We need to create meets or sumthign because there is nothing for thirdgens around here. im in Danbury. theres tons of classic car shows even if there was a good all generation fbody meet that would be good. we need to created meets!

 

im in. my car should be mostly done over the winter.

 

Im in as well. I am doing lots to the car this winter, but I usually hit most of the marks car shows (in granby) on monday nights during the warmer months.

Check out: http://www.necamaro-firebird.org/forums/

 

I mean my car isn't anywhere near car show quality but id deffinally go to see what everyone else has.

 

im in eastern, ct

 

Yeah I'm way out on the RI border, but would love to see something. Everyone around here drives hondas.

 

I'm in Tolland, but I just got back into 3rd gens after fooling with Volvos for the past 3 years or so. Hopefully the car is up and running this winter, the engine has been sitting in front of it for the last couple years after all.

 

im from somers we could meet up at the golfland shows they have them every friday in the summer

 

My 1990 LS swap T/A will be done by spring. I'm in.

 

Ur in newtown ? im right in danbury 5 mins away

 

My 5.3 turbo project should be on the road finally this coming spring. I'm def down for any meets or cruises or whatever you guys want to try to set up. Don't see enough of these cars around here, especially decently clean ones! I'm out of Suffield CT..bout 15 mins from the MA border. I was born in Danbury though and lived there for years.

And like camaro1185 mentioned, the Marks cruise night show up here in Granby, CT is by far the biggest in the area. A few cruises to that show would be sweet if a few of you didn't mind driving!

 

I usually make the marks show two or three times a season. Its about an hour or so for me to drive up.

 

N00b from Bethel. I dont own a ThirdGen right now but I ad a 85 and a 91 Z28 in the past. Looking to pick up another this year.

 

Whitedevile I'd love to see that car when its done, my cars under the knife again and hopefully I can have it done by mid summer as long as funds provided. I see a fair amount of thirdgens but 80% have seen better days. No one really "builds" them around here, one or two aside from me.

 

Same goes for your car as well. I'd love to check it out at some point! And yes there are a lot of 3rd gens around, but not many clean ones, and even fewer tastefully modified ones. The other thing that kind of surprises me is I do not see many LSx swapped vehicles around here...and I mean everything, not just 3rd gens. I'm not sure why, but it seems so popular in the south and out west, but nobody has really been bitten by the LSx bug around here yet!

 

I was going that route, had a bottom end but LSX parts are so hard to find around here and the ones I did find people wanted insane money. I still havent seen an lsx swap in person around here outside of a car show. I'm pretty much in the same process as you right now, building a new car. What town are you in anyway? I'm all the way out in Killingly on route 6.

 

I'm up in Suffield. It's just about on the MA border. Killington doesn't sound TOO far from where I am, but then again, CT isn't a very big state. And it's funny because my above comment about how nobody has LSx swaps came back and bit me. I was at a sunoco gas station a few days ago and a black IROC camaro pulls in. Didn't sound stock, so I wandered over and struck up a conversation with the guy and it turns out he's the owner of the gas station. Finally popped the "whats under the hood?" question, and low and behold, I see a 6.0 carb converted LSx haha. Guy did a clean job and even re-used his 700R4 trans. It was a budget build, but still a clean swap!

 

im in MA but im in....if i dont sell the car

 

The reason why there are not too many doing the swap, because it costs a pretty penny. (To do it right, your looking at 7-10k, for fuel injected of course) I have been lusting over the swap for I don't know how long. The idea of 400 hp (or damn close to it) out of a cammed lsx is just sooooo awesome. In the end for me, I just want a reliable (very important to me) car thats going to glue me to my seat on acceleration.

 

The biggest thing that turned me off to the swap was 1) The cost of aftermarket parts, it seems like anything for an LSX is about twice the coast as a comparable genI part.

2) Finding the little parts, all I had was a bottom end with crank/rods/pistons and thats literally it I would have been chasing parts that I didnt even know what they were and I just couldnt find a cheap donor motor. Let alone a ECU/harness.

In the end I just decided to stick with what I know, but its still going to meet my power goals for a decent amount less, so the money saved can go elsewhere in the car.

 

Your about an hour-hour and 15 minutes from me.

 

I guess thats not too bad! I always liked road trips anyways haha. Come summer time if all the cars are roadworthy, we'll def have to se up a meet with a bunch of people. I like a good drive through CT!

And Matt, lots of people think LSx swaps are expensive and in all honesty, they really aren't. If you go crazy and do something like an LS3, then sure, you'll have $7K easy into it. Bit if you go with the conversion motor mounts and a good old truck 6.0 or 5.3 with just a cam, you will be making awesome power and really won't spend anywhere near what you would think. I went off the deep end so I really can't use mine as an example, but a guy I just met has an IROC-Z with a 6.0 in it out of a truck. He re-used the 700R4 with an adapter flexplate and said he has maybe $3K into the entire swap for LSx power. When you think of the benefits, thats really not too bad!

The way I look at it is this...you can swap some cheap 150k mile 5.3 in at first and it'll still probably last you years of fun. Then once you have the car actually set up to have an LSx in it, you can start saving for a real motor, or build your own. IDK, it's all preference I guess!

 

Whitedevil is right, if I were to keep it stock I couldve done an LSX swap relatively cheap, but at this point in how many different phases the car has gone through and never been right I've also as Whitedevil has "gone off the deep end". So I just want to get it done once and for all and I know the SBC like the back of my hand so since I'm already pulling this entire car apart and getting into things unknown as it is I just didnt want to make the venture in the LSx world yet and get in further over my head.

 

I have no problem going where ever, I'm just sick of all the honda's around here. Would love to have a weekly meet/cruise in the summer. We should be able to find a spot thats all about a common distance for us.

 

I'm sure theres got to be something half way. And even though it may be a bit of a haul for you, I also highly recommend coming up to Marks cruise night up by me, at least once or twice!

 

wow, i just wrote a HUGE thing compairing the sbc vs lsx costs after a TON of research I have done in the past couple years while trying to decide what direction i wanted to go with my car, and the internet shut down....FMLLLLLLLLLLLLLL. Not writing that again....

Basically the short cliff notes is what you read all over the place, pick a horsepower number and the cost it will take to get there using the SBC vs LSx platform, it will be damn similar but the LSx will make that power a lot better, more efficient, better mileage and drivability.

Rob, I don't entirely agree with you. Good luck swapping in a LS3 for 7K, if it was that cheap to swap one in, I would have one already.

My idea of doing the swap correctly would put a cammed ls1/6/6.0L in my car for about 8K. When i say correctly, I don't believe in swapping in a high mileage engine/tranny into my car without going throug them, rebuilding them and freshing them up. I always live by if you cant do it correctly the first time, don't do it or save up to do it correctly. I will probably get flammed for this but thats just my feeling on any engine/tranny swap.

 

This is just for kicks....but if my car wasn't turbo, heres a quick rundown on what I would have spent.

35K mile 5.3, minus parts sold off it (used): $500
LS6 intake, fuel rail, TB, injectors (used): $475
LS6 cam/valvesprings (used): $220
Misc gaskets (new): $60
F body front accesories (used): $400
F body pan w/ pickup (used): $150
T56 w/ bellhousing & shifter (used): $1050
Clutch/flywheel (new): $600
Clutch hydraulics (new): $300
PSI standalone harness w/ ECM (new): $700
Hawks motor/tranny mounts (new): $200
Misc extra parts/hoses: $150

Grand total is $4805 and thats with a T56 tranny which is much more expensive than any auto trans. That engine even with the stock heads should put down around 340 HP to the rear wheels, and would probably run in the 12's at the track. I thought about it for a while and I really don't think I missed anything to get a running 5.3 into a 3rd gen. I added the misc parts just in case, but like I said, it can be done with a nice low mileage engine for cheaper than what people think. Obviously some of the new parts listed could be bought used as well for an even cheaper final price. If that was a 6.0 engine, it would only add another $700 or so and it would make a ton more power.

 

Yep thats a good start, but your missing a few thing. Cooling stuff, gauges (my 88 is mechanical) so autometer gauges at least 1000, dyno tune about 500, exhaust, at least 1000 if not closer to 1500, trans x member 110, all fuel related stuff (regulator, lines, fittings) maybe 300?

total about 4-5000 more, so as I said 8Kish, and for me probably even more than that since i want a REALLY fast car.

Again, not trying to rain on anyone parade, but I like to know EXACTLY what i'm getting into before I do it, and around 8K is what I have come up with the hundreds of iterations of prices lists in the past 1.5 years or so of researching these swaps. I would not want to go in expecting about a 5K swap and have it be almost double. With that said, I love the idea of all said and done, I will have a fully restored car that would cost about the same as a camry or corolla but be able to run with high end sports cars (z06, zl1, cts-v etc).

With that said, I'm pretty much set on going lsx (still want a ride rob), its just probably wont happen for a year or so. I want to finish restoring the car and have the drivetrain be the final part of the car.

 

No need for any cooling extras since I'm using the stock 3rd gen radiator, and the stock fan will work just fine (only reason I have duals is because I needed pushers for the clearence!). The stock 3rd gen gauges will work fine as well. You can buy an electronic to mechanical conversion adapter for the trans, and the other gauges can be made to work very easily (my brother is using stock gauges). The dyno tune is something that ANY new engine will need for max performance, not just an LSx, so I didn't include it for that reasons. Stock F body LSx manifolds can be used for the start of the exhaust and a custom Y-pipe can be made cheap to mate it to the existing exhaust. I would make my own now that I have a welder, lol. The crossmember price was included with the motor mounts. Hawks has a special for $200 for the motor and tranny mount conversion kit. I will however agree that I forgot fuel related stuff, but it can be done on the cheap with a corvette regulator and single walbro 255 with stock lines.

I'm not trying to argue since I know that you are like me, and if you were to do it, you'd want to do it right the first time. That ussually costs more money. I just wanted to show that technically it can be done for much less than what a lot of people think, IF you were on a sort of budget. And it would still be a very quick respectable 12 second car!

 

I'm in

 

lol my thread turned into a sbc < lsx thread i still got the old l98 in mine haha

 

I'm in, my ls1 swapped 88 camaro, should be done in a month. Sooner if I put several more hours into it per day. I was planing on hanging out at the burger king meet on the berlin turnpike.

 

Totally agreed....

Marks in Granby, CT is good. Anyone wanna meet up there when they start the shows?

 

My buddys and I hang out there every weekend, your welcome to join, just look for a white Iroc.

Also, I try to hit marks as much as possible too.

 

I'm at Marks every week. It started this past monday as well, so if you plan on attending one week, post up on here ands let me know. I'm sure a few of us would get together and come down.