Excellent build thread, and I just put it in my favorites since I'm going to be doing the EXACT SAME THING in a couple months. I've got an 84 Camaro with 87 ground effects, old-school 355/T56, and am currently bidding on a wrecked 99 LS1/T56 car. I'm planning on just doing a stock swap aside from headers and clutch, in order to keep initial build costs down and learn the LS engines. I'm planning on the 99 dash too. The only thing different I'm doing is fabricating my own crossmember to work with my Spohn TQ arm that already works great with my 9" rear.

Keep the updates coming and please, post up any problems and solutions you encounter along the way. Nice work so far!

 

Very clean car.

 

Good stuff, yeah my old SBC ran pretty strong but the performance, reliability, and street manners of the LSx will have you wishing you had done the swap earlier.


Some things I wish I would have done the first time around:
1) Get headers ceramic coated, Hawks stainless headers would heat up the cockpit despite having sounds/heat deadner. Ceramic coating solved the problem making the car more enjoyable to daily drive.

2) Notch the K-member or go with a tubular k-member because of the oil pan to k-member clearance. Originally I had about 1/4 inch gap between them but after the prothane mounts began to break in, the oil pan began to rub (Will post pics of nothced K-member for oil pan clearance.)

3) Hawks headers sit very low and scrapped everywhere with my Eibach Sportlines (2.25 inch drop I believe). Either go with the Prokit(1.5 inch drop, about stock height with lighter LS1) or run front tires that are at least 25 inches tall. I ran 265/40/18 upfront which reduced scrapping significantly.





Thanks man!!


Quick exhaust vid of the Corsa. Nice tone(NO DRONE) at low RPM but opens up and RIPS at full throttle above 3500 RPM!!

 

My car isn't a daily driver at all, so I think I'll be able to live without the ceramic coating, although it is a nice thing to add. Other than 1500 miles on the Power Tour, I don't think I've put 10K on my Camaro since 1997.

Thanks for the tip about notching the K-member, I hadn't considered that at all until you mentioned it, so I'll definately start looking for pics and go ahead and do that to mine. I'm not running any air conditioning, so I mistakenly believed K-member modification wouldn't be neccesary.

I currently have the Pro-Kit and am quite happy with the old school SBC and 2210 headers, so if anything I guess my stance will be all messed up after the lightness of the LS1. Hey, good problem to have!

Thanks again for the tips.

 

Cyber Grey Paint w/ Hawks 5 inch Spoiler.

Wheels used for paint.






C6 Z06 Wheels

Cleaned up a a bit and in different angles & light reflection:

 

I'm in love ^^^^

 

Niceeeee

 

beautiful car man! great job on the write up, i'm about to cut my teeth on my Z and appreciate everyone who puts the effort into documenting their builds....i'm also a member on that other forum you talked about....

 

Very very nice, now to get some 6 or 4 piston pig stoppers

 

very nice 3rd gen!.. great work on the swap as well!..5 stars!

 

This conversion + thread = Hot Sex!

 

Thanks guys!



There were very few write-ups when I started my swap but I would not have been able to complete mine without them. It's a lot of fun, take a lot of pics!!

I hear you, scored a great deal on some 06 GTO calipers(same as C5/C6 without the CORVETTE lettering) that should be on within the next few weeks.




Aircraft remover and a wire brush before a light sand.








High build primer.


My spray gun kit.



and the end result after using the ZR1 blue:

 

GREAT writeup and build!! That thing is gorgeous, I love the paint color and those C6Z's look killer.

I love 3rd gens, seeing these threads always makes me miss mine. I'd LOVE to have my old '88 L98 GTA back, but with a LS1/T56. That's be the perfect car.

I like how you opted to use the dash out of the T/A, that'll be a big improvement over the 3rd gen dash, and looks better than the LS1 Camaro dash IMO.

As far as the L98 vs. LS1 debate, those guys need to get over it. I'm pretty sure I used to post at the site you're talking about years ago. Once I went to the 4th gen side I was a traitor, lol.

The L98 was great off the line, that low end torque was amazing, but after 4k rpm that thing was just about done. That's the ONE thing I miss about that GTA, but other than that, my LS1 car is head and shoulders above that thing.

They should be happy that people like you are keeping the 3rd gen alive and bringing them into the 21st century.

Great work!!

 

I hear ya, if I had the funds I would swap in an LS1 into a custom pearl white GTA with some nice cross-lace GTA wheels.

My 83 dash was hurting with the 80's wood trim lol. It was a big improvement to have the newer working dash along with a functional OBDII which tells you if anything is wrong.

As to the TPI Cult/***** on thirdgen.org, I never had a problem with them until they started criticizing LSx swaps. These guys had the audacity to go into people's thread and talk down on their LSx builds. I was told my car was "bastardized" lmao!! I didn't think it was cool to try and put down someone's project specially after putting blood, sweat, and tears

I believe you about them calling you a traitor, in the So Cal section the mods would lock or delete anything that was related to LSx swaps lol.


Back to the thread....

Custom emblems to show off the LS1 and I like how the ZR1 blue compliments the paint:




Also, first dyno session it put down 395rwhp 395 rwtq. Tuner advised that I need to address some issues: old gas needs to be used up(sat for 6-8 months), relocate IAT, replace fouled plugs(ran w/o tune for too long). I'm shooting for 10-15 more ponies but at this point I can't complaint since the car drives better than stock, pulls hard at any RPM, and best of all gets GREAT gas mileage compared to my old sbc!!!!

Here's the graph:

(Pull was made from 2,000-6,800 rpm)

 

Outstanding numbers....the TQ is really impressive. I can't wait to get my swap started. Unfortunately, due to funds, its just gonna be LS6 intake, headers, and clutch to start with. But hey, with the 4.11's it should still be fun to drive.

I always wondered if a home-brew cold air intake would be any restriction compared to the F-body lid setup, but judging by your numbers, I guess not!

 

Thanks man, my bro TPI TERROR put down 342rwhp with a stock 2002 LS1(through the stock manifolds). Only mods are cold air intake and restrictive catback exhaust. He spins 3rd gear with 3.42 gears so i could imagine the traction issues with 4.10's





Check out his build if you haven't yet

https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversio...roc-build.html

 

thx for the inspiration for my build, great write up and pics and great numbers. I am currently in korea and my car is in a shop in florida so once my tour of duty is done i hope to be enjoying it.

 

You'll love it, stay safe out there


1st time at the track. I was hoping to run 11.90's but came up short.

1. Shake down pass= 12.9@112 1.9 60 ft. (Feeling out the car)
2. 2nd pass= 12.6@114 1.8 60 ft (more aggressive pass)

3. 3rd pass = 12.4@114mph w/a weak 1.8 60 ft.(bogging on ET Streets after nice burnout)

4. 4th pass= 1.7 60 foot but missed geared and aborted run (launched at 4,500 rpm and attempted to powershift )

**Weather sucked, 90 degrees and 3000+ DA.

Everyone keeps telling me that the DA correction factor would have me at 11.90's but I was a disappointed that I couldn't get a good launch.
Oh well next time I go to the track I will have swapped the gears from 3.08's to the much needed 3.73's, run skinnies, some weight reductions and will run at night when it's cooler.

Here are some pics.

 

Wow man....sick build

 

Haven't updated in forever...

Projects/updates:
Ceramic coated Hawks headers, completed.
Painted valve covers, completed.
GTO front brake upgrade with custom painted calipers, in progress.








After drilling and tapping...


Oh and new wheel set up since last update...