My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
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Car: 1992 firebird
Engine: 3.1.... soon to be... bigger.
Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
Axle/Gears: I havent a clue.
My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
This car is my first. My now wife and I bought it back in 2011, many cars and trucks have come and gone, but it’s been my pride and joy ever since.
The old engine made it over 300k miles with only maintenance!
But all all things must come to an end...
The old engine made it over 300k miles with only maintenance!
But all all things must come to an end...
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Car: 1992 firebird
Engine: 3.1.... soon to be... bigger.
Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
Axle/Gears: I havent a clue.
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
Out with the old.....
I cleaned and painted the engine bay while I was in there..
I cleaned and painted the engine bay while I was in there..
Last edited by minigunz; 11-02-2018 at 05:32 AM. Reason: Mispelling
#3
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Car: 1992 firebird
Engine: 3.1.... soon to be... bigger.
Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
Axle/Gears: I havent a clue.
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
Years ago I bought a wrecked donor z28....
this engine was rebuilt with new slugs bearings and all arp hardware.
this engine was rebuilt with new slugs bearings and all arp hardware.
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Car: 1992 firebird
Engine: 3.1.... soon to be... bigger.
Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
Axle/Gears: I havent a clue.
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
I picked up the t56 from a garage sale for $500... and in the nature of all car projects everything sat for about 3 years until funds were aquired...
but when they were,
but when they were,
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Car: 1992 firebird
Engine: 3.1.... soon to be... bigger.
Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
Axle/Gears: I havent a clue.
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
And now finally, after years, it was time to assemble... but quickly because fort hoods HOAs are horrible, the following pics happened in the course of 3 days...
The culmination...
...Of years...
...Of hard work...
...And my very understanding bank (wife)....
The culmination...
...Of years...
...Of hard work...
...And my very understanding bank (wife)....
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Car: 1992 firebird
Engine: 3.1.... soon to be... bigger.
Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
Axle/Gears: I havent a clue.
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
On day three started wiring...
Preparing the ls1 engine harness... (shoutout to pocket for all those awesome write ups..)
This is the engine bay stripped down to basic powers and grounds harness..
Laying and routing every.. single.. wire..
Preparing the ls1 engine harness... (shoutout to pocket for all those awesome write ups..)
This is the engine bay stripped down to basic powers and grounds harness..
Laying and routing every.. single.. wire..
#7
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Car: 1992 firebird
Engine: 3.1.... soon to be... bigger.
Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
Axle/Gears: I havent a clue.
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
After fighting engine mounts and all sorts of other shenanigans that night ... (sorry for the links.. it was a live FB vid)
and at 0500 the next morning... the first start
the only issue I had with the harness, was that I mixed the two wires for the coolant temp sensor. It was reading like -90* lol... I’ll be honest it took me quite a while to figure that one out... but after I did...
and then basically the final running product... after three long days....
Facebook Post
and at 0500 the next morning... the first start
Facebook Post
the only issue I had with the harness, was that I mixed the two wires for the coolant temp sensor. It was reading like -90* lol... I’ll be honest it took me quite a while to figure that one out... but after I did...
Facebook Post
Facebook Post
and then basically the final running product... after three long days....
Last edited by minigunz; 11-02-2018 at 07:11 AM.
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Car: 1992 firebird
Engine: 3.1.... soon to be... bigger.
Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
Axle/Gears: I havent a clue.
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
After the full exhaust and a decent street tune by yours truly....
It runs pretty decent as of now and I learned so much doing this swap .. I have tons of random pics and a few extras on my YouTube page... I would like this to be inspiration for anybody that wants to do this but doesn't think they can... It took me quite a few years, but I did it, my wife helped me along the way and we grew a little closer because of this car....
Thanks for looking, more pics to come soon...
It runs pretty decent as of now and I learned so much doing this swap .. I have tons of random pics and a few extras on my YouTube page... I would like this to be inspiration for anybody that wants to do this but doesn't think they can... It took me quite a few years, but I did it, my wife helped me along the way and we grew a little closer because of this car....
Thanks for looking, more pics to come soon...
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Car: 1985 Z28 & 1997 Z28 SS SLP
Engine: Sbc 305 TPI & LT1
Transmission: 700r4 and A4
Axle/Gears: 9 bolt Posi 323 & Posi 323
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
great story, Hats off to you and the wife!!!!!!
#10
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Car: 1992 firebird
Engine: 3.1.... soon to be... bigger.
Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
Axle/Gears: I havent a clue.
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
I forgot to post this vid,
Pulling the engine out of the donor car... by hand...
Pulling the engine out of the donor car... by hand...
#11
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Car: 1992 firebird
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Car: 84 Berlinetta
Engine: LR4
Transmission: Auto
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
Awesome. Did you do anything to the engine or just rebuilt with stock parts? What headers are those?
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Car: 1989-92 FORMULA350 305 92 Hawkclone
Engine: 4++,350 & 305 CIs
Transmission: 700R4 4800 vig 18th700R4 t56 ZF6 T5
Axle/Gears: 3.70 9"ford alum chunk,dana44,9bolt
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
Awesome!
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Engine: 3.1.... soon to be... bigger.
Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
Axle/Gears: I havent a clue.
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
She’s a lil rowdy...
Last edited by minigunz; 11-02-2018 at 05:13 PM.
#16
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Car: 1992 firebird
Engine: 3.1.... soon to be... bigger.
Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
Axle/Gears: I havent a clue.
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
Forgot to mention I picked up a set of these bad boys a few months back off facebook for $250, I’m going to have them restored and mount some 225/55r15s on them.
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Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
Awesome,that was a fast swap.
Last edited by LT1/TA; 11-03-2018 at 10:59 AM.
#20
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Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
I may have missed it,what kind of exhaust do you have?
#21
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Car: 1992 firebird
Engine: 3.1.... soon to be... bigger.
Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
Axle/Gears: I havent a clue.
#22
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Car: 1992 firebird
Engine: 3.1.... soon to be... bigger.
Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
Axle/Gears: I havent a clue.
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
its a set of speed engineering 1 7/8 primary headers with 3 inch collectors, from there it’s a custom 3inch y pipe (a lot like the hawks one) and then 3 inch straight to the quad corvette tips you see in the back. No cats, no resonators.
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Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
Axle/Gears: I havent a clue.
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Car: 84 Berlinetta
Engine: LR4
Transmission: Auto
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
its a stock bore aluminum LS1, forged coated pistons (STD bore) clevite bearings, ARP mains, caps, headbolts. Heads are hand ported 243s with a comp cams XR275HR-12 bumpstick. I wanted it to spin really, really fast Headers are the stainless 1 7/8 inch speed engineering headers. They have 3 in collectors and the fit and finish of these is out of the park for the $300 shipped I got them for. They blue quite a bit, but they are headers so I don’t mind. It’s supposed to be fast, not look pretty lol
She’s a lil rowdy...
#26
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Car: 1992 firebird
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Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
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#28
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Engine: 3.1.... soon to be... bigger.
Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
Axle/Gears: I havent a clue.
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
I actually installed these headers with the engine and trans bolted in the car as well... then installed the starter after that!
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Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
ebay has been having quite a few 15% off days lately, haven't seen the 20% since that time but that's still a nice discount and I've used it on several other parts.
#30
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Car: 1992 firebird
Engine: 3.1.... soon to be... bigger.
Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
Axle/Gears: I havent a clue.
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
interesting... hopefully this promo is still going when I get back to the states... I need a posi diff and a few other misc parts. As of now I’m still running the v6 open rear and all 4 coil springs are sacked out... it’s all nickel and diming from here. I may do an LSA supercharger swap later on.
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Car: 84 Berlinetta
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Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
interesting... hopefully this promo is still going when I get back to the states... I need a posi diff and a few other misc parts. As of now I’m still running the v6 open rear and all 4 coil springs are sacked out... it’s all nickel and diming from here. I may do an LSA supercharger swap later on.
#32
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Car: 1992 firebird
Engine: 3.1.... soon to be... bigger.
Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
Axle/Gears: I havent a clue.
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
unfortunately, I’ve still got about 4 months left in my rotation, so itll be about 5.5 months before I can get moving on her again, until then she sits in storage 😞
#33
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
Thanks for sharing, its definitely inspiring.
Doing a very similar swap outside Detroit. 91 V6 RS . Pulled T56/LS1 from 04 GTO. Ported 243 heads/cam from Thompson Motorsports, with 590" lift cam on single springs. Found a 9 bolt posi with 3.70 rear swapped in and cones appear intact !
Just pulled the 3.1L this weekend...
Thanks for serving, and stay safe.
Doing a very similar swap outside Detroit. 91 V6 RS . Pulled T56/LS1 from 04 GTO. Ported 243 heads/cam from Thompson Motorsports, with 590" lift cam on single springs. Found a 9 bolt posi with 3.70 rear swapped in and cones appear intact !
Just pulled the 3.1L this weekend...
Thanks for serving, and stay safe.
#34
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Car: 1992 firebird
Engine: 3.1.... soon to be... bigger.
Transmission: 700r4, looking for t5
Axle/Gears: I havent a clue.
Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
Thanks for sharing, its definitely inspiring.
Doing a very similar swap outside Detroit. 91 V6 RS . Pulled T56/LS1 from 04 GTO. Ported 243 heads/cam from Thompson Motorsports, with 590" lift cam on single springs. Found a 9 bolt posi with 3.70 rear swapped in and cones appear intact !
Just pulled the 3.1L this weekend...
Thanks for serving, and stay safe.
Doing a very similar swap outside Detroit. 91 V6 RS . Pulled T56/LS1 from 04 GTO. Ported 243 heads/cam from Thompson Motorsports, with 590" lift cam on single springs. Found a 9 bolt posi with 3.70 rear swapped in and cones appear intact !
Just pulled the 3.1L this weekend...
Thanks for serving, and stay safe.
Thanks for your support,
The GTO Powertrain is such a good find, I wanted one for the front drive but they are so expensive... I’m still trying to decide what I Want to do with the rear end, I could swap in a 4th gen rear but I’ll loose tire width. I think I’ll just go with a drop in posi. My stock 3:23s are such great highway gears... It does 80 mph at about 1600 rpm lol..
heres my cam cam card I forgot to post:
#36
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Re: My (kinda shade tree) 1992 firebird LS swap
great write up . im doing a 5.3 in my car next spring . i hope it goes as smoth as yours
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