So over the past 2 years that I have been stationed in Japan, I have been gathering info and ordering parts to do an LS1 Swap into my 89' IROCZ. I want the car to be seriously streetable, completely reliable, fairly quick, and something out of the ordinary. I have yet to see an LS1 swapped 3rd Gen in NM. So I am about to PCS outta Japan and move to San Diego. I will arrive in ABQ on March 16th and I have 30 days to do this swap before I gotta high tail it outta here and drive to CA. The T56 that was in the car before was an LT1 style and wouldn't work with and LS1 so it has been sold and an LS1 style T56 has been acquired. Anyways here is a list of parts that I have already purchased, and a list of what I still need. I will be updating this thread once I start working on the car and will most likely have questions for the LS swap guys.

Parts I have.
ENGINE
Stock 1998 LS1
Callies Compstar 4" stroker crank
Callies compstar H-Beam Rods
Mahle -6cc forged pistons
Gaskets and bolts
Shortblock built by Performance plus in ABQ.
AFR 205cc Mongoose Heads Milled to 62cc and cleaned
Used center bolt Valve covers
Hawks LSX Throttle Cable
Hawks LSX T56 Swap Cross member
Hawks LSX Swap Motor Mounts
Hawks A/C delete shroud
Hawks LSX Swap fuel lines W/Regulator
Hawks Racetronix Fuel pump
Stand alone wiring harness from ebay member "Techrods" (anyone have experience with these harnesses?)

TRANSMISSON
T56 Tranny
LS1 Bellhousing
Ram billet flywheel
Ram HD Clutch
Pro 5.0 Shifter with Lous short stick
Ram adjustable master cylinder
LS6 slave cylinder
LS1 Driveshaft
LS1 Torque Arm
LS1 Manual trans wiring harness

PARTS I STILL NEED.
Cam
Tune
LS6 intake Mainfold
Exhaust (do shorty f-body headers work?)
Other little odds and ends I am sure I will need to get once I am working on the car.
Some pics to start everything off....

 

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Should be pretty nice when finished! Don't forget about your front engine accessories

 

Thats a heck of a swap on your plate to do in less than a month

It took me a solid week to swap mine and i had everything ready to go

4th gen shorties should work, but why bother. They offer nothing over manifolds aside from extra cost. Go with a LT header, either modified SBC or stainless

While you're thinking of exhaust, dont forget the header-back system. Think of the best routing for it, either outside of the inner frame rails, or hugging the trans with a hump crossmember

Why the hawks fuel system? Its excessively expensive for minimal parts. You can almost build TWO complete tank to LSx rail systems for the price of one hawks frame rail to regulator kits

Have you familiarized yourself with the wiring and common problems following the harness install?

What mounts are you using? Stock K-member? Notch or no? Do you realize the LSx is significantly lighter than the SBC and will raise your front end 2-3"?. Have the AC/non-AC pieces ready?

Theres alot to do

 

I do realize that this is going to be a difficult project to finish so quickly.

I found a set of Shorties for $80 local and they are ceramic coated so that is why I am thinking about going this route. I spent a good chunk of my budget on the Shortblock and heads and unfortunately don't have enough left over for the SSW Long tubes. I figured once I got the major components together and in the car, it would be easier to add things like headers and a FAST intake later on.

I went with the Hawks hump crossmember for max exhaust clearance so I plan on running it close to the trans inside the frame rails then back to the hooker cat back already on the car.

I went with the hawks fuel system kit only because it was the easiest. Swap the pump, disconnect old fuel lines, connect new lines and regulator-DONE.

I have been reading tons about wiring but not actually being around my car and new harness doesn't help much and I am sure i will have some problems. I just hope that they aren't deal breaking problems.

Stock K-member, no notch, hawks mounts. Going to delete the AC and I picked up a hawks heater only shroud.

Plans for lowering the front end will be further down the road when I can afford suspension components. So the weird raised front end will have to do for now.

God, I'm gonna need you on this one....

 

Thanks. I have the stock F-body accesories that came with the engine. I will re-use those.


Pocket-what power steering hoses did you use?

 

High pressure side is stock 4th gen. Low pressure side is stock 3rd gen. BlueZee28's build thread has good pictures of it

Ive never messed with techrods things before, but if its a full stand alone, connect the 12v IGN and fuel pump wire and it will run. Getting the gauges working will be a process, usually aided by all of the connections being in one spot and labeled. Figuring out where to attach them to the stock harness is the job and hopefully the 3rd gen prep thread will get you started

If its not full stand alone, then you job is only slightly more complicated. Youll need to locate the fuse locations in the C207 and reuse the stock relays. Again, not a big deal

 

Pic of the hoses for you. I had to bend the high pressure line back ever so slightly to get the rubber line off the pulley

 

Looks simple enough. Except one thing. I don't have the 4th gen lines. Hopefully I will be able to find one at a junk yard....
Thanks for the help and I am sure I will have questions for you once I jump into everything next week.

 

Advance auto a new one. Its like $20

Id like to see a JY that has LS1s laying around in any condition

 

Definitely reconsider notching your k-member for oil pan clearance. I've got the engine in and am planning on removing the k-member to notch it because the clearance is so tight...it would have been easier with the engine out.

 

The K-member is very tight without a notch, but it clears. The only thing I noticed was I couldnt tilt the trans very far down by dropping the crossmember

Not sure why Id need to do that unless i was removing the trans. Ill drop the drivetrain as a whole before I pull a single piece again

 

Good point, but I was thinking maybe someone grabbed the motor and left the lines on the car like I did.

If it clears, what is the problem?

I will be dropping it in from the top instead of dropping the whole k-member. Any tips to getting it in easily??

 

Beer and band-aids

 

Haha very well.

 

Sounds like "cause and effect" to me. . .

I prefer clear-headed and nitrile or mechanics gloves.

Curious, did you drive in Japan? I was stationed on Okinawa (back in the last century), before they converted to driving on the left side.

 

I did it that way the first time. The only tip I have is notch the cross member beforehand. The next time, I'll be dropping the car onto the engine. Chances of needing to notch the cross member greatly reduced.

FWIW, I'm still waiting for someone to prove to me that 1-3/4" shorties don't produce more power than factory exhaust manifolds. The only information I've seen was old, when only 1-5/8" shorties were available. I have every reason to believe 1-3/4" shorties would be much better than factory exhaust manifolds - I await being proved wrong.

Having said that, I would think 1-5/8" shorties (or factory manifolds) would be a severe restriction on a stroked H/C LS1.

 

I dont think its possible to install the engine/trans from above without the notch. The pan is VERY close

The pan will also rest on the K-member and resist you leaning it downward making access to the bellhousing bolts difficult

 

Mine was put in just this way. You'll have to have a tall cherry picker, remove the windshield washer pump, and tilt the motor nearly vertical. My k is also not notched...yet.

I'm planning on removing the k to notch it due to the tight clearance to the oil pan (I've also got a brake line sitting between the k and the oil pan). I've had some vibration and want to get it taken care of before I launch into another spending spree of car parts.

 

Got some work done and some parts arrived...

 

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and more....man this 3 upload limit kills...

 

Blahhh

 

Parts

 

Yahtzee

 

Its christmas

 

Made some good progress today, pulled the old TPI harness out, pulled the AC stuff out and anything that I didnt need from the engine compartment. Cleaned and painted the engine bay, installed the new Lokar Throttle cable, new 4th gen clutch and brake pedal, new adjustable ram clutch master cylinder, and the LS1 swap motor mounts. Tomorrow I am dropping the fuel tank and installing the Racetronix pump and harness. Pics...

 

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Looking good

Do you have two layers of carpet in there? I see red and black for some reason

 

Host them on photobucket.com, post img links from there, and you can upload to your heart's content.

 

9 images per post via that route. Ecmoticons count as an image

 

Guess I haven't tried that many in one post.

 

Found that out with my wiring threads

No biggie, I write them in notepad and copy in whatever it lets me take at one shot

 

Pocket- Yes the car had a red interior before the gray was put in, and whoever did it, just laid the gray carpet over the red stuff...meh.

Alright today we did the fuel pump, installed the relay and wires for that. Added another motor mount bolt to each side because it was kinda sketchy with only two. Started pulling my steering column apart to tighten the tilt mechanism and stopped mid way through that. Picked up my heads from the machine shop, picked up the vindicator cam from 01ws6 (thanks Isaac), got a shipment from TSP which had my whole valvetrain besides the pushrods which are on back order. The LS6 intake will be here friday, along with the high volume oil pump. The car is ready for it's new engine, which needs to be built first lol. Pics.

 

Blah too much uploading with photobucket...

 

Cam specs are 240/244 .605/.596 113+4

 

That should thump pretty hard

Hope you've got a good tuner in mind

 

Yeah that is a big cam, should've went the 6.0 route.

 

5.7 = 346
6.0 = 366
6.2 = 383

Of course he'd be up to a 408 stroking the 6.0, but thats crazy talk

 

Whoops I forgot he was stroking this thing Still, a 408 would be nice too.

 

Like a fox. . .

 

That cam should go nicely with the extra cubes and better flowing heads I think...

 

I'm doing the same thing this time next year, i'm in korea right now though saving like a madman, luckily i only have a 100$ phone/internet bill and a bit for food a month, the rest is going to a ls3/t56/rear

 

LS6 intake got here Friday, I also picked up the high volume Melling oil pump Friday. THE JUGGERNAUT will be helping build the motor tomorrow so if all goes well, this thing will be done this week. Oh yea and I picked up a set of new GM head bolts today from Phillip. Thanks man!!

So we put most of the motor together today, a few of the LS7 lifters were being little bitches though and getting stuck when you rolled them. These things are brand spanking new WTF?! Gonna call TSP tomorrow and see if they will send me some new ones. Any one have this trouble before? I got them soaking in oil now so if the loosen up by morning I might just use them. Anyways all I have left once I get the lifter thing figured out is, the one head, intake, rockers, and accessories. Here we go...

 

 

Good progress, definatly looking forward to seeing how hawk x-member works with your exhaust, are you using your stock rear brakes?

 

Found a couple more snags. The Callies crank I have is Keyed. The harmonic balancer I have is not. Ordered a new one from Yearwood and had it overnighted. TSP finally got on the ball and sent me confirmation for the lifters. Those will be here on Thursday. I am missing the coil brackets that bolt the coils to the valve covers, and I only have 7 plug wires. I also need flywheel and bellhousing bolts. Anyone have any of these parts lying around?? Today was frustrating to say the least. I did get my water pump, motor mounts, and alternator on though.

 

As long as the balancer is still an interference fit (pressed on) it should fit even with the key

http://www.compnine.com/

Might try a dealer for the coil brackets, they're not very expensive. Match them to your coils because mounting patterns differed between the coils. Hopefully you've got the little harness that connects the coils to the engine harness. Luckily the small harness is a bit more forgiving. 2 versions, LS1 only coils and every other LSx coil made. Thankfully, all interchange with any LSx engine harness

Bellhousing to block bolts are M10x1.5mm x 40mm. Any hardware store will do. Flywheel to crank flange bolts are the same thread, but need to be hardened beyond what you'll find in a hardware store. Ive got a set I can send you. PM me your address