New to swapping, need help
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Teching In
Joined: Aug 2021
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New to swapping, need help I'm planning on swapping an ls1 into my 1986 Pontiac Trans Am. I already have an idea of what I'm going to do about engine mounts, fuel system, and cooling system. But I'm having trouble finding help on how to go about wiring up the interior or what drive shaft I should go with or if I even need to get a new drive shaft (plan to use a 4l60e). I just need help with the general process of swapping the engines and how to go about it if anyone is willing to help. I found a place that sells wiring harnesses that are compatible with the plug that goes to the interior on my car, but even if I do that I don't know how to hook the ECU up to anything. I also want to know how to convert my gas pedal from cable driven to electronic since ls1's come with electronic. It's just things like this that I'm uncertain of and am hoping someone more experienced can help me with.
OP, you're in the right place, the conversions & hybrids section will be loaded with info to put you on the right path. For starters, if your car had a 700r4 and you're not changing the mount location (like shifting the engine forwards or backwards on the new mounts relative to the bellhousing), your driveshaft will swap over. Second, instead of using an 0411 or an E38 computer, I would recommend going with a Terminator X Max. Wiring them is pretty simple and they support electronic transmission control as well as DBW. As far as gauges go, I'm not familiar with the third gen clusters, and I know TBI was starting around that time, but I would hazard to guess that they just use simple dedicated sending units for everything aside from the speedo. Depending on whether it was an electric or mechanical speedo drive, you can get a variety of conversion accessories to match whatever the cluster requires from places like Autometer or Dakota Digital. With the other things on the car side, most of them should be through their own fuse block (interior lights, brake lights, etc.) and should be straightforward power, ground, switched for a given circuit.
