ncdave

Ok back to Fathers day weekend work. We Installed the Plastic 4th gen gas tank, Heat sheild, Exhaust, and 4th gen 3.23 posi rear end. I have a set of 17 inch track day wheels and tires I picked up at the Ecology 1/2 price sale for 85.00 (They are work wheels) normally seen on BMW cars, but my show wheels are a set of 20' IROCS. So i do need a gear change to 3.73. All in good time...

ncdave

We power washed the rear end then shot some black primer on it. We did not want to wast time going to the parts store.





Putting the exhaust up again is lots harder than taking it down! Dont forget the heat sheild!!





Connecting the A-arms. This whole process took about 21/2 hours for the rear and exhaust.





I forgot to mention the EBIACH SPORTLINES we installed with the rear end.

ncdave

I cant forget to mention his edlebrock Pan Hard bar I got out of the junk yard for exactly $7.98

ncdave

That's all for now but tomorrow is another day. We plan on installing the front ball joints and lower control arms so we can move the vehicle to in front of the garage to make it easier to work on. Also the clutch master cylinder and steering column.

ncdave

Happy fathers day to all. My buddy john and I had a productive day. We started the day pressing in new ball joints. we then installed the A arms and added like new Ebiach sportline springs and KYB shocks all found in the junk yard. we topped the front suspension off with a like new set of J&M Products Caster and Camber plates, also from the southern cal junkyards. we also re-positioned the camaro to directly in front of the garage to make it easier to work on the car. We did not get as much done as I had hoped, but all in all not a bad day!

ncdave

John doing some front end work





The sportlines and KYB's look good in there.<br/>I will add the sway bar end links soon.





J&M Products sells these for around 200.00.<br/>I found them used for 20.00





The other side caster and camber plate. We havent tightened anything up yet.





The Engine bay Is comming togeather nicely! Cant wait fot that LS1 to get put in!.





The re positioned car. note the car skates. I highly recomend them. These are from harbor freight I think they were 25.00 each

gm muscle

Great progress, man! You're movin' right along.

ncdave

Thanks GM. I'm still hoping to drop the engine in tomorrow. we will see. I did some touch up paint in the engine bay today as well as put in the Hawks swap engine mounts. i also painted and attached the steering box to the frame. I was pressed for time and embarrisngly forgot to bolt in the motor mounts when I did the A arms so out came the springs again lol. What a pain!

ncdave

ncdave

Greetings LSX fans. Be joyful for I have good news....

ncdave

The LS1 is in! It took less than 4 hours to install the clutch, drop in the engine and attach the T-56

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

Been watching this from the start, nice work.
Who makes those blue ball joint boots? Are they polyurethane?

ncdave

Hi 84 1LE and thanks for dropping by. Those came with the ball joints they are AC DELCO professional series ball joints. I found them on AMAZON for 25.00 each they do look nice!

ncdave

In the beginning their was man... Fast forward Jose starts the process prepping the LS1 to go in.Notice the clutch is installed.





Lifting the motor. You don't need all the fancy gear to do this but it dose make the job easier..





It helped that I had the front nose of the car off to swap a new one on.





We went in and out several tines to find the right angle to put the motor in.





Almost in. Jose has done this process to his car about 6 times for various modifications.





Fits like a glove. Plenty of room on both sides but It did not look that way in the beginning so don't freak when you start the process. keep trying until you find the correct angles in the drop down process.





Bolting it in was a hassle though. The clearance around the a/c compressor at the bottom is tight. The drivers side was a piece of cake.





We bolted up the T56 from below. We started with the clutch already on then the bell housing from below. This was followed by sliding in the t56 which went in easier than these photos show. We did have to rotate the trans a little and then rotate the crank a little but this took only minutes.





Rotating the trans. we used a jack to get it up there. Make sure the car is steady as you will be shaking it some.





A photo of the project area





The engine is still tilted up in this photo because the trans is dose not have the support on yet.





The LS1 looks good in the car and well worth the trouble. Lots still to do before we fire it up but we are getting close!

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

Nice progress. You have a part# on the ball joint?

ncdave

Yes i do. The part number on that ball joint is ACDelco 45D2026 Professional Front Lower Suspension Ball Joint Assembly.(22.94 amazon.com) I hope this helps. They look awesome!

gm muscle

Do you have your tranny in yet? Having the motor mounts take the brunt of an uneven engine can't be good on them.

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

Yes, thanks.Turns out my s10 uses the same too, four on order.

ncdave

Hello and happy 4th to all! I haven't had much time to get anything done to the camaro lately but i have done a little work here and there, The clutch master cylinder is in and that was a bitch indeed, all i can say is if you are adding it to a non clutch car take your time and don't rush it. It was not pretty or easy but slow and steady got the job done with as little frustration as possible.

ncdave

A view from the top of the engine bay down. notice I used a gasket material on this installation. My clutch master cylinder hole was uneven and I wanted to make sure no fumes made it into the cabin.





The view from below the clutch pedal looking up. Sorry to say but my hole was a hack job. Thus the need for the gasket material and a bit of RTV sealant.

shaggysrhs

Keep up the good work. I have a LS1/T56 that is CA smog legal. It's not difficult to do. If you have any questions let me know.

-=Z28=-

iTrader: (3)

Great progress! I just stumbled upon this and couldn't stop reading/looking. Waiting to see more! Careful where/how you store your plastics, especially bumpers and chin. They easily deform in the sun/heat. then when they cool and you try to straighten it out, you will get deep plastic cracks. Also, welding next to glass is not a good idea. (Not nit picking) Again, great work! Takes a certain skill set to be able to do what you are doing.

TPI TERR

iTrader: (9)

nice build thread

ncdave

Thanks Shaggysrhs, I have lots of questions! hank you for stopping by. Did you do a build thread? i would love to see some photos of your car. How was it going through BAR? Did you pass the first time? did you talk to them first befor bringing your car down? How long did it take to get an appointment? Did they look at year of engine and year of computer/ tune? ( I have a non original computer) Thanks for all the help!!

ncdave

Thank you for your kind comments Z28. I am looking for feed back as I have very little around here where i am building. I am really glad to see that people are at least stopping by to take a look at what I am doing.

ncdave

Hello TPI TERR and thanks for the comment. I am a big fan of your car and I respect your opinion. Please stop by often and please feel free to comment!

ncdave

Ok third gen fans I am moving right along. I can see the light at the end of the long tunnel. I am getting ready to start the engine any day now. Ive got the steering column in as well as the engine compartment wireing/ Battery wiring. working on fuel lines today as well as some other under car stuff like e-brake torque arm and whatever else I can get to.

shaggysrhs

I did not do a build thread, but there are plenty of others on here to go off of. I had some pictures of when I was doing the swap but they're on an old broken phone. BAR was not to bad, I was able to get an appointment the week after I called. Did not need to talk to the ref before the appointment. I did have to go twice, I have a GTO k&n intake on a camaro engine they did not like. I had to put a k&n from a camaro/firebird on to pass (hood needs to be removed for fitment). Also the cats did not clear properly and needed to be clocked differently (muffler shop did this), the ref only okayed them because I used oem cats. They did not look into what year the engine/pcm was, just took for what I said it is. They do not perform the smog there only give you a carb sticker so they never even looked at the pcm tune only that the obd2 plug is there and works.

tealman92

Shagg Are you using the stock gauge cluster from your car or an ls1 camaro cluster?

ncdave

I got A few things done today. I replaced the damaged rear end cover and put new posi fluid in. I also installed a new power steering hose. Finially I attempted to mock up the 4th gen fuel lines but no go. I read somewhere that you can use the 4th gen lines but it looks like they will have to be modified to fit properly. (I think I will cut a section out and use compression fittings like other members have. Also since I have switched to a 4th gen posi rear i will need to either get difffrent parking brake cables or modify mine some how. Looking at it from undernith, it looks to be very close to working but definantly diffrent then my old set up.

ncdave

the latest view of the interior





Thanks GM! This bolt was really hard to get to.





The power steering hose needed to be tweeked a bit. Not much clearance here.





The posi looks super clean. no metal or chips in the gears. This posi is 3.23 but I want to later go with 3.73 For the 20 inch wheels I will be running. ( I also have 17s for the track)





This took quite a while to do.





You can see here how the 4th gn fuel lines sweep out to under the frame rail here. This is where I will have to use compression fittings. I am however open to other Ideas of how to get this done.





This is where the 4th gen lines come to. Its close, but once the lines are sectioned with compression fittings it will be a perfect fit.

shaggysrhs

stock gauge cluster. I'm working on getting pictures of the smog equipment but haven't figured out how to post them yet. I did need to wire in a second radiator fan because the pcm looks for 2 fans and will set a dtc if one is not functional ( used hptuners to delete code but only makes check engine light not come on it will still store a code).

shaggysrhs

I used braided fuel lines from fuel filter to a section of metal fuel hose (by side of engine) that I cut off from the donor car. Just made an album in my page with some pics of some smog equipment.

muswp1

Nice job so far...

shaggysrhs

Just did some digging around if you wanted to use flexible braided hose using a/n fittings. Fuel filter adapter is 16x1.5 to -6 a/n like earls performance p/n 991955erl, it needs the o-ring for this adapter (this is for the f-body fuel filter). I didn't get the fuel rail fitting because I didn't know about it when I did the swap but there are adapters like Russell performance p/n 641300. After finding the fuel rail adapter I'm planning on redoing the fuel line so it's braided hose the hole way from filter t return fitting to fuel rail.

ncdave

Thanks for the help shaggy. I tried to view your photos but couldn't maybe to soon? I will try again later. Any thing you can show as far as I can tell would be a first for a California BAR legal 3rd gen.

shaggysrhs

I just tried to make the album again but for whatever reason it's not showing under my profile but it did show up in the gallery link at the top of the site under bar legal ls1/t56 (searched under album). It's mainly random pictures of the cats, intake, air injection and the second fan. If you need any specific photos I can try and get them, the car is currently apart for a trans rebuild.

ncdave

Thanks shaggy, The photos of the cats were very helpfull. Any more if they are on or off the car would be great. I cant thank you enough for the help.

ncdave

I have been slacking lately. small projects have been what has been occupying my time.
I have been laying out the wireing, the doors are almost done. I still need to modify the parking brake system. (Third gen to 4th gen) I finished the brakeline from a third gen rear to the 4th gen rear. jhon and I are going to jump on the stuff that will enable us to start the engine tomorrow, starter wireing grounds etc. also the trans whole (T56 swap) and torque arm, drive shaft etc. Lots of family distractions have been slowing me down in this build. I guess thats to be expected.

ncdave

The old 3rd gen e brake set up. you can simply order a new set of longer 120.00 cables or you can do it the cheap hard way, find a 4th gen car at the wrecking yard, cut its ebrake set up and use all 4th gen cables all the way to the e brake handle.





The door wiring needs to be modified. The window connector is the same from 3rd gen to 4th gen but the window connector needs to be extended to reach the 3rd gen location. the door lock actuator connector needs to be changed from 4th gen to 3rd gen. pulling the wires through the doors was not as easy as I had hoped.





These are 4th gen headlight connectors which need to be changed to the eirlier 3rd gen type





This is the troublesome 4th gen brake line connector. It should be a piece of cake but notice the condition of the threaded connector.

ncdave

We had a busy day today. not everything went as planned but that's the way it goes when you are doing things for the first time and fabricating/improvising. Please don't judge me too harshly, as some of my apparently questionable decisions are driven by the fact that my buddy John will be leaving soon. (back to Florida) Other decisions are driven not by time but by money. I can clearly see re doing some things In the near future like the furl lines when I have time to thoroughly examine the problem. Now is not the time.
Today we worked on two problem areas. the fuel lines and the e brake cables. the fuel system is full of compromises and I am not satisfied with it. the e brake cables had a problem on the drivers side and I need to source a new one from the junk yard tomorrow. We also need to finish the install of the e brake cable bracket which is different then the 3rd gen bracket. we need to weld it to the trans tunnel but the cables need to be installed first to ensure proper fit.
The 4th gen fuel lines were a bit of a bust. while it is possible to use them as is, we determined that it's bet to cut and splice them especially around where they come up into the engine compartment. Check out the photos below.

ncdave

These are the wholes I had to drill out to release the e brake plate in the trans tunnel. Don't forget you have to do this twice(To the one from the donor car as well)





We couldn't complete the install because of this jacked up e brake cable.





A shot of the fuel and brake line routing.





Insted of routing one line of wiring which goes through the firewall on 4th gens I put it through here on the pass side under the fender. I couldn't find a big enough grommet until I took the 3rd gen wires out of the door with the weather protectors and noticed they were the perfect size for my oversize whole.





Huge whole I know. Don't let me loose around a whole saw!





Old and new door connectors. The mirror connectors were a perfect fit with no modifications. These are the window and door lock connectors.





Another shot to clearly show the swap. below is 3rd gen above is the 4th gen that I had to swap/ lengthen.





anyone have an idea what this one is for??





This maybe is a speaker wire? Anyone?

Gecz28

iTrader: (5)

i think that is for the 4th gen door switch, which is located in/near the lock mechanism. the wires just need shortened an connected to the 3rd gen door switch(inside). my door switches were busted up so i had to get some from the junkyard. make sure the 3rd gen switches have 2 pigtails to connect to. i think some just have 1 wire.

and yes the 4 colored wires are for the speakers, i think a monsoon radio

i used an entire 4th gen wiring harness, except for the trunk pull down, which just need a constant hot wired up ( i think lol)

shaggysrhs

Looking good. What other pictures of the cats did you need? They are currently off the car and I can get any angle. If needed I could put them on and take some pictures of fitment.

rdmotors

Thanks for posting your swap info. I pulled everything from my donor BUT that ring mount you have put in. Guess I will have to fab something. I will do the dash swap later all I want to do is get the engine in and running right now. I actually need it to be a daily driver right now since the rest of my cars need repairs. I will be watching your progress and really like the work you have done so far. Best of luck to you.

ncdave

Thanks for looking RD. I have been very busy lately but still working every day on the car. As for the A/C ring, that may be the hardest job of the build. There are certainly easier ways to get your A/C going than the way I did It. Keep watching I am getting close to some big progress point that you will want to see.

ncdave

Two days of rain here in cali in July. Never has happened in the time I have been here since 1986. It really ruined my last weekend of work with my buddy John. (He is leaving for Florida Thursday. Despite this we did still work. We got the Dash brackets made. the drive shaft in as well as the torque arm. The t56 is fully up in position. We also got around to putting the right fender and hood on. today the shifter is in and the tyranny filled. also the dash mounts are finally welded. There was more done please check out the photos below.

ncdave

ncdave

Notice how close the shifter whole is to being the perfect size. Also I added the top mount rubber cover. Next John cuts the hole for the stock 4th gen over flow tank. and finially my son loves to drive! the car is ready for its nose section.

ncdave

My Dash bracket work.





The LS1 aluminum drive shaft. Notice the hawks t56 trans cross member.





Starting to come together. The end is in sight!