whats up guys, so im not new this this forum and i have a build thread of my car already but it was with a sbc 355 i built.

why i posting in this section, is well i picked up a lm7 engine ( with complete engine harness, computer, and fuse block) from a friend for 250$!! hard to come by around here.

well i have a couple of questions im kinda in the dark about, hoping some of you guys could lead me in the right direction. I dont like to waste time, and like to do things right the first time.

alright so first off, im going to run the ls1 intake. now i know that all ls based motors are practically the same besides bore size and valve size in the heads. I want to use the truck harness i have (save on money) but was wondering if making that harnesss work would be to much of a headache and would be better to use a stock ls1 engine harness. with switching intakes, will i need to go with the ls1 steam tubes or will the truck ones work.
i know ill have to switch oil pans, ive seen that the after market ones they make are basically like the h3 pan, would that clear my stock k member?
For fuel, would it be easier to swap in a 4th gen gas tank or can i run an inline fuel pump and use the corvette fuel filter kit that is also the regulator.
and finally for the transmission, i want to use my 700r4 (since its been rebuilt already and dont want to drop the extra cash on a 4l60e) i know ill need to buy the adapter kit to bolt it up, but my main concern is with the kickdown cable. can i make that all work with going fuel injection? havent really seen anything but then again maybe im not looking hard enough

sorry for all the questions, i did read alot of swap threads but i just want to be certain on a few things so im not wasting time, money, etc!
thanks for the help, id really appreciate it!
im sure im missing a few things here and there but i just want to get pointed in the right direction

Problem 1:

Trucks use a dfifferent style injector connector- EV6, ls1 and TPI use EV1

Best fit for our cars is a 4th gen f-body oil pan, it sits flush with the k-member when the k-member is notched properly

truck steam will work okay, it did for me

fuel: My lines were rusty and LS1's only need 1 fuel line in the bay, TPI uses 3 to the bay (feed, return, evap) - I am changing my tank for the swap. Best bet is an intank pump. Fuel tank, pump, andl ines all ran me 350 total- but its all brand new

no advantage to using 700R4, and you will have a hell of a time trying to. First off, the PCM takes shifting into consideration, you will need it programed for a manual. The kickdown- I have no idea, and rarely see anyting about it. I am sure it can be done, but not recommended.. I have seen it a couple times that ls based motors just ate a stock 700r4. Best bet is to sell the 700 and pick up a rebuilt 4l60e

just my $.02

good luck, have fun, and most importantly keep smiling - especially when you get stuck on something - haha

yea i know they use a different style connector but can swap those out for the correct ones.
i just didnt know if besides that any other connectors were different, besides the maf

how much would i need to notch out?

i have good fuel lines, and i saw some people using the walbro pump and corvette fuel filter regulator set up. would that work just as good as in the intake set up?

alright, well my friend still has the 4l60e so ill see what i can get that for, pretty sure itll need a rebuild tho seeings how it came out of a parts truck he bought.

and also what throttle cable will i need to use? just the 4th gen f body one?

As far as the pump and corvette reg/filter. That's what I used as do many other people.If you get a 98 non traction controlled cable you should be good. I just had to bend up my pedal a tad bit. As far as that notch goes. I didn't need to do this. I think it varies so much because of the options for mounts. I just used the setback mounts summit sells and I had plenty of room. So much I actually dropped my motor from the top.

read through the swap stickies, use the search function, spend some more time doing research.

the oil pan question is a big red flag that you haven't done much searching/reading, this has been beaten to death on this forum.

i would spend some more time figuring out the basics and then put a realistic budget together, that will keep your swap on track and keep you from getting blindsided with costs that you didn't plan for.

i have done a decent amount of research and yes i have a budget and yes i know the notch has been covered,its just ive seen people do it and seen them not do it.... but idk whats the big deal of asking again and getting someones input first hand. its not like im wasting your time or anyone elses, if you dont want to help me then fine dont comment back, but taking the time to write back saying that just aggravates people. im not an idiot and know most of what i need to do, like i said above those things i was just a little unsure about.....

thanks cypris09 and alex722607

it's not a big deal, just that the information is out there. you didn't mention anything about the notch in your first post, just asked about aftermarket pans and clearance. also the H3 has been discussed in great detail also, it hangs too low.

i am trying to help, if you do wild card searches, or just do a google site search on here or ls1tech, these are all common questions. don't take it as a taunt, just some guidance. i spent 3 months reading through threads and researching before i ever asked my 1st question.

Well I apologize, I'm just getting frustrated with a few things. But I'm just the type of person who likes to just get a confirmation from someone before I go buy something. If that makes sense

Honestly the stickies got me 90% of the way. It's rather straight forward. Definitely use a car intake and fbody pan. Fbody accessories are by far the easiest to get imo. Fbody manifolds work if you don't want to spend big money on headers. Also I recommend Pockets harness several people have it including myself. Like I said I just used summit racing setback plates and had no problems with needing a notch. Hawks has your swap mounts for your trans. If you go 4l60e the 700r4 shift cable bracket and arm swaps over to the 4l60e. I think that's most of everything

yea, honestly guys ive been researching one of these swaps for years now on and off. ive read most of the stickies before, perhaps I should go back and skim them over. im trying to find a ls1 complete intake. im thinking that would be the quickest and easiest way to go. Ive read you can use the truck injectors but then have to use an after market fuel rail, and I just don't want to get into all that crap. have any of you guys dealt with LKQ? at my shop we buy used parts from them all the time, and I was thinking about giving them a call and seeing about the oil pan. or could I just go to gm dealer and get the pan, pickup tube. the junk yards around me don't have any oil pans, already called around.


now for the wiring, to me it does seem pretty straight forward, but theres a company about 40 min away that will take my truck harness and computer, re wire it and flash it for around 370$. Im leaning towards this. I will check out pockets harness in a little bit.


cypris09 ive seen a set of motor mounts on hawks website that claim they can be set back an inch, I don't now if those are similar to the ones you have. yea I picked up the 4l60e and was going to order the hawks trans mount.


Im also going to leave the internals alone for right now in the motor and trans.

and hopefully ill have the motor and trans either at my house or shop by Monday so I can start cleaning it up and post some pictures, cause who doesn't like pictures right??

Worth a shot on pan, I got mine on Craigslist. As far as the mounts go. I'd have to look mine were just a flat plate and summit sells different ones you just gotta look. Mine were 80 or 90 iirc .

found a local salvage yard an hour away that just deals with wreaked ls camaros, firebirds and gtos. So now i will be able to get all the parts ive been searching for in one trip

also got the motor and trans pulled out of the truck tonight, looks like it had a blown head gasket but the truck ran perfect before we started taking it apart.
having my local transmission guy swap out the output shaft and tail housing since it was a 4wd truck.

i sent pocket a pm asking about his harness's, so waiting for a response from him. the wiring doesnt look to complicated i might try it myself but im still on the fence about it. any opinions? i hear his harness is really reasonable in price. but im still out of the loop to exactly how much it is. im all about saving some money on this swap but its cheaper than buying one from say summit or jegs then thats the route ill go, if it will save me headaches and frustration im all for it haha

ill post some pictures of it tomorrow, i know this thread is boring with no progress pictures. the motor has 190k on it but after pulling the valve covers it actually looks brand new in there.But wont know for sure till i pull the heads off. fingers crossed it all looks good.

also have a guy coming to look at my 355 so if that sells quickly this swap should be finished in time for spring.

The harness isn't that hard honestly... The hard part is making it look presentable or hidden... I built my harness, it works great so I'm glad to learn that skill, but I will be getting one from Pocket for the aesthetics... I messaged him last week with no reply, so I assume he is busy at the moment.

I think I have been there. It was 6 years ago but I think I know the place. I was there with my dad when we were buying something for the 2002 trans am he had a couple years ago.

Apparently they used to deal with third gens too, but they are long gone.


As far as the notch, I got a crossmember with a notch for the a/c and a little for pan clearance. A board member was selling it so I grabbed it. Mine was covered in caked on road grime and fluids and neither my dad nor I could do the welding. ( they also came with Hawks mounts)

LM7 is more likely to have cracked heads, than blown head gaskets.

Here's what to look for.



Visit the truck boards such as at fullsizechevy.com, they're FULL OF complaints about this.

I got a repaired pair of heads from Cylinder Heads International. $175 ea after core. They welded up the place that cracks with a HUUUUUJJJJJJJE blob of metal, not likely to ever happen again. Truck runs better than before.

Forgot to mention:

The crack-inevitable heads were produced at a plant in Mexico named Castech. Complete garbage from "old GM" which "new GM" isn't doing a damn thing about. Their attitude is, you bought it, you eat it. Have a casting mark that looks sort of like a AA battery on a boss under the valve cover. Check it out.

yea probably the same place. they had an add on the local craigslist, called them up and have everything i was looking for, and for a real reasonable price.

alright thanks for the heads up
i didnt really go full out checking it yet, but from what it looked it, it just had a little coolant built up on top of the valve head. didnt have any standing coolant inside. and crank case wasnt milky or had any separation. if it had a cracked head wouldnt it of made the motor run kinda rough?

has anyone used a standalone harness from current performance wiring?
i was looking at them and they seem a little pricey, but look really well made.
and if i buy a stand alone harness the only wiring id have to do would be re wiring the big connector running inside the car for the gauges correct?

Honestly just get ahold of pocket. I'm willing to bet his price is not only better but it's fully plug n play. I'm sure others will speak for it as well. Not to mention mine was ordered and shipped in no time and it's beautiful. Just my opinion but I'd go pockets harness everytime.

Yeah I've been trying to gt ahold of him, but no luck yet. He must be on vacation or something. Hopefully he gets back on here sometime soon. Unless he's got an email address or a website I could get ahold of

Just to throw it out there, but all the crack prone heads use a 706 casting number. Not all 706 heads came from that foundry either, so its not a death sentence. Anyhow, 5.3 heads are crazy cheap ($50) so whats wrong with swapping them for a different set if they do turn out to be cracked? The market is flooded with 243/799 heads from newer 5.3's, so grab a set of those if you want an upgrade

heres a little update, finally got everything back to my house. going to start taking out my 355 tomorrow, and start the tear down on the lm7 block.

and i finally have some pictures to make this thread a little less boring for the mean time haha

took off the head that had a blown gasket after work. im actually really pleased with the cylinder walls, no scouring just a very faint lip at the tops. pretty good considering it came out of a truck with 180,000 miles...haha

pulled the 355 out this evening. everything goes pretty smooth when youve done this a few times before

now just waiting for sunday to roll around for the guy to come pick up the 355.
then the real progress can start

kind of makes me sad seeing her all torn apart again, ive owned the car for 4 years and only 1 of those years ive been able to drive it for a summer, i swear its a sickness lol...

had to take the typical mid engine pull picture haha


its like 15 degrees out but that heater makes life wonderful

Haha I pulled my 350 when it was pitch black and put my 325 in when it was snowing... So yeah in the same boat as ya. ...and the car story isn't far off either lmao

haha yea it blows.. high tomorrow of 15 degrees, friday high of 2, and sunday high of -1...

A high of -1?!? BRRRR! So glad I live in Florida. It's supposed to be 70 here tomorrow. Nice progress so far on your swap.

Make sure you don't reuse your old head bolts. I had to learn that one the hard way. LOL. I'd recommend ARP head bolts, rod bolts and balancer bolt for your engine. They are relatively cheap insurance. Just my two cents. Good luck with your swap.

I feel your pain! The day my car finally started after my swap was 15 degrees. I'm itching to button up this swap but this weather is killing me here in ohio. How does it go 40s one day then the next is a high of 15? Crazy stuff but looking good man

that 355 is pretty dry for a sbc! keep up the good work.

-35 F here today! Would be nice to go to the garage and not get stuck to my tools lol

well I only had it in the car for about a year and a half, so it really didn't have time to show its true sbc colors haha


dang -35? I thought I had it bad. but yea the weather here is pretty bi polar. cant wait for spring!

so ive been looking more in depth recently at what cam i want to swap in.
im looking for something with a nice thump to it but i still want it to have some performance.
i was thinking the ls1 hot cam could be a good fit.
any suggestions?

well did a little part shopping today. got pretty much the basic stuff for right now. its nice having a warehouse near by that just deals with ls1 and up firebirds and camaros. the place is called ls candy shop. they have a website if anyone needs something just check them out. real reasonable prices.

here what i scored today. still need a few more things tho.

quick simple question (i might have over looked it while searching but) with these f-body accessories on the truck 5.3 will i need to run the spacers? i saw that i did if i wanted to keep the VVT but i dont have that with this motor. and i know i need to drill and tap the third hole for the alt bracket, but thats no big deal. just wondering about the spacing

Spacers are dependent on other parts. If you run the full Fbody FEAD including the balancer, none are required. They will not clear timing covers with cam phasers built in for VVT. To run a VVT timing cover, use a truck balancer and 3/4" spacers behind all the Fbody accessories pictured, but the WP needs to be exchanged for one on the truck spacing. Trucks and 5th gen LS3 camaros. Alternatively you can cut 3/4" spacers matching the WP gasket, they're expensive to buy though. FWIW, I have seen any of the VVT, AFM or DoD functions successfully implemented in a conversion, so the mix/match combo may be for nothing

Yeah its all fbody accessories, just wanted to make sure.

Hey pocket I sent you a pm, I'm ready to place my order for a harness if you are taking them.

So I got the different cylinder heads in the mail today. They aren't as clean as what they told me. Anyone have any tricks or tips on what I can use to get them cleaner? Im going to remove the valves since I need to change the springS. Just not sure on what to use for the cleaning.

diesel is a good way to loosen and remove grime. berrymans chemdip, brake parts cleaner, gunk engine degreaser and a pressure washer.

soo its been sometime since I updated this build page. Got the motor together last night ill post some pictures later tonight. But I have a question I got my fuel pump and filter kit the other day and was looking for a good spot to mount both. Just looking for some input on how some of you guys have run them. its the walbro 255 inline pump and filter.

heres some pictures of the motor in a few stages during assembly. Its been so long since ive made any progress on this swap. between moving and always working its been put on the back burner

i thought i had some pictures of the cam install and pan but i must of not saved them or something...







also over looked the fact that i need to find ls1 steam pipes since the 5.3 wont work.

and a little mock up with all the accessories, minus the ps pump pulley




hopefully ill have my 4l60e back from the shop by the end of the week so i can drop it all in the car

its nothing special but im getting so pumped for this build again

the LM7 steam pipes worked for me, just need to bend it a tad if at all

yea I tried to bend it a little but it didn't seem to help at all, ill probably try again this weekend when I work on it more.

got my transmission back yesterday from the shop. now am i going to need the trans dipstick tube from a 4th gen camaro or will the tube and dipstick from my 700r4 work?

ive been trying to find a 4th gen one that runs up near the intake but havent found one yet.

also ordered my wiring harness, hawks headers and a few other parts, should be here by the end of the week hopefully.

and also wondering where some of you guys have had your computers reflashed at? ive found a website called lt1swap . com for 75$ it seems pretty legit. JUst curious where some of you guys have had it done.

got the motor and transmission into the car today after work
bolted the trans to the motor and dropped it in from the top. actually went real easy, just had to take my time, didnt scratch the firewall. i had test fit the motor the day before and had to do a very minor work to the stock k member.























only thing ive having problems with is getting the hawks 4l60e crossmember to line up right. i tried it a few times but it was getting late. any else running those? and any tips to get it to line up correct? im going to try it more tomorrow but would just like some input for a change...

Hi I have been working on my lm7 for my 82 for over a year now.I just started to install the motor and tranny Friday. I have had a ton of motor and tranny work. I'll have to get my parts list so I can share what I have in it. I'm having trouble with alternator clearance. In yes I'm using the truck accessories. Here is what I got so far.

I got the Hawks crossmember for the 4l60e. Was a pain to get in. For whatever reason I had to start all 4 bolts just barely and gradually tighten them all up. I really need to just slot the holes just a bit so it's not such a tight fit but it's on now.
On a side note it's looking good! Glad to see you're moving right along.

Hey what accessory set do you have on your LM7?

From the looks of it, I would say its f-body accessories

yea its the f-body accessories.

and i did get the crossmember bolted up. Im honestly really disappointed on its fitment... for the money i figured it would fit much better.. it was late so i didnt get any pictures, ill post them tomorrow to show exactly what im talking about. the drive side seems to have plenty of room for my long tubes, but just looking at the passenger side with everything, im having some doubts. they are suppose to be here thursday tho.