I have been working on cars most of my adult life, my first project was a 1970 chevelle I put a hydraulic roller cam and AFR headed 383 (gen I sbc) in it and it was a lot of fun.

I also have a 1968 GTO convertible with factory 4-speed I rebuilt from the ground up, and a 1970 chevy 4x4 with 6" lift on 35" tires, shortened frame with an 88-98 short step bed on.

Monday I picked up a running LM7 that came out of a 2002 Suburban. It has none of the wiring or ECM with it. (I guess that means it is "formerly running") The fuel injected "hot rod" concept is a new one to me.

I am planning on putting this into a 1962 pontiac catalina convertible. I've not been able to find much on putting an LS into one of these old gals so I will have questions. I have a muncie 4-speed manual and the car has one of those HUGE GM 9.3" rears with somewhere around a 3:42 posi. The old pontiac community isn't very big on transplanting non-pontiac power in so it'll be my dirty little secret.

So far I'm not sure about how I'm going to mount it between the frame rails, what I'm going to do for engine management or fuel supply, but I still have to restore the whole car so I have some time to figure it out! I plan on changing cams/valvesprings and running headers assuming it is possible. 62 cat is a rear steer but the engine stands perch on the back of the crossmember.

 

Very cool. What spline count does your muncie 4speed have? Do you know which clutch and flywheel you will be using?

 

 

ah yeah, 10 spline. Some info here which may or may not help you:
I ended up with two Super T10's which have the 26 spline for my LM7 build... took a bit of research to figure out what to use there.

 

 

All I can recommend is to stick with a Holley 302-2 oil pan for that LM7, Holley engine mounts and maybe Hooker Holley Blackheart headers to make things easy for yourself. The stock LM7 oil pan hangs very low and let's hope your LM7 can retain the use of its exhaust manifolds - the headers solve that problem. The stock LM7 truck intake manifold is also tall which might possibly complicate your hood closing fully - an LS car intake solves this problem.

Rick

 

I am following your thread build with interest, because I too am building a 1962 Catalina with the expectation of a LS engine.
I haven't fully decided what variation, but right now I am just trying to get through the hurdle of mounts and headers.

Rob