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im new here so if i posted to the wrong area let me know. Anyways i might've made an oopsie... i bought a fully running and driving 94 lt1 fire bird and own a 98 camaro v6 with a fully setup suspension and perfect paint/body. i've wanted to do a v8 swap for some time due to the v6 power being insufficient on the track. after beginning to pull the motor on the v6 i noticed that the pcm to body harness connectors are completely different. this being the c210, c220, c230 under the dash, and the connectors on the wheel well (c100, c101, c105) compared to the bird. i don't want to weld in a bunch of frame braces, do a full suspension swap, paint the firebird, etc just to make the firebird my track car. can anyone tell me how to make this swap possible? would i need to transfer the entire body harness? and if so would that be an achievable task? i really want this engine and trans to work and i know how to wire as long as im informed of where the wires need to go to get this to run and drive reliably.
You'll definitely need to swap the engine harness and computer from the V8 car. Probably have to swap the k member as well. Not sure how that will affect the front suspension or steering rack.
Swapping body harnesses is a major pain. Not sure if it would be easier to Frankenstein the v6 computer to run the dash gauges/interior and have the v8 computer run the engine, or just change the entire car over. Either way will require some major wiring harness surgery. I don't think the LT1 computer used PWM to drive the cluster and the 98 cars present some unique challenges that differ from 97 back cars and 99 up cars.
i understand the logistics of the engine and trans/suspension. that doesnt concern me too much im just worried about the wires. honestly i think i might pull the entire body harness out of the pontiac and lay it in my camaro at this point. splicing into the v6 harness looks more and more impossible as i find wiring schematics online. now my last question poses, can i run my 98 camaro off of a 94 pontiac body harness as long as i swap gauge clusters? like will my headlights be able to be spliced into the pop up headlight wires, tail light wire compatability etc. if thats possible im ripping the entire interior tonight on both cars. Thank you for the reply though!
I think you may be in unknown territory....most would be swapping in an LS motor not an LT. One thread I read pointed out the drive by wire for the v6 vs the LT1's throttle cable....keep that in mind too. I don't know about the body harness swap.....you may get into ABS control issues along with BCM/VATS issues. The 98 car has a totally different ABS system.
V6 rack = LT1 rack. K members may also be the same. Check and see if the 94 has the quick rack, that'd be a good grab. I wouldn't bother swapping body harnesses, that'd be a can of worms. Just ID all the wires on the connectors that don't match up, chop them off, and solder on the other connector to make it plug and play. Gonna be mostly dash stuff in there anyway with a couple power wires if I had to guess.
I'm one of the few that has an LT1 in a 98-02 body. The K-member is different, use the one the LT1 is already sitting on. All the other suspension stuff (A-arms, tie rods, shocks, etc) is the same. Brakes are different though, the 98-02 are superior in every way. You can swap the knuckles and all onto the earlier A-arms easily, plenty of threads on here about that.
Drive by wire started in 99 I believe. Mine is a 99 and had it, I just swapped the earlier pedals in and a standard throttle cable, all the bolt holes and firewall holes are the same throughout the years.
Wiring is going to be the big one. The later style ABS is completely different, and the wiring is different accordingly. 98+ also have the EBCM/EBTCM integrated into the ABS modulator. On 93-97 cars, it's a separate computer mounted up under the dash. That will create a lot of problems for you in wiring. I know 99-02 use serial data for all the ABS indicators on the dash and for communication with the OBD port, so if you were to keep the 98-02 ABS, you'd have problems with the dash, and potentially communication with a scanner. I'm unsure of 98. So yeah, big can of worms there.
The best solution is the one I chose, which is to swap the entire body/dash harness and use all the wiring from your 94 car. It's not easy or fun, but is definitely doable. If you think you can handle this... have at it! I can give some tips if needed.
Just a little clarification. I think you mean that the V6 and LT1 have the same "form" factor. Also for clarification, there are two different gear ratios for the steering rack....make sure you get the Z28 one if possible....2.25-2.5 turns lock to lock.
Seems like the some of the later racks had a little more of an offset in the neck of the rack. I think those still work on all models.....but I might be wrong.
Just a little clarification. I think you mean that the V6 and LT1 have the same "form" factor. Also for clarification, there are two different gear ratios for the steering rack....make sure you get the Z28 one if possible....2.25-2.5 turns lock to lock.
Seems like the some of the later racks had a little more of an offset in the neck of the rack. I think those still work on all models.....but I might be wrong.
I put a 98-02 V6 rack in my 93 Z28 because that's all the junkyard had. From my research, the quick rack didn't come on all Z's, there was an optional RPO associated with it. I had Turn One rebuild the rack that came on my car which was a quick rack and the difference was immediately apparent, I had to relearn the car because of how differently it reacted to my inputs.
Spartan7's picture puts the amount of work involved with a body harness into perspective. I decided to remove an entire body harness from a 97 Camaro without cutting anything. This was a car that was going to the crusher and had already had the entire interior, dash, and door panels removed. This was a car I didn't care to bash, cut, bend, or break parts on as long as my wiring harness and connectors came out undamaged. After a couple hours of exhausting work, I ended up cutting the tail light wiring because it goes through a tiny little hole and I was tired of messing with the darn thing. The amount of work goes up exponentially if you actually care about the car and want everything to go back together successfully.
Unless this is a labor of love for a vehicle you plan on keeping forever, I would not attempt the project. Swapping the mechanical stuff is the easy part. Getting everything to work in the other car is the problem. You're honestly probably better off selling both cars and buying the v8 car that you actually want. If your goal is to have a street car with every system functional, odds are you will get frustrated and quit working on it before it's ever fully functional again.
If it's more of a race car setup, an extremely expensive, but simplified option might be an aftermarket EFI system. Someone just posted the other day about an LT1 wiring harness for a Holley Terminator setup that uses a Dakota Digital module to drive the instrument console. It would be crazy expensive, but it would fast track the project and put everything in easy mode. If you've got that kind of money though, it would probably be better to just ls1 swap the v6 car. lol
I think the answer is that it depends on what you're willing to endure. OP how attached to ABS are you? Is it really any good and worth keeping? I know it sucked so hard in my truck that I deleted it, but it was 3 channel like what you have in the 94.
Is this for me? I used the 99 dash, but it was the same as the 97 I transplanted everything else from. 97-02 are the same except for color. The harnesses differ, but GM kept all the mounting points the same. None of the wiring mounts to the dash anyway. Most of it is attached to the metal frame in my pic that the bottom of the dash is attached to.
OP, I thought this would be an interesting swap.. it sure was. It was definitely challenging and rewarding when done, but not fun at all. And I'm not shy around wiring.
Is this for me? I used the 99 dash, but it was the same as the 97 I transplanted everything else from. 97-02 are the same except for color. The harnesses differ, but GM kept all the mounting points the same. None of the wiring mounts to the dash anyway. Most of it is attached to the metal frame in my pic that the bottom of the dash is attached to.
OP, I thought this would be an interesting swap.. it sure was. It was definitely challenging and rewarding when done, but not fun at all. And I'm not shy around wiring.
Ahh, lucky you. OP may need a 97 cluster to make his work like that.
well here is where im at. i got the whole 94 dash with harness swapped into my car and entire body harness. my hiccups currently are the door harnesses that run through the doors and between the dash and hvac unit. im crossing my fingers that mine will be a plug and play into the big connector in the drivers side firewall. if not, is it possible to remove the door harness from a 94 firebird (power locks windows and mirrors) into my door? (also power locks windows and mirrors.) but so far the dash is temporarily bolted up and im going to run the firebird dash pad. the mechanical work doesnt concern me at all its all this wiring lol. one last thing, the gold plate thats riveted in the rear seat cavity. my 98 has like 8 wires running to it and the 94 only has 3-4. how can i swap that as well? i cant find any schematics for literally anything for the interior so im pulling as much as i can off the donor car.if i can get all of these answered im ready to start dropping motors!
well here is where im at. i got the whole 94 dash with harness swapped into my car and entire body harness. my hiccups currently are the door harnesses that run through the doors and between the dash and hvac unit. im crossing my fingers that mine will be a plug and play into the big connector in the drivers side firewall. if not, is it possible to remove the door harness from a 94 firebird (power locks windows and mirrors) into my door? (also power locks windows and mirrors.) but so far the dash is temporarily bolted up and im going to run the firebird dash pad. the mechanical work doesnt concern me at all its all this wiring lol. one last thing, the gold plate thats riveted in the rear seat cavity. my 98 has like 8 wires running to it and the 94 only has 3-4. how can i swap that as well? i cant find any schematics for literally anything for the interior so im pulling as much as i can off the donor car.if i can get all of these answered im ready to start dropping motors!
The Trans Am underhood “front lights” harness will plug right into Trans Am body harness. V6 harness would need a lot of rework and you cannot mess with bulkhead pass through on the left side as it is a sealed unit. In that bulkhead pass through are all lights/abs/air bag/ignition switch wires going to underhood fuse boxes, lights, abs module and starter solenoid among other things.
The biggest issue is abs pump and Trans Am front light connectors.
As far as rear riveted pass through connector, use Trans Am connector and Trans Am fuel tank so fuel level sensor is compatible with Trans Am cluster indicator.
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LT1 swap, please help! 
