finally got my engine running today. it took me longer than i thought it would(don't they all!) but between this forum and ls1 tech i thought it was pretty straight forward. pockets and ghetto post where really helpful!

i am going to put it up for the winter but at least i can relax because everything worked guages etc. i have plenty of work left cutting and rerouting wires, fuel lines etc.

heres a couple of pics of the swap.

 

Congrats on the milestone man!





(And thanks for reminding me of how long my own build is taking...)

 

Looks great!!

Living the Dream!!!!!!!!

 

Congrats!

If it fired, you're farther along than I (start date 2/08).

 

by the way. i used a plug and play harness i bought off ebay from a seller named lsthunder. the harness fit was perfect and very easy to install. the seller also answered my questions very quickly. i believe i paid around 400 for the harness. it came with a cd of instruction, relays, fuses and a custom programed pcm. highly recommended! between that harness and pockets thread on 3rd gen harness the wiring was easy!

 

Wow. I haven't priced harnesses in a while, but if I'm remembering correctly, that's a great price...

 

Yeah thats cheap! I paid $150 for mine and another $300~ or so to get it modified.

 

i have seen his harness assy's go for as low as $350.00 to $500.00 plus.

 

That sounds like an AWESOME price if the harness is nice and it works. It looks like they gave you a good amount more for the PCM harness too. So you can mount it inside without issue.

Swap is looking clean and so is your car! Especially that interior! Congrats on getting it to fire!

J.

 

You sure lsthunder was the guy's username? I just did a search and ebay doesn't recognize that username.

 

sorry it's : chevythunder_ls1 he doesn't have them on there all the time, so check occasionally.

 

is that a GTO power steering setup? does it play nicely with the f-body stuff?

GTO CAI as well?

what upper rad hose are you using?

 

I think those are the CTS-V accessories. (I might be wrong but I thought I remembered that from another thread he posted)

 

yes they are gto accessories. i used the iroc power steering pressure and return /cooler line. the iroc lines fit nicely with the gto power steering i did not have to bend the line at all. gto cai and it is the turbo trans am rad. line(i got the part number here). the gto accessories work well except the alternator plug is different than the fbody harness.

 

turbo transam upper radiator hose eh? hmm...that may just solve my upper hose problems.

how are you running the coolant purge line? where are you running it to?

 

i did the waterpump mod for the coolent hose.

 

oh, is that what that little nipple is on the top of the water pump?

 

yes. it connects with the coolent crossover.

 

i'll do that when i get my new upper rad hose, lol! i used a 01 camaro upper hose, and made a manifold for the coolant purge to go into with some 1 5/8" roll-bar tubing, and a brass nipple, then i spliced it in to the upper rad hose. wasn't a bad idea, but it's not the best way to do it i don't think. it's not very clean looking, and i had to stretch the crap out of my rad hose, and i think it compromised the integrity of the hose. one of the cool things about these motors is that they are relatively reliable per the HP they make, so i want the car to be reliable enough to make a decently long trip (at least a 3 hour one) no reason to do things that will cause reliability issues, ya know?

 

I made the 8 hour drive down to OBX with my 87 shortly after finishing. Not only was the t-topless, loud, fast ride down absolutely fantastic, but I didnt have one single issue. No overheating, no clutch issues, no leaks...nothing. AND...I wasnt the worst MPG vehicle on the trip. In fact, my car did almost as well as some of the smaller cars that were in the caravan.

The ONLY motor I trust more than an LS1 at this point...is the venerable 4.0 Inline six Jeep motor. Ive seen those things perform some amazing mechanical feats...like running perfectly fine while one of the pistons is missing most of its skirt and half the rings. Talk about a tank of a motor.

I digress... Im using the 4th gen rad...so steam line hook up was easy for me. However..I hate that steam line. Its two different diameters of hose. So its clamped in the middle. And it runs across all the other hoses. Ive been trying to figure out a good way to clean that up, but havent really gotten anything nailed down.

J.