It was a bitch getting this in and now i feel like its done wrong. Here are some pcitures of the oil pan and k-member. it is a very tight fit? is this normal? also the tranny crossmember doesnt want to fit either, there are pictures below. the tranny crossmember was built by Drews here on the board and i know some people are using it. Please any help would be apprectiated.

Here are the pictures

 

did you get the conversion motor mount brackets? spohn sells them that may be your problem, but the conversions i have seen the pan is very close to cross member

 

Yea i have the Spohn motor mounts. And i dont know what the hell is wrong with my tranny crossmember, its doesnt even seem close to fitting.

 

try doing a search because i have seen other pictures where the oil pan was really close to the cross member and as for the trans i would try to buy the spohn one maybe there motor mounts and cross member are made to work with one another or maybe you got sent the wrong one by accident maybe they send you the auto cross member cause i think there different, i guess thats a few things to check

 

I just put my LS1 in today using spohn motor mounts and it looks exactly like that. It doesnt seem like it will cause much problem but i guess Ill find out when it gets back on the road. I didnt have much problem with my trans crossmember, also spohn, but instead of holding the transmission up it pulled down on it, so I had to do a little shimming. btw yes it was a bitch getting in and my heater box is somewhat destroyed.

here is mine

 

deja vu.. **** spohn and his ****ty mounts that put it too close to the k-member

i just fixed those exact two problems this weekend.. had to slot my mounts and move one side back.. the oil pan does sit really scarry close to the cross member.. about a pinky away on mine.. just like the hawks headers to the ****ing fuel lines.. all the room in the world next to the trans on an m6 but they gotta be right on the frame.. bastards..

the drews mount was a fun little adventure too since its not slotted on the mounting holes.. try it with a ****in bmr torque arm at the same time

it only fits with the stock ls1 mount for one thing..

trick is to mount the center bolt on first just loose so the mounts hanging, have a jack under the tranny to kinda keep it up a bit.. then start the driver side bolts just loose finger tight.. now grab a ****in huge screw driver and slide it into thru thru one of the holes in the mounts then into the bolt holes and then straighten the mount up so you can get the thrid bolt in.. then take the driver out and get the last bolt in..

looks good when its all bolted up gl with the mounts.. id order some new ones from a better source

 

I just got a response back from Steve at Spohn, and he said its always a tight fit and that if they made the engine go back anymore the transmision wouldnt bolt up? so what should i do? do alot of people run the LS1 oil pan this close to the k-member with no problem? or do people run diffrent mounts?

 

It also looks like the hawks headers will be an adventure with the spohn crossbember... and I still have to run lines.

 

it would still bolt up.. the torque arm mount is slotted and i still had about a 1/4" to go back before i ripped it out and tossed it into traffic.. that would make alot of difference in space there, also raise the engine up a 1/4" would help

is your pan touchin on the middle there chris.. kinda looks like it..

hawks has the y-pipe that fits up with their headers.. id use that.. its not gonna get any better

i was gonna take my k-member out and beat the **** outta it to clearance it but i just moved my mounts a touch.. why they arent slotted like that is a ****in mystery

 

yes my oilpan is touching a bit there, I cant adjust them because.. well, they are sort of welded in. With your adjusted ones does your engine touch the firewall? Theres not much room to work with there either.

I have hawks Y pipe buy it doesnt seem to play nicely with spohns crossmember... Ill have to mess with it tomorrow.

 

thats ****ty.. i thought the exhaust was made with the spohn mount on the car

i hate exhaust tho.. last peice til my car is almost completely finished for the second time.. y pipe thru the drews cross member to the tsp rumbler

the clearance in the back is still good.. i didnt move it much.. 1/4" at most was all it took.. jacked up the engine.. took a mount out.. spaced it out with a wrench and then bolted the mount in tight then pulled out the wrench.. no longer restin on the pan.. the way it hops around i didnt want it sittin on the k-member cause I doubt the pan would last too long

 

I thought so also, thats why Im going to mess with it tomorrow. Maybe something isnt lined up quite right. another problem might be that I have the crossmember with driveshaft loop. We'll see

 

What do you mean "spaced it out with a wrench" do you have the spohn mounts? and how exactly did you get the engine to sit farther back?

 

Mines pretty close, i can slide the carboard piece from my russell fittings in between the k-member and oilpan but its close on the passenger side. I'm using prothane mounts though so hopefully it wont have much room to move. My hawks headers fit well though, my only complaint is the #3 primary and the sparkplug wire are touching. I think if i get a differnt set of plugs it will be fine. I'm using a spohn torque arm set up so cant comment on the fit of the trans mount your using. I havent installed my y-pipe yet but know you have to cut a corner off the spohn trans crossmember for clearance.

 

I'm using Spohn engine and trans mounts. The engine sits close to the k member, but i've got 1900 miles on it right now and no issues. My trans mount was slotted and bolted up with no issues, so i'm not much of a help there.

 

My spark plug wire is touching there too.. i have some heat wrap im going to put on that primary and trim the boot a bit or just hope it melts the clearance into it

 

How far back is your tranny? like when you look inside to the shifter hole in the floor is it completly there? my tranny is sitting about 1" back from where i cant see the last 2 bolts to bolt on the shiffter? does anyone have pictures of where there tranny is?

 

I can get you some but it will be later tonight, i had to cut about an 1-1/2" from the rear of the shiftert hole to get the tranny to fit. I hate having to cut on my car, i have had it 8 years but there is no way around it.........jt

 

Ok just making sure i wasnt the only one who will have to do this lol. Yea im deadly afraid of cutting my car unless i absolutly have to, and it looks like i will need to.

 

i had an auto so i had to cut a hole.. the 4th gen shifter hole is much larger and a little further back then the third gen.. i took a template from my donor car and cut it out like that..

without that cut ur tranny isnt gonna be going up far enough to bolt up properly from what i can remember the shifter plate sits above the metal in the tunnel

 

yeah I had to make the hole larger also, used a grinder with a cutting wheel and had no problem, just use something to deflect the sparks from the carpet right there. I managed to fix my oil pan touching the crossmember problem, just shimmed the tranny up about 1/4 inch or so further and now Ive got about 1/8 clearance. Ill try to put up pics tomorrow of that and the hole I cut for the shifter.

 

how did you shim the tranny up? did you just use some metal shim where the trannys rubber mount is?

 

between the trans and the mount I have a peice of 1/4" (i think) sheet metal, between the mount and the crossmember I used pieces of the old LS1 motor mount from the 2002 camaro it came from. I cut off the 2 holes where the motor mount bolt went through then cut them into U shapes, I lifted the trans enough to slip them between the mount and crossmember around the 2 bolts holding it. Ill try to get a pic of that as well tomorrow

 

no one makes oil pans that give you more clearance?

 

well this is what i really needed to hear! i just got a 32,xxx mile 99 ls1 with t56 off ebay, and now it sounds like i have a headache to look forward to...... if a person bought a thirdgen tubular crossmember and bolted the ls1 motor mounts from spohn to them wouldn't that fix any clearance problems?

also have the spohn t56 crossmember too!

 

Mine hits on my 98 Z-28 as well with Pacesetter LT's, it's just a tight spot. I used the factory metal wire sleeves over my MSD wires to protect them from the heat. I'm installing an LS1 in my third gen currently as well but so far my clearances have been acceptable. Luckily too the passenger side coil packs missed the heater box. I used the factory manifolds for now untill I figure out what I want to do as far as a power adder.

 

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I think thats the best way to do it, I have my setup with a tubular k member with spohn motor mounts and spohn trans X member and the conversion was a breeze. I took half a day to drop in the ls1 with the TH350 tranny. The only issue was the hawks lt headers rubing against my fuel lines but all I did was reroute them through the subframe.

 

Did you get the issue solved? I keep forgetting to bring my camera when I work on my car... Ill try to remember it tomorrow

 

I got my tranny X-member in my the tecnique of bending it till it fit, and so its al in the engine is still close to the k-member but ill see hwo well it does.

 

I have had the Spohn mounts in for 2 years and 10K miles and havent had any problem with the oil pan. The clearance on mine is tight too. So I really wouldnt say that the "clearance problem" is actually a problem. My tranny crossmember was one of the easiest things to install on the swap also (auto).

The tight clearance does become a real b!tch when you forget to install the Torque arm bracket before raising up the tranny and bolting it to the motor. If you do this you will find out that there is not enough room to get the top bolt in for the torque arm bracket. You will try to lower the tranny down, tilting the motor up in the process, but the oil pan will hit the K-Member way before the hole is low enough to slide the bolt in. Thus making you unbolt the tranny from the motor and lower it down by itself, install the bracket and start over again.

Ahh the memories.

 

you guys sure make me feel better about the headaches I'm currently going through with my swap!

I have the f-bodymotorsports mounts and trans crossmember. First, we located the mounts wrong and discovered the engine would not fit. (took everything out and relocated them) then got it to fit. barely. I have comparable clearance to the pics shown.

My heaterbox interefered- had to grind that down. My wiper motor interefered, so I had to remove that.

The stock exhaust isn't fitting either. Now I'm going to have to have an exhaust shop cut and reweld everyhting to make it work. oh, and make new O2 bungs, too.

The fuel lines need hacking and reshaping also.

My car was an auto, so making the shifter hole wasn't an issue. I have no idea if it'll align to my console or not. I'll be suprised in the near future.

I'm using the 4th pedals, and even they are difficult to get in. Mainly because everyhitng is welded into one big assembly, however, I don't reccomend cutting it apart as I neede it to locate the clutch cylinder. I discovered the hard way ther'es a one way valve on it so if it's disconnected (like mine was) it won't compress. I thought it was broken and took it out and apart to learn this.

Anyone know how to bleed these things??

Keep at it and best of luck to ya!

-BV

 

on the 4thgen pedals, cut the gas pedal off, and use the 3rdgen gas pedal.
make sure the clutch pedal is from a LS1 car, NOT a LT1 car... the point where the master cyl connects to the pedal is a little lower on a LS1 car, giving more stroke to the master cyl rod..

the holes for the pedals to mount to the brake booster need to be drilled out slightly larger. i reccomend pulling the brake booster and test fitting it outside the car first. (the booster is already unbolted if the pedals are out, just slip the brake master cyl off and pull it out)



to bleed it, i found a trick piece that makes it TONS easier: (quoted from my post on LS1tech)

 

spohn TA mount+hawks headers= pita to run a 3" y pipe.

 

I used the F-Body motorsports mounts and cross member on my LS1/ 6 speed in my '84 T/A. They fit. The passenger side mount I had to dril la 4th hole. the factory corrsmember didn't have one on that side. They have instruction on their website as they installed it into their car. I had ot move the brake line, etc and locate the mounts farter back. It's a tight fit but it does fit and I'm driving the car so I cna say it does work. Just allow ample time to receive your parts as F-Body is a slow shipping company as per my expereinces ordering through them.

 

Well put. Those are just the may reasons that I'd stay with a GEN I or II in and F or Y body.

 

and stay slow. j/k


im not a fan of any place who is slow with their shipping. if you cant get it to me in ample time, dont answer the phone.
they want all their profits and dont care when you receive your parts. way i see it......