kossuth

iTrader: (12)

Well, I thought I had the header problem licked with the LS1. I guess I thought wrong. Sanderson makes a set of headers for the LS1 to go into the S10 pickup. Well, I got them in today and test fit them to the truck. The passenger side fit real well. The driver's side is a bit of a problem though. The header clears the suspension and such fine but it hits the steering shaft. Unless I relocate the steering shaft, (which could also mess up the SIR coil) I have to go a different route. Here are a few pics of these. I know this isn't the classified section but I'm gonna mention that I paid $245 for these from Jag's that Run and I will take that shipped for these if somebody thinks they can use them for something. Don't post anything about the sale here go to the classifieds for that. Anyways, back to the drawing board LOL

chevy42083

Sorry to hear about that. Would it be easier to modify your mounts to make those headers fit? Or maybe cheaper? I imagine custom headers are pretty pricey, but the mounts are possibly a cheap alteration. Just throwing out suggestions. How far off are they, could the headers be modified cheaper than a custom set made?

BTW, I didn't even know ANYONE made a header for an LS1 s-10, are the sanderson ones your only option for prebuilt?

I'm sure you know, but it'll all be worth it when it's finished.

kossuth

iTrader: (12)

I would do that but that isn't the best idea. To make a LS1 fit in a S10 you have to cut the front frame crossmember, and you also have to cut about 2" off the bottom of the 5.3 oilpan to give you the proper ground clearance. If I pushed the motor up any further the motor wouldn't sit in the proper angle in the truck unless I cut the living crap out of the tranny tunnel. One fellow I know that did this conversion put a 2" body lift on the truck so he didn't have to cut the crossmember or tranny tunnel and then lowered it back down with suspension components. Eithor way I'm screwed because I don't want to have to cut anything else. I have already cut the frame alot to clearance for the oilpan and don't want to cut anymore. Can't push the motor back anymore or I risk hitting the oil pressure sensor on the firewall. Only thing I could do is offset it alittle bit more to the passenger side, but I have cut the frame to clear for the AC compressor and definately don't want to remove anymore there eithor. For somebody that is making their own mounts these would work great. I only needed about another 1/2" to get them to clear.

ls6jimmy

iTrader: (2)

pm sent

Mas280

iTrader: (2)

Why dont you just use the JTR mounts that are made to work with the headers that you bought?

kossuth

iTrader: (12)

Because they move the motor more to the side and up and I'm using a C5 AC compressor. I had to cut the frame enough to get it to fit anyways, so I don't want to have to cut it anymore.

boondiggys

iTrader: (165)

well well it seems like you have a case of grinder woes , noi header woes hahaah who knows

LS1NOVA

iTrader: (12)

sounds like moving the steering shaft would be the easiest way around the problem. Have you contacted JTR to see what they did?

kossuth

iTrader: (12)

Yeah I did that, and they said that the stock shaft fit just fine. That tells me one of two things. My truck sits different than anything that Sanderson has seen and built the header jig for, or that the motor sits farther to the right with the JTR mounts. I think the later of the two is more likely the case. We will see though.

kossuth

iTrader: (12)

Those too LOL

boondiggys

iTrader: (165)

maybe its possible to make some sort of spacer between the mount and the frame or the mount and the block to push it back towards the left side....might make it sit taller , dont know if you hgave room to go in tranny tunnel, but at least you clear the steering

IMD

iTrader: (10)

just buy a couple of borgeson U-joints for the steering shaft and modifiy its path to the box..

fronzo

I havent mocked anyhting up in mine yet, what type of problems should i expect other than the oil pan issue with a first gen? How much diffrent are the frame designs, and steering shaft locations between generations? I'm guessing I would run into the same problem with the steering shaft with stock manifolds?

kossuth

iTrader: (12)

Frames are fairly similar. The problems you will encounter may vary in degree but I can say with reasonable certainity that you will have problems with both the exhaust and oil pan on this truck as well. I have seen guys get away without cutting the pan or the frame crossmember but they did this by putting a 2" body lift on the truck to get the motor and tranny up enough and have enough room in the stock tranny tunnel. I don't like the idea of a body lift but some have done it.

Lane

iTrader: (1)

Could you post a pic of the drivers side where you're having the problem?

CMmotorsports

I have a ls1 in my first gen with the f-body pan, stock f-body manifolds and no steering issues. It is very close but clears, the only problem is the spark plug wire rubs the steering shaft, easy fix. I made my own mounts, cut and boxed the crossmember as well as the pan. I tried using the 6.0 pan, but it hung down farther than the crossmember by 2 inches. Doing a blazer in a couple of months thats going to use this same stuff. It worked out nicely. I normally keep a set of these motor mounts along with the tubular crossmember for a t-56 I made to go with them, email me @ CandMmotorsports@yahoo.com for prices if your interested. Also doing oil pans/pickup tubes for this swap.

kossuth

iTrader: (12)

I used a 6.0 truck pan. If you look at my truck I had to remove alot of the crossmember to get the 6.0/5.3 pan to fit. I didn't even want to attempt to fit a fbody pan on my swap. Like I said there might be differences between the two generations of trucks. Here are a few pics of the cutting I had to do to make it fit. Also here are pics of the clearance with the steering shaft in the stock location. I thought about doing the Borgeson ujoint idea, but being the Sanderson headers aren't the best for a head/cam motor I decided to go this route. I may end up doing it still, but I think I can wrap one or two tubes around the shaft no problem and be able to remove it no problem. I am kinda against the shaft because of the airbag clock. It should be ok but still I would like to leave it alone if possible. Also have a few pics of clearance problems I ran into with the brake booster and the AC box. I have a 99+ motor with the fbody coilpacks on it. Maybe the truck packs would resolve some of these problems. I didn't try it I just modified around it. I used a brake booster off a Chevy Malibu being the S10 unit is the same one as the one on the fullsize truck. The S10 unit is 12" in diameter the Malibu one is 8", just enough room to make it fit right. Only mod to the booster is welding the S10 rod onto it. It bolted right to the S10 firewall with no issue. As for the AC box I just cut and filled it with plexiglass worked out real nice.