i know all of this has been said before, but please help a guy out! i am not trying to do anything radical with this swap it is pretty much just going to be a stock iroc with an ls1! and trying to keep it all around the 5K budget!! ok so i have gotten most of what i think i need to do the basic swap! minus a few things that i know i need! i have an 1986 iroc that i am swapping in an 2000 ls1 5.7/ 4L60E. so far i have bought: 1) ls1, trans, ecu and wiring harness $1600 2) spohn k member w/ls1 mounts $580 3) trans cross member $105 4)throttle cable kit $55 5)speedo conversion box $299 6) swap ac lines $150 7) throttle cable bracket $16 i am waiting on a guy to email me back on the gas tank and fuel sending unit/pump! but the biggest thing i am having to most trouble with is picking out a wiring harness, i have looked for weeks at all the posts but most everybody has something different they are doing in the forums and i have read 10 pages of posts on wiring and i am fried! so please i know some of you have used one of these wiring harnesses in your setup! i am trying to figure this out because i know wiring is the most important element for the swap and i want it to look good so here is what i am trying to do, run the 4th gen factory fuel tank and pump, run the ac and stock gauges, and the electrical fan? can some one give me a big kick in that direction? plus i am trying to do this on my own and i am wiring challenged!! anything else i am missing?

some of the other guys use stock fuse boxes, but I recommend a fuse box from current performance. They call it a late model DIY fuse box that is pretty easy to hook up. it comes with documentation. but pretty much its your hook up every wire that has its own distribution pack in the harness to a fuse on that box, add power, ground and an hot-on-ignition source to the fuse box. theres a couple pics of it in my build post if you're interested. I've used it twice so far and I've been pleased with the quality of the product both times.

if your trans an auto or manual? if its a manual I'm selling a standalone wiring harness from a 2000 camaro SS that includes the box, fan wiring, and obdII port. check the classified for more info

eh - I went with Speartech and have been happy thus far. He (Speartech) is really good to talk to on the phone if you run into issues, and I couldn't be happier with the after-sale service (bought another harness for my new 4L60e and it was a great piece for a great price). I've heard good things about the Painless as well. These are the expensive options I suppose, but I'm happy to support vendors supporting our cars

If you arent modifying a stock harness....or using the f-body fuse blocks like I did for a plug and play install...go with Speartech. Hands down.

Its alittle pricey...but WELL worth it. I probably would have held off on the spohn k-member and spent that money on the wiring. But its pretty headache free from what I understand.

Also...I called John at Speartech to ask a couple odd questions about my wiring. I wasnt even a customer and wasnt planning on buying his harness, yet he still stayed on the phone with me for like 15 minutes and got me straightened out on my alt wiring and a couple other things.

That right there makes the price worth it. Great customer support is almost as important as a great product, and with Speartech you'll get both.

Just my $0.02.

J.

P.S. sounds like you have your head on pretty straight with your parts line up. Should be a nice swap since you are getting it all ahead of time. Check out the other swap threads and post up any issues you run into!

ghettocruiser
did u do the fuse box trick in ur 1st or 2nd swap ? where is the thread for ur first swap ? I am guessing thats where u have the wiring info detailed?

Speartech if you want as plug and play as you can get. Plus he does have a great rep for helping out if you get stuck which the more I think about it is probably half his work because there is no real true "plug and play" he just labels it all and gets rid of the unnecessary wires to avoid confusion but you still have to "splice" a few connections into your car. Wiring seems daunting from the outset because theres no way to see the end before you start so its mass confusion.

When you stop thinking about the end and take it one circuit at a time its dead nuts easy. Think about it... What do you need? Fuel... How does fuel get there?.. hmm electric fuel pump so it needs power... where does that come from?... aha here on this pin/wire from the PCM it says fuel pump great... hook it up and thats one circuit done. Next its cooling fans...and on and on and before you know it you have a wired up ready to go car. The real work is doing a neat job of it with nice routing and solder work, heat shrinks etc and from what I've read and heard Speartech does a great job of this too.

Sure there is. Maybe not aftermarket, but if you nab the factory fuse blocks, factory motor harness, factory batter cables (not nec), 4th gen fuel tank with wiring and a couple odds and ends its totally plug and play. No guess work at all. You'll have some extra wires...but its not 100% nec to ditch them all. All you have to do is hook up fuel lines, give it some grounds which are easy to spot, give the fuse blocks battery power, and give the main IGN relay switched 12volts. Viola car will run.

But....I would NEVER just dump in all the extra stuff unless you are doing a full on 4th gen conversion on everything. Speartecs harness is WAY neater and cleaner than my route. but you still have to have a relay/fuse bank somewhere. I actually gave thought to using a premade harness on my second swap, but liked the way things were still "factory". Mine is clean enough for me because its basically a DD. Doesnt have to be a show ready type thing.

screeminchicken: I did the wiring this way from day 1. Both cars. I didnt go into much detail in my threads because I was concentrating on sorting the wiring out soo much I didnt take notes or anything. All I really did was eliminate things I didnt need. No other rewiring was required because it all just plugged in and worked. Just like it did in the donor car. There is also no dedicated thread to my first car. Just a bunch of separate ones. If you search under my name you'll find em.

J.

Hrmmm, my swap doesn't have any underhood fuse box....

My harness uses the factory 3rd gen fuse box... of course, I did have to wait 9 months or so for a 'friend' to build it.

-jason

ok so today i went and picked up my engine and i bought a gas tank and fuel pump with the sending unit for $145, i was quoted $350 from a local junk yard!

so i was wondering does anybody know what wires you have to hook up using a speartech wiring harness, and would it be the same wires with the current performance harness?

Pretty much, if you have the 4th gen engine harness, pick up the underhood fuseblock and use it. With that, there's no guessing where to hook the injector wires, or ignition wires all you have to do is plug the plugs in and provide power to the fuse block from inside the car.

ok i understand there is no per se plug and play!! i think i am going to chance it and try to understand this wiring i am going to get the harness reworked by current performance and then i am going to have to figure out what wires are what for my gauges! i will post pictures of the build later this week when i get my parts in!!

I can tell you that to get the speedo working, you will have to get a Cable-X box since it doesn't have an electric speedo, but is cable driven.

Were all 86 F-bodys supposed to be cable speedo? Or was it just camaros?

I was under the impression that my 86 TA would have a cable speedo...and was surprised to find an electric speedo. Just curious.

The wiring really isnt that bad. You really need the wiring diargrams for your car, and for the donor car. Then its just a matter of picking through it all and taking your time.

Its probably the scariest/most intimidating part of the swap...but its not as bad as it looks.

J.

It's only the Camaro, they didn't go to the electric until they swapped the gauges to the ones like in the '91-'92 models.

Some '86 model 'birds didn't have an electric speedo, my '86 V6 car was cable.

i already bought the converter box for the speedo!

Actually, the later Camaro Berlinettas had the digital dash, '84-'86 I believe it was.

The other Camaros had cable driven speedometers.

do i still need the stock computer for the car? after i get everything installed engine wise?

No.

sorry guys for not posting here in a while, i just started my new job.
i have the engine in and i have the wiring harness in as far, as i can get it for right now. but i still need some info that i am sure you all can help me with.

1. i am using the after market accelerator cable from hawks does anybody have any pictures of how the did theres? ie the fire wall and the gas pedal!

2. does anybody have the wiring diagrams for an 1986 iroc from the firewall forward? i just need to know what color wires i can eliminate and the ones i need to keep for the gauges and such. i had the ls1 harness modified by current performance and it is there stand alone modification!

i appreciate all of the help i am trying to do all of this in my driveway with just me and my girlfriend (spectator).

more pictures of the k member bolted in

some engine pictures!

I cant believe people ship pullouts like that, 2 straps to a pallet and call it good. Seems like an easy way for a bunch of parts to dissappear durring shipping. oh well, keep up on the progress.

andrew,

i didn't have the engine/trans shipped, i went and picked it up since the place was only 200 miles away, that way i could see what kinda place they were running and kinda get a feel for the the product i was getting. and let me tell you they were some great people they deal strictly with lt1/ls1 cars so manly 4th gens and corvettes, gto's and 94-96 impalas and nothing else. they are a private salvage yard out of bristol, pa. there website is http://www.fpartssalvage.com/ they have pretty much anything you need if you want to do any 4th gen mods to your third gen.

Yup...that place has a few diff names. They have a TON of vettes. Their prices are good, and they are decent people to deal with. They are on ebay also under f-parts I believe. Worth the drive to deal with them...

J.

ghetto,

you are right they are also called contemporary corvette, and there ebay id is fparts. great people!

also ghetto i thought i seen that you used a 4th gen tank on your swap and i was wondering if you could send me a few pictures if you have them of your tank wiring and the stuff you pulled off it? and any of the lines?

i have searched and got a little confused by it! so i am just going to ask someone who has done this already...

The 4th gen tank wiring directly matches the 3rdgen wiring except for the fuel tank pressure sensor (Just don't hook anything to it - or plug the hole). It's cake