I know its pretty run of the mill and boring now, but i thought i'd start a thread to help keep me motivated

i only set aside $1200 to pick up a car, and actually found a few in that price range running and driving, but after some shopping i came across exactly what i was looking for. I got a '89 RS t-top, factory 305 tbi, t5 5 speed, minus engine, for $1000






Looks rough, but everything under the car is brand new, new tires and nice traction bar /4 link set up



more later, i have more to post, but my computer keeps messing up on me

The original plan was to pick up a lq4 and mate it to my t5 (i didn't know any better) it didn't take me long to decide i wanted a t56, so i started looking, and came across a complete lt1/ t56 swap out of a 95 camaro







i then decided since my car was already set up for a carburated engine (previous owner had carburated 383 in it) i'd get a "cheap" carb intake and drop the lt1 in for the mean time, and do the 6.0 swap over the winter. I was wrong in so many ways, and down right heart broken when i figured out i'd have to get yet another t56 to do the swap, so plans changed again

I hate to tripple post, but my browser closed on me 3 times yesterday trying to put it in
one post. Heres where my lt1 swap is a little different


I was missing a few parts to go fuel injected, and my car was already set up for a carburated motor so i decided to go that route, i thought it would be cheaper. I bought the carb. intake first, it wasn't cheap by any means, the only one i could find was the GM performance one.




also got the nifty opti-spark cover




i then noitced the oil pan was installed with red rtv, and looked like it was leaking so i pulled it off to take a look, i noticed some metal in the pan, heres why. . . .



turns out it had 3 spun rod bearings, and a couple mains. Since it needed a crank i picked up a eagle 383 stroker crank





thats where i'm at now, still buying everything a piece at a time, and still have to get the machine work done

Looks like a solid start. What heads/cam and pistons and rods are you choosing?

damn dude that sucks..... Sounds like you got my luck.

Bearings look like it was ran for a while with rods knocking.

Plan on using stock aluminum lt1 heads, swapping valve springs, lt4 hot cam, 5.7 eagle rods, and1.6 ratio roller rockers, thinking about going 30 over with flat top pistons, but that may too much compression, still researching

too much?? are you planning on spraying it?

yeah there wasn't much of them left, kinda makes me feel better about the trans though, surly they wouldn't both be bad

I watched horsepower tv last weekend and they did a 383 build up .30 over with flat tops and it made 11:1 compression, would that run on pump gas? can't really get race fuel around here anymore, but I can get AV gas at the airport


also forgot i picked up a spohn crossmember a couple weeks ago, its just the cheap one without the driveshaft hoop or tork arm

Man, it's a good thing you pulled that pan off of there! From what I've read, you can run 11:1 compression on 93 octane pump gas if you have aluminum heads. IIRC, the aluminum heads help dissipate the heat or something to that effect. I was going to build a similar engine from my L98 before I decided to go the LS1 route. Good luck with it.

I appricate the info, just got to get all the parts together now

How many miles did that LT have on it? That is sad to see man, bring her back to it's original glory and more.

That car has a lot of rust, i'm sorry but you got a bad deal on that for 1500 for a rusted gutted RS? That's beyond comprehension stupid. On top of that you bought a blown LT1/t56 dont tell me, it has ****** gears, i'm sorry but you got ripped off bad this time.

suposidlly 90,000, but don't they all?
I didn't give $1500, I gave $1000, I wanted it so i bought it. It has zero rust through, just some surface rust where the paint got knocked off, and its not really gutted either, the only thing missing was the engine. I know it looks a little rough, but it has brand new tires, every nut, bolt, and bushing under it is new, shocks are new, and the 4 link kit in back is brand new, and it has all new fuel lines and new holly electric fuel pump. I sold the T5 out of it for $500, so I have $500 in the body how it sits.

I didn't intentionally get a bad LT1, but i'm not too upset, it gives me a reason to build the stroker. I don't have too much in them, I traded a truck I would have sold out right for $1200, for both the engine and trans, then I sold all the fuel injection stuff off of the lt1 on ebay and made just under $300 off of it so I have around $900 in the LT1/T56, without counting the new parts I bought

Nothing new to report, few more pics though



It has a hood



full exhuast, i have the other header, t5 is gone now




also figured out the "4 link kit" as the PO called it, is actually a LCA kit, now i can research and find which kit i have.

Thinking about dropping a stock small block in and driving it while i build the lt1

Good luck, keep us posted i wish you the best. But please don't abandon this thread, if your going to quit out and sell, just do it now.

Not quiting, just getting impatiant, i have a good running 350 in an truck that has a broken frame, if i came across a cheap used flywheel to bolt the t56 up to a 2 piece rear main seal motor, i'd do it in a heartbeat, and drive it untill the 383 is ready to go in.

I did a carfax on it an found out its a factory v6 car, i just assumed it was a v8 car, the PO had a v8 in it, and it had a 26 spline t5, someone removed the sticker under the hood too

On a side note, if anyone wants to run their car through carfax, p.m. me

Try to sell it, name a good price and go with it.

Sell what?
Actually have a lot of junk i need to sell off

Idk, i'm with you though you should build that bad boy up throw it in the RS and don't even paint it. Let them boys come up beside you wanting to race.

Thats the plan actually, but i'm really just copying what the previous owner had done, only difference is my 383 will be lt1 based, and it'll have a t56 trans

I don't mean to be rude but your kinda confusing me, i'm not sure if you were telling me to sell my car or what

At first i told you to sell out when i heard it was a V6 car, i thought about it, all you need is motor mounts and new fuel pump and a V8 Tbi wiring harness. Go with it.

The wiring harness isn't mandatory.

Sh*t i also forgot you will at least need new front springs, new weight you have to compensate.

He said the PO already had a V8 in the car before he bought it, so I would think it would already have all of that stuff (harness, fuel pump, motor mounts, springs) already taken care of. Right?

really nice project. maybe a little ot but where can i find the lca 4 link kit?

Your right sorry, your made man.

You are even confusing me...

yes, I'm set as far as dropping in the v8, the PO had a 383 in it, he even went as far as putting a 26 spline T5 in it, he must have had a wrecked v8 car and a good V6 body and swapped everything over, I would have never known it was a v6 car if I didn't run the vin

i'm not even sure what brand is on the car, but I'm sure someone else could help you find some good lca's, I've seen a couple threads on them, thats how I figured out the techical term

I see my poor little black car in the back ground

Don't worry the drivetrain is going to a good cause, and the body is getting dumped in a river.

Na his drivetrain came out of a diffrent car mine still has motor and trans in it

It was a joke man, these lt1 swaps have to loosen up a bit.

That black car is a lt1/4l60e car, bad trans at the moment, i wish i did have a complete donor car for the swap, if i could have brought myself to tear it apart, i would have put the lt1 in my car fuel injected


nothing new yet, i bought a 145 mph speedo that came in a couple days ago,it got kinda beat up on its 2000 and some odd mile trip though

Better off buying a GPS way more accurate, but if you want looks get the spedo. Hell buy both. JIC

I really didn't need it,mainly got it for looks, it'll probably be a while before i get the speedo working anyway, if i ever get the car running

You'll get it running. Gotta keep the faith man!

still working on getting the parts together, I haven't gave up yet. Recently bought a set of eagle rods, and a LT4 hot cam kit, it came with the cam, 1.6 rato rollor rockers, and valve springs.

A couple months ago I finally took the block to the machine shop, it was too far gone,it had been ran too long with spun mains, so I hit the local classifieds site and sourced another, got a short block from a '96 impala, it was stuck, so i really overpayed for it, but the block was perfect and thats all I needed. There was a small problem though, the old man I bought it from pulled the main caps off, and most of the rod caps, and miss placed them. He was suppose to find the main caps for me, but I haven't heard from him. I hit the local junkyard and pulled a set off an old block in the junk pile,thought I'd slap them on it and get it line bored, but they weren't close enough in the front to back allignment.

so I bought a complete dissasembled LT1 from a '95 vette, it had slung a rod and damaged the block, but I planned to use the main caps on the impala block, they look like they are close enough to be line bored, and its nice to have some extra parts.

also stumbled across a short block from a '94 camaro, it was cheap so I snatched it up. The car had a blown head gasket, and the guy stumbled across a good deal on a lt4 so he just swapped it in instead of fixing the lt1, I let him keep the top end to get it cheaper, the heads scared me anyway. its in excellent condition and could be installed now, so its got me thinking...

I'll get pics of everythign when I get home, I should start making a little better progress soon, I'll have some bills payed off in a week or two so I'll have more money to play with, it feels like I haven't accomplished anything yet

Just keep chippin away man. Trust me ive been on my swap for almost 3 years and im finally reaching home stretch. Just keep gathering parts and take your time on the motor.

Measure twice, cut once. So to speak

I hear you, i'm getting there slowly but surely, a smarter man would have used a regular first gen small block for my application,( so much cheaper to work with for some reason), i guess i don't fall in that catagory

Couple pics in no particular order

I still don't have the car on the road, to be honest, I had lost intrest in it, and ended up sticking the t56 in a '95 Caprice 9C1. I still couldn't bring myself to sell the Camaro, so I decied to source a ls1 t56, and do a lsx swap afterall, but much later down the road, but then I stumbled onto a deal I couldn't pass up.

I just bought an entire '96 Z28, with the t56 for $700, the owner had started to change the water pump, tore it apart, and gave up.

the new plan is to stick the stock lt1 (with EFI) and the t56 in the camaro for now, drive it as is for a while, build one of my lt1 short blocks while i drive it, and swap it after i get done. I'll post pics once I get the car here Tuesday, and I'll probably have some 4th gen parts going up for sale

my doner car showed up today, as i expected, she looks a lot rougher in the daylight. I'll post some pics after I dig the camera out.

I kinda want to drive it

sorry for the crappy cell pics, couldn't find the camera.







as rough and ugly as it is, part of me kinda wants to save it, but I'm about covered up with projects, and I'm finally getting old enough to know better

Awesome buy, getting it in and running stock generally makes things a lot simpler.

yeah, a lot better than trying to peice everything together , I just wish it were a year older.

started tearing it apart today

Why ?

i think obdI would be easier to deal with than obdII, I think its even cheaper to get a obdI ECM reflashed.

The harness isnt very different, it is very easy to use a 94/95 pcm with the harness you have, and the 94/95 pcm isnt expensive at all.

thats good to know, I actually had a perfect '95 harness that came with the first bunch of junk I got, but i didnt have the pcm though, I ended up selling it all on ebay

I noticed your sig, what would you have to get out of a lt1 swap harness? I don't think I have the patience or the know how to make my own