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Hello all, first and foremost, thank you all for all of your contributions to this site. Without the people on this forum I would not have this car complete today. Now, on the good stuff-
I was bored at work a few years ago and started looking for a V8 camaro manual with T-Tops, a project that was running/driving, something that might need a paint job and some new parts, maybe some TLC. Well what I fell for was my 87 IROC. It has the T-Tops, and the T5, but it had a '74 350 from truck and it wasnt running well so it was cheap. I picked her up in march of '13 in Milwaukee on a Sunday. The car was originally a loaded red IROC, 305 TPI, T5, power everything, but she needed a lot more than just TLC.
A few pictures of the first day in the garage.
Last edited by tglennon11; 07-17-2017 at 11:19 AM.
A few short days later, I think about a week I found a guy selling a full LT1 pull out from a 94 caddy fleetwood. I picked up the engine, harness and PCM for a song, and then flipped the 350 that came with the car for almost what I had into the LT1. Not a bad deal in my eyes and I decided the car needed to be fuel injected. Over the next few weeks I tore into the LT1, it had good compression by hand cranking it when I picked it up, but I still wanted the peace of mind. So I started bagging and tagging everything, and the harness needed to get reworked so it all had to come off.
After all the stuff was out of the way, I spent quite a bit of time with the wire wheel on a drill cleaning the block, knocking off the rust and grime. Then painted it chevy orange, Im a sucker for Chevy orange.
Then came the real fun part, I pulled the old motor and decided it was time to clean out the engine bay, and of course that stretched to the underside, and the chassis and as usual everything else. We all fall into that problem, well im doing XYZ and its easier to ABC while Im in there.... The body was super clean, kinda, just a few spots of rust, but grimy, dirty, and needed a good cleaning. Nothing a pressure washer, a wire wheel and some elbow grease couldnt take care of-
Once it was all clean it all got a few coats of rustoleum satin black, after all I wanted to learn how to paint a car with this project....
anyone who has gone this far an engine swap knows this picture, the original LT1 harness laid out the table, just trying to get her running before I put too much more time and money into her.
Once the harness was broken down enough to run, and wired to the dash to monitor everything it was time to try. She primed the fuel pump with the first click of the key, and fired on the second try, once I found the clutch switch and made sure it was depressed. Mine you, this was through open headers as I had yet to invest in the exhaust system, and I hadnt bled the coolant system yet. So it ran for about 5 minutes before I shut her down, but everything worked great. She ran, and ran great.
This signaled the green light to tear into everything else. It was time to get the rest of the suspension tightened up and get her ready for paint. So out came the interior, off came the hatch, and the windshield, Ill admit i got a little carried away. Fall was closing in and I thought i might be able to get the first coat of primer on. I was sorely mistaken, but at least I was on my way for the next spring. In the mean time I got the interior pulled and found that nasty smell, and even first sanding done before the winter hit in Chicago. And if anyone remembers the winter of 2013/2014 around here it was nasty, so I didnt spend much time out in the garage.
I also picked up a rear end from a 1998 SS. Had to upgrade the brakes and it needed a rebuild, so it gave me a chance to clean it up, POR15 it, and rebuild the calipers. Caliper rebuild kits are so cheap if you have time and know the cylinders are ok, its really easy.
Also got the calipers for the front end swap as well.
That fall I scored an LT1 style T56 from craigslist, and added it to the swap. Too much hemming and hawing about the T5 holding up, i figured let someone else decide if they wanted to risk it. I scoured the bay, the classifieds here, and craigs for the parts i needed to complete the swap. I had already bought a T5 Pro-5.0 shifter and the nice people let me trade it in for the T56 version. So I spent a few week nights getting everything cleaned up for the install. I sent the tailhousing out for the speedo cable mod to make sure everything worked right.
I also spent too much time looking at Rockauto and amazon and found all new suspension and steering parts, moog tie-rod ends, center link, ball joints, bushings (all of them) end links, tokico illumina struts, and eibach pro-kit, Koni rears, and a spohn pan hard rod, all of these parts were just sitting waiting for the right day to install them all.
So the big install day finally came in late Feb, turned up the heater and called in some help, it was a long day, but my dad, brother, brother in law and I got the T56 in and mounted, the new rear end in place, and the whole front end in place. I still had some loose ends to tie up, but it was a long day.
Heres a few pictures of the new stuff installed
I also had picked up a set of very well worn chrome ZR1's, but after looking for a good powdercoating place, I found that I should go another direction. I picked up a set of machined 17 C5 deep dish wheels and love them.
Last edited by tglennon11; 07-17-2017 at 09:20 AM.
Also over the winter, I recovered the seats with the help from Princess. Man she does great work. The seat covers were of excellent quality and with her instruction they went right on.
The first pictures of the car out in spring of 2014, you can see where some of the bondo work started. Now it was time to get this car painted. And yes, I know the drivers side is sitting way too high, the spring wasnt seated in the pocket correctly, that was fixed later.
Then it was time for primer. I sprayed this in my garage. I got this done right before I got married last summer. So it was nice to get it really straight before I took off. It took a lot of time to get the panels straight. The lower doors were a mess, the body lines needed to get re-created from excessive door dings, and carelessness. But overall I was pretty happy with how the primer came out.
So after three coats of primer, and lots of wet sanding. IT WAS TIME FOR PAINT!
My dad has painted cars occasionally in his garage and we set up his garage like a paint booth, he has a big exhaust fan in the ceiling and we drop plastic from the ceiling around the work area. I borrowed a trailer from a friend to get it to my dads for the big weekend.
I decided on base coat clear coat, Lemans Blue Metallic from 2004 corvettes. Its a great color that has tons of pop.
For anyone wondering I used the Standox System, it laid on great, the recommended nozzle was a little small for the clear and I had to really go slow or it would go on dry, and thats not fun. But all things said and done this was the first car I ever sprayed myself, and I am beyond thrilled with the results.
A few days after paint Dad and I wetsanded the clear and buffed it out with Meguires 105 and polished with 205 using my HF DA polisher.
I started assembling the car as fast as possible, because somewhere in the middle of the car, getting married and moving my wife into the house we found out she was pregnant, and that meant i had a whole bunch of stuff to finish in the house to get ready for baby. So the car got put together, new wheels, body panels on, and packed into the corner of the garage for the winter. These are some of the last pictures of her before I put her away.
And after my son was born I got to slowly start finishing her. Her first trip out of the garage was the 3rd of July, it was a great (bumpy, jerky, clunky, etc) ride. But I was grinning ear to ear. Once that first shakedown was done, I aligned the car in my garage, had to reprogram the PCM for the fans to work and change some parameters based on the engine now running a t56 instead of an auto.
These are some of the pictures from this past weekend after a bath.
I know there are tons of parts I am missing from this build but the details will show in the pictures. I will keep adding things as I remember them.
Just so I can get it all in one post- heres the list
Engine- 94 LT1 Caddy Fleetwood, new seals, gaskets, painted, new intake (yes i know its not a true CAI), I made the new wiring harness myself, using the guides shown on this site. It was a few days, but I got it done, and it looks great. Custom fan shroud radiator mount with 2 electric fans.
Trans- T56 out of a 96 camaro SS, stock, stock clutch and flywheel. Pro 5.0 shifter. "shortened" 4th gen hydraulics attached to thirdgen pedals.
LS1 style brakes, front and LS1 rear end. 3.73 gears
Suspension
Eibach pro-kit, 17" C5 DD wheels, Tokico struts, koni shocks rear, new bushings all around, tubular lower control arms, LCARBS, caster camber plates, Moog steering parts, a arm bushings, and sway bar bushings.
Interior-
New carpet, new seat covers, new drivers side seat foam, double din Phillips App Radio, Grant leather steering wheel, leather wrapped brake ****, T56 shift ****, LED int light conversion, the list goes on.
I got the LT1 package for $450. Talked the guy down a bit and separated the trans from the deal. It was collecting rust in the corner of his garage. I got lucky. In fact most of the parts on this car i got really lucky on price and quality.
Very nice build! You prove that if a guy wants something, and wants to do it himself, that if ya do your research and keep at it, anything can be done. I am very impressed. Not too many ppl out there can do what you did. Imagine all the money you saved doing it yourself. Im sure you have! Your paint laid down really smooth, granted you wet sanded it, it looks great!!
Question: Did you get your paint from the part store? How much did it cost ya and how many quarts did it take?
Thanks Dan, its always nice to hear compliments about your work! I dont want to think about how much shop labor would have cost me, i would think paint alone would have been in the $5-6K range with the materials and charging them 25% of the time it took me....
I bought the paint from a place called Metro Paint Supplies, they have since been purchased by Finishmaster. I just did some searching online for automotive paint supply and found a few in my area. I called them all up and talked with someone who knew their stuff. Told them what I was doing, what i was planning, what i expected as an end result yadda yadda, gear heads are a whole different breed and they usually more than willing to share.
Long story short Metro Paint's Manager sold me on the Standox system, its owned by DuPont. I forget the totals, but IIRC it was about 4 qts of color (had to redo a few panels learning to slow down) But it could have easily been done with 3 qts of color. I used 1 gallon of clear, and 1 gallon of primer. They all reduced at different rates so you get different sprayable amounts with each, but that should get you started on your quoting. And the total bill for just the material, the primer, base, clear, hardeners, reducers etc was just shy $1700. Yes, you read that correctly. But good materials cost a ton, and the metallic basecoat was almost $700 for that gallon. But its one of those things, i knew what i wanted and i didnt want to second guess myself later. The metallic flake looks great on a nice sunny day. Makes it all worth it in the end.
Thanks Eagle- I saw a 2004 vette in that color one sunny day and was sold.
The interior came from princess at lethal interiors, she is a member here, thecovergirl is her handle. Its ultra leather, which is essentially a high grade vinyl that is very very close to leather check out her website for color options etc. She stitched up the covers and i pulled the old upholstery off and put the new ones on. It took a solid 12 hours, and my hands were toast when i was done, but it was well worth it. The new drivers seat foam was essential and it has been great so far, it keeps me fairly well planted through the twisty on-ramps.
Last edited by tglennon11; 08-04-2015 at 05:36 PM.
you can find her at lethalinteriors.com she has some good images of some of her work there and you will find nothing but great reviews of her work on her and other F-body sites.
Thanks for all of the kind words guys. That color really does pop, i need to get some pictures of it out in full daylight.
Eventually i will build up the LT1, probably port polish 1.6rr maybe a light bore to 355, and a mild cam. it will be mostly street driven so my needs dont call for much. Right now i just want to enjoy it as much as i can before the weather turns.
Thanks for all of the kind words guys. That color really does pop, i need to get some pictures of it out in full daylight.
Eventually i will build up the LT1, probably port polish 1.6rr maybe a light bore to 355, and a mild cam. it will be mostly street driven so my needs dont call for much. Right now i just want to enjoy it as much as i can before the weather turns.
I have a similar set up to what you just described and I love it for street driving. 355 zz3 crate engine with LT4 Hotcam and 1.6rr, it pulls hard from idle to 6,000. I'm running an 1,800-2,000 stall with 2.73 gears and it has no problem roasting the tires, when I swap the rear end I'm definitely going to need some stickier tires.
I dont have to pass emissions in IL due to the cars age. Come to think of it im not sure i remember reading a swap article about an emissions legal swap. Maybe hit the LTx LSx swap forum.
well guys it was a long weekend but i got a bunch of stuff done, and of course i didnt have the camera out there with me.
Last week the car left me standing outside of Jewel after a milk run, the NEW cadone opti i put on decided 1k mile was enough and didnt start again. after a few nights of diagnosing it i confirmed it was indeed the optispark. So, after calming down i sprung for the MSD opti replacement, i figured there was no one brand that had great reviews and they are the only ones who developed their own sensor, so why not.
The cause of the original opti failing was a bad water pump drive seal, for those of you that dont know, the LT1 is driven directly off the timing gear and has a little shaft that exits the timing cover. The seal for that is a stiff little teflon number that has to be put on just right or you catch a lip and fold the seal over. And of course to get to it the water pump has to come off, and the car got a coolant flush.... So after three water pump seals i finally got the third to go on correctly, i set the MSD opti in place and gave it a quick start. She roared. Then went about putting everything back together, she got new o2's and an oil change while i was at it.
also during my diagnosis, the fuel pump wasnt holding pressure after priming. and i had a line on of the plastic tanks from an 01 Z28. So after collecting a new pump and level sender for that tank, my dad came over and we swapped out the tanks. to anyone doing that in the future listen closely. DO NOT PLUG OFF THE PRESSURE REGULATOR in the tank of the LS1 car, leave it open. Also the brass plastic to metal fuel couplings work great. After a few other issues and a few hours, and dropping the new tank to remove the plug i fashioned it was time to test her out. She started, held great fuel pressure, and idled like a champ, too bad it was almost 11 by that time and i still had to clean up. test drive tomorrow.
In the mean time, i want to try posting a full size picture-
Last edited by tglennon11; 10-11-2015 at 11:54 PM.
I put in a full 3" exhaust system this weekend. It was well worth the effort, it sounds awesome and maybe its just the sound, but it feels like its pulling all the way through the 5.5k and then some.....
So the details
Magnaflow 12267 from advance auto
DynoMax Tailpipes 43243 and 43244
I used walker 42178 "stack pipe" as a test pipe
Walker 42760 3" elbow to go from the test pipe to the I-pipe
The best part- AP Exhaust X5500 intermediate pipe- Mandrel 3" from the cat all the way over the axle to the muffler.
So the details, the bracket on the X5500 needs to be moved, but if you have a welder its not difficult.
Then just trim everything to fit.
Again, the sound is fantastic, just like everyone says about the Magnaflow muffler, deeper tone at idle, nice cruising, and just loud at WOT. Even a great rumble engine braking/downshifting.
Thanks Eagle- I saw a 2004 vette in that color one sunny day and was sold.
The interior came from princess at lethal interiors, she is a member here, thecovergirl is her handle. Its ultra leather, which is essentially a high grade vinyl that is very very close to leather check out her website for color options etc. She stitched up the covers and i pulled the old upholstery off and put the new ones on. It took a solid 12 hours, and my hands were toast when i was done, but it was well worth it. The new drivers seat foam was essential and it has been great so far, it keeps me fairly well planted through the twisty on-ramps.
Hows the Ultra leather holding up?
I'm trying to decide between it and the real leather.
Do you get new foam for all your seats?
Where did you get it from?
So far really good. i have about 5k miles on them since i finished it last summer. I used the same leather conditioner i use on my daily and it seems to hold up well.
I replaced the drivers side seat foam from classic industries, but used the steamer on the foam trick on the other seats.
Something else to look into is 6liter Eater seats, he has some well reviewed seat assemblies for the front seats. if i had to do it over, i would heavily consider them.
So far really good. i have about 5k miles on them since i finished it last summer. I used the same leather conditioner i use on my daily and it seems to hold up well.
I replaced the drivers side seat foam from classic industries, but used the steamer on the foam trick on the other seats.
Something else to look into is 6liter Eater seats, he has some well reviewed seat assemblies for the front seats. if i had to do it over, i would heavily consider them.
Thanks for the info. What is the steamer foam trick?
I see those 6L seats...5th gen replicas. We're looking to keep somewhat of a period correct seat.
Car looks great by the way. And thanks for posting the info about your paint & materials cost. It adds up quick!
Thanks for the info. What is the steamer foam trick?
I see those 6L seats...5th gen replicas. We're looking to keep somewhat of a period correct seat.
Car looks great by the way. And thanks for posting the info about your paint & materials cost. It adds up quick!
Thanks for the compliments its much appreciated
The costs of body work add up quick, it still hurts when i look back through the receipts, BUT when i see it in the daylight it makes it hurt a little less
While 6LE's 5th-gen replica's are pretty pricey I should have taken a better look at their mid level ones, yes they look like racing seats, but the side bolstering looks much better than ours were from the factory, and I could have had pricess match the seat covers for the rear.
the steamer trick is get a steamer from your favorite home goods store and run it all over the old foam. the hot steam will work its way into the foam and help give it a little more "puff" if you will.
Princess does great work, and will probably explain it to you much better than i have.
So another forum I am on has a member that is trying get into professional automotive photography, Jonathan Salmi. He is trying to build his portfolio and made some time to shoot my car this morning. Anyone in the Chicago area who might want to set up a shoot let me know, and Ill pm you his info.
Last edited by tglennon11; 07-06-2017 at 01:25 PM.
08-02-2015, 11:02 PM
Your paint laid down really smooth, granted you wet sanded it, it looks great!! 
