I'll be doing the swap to my brothers(zrated83) 1983 Camaro Z28. Car started out with a 305 LG4/700R4. He bought a wrecked 02 SS to use as a donor car. Motor will stay stock for now, with the exception of headers. Steering and other worn out supension parts will be getting replaced.
The car already has Eibach Sportlines, UMI Subframe Connectors, an 02 WS6 rearend, and TA seats.

Motor/Trans:
-LS1/4L60E

Wiring Harness:
-Built by Jeff Tucker aka camarotucker

Exhaust:
-Hawks/Stainless Works 1 3/4" Headers
-3" Magnaflow Exhaust

Suspension:
-UMI LSx Tubular Kmember
-UMI A-arms
-Koni Yellows
-Eibach Sportlines

Rearend:
-02 WS6 w/3.42's

Brakes:
-LS1 Fronts by Scott @Bigbrakeupgrades.com

Fuel:
-4th Gen Plastic Tank
-Racetronix Fuel Pump n Hotwire Kit

The car:

 

The donor car: 2002 Camaro SS

Took us hours, 4 neighbors, and a truck to get this thing in the drive way. All took place at midnight. Yeah our neighbors love us haha.





Motor coming out.

 

Shell...

 

Car arriving from Colorado.

 

Got the engine harness removed today. Will have it shipped out and matted to the ls1 harness, once my bro decides on who to send it to. Should be getting the Fuel pump and lines next week. Will pull the motor once the fuel systems plumped. So till then this is where Im at.

 

very clean looking car.and wow that donor car had seen better days

 

The Black Z is Beautiful!

 

Now it'll have the drivetrain to match.

 

Nice looking car and swap. Also looks like lots of third gens around your house.

 

Great looking car! Do you know what hood that is? I like it.

 

That is one clean Z

 

Man, it's like F-body central around your house! His car is going to be awesome once the swap is finished. It's already a beautiful car. It's very clean looking!

 

Gorgeous car! I would really like to know where he got the hood.

 

Awesome looking Z!

 

lol yeah we've got 4 thirdgens, and a fourthgen. Driveway space is limited. The hood was custom made by a fellow member. He made two, and this was his prototype I think.

Fuel pump and filter came in today, still waiting on the lines and fittings.

 

Finally got all the fuel system parts, and a day without rain. Dropped the stock tank, and got the 4th gen plastic tank installed. Gutted the fuel pressure regulator in the 4th gen tank, since we're running a vette fuel filter.




Gutted fuel pressure regulator

 

Got the motor and trans pulled today.

 

Any updates??

 

No real updates. Sold the old 305, hopefully the 700r4 sells soon. Been stripping down the engine bay, getting it ready for some paint. Need to replace the battery tray, and remove the rust first.

 

cool project...for some reason zr1's just look at home on a third gen.

 

I noticed that you pulled the motor from underneath. Is that easier? What's involved? I'm getting ready to pull my 305 and tranny out of my 83.

 

They sure do. Got two cars rocking them, and two extra rims sitting in the shed

Some will say its easier from the top and vice versa. Its really just preference.
Theres allot more steps but for me its just easier from underneath. Out of the 4 fbody motors Ive pulled, 3 of them have been from under. I can honestly say I'll never pull one from the top again, at least not without that leveler thing. If you have the ability to raise the car up high enough and the space its a breeze.

Take a look at these links. Its for a 4th gen but it gives you a pretty good idea of what to do/expect.

http://ls1tech.com/forums/general-ma...ls1-fbody.html

http://ls1tech.com/forums/generation...ne-bottom.html

Some differences:
You'll need a spring compressor to remove the front springs, or whatever safe method you use.
Need to remove the triangle braces, or at least unbolt them from the frame.
Unbolt idler arm, or both outer tie rods at the spindles. I removed the spindles altogether alittle while later cause they were leaning, and heavy.
You wont need to unbolt the steering shaft.
Just go slow and think about whats all connected to the motor, transmission, and front kmember.

 

Thanks, Rich, I went through the links. Interesting.

 

Hey Rich92, I also noticed you swapped fuel tanks to a 4th gen. They bolt right in?

 

Nice man! Your brother was talking about doing it, and on our local boards said he started it, but I had no clue he had THE BEST BROTHER EVER doing all the hard work while he plays around out here with us in the snow! His car is gonna be so killer when you get done. Jealous for sure

 

Yea the tank sits perfectly in the stock location. The rubber filler neck needs to be trimmed, and you'll have to choose how you want to connect the fuel lines.

Haha thanks. Car should be ready in time for some summer cruises up there.

 

Thanks. There is a lot of stuff on the top of that fuel tank. Did you use the stock 3rd gen steel fuel lines from the tank to the front?

BTW, I have a thread started on my swap: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/ltx-...5-caprice.html

 

For my Iroc I used the stock fuel hardline. For this one we decided to do nylon braid all the way to the front.

Ur swaps looking good. We got some rust in the front passenger floor board aswell. Hopefully it stops there, wont know till after I pull the interior out.

 

Maybe we spilled all the drinks over in the pass side. Or we waited for the passenger to try and take a drink and we hit the brakes.

 

Engine bay painted.

 

What type of paint did you use on the engine compartment?

 

Paint looks good!


Definitely couldn't have asked for a better bro

hahaha

 

Rustoleum rattle cans.

 

Hoist is back so the motor will be getting painted tomorrow. If its not raining Sunday, I'll be stuffing the motor in. Got the LS1 front brake kit from Scott @bigbrakeupgrades.com a few days ago and they look awesome as usual. Took out the kmember and front suspension pieces for some pics. Got all new brake lines aswell. Harness should be here next week hopefully.

 

My son and I just finished watching a video by Spohn about their K-member. Looks impressive as do your pictures. We got our K-member out today and it really is easy to remove. I'm working with a LT1 and I still don't see where I have to notch out my K-member because the motor mounts are right on the leading edge of the K-member.

I like your engine bay. We haven't decided on a color for the Camaro and would like to do the engine bay the same color as the exterior, BUT we do like the black.

 

I painted my Irocs engine bay black aswell. I Didnt want to do a body color engine bay because when I eventually get it repainted the black will still go well with the exterior. Cant go wrong either way. Obviously my bro didnt have this dilemma, having a black exterior.

Cleaning/prepping the motor for paint took longer than expected. Still have the accessory's to paint, and valve covers too. O well, no point in rushing. Heres the motor:

 

Nice job on the motor. Silver, now that's different. Never thought about silver, looks cool.

 

I've been thinking about silver for the 6.0 as well. I liked the look of the aluminum block in my car, so I thought I'd replicate the look again.

 

The only thing bad about it might be that it may show dirt or grime easier.

 

Got the wiring harness back. Huge thanks to Jeff Tucker aka camarotucker for building it. It looks awesome. Shooting for next weekend for a first start.

 

I'll be watching to see how well the harness fits and if it works. This is the next biggest thing I have to figure out for my engine swap. I take it Jeff has done a few of these?

 

Got the motor in on Wed. UMI Kmember fit great. A little tug here and there and everything lined up good. Only took 50 mins to get it all bolted up. Not to shabby lol

We forgot to reinstall the trans dipstick before lowering the car onto the motor/trans, and it sucked with the motor/trans already in.

 

Wow its been forever. Been dragging my feet for awhile, but now I really need to finish it. Motor in my Iroc may have ate a bearing. Its been sitting for a few days, so I'll get to it soon enough and have a look.

Got the Stainless Works/Hawks headers installed without to much trouble. Drivers side dropped right in no problem. Passenger side also went in from the top: after removing the dipstick, valve cover, and lifting the motor up abit. Surprisingly enough they didn't need to be tweaked away from the frame rail. I know plenty of people have had problems with fitment, but we got lucky.

 

Re-wrapped the engine harness Tucker built for us in Techflex F6 sleeving, then started plugging everything in. Ran the harness threw the passenger fender like stock, and into the interior. Got the fuel pump wired up using the 4th gen fuel pump bulkhead. Got some of the wiring for the 4th gen cluster, and headlight/dimmer switch started.

Built some trans cooler lines out of AN line and fittings. Diagram I used is below. Credit goes to Pocket for drawing up the diagram I believe.
"The PNs in the diagram aren't correct for the trans side
Trans takes 1/4 NPT, radiator 1/2 x 20
45* hose ends on the trans, rad upper is a 90* and 45* lower"

F6 Sleeving


Cooler Lines

 

Cluster, and headlight switch all wired up.

As most people know when installing the passenger side ignition coil bracket, the rear coil tends to hit the hvac box. Instead of grinding the box for clearance i decide to try and modify the coil bracket. I ended up cutting of the last portion of the bracket, and bending the ends down. Pics below.

 

That's an interesting idea. I might have to give that a try.

 

Got the a-arms, springs, spindles, struts, and camber/caster plates installed.

 

Nice progress!

 

Cars finally sitting on all four, for the first time in a loooong time. Hopefully that front end settles down abit. Got the motor started last month, but dont have the vid on hand. VATS kept it from running long.

Ran into a problem with the stock torque arm for the 83. Ordered a stock style poly torque arm bushing for a 02 camaro, and the 83z's torque arm is stamped the opposite way from later years. The front of the torque arm is stamped kinda like this { on the 83, and they change to this }. Luckily I had the stock torque arm off my Iroc and which is stamped the same way as the 4th gens.

Also ran into a problem with one of the new rear koni yellow's. One's leaking a bluish fluid so hopefully we can get a replacement shipped soon.

Front suspension installed;




On all four;

 

Building the air intake. Consist of an 4" AEM Filter, and Airaids 4" UBI kit. The U build it kit doesnt come with any couplers so I bought them from siliconeintakes.com

The MAF will be clocked so the connectors are hidden.