Installed the gauges today. Had to have something to keep an eye on the new engine. Also using the hammer and strap technique of holding the trans up lol


This is roughly where the MSD box will end up, hidden inside the fender

 

Are you gonna run the wiring through the inside of the fender? That would look clean if it is long enough.

 

Wow good progress man. on the build. Wish i could pick up a 1st/2nd gen to toss a Gen III/T56 into for a DD. that would be badass!

 

It's not long enough to go behind the inner fender. Maybe someday if I'm feeling really ambitious I'll extend all those wires.

 

Made some serious headway on the wiring today and got the MSD box and relays all mounted up. Confirming that the fuel pump works was a good way to end the day

 

Nice job! Its great to see some more first gens with the LS swap. I am in Surprise, AZ with a LS1/T56 in my first gen bird. Hope to see you at the drag strips!

 

The last couple days have been spent making mounting brackets for the electric fan and wiring. I think the brackets turned out pretty well for my first real metal fab project. Wiring in the engine bay is pretty much done except for the fan and alternator. You can also see where the clutch reservoir is hiding.

 

Almost there!

 

Don't remember exactly, but GM calls it something like CAGS and prevent cause a shift from first to fourth between something like 2000 to 4500 rpms...has to do with emissions

 

The new headers came in today so there was a fair amount of progress. BTW, the fit of ARH headers is amazing!





I used the S&P diagram to make a bracket to attach the clutch master cylinder rod to the pedal. This actually worked surprisingly well. Everything lines up great.



The TBSS heater hoses also came today so I got the heater hoses hooked up.



Look how much room there is around the steering box!


Getting closer

 

So we started it up yesterday. It still needs a few things like an air cleaner, exhaust, and driveshaft, but it's mostly there. Check out the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9J7XqsTlsM

 

Nice job. I was just thinking how quiet and smooth a 300hp 327 wasn't in 1st gen camaros. esp with open headers lol

 

Great to see! Where is the whining sound coming from?

 

I think it is the belt tensioner pulley, we need to get the politically correct bolt on there. It stopped after a few minutes.

 

Car was a fun ride today. Ripped the tires off in 2nd gear. Who was it that did your tranny build, felt great compared to before car is kickin ***.

 

Sean did it of course. Top Gear Motorsports FTW!

and yeah, we got the car driving today, it's a bit loud with open headers

 

 

Had an exhaust system bent/welded up today. The location of the fuel pump made running a pipe on the passenger side almost impossible. So I decided to do go with something a little different... 2.5" pipes from the headers to a Flowmaster merge to a 3" Magnaflow and then a single 3" over the axle. It sounds great IMO. Quiet at idle but screams at WOT, exactly what I wanted.



There's plenty of clearance around all of the pipes, even though it doesn't really look like it.


Here's 99.9% of the finished product


A dropped base 3" air cleaner will fit, but it's damn close to the stock flat hood.

 

Nice swap! too bad GM didnt help us out and make things like oil pans and motor mounts similar to the originals to make swapping easier! One thing that has me wondering is why so many are going carbed? FI isn't that bad to get going (why do you think no more carbs from OE?) driveability, emissions, mileage are so much better! Anybody with a carb want to chime in with the mileage your getting? Keep up the good work!

 

I work on fuel injected cars alllllll day. It is not what I want to toy with when I get home. Plus I enjoy the nostalgia of it. My brothers s-10 swap was an lq9 with the GM hot cam t-56 and 3.73 gears. It was knocking down about 18mpg and he couldnt keep his foot out of it. A properly tuned carb will usually only be down 1mpg vs an injected motor in my experience. Plus there is dyno data floating around showing the carb type manifolds tend to best the factory type fi manifolds (ls6 I think) by roughly 30hp. Compare the ls2 crate vs the ls364 from GM. The motors are identical and the carbed one makes 40 more hp. I dont want to get sucked into a which is better debate here just stating some facts.