions. THANKS

The donor 2005 Escalade ESV

Motor all cleaned

Polished my own throttle body and swapped to ls1 intake.

New ''Area 51'' pulley bracket and belt.

WS6 T-56 6-SPEED

Sitting in the car.


Edelbrock Headers


My Spectra fuel injection tank.


Smoothed my firewall and got some fittings.

 

nice! more pics of the chevelle please

 

looks good

 

Thanks guys,


Here are a few pics from before the swap..

I borrowed one of my brothers 20'' wheels (too big)




The day I started the swap


Engine pic

 

cool!

 

Not too dead of a thread, and applicable to my situation, so I thought I'd revive it. Nice car! What type motor mounts did you use? Also, where there any problems with mating the T-56 to the LQ9? I am looking to put the same swap in my 69 Chevelle (The BBC in it now took a dump )

 

Actually the ''truck'' motors (lq9) and the ''car'' ls1 motors are identical in almost every way except for material of the block. So the only thing I had to do was add a pilot bushing into the crank and of course add a flywheel too. I also used my factory steel frame perches with a 3/8 flat steel plate welded under it to get the oil pan up enough to clear the steering linkage. I also used energy suspension tall motor mounts. let me know if you have any questions.

 

Did you use a smooth firewall kit, or did you just weld up the holes and smooth everything the old fashioned way? I'd like to do the same on my Chevelle. It seems like in the past, guys have recommended the kit from Metal Works Performance, but from what I'm seeing, I think they must have gone out of business. Somebody else mentioned Prodigy Customs, but I called them, and they say they don't offer a kit, they just weld the holes up and smooth it.

 

Actually, I just cut out a cardboard template of my firewall and traced it onto a thin gauge piece of steel and cut it out with a cutoff wheel. Pretty easy in theory but it was a PAIN !!! before that I tried to buy the METAL WORKS PERFORMANCE kit but, from what Ive read they are gone for good.
so... My only option was to make my own.
Also I would never try to weld all the holes and try to grind everything smooth, there are just to many imperfections and holes. Not only would it take some time investment it would probably look horrible after all you hard work. The steel is too thin to support any sort of heat plus the years of crap will ruin your welds on top of it. That why I just put a thin gauge skin across the surface.

But if you clean and remove all the paint where you plan to weld on your firewall plate and go slow you should be good, it looks a thousand times better when your done. ALSO BE VERY CAREFUL OF THE BACKSIDE IN BETWEEN YOUR DASH!! THERE IS VERY FLAMMABLE INSULATION LINING THE BACK OF THE FIREWALL. I would recommend removing your dash. ALSO COVER YOUR WINDSHEILD WITH A THICK NON FLAMMABLE BLANKET GLASS DOES NOT LIKE SPARKS.

 

VERY NICE!! LOVE THE CAR, Cant wait to see and hear the final product.

 

Your car is gorgeous, nice work!

 

Another question for you. What did you end up doing for a throttle cable? I just got my hands on an 04 LQ4 so I'm in business with this swap.

 

Sorry, I have not gotten that far yet, but I have heard you can use a late model express van cable from the dealer. From what Ive seen it fits perfect and its cheap.

 

Your car is awesome !!! are you using the truck accessory brackets with a car intake ? if so how ? Thanks

 

looking nice! keep it safe!

 

Swapping to a ls1/ls6 intake is pretty straight forward, the only problem you will run into will be the injectors and one pulley that need to be relocated. The pulley relocation bracket I bought a while ago from ''AREA 51'' motorsports for a little over 100 bucks with the belt. And the injectors you just remove a plastic ring at the base of the injector, but I have been told that this will not work I will need actual ls1/ls6 injectors. I guess I will just have to wait and see. I will try and find the web site for the intake swap I used and post it for you later.

 

So is the offset on the crankshaft flange (transmission side) the same as a typical LS1? I'm wanting to do a LQ4/LQ9 with a t-56 as well, and want to make sure a LS1 flywheel would work. How much work did you have to do to the floorboard and trans cross member to clear the transmission, and what drive line angle did you end up with?

The car is looking really good btw.

Also, did that place that made the pulley bracket go out of business? (Area 51)

 

Thanks!!! basically all the truck engine blocks (4.8 5.3 6.0 6.2) are physically identical on the exterior as any ls1 ls2 or ls6, so yes everything from a ls style t56 will bolt perfectly to any truck motor. The only thing you have to buy/install is a new pilot bushing along with the obvious flywheel, clutch and trans. As for the trans tunnel, IT SUCKS!! that was the hardest part of doing the whole swap (so far). Welding, cutting and grinding for a couple of weeks. When using the factory crossmember is pretty easy, just cut and flip the perch and weld it back on. But cutting is optional, I have seen alot of kits that require no cutting for A- body cars, but I dont know how that affects the angle of the driveline and I wanted the engine to sit back and as low as possible. I ended up with 3 degrees on my driveline. I also looked into the area 51 kit and they must have sold to another company, here is the new website. LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY MORE QUESTIONS

ALSO Kj598bbc HERE IS THE WEBSITE I WAS LOOKING AT FOR THE LS6 INTAKE SWAP

http://www.performancetrucks.net/for...t=359987&pp=10

http://www.actionspeedshop.com/parts...duct_info.html

 

Thanks for the link to that pulley relocation bracket.

And thanks for confirming my fears of tunnel fab. All I have is a cheap little MIG, its going to take forever to cut the floorboard What can I say though, a 6-speed in a Chevelle is cooler to me than a LS engine (well, almost).

 

Any updates?