Hi,

I am doing a swap right now in my 1988 Camaro and I am putting in a 2000 5.3L truck motor into the car with a 1998 Camaro 4L60E. I was going to instal the motor and the trans and when I went to bolt the 2 up there is about a 1/2" gap in between the motor and the trans and the torque converter is fulling engaged. I have looked on the forum here and I have read that the crank is longer than what it should be but I was wondering if anyone makes an adapter that I can put on the trans to make it work or do I have to swap the crank out?

Thanks,
Dan

 

The crank flange is only longer on the 99-00 6.0L engines

Use either a Fbody or truck 4L60E flexplate, it should be dished and not flat

Also be sure thats a LS series trans by glancing at the bellhousing. LS have a 360* bell and older units have only the top half

 

Ok I did not know that. I have the LS trans bc it does have the 360* bellhousing. By any chance is there any difference in the bellhousings from a v6 camaro and a v8 ls camaro? I have a ls1 flexplate and a ls1 torque converter but its just not wanting to line up.

Thanks,
Dan

 

V6's use the 60* bellhousing. The bolt pattern is completely off

 

Thats odd. I measured it today and it seems that I am about an 1/8 of an inch off from making the two mate up. I am really puzzled at how this is not lining up. The bellhousing lines up to all the bolt holes but it seems like the bellhousing is not as deep as it should be. I am an totally lost as to why this thing is not lining up!!!

 

Sounds like your converter isnt fully seated onto the pump

 

Thats what I thought but I had a friend of mine come over who works on transmissions and he said that it is fully engaged. He is even puzzled as to why it wont line up. I do have a 2002 Yukon with a 5.3L in it and there is a noticeable size difference between the bellhousing on the Yukon and the one for my Camaro. I measured it the best I could and it came out to be a difference of about a 1/2" so I'm really thinking that my bellhousing is too short and not deep enough. But I want to be certain of this before I go out and spend 50 to 60 bucks on one and it doesn't solve the issue.

 

Are you sure about your flexplate?

 

Yes I am positive about my flexplate. I did a little more research and I found out that the bellhousing that I have is for a V6 car and not a V8. So I am picking up my V8 bellhousing tmrw at a local tranny shop. I found that the biggest difference visually about the 2 is that the V6 bellhousing does not have a bolt hole in the 12 o'clock position and the v8 has a bolt hole in the 12 o'clock position. And then there is the difference in depth but that is not all the noticable without measuring.

 

Maybe it was the bell housing for / from a 4.3L V6 full size half ton pickup?

 

Why are you using a V6 trans behind the V8?

 

Solved the problem. It was the bellhousing and I picked up a V8 bellhousing and it all worked out perfectly! The reason I am using a V6 tranny is not by my own doing. I bought the transmission for a guy that told me he had it rebuilt and it was out of a 1998 Camaro with an LS1 in it. The deal was really good and so I bought it but now with all of this stuff that went on I found out it was a v6 tranny. But I'm not too worried about it bc I am considering swaping a t56 into it when I pull the motor back out this winter to install the cam and all the other goodies.

Thanks for all the help!
Dan

 

the v6 guts are the same as the v8 guts anyway, and if its the v6 torque converter it'll probably stall around 3000

 

you know after reading this tread it solved my problem because my situation is exactly like you said and i bought it in the exact same manner. what did you ask for at the tranny shop for the bellhousing

 

Well I'm glad you found it helpful! TGO has been a life saver for me during my swap! I called and asked the tranny shop for a bellhousing out of a 5.3l truck or ls1 camaro/trans am. It has to have the bolt whole in the 12 o'clock position to be a v8 bellhousing! make sure that it has it!

Dan