***EDIT*** Start up video on Page 4 Post#166. Attached you will find all the documentation used to complete this swap in Excel format. Everything from part numbers to wiring and everything in between. This is info that is available on this board, but it is spread out over many many threads so I simply consolidated the information into one document.

Many many thanks to Pocket for putting up with me and answering my seemingly endless questions. Also a big thank you to the rest of the guys offering help and advice, you know who you are.
http://www.fileden.com/files/2012/1/28/3256163//LSx Conversion_1.zip<---------see post #220 for working link

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I'm doing this swap for my kid and he's not supposed to know about it. So far so good...I think

I figured I'd start a swap thread where I can keep my questions in one place and maybe help someone else down the road that might have the same type of issues. I've tried to take as many pictures as I could as I've gone along, but sometimes I get so wrapped up in what I am doing that I sometimes forget.

Anyway, I've attached the rundown of parts. Should give guys who want to do a swap a decent idea of what costs are involved. Of course I'm using some parts that others might be able to skip. This should be fairly complete for everything you need for a swap but I will update it as I add parts.

Started with an '87 Formula carbureted 305 and 700R4. LQ4 with 4L60E getting the workload from now on. So on with the pics.




Started with this:

After untangling some of the harness:

Yanked the engine, forgot about the evap tube behind the cylinder head and couldn't figure out why the engine wouldn't come out

So of course yanking the engine back and forth I busted the wiper cover

Old engine, suspect blown head gasket as the coolant kept mysteriously disappearing

Wiring harness gone

3rd Gen harness. Already have C207 separated in the corner

 

Merging with 2006 Blue/Green Truck harness

Engine bay scrubbed down

K-Member notch

Another shot of notch

Made templates


I decided to use more of a box architecture for a little added strength and some extra welds for reinforcements. Here you can see where I how I welded. In this pic there is a missing weld on the front of the K-member but I did add it after the pic was taken

Another shot

 

Finished notch. Not the most aesthetically pleasing but very functional and strong. Weld not cleaned up yet in this pic

A little ghetto masking.In primer after scuffing everything with 320 grit

After color

Notch after paint

Unmasked

Another shot

 

So now the car is ready to receive it's new power plant. Picked up this LQ4. A little dirty but nothing a good cleaning won't take care of


Popped the heads off. Not too bad. looks a lot worse that it actually was. Cross hatching looked like it was machined yesterday

Heads disassembled (almost)

The guy told me that the engine ran fine but had a "tick" on No.7, wonder why?

Anyone want a cam? Custom grind.

 

Again, forgot to take some pictures after disassembling and cleaning.Replaced bearings, didn't really need to but figured since I had it down this far I might as well. Anyway, here it is primered


And a little color

New cam (LS6) This pic is out of order but figured I'D throw it in

New cam,LS2 chain, windage tray and pickup tube installed.

And went to torque down the pickup tube bolt and for some unknown reason it decided to **** the bed. Only supposed to be torqued to 12Nm but still broke, you can see the threads that let go towards the head of the bolt. So that stopped my progress for the night. Need to go buy a new one.

 

awesome thread.. thanks for the meticulous documentation. I'm just starting my build and I'm not that familiar with LSx engines or the conversion process so this step by step breakdown is extremely helpful.

 

nice job on the parts list, scary how the list grows and the tab adds up when you actually keep track of everything. good luck on your swap!

 

Looks awesome! That spreadsheet is very nice! Really gives a good breakdown of all the swap costs involved and what you should expect when you want to do something like this! My numbers are very similar.

 

Thanks guys. Yes, it's amazing how fast the list and costs grow. Should be pretty close to being done with the shopping though.

Question:

Does anyone know if the oil pressure sensor at the back of the engine can be reused or do I need to get an LS1 sensor? I'm planning on splicing on a 1 wire connector on from an LS1, but the LQ4 sensor seems to have 3 prongs in it.

 

Great thread!!!

Its awesome that you are doing this for your son...especially as a surprise. What are the circumstances of the surprise? Are you just telling him you are "fixing" the car up?

Seems like you do great work too. Im really looking forward to seeing your progress as well as hearing how the surprise goes!

Keep it up!

As for your oil pressure sending unit...it depends what gauge cluster you are using. If you are using the stock gauges, you could just use a stock thirdgen sender. I think there is a stick or FAQ floating around here with all the tips to getting the stock dash to work.

J.

 

You can use either oil sender you have. The LS1 sender will fit the block, but the 3rd gen sender will require an adapter. Cheap adapter is to use a broken LS1 sender base and tap the top to fit the 3rd gen sender. Both will drive the stock gauge

Before you put the engine in the car, remember to drill and tap the boss on the block for the LS1 alt bracket. Bolt it up and youll see which one needs it. Its a PITA to do in the car

Id suggest upgrading the stock mounts to poly while you're at it. It really makes a difference

98 LS1 Fbody CTS includes a coolant sender that is compatible with the stock gauge and uses a common TPS connector. Using the stock 2 wire CTS, you'll have to figure a way to mount the old 3rd gen sender elsewhere

Progress looks awesome. Very thorough

 

It's a graduation gift. This has been his baby and he's been all bummed because he knows it needs a new engine and he won't be able to afford it on his own any time soon. He thinks I'm in the garage banging away on my Chevelle. I've told the whole clan to stay out of the garage that I have sectioned off. My wife knows what I'm up to, but the kids think I'm just being **** and don't want anyone messing up my work. Because painting is very "delicate" and the area needs to stay clean

 

lol.. thats awesome man... well played. once this is all over you need to record the unveiling and post it up.

 

So I need an LS1 sender? I can't use the one already in the block? I want to keep it as clean and simple as possible, prefer to not make 1 part out of 2.
Thanks for the reminder. Somewhere in the back of my head I knew this but forgot about it.

Being that I'm using the truck harness, won't the sender that is already in the block work? I'm not reusing anything from the old block.
Thanks!

 

I'll definitely tape it, but it'll be up to my kid if he wants it posted. Guess it depends on how big of a baby he is

 

98 was an odd ball year and the only one to get the 3-wire cts. all lsx's (trucks included) used a 2 wire going forward.

 

Use the oil sender thats already in the 6.0 if its not broken

 

Man, I should really start paying attention to how I ask my questions so that I don't have so many followup questions. Sorry. Just to confirm. Even though I have a 3-prong sender, I can solder on the 1 wire pigtail and it will work?

 

You need the 3 pin connector to use on the 3 pin sender. Single pin senders can use 1 or 3 wire connectors, the latter just wont use the other two wires

 

Got it. So if I use the 3 wire connector I assume I have to run the one tan wire (I think that's the color) directly to the oil pressure gauge through C100 and the other 2 I assume go to the ECM? In either case I think I will look for the 1 pin sender. Thanks.

 

This is an awesome thread! Your son is very fortunate. I'm following this one!

 

Keep us posted when its done, I need to know how good those SFC's work.

And were they really $350 shipped?

 

You sir are an awesome dad! Good luck with the build

 

Very nice work so far. You better hope he is not browsing the web looking for ideas to replace his engine

 

One goes to the gauge, the others deleted or kept as a redundant feature for the FP circuit

 

Appreciate the comments guys and the help being provided. I'll keep posting my progress.

 

There is shipping too. I just haven't updated the spread sheet yet. I'll update the whole thing once I'm done burning through money. It's 99% current at the moment though.

 

Man what a lucky son and a nice father you are. My dad gave me my '85 for graduation, guess its up to me to put the ls1 in lol!

Keep up the great work man, I'll be following along this thread too. And yeah.....the parts do add up

 

All I got for graduation was lunch..

lol

Cool build thread, keep the pics coming!

 

Wish my dad would put a 350 in my car for me...

 

Looks awesome. Formula's are where it's at! I will be watching this build!

 

if only i had a dad who would build me a lsx swapped car good god lol good luck and he will love it! i no i would/will

 

subscribed

 

Weekend update. Was hoping to put the motor in the engine bay this weekend but the head gaskets that were sent were the wrong ones. I got the 5.7L gaskets instead of the 6.0L. So I spent the weekend doing cosmetic stuff instead.

Got some more parts Motor mounts, wonderbar and Flowmaster American Thunder exhaust

Yanked out the old exhaust. Wasn't welded but might as well have been. It would not come apart not matter how much I heated and pulled and swore. A friend has my sawsall and I wasn't about to go buy a new one. So out came the air chisel....made pretty quick work of it

Next I figured I might as well install the motor mounts which I knew were going to be a PITA...which it was. A couple bolts are a bit tricky to get in there, but if you use an open wrench and load it up with grease you can reach up in there and get the bolt started.

Next I decided to tackle the fuel sender. Tried pulling the tank without dropping the axle. It was very close but I need just that last inch, so down came one side. Still couldn't do it, so I had to drop the whole thing. Oh well.


Finally got the tank out. Didn't want to cooperate at first, but got it out. Probably would have helped if I wold have been able to siphon all the gas out. It was a bit heavier than it needed to be with gas still in the tank.

Removed the sender. Here you can see the difference in size between the carburated "helper" pump and the Walbro pump

 

This is the point at which I'm kind of stuck until I have head gaskets and get the fuel sender modified for an AN fitting. Plan on taking the sender to a radiator shop to have the fitting brazed on tomorrow. So I decided to do some cosmetic stuff. It'll need to get done at some point anyway, so now is as good as any other time. Got the valve covers, front cover and bolts painted and cleared. Also installed a new front cover seal.

Cleaned the heads and assembled the valves and springs

And since I was on a roll with painting stuff. Cleaned up the strut towers. Not completely done in this pic, but I remembered to stop for a picture

Painted and cleared. Not sure why they look all grey in this picture, but they are black.


So that's it for this weekend. Located a 4L60E with 17K miles on it so that is on it's way. Otherwise things will stand still until next weekend.

 

wish i could make that fast of progress man good looking build keep us posted man awesome!!

 

Looking good!

What are you doing for fuel setup? You keeping the stock sending unit and just upgrading the pump? How you gonna route your lines? Just curious because I'll be doing the same thing soon.....

 

I'm keeping the stock sending unit but having it modified for fuel injection. I'm using the corvette filter/regulator and a walbro 255 pump. Running the fuel lines in the stock location all the way to the fuel rail.

 

Nice, I think that's the route I'll most likely be going to.

Take LOTS of picture when you do that so I know how to! Haha

 

Good to see a "real" comparison, instead of just hearsay. If I'm understanding you correctly, the Walbro is going to fit into the pick-up?

 

I didn't have a chance to test fit the pump before I took the sender to be modified. But from what I understand it will fit. I will confirm once I have the sender back.

 

Anyone happen to know the size of the washer and bolt for the power steering pulley? I checked compnine's website but couldn't find it.

***Edit*** Looks like it's just a regular 3/8 bolts for the pulley.

 

Seems to be roughly twice the build cost of mine.


That is going to look great though.

 

Looking good! Swap is coming right along. one thing you should consider is your brake line that crosses the K-member. You should think about moving it up to the front of the K-member. I had it the same way you do now and the motor pinched my brake line enough to cause a brake delay on the passenger side. Im getting a new one here soon and redoing it. Thought i would let you know bro.

Joey J.

 

Weekend update....kinda slow going as some parts I'm waiting for are on backorder. Hopefully they will be here by next weekend so I can get a bit closer to actually placing the engine in the car.

Made a trip to the junkyard and picked up a throttle body, 4L60E flexplate, a few connectors that I had foolishly thrown away and a starter that the guy at the junkyard swore up and down wouldn't fit on an '06 block. I didn't bother setting him straight and just left letting him think I bought the wrong starter.

Headers showed up. I went with the 1 3/4 primaries and 3" collector. Don't think the engine will need anything bigger since it's pretty mild and not a high HP engine.

This is what the fuel sender supply looked like for a carburated car.

Here it is modified. I got tired of running around town trying to get a shop to put a new fitting on it for me, so I brazed it on myself. I don't have a crimper and wasn't about to buy one to make one fitting so I used a Russell fitting (640940) cut the threaded end off and flared it so it would slide over the feeder line.

I used the same setup with all the Russell -6 AN fittings as Pocket had outlined, but modified it a bit since I brazed on the push to lock end. Ended looking like this

Corvette fuel filter with fittings and hoses made. I know this isn't earth shattering as all this info exists in one place or another, but I think it's nice to be able to show all the steps and keep it in one thread. I can't remember the amount of threads I had to dig through to find the info I needed for this swap.

Filter/Regulator mounted. I chose this location so I can route the new fuel line in the stock location and reuse the bolt holes already there.

This one is for you Five7Kid....fitment of the new Walbro 255. As you can see it's a bit too tall

Pickup tube shortened a bit and pump fitted. You can see how much I had to cut off (little piece in the bottom). I'm not sure if this step is needed on a sender that is set up for FI.

 

Now the re-assembly of the motor. LS7 lifters soaking in oil in my re-purposed protein jug. Left them and the push rods to soak overnight.

Lifters, cylinder head guides (pins, or whatever they are called) and head gaskets installed. Again, including this picture for informational purposes. Note the "6.0L" tab on the bottom is further forward towards the front of the engine. If it's towards the back, then you've got the gasket on backwards.

Almost reassembled. The covers are gun metal but look brownish in the pictures (not sure why). Still have to press on the damper. I'm opting for a home made tool with washers and threaded rod and measuring the proper location vs. cranking the hell out of a bolt and risking it breaks off in the crankshaft.

Still need to torque the intake down, but I am waiting for the LS1 steam tube. A lot of people talk about having to bend the fuel feed a little, but I have yet to come across a good picture showing exactly what it would look like, so I figured I would throw it in just for the hell of it in the hopes that it helps someone down the road. I forgot to take a before picture showing how it sits right on top of the coil connector. I used a deep well socket and and extension to be able to control how much force I put on it so I didn't kink the feed line.


That's the weekend update. Hoping for some wiring progress next weekend.

 

Making some damn good progress on it. It is nice that your including every step, that way your thread will make an excellent reference point for somebody doing the same swap. Oh, and just a side note: On an FI fuel pickup, there aren't any mods needed to bolt in that fuel pump.

 

Good to know. I wasn't willing to spend the $150 shipped that junkyards were asking for an FI sender. This way it cost me $11 (cost of the Russell AN fitting) to modify it

 

I really like the step by step detail in this thread

Looking forward to seeing the wiring build

 

nice build. please show as many steps as possible.