This is the story of a nasty, old, rusty, 1986 Camaro Z28 that just wanted to go fast. It started out one night when me and a friend of mine where looking at my parts car (the 86) and decided it would be really fun to have a fast sleeper that we had little money in. The plan is a 5.3 with a carb and a mean custom grind cam backed up with a th400. Heres some pictures of the car when we got it on the lift.

 

Some more pics

 

Good looking start. Going to keep it cam only?

 

rough, but damn the luck. i never find any blue irocs. hope you actually make this car do something other than scrapping

 

And heres the new powerplant, a 5.3 with 230,000 miles on it that we picked up for $100, and the th400 that I picked up at work (scrapyard) for free.

 

Yea I only gave $500 for it and sold the old 350 for $250. I was planning to just use parts that I needed for my 6.0 swap in my 91.

 

Instead of paying $50 for sbc adaptor plates we just made some adaptors out of 1/4" plate that move the clamshell forward to where it would be on an old sbc.

 

Machining the adaptor plates in my buddies mill.

 

Heres the old sbc clamshells on the LSx. Notice we had to space them out a little bit with washers because they wouldn't sit flush because the middle of the old clamshells comes in. We also had to grind on the block a little bit be cause some of the rough casting interferes with the adaptor plate.

 

Since the gen I and gen III motors have different spacing and a different torque convertor bolt circle we had to do something to solve those problems. We solved the .400" spacing problem by using a 6.0 flywheel and spacer on our 5.3. Then to solve the bolt circle problem we ground the bolt holes in the flexplate down so the old torque convertor would fit.

 

Here we got the big ole nasty th400 bolted up to the 5.3. The fluid looked OK so we decided we would give it a go. It didnt come with a torque convertor so we traded a kid at school some Jegs and Holley stickers for an old stock th350 convertor he had laying around.

 

Here we are putting the entire assembly in from the top. (Not a good idea) With some bleeding and cussing it finally gave up the ghost and fell into place.

 

Here it is all bolted. We had to keep the cherrypicker on it because we needed to make a new trans mount because the th400 was about 3" longer than the old 700r4

 

So far I only have $350, a couple stickers, and time into Project Turd Gen, including purchase price of the entire car.

 

Inspiration for the 5.3L swap. My buddies 6,000lb mod with 4 carb'd cam'd 5.3Ls on alcohol

 

If your gonna go cheap? Might as well go all the way and have some fun with it. 238/246 cam on XER lobes with duals LOL it'll be insane at 7500RPM

 

So whats your plans for the oil pan and hood clearance?

 

New definition for "budget swap" lol lovin it man!

 

I forget what the specs of the cam are but it is a custom grind by comp cams for a carbd lsx

 

Loving this thread. Please keep it updated.

 

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Got the new crossmember fabbed up! Had to weld some 1/4 plate to the subframe because the old bolt holes were completely rusted out. Then just used some steel strap we had laying around as the actual crossmember. Welded a tab to the crossmember and a tab to the tailshaft mount so the transmission can torque with the motor. We also welded a plate perpendicular to the crossmember and bolted the factory rubber torque arm mount to it but I don't have any pics of that.

 

Since the TH400 is about 3" longer than the old 700R4 we had to shorten the driveshaft. We measured the length it had to be then cut the back u joint off in the saw. Then we chucked the back u joint up in the lathe and machined the old weld off. This allowed the cut off pipe to fall off the u joint. Then we stuck the driveshaft through the hole in the lathe. We set the speed as low as we could and with generous amounts of lube on my hand i held the yoke steady while my friend faced the end of the driveshaft square.

 

Then we hammered the u joint back into the driveshaft and welded it back together. Make sure the u joint and yoke are clocked the same direction or it will have a terrible vibration. (Don't ask me how I know this)

 

Scored some factory LS1 manifolds off Craigslist!! The guy wanted $50 for the manifolds themselves or $100 for the manifolds and y pipe. Well the y pipe still had the cats on it so I gave him $100 for the whole setup then scrapped the cats for $104. That brings the project total to $346 to date

 

Threw the manifolds on the motor then realized that we had to find a way to plug the o2 sensor hole in the drivers side manifold. Instead of just running to town my buddy dug up an old V12 Allison spark plug and it threaded perfectly into the hole. Everybody has at least 20 of these spark plugs laying around right?

 

Finally had to spend some dough, bought an Edelbrock dual plane intake and a Holley 650 double pumper carb. Gave $300 for each. Then had to buy intake gaskets and bolts for another $30. That brings the total project cost up to $976

 

I have an ls1 timing controller all plug n okay besides 12 volt key on source and tach wire for sale for cheaaaapp
$200 shipped

 

We already had a spare msd 6010 box and harness from the pulling tractor that we used for it.

 

Cool cool

 

its looking real real good.I am thinking about purchasing a 5.3 or 4.8 for my 91 gta.

 

Any updates? I am planning to duplicate this somewhat. I have a 6.0 shortblock. If it's no good, I'll find a 5.3. Already have a th350 trans and might have dibs on a stall convertor. I also have a blue Iroc that's been left for dead. Are you planning to run a cowl hood to clear that alternator? I have a cervinis hood and I am wondering if it will clear. I saw a thread somewhere where it did with a cowl hood on a bird.

 

Yes, at least a 3" cowl is needed to clear the carb. It also needs to pretty wide if you are using the truck accessory drive or the alternator will be sticking into the hood.

 

The hood we have is just a stock hood with a nasty cheap plastic cowl bolted on it. But it was cheap, only cost a 30 pack of Busch Light But if anyone has a 3" or larger cowl for sale i would be interested. Any condition!

 

so you diffinitely need the 3'' cowl hood for the vortec truck motors inorder for the hood to clear?

if an ls1 intake was used would the hood clear

 

Yes with a factory LS1/2/6 intake a stock hood would clear but with a truck or carb intake at least a 3" cowl is needed.