-
đź’ˇ Fun fact. Whenever you start a thread, TCG Mechanic 5000 (our AI bot) will reply to you to start helping. It doesn't know everything and it will struggle with more complex questions but it can get the thread going and provide valuable information. You can choose to disable it prior to submitting a thread.
motor swap.
- Thread starter nmskull66
- Start date
x2. with winter rolling around, and the already low prices of ls1 birds you can snag one cheap.
Honestly Nick, It's going to be alot cheaper in the long run to just buy a higher mileage LS1 car... IIRC you're firebird has over 100k on the body anyways, so it's not like you're swapping into an extra clean low mileage shell. a good LS1 with 60e/T-56 is going to run you north of $2,000 with average mileage (60-80k) and you may still have to track down a PCM/ harness for it. Driveshaft is going to have to come from a donor car, as well as a rear end (your car probably has a 2.73 gear currently) You'll need different front suspension (maybe k-member?) as well or the front end will sit lower than desired. All in all, it's probably going to be cheaper and less of a headache to just get a V8 car and sell yours. I don't doubt your ability to swap the motor (as you've done 1,000,000 3800 swaps into your car) but it would just be a much better choice overall IMO to snag a T/A or formy in the low 100k mile range.
well the k member is fine, remember gm beancounters try to keep the number of parts down between models. if you dropping in an alum block lsx i doubt springs need to be screwed with...iron block and heads v6 vs alloy v8 should be pretty close. trans placments fore/aft is the same iirc so the driveshaft would be fine...iirc the 4l60e has a removable bell on the one's ive seen in the v6 cars but the v8 tranny's are integral.
most of the harness differences should be predominatly in the engine compartment harness
i swear v6 cars got a 3.23 rear gear?
its still a helluva undertaking
most of the harness differences should be predominatly in the engine compartment harness
i swear v6 cars got a 3.23 rear gear?
its still a helluva undertaking
I remember the V6 cars having different springs. and rear end gear, possibly 3.23, but i believe they came with a 2.73 as well. I did a decent amount of research into swapping when my '01 Formula was totaled, and I wanted to swap drivetrains between mine and a donor shell. This was awhile back and I didn't check anything to be factual, just going from memory. It can be done, it's just whether or not you can get lucky finding a completle car that you can get any and all parts you need as a whole, as opposed to tracking things down.
v6 fbodies came with every gear possible. 2.73, 3.08, 3.23, 3.42. there is no rhyme nor reason behind it. my 01 came with 3.42 and an open diff.
i'm going to stand in line with everyone saying its cheaper to buy an ls1 powered fbody to begin with...unless you have an insane amount of work/money put into your six (interior modification, caging, suspension that cannot be parted out to recoup losses etc)
everything has to be redone.
kmember has to be modifed to fit the 5.7...
motor mounts are diff
wiring is diff
the only time these swaps are not expensive is if you managed to snag a wrecked donor car for a couple grand. you'd have to literally swap everything over. Disconnect driveshaft, trans connections, fuel lines, brake lines, coolant lines, pull ls1 kmember out from donor car, drop body of v6 fbody on top, swap over driveshaft, cooling system, hook up brake lines. remove v6 cluster, replace with ls1 cluster. replace all engine/pcm/cluster harness pieces.
swap over fueling system or create a new one utilizing a z06 regufilter
its time consuming...and 150% not worth it if you don't have a 100% complete running donor ls1 car in front of you... and even then, if you don't do the swap the way i listed (not trying to be cocky) and try to piece things together 1x1...its going to be a bitch.
Cliffs notes: you need an entire ls1 car to do a swap unless you want to spend 4 months fabbing shit up. not fiscally the smartest thing you could do. don't do it unless you have an emotional attachment to your car or unless the v6 chassi is built
i'm going to stand in line with everyone saying its cheaper to buy an ls1 powered fbody to begin with...unless you have an insane amount of work/money put into your six (interior modification, caging, suspension that cannot be parted out to recoup losses etc)
everything has to be redone.
kmember has to be modifed to fit the 5.7...
motor mounts are diff
wiring is diff
the only time these swaps are not expensive is if you managed to snag a wrecked donor car for a couple grand. you'd have to literally swap everything over. Disconnect driveshaft, trans connections, fuel lines, brake lines, coolant lines, pull ls1 kmember out from donor car, drop body of v6 fbody on top, swap over driveshaft, cooling system, hook up brake lines. remove v6 cluster, replace with ls1 cluster. replace all engine/pcm/cluster harness pieces.
swap over fueling system or create a new one utilizing a z06 regufilter
its time consuming...and 150% not worth it if you don't have a 100% complete running donor ls1 car in front of you... and even then, if you don't do the swap the way i listed (not trying to be cocky) and try to piece things together 1x1...its going to be a bitch.
Cliffs notes: you need an entire ls1 car to do a swap unless you want to spend 4 months fabbing shit up. not fiscally the smartest thing you could do. don't do it unless you have an emotional attachment to your car or unless the v6 chassi is built
Yes, I think so. I can tell you more about the car than the owner
It was a burgundy 2000 Z28, auto with 3.73 and possibly a stall. He used to have an LT1 trans am, and before that a V6 Camaro with SS appearance add-ons. He's come up to me a few times after seeing my TA sitting outside. Don't really know the guy too well but have shot the shit about F-Bodies.
Yes, I think so. I can tell you more about the car than the owner
thought his name was tim?
drives a NBM bird?
teamwork. you know your shit, its always nice to have backup though.
there are a ridiculous amount of v6 owners who think that swapping in an ls1 is cake. it can be, if every single circumstance is in your favor. there is one guy (zex) over on ftv6 who did the swap in 1 week for roughly 2k. he bought a wrecked bird for 4k, took everything he need, sold the rest for 2k.
thats the only way about it.
If you ultimately want to go fi, then look into swapping a 5.3 for now. I believe you can get them cheap and theycan take quite a bit of abuse on the stock bottom end. Within reason of course. Swap it in na, then if you go fi later you'd be in decent shape. If it were me I'd probably just get a t/a an sell te fbody, but could see the justification of a 5.3 swap if your ultimate goal is going fi.
Thread Info
-
Created -
42Replies
-
4KViews
-
Participants list
