Just finished up reading this entire thread few days ago, after shifting through the B.S. I copied and pasted good info for my own notes to go back and reference if need be.

Right now I'm trying to get these damn ducks in a row.

I think I know what main parts are needed, small details I can search and figure out or ask I guess........

*G-Body- Monte SS

*Motor/Trans- Will buy 5.3 or 6.0 depending on deal I find. I will be happy with either. Would prefer the 4l80e trans over the 4l60e. Hopefully I can get one in a package deal. With searching car-part.com 6.0's in my area range anywhere from $900(with high milage 150k++) and up, 6.0's with around 80-90k on them are around $1000-1200. With 5.3's being little less. Hopefully they can toss in a trans, harness+ecu, FEAD for around $1800 give or take. Wanna keep it under 2k though for all of that, I know its doable. But wreking yards around here are pretty high some stuff sometimes.

*Oil Pan- LH8/GM Muscle car pan kit. I don't care if it hangs slightly. Car will not be lowered ever, actually I want to overhaul the suspension to get around factory ride height back. I do have a million speed bumps in my neighborhood that are the pretty big ones. But I think I should be fine.

*Mounts- Trans Dapt 1in set backs

*Headers-Pacesetter LS1 98-02 F-Body Long Tube Headers. Still a little skeptical on these, I see everyone has no problem with driver side, but passenger side is where either they wont fit or they will. Seen threads and replies where one tube will just need a slight ding and other needed to cut and weld one of the tubes. Guessing this will vary from car to car. Also possibly cutting "ears" off the trans to fit.

*Trans crossmember- Iceman or G-force, haven't decided yet. Both sound like a win, win choice.

*Fuel Tank- Baffled tank from 4.3 Gbody/GN. Considered buying new but I think someone said new ones don't vent like the factory ones do? I have no problem buying used as long as its in decent condition. Plus that's $$ saved.

*Intake- LS1/LS6 intake unless I decide to go with different heads then LS3 intake. I already know what it takes to swap on a car intake with truck FEAD. Or I'm considering the GM or Edelbrock carb intake with EFI fuel rails and intake elbow. Don't think I want to run the DBW throttle.

*Cooling- Haven't decided on radiator, I like the price of Champions and people seem to like them. I would like a rad with inlet and outlet on passenger side though so I don't have to route top hose all the way over to driver side.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Now what I'm unclear on. I've read through the thread so either I some how skipped pass it or stayed up too late in the night trying to read.

Anyone with 1in setbacks with a 4l60e/4l80e trans have to shorten the drive shaft?

*A/C- Do NOT want to mount the AC up high at all, so that means no Kwik brackets, no S10 brackets etc.

So I assume a nice amount of notching will be needed with 1in set backs and truck FEAD, not a problem. It's just a car so cutting isn't a issue, will be sure to weld back in for strength of course.

*Wiring harness- Not sure if I will tackle this on my own or not.(I'm no electrical guru by far) I assume when people say "modify harness" all that means it just tracing down not needed wires and removing pins? And done?

Rest should be just heat shrink tube and soldering for extending wires and repairing damaged wires correct?

What else would be involved? I'm sure with some manuals and lt1swap.com I could figure it out.

I ask this cause I don't see many swap threads in conversion section with people going into detail on modifying and wiring up everything.

So far I think that's it.

 

I think the gas tank venting issue is not in the tank but in the filler neck. You can get tanks without filler necks and then you just have attach your old one (weld or solder it?).

Extra wiring stuff would just be a fuse/relay box of some sort. I sent mine out but probably could have figured it out on my own if I wanted to. If you mod it yourself you will till need to tune out certain features like VATS and rear O2s, you can do this using HP tuners, EFIlive or other such programs, or send it out to a mail order place for a retune.

 

I think I found what I need to know here gas tank wise. Not sure if I want to run rubber hosing the full length of the frame or bend new lines.

http://www.maliburacing.com/forum/vi...?f=34&t=100893

Also still not sure if I should tackle on all the wiring myself or not, gonna search for some more.

 

Do yourself a favor and get the CTS-V Pan.. IMHO even if you decide not to lower would give you more clearance for those speed bumps and other miscellaneous road hazards while still not breaking the bank.. Check my posts as I had a source I listed that was dirt cheap when I scored mine.


Should work fine as others have used. Just think of the passenger inside coil as the traditional object of interference and remove it as I did when dropping it in. You may have to massage the fiberglass shroud as well to get it far back enough that you dont have to tweak the crossmember. You will have to shorten the driveshaft and regarding the crossmember, possibly have to elongate the slot on the perch for the trans tail mount.

Here I got tired of chasing good money after bad after destroying a set of F-body headers and went custom.. But I had to deal with retaining the column shift as I like my split bench seats..


I purchased the Iceman and it was a piece of garbage.. It Should be called the BOWFLEX.. Basiicallly I could push my trans by hand into the tunnel. Thus it would be slamming into it while driving. Do yourself a favor and get the G-force as I did or similiar rigid boxed design. The Guy was a jerk too as I told him exactly what I had and he assured me it would work great.. ripped me off on 20% "restocking fees" when I returned it plus what i lost on shipping it both ways. Essentially he had to walk it from his house to his garage to "restock" it.

I purchased a used one from a FI 4.3 monte that i retrofitted with the Walbro and it worked great.

I used a champion rad with custom dual fan set-up and I havent had any issues other than the routing of the hoses you mentioned..

 

I used the Jegs Double-Hump Cross Member, standard SBC to LS Conversion Plates, Heddman Headers for the LS into a G-body. My Radiator is a LT1 Camaro Rad, works perfectly. Trans is a T56 or TH350.

What do you want to know about the wiring?

 

gotta go back and reread the thread so making sure im subscribed

 

is there anyone here running a low mount a/c compressor with auto trans? im tring to have low mount ac withclutch fand and secondary eletric fan.i have cts pan.after xmas its a go,tryin to get any pointers.there was some on that had posted pic of his set up but now i cant find him here.i pm him but no response.

 

Did you have to massage the headers at all? What Accesories are you using fbody, vette, truck??

 

Headers went in perfectly, took like 5 min to pop them in..no ****.

I'm using all F-body Accessories.

 

Hmm.. looks like I'll be picking up some headers tomorrow =)

 

So tonight I took the stock Monte pedal off & placed the DBW pedal up there to see how it would/could mount. How have you guys done it? Got pics? Have you used the bracket on the pedal itself, or taken it off & make your own?

 

would the engine mounts and headers work with the 4l60e?

 

I'll snap a couple tonight when I get home. I remember looking at it saying "how the F am I going to mount this, then I believe I ended up using one of the existing holes and drilled the others. Fits perfectly.

 

I dont see why not..

 

My pedal was adjustable when it came out of the truck (Tahoe). What pedal are you using?? I cut off the adjustable armature and welded a Monte pedal to what was left. Don't remember drilling a new hole, but its been a while...I think there was a mystery hole kinda high up that I used. All I really know is that there is a nice area of flat firewall that the pedal sits on very nicely.

 

My setup:

01 5.3L
TH350 Trans
81 Malibu

Engine, Harness, Accessories 107k miles $900

Harness: Sent off to friend to get rid of all electronic trans wiring, no rear o2, no egr, no evap, VATS Disable $350

Motor Mounts: Car Shop INC 1" setback mounts **IMPORTANT TO SET MOTOR BACK FOR OIL PAN CLEARANCE AND PS BOX WITH TRUCK PULLEY CLEARENCE** $50

Oil Pan: Caddilac CTSV Pan. It has the best clearance for G bodies, and as mine is on coilovers I had to have it. truck dipstick works fine, but reading may be off by about a "quart." Also factory truck windage tray works, all you have to swap is pickuptube from ctsv. $200

Headers: 98-02 F Body Pacesetters. Drivers side fit like a glove, passenger side sucked. You will need to notch the frame and dent one tube lightly. I would reccomend not even trying to put them on without cutting it and rewelding it, or just spend good money for swap headers. Ceramic Coated $350

Flexplate: 4L80E FLAT flexplate with spacer BETWEEN crank and flywheel. This is only needed to use a 2004r, 700r4, th400, th350 with an Lsx as the crank snout falls short of the converter by about 0.400". $60

Feul system: Convert all existing soft lines to high pressure lines $ 86 Buick GN Gas tank, sending unit and pump. High pressure early 90s chevy truck feul filter, ran new 3/8 supply line all the way back and utilized existing 5/16 vapor line for return. ~$500

HVAC: I didn't opt for A/C as I live in NC and it doesn't get extremely hot here for too long. It does make a lot cleaner setup as well. The car did have a bulky a/c box so I sought after a factory Non A/C box. This requires pullig the dash, installing a new defrost duct, lower floor box, blower motor and wheel, new heater core, selector, column vent cables and plug in wire harness. It is a lot of work to do it the correct way, but it's functional and clean. I got mine for a steal shipped for $180

Guages: Utilized factory speedometer with recalibrated gears for my 3.73s. As I used a sending unit with same fuel level ohm scale, my factory gas guage is used. I did disable the warning indicator for charge as I'm using a pillar pod for volts, water temp and oil pressure. I currently have a single led for a CEL, but I want to reverse wire the factory check engine light to switched ground and use the pcm to trigger it like oem. $150

Cooling: Used truck clutch fan, and factory G body fan shroud. The fan diameter fits perfect in the opening, but is about an inch too far out of the shroud. Shouldn't be a problem. It looks very clean and oem, which is what I wanted. Ls/Vortec motors require a small 1/4 vent line from the heads. Some tap the water pump and recirc. it there, some into the radiator like a factory f body.. I used a 34mm inline tee with an 1/8npt thread 1/4 nipple in it. so my vent line is recic back into upper rad hose. $FREE

Annoying small stuf !()&#%$(^* : Trans dipstick tube.. lokar firewall mount, 24 inch tube. The factory el cheapo tubes have a terrible angle and hit the head with 1 in setback mounts. Plus the flex one looks awesome. $70

Trans cooler lines: My exisiting lines came no where close to clearing, so i cut the metal tubing off trans about a foot lone and ran braided rubber hose. Doesn't look the best but its functional $20

Drivers o2 sensor: Need to cap the exisiting hole if using a th400/th350 as it hits the shifter linkage. weld a new bung about 4inches further back $10

Throttle Cable: Lokar TPI/LT1/LS1 swap cable 36in long. Hooks right up, very easy. May need washers on firewall and on throttle cable so it doesn't slide through $60

For Egr delete: The opening in intake on 99-01 intakes leaves a 1.44in diameter hole. I got a 1 1/2 inch rubber freeze plug, fit great. $5

Power steering: Factory large diameter ps pulley fit great with 1in setback plates. If you do not use setback plates you will need an early 90s s10 pulley which is smaller. I have about an inch clearence. The factory high pressure line fits the newer truck pump perfect. The return line needs to be heavily bent or cut and rotated, else it bolts in easy. $FREE

That about does it for the swap. $2905 + fluids, wire, hoses belts, beer about $3300
HIGH RECCOMENDED TO SWAP TO A 9IN OR GN 8.5IN REAR, ASK ME HOW I KNOW!!!
The car now has an 8.5 in GN rear with Moser Axles, factory Posi unit, 3.73s, solid control arms with 2in drop brackets, airbags with 20 psi in driver and 35 psi in passenger side and hotchkis 2in drop springs in rear.

Trans is a TH350, Hughes 3600 stall, TCI valve body

Front suspension.. 2in drop spindles, hotchies sway bar, factory disc with power brakes, tubular control arms with coilvers lowered 3.5inches

Car is a silver 2 dr with black interior, buck seats, floor shift

 

Anybody forced to run the emissions crap?? Would the Carshop plates work with the f body oil pan? I am trying to find a CTS V oil pan but I am getting ready to go on vacation and won't be able to spend much $$ till after the new year. Also i have a chance to pick up some cats off of a 99 Camaro with 20-30k miles for cheap and it would help me remain "legal" would these fit? I want to run headers but i need to find something that passes a visual inspection. One more ? if i was to to the ls6 intake swap and remove the egr and air injection system deleted could a 98 LS1 be "passed off for a newer LS1 that doesn't have all these components? Thanks again guys and my bad for all the ??

 

A little tough to see, but I was able to use 1 existing hole and drilled the other.

 

Will have to consider that. Can't remember who's swap or where I seen it, but they claimed that Fbody pan fits with no mods into their gbody with 1in setback plates, and that the pan sits about flush with the crossmember. Will have to try and find where I read that again.

Still on the fence with keeping A/C or a delete plate. I have plenty of fiberglass experience so no issues with notching and patching back up.

Wow at that experience, that sucks. I really like the look of the gforce and looks plenty strong. Was also thinking about just doing custom one, that's a big maybe though.


Thank for the response it cleared a few things up for me.

 

I can see that working..I was playing with an F-body Pan on mine before I went with the Muscle Car Pan Kit.