On the edge of my seat! If your posting your goings on in another thread link it here if possible.

 

i found a 1998 ls1/6speed in washington for 2200! gonna be like 500 to ship it up here. i wish i had the cash lol

 

The figure 8K came from all the stuff I have done so far. Hell my motor was 3500 itself, tranny 750, TC 550, harness/computer reflash 1300, accessory brackets for motor 700, headers 1700, and the list goes on. The motor I got was a '99 TA with tranny and about 23K on it. I used that bellhousing and the truck tranny from my S-10 since it had the external NSBU switch and the correct length shifter linkage. I just bought a kit and had it rebuilt top to bottom. Since you do need the input shafts and so on. I ordered a custom convertor from fuddle and love it so far. It's a 2800 stall and I don't remember the STR off hand. I think you would be better off modifying a truck pan to work. That way you know it fits and will work. You would be suprised what you can make with the 400 dollars you would spend to buy one. Trust me, I've dealt with that clown out there and a blind man could weld one up better then that. The welds are shitty and they have a ton of impurities in them. When I had mine rewelded we had to grind out 90% of the welds and there were sparks coming out of there! If you think about it, it's an aluminum pan and is tiged! There should be no sparks when grinding. Anyways, we had to grind aboue a 1/4 on both sides of the welds to get a clean start and then fill the hell out of it. Not to mention when he welded my pan he didn't have it on a jig or clamped down and warped the hell out of it. I still have a small leak but is fine for now. ASAP I plan to put a lift on my truck and that will give me room to go back with the stock TA pan. You can use them if you want but I just do my best to warn people about their business. It's the least I can do since he took me for about 500 dollars and not to mention all the time and beer I had to drink to calm myself everyday! Like I said you can read my thread about them and others on sites like Corvetteforum and here. Oh yeah, if you go with that FAST wiring have fun. I ran into just a few problems with my harness and the fuse block and locating wires and that was enough to want to kill myself. You better be patient and have lots of time with that mess. My wiring harness was the best purchase I made, thank god it works. Do yourself a favor and can VATS if you have it. It will save you a lot of hassle in the long run. Good luck

Chris

 

holy **** why did u pay so much for the acc. brackets and headers?! thanks ive since figured i mite be better off with a 5.3 pan, manifolds and just get like fuel lines and brackets from them.

 

Have you priced the 'vette accessories? If you buy the stuff new, you'll spend at least $1k. Granted that includes the AC compressor, PS pump, and all the brackets, but it ain't cheap stuff. You can find it used (sometimes) but usually few and far between. Expect to pay $100 for a used C5 PS pump (might include the pulley, maybe the reservoir, which is remote mounted). Price those parts out, its not cheap.

And as far as headers goes, have you looked into having a set custom made? Price of steel / stainless is through the roof, and labor isn't cheap either (figure on paying a shop worth anything $40+/hr). $1700 is a big chunk of change, I'll give you that, but it's not completely out of line, especially if they're either stainless or JetHot coated (which is usually about $300 to $400 for a set of custom headers).

'JustDreamin'

 

i understand that but why didnt u just get some shorties from JTR? thanks for the replies guys

 

You have to remember I have the Zr2 which is a 4x4 and I chose to keep it 4wd. It's a whole different ball game. My headers are JetHot coated and sweet. I love them and look bad as hell through the wheelwells. They are 1 3/4" which isn't cheap and labor is the beast. It's such a tight fight and it had to tangle through the steering shaft which was the worst part. I'm happy with the product I got for the price. It is expensive but well worth it in the end. Not to mention that included everything from the flanges to collectors and then peices to start my exhaust. It is all 4 bolt instead of 3 to insure no leaks and I got some new MSD plug wires along with some studs as well. You think the accessories was expensive that's at cost. I got them through a family friend that has a dealers ship. I bought the PS pump, Vette Harmonic Balancer, and LS6 MAF from ebay. I had to buy the rest and the power steering pump alone was like 170 alone, don't foget an alternator as well. Those damn things from the factory are like 300 and some bucks. Then you have all the idler pullies and stuff like that. Just depends if you can find it on Ebay or somewhere else cheaper at the right time. If you check out the Vette accesories sticky you can get all the numbers and check around for the prices yourself. It's not cheap man. I would do some thorough research or have some cash on hand before you jump into it. You have to think about tranny lines, cooler and lines, radiator and hoses, heater hoses, fuel pump, regulator, there is a bunch in there that you don't want to over look. I'm not saying it can't be done cheaper but it requires a lot of time and work. It also depends on what you do with your tranny, drivetrain and so on. Do you ever think about what 300+ hp and that's on the low side will do to that rear end in your truck. Trust me the first time you take a ride you'll think about it everytime you stand on it whether or not your wheels are going to shoot off and slam into another car in the next lane! It's fun but expensive, but hey that's part of it. Another thing I learned is to not rush through it and enjoy it, that's what it's all about. Do it right the first time and you won't have anything to worry about. Ie, tranny and TC small stuff like that, that will be a pain in the *** to redue later.

Chris

 

im just gonna do the basic swap to get it outta the way and then next summer go back through and cam it and do the rear. did you just buy extra lines and hoses from autozone? we dont have an autozone so i think schucks and napa will do. i was also told the fuel rails off a 97 c5 has a built in regulator. my stock fuel pump will work no prop. the fbody alt will work i just need shims. also how would i convert the fbody tranny from floor shifter to column? would i be able to hook in the linkage ok?

 

If the stock fuel pump from the 4.3 is enough to run the ls1, what about the fuel lines, what needs to be done to those to make them connect to the fuel rail? and what about a regulator for the motor?

 

Just use an inline regulator w/ a return line. Something like this...
http://216.242.145.16/products/product.phtml?p=10
As far as lines, I would just have a set made to fit.

 

Use the corvette fuel filter/regulator... it's only like $40-$50 and you wont need that fuel rail or the expensive aeromotive reg. And my stock blazer fuel pump and lines are workin great with the swap (both the Camaro and my V6 Blazer had 3/8 lines). My 95 CPI motor ran 60psi stock so its within range for the ls1. I don't know what the newer V6 SFI motors fuel pressure is though. Even at wide open throttle the fuel pressure doesn't drop more than it did with the V6. (I have a guage in the car)

 

this needs to be stickied, lol.

 

the stock 4.3 lines should have 2 lines right, one feed and one return? Is that all i need to run to the ls1, well including a regulator? probably go with the corvette filter and reg, seems easier.

 

Yes, the S-10 has two lines, one supply and one return. I used my stock lines and they are bent to run nice and neat right up next to the tranny and keep them out of the way. I just cut them when they straightened out up towards the motor and clamped on to them and ran it that way. Then I did the same out of the regulator back to the hardline so I had the original GM fittings and so on. There are actually 3 lines underneath one for the charcoal canister so you don't want to get them confused. You can trash that. I would get the 97 Fuel Rail if you can. It just makes it easy and you don't have to find a place to mount the regulator. I was shocked when I hooked up a Fuel pressure gauge and was getting like 82 psi out of my stock 4.3 pump with 145K miles on it. Thing works great. As for the thought about "I'm just gonna do the basic swap and come back to it next year", I thought that way too until you realize how much goes into it and how tight it is and that you most likely won't want to have to pull it next summer to work on the tranny if you need to. Make sure that's solid. I'm sure since you have a 2wd it wouldn't be as hard as the 4x4's but I'm sure it's still not much fun. On the otherhand you don't want to fry something in the tranny and then have to be without a car and have to get it fixed. Just little things to think about now instead of later. You can always add power later with a cam and stuff like that but make it solid now and it will be easier later.

Chris

 

so the 97 fuel rail is better?? lol. im using an fbody tranny i decided so im not worried about it. believe me ill have the drive to pull the engine and tranny again, i love working on cars especially if im making it into a beast.

 

ok i just had a revalation! i was gonna do the swap in july and finish in late august or september but now im thinking what is the point? the track closes in august up here! so maybe ill pool together some money, buy a block and rebuild it with forged internals(prep for a remote turbo) and all the other goodies i wanted to do to it. then get started on putting it in when the snow melts in march. sound like a plan?

 

Not tryin to argue but why go with the rail when the vette reg works just as good. Its the same size as the stock fuel filter and can be mounted in the same place. Seems like a no brainer only 1 line to motor from the filter/reg is also cleaner.

 

so what your saying is the vette fuel/reg replaces my factory fuel filter?sorry, just a little confused on exactly what you mean.

 

steve from ls1performanceparts talked me into his header and motor mount set because he promised the best fit and quickest time frame. boy was i dissapointed! he didnt meet either of them. but im tired of bitching about him (as im sure wilds is also). take matters into your own hands- build or have a local build for you as many of the hard parts as you can. it will be the best in the long run. you will need some fab skills to do the swap no matter what. ive havent driven my truck in over a year and a half- but i know how its built and that is a big piece of mind. word jz

 

i have fab skills i just lack the tools to do it. haha. ill have no prob notching the frame and what not but i cant make headers or anything like that. i can get all the parts i need from JTR and s10v8.com and those places have great reps.