92blue

iTrader: (1)

We are currently in the process of getting ready to offer an adapter harness to plug into the factory LT1 harness, and convert it to a standalone setup. Basically, one section will plug into the engine harness connectors and include a fusebox, relays, and fan wiring. Behind the dash, a second section will plug into the factory engine harness connectors, and includes a check engine light, ALDL port, signals for gauge cluster, among other things. This will allow folks to run a factory LT1 harness in any vehicle, without modifying or splicing their factory LT1 harness.

As of this writing, we have built a prototype harness, and have tested its functionality. We are now waiting on some supplies to come in, and are taking care of final design details for assembling them. Obviously, these will be specific to year and transmission, as there are some changes throughout the years. These will also be fully emissions compliant.

We would like to have some input from members that have completed an LT1 retrofit onto a thirdgen or other vehicle. Basically, we have two questions in mind:

1) Most people eliminate VATS from the LT1 PCM, or run a VATS bypass. Is anyone interested in retaining VATS functionality?

2) I'm fairly certain almost no one would be interested in wiring up a skip shift light in a retrofit (for setups with a T56). I haven't heard of many people that have wired up a low oil level light, but it would seem to me to be a nice feature. If the harness had provisions for a low oil level light, how many of you would use it?

We'd like to hear your thoughts/opinions on these issues, or anything else you guys may feel is important.

fire350tpi

I wouldnt mind a low oil level light, but imo its not nessisary

vats i think always needs to be disabled in swaps unless they request

dhirocz

iTrader: (2)

Let me know. I could use one from an LT1 motor into a TPI car. I was planning on buying one. How much are yours?

92blue

iTrader: (1)

I've been debating whether or not to integrate a VATS bypass with every harness, or have it as an add on option.

The low oil level strikes me as something I'd definitely use if I had the chance to without much difficulty, but again, I'm surprised I don't hear many talking about it.

We don't have pricing worked out yet. We have to sit down and calculate the cost of materials and get a better idea on labor time before we have pricing available. At the rate things are going now, we should have them ready to sell sometime in mid to late December.

ACCLR8N

iTrader: (8)

I modified the factory harness to keep all those little features GM put in. I kept the low oil light and VATS in my swap.

My opinion is that your potential customers would rather have it as simple as possible: delete low oil light and include built in VATS bypass.

92blue

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the input from those of you that chimed in. Looks like we are leaving out the low oil level light and having a VATS bypass as a plug in option for the harness.

Should have some pics before long...

dhirocz

iTrader: (2)

OK lemme get this straight. This harness will plug in between where the TPI harness met the factory chassis harness? No splicing needed? Damn sure want one. Like I said, I have a nest of wiring under my dash I need to get cleaned up and would like to go this route consideirng Im going to be putting in a fresh harness. Give me an idea of how much they cost!

I didnt even know female 165 ECM and LT1 PCM connectors existed. I was hoping they did...

BTW the low oil light I was going to put an LED in the dash next to the gage...

92blue

iTrader: (1)

It would be nice if it would be that simple, but thats not going to work. You can't use the TPI harness on an LT1 engine (atleast not without alot of work).

You will have to use an LT1 wiring harness to run an LT1 engine. However, most people buy the engine, tranny, harness, and PCM/ECM as one package. The factory LT1 harness will have three connectors that run to the interior of the car, and one or two connectors by the passenger strut tower (depends on the year).

Our kit will plug into the factory LT1 harness to make it a stand alone system, without splicing the LT1 harness. One piece will plug into the connectors under the hood, which will then run to a relay/fuse box. We have an OEM quality, compact relay/fuse box which we will be using. I do not like the uncovered 4 gang fuse blocks which snap into each other like the ones Painless use on their LT1/LS1 harnesses.

A second piece will plug into the LT1 harness on the dash side, and will include the circuits to run to your cluster, fuel pump relay, ALDL, SES light, etc... There will be some splicing required on this end, theres no way around it.

By the way, female 165 ECM and LT1 connectors do exist, but they are not cheap to obtain, and require soldering.

As far as pricing, seems like $350-$375 is the going rate to convert an LT1 harness to standalone, and that requires removing it from the engine and mailing it out. Pricing is yet to be determined, but I'm expecting our harness to be similarly priced.

dhirocz

iTrader: (2)

You can use the LT1 with a TPI harness but it was different in my case since it's a TPI style intake which can accept a distributor. However I didnt want to keep things that way so I yanked mine to run a LT1 harness. The basics of the two motors are the same, so the difference lies in hiding the difference between the two from the 165 ECM.

Im interested in seeing where this goes. Sounds good to me.

Any idea where to get those connectors you were talking about?

92blue

iTrader: (1)

I can get the connectors, but it would be pointless due to the large quantity they are sold in. I looked into the 165 connectors you are referring to a while back, and it would be $2-$3 for a set, and I would have to order several hundred sets.

Klortho

Basically what 92blue and crew is doing is what I did with mine, I cut the plugs off of an old cut-up dash harness and underhood fusebox from a '95 F-body and spliced those into my bulkhead connector from a V6 car which will seperate unlike a TPI harness and used it, this way my LT1 harness is in one piece and could be used to put the engine back into a 4th gen if I wanted to.

1981LT1

iTrader: (1)

The VATS option is a good thing to keep in mind for those that have the later model camaro's with the coded key. For those like myself that have the earlier body, the harness without the VATS was the obvious choice. I would use the VATS option on a case by case basis for each order that comes in. I admire the time you are taking to do this. I have done several hybrid harnesses and they are not fun.

blad

i think using those two as options would be good. if you make it i WILL buy it so count me IN. BTW i signed onto this forum just to say that you should build it.

92blue

iTrader: (1)

Have not had any time to work on this lately, have had several TPI harnesses to work on this week.

We will be offering the LT1 adapter harness, no question about it. It is a time consuming process to design, locate and order supplies, work out all the details between different years, test, and build template boards. Most of the work is done, I'll post some pics before long, along with more product details.

Thanks to those of you that made suggestions on VATS and the low oil level light. I appreciate your input.

By the way, since it sounds like we are doing everything on our own, I'd like to point out that Trans Am Creations has been working with us with some design ideas, and with testing (we ran Jeff's 94 Firehawk on our adapter harness). A big thank you goes out to Jeff and Brent for their help on this project...

blad

hey when in florida are you located? im in miami and close to TA creations. if you need anything like a test car let me know. BTW i have a lo3 in a 90 silverado with a 700r4 and i have a 95 lt1 out of an impala waiting to go in.

blad

oh by the way, when u do this how do we retrieve trouble codes from the comp? does it go to the same diagnostic port thats already in my truck since their both OBD1?

92blue

iTrader: (1)

Blad, sorry for the delay in replying, I did not notice your posts. We still have minor details to work out, but we have some pics to give you guys an idea of what it will look like.

92blue

iTrader: (1)

The kit will consist of two separate harnesses. The first is the underhood portion. It plugs into the LT1 harness, and runs to a compact relay/fusebox (measures 3.5" tall, 3.75" long, 1.5" wide) center. This houses all the necessary fuses and relays underneath the hood.

The power wires will run to a power distribution post, which will have a lead w/ fusible link running over to the starter to grab power from there.

The picture shows what the harness will look like, but the one pictured is not complete. It is missing the AIR pump wiring, and the cooling fan wiring.

92blue

iTrader: (1)

The second harness will go in the passenger compartment. It will mate up to the LT1 harness connectors, and includes PCM, and backup lamp (for manual trannys only) fuses, fuel pump relay, ALDL port, and check engine light.

Installer would need to wire up one lead to the ignition switch, one for the starter solenoid, and the engine will run. Brake switch lead, park / neutral switch leads (autos only), and leads to run your gauges are part of the harness as well. Final product will have all of these clearly labeled.

Harness has a built in hookup for a VATS bypass module. For those of you that want to run VATS on your swap, VATS input lead is already present on the harness. However, you cannot use a VATS system from a thirdgen. Those put out a 30 hz signal, whereas the LT1 PCMs are going to be looking for a 50 hz signal.

92blue

iTrader: (1)

Just to clarify, this is not an LT1 harness in itself, it simply converts a factory LT1 harness to a standalone setup. It requires a factory LT1 harness to work. This is a universal harness, this means that it can be used to wire up an LT1 in a thirdgen, a truck, Jaguar, pretty much any car you can stick an LT1 in. As such, this will require some splicing, this is not going to plug into the C100 and C207 connectors on a thirdgen (although we will be offering such a harness on a custom order basis at a later date).

They are not yet available for sale, but we expect to have them available before too long. Just wanted to post some pics and clear up some questions, as some of you guys have been inquiring about this for a few weeks.

blad

is there going to be an option to delete the AIR setup? like us fl guys since we dont have emission checks?

92blue

iTrader: (1)

Update:
We have taken a long time to get this in production and ready to sell due to backordered supplies and difficulty in obtaining tooling, but thats all sorted out now. Harnesses are now available for 93-95 LT1 Fbodies with either an Automatic of Manual transmission, without provisions for a smog pump. We will have them with smog provisions later on.

Keep in mind that these are universal harnesses, and require a factory GM LT1harness to work. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
----------
Here is what the harness looks like...

dhirocz

iTrader: (2)

Is it possible to make one of these things plug in between the LT1 harness and the chassis harness, for a spliceless (or close to it) install? I have a generic adapter harness and I really dont like it. I'd rather pay extra for something that just plugs right in or at least something that eliminates alot of the guesswork.

92blue

iTrader: (1)

What kind of adapter harness are you currently using? The ones I have seen just have bare wire ends where you have to splice into the LT1 harness. do you have pictures of what you currently have?

The harness pictured here, will plug into the LT1 harness without modification, but requires splicing into your vehicle's dash at your gauge cluster, ign source, P/N switch, and fuel pump power supply.

We currently have a plug and play LT1 adapter harness specifically for thirdgen Fbodies in the works. It will plug into the dash and firewall bulkhead connectors, as well as the LT1 harness for a splice-free installation, and no wiring to do on your own. However, because of the variability among thirdgens (year, Camaro vs Firebird, tranny type, original engine, etc...) and among the LT1 harnesses (year, and tranny type), there are two many combinations to build and stock each combo. Each will have to be custom made specifically to what you have, which will make it expensive.

We don't have much work left to do before they are available, but these things often take longer than expected due to unforeseen problems that come up in obatining materials, tooling, etc.

Blue1989RS

Looks like a good product! It would have made my swap a bit easier. I like your fuse panel a lot!

92blue

iTrader: (1)

Thank you.

I spent a long time in finding a fusebox I was happy with. Didn't want anything too big, and I wanted it to be a covered, OEM style fusebox. GM actually used this same fusebox on a couple of 90s vehicles.

battman

iTrader: (2)

Any ideas on price yet? I am defiantly interested in one

92blue

iTrader: (1)

Yes, pricing is already set for these, as they are already available for sale. You can see the details on our website... http://tpiparts.net/93_02_wiring