well I made a thread earlier about to go with a 460 big block ford or an LS1 in a fox. I have pretty much decided on an LS1 swap.

now im just thinking aloud here, im still in the planning stages and the following would be done at a much later time!

I have read before that small block ford exhaust headers/manifolds line up perfectly with an LS1's exhaust ports. Since this is so, would it be possible to purchase a mustang turbo kit and do some minor modifcations to adapt it to the LS1? here are some pictures (click on the picture to link to the page I got it from)


that is just a headers and crossover pipe for a fox. I then looked at a full kit.



and heres a view of a very similar kit:



it appears a problem would be that the throttle body on the mustang faces towards the passenger side of the car, which would make for some more fabricating if you bought a full kit. but what if one were to purchase a single plane intake for the LS1 and mount a 90* elbow facing the passenger side instead of forward? it would seemingly take little modification to make the whole kit work, that is if the accessories up front clear. it looks to be a tight fit with the ford accessories and the kit claims to be able to keep them all. I would run minimal accessories, No A/C, no power steering. I'd also be running a tubular K-member.

Then I guess if you want to go crazy you can go TWIN TURBO (picture is too big to link here)

 

it's a grear ideal. all in all I'd say it would work pretty easy. I would do it but I lack the funds.

 

i'm working on picking up a forged low comp. ls1 now and if it works out, selling him my 427sbc plus cash, i'll be looking MUCH harder at this setup and probably be "thinking aloud" myself in a coule pm's to you to perhaps help each other out. i wonder how the upper/lower radiator hoses would come into play though. not a big deal as some fabbing is likely, but just wondering. i would rather keep the stock style intake to keep cost down because i'd like to keep the efi. pm me if you'd like and keep in touch.

-Dave

 

keep me updated on the projects guys I'll probably be going the same way

 

Im not talking about ditching EFI with the single plane. It would still have the injectors/fuel rails and all that. the tricky part I would imagine is getting the throttle cable to work properly. In the end it also appears a single plane intake won't cost as much as a fast 90/90 setup.

It will be a long ways before I can ever offer any useful advice or thought besides speculation. I have to sell parts off my 94 firebird and ultimately sell the whole car before I begin another project. I do have my eyes on a nice notchback roller for cheap

I figure with a cheapo mustang rolling chassis, a bone stock LS1 and 4L60E/4L80E (which brings up another question about a 4L80E into a mustang swap,) and the relatively cheap price of this turbo kit, a 10 second 1/4mi 500 rwhp LS1 powered fox body mustang could be done for ~$10k and not be a hack job. just the thought of 500 rwhp and 3000lbs makes me . wonder how it would perform

 

You'll never build a turbo LS1 Mustang for 10k and have it not be a bucket of poop TRUST me

You can build a solid 10 second heads/cam LS1 Mustang for around 10k though, and have it be a very clean car.

 

those are some nice motors

 

I guess I should have been more specific about hack job. I meant as in not throw pieces together haphazzardly. Im not really going for show car. if it has different color panels thats fine by me. primer, thats ok. stripped interior, fine. I want a sleeper. it will be silent but deadly and look like it is about to fall apart. maybe down the road i'll make it look nice. plus with the roads and overal weather around here I wont have to worry about it getting all messed up.

 

well, the deal fell through. i probably couldn't have afforded to do the whole project this year anyway. if i can sell my motor, i'll probably just throw in a stock lsx or a h/c/i pkg and an od tranny and aim for high 10's and be happy with that. the fastest i've ever gone before is 11.92 in my old SS vert. so reaching the 10's and lifting the front tires would put a VERY big grin on my face! all i need is a motor, trans, d/s and some misc. and i'm there. i've got all the rest of the parts, i just need to put the thing together after i get the missing parts. good luck to the rest of you. if i ever get this thing going, i'll start a new thread and keep you all posted. this seems like a more and more popular swap the more i watch this section.

-Dave

 

instead of buying a ford kit and making it work (which i am willing to bet wouldnt come close to working) is to just flip the manifolds foreward, make a simple crossover pipe and merge to the turbo (which putting on the passenger side seems easiest with the down pipe routing). for ideas i would go to turbomustangs.com in the DIY section where there are tons of homemade kits that look and function great. good luck. i cant even afford to make mine N/A yet

 

could do that. I couldn't do some of the complex routing on an f-body but in a fox where alot of the piping could be straightforward I may be able to do it. I would save alot of cash too.

on a side note I found an LX notch local here that was originally a 4 cylinder car. it has no engine/trans now. he wants $500 for it.

it begins?


question for you guys. how light do you think I could get an LX notch down to with the following:

stock LS1
4L80E
no power steering, power brakes, or hvac
tubular k-member with manual rack
tubular a-arms
no back seat
no carpet
skinnies up front
15x8 lightweight drag wheels out back with DRs
full exhaust

I'm hoping to get this down to 2600-2700 lbs without me in it.

 

It'll end up more along the 2400lb. mark in that configuration. If you put a full roll cage in it, around 2500'ish.

 

thats why you use your head instead of your wallet.
My entire Nova (link in sig) i have maybe 6-7k into..if that(yes entire car), granted i built it all myself, chassis, engine, tranny, rear end, turbo kit, paint...everything.
its not perfect but doesnt look to shabby.
Then again for someone with no "brains" would probably cost in excess of 20k to build.

 

wish i had the tools to weld and fabricate like you

 

hahaha how cute, he used my name in his jab

You must have found some outstanding deals on parts, as there's more than 10k in parts and materials in your Nova - before you count your labor time. Most people don't have the tools and/or the skills/time to do all the fabrication work themselves, the access to cheap/free materials, etc. and the 10k mark to build a turbo car from nothing (including the car) is in nearly all cases a non-attainable goal.

Sure, if someone really wanted to, they could throw together a cheap motor, cheap trans, into a cheap car, with a used turbo, but they're still up against the wall on the turbo "kit." That is where their money will be spent, and that was the focus of the topic in the first place -- converting Mustang turbo kits to LS1. Even going as budget as they can, they'll be hard pressed to come in under 10k and have it be something they'd be proud of.

 

Heh...i guess my 800 rwhp ls1 turbo stang project that ive got about 8k into is a bucket of poop

 

I have access to all kinds of tools. I have a welder here, no pipe bender though. I would need some sort of a pipe kit. I'm not afraid to attempt to do stuff myself. afterall I built the 383 for my firebird then swapped the tired old LT1 out and it all went back together with minimal problems.

I must say though you guys are giving me hope to have a real kickass car for a "budget" price. I just have some projects I need to get out of the way first before I start this. waiting sucks

stang90gt50, what are you doing for 800rwhp?
I was planning on purchasing a stock LS1 & 4L60E combo from fparts in bristol,PA. they're pretty close to me so I would save on shipping. depending on year of the LS1 I was gonna replace the rod bolts and swap a cam/springs/pushrods in. after running it for a while and saving up enough cash for a turbo kit or the materials to build one myself I'll put one in. then I'll start saving money for a forged short block and built transmission. I see all the time people saying to forget the 4L60E for higher horsepower so Ive been researching 4L80Es (I really really want to keep overdrive.) it seems expensive but so are 2 4L60E rebuilds. I know my first one cost me $900 .

pwrtrip75, excellent work on your nova. I wish I had your know-how.

 

my first question is, is the car done yet for that money? because i can't see you being anywhere under $15,000 from start to finish and that's if you did 100% fab work/labor yourself.

next, can you break down the price???

Car itself.....
Engine.......
Trans being used.....
Upgraded components to handle 800rwhp.....(engine internals/externals)
Drive shaft used....
Rearend, driveshaft....
Front and rear suspension/Brakes
Fuel system upgrades front to rear.....
Electronics...
All related turbo material/components.....
Wheels & tires....
Any interior enhancements....(shifter, gauges, resto)
I think that covers most of it. lol.

i'm not trying to be a smart ***, but i'm making sure i understand you correctly before shouting b.s.

 

The way I see it, here's bargain basement with good deals:
Car: 4 cyl AOD car in decent shape, with blown up motor: $500
Engine: Stock junkyard motor, PCM, harness: $1500
Trans: TH350, decent converter: $1200
Driveshaft: Custom built, $200 on the cheap
Rear end: 8.8 used in good shape, stock axles though: $150
Front end: Stock with bad 4cyl brakes: $0
Fuel system: Pump, lines, regulator, etc. (stock Mustang lines will not support a turbo): $250+
Electronics: who needs gauges? PCM tuning software: $700 ?
Turbo stuff: Small cheap turbo - $500 BOV, cheap leaky unit: $50 WG, cheap small unit: $150 Tubing and bends, flanges, mild steel: $250 No boost controller.
Wheels/Tires: Stock 10 holes, baby!
Interior: hahahahahahaahahah we're talking cheap here, people

I'm up to $5450 so far... Upgrades are going to bring that number up, and you'll easily hit 10k QUICKLY. Drag wheels and tires, brakes to actually stop an 800 HP car, a BOV that actually works, a shifter that has detents that actually match the trans, a tach that reads actual RPM and not some Ford approximation of RPM ... How about a set of axles that won't break, C-clip elims or housing ends to make the car legal, driveshaft loop, roll bar/cage, and any other safety equipment needed. There's just so many things that go into building the car properly, that 10k is about the lowest I can see even getting close to it. I'm sure if you guys add up every dollar you've spent, you'd see you have more in the project than you initially estimate. Using parts you might already have should be added in as well, since you still spent money to get 'em.

Then, look into making the car look nice, and we're in a whole new ballgame. New paint, street wheels/tires, hood and any other body panels the car might need/want, interior components, etc. add up QUICKLY. I'm doing everything as inexpensively as I can, and I'll be putting over 5k into appearance alone. I don't want a run of the mill Mustang with 19 year old paint and stock Ford wheels.

 

I am on my 9th LS1 conversion with this car, 2nd mustang conversion. In general I wheel & deal on all my parts through watching for good deals on used parts and doing all the work myself. I can easily understand how you can spend 15k-20k doing the same setup, but I personally make sure i save on every single part that goes on the car.

Car itself: -$500 bought $5k clean mustang with built 306", tremec tko with your typical heads,cam, all the boltons setup in it. Parted out motor/tranny and all other bolt ons. I highly recommend buying a mustang with alot of money in it for cheap and then parting it out, you end up with a nicer car and no money out of pocket.

Motor/trans ($500)- Buy a complete 6.0L core motor that burned oil with wiring harness/computer, sell off harness, pcm, intake, rods/pistons etc after which I have $500 in it (paid $850 from LKQ wrecking yard)

TH400 Trans - ($400) $50 core plus about $350 in parts building it, has lived behind many other similar power setups ive done. Also add in $350 for a used continental converter and another $100 for shifter, dipstick,misc.

$250 - 3.5" race driveline from local driveline shop

$350 - Stock 8.8 (in car) plus 31 spline strange axles, spool,c-clip elim & bearings, long studsused from corral.net message board.

($500) Stock front/rear mustang brakes, qa1 4.6k tubular k-member, a-arms and coilovers

$650 Used h-beam rods & new diamond pistons and rings from ebay

$500 Machine work, balance etc...

$150 ARP Head studs, $150 factory ls1 fbody 99 harness & pcm rewired myself to work, already own hptuners...

$1750 turbo setup - 4" OBX, 38mm tial wastegate, 50mm tial bov, own 6.0l manifolds already, GT42 T4 flange turbo, piping, flanges, misc

Factory pony wheels /w 16" M&H DOT Slicks

Factory interior other than shifter - used factory ford gauge senders to run gauge cluster, also car came with aeromotive fuel system - A1000 pump, 1/2" line, 3/8 return, aeromotive adj regulator and aeromotive fuel rails (mustang fuel rails worked perfect on the ls1 intake with little $5 spacers to bolt it down


and i have some other odds and ends im not remembering off the top of my head..but my spreadsheet shows just under $8k invested...