When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
LTX and LSXPutting LT1s, LS1s, and their variants into Third Gens is becoming more popular. This board is for those who are doing and have done the swaps so they can discuss all of their technical aspects including repairs, swap info, and performance upgrades.
I am glad you are sticking with it,I know life can sure throw its curve *****.
I am glad too see there are a couple of us with LT1 swaps,I finished mine last year.
I am glad you are sticking with it,I know life can sure throw its curve *****.
I am glad too see there are a couple of us with LT1 swaps,I finished mine last year.
Did you document your build/swap online somewhere? Do I understand that your LT1 is supercharged?
Did you document your build/swap online somewhere? Do I understand that your LT1 is supercharged?
Unfortunately I did not take any pics or document anything,I worked on it a little at a time.
I just noticed that in my signature the other day and thought it might be misleading,it is for sport coupe.I wish it was supercharged.
Man after a cpl years of waiting to drive my car, I gave up on trying to "finish" the thing. I bolted it up, ran some hot wires, and threw fluids at the thing. I needed to get back behind the wheel. Even if I dont have a dash cluster or a shift ****. I wired up the tps wrong, vac leak had the headers glowing red, broke a pushrod, brake pedal broke loose, and snapped the shift cable and I regret nothing. I just needed to get behind the wheel before I went insane staring at it. So much air in the brake lines they were having trouble fighting the high idle and the rear wheels were slowly spinning free at times. Drove to napa a good 15 minutes away with no lights, no rear bumper, and a death wish. Do people really need giant red and yellow lights flashing at them in the daytime so they dont run into your car? Get a grip people. Try driving an ambulance.
She's a little sore, but damn I sorted out so many other problems along the way and gave this thing a baptism in fire and she carried me home and came through like a champ.
Slap it together, play with it, you can always iron out the fine details later.
Thanks for the kick in the butt to get us going. Yes, we are having the same feelings about wanting to throw it together just to drive it. BUT, we've come this far and want to keep our swap as neat as possible.
I had to visit my local "pull-a-part" yard to find a hub bolt washer/spacer. I misplaced the original. I found 2 of them and the gal at the yard said I could have them. Nice people. So now the hub and damper are in and torqued. Here's a question, the damper is from a 95 LT1 and it has one weight on the outer rim which was used for externally balancing from the factory. Because we had the entire engine and clutch balanced "internally" should I remove that one little weight? I'll probably leave it in and if the engine feels a little rough, then I'll remove it.
I put the water pump housing on and I'll hold off on putting the Mezire pump until the engine is back in the car.
I'm looking at sub frame connectors again, and I think a found a nice strong one from Alston Racing. Anybody ever hear of them?
LT1's aren't externally balanced. Same crank and flywheel/flex plate will work on a vortec or tpi block too. 1pc rear main sbc's are all internal. The internet is muddy-ed with lots of odd wording and false info. The difference in the front is the balancer can bolt on the hub in any of 3 bolt configurations...because it doesn't matter. If it did matter then it would be keyed to prevent users from putting on wrong and the hub and balancer would likely be a matched pair.
As far as the SFCs, Alstons are good. I have a set. A lot of owners like to use those and a perimeter style connector like BMRs to really shore up a tighter chassis.
[QUOTE=aliceempire;6250017]LT1's aren't externally balanced. Same crank and flywheel/flex plate will work on a vortec or tpi block too. 1pc rear main sbc's are all internal. The internet is muddy-ed with lots of odd wording and false info. The difference in the front is the balancer can bolt on the hub in any of 3 bolt configurations...because it doesn't matter. If it did matter then it would be keyed to prevent users from putting on wrong and the hub and balancer would likely be a matched pair. [QUOTE]
I think we have a difference of knowledge about the balancing of the LT1. This is a subject that I have explored since I replaced my dual mass flywheel (with another OEM flywheel) some 9 years ago. My information came from Gordon Killebrew who was the project manager of the C4, Back in 2004 he had a consultation business and school (Gordon's School) where you could go and learn about your C4. I called him and asked about the balancing of the LT1 and he sent me a technical noticed that explained the problem of the 1991 L98 and 1992 LT1 with manual trannys. There was (on some) objectionable vibrations above 3000 RPMs. This problem was solved by balancing the flywheel and damper using weights (small cylinder weights) positioned at several locations on the flywheel and damper. This is external balancing. The real culprit was the dual mass flywheel. So I assume that the LT1 engine was internally balanced and the flywheel and damper needed to be balanced. Auto trannys didn't seem to have this problem. To answer the "keyed " question, when they designed the LT1 / L98 with a 6 speed tranny and the auto trannys, it really didn't matter where the hub was positioned on the crank, but the bulletin suggested that once it was on to replace it in the same orientation. Therefore, keying was not required. In short, auto trannys had no problems with vibrations and the damper only had to be in balanced with itself and it didn't matter where you put the hub on the crank. LT1s with 6 speed trannys (dual mass flywheels) needed to be balanced if a vibration was present and that was considered external balancing. I know, clear as mud, but that's the story. BTW, my dampers could only bolt onto the hub one way. The bolt holes are not the same as far as orientation goes, it only bolts on one way.
So, my problem is the damper I'm using was off a LT1 Corvette and I don't know if it was a standard tranny (with external balancing) or an auto tranny with only internal balancing.
Last edited by Strick1; 09-12-2018 at 08:21 AM.
Reason: added text
I'll put semantics aside to get straight to the heart of it. Your assembly was balanced withe the flywheel (and I'm guessing possibly the clutch), correct? So you're good to go there. When you look up listings for a balancer is there a listing for a manual transmission one and a automatical transmission one? I don't believe I've seen one. (though I would not be surprised if you found one that I wasn't aware of) So if there is only one listing then it is neutral balanced because you couldn't sell a neutral one when a weighted one would be needed for certain instances. So I would say you're fine with the balancer as is. Luckily GM isn't a company that engineered a ton of traps to screw up novice mechanics so you're relatively safe. Especially with something that is as simple as a sbc. And no, I'm not calling you a novice mechanic. I realized it looked that way just now.
Last edited by aliceempire; 09-12-2018 at 12:38 PM.
Well the dampers are all the same part #. When you look at them there are a series of holes all around the outer edge of the OEM damper so if the LT1 had a vibration at 3000RPMs the dealership could try the different combinations of weights which are just driven in the holes. Mr Killebrew even gave me a diagram of where the weights should be tried and the order of which have worked. Again, this was for the 6speed ZF trannys. GM made a big mistake utilizing the dual mass flywheel with the 6 speed. I agree with you that the damper I'm using will work just fine, besides I'm not planning on being above 6000 RPMs very often.
As far as my current 350 (bored and stroked to 383) it was balanced internally with the flywheel and clutch assembly. And I'm not using the ZF 6 speed tranny which utilized the dual mass flywheel. I am using the Borg/Warner T56 with a single mass flywheel. Much less headaches.
Don't worry about calling me a novice mechanic, especially when it comes to wiring which is my biggest problem.
Sub frame connectors...............SW has one that looks to work with my set up. John, their engineer, and I talked about its fitment and it appears to be just what I need. He even sent me a detailed blue print of the SFC and promised that if it doesn't fit as explained, I can just send it back. I'll let you know how it works out.
heres a little tip on the wiring, i used the main pink ignition wire that comes out of the steering column, ran it to one of those cheap single in - 6 out fuse panels at autozone and used that for the fuses to the pcm ign on fuse, both injector fuses, tcc clutch, and the ign coil fuse. made short work of the that.
all that was left was some other misc, brake switch signal for ecm, pn switch signal for ecm, and the ecm batt always hot source ran another small fuse panel for those.
heres a little tip on the wiring, i used the main pink ignition wire that comes out of the steering column, ran it to one of those cheap single in - 6 out fuse panels at autozone and used that for the fuses to the pcm ign on fuse, both injector fuses, tcc clutch, and the ign coil fuse. made short work of the that.
all that was left was some other misc, brake switch signal for ecm, pn switch signal for ecm, and the ecm batt always hot source ran another small fuse panel for those.
just dbl check everything, hot when supposed to be, fuses are correct for each original circuit, etc. not recommeded by some but i tested each pin at the ecm plugs before i plugged it in. found one issue, also test resistance of your grounds to make sure theyre in good shape. post any questions etc and ill offer what i can. mine runs so far lol. i had the tps sensor wired backwards and it was getting 100% at 0 and vice versa. run free scan and make sure the sensors are reading correct as well.
Hello folks.
Yes, we're still working on the swap. We took the winter off and now we're getting ready to get back at it. I had to reread this thread to see what I have done or what I have forgotten. I think we're going to set a record for the longest swap in history. It's been a while since we completed the engine build and I hope it still turns over. I'll still keep this thread going if not for you guys but for us to remember what we've done. Maybe I should write a book about it. Nah.
Today is a rainy day So not much is happening. But tomorrow we'll be getting back to work (or play) on the swap. The plan is to complete the installation of the HVAC housings. We finally got some GM fasteners in a package of nuts, bolts, and screws. My son found them online.
For anyone doing a job like this I would suggest you keep a book on the parts you buy with part #s, year and models of cars you took parts from. Stacy David, on Gears- TV show on Motor trend TV, has a book designed just for keeping track of your project. I wish I started with that, but this forum is good to keep track of the build.
I think that is a great idea on keeping a record of the parts used and wiring changes.Just the other day I was thinking about the p/s hose I used,because it had rubbed the flex loom that surrounds the hose on the crank pulley,it did not hurt the hose but it got me thinking if it had what would I replace it with.
I do have the electrical diagrams and the changes made to them when I integrated the LT1 harness but it needs to be put in a binder or book of sorts.I will have to check out the book you mentioned on Gears.
I wish I had made a build thread and took pictures when I did my swap.
I think that is a great idea on keeping a record of the parts used and wiring changes.Just the other day I was thinking about the p/s hose I used,because it had rubbed the flex loom that surrounds the hose on the crank pulley,it did not hurt the hose but it got me thinking if it had what would I replace it with.
I do have the electrical diagrams and the changes made to them when I integrated the LT1 harness but it needs to be put in a binder or book of sorts.I will have to check out the book you mentioned on Gears.
I wish I had made a build thread and took pictures when I did my swap.
Do you still have your Camaro? If so, where in GA are you? It might be a good idea for me to drive down and see your swap. How's it running? I have a lot of questions about your swap. I need a little more motivation once in a while.
I have it still and it runs great.I just don't drive it everyday.I don't generally drive it very far.Usually just in a 20 mile radius.
I am between Atlanta and Augusta.
I am glad to help with any questions.
Motivation can be hard to come by.I have young kids,between that and work it can be hard to find time and motivation.
Did some work on it today. We put in the Hvac housing on the firewall. I'd post pictures but for some reason I don't see any way to do that. Has something changed?
Well it's back to work. Next is what we did a few days ago.
Step one fitting the bottom housing. Had to find all the correct bolts and nuts. The exchanger just slid right in. Ain't it pretty? The top of the housing fit perfectly. Now for the blower motor and expander
Great, we lost the bracket that holds the expander and the blower motor didn't fit the housing. So, it was off to U-pull it to look for parts. We found out that there is a spacer/bracket that goes between the blower motor and the housing. We were lucky to find all the parts we needed and GM bolts and nuts. Photos to follow.
Just to check out the engine, we were going to turn it over manually. It doesn't want to rotate, feels like it is seized. So we took out the spark plugs to see if that would help, nope. We sprayed in some fogging oil and we're letting it soak in. Hopefully it will loosen up. More to follow.
I went on youtube to see how other guys loosened up their engines. Most use auto trans fluid and diesel fuel mixed and pored it into the cylinders. I don't want to dilute our break-in oil, but if this is the only way, so be it.
We got the engine to free up. Took it manually through several revolutions and fogged up the cylinders. I feel much better now.
Today was focused on small things. I had to fabricate the bracket that runs from the alt/ac support to the header on the driver's side. Before I send the headers off to Jet hot for coating I have to have an O2 bong welded into one header. Our 83 Camaro only used 1 O2 sensor and the 95 LT1 requires 2. I also got the steam tubes properly installed. Finding the special washers was difficult; GM dealer found some.
I talked with the guy that runs LT1PCMTUNING.com and he can set my 95 Caprice PCM up for our needs. I was worried about this step, but it seems doable now.
Just a few more little things to do and we'll drop the Camaro onto the drive train. Can't wait.
Hopefully next week I'll be heading to Jet Hot in Burlington,NC, to coat our headers and Y-pipe. Then as soon as my son gets a few days off, we're dropping the Camaro onto the drive train.
Good trip up to Jet Hot in Burlington, NC. Brian, one of the sales guys, took me through the plant and showed me the process my headers will go through. Quite impressive. You can get a real good idea from a youtube video that a motorcycle guy put together of the plant. Headers should be ready in 2 weeks or so.
Today was a good day. WE GOT THE ENGINE IN THE CAR!
We also finished up on the sub frame connectors. Had to do a little fabrication (elongate some holes) but they went in just fine. A word of advice, try not to use two different companies when building your suspension. My sub frames were from SW and my cross member and torque arm were from another company. Some of the holes didn't quite line up, but with a little ingenuity, we made it work. Here are some pictures:
Here we are getting the drive train ready to slide under the Camaro Empty engine bay. Here is a shot of the underside and you might be able to see the sub frame connectors Slid the drive train under. Getting ready to lower the car onto the K-member Ready to lower the car. That looks about right Just in case you want to know about the jig we made to hold the drive train Had to line up the pins Clunk, she's in. Perfect fit. The cross member even went on without too much work.
Got some more done today. We put in the torque arm and tightened up a lot of fasteners. Next we'll get the drive shaft in. We hooked up the hydraulic clutch linkage and now we're planning the fuel lines and brake lines. It's pretty hard to take pictures of the underside of the car, but trust me it looks awesome or should I say strong. Let me set you straight on our choices of torque arm and cross member and the sub frame connectors. First, the sub frame connectors from S&W racing (part# 40-600) are bolt in which is fine except that with these 36 year old Camaro's the sub frames are not exactly like they were off the assembly line. So the holes don't exactly line up and you have to use your fabrication skills. We used the BMR adjustable torque arm and it's matching cross member for a T56 tranny (part # TCC016-M6 manual). I'm impressed with the relocation crossmember and the way the torque arm attaches to it. Much better than the OEM torque arm attaching to the tail of the tranny. The only thing you can't use is the drive shaft hoop as it interferes with the BMR torque arm. Why didn't I go with the S&W torque arm? Because they didn't have a crossmember for our set up and BMR did. I'll try to get some pictures soon.
Yesterday we started on the front suspension. It took a little work but we got the new tubular A arms in. Also the new strut mounts went in. Looks nice, pictures to follow. Got the water pump all in with the Meziere electric pump. This is the fun part of this project, putting new pieces on. You don't get as dirty.
The front fenders we have are in bad shape as the previous owner jacked it up in the wrong place. Our hood is not in good shape either. But I just got a tip that a 92 Camaro Z28 with no engine is up for sale. The owner says it has never been hit or wrecked and is in good shape but no engine and he wants to get rid of it. If it looks good I'll make an offer and bring it home. (Just what my wife wants...another parts car in the yard ) I hope there are no real differences between the 83 and 92 Camaro's. Another benefit would be that we could see how to put our Camera back together. It's been a few years since we pulled it apart.
Saw you got an electric water pump. Any reason you went with one brand over another?
For the LT1 I thought the Meziere electric pump is the best. I've had it on my Vette for over 7 years and it has provided excellent service. And when and if the pump fails, it is very easy to replace.
Finally back to work on this never ending project. We got the front coil springs from UPS today and as soon as my son's Civic is finished (his daily driver to work) we're going to install them. Once installed, we'll try out the Corvette wheels (92 saw blades) and hopefully get it back on all 4 wheels.
Anybody still there? I haven't worked on the Camaro for over a month. Terrible. My son's Civic is giving us a bad time. We both have learned our lesson. Never try to work or upgrade a Japanese car. Give me any small block Chevy anytime, but not a Japanese 4 banger. Anyway, our next step is to finish installing the front coil springs and knuckles so we can put the front wheels on and get it off the jack stands. More later.
Last Sat we found a shop in Rock Hill,SC, that does work similar to what Fantom Works does. We did a walk thru and were quite impressed with there set up. They had a Gen 3 Firebird on the lift and it is almost complete (Full restoration). We're at the stage of running brake lines and fuel lines and these guys did an excellent job on the FB. Might have to consider having them do mine. I'm not too good at the double flaring of brake lines and this might be the answer for me. Remember back when I talked about the plastic fuel lines that carry pretty high PSI from the tank to the engine? These guys can run steel lines which really appeals to me. And they had a couple of trucks and cars that they just finished painting. They looked great.
We're almost at the point where we can spend some time on the Camaro. I can't wait to get back at it.
Last Sat we got to work and installed the front steering knuckle assemblies and new coil springs. Not an easy job but with some serious thinking and trial and error, we got them in. We installed Spohn A-arms with Baer brakes and rotors. There is a difference in the pockets where the coil springs nest in the Spohn A arms from the OEM arms which makes it just about impossible to put the coil springs in the traditional way. We tried using an Advanced Auto internal spring compressor (made in China) that failed. We bought one from Eastwood that was made in USA and it worked fine. We had to use the method our factory service manual outlines; remove the two bolts that hold the A arms to the subframe. But we had to fabricate a tool to push the A arms back into the subframe against the pressure of the coil spring. We were thinking of making a video on how we did it, but we didn't want to stop and set things up. Here is a picture of the tool we made: This fits onto our axle jack. So, to clarify, we had to fabricate a metal plate to fit on the underside of the A arm where the coil spring sits and use the spring compressor by hooking the top clamps on the top of the coils and removing the bottom clamps and then run the compressor shaft bolt through a hole drilled into the metal plate and up to the top clamp. If needed I can show a picture of this. Okay here it is:
08-20-2018, 09:47 PM
I'll still keep this thread going if not for you guys but for us to remember what we've done. Maybe I should write a book about it. Nah. 
So not much is happening. But tomorrow we'll be getting back to work (or play) on the swap. The plan is to complete the installation of the HVAC housings. We finally got some GM fasteners in a package of nuts, bolts, and screws. My son found them online. 
Got the tool bar back but the image button doesn't work. 
) I hope there are no real differences between the 83 and 92 Camaro's. Another benefit would be that we could see how to put our Camera back together. It's been a few years since we pulled it apart. 
