I am looking to buy a 1990-92 camaro and then getting a 1997+ camaro to be the donar car with a t-56. I want to use the ls1 with a t-56 transmission, how hard is it to to start with a automatic and switch over the the t-56 (it is alot easier to find cheap auto instead od 5 speed). But my major question is how long will this take. I have never done an engine swap but I have a friend that may be able to help me out a little bit with tools and time. How difficult will this swap be and how many hours do you think it will take. I hope to get the two cars before winter is over and then start in the spring.
Thanks

 

I don't recall anyone saying they did a complete LS1 swap in a single weekend. I'd guess most take over a month, with the median somewhere around 3 months.

Are you asking about starting with an auto LS1, or an auto 3rd gen? Regardless, you'd better go with a '98-up 4th gen, because the 97's had LT1's. The problems with starting with an auto LS1 and then getting a T56 for it are two-fold: 1) The PCM won't be tuned for the manual tranny, and the harness won't fit the T56 (transmission-only T56's rarely have the harness with them); and 2) it's usually cheaper to get a complete engine/trans drop-out than it is to buy them separately.

 

Start with an auto third gen. And what takes so long to do the swap? A normal engine trans swap can be done in a week.

 

problem is you're not talking a direct swap here. you have to modify parts (exhaust, kmember sometimes), repin one harness (C100), and completely swap out another (pcm). then there's the fuel system fun (lines, adapters, etc). lots of little stuff to forget and unless you've got a t-boned 4th gen, you're gonna be in and out of the part store buying the little things that make you go "doh". I'm being frugal with my swap, so I'll wait 2+ months for a part to pop up used on 'tech.

if you have every possible part needed for the swap, you could probably do it in a weekend, but it would be quite the feat.

 

I plan on getting a salvage car so I will have most the parts I will just need the custom parts.

 

If you start with an auto 3rd gen, you're going to have to mount pedals & master cylinder, and cut a hole in the tranny tunnel. Doesn't sound like much, but it takes time. It's easier to do if the dash and interior are removed, but removing the dash and interior take time.

I did my LS1/4L60E into an auto '82 in 6 weeks this past summer, pretty much working on it whenever I wasn't working, eating, sleeping, or involved in other regular life activities (like racing). Although I didn't have all of the parts lined up before starting, I never didn't work on it because I was waiting on a part. It was quite a thrashing - I was sleep deprived, took some vacation time to work on it, missed three racing events I had been planning on - and 3 months later there are still things I haven't finished up.

I don't even want to talk about how long the LS1/T56 into a different '82 auto took.

Exhaust and wiring are probably the most time consuming challenges.

 

What about the difficulty? I have never done an engine swap.

 

If you've never done an engine swap, this will def. take more time. Do your research before you get in over your head. Look at some of the stickies in this forum.

 

Your getting in a bit over your head if this is your first time swapping a motor.

However if your bank account is of no importance to you and you don't mind buying all of the specialty parts and have plenty of tools and resources at your fingertips it can go fairly quickly. It is a tough process(I'm in the middle of mine) but could be done in a couple weeks if you give it plenty of attention.

 

On a scale of 1-10 Id rate a LS1 swap a 9.5. Its a ton of work and can get VERY complicated

It took me a week the first time even with all the necessary parts laid out and pre-assembled. About 80 hours of solid labor just swapping parts

 

2 years or so I'd say...



lol

 

If you are in a rush to get it done I would wait till you have the time to burn.... If you go into the project thrashing to get it together...Thats how it will look when its done. Just my .02 -Tim

 

I said I didn't want to talk about how long the LS1/T56 took!!!

 

In my case:

Difficulty: 5.5472 on a scale of 1-10

Time: 74hrs and change

You realize it all depends on how mechanically inclined you are, which we have no way of knowing.


In your case, based on observations from your posts, I'd say:

Difficulty: 10/10

Time: 4 months before you give up and sell it

 

Every swap I've done I've taken the old engine out by saturday and had the ls1 in by sunday night.
That's the easy part. Then you spend the next one or two hundred hours hunting down adapters, wiring, routing lines and hoses, and other little things that take up huge amounts of time.

I completely cut, soder and relenghten a 4th gen fuse box. It takes a couple hours just to disassemble it and a few more to rebuild it.
Know not everyone does it like this. Some just grab all the pink wires and run them to a single ring terminal.
I'm sure it's quicker.

Same idea applies to every aspect from pedals, to fans, to coolant lines.
No one can predict how long it will take you.

 

In my case it's 2 years so far.....


But I guess it will never get done if I don't work on it. It's been on extended hiatus for quite some time now.

 

it took me about a month to complete it. working pretty much on weekends only. the swap itself is quick it's getting it to look good that takes awhile.

 

right there with ya - grabbed a second job to pay for the go fast goodies, now i don't have time to put em in! (not to mention the fun of new england snowstorms)

 

i havent done the swap yet but i plan on starting to dismantle the car for it by the end of march and have it done by early june, weekends to work on it only. All parts will be ready before disassembly, or so i hope! in the mean time, i essentially have to swap all the engine parts to make the L33 work like the LS1. Cheers to pocket, DynoDan,1A Five7 and all the others to helping me out!

 

Yeah wintertime means it's too cold to work in the garage, and summertime I am usually just lazy or working.