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After driving the car on the street for a few weeks, I keep dialing the assist lower and lower - I am now on the 4-5 o'clock position. The higher setting makes the steering feel weirdly light on the interstate and I'm getting used to driving the car on the street with less assist. I used the lower setting on a track day last week and it felt perfect. I've killed 3 power steering pumps on that track and it was nice not worrying about that. My friend's BMW boiled his fluid in only a few sessions.
I have a track day (bro!) on the 12th, and as soon as that's done I'm pulling the 240 apart for the new engine. I'm hoping to put it on the scales before I take it apart though to see how much weight I drop.
Wrapping up the prep work for the L33.
I installed a 2004 LS1 GTO cam in it that I got from a friend who cam swapped his LS1. I know it's not a huge power increase, but I had the balancer off so it made sense. HotRod did a test with the 5.3s and a bunch of OEM cams. The early LS1 cams picked up a bunch of power up top but the lower RPM torque suffered. This late LS1 cam made 40HP more at redline without losing much torque down low (which is what the truck cams were made for).
(Read more here: http://www.hotrod.com/articles/ls-cam-test-comparison/)
Since I swapped to EPS, I am deleting the power steering pump. Now that I don't have to worry about an OEM bracket or routing, I can put the alternator wherever I want to. Luckily, the aluminum truck blocks (unlike the LM7) have the driver's side hole near the deck drilled and tapped already. By some crazy GM parts bin magic, the truck alternator mounting bolt spacing is perfect to bolt to the front of the engine like the F-Body setup. It fits perfectly and gives me a ton of room up top, I just need to get some washers/spacers to line it up with the balancer. I converted to a C5 balancer to give me room to move the fans behind the radiator like stock (currently running a single pusher). The only thing I haven't sorted is an extra idler to fill in for the missing PS pump.
Finally got a free Saturday - pulled the LM7/NV3500 out.
I'm taking my time to clean up the oil-dirt-caked engine bay and plan to paint the blue radiator core support finally. I visited a friend who had some scales last week and the car is very front weight biased, so I'm going to pull anything that I don't need off the front end. The 40# battery will also be located in the trunk, should help alot since it is sitting at the extreme FR end of the car in stock form.
Also installed some LS6 GMP beehive springs. The cam setup isn't crazy, but I didn't think the car needed that much more power anyways. I also replaced all of the gaskets, I'm hoping this engine doesn't leak like the old iron 5.3L. I also located an LS6 intake. Eventually I'd like to install a stock-looking fiberglass hood to help with the F/R weight issue.
good progress. where in Austin do you live? I saw you mention LKQ and Wrench a Part being close, i live of 183 and McKinney Falls Pkwy so i'm a hop and a skip to both. Well at least for a little longer, we're building a house in Round Rock so we'll be south for a few more months.
Garage beer!! haha. I drink local stuff at night but when I'm hot and sweaty I want something light.
I'm about a mile from the LKQ on South Congress - pretty convenient. Wrench A Part is better but I have to plan trips out there. LKQ is just really easy to get to and they have some good stuff sometimes.
I made an account specifically to tell you that you rock, I have a 240 also and dream of swapping in a cheap truck V8! Got your thread bookmarked and I've been watching your progress for a while now! And I also love beer.
Keep up the good work!
I made an account specifically to tell you that you rock, I have a 240 also and dream of swapping in a cheap truck V8! Got your thread bookmarked and I've been watching your progress for a while now! And I also love beer.
Keep up the good work!
Ha. Thanks man - feel free to ask me any questions about the swap, I'm super into it.
I had every intention of getting the engine back in on Saturday, but ended up slacking off most of the weekend. I'm trying not to rush this back together so I can take care of all of the janky stuff that annoys me while the engine is out.
I spent many many hours cleaning all of the oil 'mud' crap off the front subframe and transmission tunnel from my road/track incidents. It took forever but I'm really happy with how clean everything is. Tacked a piece of metal in the tunnel to cover up the NV3500 shifter hole (and then sealed it with metal filler), and de-powered the steering rack by putting bolts in all of the fittings and taking out the lines. Removing the hard lines gives me a little more room when I'm installing the engine and looks cleaner.
Got the Fidanza and clutch mounted and torqued and my wife helped me wiggle that big bastard of a T56 on, so it is ready to go in.
Stalled out on this as I've had three races in the past month and the C5 needed some prep for last weekend's Pro Solo. Finally got back to it last night.
* Measured the driveshaft - that will go off to the shop this weekend
* Pulled the diff - Front Pinion seal is completely borked, it's leaking fluid out of the front
* Made a e-brake cable bracket - the cables were hitting the driveshaft which killed the diff and it was grinding down the rear driveshaft yoke. Pretty scary stuff
* Tried to install the headers - noticed the T56 is hitting the tunnel in a couple of places - going to have to pull the engine out again and clearance the tunnel quite a bit
Also keep in mind that the T56 needs some areas trimmed around the transmission casing itself to fit along with "massaging" the Trans Tunnel. I am sure you knew that but just in case here is a link to the Holley info on installing the trans.
Also keep in mind that the T56 needs some areas trimmed around the transmission casing itself to fit along with "massaging" the Trans Tunnel. I am sure you knew that but just in case here is a link to the Holley info on installing the trans.
Thank you for that, it's been a year and a half since I read those so I completely forgot.
Engine/trans is coming out Friday, it would be swell if I could get that back in the car this weekend and running, I have a friend coming into town next Thursday that I'm shooting to have it running for.
My diff is at the shop getting new bearings and seals, the pinion bearing was shot. Driveshaft should be done by the end of this week.
No problem bud...I had a buddy who beat the living hell out of his tunnel because he forgot to cut off the "ears" lol. What shop are you using for your Driveshaft? I will have to get a custom unit since I ended up getting a T56 Magnum for my next setup. I had planned to use DriveShaft Shop again but if there is a reputable place locally I would rather go thru them.
Did you run the OEM 240sx radiator at first? I can't see your pics anymore but I was thinking I saw that originally.
Finally getting my budget LS swap underway...Seeing what all I can avoid doing at first.
Did you run the OEM 240sx radiator at first? I can't see your pics anymore but I was thinking I saw that originally.
Finally getting my budget LS swap underway...Seeing what all I can avoid doing at first.
Yep, need to rebuild the entire build thread of pictures
I ran the stock S13 rad for a couple of months but it was getting a bit hot on track (225ish) so I went with the KA24 Koyorad. Found one locally for $100 and it works great.
The truck accessories and intake work just fine if you don't mind cutting a hole in your hood.
Originally Posted by 2muchboostNY
No problem bud...I had a buddy who beat the living hell out of his tunnel because he forgot to cut off the "ears" lol. What shop are you using for your Driveshaft? I will have to get a custom unit since I ended up getting a T56 Magnum for my next setup. I had planned to use DriveShaft Shop again but if there is a reputable place locally I would rather go thru them.
Yeah I used Driveshaft Specialist in San Antonio again - great prices and they got to it quickly. They originally made the driveshaft and I had to get about 2-3" taken off of it (40.5" total length cap to cap) for the T56.
I've completely stalled out on this, but it's very very close. Been racing the Corvette and I replaced the headgasket on my boat among other time-consuming projects. Just need to set the engine/trans angle and hook up the wiring harness
Wow, I didn't expect that dinky OEM radiator to be able to hold up at all, let alone for months! Did you have electric fans on it?
Not really happy about cutting a hole in the hood, even though I have an extra. I really liked your DIY hood bump. I'll probably end up just going hoodless until I can't stand it any longer and hack up the hood.
Anything else I can skip until its up and running?
Yeah, it came with a dual fan setup, I think they're from an Altima or some 90s car and I run them on a switch.
For the wiring harness, you can just run the stock truck fuse box so that it only takes 3 wires to run the ECU. Battery 12V, switched 12V and fuel pump. Also, The car would not run right until I did the Walbro pump (~$80ish). It was running lean because the stock pump couldn't keep up with the LM7 rail.
Also, if you feel like digging through the broken photos, you can Right Click > "Open image in new tab"
Thanks! One last question for now... what oil filter set up do you have? I am thinking I'll get the Canton pan like yours, not really happy about it, but it has the clearance and price I want. Do you think this will fit? It puts the oil filter at the back of the oil pan, that way I don't have to buy a bunch of oil lines. Expensive either way for something that should come with the pan...
Thanks! One last question for now... what oil filter set up do you have? I am thinking I'll get the Canton pan like yours, not really happy about it, but it has the clearance and price I want. Do you think this will fit? It puts the oil filter at the back of the oil pan, that way I don't have to buy a bunch of oil lines. Expensive either way for something that should come with the pan...
yep, that's what I'm running. Its annoying to install ( have to do it after the headers) but it works.
Progress! I finally figured out my accessory situation and IMO I think this is the best LSx swap solution. The only thing I would change would be the water pump - I will probably get a LS3 pump at some point as it would give me so much more room.
Here's what I'm using: C5 balancer, F-Body LS1 water pump with a C5 tensioner, a 90s GM truck alternator (super cheap and easy to find in the junkyards), and a 5.3L water pump tensioner bolted to the head to serve as an idler pulley. I'm running a Saturn Vue EPS column so I didn't need the PS pump/pulley. The alternator is the perfect spacing to bolt to the block in the camaro location, and it just requires a small collar/spacer to set it at the C5 spacing.
I'm using a Gates K060557 belt, it sits perfectly in the middle of the manual tensioner adjustment.
Last edited by FlatBlack; 07-12-2017 at 09:20 AM.
Reason: Belt part number
It runs! Sounds pretty nasty with open headers too I got an electrical Oil Pressure Sensor from Jegs and got it wired in, it has a solid 40ish PSI at idle and goes up to ~60 when it revs. Everything looking good so far.
Need to mount the shifter and get the steering column back in there and I'll be able to take it around the block. It free revs really quickly with the Fidanza, I'm excited to see how it feels on the road.
04-02-2017, 07:46 PM
I got an electrical Oil Pressure Sensor from Jegs and got it wired in, it has a solid 40ish PSI at idle and goes up to ~60 when it revs. Everything looking good so far.