When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
LTX and LSXPutting LT1s, LS1s, and their variants into Third Gens is becoming more popular. This board is for those who are doing and have done the swaps so they can discuss all of their technical aspects including repairs, swap info, and performance upgrades.
Friday - April 22, 1988... I was a teenager, and my dad let me drive his '84 Z28 that day. That evening, I misjudged a car's distance before attempting a left turn. I caused the accident, and the car was a baja style VW bug. Unfortunately, it had a gas tank mounted on the front bumper. A few moments later, both cars were engulfed in flames.
But I'm over that now. Four years ago, I decided to buy the car that I so loved in high school. Silver 1984 Z28's are rare. One with a 5-speed manual is even harder to find. But, I came across this Trans Am on ThirdGen.
I had never really looked at the 15th anniversary model, but I really liked the design. So I caught a flight to North Carolina, bought the car, and had it shipped to Texas.
Time to get to work. I replaced the brake rotors, pads, calipers, and flexible lines. The rear rotors were rusted to the axle. A 3 prong puller and a lot of tension got the rotor loose with a loud bang and a cloud of rust dust. Then I got a freelance mechanic to replace the suspension parts. There is lots of great info on this site about replacing suspension parts. The springs were beyond my skill, so I didn't risk injury. And after I got all that work done, I took the car the NTB for an alignment.
Time to replace the old and tired 5.0 engine. I considered another 5.0, and then I considered a 5.7 L. Then I considered a ZZ4 engine. One thing led to another, and I finally decided to do the LSX swap. Finding a good engine for a good price was a challenge. I found a 5.3L on eBay. It was an aluminum gen iv that was from a chevy avalanche. I should have done more research, because I realized later that the engine had VVT, DOD, and a 58X reluctor. All undesirable.
I knew from reading about transmission on this site that the T5 non-world class just wasn't going to cut it. So, I began the search for a T56. Again, finding a good using transmission for a good price was difficult. I found a good LT1 T56 in Oklahoma on Craigslist. After a nice road trip north, I met the seller, bought the T56, and loaded it in my trunk.
A few weeks later, I took it to Texas Drivetrain Performance. The shop is owned by Jason, and he did good work. I opted for a stage 2 upgrade, and I got the front plate replaced with the LS1 style.
How much did you pay for each bit of goodness there? I've been putting a 350 together and I was hoping in the future when my T5 kicks the bucket to do a T56 swap, but all the used ones near me are about 1800-2000
Now it was time to address the gen iv engine. How do I remove the VVT and DOD? What cam should I use. Texas Speed and Performance was the only shop that quickly responded to my inquiries with solid information. I bought the DOD/VVT delete kit from them as well as a cam (220R 114 LSA). Then I took the engine to ProTree Performance. Daniel owned the shop, and he was very knowledgable about LS engines. He had some nice corvettes in his garage too. One was getting a rear turbo kit installed. Anyway, I later took my car to his shop for more work. I had him pull the 5.0 engine and install a 2002 Z28 plastic gas tank. Again, good info on this site for the gas tank upgrade. I also asked Daniel to install an access panel to the fuel pump. Yes - I'm fully aware of the 'access panel debate' on this site. During the gas tank install, Daniel found a dead mouse behind the back seat. Stupid mice! I have since added countermeasures (rat poison) to my garage.
I had the trans am towed back to my garage. I cleaned the engine bay. Then I continued buying parts for the swap. From the classified section of this site, I bought a be-cool radiator and hedman long tube headers. The headers were in Colorado, and I bought them while I was visiting family. I met the guy in an Olive Garden parking lot for the purchase. I was thrilled. My wife and sister, though, didn't share my enthusiasm...
Anyway, I later bought the hedman ls swap kit with engine mounts and crossmember. I also bought a professional products intake manifold, holley valve covers, a quicktime bell housing, and accessory drive brackets. I've patiently added parts for this swap, and I usually find a good deal.
The steering box needed work, and it's certainly accessible with the engine removed. I've read about faulty rebuilt steering boxes, and there are several versions for the firebird. That being the case, I took mine to a local shop for a rebuild. That thing is sure heavy.
Ahhh, the bellhousing... I found a quicktime bellhousing for a good deal from a website that I never heard of. I asked Jegs to price match, and they did. Maybe the price match ticked-off Jegs. Maybe they sent me a defective bellhousing that was returned. I'll never know...
The quicktime instructions say that I have to measure run-out. "At this point, we recommend that you check your Safety Bellhousing for proper alignment with the crankshaft. This is not a difficult procedure." Yeah right. It took me months to get the bellhousing aligned. I kept telling myself that I must be doing something wrong. The run-out couldn't be that far off. It was! A mounting bolt prevented the bellhousing from moving enough for proper adjustment. It hit the side of the bellhousing, and progressively aggressive dowel pins did nothing. I mounted and removed the bellhousing so many times, that I stripped a bolt on the aluminum engine block. Bloody He**!! I finally had to ask for help from my dad and his friend who was a retired engineer from Lockheed Martin. The engineer's hobby was working on old Porsches, and he knew what he was doing. With their help, I got the bellhousing centered. We had to grind on the bellhousing where the bolt was hitting the side. We also repaired the engine block with a helicoil.
What to do with this 58x reluctor? You've probably read my earlier posts on this conundrum. Aftermarket controller? Lingenfelter 24x converter? E38? I finally decided on the E38. I found a good deal on a wire harness from Speartech. It was an LS3 harness in the garage sale section. Some guy had it custom built and changed his mind or something. Going the 58x route is a pain. The DBW pedal, the throttle body, and controller all have to match. So I got components designed for a 2010 Camaro. I bought a new controller from eBay for less than $100. Sounds like a good deal, huh? Well, it needed tuning. But before it could be tuned, the base program had to be loaded. It's kinda like the operating system on a PC or Mac. Not very many shops provide that. Some threads on LS1 tech recommend taking the controller to the dealer. I could just imagine the confused look on a service advisor's face when I asked for the ECM flashing. I found a website called XXXXXXXXXX. The guy there was very helpful, and his price was good. So, I got the ECM programmed for my engine and cam. The emissions junk and VATS were removed.
Next challenges with the 58x route were the gauges and air-conditioning. The E38 can surprising be programmed to provide old school tach pulses. I'll believe it when I see it, though. I was able to solve the speedometer challenge by sticking with the stock cable gauge. T56cablespeedometer can convert a T56 tailshaft to accept a cable. The guy there has posted on this site, and he is professional and prompt. I'm still working through the A/C options. I bought a Sanden compressor with the kwik performance bracket.
How much did you pay for each bit of goodness there? I've been putting a 350 together and I was hoping in the future when my T5 kicks the bucket to do a T56 swap, but all the used ones near me are about 1800-2000
I patiently searched for deals. And I work lots of overtime! I don't remember how much the engine and transmission cost. My eBay purchase history doesn't go back that far. The T56 craigslist ad has long been deleted. You could email Jason at this site: http://texasdrivetrainperformance.com
I think he sometimes has a T56 for sale. If you buy a used transmission, it will probably need a rebuild. I wasn't brave enough to do it on my own.
I've read so many posts about the headaches from using a 4th gen master cylinder. I'm sure the tick master isn't easy to install. 88FormulaKiller came up with a good modification to connect a 3rd gen master with the 4th gen slave cylinder. Will the 3rd gen push enough hydraulic fluid? The reviews on that thread say the 3rd gen works just fine. I'm still going to replace mine with a 3rd gen style from centric. They advertise a 1" bore. Other threads on this site say a 3rd gen master can be connected to a steel braided hose with a russell fitting. So, I ordered a mcleod clutch line and russell fittings. All components indeed match and connect. Part #'s are 136.62011, 139204-30, and 640281.
From thirdgen classifieds, I bought an '89 C100 that was labeled for connecting with an LS harness. Maybe I'll repin it for use on my '84. This certainly helped me understand the Trans Am's engine bay wiring. Some of the labelling on the harness was hard to read, so I took some time to decode and identify each wire from schematics. I gained more understanding. Just seeing the location and size of the C100 bolt helped me disconnect my '84 harness.
"WHO THE F***'S THE DRIVER!!??"
"He is."
"GET THE F*** OUT OF THE CAR!"
"I didn't see you! I'm sorry!"
"GET AWAY FROM THE CAR! IT'S GONNA BLOW!!"
"What??"
A small yellow light emanated from under both cars. Slowly, it became orange and began to grow...
Currently, I'm trying to get both pop-up headlights to work. One won't go down. I've replaced both headlight actuating relays. A replacement isolation relay, of course, is no where to be found. I recently replaced the headlight switch. Then both headlights wouldn't go down. I opened up the dash and put the original switch back in. Now one headlight goes down, and I'm back to square one. I hope I just got a faulty headlight switch from rockauto. I've ordered another one. AC Delco this time.
I had to remove the front plate and tailhousing from my T56. The front plate was needed to dial in the bellhousing from he**. The tailshaft was sent-off to get a cable input. So, I need to re-seal the transmission. The old sealant is proving to be difficult to remove. I've used lacquer thinner, tuff-strip, and a tooth brush. Progress is slow. The last thing I want is for that transmission to leak after I get everything bolted-up and installed.
I just scraped the old off with a razor and then used the softer 3M cookies to remove the rest. You just reseal it with silicone, it is not under pressure like a head gasket or anything. Sorry never had a bird so I cant help with the headlights. Progress is looking great so far. Love the Anniversary cars, will be real cool to have an LS swapped one.
Are the Recaros in this in good shape? I've been hunting for some for mine too, but not much down around this way.
The Recaro seats need refurbishment. There is a tear in the driver seat vinyl, but I think the covers can be salvaged by a good interior shop. I found this thread and bought some foam inserts before the product was discontinued:
I finally got the old sealant off the T56 mid plate and case. A toothbrush and a little soapy water helped. Then I wiped it all down with lacquer thinner again. I just re-attached the mid plate with RTV Ultra Gray sealant. The tubes for the Ultra Gray were relatively small, and I used 3 of of them. I bolted the mid plate at 30 ft lbs.
Today, I also went to Pep Boys and asked if they had an headlight isolation relay. A member on this site said that BWD part #R6433 was a replacement relay that worked. It looked like BWD stopped making the relay about a year ago. To my surprise the guy at Pep Boys said the he could special order it.
Now I'm working on removing the sealant from the T56 tail housing. I'm trying to take care of all the little things to make an LS engine work in my Trans Am. Soon, I will replace the clutch master and the gas pedal. The guy at XXXXXXXXX recommended a DBW pedal from a 2010 Camaro. It's important to match the ECM with it's intended components. Other pedals may work, but throttle response would be degraded.
I bought the DBW pedal, and I'll mount it after I replace the clutch master. I haven't found many threads on mounting a DBW pedal in a third gen. Fortunately, Hawks has a mounting bracket. It was on sale too.
Anyone know if I should buy the A/C lines from Hawks? I'm using a Sanden and a Kwik high mount bracket.
I'm trying to install my be-cool radiator, but it's a little too tall for the space available. Be-Cool is supposed to be a direct fit. Some on this site said the Be-Cool fit without modifications. Others said it wasn't a direct fit. The side of my radiator is hitting part of the metal frame, and that prevents it from resting against the rubber stops. Am I doing something wrong, or do I need to do some trimming with a dremel?
I reattached the tail housing to my T56. I used the RTV Ultra Gray sealant. I found it messy and difficult to apply. It was also a little tricky to position the reverse shift rail as I slid the tail housing over the output shaft. Installing the blue speedometer cable gear was easy.
You have the radiator down side up. those feet are supposed to be at the bottom. It still isnt going to fit exactly like a factory one, but is should have come with a bracket to space the upper rad cover/fan support back so you can use all the stock parts, unless they made it wrong. I have a Be Cool and it was flat across the top as far as I remember, with the feet at the bottom. It looks like they may have sent the wrong one, or screwed up and put the feet at the top, because it looks like the cooler for the transmission is on the correct side
There are feet at the top and bottom. The stock radiator shroud is designed to fit over the feet. That secures the radiator. I did notice that the feet at the bottom are welded more forward that the top feet. I have the radiator right side up, because the cap is facing up, and the inlet/outlet connections are facing the engine. Maybe it was a manufacturing error. I bought this radiator used from another member, so I can't send it back to Be-Cool.
Pep Boys wasn't able to get an isolation relay after all. I have to fix the headlight problem the hard way. There is good information on a fiero enthusiast website. They also have a problem with the isolation relays. I found this: http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/136983.html
This worked! I bought a pack of 1N4001 diodes off eBay for cheap, and I replaced the faulty diode with a soldering iron and a mini blow torch. As the author said, the relay frame really sucks in the heat. Only the mini blow torch would heat it enough to get solder flowing.
I may see if that works with a radio shack 12v DPDT relay. There are plenty of those relays for sale. I'm sure my isolation relay will one day fail for good.
Now that I got the pop-up headlights working again, I can move on. The other day, I removed the computer and the wiring harness. Unfortunately, I broke the passenger side kick panel. I thought it was secured by a plastic dowel pin, so I pulled hard. Well, there were two screws under the fuzzy carpet. I'll have to glue it back together or find a replacement piece.
And since the dash was all apart for the headlight switch and ECM removal, I decided to replace the heater core. I got the dreaded top bolt removed from the heater shroud. As all the write-ups say, patience is required. I almost drilled the ghetto hole into the dash to access the top bolt, but I gained access by removing the cruise control module.
I'm almost done replacing heater core. I didn't do it all at once to reduce frustration. Working under the dash with limited clearance is very frustrating!
April 1988...The orange light quickly turned into to flames. The gas tank on the VW Bug's front bumper had ruptured in the accident. Gas spilled onto the cracked fog lights and ignited. The flames grew taller, and now the front of both cars were engulfed. The alarm on my dad's Z28 went off. Fire trucks were on the scene in just a few minutes. But it was too late. When the alarm siren was silenced, I knew the unthinkable had happened. The car was gone.
I had that same issue. The replacement heater core was slightly different, and the metal tab didn't quite secure the core to the plastic mount. I had to secure the core with wire. I just buttoned up the passenger side dash. Now I need to complete the radiator install. Then I'll replace the clutch master cylinder and the throttle pedal.
I just finished installing my BeCool radiator. As I stated in an earlier post, I couldn't get the radiator to sit flush against the rubber stops. The radiator wouldn't fit under metal tabs that was part of the car frame. Pictures in another member's thread on the BeCool radiator showed that he pushed the metal tabs up. So, I lined up the radiator with the bottom rubber mounts. Then I lined up the top of the radiator with the A/C condenser. With C-clamps, I moved the radiator into position, and that pushed up the metal tabs.
Years later after the Z28 burned, I got a 1989 Iroc-Z in college. It was quick and fun, but it wasn't the same. This one had the 5.7L engine and auto transmission. The '84 had a stick shift, and I those were hard to find. To me, the '84 always felt stiffer than the '89 which always creaked and rattled.
Just be aware that F4 (Pink 12 gauge wire) is not fused at the fuse box, it is straight through the key switch and on one of the main fusible links. If it shorts then you lose the fusible link and half the fuse box with it.
Why not just re-use the old fuel pump trigger wire and update with a more modern (and reliable) relay under hood?
Thanks for reviewing my C100 notes. This is my first time to work with an engine harness. Any help is definitely appreciated. I'll take a closer look at my current fuel relay set-up. When you say more modern fuel relay, do you mean one from a 4thgen Z28? Is the fuel relay mounted just above the C100? I removed that bracket when I pulled out all the wiring.
I just finished installing my BeCool radiator. As I stated in an earlier post, I couldn't get the radiator to sit flush against the rubber stops. The radiator wouldn't fit under metal tabs that was part of the car frame. Pictures in another member's thread on the BeCool radiator showed that he pushed the metal tabs up. So, I lined up the radiator with the bottom rubber mounts. Then I lined up the top of the radiator with the A/C condenser. With C-clamps, I moved the radiator into position, and that pushed up the metal tabs.
I am in disbelief that you used C clamps to bend some metal tabs by pushing on a $500+ radiator
Also, since this radiator is not meant to be installed like that, it appears it is sitting directly against the ac condenser, there should be a gap between them. That is why the BeCool radiator comes with a spacer to mount the shroud/cover/mount back so the fans are in the proper place
I'll double check the gap. As I've read in other threads, BeCool isn't a direct fit as advertised. The top needed to move towards the nose of the car. The plastic radiator shroud wasn't fitting over the radiator, because it was too far aft. As you can see from my earlier post, I asked for advice. I didn't get the info I needed. Then I looked at another members write-up of a BeCool radiator. Based on his install picture (which I posted above), his radiator was moved to the proper position by bending metal tabs on frame upward. Compressing with c-clamps did just that. I didn't apply much pressure to it, c-clamp pushed on edge where radiator is stronger, and radiator shows no apparent damage. If it leaks, then I'll buy a stock radiator from rock auto and move on. My patience with the radiator is at an end.
No it isn't. These are BeCool reviews from this site. All are from different members.
"This sounds like the BeCool Radiator. IT says it's a direct fit but still takes a little modding to fit just right. They do send an upper fan bracket adapter but the radiator is physically bigger and isn't a "Direct plug and play"."
"I just got finished installing a Be Cool direct fit radiator in my '86 Z28. I wanted to review the product so other potential buyers know what they are getting into...The problem is that direct fit is a bit of a misnomer in my opinion. I paid over $500 for it because it was a "direct fit". I could have grabbed a universal aluminum radiator for a bit more than $200. The installation required me to smash two body seams flat with a big hammer. All kinds of wrestling with the power steering lines were required. They needed to be bent in several locations. Using the factory fan was also a royal pain. Spacers had to be fabricated for the lower mounting bolts. Normal hardware store length bolts were too long and hit the cooling fins, so the bolts had to be cut to lenth. The holes in the included adapter plate for the upper radiator/fan mount had to be hogged out to get everything to line up properly. Most of this stuff was relatively minor, but it would have been nice to know up front."
"well so far i'm not too happy. my power steering hardlines will be right up against the radiator on the drivers side if i don't do something with them so i need to figure out what to do to solve that problem."
"the a/n fittings that you have to buy as described above are $5 from becool. they don't go in all the way....at least i haven't without fear of stripping them somehow. this causes the assembly to stick out almost 1/2" further so the stock tranny cooler lines are also hard to line up. for a direct fit it's not very direct fit.....this thing had better cool well when it's done."
A while back, I bought a Pocket prepped C100 / C207 for an '89 Camaro 5-speed from another member. I wanted to see an example of what I would need to do with my C100. Now I think I'm going to re-pin this one to match my '84 Trans Am. I would hate to hack up a good engine harness if I don't have to. So, I bought a new C100 housing from eBay. Then I removed the pins from the '89 harness. I cleaned off the tar with lacquer thinner. After soaking the wires for a day, I disposed of the lacquer thinner in my backyard chiminea. Yes, lacquer thinner is quite flammable. It reminded me of when I blew up my dad's car 29 years ago!
Looks like I need to get a cam sensor extension. Can anyone recommend an A/C high pressure switch and a oil pressure sensor? I removed the VVT/DOD with a delete kit for this engine.
I attached some of the wires from the '89 harness to my new C100 plug today. I'm comparing the new plug to a C100 diagram and my '84 harness. So far so good. This old thread has answered some lingering questions that I had. https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/ltx-...harnesses.html
10-27-2016, 08:55 AM
