maverickhatter

I have been looking and searching for awhile here and wanted to see a guide on a second gen late model f body. needless to say there is alot of info here and can attempt to piece it together based on other builds,however, I am looking for a more specific guide or info. the build I am looking to do will be on the budget side more so for fuel economy and reliability with retaining my th350 transmission. Most the builds I have seen do not clarify if the driveshaft needed to be shortened or changed with this build as well as issues using sbc clamshell motor mounts,mine originally came with the 403 old engine, or if there is an adapter needed for mount on this transmission or if factory trans mount would be equivalent. I know you will need a flexplate adapter and the k member knotched or a bracket to relocate a/c if wanting to retain it,which I do. any of the suppliers used for this swap would be greatly appreciated as well as feedback on any issues. the intake is a ls1 factory intake with cable driven throttle body. the afm has been removed the dod/afm delete kit. I am looking to make this transition from gathering info to complete swap in the next couple of months. any and all info would be greatly appreciated, and any specifics on who modified or what harness and pcm you used (I was looking to use painless however very pricey) will also be helpful. I know there will be alot of people stating you can find this info here or refer to this post any post I have seen requires to gather and piece together for my as well as anyone wanting to do this convenience I would like to generalize this to one thread.

I also just got word from painless tech dept on the 5.3 with ls1 intake it reads below

"All of our harnesses are designed for the factory stock configurations with no modifications because we could never cover or guess at what someone is going to do as far modifying their specific application. the only harness is see coming close to your configuration is the 99-02 LS1 harness #60508. But keep in mind that should run into connection problems or operating problems we may not have the answers because we have not have the privilege of experimenting or trying this combination here at the plant, so our technical support team would essentially be blind on the phone being ask to re-engineer a harness. we know this harness will operate the 99-02 model LS1 in the factory configuration but can’t guess as to how it would do on your configuration. You will also have to find a good tuner with a dyno to make all this work. That is the only way to tune to this configuration we do not do this kind of tuning here." painless tech dept

which leaves a greater need as far as wiring harness mod/aftermarket use with pcm. anyone who has completed the 5.3 with ls1 intake retaining fuel injection will be greatly appreciated to give details

npersha

iTrader: (-1)

I am in process of a 79 Z28 build. I have my engine installed but not quite running yet, so I can give you some pointers on what I did. So far its been pretty painless to do, just is costly.

I just hope I do not step on any vendors toes or sponsors of this site who might be offended by me naming names of the vendors I used in my swap. IF so, I apologize in advance...

Motor mounts- Car shop Inc 1" setback plates with stock clamshells- Fits it in stock location so yor stock driveshaft when using a turbo 350 should work fine with that, and stock crossmember can be retained. I am using a T56 manual, so I am having to get the crossmember modified and new driveshaft made for my swap. Car shop mounts drop the engine right in and work in the car like an old school small block does.

Fuel system- I am using a Vetteworks.com LS1 fuel module adaptor which welds to the top of the stock camaro gas tank and allows the use of a 4th gen F body fuel pump and it fits pretty well in the stock tank. I had my tank boiled out since it was a like new tank that I replaced years ago, and it welded fine and is going to work out well. And fuel lines and fittings are all -8 An braided line and fittings for a No rubber and no plastic fuel system. And by using the 4th gen fuel module, It is self regulated so there is no need for that expensive corvette fuel filter. I used a high flow AN fuel filter from Summit.

Wiring- I used chevythunder.com to have Leonard make me a custom harness. He catered my harness to the engine options, intake system, and accessory drive that I was running and custom made it for me. And he himself has a 2nd gen camaro and did the swap so he made my pcm and fuse block and harness locations the same as his car, and I am very satisfied with it so far. Very good email support and very helpful guy to deal with.

Exhaust- I am still up in the air with that. I have a set of 4th gen F body headers, but they don't fit without extensive modifications. I am probally going to go with the Dynatech ones that are ceramic coated and run about 450 bucks shipped to my door. I am considering manifolds since I might upgrade to a turbo in the future, but I hate the manifold look, so for now I might just pay the piper and purchase the headers and then sell them once I ever go turbo. They are other shorty headers out there and other brands, but they are more expensive than the dynatech ones for long tubes, and the shorty ones damn near are the same as the dynatech ones for price anyways.

AC- I am not currently going with AC on my swap but plan to one day in the future. Best that I can find is that Vintage Air kit with an LSx swap upgrade to the brackets is the best bet. Notching the frame is fine, but you cannot use the clamshell mounts anymore, and have to get special ones like the Brp ones or other manufactureres out there. And the newer gm ac compressors they say do not work well with stock 2nd gen camaro ac systems since they are a different type of design than the stock ones were. I would get the Sanden compressor with the vintage air kit and mount it up on the passengers side head up high and get it over with. That way you can run stock clamshells and basic adaptor motor plates.

oil pan- F body pan fits perfect with no mods and clears the crossmember excellent and has perfect ground clearance.

Radiator- I am running a ebay special, all aluminum griffin type drop in direct fit replacement radiator for a 4th gen camaro which was like 200 bucks and then you can use stock electric fans since they clip right into this radiator. I purchased new Dorman electric fans for the 4th gen and they fit the radiator perfectly. I also am using stock 4th gen radiator hoses with very little modifications.

Air filter system- I am still researching yet, but I am leaning towards a 08 GMC sierra denali 6.2 air filter k&n type system. A system can be purchased off ebay in an off brand with a polished tube and open air cleaner and all clamps and boots, etc. for like $130 or so. Otherwise Hawks 3rd gen camaro makes an air cleaner system they fit for their swaps, which should work fine in a 2nd gen, but its like 200 bucks. Otherwise pvc piping and fernco couplings and an autozone type filter can be done for less than 100 bucks, but it looks kind of crude I think.

Any other questions just ask. I have some odds and ends to do yet, so my swap is not running yet, but its all done top notch with no cobbling and makes my car look like its been made for a lsx swap. I need to do air intake system and exhaust and purchase a corvette alternator yet and do the transmission mounting/crossmember yet for my swap to be done, otherwise the other hard work is all done.

maverickhatter

Thanks for the info, especially on the wiring harness by far one of the best priced ones out there and if it is as easy to install as you say it is, will be an excellent value. hopefully you can throw some pics up when you get done would love to see her. I am actually starting this weekend taking my olds 403 out and cleaning the engine bay for paint. then gonna start ordering parts money is going to be the real hurdle here I will post pics as I go and any other info given would be great.

ALSO...can anyone tell me how to retain the shaker, functional would be great, but not absolutely needed.

npersha

iTrader: (-1)

I am not sure how to retain the shaker hood. Maybe you will just have to bolt/rivet/bond the shaker hood right onto the existing hood, so it will be fixed to the hood??? Unless anybody else can chime in on that.

And yes, the harness was very easy to install, wire lengths were just right length. And his email support was terrific. And he included a CD on how to install the harness and basic LSx swap questions were answered in the CD. And price was nice as well, plus he did a 98 Harness for me since my pcm was custom modified and tuned for my 6.0 LSx engine which runs a 98 pcm since it was out of a 98 Z28.

Ernie W

iTrader: (1)

I've wondered about the shaker myself. The Year One Bandit cars have a custom made shaker base that sits on the LS intake manifold and feeds into the throttle body so its functional. It may be hard to make one from fiberglass but it would be really nice.

maverickhatter

After doing a search there is a guy on this site that has completed it and I would love to give him credit, completely fabbed but functional shaker for ls swap. unfortunately this is a one of a kind and since I have little fiberglassing talent will try but most likey will end up costing me more money in the long run lol. here is the link

https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversio...nd-gen-ta.html

maverickhatter

Update:

Ordered patriot performance cam https://www.patriot-performance.com/...&cat=49&page=1

following up with http://www.lunatipower.com/Product.aspx?id=2584&gid=322

for the lift on my 5.3. also received my gm hot rod oil pan kit and ordered wiring harness.
only things left will be motor mounts, flex plate adapter, and mech adapts for original gauges. will keep everyone posted as build comes along I was told three weeks out on cam even with them being a local vendor.... hopefully follow up with pics sooner or later.

maverickhatter

still waiting on cam......apparently a large demand for them. as soon as I get my hands on it will start to piece together engine and prep engine compartment.

maverickhatter

Teardown begins!!!!

maverickhatter

have not posted in awhile had some delays will start new build thread when I get started on it again. turns out the cam i ordered had to have some severe back order, its been over a month and they were still pushing another two weeks so now I am looking for a ls6 cam to try and rush it along. I also have a move the first of next month pushing me back.

ls279transam

just got my 79 running with the LS2 its on Youtube under ls2 79 trans am first start , its driving, just putting the interior back together and finishing the vintage air, an alignment and im all set more videos soon, if you need any help or info just ask

Orbitorange

Sweet TA's!

hoboy

Damn, I need to convert my 80 camaro so it will be an awesome driver