So, you're not going to use the diode suppressed secondary lead? If so, what does the wire you're reffering to on the Camaro harness do? How does it hook up to the starter and the ECM? I'm trying to get a grasp on all of this before I start my swap. Thanks for being the guinea pig!

 

I found an old pic that I had of the stock K member and the UPR one. This will help you visualize the difference more. Wiring is still killing me and I've been at it slowly this past week. Once it's done, I promise to get the pics up. I powered up the Camaro dash, but it only wiggles the gauges a little. The odometer does not light up, neither do all the warning lights. Gonna do some more research. By the way, here's what the car weighed with the 302 still in it, race-ready at E-town. It only went 14.10s.

 

Thats a huge difference!! Whole lot more clerance

 

subscribed

 

Give me a call when your ready to sell it.

Gotta love the circle!!

The car is gonna be badass man. Good luck!

 

So the wonderful world of electricity has now crossed my path. After surviving the holidays, I decided to tackle the wiring of my Notchback nicknamed "The Orphan" because it's unloved and abandoned by its blue oval and bowtie parents.

I first separate the airbag harness out of the factory Ford engine harness and run it through the inner fender. Once they are reconnected, I start wiring up the Scanmyride.com LS1 adapter harness to main power, ignition switched power (in both run and start) and ground. I then plug the adapter harness into the LS1 engine harness, run it through the firewall and slap the PCM into the opening in the kickpanel where the factory Ford computer used to reside. Because it is so much bigger, I find it easier to install by removing the blower motor and by pulling the dashboard back. While I'm at it (you know how that goes) I decide to change the heater core, which are notoriously crappy on these Mustangs.

Since I had plenty of wiring from the parts car and from the adapter harness from Scanmyride.com, I decided to put the fuse block and relay center under the passenger's seat for accesability. It goes to the floor with two sheetmetal screws. The ALDL connector is then wired up and I put it into the glovebox door.

This takes care of the main power supply and several other functions such as the fuel pump control and the two-stage fans (low and high.) I then run the 10 gauge wire to the front of the car that power up the Camaro fans through the backside of the inner fenders and everything looks buttoned up.

 

This ain't over!

So, I go the car running and the Camaro instrument cluster works great. I remove the LED bulbs from the circuit board that usually illuminate the TRAC, SKIP SHIFT, ASR and other functions and bypass the IC that triggers the AIR BAG, BRAKE and BELT LEDs. I simply solder wires into the dropping resistors and the bulbs light up when wired into the Ford wiring harness. You must retain the factory dropping resistors because the LEDs run on a lot less voltage than 12.6 (I believe they are designed for 5 volts.)

With the engine running, I put in some Amzoil Synchromesh transmission fluid. No, they did not pay me or even send me free stuff. I swear by their products so I have to give credit where credit is due. Pennzoil and GM Delco also offer Synchromesh for the T56, but I like Amzoil stuff. The reworked shifter now goes on permanently.

 

Again, I give credit where credit is due and I'm not even getting paid for it!

Nick over at American Racing has been so enthusiastic about this project that he wants to offer an LS1 T56 / Fox Mustang swap kit that will include American's own kick-*** stainless headers and a mild steel motor mount and rear crossmember kit.

He intends to offer both 1 3/4 and 1 7/8 primary headers and a mount kit that will work with an aftermarket tubular K member. He probably won't have anything available until he is finished with our car and is satisfied with the end result. This way, he'll know it will work with other people's cars. Nick can give you a better idea about pricing and availability. Their info is 22 Elm Place Amityville, NY 11701 (631) 608-1986, www.americanracingheaders.com

American Racing Headers deals mainly with LS1 headers for new-school GTOs, F cars, C5s and C6s. I think they can handle our lowly Mustang hybrid. Hee hee.

 

Sell it? No way, not after all this hard work! Besides, I always wanted a car that would **** off all the typical GM and Ford guys. Kinda like owning an AMC that goes fast. Uh, what did I just say?

Anyway, thanks for the kind words.

 

I wound up cutting the purple trigger wire out of the Camaro harness and ran it along the 2 gauge power wire going from the solenoid on the inner fender down to the main terminal on the LS1 starter. I ran the trigger wire from the Camaro starter to the suppressed output lead on the Ford solenoid. This way, when you turn the key, high current goes to the power feed wire and to the purple trigger wire but on two different circuits. This way, the dynamo affect from the starter motor won't keep the solenoid engaged when you release the key. 1992 and newer 5.0s Mustangs had a similar setup when they went to the planetary gear reduction starter that had an integrated solenoid. Kinda redundant having two solenoids, huh?

The PCM requires a separate cranking signal, which I ran from the ignition switch assembly to the Camaro harness on the interior.

 

So I finally got the car running and man is it fast. Once E-town opens up, I can find out what it runs. Anyhow, American Racing Headers did one hell of a set of kick-a$$ headers for the car. They are 1 3/4 to 1 7/8 stepped longtubes that feed into my Bassani cat-back. Made of stainless, they look like an art of work. Here are some pics. Oh, part two has already been submitted, so mad love to LS1Tech.com in the mag!

 

Awesome project you got going man, good luck with the rest of it.

 

Check out the Sanderson long tube cermatic coated headers.I think they might work for your swap.

 

Those headers are sweet,but dont you think you should have done it only once and faced them forward for a turbo setup

 

Thanks for the positive responses. It makes this build all the more fun and worthwhile.

The motor has ported 5.3 heads, so the 11:1 compression would not allow artificial aspiration safely or repeatedly. I guess you could say I enjoy making horsepower the old fashioned way. I've built and owned over 35 turbo and blower cars in the past and like a nice, na V8 with a small shot of nitrous. Over time, it just gets frustrating when you have so many variables that you are tuning for. For the money spent and weight savings gained, I like a non power adder car. It may not have the wow factor, but I think this car is a solid 11- if not 10-second street car on motor.

I will probably boost my 302 Conquest instead, since I have an old 60-1 T4 lying around.

 

any chance american racing headers is gonna make a few more sets???

 

Yes, they are intending to make a swap header set for LS1s into Fox cars. They primarily do LS1 cars like GTOs and Vettes but I guess any car with an LSX will do!

By the way, I love Malibus. Kick ***!

 

any idea when they will be available????

 

I just spoke with Nick at americanracingheaders.com about the fox headers, he said if there was enough demand for these he would consider producing them on a larger scale but as of this point he could not justify the expense for a small number. Also said if we could get several people willing to buy a set at once (15-20??) he may consider it.

 

I built an AMC rambler once - pump gas street car that was driven everywhere - went 10's with a sbc. Awesome build, by the way. Though I was a bit surprised you didn't go with a -8 on the fuel line.

My new project is a '62 studebaker lark that I'm putting an LS1 into ... make sure you update track times and such once you get that thing sorted out.