Man, that sounds too good to be true! I have a 9 bolt in mine too.

Looks like you are making some nice progress Dan. And SCORE on the wheels!

I agree 100% The only thing I regret bout my swap is not taking the time to paint the engine bay before I threw the 5.3 in

its dark again, so time to call it quits. but she's in



scrubbed up the firewall with some simple green and found there was still a decent bit of paint there. need to touch up the areas where i had some contact with - should be interesting since the rpo sheet's nowhere to be found. but not too worried

also got a shot of the oil pan clearance now



much better with the setbacks and should be looking even nicer once the trans has been completely bolted up.

major job is done, so now i'll just have to tackle the rest a little at a time; working 2 jobs 7 days a week doesn't leave much sunlight for the fun stuff!

I think you just hit the quota for the maximum number of hammers allowed near a car.

at least one was a mallet, I swear!

Feels good to have the engine in the car doesn't it? Feels like it was ages ago for myself. I had so much fun doing the swap I'm actively looking for another decent 3rd gen

Thats funny, dont care who you are

Oh wait...

funny thing is, I already had one in there, but the 6.0 came along and I had to have it. However, I think I'm on the home stretch now. motor's in, accessories all purchased, trans in place. just need to run the fuel lines (already purchased), get the pcm programmed (filling out my info for Frost), get the ls1 brakes on (hubs being machined now) and get the exhaust (another little nudge for Pocket, but no rush )

ok, maybe not *quite* there yet. but maybe I'll get to hear things running soon

Too funny
Great progress Dan, alll that work and you are still making progress. Now that's dedication. Stick with a soft face dead blow and you should be safe.

tonight's hiccup - ls3/l92 rockers do not clear your standard 5.3/5.7/6.0 valve cover (at least on the passenger side). due to the offset rocker arm, the baffles and "walls" in there get in the way. nothing a dremel can't solve with some time and a pack of cutoff wheels, but don't say I didn't warn ya.

small update - tb came in this weekend. this thing is huge - 90mm edelbrock dbc.



who knew my cat loved car toys too?

and for a comparison shot



to think, this is *stock* size for an ls3 - they go up to 102mm!


awaiting another shipment from pace performance (new ls6 valley cover & tb seal) next week and the top of the motor should be back together

small update, more pictures. finally received my package of gaskets and pieces from Pace, so the intake's finally on



also grabbed the revised ls6 valley cover to hopefully do away with any oil in the intake, you can kinda see it poking out in the next photo



turns out the CAI is too small for the massive 90mm tb, so back to the drawing board there. may just do up a home depot special to get things moving, but we'll see.

That should make some power

Man, that looks good!

KEEP GOING... push push

haha, thanks for the encouragement, your setup looks very nice. once we get some nicer weather around here, i can crawl underneath and get started on the fuel system. definitely not a fan of laying in a puddle to run fuel lines.....

Looks nice. Are you running a pcv valve or just the hose from the valley cover?

Keet up the good work, wish I was this far along!! You gonna make a startup video??

the newest LS6 cover (12577927) completely does away with the pcv valve for a fixed orifice hole inside the valley, along with a better drain design (think built-in catch can). Since I had to cut the baffles in the valve covers to clear the L92 rockers, the $66 I spent on the cover setup was well worth not having any oil in the intake

I'm hoping so, but still a little ways off. Removed the factory fuel/vent lines last night and working on dropping the rear and gas tank out. Time for some air tools - those control arm bolts did not want to come off

also should be seeing the LS1 brake parts coming together over the next few days as well

Quick question... Isn't the hose from the valley cover supposed to connect to the valve covers instead of the TB?

nope, but i had to double check this myself, so no worries
you want fresh, metered (post-MAF) going to the valve cover and the "dirty" air going back behind the tb. good photo of the routing (includes a pic of a catch can, but you can get the basic idea) here:

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/9716256-post3.html

huh. okay. I got it. good information. Thanks

Thanks for that info Dan. I'm in that position right now and that thing is a bit cheaper than buying a catch can and looks better to. Where did you buy it from? And did it come with a gasket?

grabbed everything from pace performance, become a big fan of theirs recently:

valley cover (with bolts and gasket) 12577927
pcv (or lack there of) hose 12594779

hope this helps

Hey Dan, even though I am doing my own swap with an LT1, I still read everyone else swap stuff too.

I know you said the home depot CAI. I am doing the ACE Hardware CAI since 4" aluminum tube is stupid expensive. I found that there is lighter weight sewer pipe that has a thinner wall and the 45* fitting I got is actually pretty smooth in the radius. I will do a little cleanup but it was $10 for a 10' section of sewer pipe and a couple of more bucks for a 45* pipe fitting and some pipe cement. Heck with a few more pieces I could run it all down to under the left battery tray in the fender area and get clean air. I got a 4" K&N filter from the Zone. I personally dont like K&N filters for MAF cars but I get a military discount for off the shelf stuff so I walked out with it for $35.

Just my . Keep up the good work.

got the brake hubs back and started modding the spindles for LS1 brakes. here are a couple rough shots to show off for now





still need to do a little more cutting on the spindles and tap the holes for the brackets, hubs need studs pressed back in; both need to be cleaned up and painted.

Going LS1 brakes as well, Sweet!

gotta find a way to bring all that power to stop

nice job so far. i remember when my spindles and hubs looked like that. eventually ill be up to the point of an lsx swap so ill keep an eye on this one. good luck!

did you hammer the back of your k member at all? im using the same plates you (since you suggested them to me) and it seems like theres enough room for like a couple sheets of paper.

Since I don't have a welder, I had one of my friends cut about an inch out from the back to give a little more breathing room. Even with the stiffer poly mounts, there wasn't enough clearance to make me feel safe (cracked pans are not cheap or quick to fix)

pocket's y-pipe and crossmember arrived a couple days ago, looks like i've got some work to do this weekend (and a day off helps!)

things to do this weekend:
-drop rear and replace with pbr/3.27/posi 9bolt
-drop tank, pray its not rusted, swap in walbro & tpi sender
-run braided fuel setup

and if for some reason i'm ahead of schedule (ha!)
-finish ls1 brake mods
-mount up a-arms, kybs, fp strut mounts
-relax?

Hey Dan, are you able to jiggle the brake calipers on that 9 bolt?

I'm having an issue with mine like the slide pins are to small and they have a lot of movement.

If I manage to get that far this weekend, I'll take a look. I've got new rotors for all 4 wheels, but still need to get pads, so I probably won't be touching calipers quite yet. but if there's something you want me to check out, let me know and I'll see what I can do

extra hour of sunlight tonight gave me some time to play. the block got a little more dressed up today - harness laid back out and put in place, manifolds on







it was getting dark, so the flash definitely makes some of the car look messier than it is

also looks like the 9 bolt may not be any good. spun one rotor and it was way too easy to stop the other (all info i found said any less than 35 ft lbs mean time to fix). Not too happy about that one, but it was a $150 pbr 9 bolt, couldn't complain too much. may try to find a decent center and swap it in, who knows

Don't count the 9 bolt out to quickly. I fiddled and turned and twisted on mine every which way I could and I had it struck into my brain that the posi unit was no good. But guess what, it is good. Trust me.

mine appear to be the same way, not sure if thats good or bad for either of us, but mine's just like yours

i see you are running a ls3 intake with a cable throttle body. you will need to get the slp throttle bracket to make you cable fit right. the ls3 cover wont fit unless you want to modify it. your swap is coming out great!

That's an LS2 intake.

that sure doesnt look like an ls2 intake, looks exactly like my ls3 intake.

the ls2 has cathedral ports, the ls3 has square, but both look very similar on the outside otherwise. Since I went with L92 heads, had to go ls3 intake to match the port style. I knew I had to fab up something for the throttle bracket, but I've got a buddy at work (1A) who does all my welding jobs. Between beers and cutting him a killer deal on the LS1 block I used to have, he does great work for cheap

it is an ls3 intake. the ls2 intake is for cathedral port heads not the new square port.

I stand corrected.

Carry on.

getting stuff done little by little, but no real great updates yet. however, did get some goodies to show off until I have something better to post



thumbs up for Founders Performance - quality looking pieces at a really good price. Now if only they made a strut tower brace.....

Dan founders has really nice stuff, i have their camber plates as well, im ordering their double adjustable panhard next week and my suspension is complete. I'll probably post about the panhard rod when i get it.

I love my founders pieces as well

i think you and i are building opposites here - red engine bay & black mounts/suspension (me), black bay & red hardware (you).

a good tip on painting. get some cheap heavy tin foil from the dollar store. you can wrap anything with it. no tape needed. its excellent for wires. pretty much everything.

Dan,
Why aren't there any heat shields on your exhaust manifolds? Do they not clear something?