flattappet

im new to the lsx swap, and I bought a 2000 5.3 motor complete with engine harness and pcm for my 88 Camaro. my Camaro is originally a v6 car that someone yanked the driveline out of, then I bought it. I want to keep the 5.3 pcm and have it tuned. i just don't quite understand how to integrate it into my Camaro so the pcm will power up and whatnot. i mean essentially, the pcm will need powers and grounds to make the motor run, so i assume i will need to splice some powers/grounds into the 5.3 harness from my Camaro harness? Also i think i can remove my stock pcm from under the dash since i wont be using that one correct? i tried to search for an answer but honestly im not sure how to word it. any help/clarification is greatly appreciated!

flattappet

Think i found a place local that will modify my harness to integrate into my car and it comes with relays for fans and ignition for 200 bux. think im going to go that route. they label everything also and have tech support and install instructions

25th327RS

iTrader: (2)

The 200 dollar harness modifications are not ideal for a thirdgen. That is considered to be a stand alone harness. That still leaves a lot of wiring to be done to have a fully fuctioning car. The 200 dollar conversions are good for race-cars, off-road trucks and buggies, ect. They are by no means a plug and play of any kind. Plug and play harnesses are available from hawks and speartech. I do full plug and play harnesses, but I am rather busy and frankly don't have the time for any at the moment. I would try to send Z28ricer a PM, as I know he does them as well.

Find pockets LS swap wiring threads. Once you have the pin out diagram for the 5.3 harness and for the 88, it's very do-able. In essence, you are removing engine controls from the thirdgen harness, removing body connections from the 5.3 harness, then laying them together and making a few connections between the two.

If you don't feel you can figure out the wiring after going through pockets threads a few times, I do not recommend a 200 dollar stand alone setup unless you are running a stripped down drag car. The plug and play is the way to go.

flattappet

Thank you i will do some research on your recommended threads. i spoke with the company and it is a standalone harness.

25th327RS

iTrader: (2)

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/ltx-...third-gen.html

The while thread is immensely useful, post 2 and 4 have great links to building a harness.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Yes, it will be completely useless.

I wouldn't call myself an "expert" wiring guy, but I wouldn't spend money to have somebody make a harness for me. The best route, in my opinion, is to get the fuse/relay box out of the donor vehicle and integrate it into your car. For my 2nd LS1 swap project, I happened to get it with the engine/trans/harness/PCM, and I sure am glad I did. Made integrating it into the vehicle harness much easier. I did remove a bunch of unused circuits from it, and I suppose if I thought about it hard enough, I could have gotten it all done with one of the two boxes. If you look carefully enough, you can see it underneath the air filter.




For my first LS1 swap, I got a swap fuse/relay box, and although it worked, I preferred the factory one.

Of course, a 5.3 won't have the engine cooling fan control circuits, but that's easy enough to set up on its own.

I spent a lot of time going over Pocket's and other threads linked in the LS1 swap sticky, but it really didn't come together in my head until I actually started doing it.

flattappet

that looks very nice, and thank you for the help. I agree, its kind of foggy thinking about it, but once I start actually doing it, I think it will all make much more sense. hard to find time to work on my car while working full time and other life commitments though!