My LS1 swap time
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 876
Likes: 2
From: St. Louis
Car: RS
Engine: LS1
Transmission: T56
Axle/Gears: 9" for the ladies
My LS1 swap time
I said I was keeping a journal of what I did and how long it took me so I thought I would post it.
One big thing to keep in mind here is I only worked on it on weekends.
What that means is if I needed something like the coolant sensor, I didn't waste a saturday going to the parts store and getting the part.
Instead I stopped by and got it during the week on my drive home from work.
I really didn't have a good way to account time for something like that.
So in that respect if your'e trying to get the swap done in continous work days you are going to probably not have as good of results as appear here.
Anyway here's how that went. I do have to say I feel good never doing this swap before and not taking forever on it though.
Pre-swap preparation-Bought HPtuners to remove all the codes (egr, rear 02, evap, vats, etc) before I even began the swap. Reflashed the PCM.
Bought a racetronix(walboro) fuel pump so in the future I don't have to drop the gas tank to add it should future mods require more fuel
Bought LS1 conversion motor mounts from spohn.
Sold the 99SS exhaust, rear axle, leather seats, ZR1/SS wheels to cover costs.
Day 1-Started with complete wrecked LS1 donor car. Removed the rear axle, removed exhaust, removed center console and took shifter handle off. Started unbolting everything under the hood. Disconnected all wiring at the connectors. Both engine and accessory harness are still combined. Unbolted a lot of the stuff under the hood. Getting ready to drop the whole K-member and engine/tranny out the bottom of the car.
Day 2-Removed the rear fuel tank and wiring related to it.
Unbolted the K-member and transmission cross member with a jack under each one.
Lowered the engine and transmission out through the bottom of the car as one piece.
Then wrapped a electric ceiling winch around the brace in front of the radiator and lifted the front of the car up high enough to pull the engine out of the front. Hooked another electric winch from the JD gator bumper up to the jack and pulled the thing out from under the car with a push of a button.
After that I removed the factory exhaust manifolds and started tracing wire from the connectors back to the fuse box.
The amount of wiring is over whelming since I removed both the engine and accessory harness uncut as one piece. Removing unneeded wiring is going to take a long time, since I am using the 4thgen fusebox.
Day 3-Removed the pedals from the 4th gen car I will need for the 91RS because I am going from an auto to a manual. Removed the LS1 front rotors and dual piston calipers which will go on the 91RS also down the road. Drug the car out the back of the shed. It's nothing but a shell now. Only parts I still want off it are the A/C system and dash, but that's later on.
Messed with more of the wiring, it's unbelievable how much wiring there is. Started cutting the wire loom on the engine open and removed extra wires like the rear o2's, egr, a.i.r all the way from the sensor to the PCM. Very time consuming, but it will clean things up a bit.
Day 4-Dropped the rear axle on the 91RS and removed the metal fuel tank. The ls1 fuel level sensor uses a different ohm range then the 3rdgen so I had to spend some time adapting my old fuel level sensor to the LS1 fuel tank bucket.
Installed plastic LS1 fuel tank with walboro fuel pump and 3rdgen fuel level sensor.
Started unbolting stuff in the 91 engine bay to pull the 400sbc and tranny.
Day 5-Dropped the steering wheel and removed the 3rdgen pedals.
Then took the 4th gen pedals, cut off the gas pedal and drilled out 2 holes and mocked them up under the dash so I can tell where to drill holes for the master cylinder.
Removed my hurst dual gate from the center console in preparation for cutting a big hole in it for the 6 speed.
Pulled both the engine and transmission out of the 91 car.
Started to look at removing the motor mounts. Realized what a major PITA it's going to be, said screw it and stopped for the day.
Day 6-Fabrication day. Time to do all the fun stuff that you have to do to make the LS1 fit. First removed the motor mounts. Then put new motor mounts further back toward the firewall. Took a die grinder to the K-member and cut a notch in in so the A/C would clear. Took a hole saw to the firewall and made a place for the clutch master cylinder to come in to the cabin. Cut a small hole in the center console for the manual to come thorough. It will have to be made bigger later.
Removed the fuel line. The 4th gen fuel line has an extra bend in it that doesn't match the 3rdgen one. Cut that bend out.
And the best part of the day. Dropped the LS1 in! Talk about a tight fit. The oil pan touches the k-member but at least it fits!
Day 7-aka waste of a day. The fourth gen clutch master cylinder is going to need some modification to work in the 3rdgen. At least thats my determination after wasting half the day on it.
Did get the 4th gen fuel line cut and spliced and installed in the 3rdgen.
Cut the shifter hole a little bigger.
Day 8&9-installed longtube headers. Cut the clutch rod and made it longer.
None of the stock 3rdgen wiring for the starter or fuel pump is working how it should.
Day-who knows. Got wiring fixed for the fuel pump and starter. Getting hard to keep track of the days. Skulte has blatantly lied to me 4 times about when they are going to send me my crossmember. Been over 5 weeks and it hasn't even shipped even though I was told it would repeatedly. (edit:ironically literally 15mins after I posted this skulte called me to say he shipped it just now) Since I can't really do anything to the car I have been spending my time installing the 4thgen coolant and washer bottles and otherwise tinkering with random stuff out of boredom.
Other then that it starts and runs fine.
But for the cross member I could drive it with open headers as is.
Since what I am doing is not contributing to the completion of the actual swap I don't feel it should be included in the time so at this point I am forced to quit keeping track.
Few pics of carnage under the 4thgen car at www.fquick.com/aaron91rs
One big thing to keep in mind here is I only worked on it on weekends.
What that means is if I needed something like the coolant sensor, I didn't waste a saturday going to the parts store and getting the part.
Instead I stopped by and got it during the week on my drive home from work.
I really didn't have a good way to account time for something like that.
So in that respect if your'e trying to get the swap done in continous work days you are going to probably not have as good of results as appear here.
Anyway here's how that went. I do have to say I feel good never doing this swap before and not taking forever on it though.

Pre-swap preparation-Bought HPtuners to remove all the codes (egr, rear 02, evap, vats, etc) before I even began the swap. Reflashed the PCM.
Bought a racetronix(walboro) fuel pump so in the future I don't have to drop the gas tank to add it should future mods require more fuel
Bought LS1 conversion motor mounts from spohn.
Sold the 99SS exhaust, rear axle, leather seats, ZR1/SS wheels to cover costs.
Day 1-Started with complete wrecked LS1 donor car. Removed the rear axle, removed exhaust, removed center console and took shifter handle off. Started unbolting everything under the hood. Disconnected all wiring at the connectors. Both engine and accessory harness are still combined. Unbolted a lot of the stuff under the hood. Getting ready to drop the whole K-member and engine/tranny out the bottom of the car.
Day 2-Removed the rear fuel tank and wiring related to it.
Unbolted the K-member and transmission cross member with a jack under each one.
Lowered the engine and transmission out through the bottom of the car as one piece.
Then wrapped a electric ceiling winch around the brace in front of the radiator and lifted the front of the car up high enough to pull the engine out of the front. Hooked another electric winch from the JD gator bumper up to the jack and pulled the thing out from under the car with a push of a button.
After that I removed the factory exhaust manifolds and started tracing wire from the connectors back to the fuse box.
The amount of wiring is over whelming since I removed both the engine and accessory harness uncut as one piece. Removing unneeded wiring is going to take a long time, since I am using the 4thgen fusebox.
Day 3-Removed the pedals from the 4th gen car I will need for the 91RS because I am going from an auto to a manual. Removed the LS1 front rotors and dual piston calipers which will go on the 91RS also down the road. Drug the car out the back of the shed. It's nothing but a shell now. Only parts I still want off it are the A/C system and dash, but that's later on.
Messed with more of the wiring, it's unbelievable how much wiring there is. Started cutting the wire loom on the engine open and removed extra wires like the rear o2's, egr, a.i.r all the way from the sensor to the PCM. Very time consuming, but it will clean things up a bit.
Day 4-Dropped the rear axle on the 91RS and removed the metal fuel tank. The ls1 fuel level sensor uses a different ohm range then the 3rdgen so I had to spend some time adapting my old fuel level sensor to the LS1 fuel tank bucket.
Installed plastic LS1 fuel tank with walboro fuel pump and 3rdgen fuel level sensor.
Started unbolting stuff in the 91 engine bay to pull the 400sbc and tranny.
Day 5-Dropped the steering wheel and removed the 3rdgen pedals.
Then took the 4th gen pedals, cut off the gas pedal and drilled out 2 holes and mocked them up under the dash so I can tell where to drill holes for the master cylinder.
Removed my hurst dual gate from the center console in preparation for cutting a big hole in it for the 6 speed.
Pulled both the engine and transmission out of the 91 car.
Started to look at removing the motor mounts. Realized what a major PITA it's going to be, said screw it and stopped for the day.
Day 6-Fabrication day. Time to do all the fun stuff that you have to do to make the LS1 fit. First removed the motor mounts. Then put new motor mounts further back toward the firewall. Took a die grinder to the K-member and cut a notch in in so the A/C would clear. Took a hole saw to the firewall and made a place for the clutch master cylinder to come in to the cabin. Cut a small hole in the center console for the manual to come thorough. It will have to be made bigger later.
Removed the fuel line. The 4th gen fuel line has an extra bend in it that doesn't match the 3rdgen one. Cut that bend out.
And the best part of the day. Dropped the LS1 in! Talk about a tight fit. The oil pan touches the k-member but at least it fits!
Day 7-aka waste of a day. The fourth gen clutch master cylinder is going to need some modification to work in the 3rdgen. At least thats my determination after wasting half the day on it.
Did get the 4th gen fuel line cut and spliced and installed in the 3rdgen.
Cut the shifter hole a little bigger.
Day 8&9-installed longtube headers. Cut the clutch rod and made it longer.
None of the stock 3rdgen wiring for the starter or fuel pump is working how it should.
Day-who knows. Got wiring fixed for the fuel pump and starter. Getting hard to keep track of the days. Skulte has blatantly lied to me 4 times about when they are going to send me my crossmember. Been over 5 weeks and it hasn't even shipped even though I was told it would repeatedly. (edit:ironically literally 15mins after I posted this skulte called me to say he shipped it just now) Since I can't really do anything to the car I have been spending my time installing the 4thgen coolant and washer bottles and otherwise tinkering with random stuff out of boredom.
Other then that it starts and runs fine.
But for the cross member I could drive it with open headers as is.
Since what I am doing is not contributing to the completion of the actual swap I don't feel it should be included in the time so at this point I am forced to quit keeping track.
Few pics of carnage under the 4thgen car at www.fquick.com/aaron91rs
Last edited by Aaron91RS; Jun 5, 2008 at 06:39 PM.
Member
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 209
Likes: 0
From: New Iberia, Louisiana
Car: 1987 Camaro
Engine: V6 2.8L
Transmission: 700R4
Axle/Gears: stock?
Re: My LS1 swap time
What did you have to do to get that gas tank out?
Things needed? Did you just jack up the car?
Thanks.
Things needed? Did you just jack up the car?
Thanks.
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