So I finally got the time and money to do this. I picked up a 92 RS on craigslist while I was deployed to Iraq.

Couple pics of the car




I can't seem to figure out how to upload more than 3 pics. Any ideas why? I must be doing something wrong.

I was able to find a really clean camaro for the swap. This car is almost perfect from bumper to bumper, inside and out. That's even the original paint. It started with a 305tbi and a 5 speed. The car was fun to drive stock. I cant wait to drive it with an LS1/T56.

 

A couple more pics of the car.



Enough of that. On to the swap.

 

I am going to try to take a lot of pics. If there is anything anyone wants to see let me know and I will post them. This is my first real project of any kind, so bare with me. I expect to run into trouble once or twice.

Not a lot happened on day one. Just a basic strip down. Engine and tranny were pulled. Now I have the factory wiring all disconnected, but I cant seem to get it pulled out of the fender.

On to a couple of pics.

Access to a lift was nice.

Even the under side of this thing is clean.

And out with week a$$ 170hp v8.

 

Nice clean car you've got there.

When you upload them like you did, the limit is 3. If you host them like on photobucket.com, you can link them to you're heart's content.

 

Very nice, clean car

good luck with it

-jason

 

So day two wasn't as productive as I wanted it to be. I am taking my time. I really don't want to mess things up. I decided to go with the third gen pedals and swap the pin out of the fourth gen clutch pedal. This was a lot easer than I thought it would be. since I started with a manual I didn't have to pull the pedal assembly. All I had to do is pull the clutch pedal it self. Also the master cylinder and reservoir bolted right in. No cutting holes. Once I got everything ripped out it was time to pull the stock k-member and put in a new spohn performance k-member. This is a really good piece. It was a perfect fit. Even the brake lines bolted to it in there near stock location. The stock a-arms will bolt up also. I'm breaking the bank as it is. hopefully new a-arms and springs will come later down the road.

Still not sure what to do with this mess.


The third gen pedal on the left and the fourth pedal on the right


You can see the third gen pin is thicker.

 

Not much to see as far as the clutch pedal is concerned. A little grinding and a few smacks with a hammer and punch, and wha laa.



The third gen pin sitting next to the pedal. Almost forgot. You have to drill the hole out for the fourth gen pin to fit. I wish I could remember the size. Just start a little small and work your way up until you have a perfect fit.


A little weld and you're done

 

I appreciate the tip five7kid. I've never used photobucket before.

Out with the old
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and in with the new
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Frees up lots of room in the engine bay.
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I still have more to up date, but the shop is about to open up and I have more work to do. Sorry if you're getting board. Lots of pics and not much progress. We'll see what happens today.

 

Great start!!! Mine is almost done, definatly a good idea to start with a 5-speed car, what a pain. Those pics of the clutch pedal pin swap are great, that is about the last thing I have yet to finish off. Just out of curiousity, can you get a pic of the pivot, where the pedal swivels, I think the bushing in mine is crap, there is a lot of play in it (if you grab the pedal, which is in the car, you can make it move around up and down and side to side).

 

I love the car, and I have been wanting one of those K members for along time. I will have to keep an eye on this one

 

Just realized how huge the pics were. My bad.

Got the engine in the other day. It wasn't easy. I decided to put the engine and trans in together through the top. After a lot of convincing and the breaking of my wiper motor, it went in. I was a little worried about putting it out through the bottom. I just wanted to go with what I was familiar with. It can be done, but you have to remove the wiper motor. Or you end up like this.
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I hate breaking stuff.
I did run into a problem with the trans. The original hole in the floor is a little to far forward. I am going to try to notch it out so the shifter fits. Hopefully I can use the original lower boot.

V6canvas, I will get some pics of the pivot today. I don't have it back in the car yet, so I can take the plastic bushings out and get a pic of that to. It sounds like those bushings are toast.

Maybe you can help me with something. I don't know how to hook up the heater core lines. The old 305 had one line going from the radiator to the heater core, and another from the core to the engine. The LS1 has both lines going into the engine. Can I just plug the one on the radiator? If so, has anyone tried to use that nipple for the steam vent line?

Well, that's about it for now. Back to the shop in a little bit. Should get the fuel pump done today. Then on to the fuel lines and wiring. Still need to junk yard a few parts, like the z28 air filter housing. Now on to some pics.

Here's the trans butted up against the trans tunnel.
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Love how clean everything is. Haven't broken a single bolt yet.
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Looking great dude! im thinking about going with an LS1 for my swap i havent decided yet.

 

I've wondered about that. Haven't heard anyone talk about it. I started with an auto car, and haven't yet found a boot to fit over the relatively small hole I made for the T56. Also haven't seen replacement stock 3rd gen manual shifter boots.

I believe that is commonly done. It's what I'm planning on doing.

 

Thanks for getting pictures!!

Coolant hoses: I just got 2 generic hoses that had 'springs' around them that you can bend to the right angle, 2 per hose. I'll ck what size they are, 1 is slightly bigger than the other. Just route them straight from the water pump to the heater core. I haven't set up my steam pipe vent yet, but what I plan on doing is getting a small hose from the steam pipe, put in a inline fitting and put a bigger hose on the fitting on the radiator. Here's a pretty good pic of the heater hoses:



I did the same thing with my wiper motor, I managed to get that motor in and out a couple times, third (and last time) in, snagged the wiper motor. As long as the guts are ok, just get a cover. Some of the guts are non-intermittent, I think all the covers (black outer case) are the same.

 

I have wondered about that myself. I think most evenyone started with an auto trans. I've got to say, Im glad I started with a manual. Much less ripping apart, and less cutting. I will post pics of the trans hole when I get it notched out.

V6Canvas, I noticed you wern't running a/c. Do you know if I have to hook up the bypass valve if I want to keep my a/c. Also I got your pics. I have to load them up still. I will get them posted for you tomorrow.

Thanks for the help and feedback everyone. More pics to come, and hopefully a video of it running in about a week.

 

Nice car man. As for the nipple in the rad and steam line? Yes that'll do just fine and dandy. Shifter hole? Meh it takes a little creative massaging there to get it all in tight and clean. In my case it was pretty easy this time around as i went from auto-t56/crate then from that set up to LS1-m6 so it was already cut. I used an LT1 car boot and mounted it from below... grief at the time but that was looooooong ago.

 

Sorry about the wait man. Here are the pics. This one it is all put together the way it sits in the car.


This one has the sleeve that the bolt runs through and the two plastic bushings.




I hope the pics help man.

 

I am running a/c, just not installed yet in that picture. in fact, when mine was mounted up I noticed a problem, one of the lines faces straight down into the (notched out) cross member. So, I have the compressor installed, but at this point in time, it will no work. I will be going over to my parents house (where the car is) today and I'll take some new pics, with the steam pipe set up.

Thanks for the pictures, it seems like no one I know has the knowledge/time or (in my case) skill to do the stupid clutch pedal mod. I think I'll just deal with a slightly loose pivot for now, if I can get everything else straight. You wouldn't happen to know if the plastic bushings are still available from GM would you??

 

u make it look soo easy

 

I'm not really sure where you can find them. If you can't get them through GM, you might be able to find some generic ones some where. As for the clutch pedal mod. It's really not that hard. If you have access to a grinder a punch and a drill, you can do it your self. If you can't weld you can probably take it to a shop and have them do it. I can't emagine them charging you more than a couple of bucks.

I have been taking a little break for the past couple of days. Need to spend time with the family. Should be hitting it again tomorrow ar the day after. Till then, no pics to update, sorry.

 

I'll see if I can find them through GM, hope so. I guess I'll need to find a 4th gen set of pedals though. I guess I'll see what I can do, maybe the shop I am having it tuned at has an extra set of 4th gen set.

 

Not much accomplished today. I riped apart my councle today and notched out the shifter hole. Not much to tell. I'll let the pics do the talking.







There's a little gap with the original lower boot. It's not real bad, I just can't use one of the original bolts. The boot also fits real tight up against the shifter. I don't have the upper part of the shifter. I didn't get it with the tranny, so I wont know how it fits in the councle for a little while.


That's it for now. Still got more to do, so you know there will be more pics later.

 

Great car you found - and you're making some good progress too. Just a real quick note, if in the future you decide to use an aftermarket shifter, you'll probably find that it'll be necessary to widen that notch just a bit. But like I said, it's looking really good.

 

Great looking car!!!! That thing is super clean and is PERFECT for this swap. Already a 5spd and nothing super special about it to stop you from swapping everything around.

Couple notes... It should be pretty well known that if you have a factory M5 car, you'll need to extend the hole about 1.5" to the rear. You'll want to give yourself some wiggle room here because even with poly mounts it will move around. Even with the stock LS power.

Good call on the pedal pin swap... thats what I did on my last car...exactly the same way. Thirdgen pedals with the 4th gen pin are the way to go in my opinion.

As for the shifter boot, you might want to try a 4th gen boot. For you guys looking for thirdgen lower boots or 4th gen lower boots, try this site.

http://www.tacreationsusa.com/shift_boots.htm

The 4th gen boot's footprint is similar to the thirdgen, except its a little longer, and you can see that the shifter part is moved back. It might make things fit better.

Heater core lines are a straight hook up. Just go from the outlet/inlets on the LS1 right to the heater core.

If you are running a/c, I suggest running a heater control valve. I just started a thread on installing a heater control valve. It works off of the factory vac set up, but is a neater, slimmer valve than the stock style. It just looks better in my opinion...do a search under my name and you'll see it. I think its in the swap forum somewhere...

Good luck getting things together! Thats going to be a nice ride when you're finished. I wish I would have held out for a factory 5spd car...I hated cutting the holes for the clutch bits in both of my cars. Such a pain.

J.

 

Thanks for the tip. I was planning to get something a little nicer later down the road. No problam though, it's easy enough to cut the hole out a little more.

Ghettocruiser, I actually got the clutch pin swap from your thread. I read through most of it before I started mine. Lots of good info there. I will defenantly check out the 4th gen boot and your control valve thread.

No updates today, sorry. Thanks for the good words guys.

 

Not much progress since I brought it home from the shop, and the progress I have been making, there isn't much to take pics of. I did run into problems with my throttle cable. I ordered the LS1 conversion throttle cable from Hawks. The one end fit on the throttle body just fine, but the other end didn't fit my peddle of the peddle that came off the T/A. A little adapting and I made it fit.

This is the peddle end of the cable I ordered.
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And this is my stock cable.
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A little cutting and a couple of cable crimps from AutoZone, and I was good.

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The much to large hole in the fire wall was easy to fix with a couple of washers.
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Maybe these pics are a far stretch for an update, but I don't want anyone to get board. Till next time.

 

Around how much do you guys spend on doing this swaps just wondering

 

I'm into it for about $6000 right now. It's not a cheep project. It can be done cheeper. You don't need the k-member that I bought, and that cost about $600. If you are good at fabing stuff you can get away with making some brackets. That can save you a few hundred as well. I payed $4000 for my engine and trans pull out. You can get it cheeper if you are willing to go with an automatic tranny. Some times you can find deels, you just have to look around. It's a lot of fun, and not something you see every day. If you can afford it, it's worth it in my opinion. If you are looking for a fun swap for less money, the LT1 is a little cheeper.

 

I think i will just buy a fourth gen too and have both a fourthgen and thirdgen camaro

 

great updates!! u couldve also torched the gas pedal and bent it forward

 

Here's the part number for the 4th gen lower shifter boot, I would verify this is the correct one through a dealership or something: 10267518

 

Sorry about the break there. A family emergency kind of put a stall on things. Any ways. I wasn't ready to reprogram my PCM yet, so I made my own VATS bypass module. It wasn't that hard, and it's cheaper than buying one. There is a thread started somewhere over on LS1Tech. Thanks to Ghettocruiser again for helping to get the info out there. Works great.

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Not bad for my first solder job ever.
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And the after math. It's kind of nice. I can unplug it and take with me for extra security.

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I also took care of the steam vent line. It was easy to adapt the small steam vent line in to the heater core line coming out of the top of the radiator.
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Fuel lines also went in nice and easy. Just some adapters from the factory lines to the fuel pressure regulator.
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Set the fuel pressure and double checked the wiring. After that... IT FIRED. It started right up like it had been running the whole time. Still have to do the wiring up right and get looking pretty, as well as exhaust the a/c, and mounting the PCM. Still a lot of work ahead of me. I will Post a vid of it running tomorrow.

 

Glad to hear you got it up and running!!! swap looks good, keep up the good work!

 

Did it surprise you/make you jump when it fired right away like that? I know mine was sitting for like 6 months before I started to work on it, and it shocked the heck out of me when it popped off like it was running every day. I love these motors!!!

Glad to see the thread on the vats bypass helped you out. You'll have to do an experiment to see if your vats sort of just goes away on its own like mine did. Now I dont need the bypass box..haha. Weird.

Looking good!

J.

 

Well, it's been a long time. Lets see if anyone is still interested. I was pretty surprised when it fired right up. Mine had been sitting for about six months to. I took it out for a spin after I got it running. Just to the end of the road and back. I didn't want to take it to far yet. Here's a crappy short of me driving around like an idiot with no hood.

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I managed to mount the PCM under the dash in the stock location. Its not mounted up the greatest, but it stays and I don't have any wires showing. I drilled the hole for the wires under the heater box. Its pretty much dead center in the pic.

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Here's a shot of the wires going through. It's a little tight getting the heater box back in, but it fits.

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The wires are about the perfect length. I did need to extend a couple, but all in all it wasn't that bad.

Once I got all that worked out, I got it down to the exhaust shop and got my y-pipe made. A word of advice. If you are going to drive you car to the shop with no exhaust, make sure you don't have any wires hanging down in front of the open manifold. they will melt.

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Just the wires for the crank censer. No big deal right. Anyways, I got that patched up with out to much trouble, and went on to the gauges.

 

The speedo and tach were pretty straight forward, and the voltmeter just worked. For the coolant temp gauge I got a '98 LS1 temp censer to replace my '02 temp censer. The '98 is a three wire censer where wire three puts out the same signal as the stock third gen censer. Works great for the gauge, but unless I'm wrong the LS1 only has one temp censer, so right now the PCM doesn't know how hot the coolant is. I haven't tried to wire the remaining two wires in to the old plug. It might work. Has anyone tried this yet, or do I have to be the ginny pig. I haven't wired up the oil pressure gauge yet.

Once I got those working I started driving it locally. It seemed to do pretty good, but when I finally got it on a longer road trip (to the other side of the state and back) I got about 15 MPG. That's all highway in 6th gear. WTF. I had a 77 Cadillac with a 425 under the hood that got better mileage than that. So I wired up a data link connector for the OBD II PCM and got HPTuners VCM Suit. Found out my MAF wasn't sending a signal. I'm and idiot. I forgot to hook it up. That only took about a min to fix, and it was back on the road again. It seemed to improve the performance a bit, which was nice, but the gas mileage still sucks. Still trying to work that one out. If anyone has any suggestions I am all ears.

 

Congrats on getting it running! Your way of hooking up the steam vent is exactly what I did. A little bit of hose, a converter, perfect.

 

So which PCM did you use? And How hard is the wiring?

 

Question about that method of running the steam line for you guys. Did you guys delete the heater core? What did you do with the heater hose that went there originally?

 

You will need to use a PCM from an LS1 car. Preferably the one that came with the engine. Your original ECM will not work.

I didn't delete the heater core. The LS1 water pump has two ports on it for the heater core lines. You can run them straight to the heater core. If you don't use the heater core port on the radiator you will have to plug it. Also I don't have the heater bypass valve hooked up yet. You will only need to hook it up if you are planning on using the a/c. If you want a heater bypass valve that looks a little neater than the stock one, ghettocruiser wrote a pretty good thread on it. You should check it out.

 

i cant believe your gas mileage is that bad. even on an untuned ls1 with a big cam i was getting 22 with my s10 in 6th gear. you should easily be getting 25mpg

 

Can you elaborate on these three. Did you adjust the PCM using the tuning software ?

 

Awesome, I completely forgot the LS1 waterpump had 2 ports. I deleted my A/C awhile ago anyways too so this method is gonna be perfect for me. Thanks man!

 

I didn't realize you were right around the corner! Swap looks great. If you need any help with anything, let me know. I'm trying to sort out a trans issues myself but the motor runs great.

Have you datalogged at all to make sure all the sensors are reading correctly?

 

Well, as for the voltmeter, like I said, it just worked. I didn't have to wire it up at all. The speedo is wired straight to the VSS signal from the PCM. The tach is the same. There is a tach output signal from the PCM. I don't remember the pinouts of the top of my head. If you need I can get them for you. How ever you are right. I did have to calibrate them with HPTuners. If you don't want to spring for the software, you can send your PCM in and have it reprogrammed for about half the price. The speedo isn't that far off, but the tach is pretty bad.

I'm not sure how to do that. This stuff is kind of new to me. Maybe we need to get together and help each other out. PM me.

So when I got the exhaust put up, the guys at the shop said I should have 4 o2 censers. So I looked it up in the wiring diagrams and they said the same thing. I only have three. Does any else have the same thing, or am I missing an o2 censer, and does the third one go in front or behind the cat?

Thanks for the good words everyone. Hopefully I have this thing worked out soon.

 

if you are running cats, you need 1 in front and 1 behind each cat (1 cat per side = 2 cats, 4 sensors). However, all the rear sensors do is tell the PCM that the cats work, so you can delete them, delete the codes and save yourself some expense. I suppose if your cat is after the y-pipe (making it almost useless, it needs be be close to the engine to be hot enough to work) you could have 3 sensors, 1 behind the cat and 1 on each manifold.

 

Well, just in case any one was interested. I found the problem. I do have four O2 censers. One was hiding from me under the engine. Once i got the O2 censers hooked up right it ran great. The gas millage is good and it just runs smoother. I did remove both of the rear censers. I've been driving it daily for a couple of weeks now, and I couldn't be happier. Don't know if it will pass emissions... oh well.

 

If you dont mind me asking how much did you spend on the swap

 

Don't mind at all. Sorry about the delay on this, I have been on vacation for a few weeks. It cost me about $6500. I spent $4000 on the engine and trans pull out. There are other things you need to get, like a new fuel pump, a fuel pressure regulator, tranny cross member, motor mounts, and a couple of other odds and ends. There are a lot of little things that add up. I can't remember everything off the top of my head. There are also ways to make it cheaper. You can find better deals on the engine pull out, especially if you are willing to go with an automatic. I did spend a little more than I needed. The engine k-member cost me about $700. You don't need it to do this swap. If you decide to go for it, there is plenty of information on this sight, just look around and ask questions.

 

I seen a T56 and LS1 for $2500 so with that swap so i would spend around $5000