Got a friend that wanted a nice third gen, he was itching to jump the gun, but made him wait till something nice popped up for a decent price. He hawk eyed CL and finally got this 90 RS for 1800$. Car is straight, 2nd owner sold it to him, turns out i have worked on this car when i was a 18 year old Wal Mart TLE worker.

Had not seen the car in a while and it ended up being parked as the little 305 was just worn. Woman driven and cared for, the car is in great shape for 270K miles. Smiles pretty good, so it was perfect for a stock, 5.3 liter swap. My buddy is 37 years old, looking for a nice cruiser, and when i explained the LS route, he was all go.

So, to date we purchased the swap plates, 60$, BBK shorty headers 330$, F car oil pan 230$, 2001 5.3 with 102 K miles with 2002 trans with 46K miles for 600$, i had a spare harness to mod FREE, still lack a few things of course, but we will be able to at least drop the motor in soon enough.

So, here is the start, know there are several here that appreciate a nice mile mannered, updated engine swap. As i do as well. Looking for F body accessories, LS1 intake, coils, ECM and the other few odds and ends to complete the parts list. A fuel pump as well, what fun that will be.







Motor when purchased:



And after a cleaning and prepping, ect:



Will update as i can, 3 weeks left in school, then i will be available more to get this done with just work instead of work and school.

 

Great looking car for the money. It will make a nice cruiser. I have a '98 ECM I'm not going to use if he is interested.

 

We will see, I cannot remember what exact ECM I need that my hp tuners works with best.

 

Well, we started today, got coils, accessories, alternator and what not here, the intake, rails, injectors and a MAF are on the way.

Still not sure what fuel pump to use and i need to research if the sending TBI fuel line and return will be ok to use. Know i will have to fix a power wire to shut off when brakes apply to disengage the converter, still need a ECM and TB, sure a few sensors and fuel pump, going to be one hell of a daily/cruiser. He opted no AC. Next we will be cleaning the bay up and wiring, then start install of the motor and trans.





I will be selling the AC components, accessories and the 700R off this car, will not ship the trans though. Rather not ship any of it, the tires 305 will probably hit the scrap yard.

 

I seen this car in person and looks excellent.
So its gonna be just a cruiser?

 

Yep, my buddies pride and joy. We looked at third gen camaro a for a year before he pulled the trigger on that one. 1500$ and he was set.

So far, for a inquiring mind:
5.3 long block and 4l60:600$
Accessories:225$
Pan: 225$
Headers: 250$
Harness and modding:free
Intake,Maf, injectors and rails: 200$
Adapter plates: 60$
That is where we stand as of now.

 

Good luck with your swap.. What paint did you use on your valve covers?

 

you've got to love a blue thirdgen! good luck with the build.

 

That is wrinkle finish VHT paint, it is on all the covers. Works great.

 

subscribed

 

Suscribed.

 

Alright, little update, the owner bought a can of paint that matches the GM dark blue, and now the intake looks great:

Before:



Now:

 

Sub'd.

Thats gunna be a nice weekend warrior. Any plan for mods?

 

At first no, nothing beyond bolt ons. But, the more we buy and get done, he says he may do a cam later. It is surely goin to be the sweetest cruiser I have built yet.

 

Alright, i need fuel pump suggestions, cheaper the better.

From what i am seeing the vette bypass returns from the filter back to the tank, pretty easy. Then i can just run the pressure side to the engine in the stock line. Sounds good. I see cheap 50$ pumps, but i am sure you get what you pay for. need to find something that will work for the budget. The friend i am helping this with is running out of funds as we all do and a 100$ pump if not needed is just that.

 

are those just standard 4th gen headers? seems a lot more cost effective than the swap headers!

 

A walbro will cost about $80ish and do the job fine, for a little while, they just dont last.

A $180 supra TT denso pump will do the job, better, be quieter and last about 10-15 years longer.

 

Well, I'll figure out something, guess the walbro may just have to do.

 

don't skimp on the pump, just get a walbro gss340 from racetronix or somewhere and be done.

 

So that would be the nice piece to get then, sounds like a plan, thank you sir!

 

no worries man, its a pain to drop the tank, believe me i know! its better just to spend the cash on the quality pump the first time.

 

I have it to a science by now. Been doing it forever, lol.

 

Well, engine is in, called it a night, my buddy is cleaning and painting the coil brackets, we did some small things to clean up here and there, dropped it in and got the knock sensors and harness for them in....never done that before, LOL. Damn carbed stuff would have this SOB running already, but no filter or buy/cut the hood.

Looks like it will be very nice, gave him my TPI induction off my 91 RS, just enough room for the MAF to go in when i get one for a truck.





Not sure what wiring i need to keep, my buddy will be helping me with that tomorrow.

Hope it is eye candy for you guys because we think this is going to be one of the nicest cruiser swaps i have ever done.

 

Looks good Zones'. What is the size difference between the throttle body & the air intake on top of the radiator? It looks like it might be a little restrictive.

 

I will measure for you, I will say, it is no smaller than some of the "cold air" custom intake setups I have seen on these swaps. I did modify the lower induction piece that the top mates to, that looked restrictive so I cut the lower out so it will be open to the k&n elements. Pretty sure I remember seeing t done in the past in tpi cars. If this had a cam pulling to 7000, I would perhaps think the restriction may exist though.

 

Yeah, with the stock cam I'm sure you'll be fine.

 

nice project. one question, did you think it was worth it and use a truck engine instead of buying a ls1 for example? just qurios because iīm thinking to do a 5.3 swap

 

If you want power, a ls1 is better if you can budget. If 500 hp is not the goal, a 5.3 makes 300 hp stock, even 325 from the 07 up, but I got Thr engine and Trans for 600, a ls1 alone would have been more, taking money from other swap parts.

All depends on what you need out of the swap.

 

Otherwise, absolutely worth it, we are doubling the power the 305 put out, will sound better and get better economy.

 

okey. i think the truck engine will do the job.i am not after a lot of more power than stock. Iīm thinking of a lm4 engine or l33. the pos with these engine that they are cheap and put new f-body parts on i and get a complete engine for less than a ls1 engine. btw, do you think i can use a walbro 255 pump and use the stock ls1 fuel preassure regulator?

 

I would love to know more on this process for I am looking to put a 6.0 ls in one of my convertibles.

 

Got some stuff done today, trans in, harness is being installed, getting an idea of how the MAF will sit, headers are on, and a few other odds and ends like accessories:










Damn thing is turning out cleaner than i imagined.
Plenty of write ups here about the pumps, they need like 56 PSI, as long as the pump puts out high enough pressure it is all go.

 

Not having much luck finding a GSS340 for a camaro application, any place besides ebay that may have one? They all say for Ford, BMW ect.

 

call the guys at racetronix, they can get you squared away. its been so long since i ordered mine, i can't remember the number.

 

K, I will hit them up
Tomorrow if I remember, should be busy with this project.

 

for a mild 5.3 swap, a 1996 vortec truck fuel pump is a direct swap in our tanks and has the needed 60+ psi. this is what we used for my little bro's swap and it's working great so far. now if you plan to add boost or nitrous this isn't the pump to use. but for a stock swap, it's a GREAT budget solution.

 

I forgot about that, the efi 6.0 we put in a 98 silverado used that pump, we got the warbro pump for a mustang, I will make it work.

 

just wondering,i read on wikipedia that the truck engines do not require a return fuel line. is that correct? and why is that if so?

 

I cannot say, i have the LS1 intake and it has no return, i will be running the corvette filter with this, so i cannot refer to the truck setup, perhaps another member here can give you those details?

 

okay. so the ls1 intake doesnīt require no return either?

 

No sir, has none, I want to say the truck intake my buddy used on his swap did not, I will look at my spare intakes off the trucks when I get a chance.

 

Do that, would been great. Can't i be a problem with no return? What's the pos with return line?

 

Good info here.

 

Typically pre '04 trucks have a return line.
'04 & newer are internally regulated in the fuel tank.

The Vette regulator/filter works well & is good into the 700rwhp range.

Racetronix makes a drop in pump kit for these cars & it is good for 550rwhp.

I recommend not using any type of rubber hose in the tank to connect the pump, as it is prone to failure at these high pressures.

 

all these systems have a return line, it just depends on where it's at on the vehicle. on my 2000 silverado, the return is at the intake. for ls1 fbody's the regulator is on top of the tank and is returned right there. on the late 90's vette's the filter is also a regulator so it returns from the filter.

on a high pressure efi fuel system you must use a return. where it is in the car and how you set it up is up to you. on my chevelle 5.3 swap, we're using a frame mounted pump and a vette filter/regulator and returning from there. on my little bro's car we're using the 96 vortec pump in tank with an aeromotive return type regulator in the engine bay and use the stock tpi feed/return line. we wanted the ability to adjust fuel pressure in the event that he turns his setup up which is why we did that.

here's jack's setup:

 

are those the swap headers or are they just regular ls shorties?

 

The headers on this car are 98-02 camaro/firebird ls1 headers. They are a replacement for stock manifolds but gain a couple more hp and look great as well.

 

just qurious, but why 2 hoses from the fuel preassure regulator?

 

why i ask about the return line is because my friend has an impala -65 that hes gonna put in a 5.3 truck engine, thatīs are carburated stock. i donīt know if their is any return line original on those cars but otherwise itīs only to make one to the tank.

 

It is a input and a return for the bypass regulator.