1973 Nova LS BUDGET swap
02-07-2012, 03:02 PM
#21
Chassis Bandit. The bushing at the end of the subframe were pretty bad, they looked similar to every other 39 year old bushing I have ever seen unearthed! But the firewall bushing actually looked pretty nice and intact, like they had been replaced. I am starting to think this Nova has some dark history to it. I know in the 11 years I have owned it there has been no major accidents. I actually do have a few of the pages from the Fisher autobody manual for the 73' chassis. It would be super easy to take a few measurements with it out of the car! Thank for the idea!
02-13-2012, 10:55 PM
#22
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Quick question to all here Im getting my parts and so forth in line before I attemp the swap.... I do not have my own shop and will need to use shop where I work. I'm planning on swapping 5.7 turbo350 for a 5.3 4L60e out of a 03 or newer pickup I have a 73 Buick Apollo xbody 3dr or hatchback essentially a nova. Will the oil pan on the truck 5.3 still allow
enough clearance or will I need to find something else.... Any suggestions?? By the way thanks for thread, reading this and looking at all the pics is really making me excited to get this going sooner than later... Pics soon to come
enough clearance or will I need to find something else.... Any suggestions?? By the way thanks for thread, reading this and looking at all the pics is really making me excited to get this going sooner than later... Pics soon to come
02-14-2012, 07:18 AM
#24
Oil Pan and Fuel Tanks Welcome to LS1tech 73Apollo and thanks for the compliment. Good to hear my swap can inspire ya! Another good forum for us X-body guys is Steve's Nova Site. I know most of the Nova guys here are on SNS as well.
Kwnova9, great build! Its nice to see someone pull off an LS swap on a tight budget! When you see all these builds with budgets rivaling the annual expenditure of a small country you start to doubt if it can be done on the cheap! Your car is a shinling example that you can pull off a clean and innovative swap on a blue collar budget!
I have to ask Kwnova9, the CTS-V oil pan worked very well for you but the 4th gen novas had front steering, while the 3rd gen was rear steering. And different subframes! I am not sure the CTS-V oil pan would work quite so well on the 3rd gen. Is there a 3rd gen swap utilizing the CTS-V pan?? Also check the oil pan sticky at the top of the conversion forum, tons of info and dimensions there! I hope the caddy pan will work, otherwise I'll be modding a truck pan!
Another Q for you Kwnova9, I see you sumped your stock fuel tank. I am considering doing the same. Did you end up boil out your tank? Who welded it? I have heard radiator shops can boil and weld on fuel tanks safely. Thanks for the help!
Man am I thankful for these forums!
Kwnova9, great build! Its nice to see someone pull off an LS swap on a tight budget! When you see all these builds with budgets rivaling the annual expenditure of a small country you start to doubt if it can be done on the cheap! Your car is a shinling example that you can pull off a clean and innovative swap on a blue collar budget!
I have to ask Kwnova9, the CTS-V oil pan worked very well for you but the 4th gen novas had front steering, while the 3rd gen was rear steering. And different subframes! I am not sure the CTS-V oil pan would work quite so well on the 3rd gen. Is there a 3rd gen swap utilizing the CTS-V pan?? Also check the oil pan sticky at the top of the conversion forum, tons of info and dimensions there! I hope the caddy pan will work, otherwise I'll be modding a truck pan!
Another Q for you Kwnova9, I see you sumped your stock fuel tank. I am considering doing the same. Did you end up boil out your tank? Who welded it? I have heard radiator shops can boil and weld on fuel tanks safely. Thanks for the help!
Man am I thankful for these forums!
02-14-2012, 02:58 PM
#27
Buick Apollo WHOA! That thing is a sweety! Are the sunkin' turn signals stock or did you do those? I found a thread on SNS on how to do that to a Nova grill, looks like Buick beat me to it!
http://www.stevesnovasite.com/forums...e+modification
And are those vents or indicators behind the front wheel wells??
Clean car, good luck getting your swap underway!
Check out this little secret GM easter egg:
N.ova
O.mega
V.entura
A.pollo
http://www.stevesnovasite.com/forums...e+modification
And are those vents or indicators behind the front wheel wells??
Clean car, good luck getting your swap underway!
Check out this little secret GM easter egg:
N.ova
O.mega
V.entura
A.pollo
02-19-2012, 01:07 PM
#28
Fuel Tank OK. So after more research on the fuel tank for carb'd LS motor swaps it seems that many guys are running the stock tank and pick up with no issues. But I am not happy with the 5/16ID feedline and want to step up to 3/8". I started a thread on SNS and had a recomendation to add a 3/8" line to my current sending unti, and reuse the current 5/16" feed line as my return. Its may not work as well as a sump or an aftermarket tank, but it is faster, and more budget freindly. AND if I do have any performance problems I can still very easily add a sump or change out the tank. Check out the pics!
Tank looks pretty clean on the outside.
Worst of the surface rust. Not enough to worry me.
Sending unit mounting surface.
Inside the tank looks pretty good from what I can see.
Here is a quick MS paint sketch of my routing design. once I have the new feed line in place I will remove the filter sock and turn the old feed line away from the pick up to promote better fuel circulation.
It seems like most people use silver solder with great results. I picture I need either SS line or steel correct? I am open to any input. Thanks guys.
OH! I found something interesting when i dropped the tank:
I think it is the original build sheet for the car. Lots of cool details and factory codes for different options. I think it even has the name of the Washington dealership the car was headed too! I was able to cut the isolation strap off the tank and save the sheet in almost one piece for safe keeping. Any input on this data sheet?
Tank looks pretty clean on the outside.
Worst of the surface rust. Not enough to worry me.
Sending unit mounting surface.
Inside the tank looks pretty good from what I can see.
Here is a quick MS paint sketch of my routing design. once I have the new feed line in place I will remove the filter sock and turn the old feed line away from the pick up to promote better fuel circulation.
It seems like most people use silver solder with great results. I picture I need either SS line or steel correct? I am open to any input. Thanks guys.
OH! I found something interesting when i dropped the tank:
I think it is the original build sheet for the car. Lots of cool details and factory codes for different options. I think it even has the name of the Washington dealership the car was headed too! I was able to cut the isolation strap off the tank and save the sheet in almost one piece for safe keeping. Any input on this data sheet?
02-19-2012, 04:25 PM
#29
Kwnova9, great build! Its nice to see someone pull off an LS swap on a tight budget! When you see all these builds with budgets rivaling the annual expenditure of a small country you start to doubt if it can be done on the cheap! Your car is a shinling example that you can pull off a clean and innovative swap on a blue collar budget!
The kind words are much appreciated! I just can't wait to take her for a spin!
I have to ask Kwnova9, the CTS-V oil pan worked very well for you but the 4th gen novas had front steering, while the 3rd gen was rear steering. And different subframes! I am not sure the CTS-V oil pan would work quite so well on the 3rd gen. Is there a 3rd gen swap utilizing the CTS-V pan?? Also check the oil pan sticky at the top of the conversion forum, tons of info and dimensions there! I hope the caddy pan will work, otherwise I'll be modding a truck pan!
You have a great point here! I completely forgot about the rear steer
Another Q for you Kwnova9, I see you sumped your stock fuel tank. I am considering doing the same. Did you end up boil out your tank? Who welded it? I have heard radiator shops can boil and weld on fuel tanks safely.
I had a buddy who worked at a fabrication shop weld it for me, I drained the tank and then flushed it out with water, multiple times over the course of 3 days, let it sit for a month, then sent it off with him. Radiator shops can boil and weld the tank but they seemed rather hesitant to deal with it when I called locally
Sorry I took so long with some replies! Looks like you've made a lot of progress! looks good!
04-20-2012, 07:11 PM
#30
Time Flys! Wow, 2 months since I updated my build threads! But I have made lots of progress at least! Lets pick up where I left off, the fuel system. After a lot of practice with bending and flaring the steel fuel line I replicated the stock fuel sender pick up tube, pierced and flared a hole in the sending unit and had the tube silver soldered into place.
At the pick up end I flared the tube, and then added a 45° cut to give the max area for fuel pickup.
Next I gave the subframe a little TLC.
Grinding down as much of the nasty bird turd welding and splatter as I could. Smoothed out any road rash. Removed tooling marks from the forming process. Unfortunatly it started to rain and I had to hi-tail into the garage and didn't get any after photos. I plan to have the subframe blasted and powder coated as it will not be coming out again for a long time!
Now for the big new...I got my motor!!
It is a 2001 5.3L from a Sierra. Just over 106K on the clock. I picked it up from a local salvage yard for a fair price. I also got a starter and alternator at the same time. Here she is in the back of my Yukon. A bit of a tight fit.
This is Colt, my engine program supervisor. Like any good managment figure he accels at napping in the sun and informing me when he is bored
She is a little dirty! I found chucks of broken glass all over the top of the motor. Must have been a serious accident.
The valley looked pretty good. No rust, no grime, no buildup.
Cleaning time. Before:
After:
Now, this is the initial build up. I assembled the engine for mock powertrain and chassis fittment. After all the routing, plumbing, fabrication and testing everything will come back apart for finish paint. With that said I reinstalled the subframe to the chassis and prepared the patient for its new heart. Nova meet engine, engine meet Nova. Now open wide!
I hoped to retain the transmission mounting position in the rear transmission X-member position, but that put the engine ON the firewall. So I moved the x-mbr to the forward drilling in the subframe and gained plenty of room. (Its like GM planned for this)
However, I am going to have to do perform the big block heater core swap due to about a 1/4" clearance.
To achieve a 5° power angle, this is where the engine ended up. It is about .675" above the crossmember.
Here is Oil Pan clearance. I will have to take about 3" to have is JUST higher then the crossmember. I am concerned that the oil filter will then be lower then the pan...
Now its time to make some motor mounts!
The large motor mount plate was contacting this mounting pad, time for some grinder work!
Before:
After:
Here is the mockup with the plates to capture the poly mounts.
And here they are after welding. I added the gussets to the plates. It aslo took some TLC with a sledge hammer and and crowbar to open the plates back up after welding. The right side is an exact mirror. These too will be coming back out for final grinding and paint.
Here is x-mbr clearance with the motor on the mounts. I looks a little high doesn't it?? BUt the engine is at about 4.5° in reference to the chassis, so I guess it is right...
And here is the manifold and carb on the engine for ***** and giggles! Looking good!
And that about brings up to date. I am currently selling the intake, harness and manifolds off the truck engine to re-coup some funds. Tonight I also started to route the harness for the MSD 6010 system. I am thinking of mounting the control on the right side, behing the inner fender. Nice and clean, not to hard to get to.
SO, thats it so far. I plan to keep kicking butt and HOPE to have the car running by Friday May 18th. GULP. But if it goes a little later, I will not be to sad! cause I'm having fun. Leave your thought, opinions and other comment. Always appreciate USEFUL input! Keep checking back, Thanks guys!
At the pick up end I flared the tube, and then added a 45° cut to give the max area for fuel pickup.
Next I gave the subframe a little TLC.
Grinding down as much of the nasty bird turd welding and splatter as I could. Smoothed out any road rash. Removed tooling marks from the forming process. Unfortunatly it started to rain and I had to hi-tail into the garage and didn't get any after photos. I plan to have the subframe blasted and powder coated as it will not be coming out again for a long time!
Now for the big new...I got my motor!!
It is a 2001 5.3L from a Sierra. Just over 106K on the clock. I picked it up from a local salvage yard for a fair price. I also got a starter and alternator at the same time. Here she is in the back of my Yukon. A bit of a tight fit.
This is Colt, my engine program supervisor. Like any good managment figure he accels at napping in the sun and informing me when he is bored
She is a little dirty! I found chucks of broken glass all over the top of the motor. Must have been a serious accident.
The valley looked pretty good. No rust, no grime, no buildup.
Cleaning time. Before:
After:
Now, this is the initial build up. I assembled the engine for mock powertrain and chassis fittment. After all the routing, plumbing, fabrication and testing everything will come back apart for finish paint. With that said I reinstalled the subframe to the chassis and prepared the patient for its new heart. Nova meet engine, engine meet Nova. Now open wide!
I hoped to retain the transmission mounting position in the rear transmission X-member position, but that put the engine ON the firewall. So I moved the x-mbr to the forward drilling in the subframe and gained plenty of room. (Its like GM planned for this)
However, I am going to have to do perform the big block heater core swap due to about a 1/4" clearance.
To achieve a 5° power angle, this is where the engine ended up. It is about .675" above the crossmember.
Here is Oil Pan clearance. I will have to take about 3" to have is JUST higher then the crossmember. I am concerned that the oil filter will then be lower then the pan...
Now its time to make some motor mounts!
The large motor mount plate was contacting this mounting pad, time for some grinder work!
Before:
After:
Here is the mockup with the plates to capture the poly mounts.
And here they are after welding. I added the gussets to the plates. It aslo took some TLC with a sledge hammer and and crowbar to open the plates back up after welding. The right side is an exact mirror. These too will be coming back out for final grinding and paint.
Here is x-mbr clearance with the motor on the mounts. I looks a little high doesn't it?? BUt the engine is at about 4.5° in reference to the chassis, so I guess it is right...
And here is the manifold and carb on the engine for ***** and giggles! Looking good!
And that about brings up to date. I am currently selling the intake, harness and manifolds off the truck engine to re-coup some funds. Tonight I also started to route the harness for the MSD 6010 system. I am thinking of mounting the control on the right side, behing the inner fender. Nice and clean, not to hard to get to.
SO, thats it so far. I plan to keep kicking butt and HOPE to have the car running by Friday May 18th. GULP. But if it goes a little later, I will not be to sad! cause I'm having fun. Leave your thought, opinions and other comment. Always appreciate USEFUL input! Keep checking back, Thanks guys!
Last edited by cruisin'73; 04-20-2012 at 08:08 PM.
, She is a keeper, My wife calls my Nova the B*tch!! She hates the car lol. LUCKY!
04-21-2012, 11:19 PM
#34
TECH Fanatic
I would absolutly stay with the fuel injection though. By the time you buy the intake/msd kit and a carb, you are well over the price of redoing your harness and buying an inline pump. The FI is way better than carb IMO. My swap has been finished (the first stage anyhow) for about a month now and I love the stock 4.8. The FI is just so nice and drivability is killer.
04-22-2012, 06:55 AM
#36
99' Vette. Ya I went back and forth for a couple months on Carb Vs. EFI. And you are right, price wise they are nearly on par. The real big factor for me was time. I wanted to get the Nova up and running for summer (Mid-May is my goal). Converting the EFI system is simply more time consuming then going with a carb. PLUS at some point in the Nova's future I do plan to convert. But when I do I want to go about it the right way. With a performance minded 4L60E rebuild, a nice clean tucked away wiring job. A profesional dyno tune etc etc etc. SO for now its a carb for me.
Kdiesel, welcome to LS1Tech. You and the old man have a 73' huh? If you have to replace the stock engine anyway (Like I did) there are so many reasons to move up to a gen III motor. Whether carb or EFI it is a huge improvment over the gen I engines. I'm glad my build can help give you a little ammo for your argument! Be sure to check out some of the other awesome Nova conserversions on here. And if you have any question feel free to ask!
Kdiesel, welcome to LS1Tech. You and the old man have a 73' huh? If you have to replace the stock engine anyway (Like I did) there are so many reasons to move up to a gen III motor. Whether carb or EFI it is a huge improvment over the gen I engines. I'm glad my build can help give you a little ammo for your argument! Be sure to check out some of the other awesome Nova conserversions on here. And if you have any question feel free to ask!
04-22-2012, 05:20 PM
#38
thanks for the info! It's on its second motor right now, we bought it as a shell without a motor and dropped a small 305 we had in it and we just swapped a mild cam 350 in it this winter. I think the thing would be sweet with an LQ9 mated up to a muncie 4 speed we've got sitting in another Nova. I'm swapping an L33 into my S10 Xtreme right now so maybe the nova will follow!
04-23-2012, 06:31 PM
#39
V8 Extreme OK just ordered my fuel pump and filter, solid body bushings, fuel fittings, and heater core. My *** hurts a bit, but the next week will be like Christmas! I'll get some pics up when I get everything here.
Only other progress was initial routing for the MSD controller. I will post pictures later this week.
Kdiesel, that S10 oughta be fun! And good practice for when the old man gives into swapping the Nova over. I am trying to convince a buddy at work to swap to a 5.3 or 6.0 into his 82 Trans Am.
Only other progress was initial routing for the MSD controller. I will post pictures later this week.
Kdiesel, that S10 oughta be fun! And good practice for when the old man gives into swapping the Nova over. I am trying to convince a buddy at work to swap to a 5.3 or 6.0 into his 82 Trans Am.
04-23-2012, 09:14 PM
#40
What are your plans for the oil pan.. ? if you swap it for one of the other OEM pan that doesn't have a deep sump (CTS-V or F-body). the Oil filter will sit higher and you will not have to worry about it hanging down like your truck pan does. also After market with oem location of filter or remote filter will also move it out of the way.
You might also be able to use a smaller/shorter filter. Just need to match up the size across the gasket and the correct thread size.
BC
You might also be able to use a smaller/shorter filter. Just need to match up the size across the gasket and the correct thread size.
BC