MKKNIGHT

Hi Guys im new here, but been around for alittle while but now stepping things up a gear and thought now is as good as time as ever to join.
Myself im a young guy and been a fan of the 3rd gen car shape since i was around 4 years old but truth be told I didnt know what it was only that it was on Knight Rider, when i was alittle older I twigged what "knight Rider" actually was and it was only a short step and quick google search to discover what the base car was and the rest is history.
Now i dont know how the you guys will react to Knight Rider as im sure most of you are into your 3rd gen without all the flashing lights etc... however i was hooked and my car will be a knight rider replica when its all done and theres nothing you can say that will convince me otherwise lol
With an ever increasing knowledge about the car and the past generations and how the 3rd gen was born i realised that there was no hidding the fact the engine just didn't have the performance that i wanted so i planted in my mind that i would have to change the engine at some point.
The plan was to put an LS1, or LS3 in it as they would give want i wanted, but an offer came up that i couldnt refuse an LT5 within a hour of where i live, so i went to see the guy with my dad and the rest is history i am to become the owner of an LT5 and the intention is to put it into my 84 firebird Trans am.
At the moment its still with its orginal owner in his track day car but in a few weeks the engine will be removed and be on its way to me

I have read this has only been done a few times and i have only seen camaros with it in so a firebird although should not pose any problem you never know. I know they will be problems and whenever your doing something a bit unusual you've got to work the problem and find the best solution you can.

Okay finally alittle about the engine at the moment its in a track day car, its has custom headers and produces alittle over 400hp (apparently), its painted red but will be changed to suit the coloured scheme of my car. I will know more when i have it home. Its has the smallest oil leak that there are known for but runs like a champ and sounds great

Heres a vid of it starting up and reving, be aware this isnt reving hard, barely past 2000rpm the sound is turely amazing and when its properly poked and can be heard miles away!!!


enjoy this is my introduction of myself, my project and my LT5

Ryan

Atilla the Fun

Welcome, and congrats! First, I see no problem fitting it under any stock or aftermarket hood, as they all are better than the '90-'95 ZR1 hood, clearance-wise. Your installation issues should be the exact same as for Camaros.

MKKNIGHT

Thanks for the welcome, I will post pics hopefully as and when, as you can imagine progress will be slow until i have the funds since the LT5 is not a cheap beast lol

MKKNIGHT

Well from the video link you could see that it was still "a car" however this has now changed it is home in my garage.

A few early set backs are that the wiring that was installed was a bit crap and was actually causing the engine to under perfrom, thjis of course will be sorted out, in the coming weeks and months just gonna be getting my head around all the aspects of the engine as well as whats involved in hooking it up to a transmission
the custom made headers are also not what i expected them to be so I wont feel so bad now if i decide to replace them entirely.

another thing is i wasnt gonna go with aircon, purely because of the power drain issue, but it seems the drain isnt as bad as i thought it would be, any thought on this (you guys can chip in)

Atilla the Fun

a/c doesn't drain any power when you turn it off, and the LT5 ZR1s were set up to make the a/c cut out at WOT anyway. Some corvette-specific salvage yard should have the ZF 6-speed from a totalled ZR1, if you don't want to think about adapting a trans. If you want an automatic, GM themselves did adapt a 4L60 to an engineering mule. Will Handzel could help, if you can find a way to contact him.

MKKNIGHT

Thanks..... who is Will Handzel? sorry if this is a stupid question.

Atilla the Fun

Will Handzel used to work for Hot Rod magazine, and drove their Camaro to like 240 mph at Bonneville, before becoming the manager of GM's Performance Parts operations.

Camarslow

Awesome swap man, way to be different.

I'm getting out the popcorn and waiting for more pics.

MKKNIGHT

Oh thanks mate, appreicate the info, yer theres alot to do and gotta have a plan of every other part of the power train before i can think about putting the engine in and out.

We are learning fast as much as we can about the engine (more the things like the a/c, power sterring pump etc... that sorta thing) like I said its gonna be a long road simply beacuse of the amount of money plus shipping of parts.
Well last night me and my dad went out back to garage to seal the engine, to protect it while in storage until funds merit progress again, we took some pics I'll try and post them as its stands now, its really is a good looking engine, but as much as I want to to be done over night It just wont be
(just want to give you guys a heads up to to expect rapid progess....lol)

Atilla the Fun

Be sure to turn the crank about 120 degrees every month, so you don't end up with some springs being weak from their valves being open for months on end.

MKKNIGHT

will do.... I take it 120 is better than 360 degrees so theres even wear

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

The only difference between the LT5 and LT1/4 S6-40 transmission is the input shaft length. The bellhousing is LT5 unique also.

As for putting one in a 3rd gen:

Atilla the Fun

I assumed we all knew the bellhousing pattern is the same.

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

? huh ??

Atilla the Fun

I guess I should've phrased that differently. In such a way as to show what I get for my assuming. I freely acknowledge I haven't seen an LT5 engine or non-L98 ZF myself, but GM knew they would be using the ZF, and with the same ratios in it as the one behind the L98, and the LT5 was a clean sheet design, so why wouldn't it have the traditional bellhousing pattern? Especially with Chevy being so noted for engine interchangeability? But I did note that they had to adapt a 4L60, rather than just bolt it up.

Bullydawg

iTrader: (7)

Should be a nice fun swap. I just hope it doesn't give you too much trouble swapping it in! The LT5 is definitely a quick motor stock. So you should have some fun with it.

jensen73110

iTrader: (4)

Sweet. I love that engine. I almost picked one up on ebay several years ago, but my highest bid didn't meet the reserve price.
Post pics when you get a chance.

I'm reading your posts with an accent.... British? If so I'm sure finding old GM parts over there must be fun.... Where are you sourcing from?

MKKNIGHT

I will, ive been super busy I just need to find all the cables for the camera and the sum spare time.

Your correct im British, and im sourcing the part out of clean fresh air lmao!
nah jks... its just time, money and alot of luck. Also atm every part of the drive train is being replaced, and since it'll be new aftermarket stuff "generally" I might as well go ahead a buy it from the states. For the other stuff Im in a real good area for enginerring and plenty of american business as well.
Theres always gonna be problems, and I have a few already but we'll work the problem and normally end up with something that was better than it orginally was.
e.g The wiring when it was put into the car it has just come out of was shocking (nothin to do with the guy i brought it from) but the guy he had to remove the engine said the second bank of injectors are intermitant, so thats gotta be sorted which atm is my biggest problem so far with the engine, but it can all be fixed.
being in the UK,england to be more precise Lotus are just around the corner lol

pics will come soon

MKKNIGHT

well, its going slow with time and effort on other parts of the project atm, but I took some pictures of the engine, so thought id share them with u guys

oh yer the intake is on the wrong way round to the standard configuration but, thats how it was since it was in a car where it was mid engined.

Stephen

iTrader: (12)

You thinking of using a tubular K-member? Or notching your stock one, like in the pics above?

MKKNIGHT

Yep planning on using a tubular K member, looking like getting the spohns one, they seem to have all the bases covered.
Its on the soon to buy list lol

KSMOOTH

Did you ever finish the LT5 swap???

Zeromitch87

iTrader: (5)

curious myself

novaderrik

probably got it in and running, then got spanked by a stock C5 Corvette at a stoplight..

combatdoc

Please..... My stock 92 ZR-1 puts a spanking on c5's and ls2 c6's and those sweet *** new 5.0's (two yesterday). When you can shift at 7200+ you make up some difference in power, my car dynoed at 362rwhp but it was made to run wide open and accelerate quickly for long periods of time, it is not a 1/4 mile car, best I've seen 13.1 on street tires (does alot of spinning), anyway like most people if you dismiss an LT5 your a fool cause it will hang with today's sports cars and still pull on a few. The biggest problem with LT5 is lack of extra parts and its damn expensive to build one. A stroker crank alone will set you back up to 5G's, then you gotta find a shop that has a clue on how to work on them, (Henderson Performance) I was going to do this swap but I decided on LS swap in my 1991 Z28 due to swap parts readily available, and over all time. I did not want my car down for a year or more trying to figure the fit out. I hope this dude chimes in with pictures of it done or close to done and a good story of how his computer and camera did not work for 6 years thats why no updates.

novaderrik

my uncles modified 92 ZR1 (475ish at the wheels according to the dyno sheet from the place that did the work) was getting absolutely spanked by C5 Z06's when he had it on the big "Donnybrooke" road course at Brainerd a few years ago. granted, it was his first time on a race track so his cornering might not have been up to par, but he said that they were blowing past him on the long front straight like he was sitting still. the only thing that kept him from selling the car and getting a Z06 of his own was that he was so upside down on the car that there was no way he could sell it for anywhere near what he had into it.

dereklicon

Wow... that LT5 is a marvel

MKKNIGHT

In a word no. I still have it in the background, the bits I have done to the car have not been LT5 related, but hoping to change that this year.
There is no excuse for the lack of progress over such a long time, if there was an excuse it would probably go like this...
I was a teenager when I originally started this, without the funds or a good enough plan and definitely a bit too ambitious to do a LT5 swap....
The economic downturn didn't help, but to be honest I needed to get my sh*t sorted anyway and have a few solid years with my head down, so unfortunately just didn't have time for the car.

Anyways none of this is why you came to look at this thread.
The motor has been in and does fit, thought it would based off GMs LT5 Camaro, but never assume... sneaky manufacturers with unlimited budgets can make something very hard look very easy, but I can say It goes in no problem with a tubular K member, even the steering column fitted, but still looking at a smaller diameter one cos... well why not???
Header clearance is okay still unsure if off the shelf headers will fit, will have to look into that a bit more.
One thing you cant fit the stock AC in stock configuration.

You might be right, you might not be... I don't know???
As long as its has decent performance, reliable, rides well n is enjoyable to drive I'll be happy, there is always someone that's faster.


Anyways heres some pics of it in the car, again no excuses for such a lack of progress, but it is what it is!

cosmick

Less about an unlimited budget and more about metal-fab skills with welding and cutting, drilling and tapping, and not worrying about butchering some costly rare parts.