Just purchased a 59 vette to resto-mod.
Will be stock frame with new front subframe,tubular A arms and rack n pinion.
I want to go LS1,2or 3 haven't decided on tranny of choice,my question
For you guys do I buy a GM connect and cruise or do I buy a engine and
Tranny seperate with harness and send harness out to speartech or a company
Like it?
How difficult is it to wire the plug n plays?
I will also be running electronic gauges,rock valley gas tank with pump in tank
And Dewitt radiator?
I can get the drive train installed and driveshaft made it's the wiring,and cost
Effective without buying junk.
I would appreciate input especially on what needs to be wired and then there
Is what do I eliminate from original underhood harness?
DT

 

Sounds like you have a good project so far. I have a 60 vette I plan on doing ls swap in one day. They make kits to bolt c4 corvette front suspension to the original frame and the c4 rear end almost falls into place and just need to weld some brackets for the 4 link. As for the wiring harness I have a 66 nova and bought the gmpp wiring harness for my ls2, it came with everything needed to run and it was very straight forward and easy. If you went with ls1 you can use a drive by cable throttle body as ls2 and ls3 use drive by wire. you can change them to cable but have to change throttle body and probably have to do something with the wiring harness I'd imagine. If you do get something drive by wire make sure the gas pedal and throttle body match or they will not work together. The gmpp wiring harness is not exactly cheap but comes with everything including gas pedal to run the motor, you can also have it tuned if you desired, no cutting of the harness unless you just want to run stuff different but there is plenty of length to mount ECM and fuse panel in the car I did with my nova. The cheaper way would be buy a motor and trans together and send the harness out to make it stand alone.

There are a few companies now making radiators for these cars, use to be just one or two companies but so many people are doing these swaps so they're coming down in price. Also you can use your original gas tank and run inline fuel pump and run a return back to the tank or I have seen people run it to the filler neck.

As for the under hood wiring harness only thing you need to keep is the stuff for run the headlights and turn signals. You will have to run a wire for the starter from the ignition key and possibly a wire to turn on the alternator depending on what alternator you run. Hope this helps, if I missed anything just ask. I'm not an expert like other guys on this site but I have done two swaps so far, pretty straight forward just more wires haha