Pocket

iTrader: (24)

Its a static 58psi, but yes. Upgrade the pump and you're done

BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

I've actually never seen anyone use those fuel rails with the built in regulator. That sure would simplify the install. We just installed my dad's fuel system last night with a later model Corvette filter and the braided lines up to the fuel rail which takes a lot of time on your back on a creeper.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

I noticed these two pics from TPI Terr's thread for his LSx swap and was wondering if these were things that I needed to do as well. On the first pic, it looks like he put the oil sending unit down by the oil filter. Is this necessary to get the oil pressure gauge to work for the 3rd gen dash?

And on the second pic, it looks like he connected his steam lines to the top of the water pump. I've noticed a few others that have done this too. Is this something I should do as well? Are there other options? I'm not too keen on drilling a hole in the top of my brand new water pump! Could I connect this line to the top heater hose line at the radiator?

Speaking of the heater hose outlet at the top of the radiator, that brings up another question. Looking at everyone else's LSx swaps, it looks like most everyone connects the heater hoses from the two outlets on the water pump to the two outlets on the firewall with no connection to the radiator. Is this correct? If so, is there a reason for this?

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Good deal. Thanks Pocket. My pump has already been upgraded to a Walbro 255.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, I'm hoping Jason will sell the fuel rail to me for a good price. I agree that it should simplify the install. The less time I can spend on the creeper the better!

White'89

iTrader: (8)

I learned my new token of knowledge for the day, and man that would simplify the install if you already have a TPI fuel system in your car. But doing the -6an line upgrade makes room for more future horsepower.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, that's why I wanted to go that route. I'll save the -6AN lines for future power upgrades.

Anyone have an answer for post #53?

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

LS1 oiil sending unit is compatible with your stock gauge. Keep the stocker up top

You need to tee the steam line into the cooling system somewhere. GM says it needs to go the highest point in the system but people put them anywhere. I dont like tapping the waterpump, but others have good luck with it

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Pocket. You're my hero!

Could I just tee into the heater hose line near the top of the radiator? And do the heater hoses just go from the water pump to the firewall heater core or are they supposed to connect to the radiator like the L98 set-up does?

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

I didn't make much progress yesterday. I got involved in cleaning up everything in the garage. It was getting too messy. It looks real nice now though. I did get my coil brackets cleaned up and installed on the valve covers. I also talked to my neighbor that does welding. He is coming over this coming Sunday to weld my LCA relocation brackets, weld a spot on my frame and to possibly remove the EGR outlets on my manifold and weld them shut. woo hoo And I found a shop that can sand blast my 9 bolt rear. I will probably have them do my K-member as well if the differential turns out nice. The same guy that does the welding also knows a few painters so maybe I can get my engine bay painted the same color as the car. That would be sweet!

Jaysz28

iTrader: (30)

If you have someone that does welding, I would notch your k-member for the oil pan and have him box it in. I believe someone did that on their 2nd build/swap and highly recommended it.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

That's cool. I'll have to get it out of the car and get the engine off of it first. Yeah, the guy wanted to teach me how to weld and sell me one of his welding set-ups, but I rather have a pro do it and put that money towards the swap. I'm sure he could box that thing in with no problem.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Hey guys, I want to get your opinions of the value of the spare engine that I have that I'm going to sell.

The block casting number is 12561168 which indicates a 2001-2004 LS6 block and it has 241 heads which indicate 2001-2002. This leads me to believe it is an '01-'02 LS1. Anyways, it comes with the LS1 intake & TB, waterpump, EGR & flywheel. It doesn't come with the transmission, A/C compressor or bracket, knock sensor harness under the intake, intake bolts, oil pan, oil pan pick-up tube, windage tray, dipstick or sensors (other than the knock sensors). It doesn't come with anything else that you don't see in these pics just in case I forgot something. I will probably sell the torque converter with it too since I have an aftermarket one that I will probably use on my new build. The guy said it ran great when he removed it from his wrecked T/A and I believe he said it had about 112,000 miles on it. From looking around at some prices I figured maybe it was worth somewhere around $800 to $1000. I just want to be fair about the price when I get ready to sell it. Let me know what you guys think. I appreciate it.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

I may sell the MAF with it too since I will probably switch over to the MAF with the IAT built into it.

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

$1000 for a long block with LS1 intake is fair. Ask $1200 so the buyers will have some haggle room

It being a LS6 block is another selling factor even though it doesnt do a darn thing more than a common LS1 block

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Good idea. That's kind of what I was thinking. Thank you very much.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

I didn't get much done this weekend since I had out of town guests, but we did get the LCA relocation brackets installed. It was tricky. We figured out that we had to secure the rearend in place to make sure that all three holes lined-up properly with the swing of the LCA arc. Here are a few pics of that. I will go take a picture or two of the finished product here shortly.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

I still have to grind the welds smooth and prime and paint it, but at least the brackets are on there now.

I figured this bracket project would take maybe an hour to do, but it ended up taking us close to three hours! Luckily the guy only charged me $20 more for the welding and not by the hour.

I have to get the rearend over to the mechanic this week to have it checked-out. I want to make sure my posi is working properly. I'll have him put the girdle cover on there as well while it's there. I will be glad to have that rearend back under there and done so that I can move on to the engine swap!

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Weekend update. I didn't like how Spohn made it so that you would have to try to tighten the transmission mount bolts in the little pocket. So I went and bought some 1" spacers and ground them down to fit in the pocket. That way I could tighten the mount bolts much easier. I bought 7/16" NC x 2.5" long studs as well.

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

That kind of crossmember always left me scratching my head. Heres how mine looked. No way I would have been able to bolt it on without cutting it up first

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/post...52-post20.html

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, I'm thinking Spohn should have supplied the correct spacers and longer studs to make it the way I did mine

Anyways, it's all fixed and much easier to tighten the bolts now. Did anyone use this crossmember and come up with a different way to fix the problem?

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

I got the rearend back out from under the car. I borrowed a friends grinder and went to town on the welds.

It took forever to get them cleaned-up and looking decent

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Once I got them all grinded down, I used JB Weld like body filler since I didn't have any Bondo. Once it's good and dry I will block sand it down and prime and paint it.

It turned out pretty decent so far. I figured out that brake cleaner removed the JB Weld real good from the plastic applicator.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

I got the brackets cleaned up and painted so they don't rust. They cleaned-up pretty decent. I will paint the whole rearend once I get it back from the mechanic. I took it over to him today. I also put the girdle cover on it too. The oil inside didn't have very much fine metal particles in it at all, so that is good.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Well, at least someone is getting some use out of my wheels!

I cleaned and painted the nasty rusty driveshaft yoke. Man I hate rust!

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

I also cleaned-up one of my wheelwells. Here are the before shots of it.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Here are the cleaned-up shots of it

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Here are the finished pics

Doesn't look too much different

stoning_volcom

ya doesnt look that much diff. lol! looking good man keep up the good work!!

on that spare ls1 you got, you wouldnt happen to wanna sell that throttle body would ya? if so pm me and we can discuss price

mille_3

iTrader: (3)

May not look different, but you know you feel better about knowing it's got a fresh coat of protection on.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Thanks, I appreciate that. Sure, I'll sell it. I also have a spare water pump if you need one. I will send you a PM.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Yes, that's true. I have to do what I can to keep that rust at bay

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Just a small update... the mechanic got the rearend torn apart. Everything looked real good except for one of the axle bearings. It wasn't too bad, but he is going to replace it. Hopefully by the first of the week he will have the parts he needs and can get it back together for me. I am dying to get the rear of the car put back together so that I can get started on the front.

White'89

iTrader: (8)

Remember to cover every bolt back there with anti-seize when you put it back together.

It helps alot for future endeavors.

VAN454

Nice work, and a very handy thread. You have covered some of the little details that don't get mentioned in other threads, so thanks this will help me alot when my swap finally starts.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Well, I hadn't really thought about that, but that's a good idea.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Thank you. I'm glad my thread is helpful to others. I try to be as thorough as I can.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

The mechanic got the posi unit back in the differential today. As you can see from the photo he got the pumpking cleaned out (funny that it's orange inside ), the bearing cap studs installed and the bearing cap machined down for the girdle cover to have a flat surface to mount against. I am going to pick it up Thursday and get it back under the car this weekend. At least that is the plan

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

You can see from this photo the area on the bearing cap that he had to machine down. It was pretty nasty in there too!

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

I got the rearend back from the mechanic today. Looks like I found myself a new mechanic! He did a good job on it. He said the posi is tight. $260 later it's back to 100% health again. I have been working on it this evening trying to get it ready for paint. What a PITA! I hate cleaning up rearends for paint. Way too many surfaces to clean. I wish I had a sandblaster. Oh well. I'll post some pics once I get it painted up.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

I got my differential painted yesterday. Thank God that's over with! I will be putting it back under the car today.

I got the passenger side wheel well cleaned-up and painted too. No pics of that.

I also got my exhaust manifold bolted on using my Stage 8 bolts.

I've been thinking about my transmission here lately. I think I'm going to have to get it rebuilt to handle the power that my new engine is making. I doubt the stock transmissions were built to handle 430hp. What do you guys think?

Well, I'm off to put the rearend back under the car...

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

I got the rearend back up under the car and got almost everything installed back on it. Here is a progress pic without the brake lines installed.

I used anti-seize on every bolt as White suggested. Man, that stuff gets everywhere! Here is the latest pic with the drivers side brake lines installed.

I still need to clean-up and paint my passenger side caliper and install the brake lines on that side. I need to order new sway bar bushings too since the ones on it are completely shot. One actually broke when I was removing it from the bar. Time for some polyurethane bushings

Once I get this back together I am going to move the car over in the garage so that I have more room to work on the passenger side for the engine swap.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

They are a lot tougher than TH700's. Although I haven't had mine on a dyno yet, calculations put it somewhere over 430 GFWHP, and it hasn't hiccuped yet. I did put in a Transgo shift kit, though.

What driveshaft are you using? If stock, it's probably weaker than the tranny.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, I have a stock aluminum driveshaft. I was hoping that would be okay.

In doing some research on what the 4L60E can handle, it seemed like everyone had different results. Some people simply got away with a shift kit & servo with no problems on modified engines. Others had problems with theirs on stock engines! So I'm not sure what to do at this point. I really don't want to spend a ton of money on the trany at this point, but it would be much easier since it is out of the car.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

I think I may just try going the shift kit/servo route along with a new filter and see if that will do the trick. Hopefully it will get me by for a few years or so. I have an aftermarket transmission cooler that I will be using as well to help the situation. I was thinking I should probably upgrade to a higher stall converter as well. I have a Comp Cams XR275HR-12 cam (PN 54-426-11) along with the Promagnum roller rockers. I was thinking maybe like a 2200-2400 stall converter would free it up a little. What do you guys think?

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Sorry I didn't read all the way through this thread to see what you plan to do with the car, and what your donor source was. The f-body LS1 4L60E's apparently got the "good" servo.

I'd go higher with the stall. I've been running 3000 stall with a stock 2000 f-body LS1 cam, LS6 intake, long tube headers, and free-flowing air inlet, and at the track it wants more stall. You've got a lot more cam than that. For the street, 3600 stall would probably do, but for the track, at least 4000.

A stock 4th gen aluminum driveshaft would probably be up to the task, but I wouldn't depend upon a factory 3rd gen aluminum driveshaft.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like I have the good servo then.

Really? That high of a stall on a street car? I put a 3000 stall converter in a Chevelle I used to have and it seemed way too loose. It had a similar size cam, but was in a 355 SBC / 700R4. I have no idea how much power it had either.

That sucks about the driveshaft. Always more things to buy!

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Good news... I finally finished phase 1 of my swap which was the fuel pump. And I started phase 2 which is the actual engine swap.

Here is a pic of my car out of the garage for the first time in over a year. And it moved under it's own power.

The rear of the car is now done. ...at least for a little while.

Here is the last pic of the L98 before it gets disassembled


This is all the farther I got Sunday evening before I had to quit. I didn't get much done, but it's a start.


Question for Pocket: do I need to label all of the wires when I remove them since I am going to have you rework my harness for me?

White'89

iTrader: (8)

I doubt it. He's probably to to the point were he could do it blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back.

BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

Ya he could probably do it in the dark. I didnt label mine, don't think anyone does because he's just that good at it.