S10..

 

Are you sure the driveline angle is 6 degrees? Which mounts cause this condition? Have you priced the Hooker set up? It's likely over $1,000

Also, will the Hooker set up provide the clearance needed for a 4" stroke LS engine.

 

Dakota trucks are getting cheaper.

 

The 6* isn't an exact number but in a recent Chevy High Performance article on driveline angles using Jeff Smith's Orange Peel Chevelle with a 4.8 and 200R4 swapped in with adapter plates and a stock trans crossmember, its engine/ trans where at a 5.8* angle and they had to shim the transmission tail housing 1/2 inch to get it to 2*. Luckily there car had a 200R4 so there was room to do that if it had a 4L80E they would be hammering the transmission tunnel for clearance.

The price of the Hooker parts are $950-1500 depending on the headers you get but considering most "budget" g body swaps use painted Pacesetters it only seems fair to use the price of Hookers painted 1 3/4 LT's when comparing priced. Ebay adapter plates $25, Summit transmission crossmember $275, and painted Pacesetters $300 and up to $600. So like I said the Hooker parts are only $350 more.

If you want to run a 4 inch stroke crank the cheapest easiest way would be to notch the back of the crossmember and use a f body oil pan, plus then you save $150 over Holleys pan and even more if you get the pan used.

 

There's a distinct advantage to being late to the show, which is to be able to spend weeks pouring through previous build threads to compile a laundry list of shortcomings and issues that still exist with most of these swaps. Sure you can do it cheaper than you can with Hooker/ Holley parts, but you won't find a combination of parts for a G-body anywhere that provides better driveline angles and ground, trans tunnel and hood clearances than what comes from using the new Hooker set-up. There is a large segment of the swap population that is looking to build cars with less hacking involved and with better functional geometry when the car is completed; that segment is precisely the target audience for Hooker and Holley LS swap components.

 

Thanks Todd, I agree with your points above and I honestly think that the Hooker system has it's place in the market. Those with the extra cash will appreciate it. It seems however that some recent posts would mislead a novice into thinking that the Holley/Hooker system is the only way to do a successful G body swap. I realize that you work for Holley/Hooker and have a commitment to them so your responses will definitely be filtered for the best interest of Holley. After all, why suggest other options that work right?

As everyone knows, the 200R4 was the performance transmission for G bodies from the factory. All GN, T types, MCSS, Hurst Olds and 442 G bodies had them. When using 1" set back engine mounts it is possible to retain the factory transmission position without driveline or hood clearance issues. As I noted before, I'm not excited about the fact that the Hooker system requires that I move the trans forward by 1/4" which messes up the transmission linkage and requires a new driveshaft ($200 or more). For guys going with a newer transmission, the hooker set up is the way to go.

 

Hey anubis403. I appreciate the fact that you might find a different method of swapping an LS into a G-body more suitable for you than what is provided through the use of the new Hooker components, but I would respectfully disagree that "successful" would be the proper descriptive word to use to describe the outcome of using the swap plate method of installation. My opinion has nothing to do with my position here, but comes from the fact that I too am a gearhead and swapper just like everyone else here on this forum and appreciate things that are well thought out and put together...it's just my nature to be that way.

To say that an LS engine was able to be bolted into the chassis of a car and the car was then driven down the road under the power of that LS engine in itself does not indicate to me that the swap was successful.

I would deem that same car to be an unsuccessful swap if upon inspection I found it to exhibit any of the following characteristics:

Non-optimized U-joint working angles
Hammered or cut trans tunnel sheet metal to clear the transmission
Hammered or cut underside of hood to clear engine components
Clearanced or removed A/C evaporator case (it's a personal thing)
Poor header collector ground clearance
Headers used from another application with tubes hammered for clearance
Large chunks of the 4L80 case being hacked off to clear long-tube headers
Undersized stock driveshaft being utilized where stronger shaft is needed.

All of these characteristics (and more) were observed in build threads that I researched before I began the design of the Hooker parts and they heavily influenced my design efforts and the amount of time spent mocking up the engine and transmission in the car before any component design work took place.

I respect your right to hold a different opinion as to what constitutes a "successful" swap.

 

Because I trust Holley will engineer a system based solution where as slapping something together is slapping something together. Sure it works, but the compromises that go into a slap together solution are often in areas where I don't want to compromise.

I have spent a lot of time making my non standard (IE not AJE) fox swap work from the system level perspective, and frankly, if I could spend some extra money from a vendor and get what I want from the system level, then it is worth the extra money. IE, if someone made a road race variant Fox Mustang LS swap kit, it would have been worth buying. Unfortunately, nobody does.

 

I'm quite interested in the sn95 Mustang with an LS swap but most I've seen were automatics because of the cable pedals and the hydraulic T56 issues. Anyone know of a thread with an LS/T56 into an sn95?

 

It's not very difficult at all.

 

78 Malibu or El Camino. No one expects them to be fast. roughly 3000 lbs stock. should be cheap if you can find a clean one with a straight or v6 in it. If you can find a 78 Monte Carlo, they will likely pay you to haul it away.

 

In the Midwest EVERYBODY expects them to be fast, NOBODY expects then to be cheap, and if You find a clean 78 Monte Carlo YOU will likely pay SEVERAL thousand dollars to haul it away. I still think it fits with the OP needs.

 

I think the best candidates for swaps are cars that are lightweight when compared with the cars the ls motor came out of.

Such as 240sx, miata, rx-7, bmw 3 series e30 or e36.

You can find all these cars for pretty cheap and their are many companies that make swap kits for these cars.

 

I gave my 78 Monte away. Ugly as sin. Very light weight full frame car though.

 

So true, and it doesn't help that thousands if not tens of thousands of them have been destroyed buy dirt racing. Between that and rust a "cheap" mostly rust free g body is $2500-3500.

 

88 And older thunderbird the Fox style deff a sleeper and around 3400lbs

 

Older BMW is interesting, pretty good suspension to start with and plenty of parts to make it better.
Late 80's cougar and thunderbird are definately cheap and share a huge amount of parts with fox body mustangs.
I can't personally do a G-body, a lot of them became dirt track cars, and they guys racing them all seemed to throw one together all ratty for the street. Sorry G-body guys thats just how see them

 

G body. It seems that that aftermarket is really growing for these cars not just in the ls swap world.

I did a frame off on my 86 Monte Carlo ss and I had no problems finding/ordering brand new interior/exterior parts for it. They are getting harder to find in nice shape though, and the prices of solid cars foes seem to be going up. Up in the rust belt. $3k usually doesn't get you much.

 

I was thinking the same thing. I like the 80s 5 - series, lowered with Euro bumpers. It'd be a cool car with 400+ horsepower and looking like a sleeper.

Doug

 

Rx8 for sure. You don't pay the retard tax that you would on a third gen and it's nicer in EVERY way. My motor is just a bolt on LS1 and with the stock 4.77 gears it will spin into fourth.

And I'm partial to the square bodies. EASIEST swap period