Gtroc86

Ok so it's been a very long time since I was here on tgo ... prob 8 years... but I'm back ready to build another 3rd gen... so I picked up a 86 iroc about 2 years ago and have been waiting to move before I tear it apart completely .. . Well long story short the car is striped to bare bones inside and out ... will be trying to do a low dollar single turbo 5.3l build( motor is only getting ring gap opened up, cam upgrade, valve springs and new lifters and oil pump..motor is already short blocked.)... but first thing I desided to do is the gto dash conversion I'm in Arizona and all the camaro interior parts out here are junk and sun rotten... so when I started pricing out what it will take to get my ugly interior back into shape.. I found out I would spend a retarded amount of money to bring it back and I don't even like the original dash that much lol ... so I started looking at my options 4 gen dash would be nicer than my 3rd gen but again not many quality 20 year old dashes left in az in good condition also I desided I want to get rid of the evap in the engine bay for room and cleaner looking. .. I figured I would look for a even newer dash... thought about 5 gen camaro but don't really like the style... I came across one 3rd gen with rhd gto dash on here and that helped me make the decision. .. so I bought the dash with ac box center console door panels column firewall and trans tunnel. From a 06 gto.. got a hell of a deal from the body shop next to my work... 200 bucks for everything! So this thread is just a heads up to what will be coming in the next Few weeks will take lots of pics as I go and try my best to let everyone know how I did everything that way if anyone else wants to try and take on this conversion they will have an additional source. Oh mine will be left hand drive not rhd...

alex722607

iTrader: (3)

subscribed.... I really like the RHD one, so I think yours will be excellent

Swagmoneylord

I will deff be following this build. I want new interior in my 91 camaro very excited to see how this goes

Gtroc86

Ok small update... still in the process of taking the gto all apart and from the advice of LX_SS on here I desided to take the entire body harness with dash harness and door harness's and everything I think I might need from the goat... so it's taking a bit of time now only working on it about an hour after work everyday ... cool thing is the gto was a manual trans car and that is what my 86 will be and there were a lot of little parts I thought were gone but found them all In the trunk so that's a plus for me oh and I found the key in the car so that was shocking to find also..... I will still have to find a gto engine harness and ecu still though but I think that will be it for parts to source. .. will take some pics of the 86 striped down tomorrow and see if I can figure out how to post them up on here...

Swagmoneylord

Check out this place called "Ls candy shop" they're located in upstate I've talked to the guy many times it's a junk yard but only for cars with ls

Bullydawg

iTrader: (7)

In for updates as I was planning a 4th gen dash swap on my Iroc, but this might be a cool upgrade instead.

Gtroc86

Got the dash cover pulled and all the stuff attached ... still have to get the rest of the body harness ac box and window motors then i can start cutting the firewall and trans tunnel out





Column and steering wheel... will be cool to have telicoping wheel lol and the steering wheel controls..i might have messed up the ignition switch though there is no connector to it and i poped the 3 little tabs on the sides and the whole switch fell apart... have all the pieces though and looks like it will pop back together hopefully it will work right after... we will see





Door pannels look sweet from my understanding they will have to be modified to fit our doors i will prob do the mods to get them fitting good then just have them rewraped





Clutch and brake pedals will have to get the gas pedal still also got the clutch master cyl brake booster and brake master cyl





Other half of colum and random stuff





Cluster...





Cant see it too well but this is the 86 iroc firewall all striped down (inside vew )





Firewall outside view... once i get the gto firewall all cut out of the gto i can start my plan of attack trying to deside if it would be easier to cut the whole firewall and trans tunnel together or do the fire wall get it all in place then do the trans tunnel...

84LsxZ28

In for progress. I've always wanted to do a swap like this, never have the time though.

Gtroc86

Well got the ac box and the window regulators today just need the body harness and then i can cut the friewall from the gto

LX_SS

You shouldn't need to cut the firewall out, In the Australian Counterpart, it is simply held in with sealant and 1 main bolt per A-Pillar.

Gtroc86

Ok so update today it took me a while but I got the hard parts out the firewall which was a pain cutting the sealant that holds it in and the trans tunnel which wasn't that hard but our sawsall batterys at work would dye after about 3 mins of cutting lol don't think I'll use the whole tunnel but I took all I could lol... also got the rear harness and the rest of the dash harness and fuse boxes had to cut part of the front harness because it was crushed between the frame rail but got the connector ends on the other side of it...

Gtroc86

Firewall finally removed from gto





Trans tunnel wont be using all of it but just took what i could...was told u dont have to do the tunnel conversion that our tunnel could be adapted to work with everything but i thought this would be better to located all the mounting points on the center console and the ebrake handle too...





This is the dash harness and fuse box under dash the harness cant be removed unless the fire wall is taken out kinda sucked wish they would have made it 2 parts... the other side goes to the engine bay fuse box and the harness wraps around the front of the gto to the fans and headlights ect... part of my harness was cut off i beleve where the engine harness conects to this one and i had to cut 2 connectors i beleve were to the driver side headlight because the frame was crushed around the harnes





This lovely pile is the whole rear harness to the car the large white connector on the right of the pic is where it connects to the main dash harness ... good thing i like wiring lol

alltwocents

Keep it going.

Gtroc86

Well I have made a little progress with the over all build ... and lots of changes ... I have cut the fire wall out and I have a friend from work that was supposed to build my roll cage and front loop with custom strut towers ... well I cut out everything up front except the frame rails ... and my coworker got let go and now I can't get a hold of him... so... I'm was kind of screwed but I decided to teach my self some roll cage design and chassis design so I'll be picking up a tig welder and a tube bender probably feb. Or march... I'm building my own frame rails and sub frame connectors first then will start the roll cage then I can finally figure out the gto firewall placement and build the front loop... I will be running a motor plate in the rear of the 5.3l and will be making a cross member to support the front motor mounts and will build front suspension mounting points off my frame rails and still going to run struts so I can just get rid of the k member all together don't know yet if that's a great I deal yet or not or I'll just make a tubular one...... I will post pics of where it's at as of right now when I get home tonight... been working like 60hrs. A week lately so it's hard to work on it right now...

As u can see here not much left of the front end... i cut out where the spring perch was in the frame to allow better angles for the strut and so i can box in the sheet metal frame rails with 1/8 in plate i left the hood mounting points for reference points and measurements i took

This is where the spring pocket was in the frame where the k member went... i also welded the whole seam where the strut tower and inner fender meet the frame rail before i cut off the pocket because once you cut out the inner fender/strut tower the frame rail is split open where all the sheet metal meets also had k member and wonder bar in for the welding to keep things in place

Oh and another reason for boxing in the sheet metal... my frame is all cracked up where the gear box mounts and looks to have been poorly repaired repeatedly. .. lol

This is how i made templates that i will transfer to the 1/8 in plate... its foam board thats the same thickness the new frame will carry-on down the whole trans tunnel like the original then the sub frame connectors will tie into it and connect the front to the rear... this all has to be done before i start the roll cage work. This is where the project is at as of now... going to seam weld the remaining sheet metal before welding in the new frame sections...

Crazy because none of this was in the original plan... my buddy talked me into the roll cage and front loop and he was doing all the labor for free to build up his street car portfolio (he mainly does circle track cars)all I had to do is buy all the supplies lol ... now I get to spend about 3grand on new tools for building roll cages lol I don't care though I love tools haha...

tylercamaro

iTrader: (1)

awesome work so far, keep it coming, this seems like marowofls build that i wish hed do something with

roadthrills

This, my friend, is a very ambitious project. I'm in!

broke91firebird

Definitely interested to see how this comes out. Should be awesome when done!

Gtroc86

Passenger side still have to weld up seams and make a plate for the bottom of the rails also left provisions to run a gear box and idler arm set up if i want...

Gtroc86

Driver side you can see where the new gear box mounting will be shouldnt have any issuse with frame cracking anymore lol

Gtroc86

Here is where i cut the passenger floor for the 2inx3in subframe connector to pass through so it will be even with the driver side .. I used my plasma cuter and it does look bad lol but I will fix it... let just say you shouldn't be drinking and playing with a plasma cutter lol



Passenger side rear sub frame connector



Gto door handle driver side ... wish it didnt distort so much when welded in but with a little heat and a body hammer should take minimal filler to fix up... havent desided if i want to put the gto latches and striker in or modify the camaro one to accept the lock actuator wouldnt be hard but my latches and strikers have a good amount of wear on them from wasted door hinges... also if anyone knows what the factory panel gaps around the door to body and door to fender let me know ...

Gtroc86

My plasma cutter i bought ... just dont tell my girlfriend lol she doesnt know yet haha... its good up to 3/8ths in. so not a crazy heavy duty one but works good for what i do..oh and my 2 refrigerators that are stuck in my garage till my car rolls again lol wish I planned that better...always in my way.. .

Gtroc86

This is the tig welder i ended up buying for when i start the roll cage its a 200amp ac/dc so it will be good for aluminum too when i get to the point of innercooler piping ect. Still in the learning phase for now only tig welded once before i got this lol... and yes i got shafted buying a welder from matco so please dont bring it up lol it still hurts...

rsrmoore

Love it.

ThirdGen1984

iTrader: (1)

subbed, interested to see how it turns out!!

83RDRACR

GTroc86, very ambitious project. From dash swap to total front end redesign. I take it you are staying with a factory type strut suspension and gear box steering. You will need a very strong K-member to locate the lower control arms and handle the loads of the front springs and the various suspension forces. If you have not done away with the stock mounting points on the bottom of the frame rails you could use one of the tubular aftermarket k-members already setup for LS mounts.
http://www.bmrsuspension.com/?page=p...360&superpro=0

I too gutted the front end except the frame rails, but installed a 4th gen front suspension and rack and pinion along with a 12 point cage. You can check out the build here https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/fabr...d-racer-6.html

Maybe get some bracing ideas. My chassis has turned out to be very stiff to torsional loads.

here is pic of front frame bracing.

Rioux

Great job

jbalzola

iTrader: (1)

any updates on this?