1986 camaro 5.3 lsx swap
 

hey everyone i had picked up 2 lsx motors one is a 5.3 and the other is 6.0 i was goin to put the 6.0 in my camaro but Im goin to put the 5.3 instead and i will save the 6.0 to install into my 97 tahoe later down the road once the camaro is finished. So my plans for the 5.3 is to put some boost into but also have its for a driver pretty much through out the summer till snow falls. This build will be slow at first since I work at a low paying job over the winter at LKQ action auto as a yard person not the greatest paying job but its pays the bills. But my spring job and a heavy machine operator thats my high paying job and thats when the build will get more fun. so the details for my build.
2001 5.3 iron block stock
LS6 gm hot cam
Ls6 valve springs
Ls1 intake (just to get the motor running)
4L60e
3.73 posi

i can get a pretty good deal on the ls6 cam and springs from the local gm dealer i used to work for and heard of guys running them on boosted motors had some good results. Ill be more than happy with 500 rwhp. Also I have a set of 317 heads sitting in my shed that i pulled off a core 6.0 when I worked at the dealer ship I was thinking about running these on the 5.3, Now I know it will drop the CR to around 8.6 or somewhere there, But I could mill the heads and run flat top pistons to bring the CR up to 9.1 or so or run a dome piston to bring the CR up as well. I dont plan to put a lot of boost into the motor just something to Have fun with it all, depends on how hard the speed Bug bites me lol. I havnt decided on a turbo Yet but i figure if i went with the 317 heads and got the CR to the 9's i shouldnt have a problem with the driveablity till i put together a turbo system for next winter.
As of right now im Rebuilding the Camaro as it was a rust free shell when i got it. Im goin to build my own SFC and i have a local shop in town goin to build me new rear control arms and adjustable panhard rod. Ill post pics tomorrow of what I have done to the car in the last year that i have Had it.

this is what i started out with
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rust free shell got it from a buddy of mine who parted it out to get money back which he got back more than what he was asking for the whole car and gave me the shell for my bday to replace the rusted out body i was trying to fix.

started work on the engine bay first.
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engine bay painted
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the engine bay looks great in the pics but in person it looks ok. I had my brother paint the engine bay for me and he must of been in a rush or something and forgot to spray the high build primer first to do the finial sand and filling, but he went on and primed the engine bay with the primer i got for the paint and just painted the black over it. I most areas that didnt turn out will be covered with something so I shouldnt complain also I think i should of went with the white engine bay instead too Lol oh well may next time when i fill Like redoin the engine bay.

the body of the car.

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the wife in the back ground woundering why I got this car lol.

Rear Bumper getting some love
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The Engine 5.3 Ls

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yes I know I need to wash the motor, its hard to take it to the car wash in the back of my tahoe lol.

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1 of 2 sets i have.

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2 of 3 set of engine harness I have

started to build my engine harness

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still thinking about using the truck fuse block.

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all labled on the living room floor only using my I phone to look up the wiring connectors.

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This was the fun part cutting out the wires and connectors I didnt need only got the red connector done i still gotta do the blue connector. And once I get the motor mocked up in the car I can start running the wires how i want them and start extending wires as I need them. Its a go thing i got some extra harness so I can use the wires to extend and have the same color all the way through.

DUDE!!! this is a MASSIVE project!! I give you HUGE props for undertaking it. It's cool to see another fellow Canadian on here too. I've got an 82 z28 and I want to do the lsx/t-56 swap to mine too but it's kinda slow going without a shop haha. Anyways, just wanted to say nice work so far, I look forward to seeing more of it! And I'm not sure if you're a member of another forum...www.thirdgen.org ? It's dedicated to third gen camaros and there are a TON of cars on there with LS swaps done, even a dedicated section and there's soooo much info and wiring help, everything you could imagine. Anyways just thought I'd let you know, good luck with the rest of it, can't wait to see more progress!

Thanks bud, yea its a big project but its fun to see a car come from nothing to something, Im also on thridgen.org under the same user name I have more pics on my project tread there. My car has been a slow goin project being that my younger brother has his mustange all apart and he hogs the shop at my parents place which is 40x40 in floor heat and a 2 post car hoist but my dad always parks his work truck in there so my car gets pushed out of the shop till i can sneak it in again lol. But while the car sits out side i have brought my 2 doors in to finish the body work on them and i can work on the engine mount plates and start pulling the motor apart to see what all i need

Im doing an 82 Z right now with a lq9/th400. I remember when mine was just a shell (it kinda still is now lol). The car harness was SOOOO frustrating, im still not done cutting out the crap I dont need like the entire ecm and and the wire going to it/from it to enigne. Keep up the good work!

Yea the wiring isnt fun but I enjoy working with the wiring im also thinking about redoing my whole car harness from scratch the wiring was all cut up just junked thats why i got a truck fuse block to try and run the whole car i also got a couPle of smaller fuse blocks to from just in case

Picked Up 2 core 4l60e trans from work today for 100 bucks i plan to rebuild one of the transmission my self cause its something I havent done before and would like to do and If all gose well with that rebuild i can rebuild the second for a spare or resale to fund the project. What would be a good overhaul kit for a 4l60e, I have seen lots of kits out there, just wanna make sure I get a good kit.

well its been a while since I have do an update on the project, I got a ls1 intake cam and injectors from a memeber from here great price and Im very happy with the parts I got, I have placed an order for my swap mounts i should have them saturday, Im goin to try something different for an oil pan I got a ls4 pan from work for free its 5-3/4" deep so pan to ground clearance should be good, I will tho need to modif the k-member to clear the oil pan which is no big deal cause I have a spare if I goof up or Ill just need to buy a Tubular k-member which is on my list. motor pics. ( motor still has been washed yet)

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it dont look to bad Im hoping this weekend I would be able to mock up the motor and transmission in the car and see how much I need to cut away and build a trans k-member for the 4l60e also I need the weight of the motor and trans in the car so I can align my doors and fenders to finish the body work on the car. I was able to get my dash swap installed just to see how things would go and look
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I still have 4th gen door panels that need to be mocked up into place. and I got the driver seat mounted in the car as well.

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seat dosent look to bad now I gotta work on the pass side seat now.

Now Im planning on running aftermarket valve covers on my motor with no coil mounts they will be mounted beside the engine on the frame rails, now I know that most aftermarket covers wont have the pcv port on them to connect to the intake and throttle body, can I have these ports plugged off on the intake and T/B or can I add a port to valve cover for this?

So i tried pulling off my balancer off the enigne the other day with my 3 leg gear puller and it would not move at all, Has any one else had this problem? Im goin to try again tonight to pull the balancer off Im goin to be replacing it with an aftermarket one so I figure Ill put some heat on the balancer to try and pull it off.

Very nice build and progress. What are the plans for the motor and what seats are those?

the motor plans was to keep it simple, but as I start to tear into the motor more I may change my mind, I picked up a ls1 cam and intake for the motor, the car is goin to be a cruzer with a lil bit of go, I was thinking of adding a turbo to it later on down the road once I have it running and driving, The seats are Enzo racing seats my wife had them in her car before we sold it and I kept them waiting to go into something which is now the camaro, I made my own seat bracket for the driver side which seems to sit a little low so for the passager side Im goin to try and mount them on the stock seat brackets and see how that sits. Im still hunting for a Ls1 fuel rail to finish off my top end of the motor also, so if any one has one they wanna part with shoot me a pm.

well I finially got the balancer off the crank last night man it put up a fight an hour later with the puller putting pressure on the balancer and some heat on the back side of the balancer it came off very slowly but it came off thank god, pulled the timing cover off and man it was pretty dirty the timing chain will need to be replace it has some slack to it and the oil pump will be getting replaced as well, Im goin to order an ls6 oil pump not sure what the diffances are but every one seems to be swapping them in so I will too lol. I gave my timing cover to my brother to take to work to have its cleaned and powered coated silver and well see how it turns out and Ill do the same with the valve covers after I have them smoothed out and remove the coil mounts. I will pics later after work for the time chain area. any ideas what I should do for timing chain keep it stock or upgrade?

here are the pics I said I was goin to post.
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you can see this is probley the wores of the dirty oil inside the motor, which will be cleaned up before I put it back together and swap cams, My brother called me today and said my timing cover is finished so he'll be dropping it off tomorrow I cant wait to see how it turned out, He said it turned out nice so Ill take his word for it. I ordered a new ls6 oil pump today so I ll see that next week and Im goin to look around for a ls2 time chain or Ill buy a new one.

well I havent done a whole lot of work on the motor but some work has been done, I had to pull apart my wiring harness again cause i forgot to lable the ends of the power and fused wires for my injectors and some other sensors so I need where they would go when it comes time to extend my wires, I also finialy checked out the timing cover my brother powder coated for me it didnt turn out too bad good thing I didnt pay to have it done lol. But it looks better than it did before.
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sorry for the pics not being so clear I didnt have my other camera with me.

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harness pulled the apart and relabled again.

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waiting to be intalled on the motor.

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my dad was in the shop working on his car while I was running the wires and he was looking at me like what a mess and asked if I know where everything goses lol. I told him I wasnt done lol.

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Here I have all the wires taped up nicely, I had notice that my cam sensor connector the wires were pulling out of the connector from the oil that been on it for a while so Im goin to have to replace that and I found one wire broken for my knock senors so that will be getting fixed to before the harness is finished. I still have the coil pack harness to install and o2 harness but I gotta wait till the motor is in the car cause the coil pack are getting relocated and I gotta install the manfoilds and see if the o2 senors will have to be relocated also and I need to install the transmission on the motor and plug the trans harness as well and build that into the harness before the motor go into the car for mock up, so I still have abit of work head of me before the car rolls back into the shop again.

also my fuel rail came in the other with some fighting with ups I finaly had it dropped off at my house, I had bought the fail rail from a member on this site.

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The wife says to keep it green and I told her we ll see.

with me working my new job the 16 hr days will keep me away from working on the motor in the evenings so Im left with one day out of the weekend to work on the motor and the other day to spend with my kids and wife but now more parts will be rolling in faster now I have a better paying job. stay tuned for more updates and pics.

well time for an update:
engine harness is about 85% done just waiting to drop the motor and trans into the car so I can see were Im goin to run my wires and everything, Ended up picking up a 2001 silverado parts truck for 400 bucks,Since the 5.3 I had gotten from work is goin to need a lot more loving than I thought, Im just goin to keep it off to the side and when funds around over the winter I was thinking of doin an iron block ls1 or stroker with a s/c havnt decided yet or ill keep it for mock up for another project, Ill also be swapping the out put shaft from the trans I got from my last job into the one from the parts truck since it a 4x4, at least that trans has been rebuilt so Im goin to have a pro shop do that swap for me. also I orders a holley swap pan for my swap I was goin to use the ls4 pan but I didnt wanna mess around with the k-member so the holley swap pan seem to be the right choice. So now Im looking for a place to send my pcm out to for programing since i Cant find a place localy where i am that can program my pcm with out being in the car, anyone know a go afordable place for a some what stock tune to get this motor running after?

any progress? I'm not sure if PCMperformance does LS pcm's.

:corn: