Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Hey Folks-
I guess it's about time to put some stuff up.
I've had my car since some of you were in diapers. Second owner, bought it in Dec '86. Been through way too many small blocks, and liked them less and less.
Found this sub forum in '08, and mentioned it to my buddy, Hank. In 2 days he wangled me the C5 motor for a song. I was there with cash 2 days later. Of course everything else went for regular price, so it took time to collect stuff. Got the engine in 2 years ago, and then turned my attention to other things. Back at it now.
I've gone with; tubular K, tubular A-arms, coil-overs, brakes, Thinspokes (to fit the brakes- plus more tire ;-).
I raced short track for 9 years and that finally cured me of the need to flat foot it. Accordingly I put in a short duration cam with .529 lift. The 1.8 Crane rockers you see, were sold to me by an "expert" early on. I'm not going to redline it much, so I'm ok with them.
Straight out I decided to make the C5 A/C work, rather than spend more getting F-car accessories, than I did on the engine. BMR got the money instead- oh well.
I've got a few pics I'll post, and guess I should take a few more, to show what's up now.
Pocket did my harness. Lots of info has been gleaned from the stickys and the many projects posted. Thanks to all.
Detail questions are popping up all the time, so here we are.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

More pics; the notched BMR K, up in the air, and the short track car- now sold.

Dance card notes....
 

We (LSX in 3rd gens) have a footprint out there.
I bought radiator hoses on Amazon today. Started with the top, Gates 20893. Amazon told me people who bought that hose also bought the Gates 21505.
Folks, the only place these hoses go together is on our cars!
I went with the Dayco 71321 update, but still......

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Looks nice! Is Pocket doing everyone's harness? It seems every thread I poke my head into Pocket has built their harness. He must be good at what he does.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

nope I made my own harness I will say though pocket is a great guy, ive had very little dealings with him other than a few PMs and he is always more than willing to share tips and lend info needed to anyone :thumbsup:


I like watching these build ups. I see you have a early ls1 97-98? are you going to keep it a return system?

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

[QUOTE= I see you have a early ls1 97-98? are you going to keep it a return system?[/QUOTE]
Yes. I have it plumbed. Waiting to have the brakes all in to hook up.

Pics from today
 

New tires and LS1 in.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

1) Front brakes and coil over.
2) Rear axle showing Herb Adams sway bar- not to everyone's taste, but I love it.
3) T56, torque arm and the BUSHING.

The only thing that was easy here was the front suspension.
Took lots of fitting to get the sway bar to work as it should.
The bushing- my early car had a different bushing carrier from the later ones. I finally got a 4th gen carrier from a T56 car... took a while.

The Bat
 

The truck engines are getting most of the play these days. Still, I'll show some pics of the Bat Wing oil pan. Tubular K needed.
Note: The drain plug is tight. Everything else seems fine.

Getting the AC compressor in
 

Even with the BMR K, I had to do some (careful) cutting. Afterwards, I had a friend (an GOOD welder) wall up the cuts.
ALSO, it looks like the discharge hose will go right through where the original spring was. Glad I went with the coil overs.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Sweet build .
What brace is mounted near the bellhousing?.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Good to see another person that has kept their car for a long time (20 years for me). It is fun being able to say I still have my first car. :) I'll be watching this swap. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

That's a Kenny Brown piece.
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...nny-brown.html

Post #8 has a pic here;
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...hird-gens.html

Had mine since '99... a friend powdercoated it for me.
With all the time spent under the car these days, I see the folks who put it on for me, have it a bit crooked ;-) Oh well.

PS- Thanks for the good words, guys.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

It's about time Kenny Brown did 3rd gen again! I have KB control arms, panhard, and subframe under my car and it is top notch stuff. Makes quite a bit of other stuff on the market look like backyard attempts. They had a roll cage that was the best design I have ever seen for a street car and they stopped making it before I bought it. I hope they bring it back. Their website still doesn't show any Camaro links.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

There's just something about these cars.... I am 2nd owner going on 17 years with mine, and my transplant has been sitting in the basement for a couple months now. I will start on it if I ever get my custom Master Bath finished for my wife, promises, promises....:doh:.

Hey Flip, That car looks brand new underneath, and the motor is one of the cleanest I've seen. Great job so far, and may I say, from the few pics I have seen so far, this thing is going to be top shelf!:thumbsup:

Very nice.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Flip, that is an amazing build you have going on. The car is immaculate!

I am wondering if you could take some more pictures of the Kenny Bell piece along with some measurements. I am tired of waiting for a new one to come out and I really want to make one. Thanks for any help you could provide!

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

nice start to your build, i like the f-bodies without ground-effects. my next swap will probably be a formy.

good luck!

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Hey, Thanks.
How about another look at the pic in post #8 here;
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...hird-gens.html
I'll make some measurements, and post them for you.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Car has been garaged since late '94, and used lightly since then.
The 355s and 383 I kept putting in were too balky, the 305 before anemic.
But it is still the best looking and easily the most aero car I've had. I love it.
To me, the LS1 is the engine it should have had all along. But then, folks here have been proving that for some time.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

I hear you man. I had two 383's and a 355 in my car over the years...but the LS1 is EASILY my favorite engine so far. Great low-end grunt, throttle response, revs like crazy, and literally sips the gas if I can keep my foot out of it.

I just sold a Holley 750DP last week, and that was the last piece of old-school SBC stuff I had to sell. LSX power from here on out! My only regret was not recognizing the superb design of the LSX 5 years ago. They literally "fixed" everything with the old SBC. Even the header bolts are easy to reach with a socket...

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

LOA = 28 1/2"
L hole center to hole center= 27"
W hole centers= 2 1/8"
L tube= 22 3/4"
Dia tube= 1"
Wall thickness, tube= .09" (inc powder coating)
Flange/ tube overlap= 2 1/8"
Flange length= 5 1/4"
Flange width= 3 1/2"
Flange straight run before angling in= 1 1/8"

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Thank you so much for the detailed measurements. Off to build one of my own.

82-83 brake part
 

For those few of you with the early cars.... IF you do a brake upgrade you are faced with a front to back solid line with inverted flares.... while all the new parts will probably have metric bubble flares.
My solution (finally) was to connect the 1LE proportioning valve to the line with a short section of Braided Stainless line.
The hardest part to find here was a fitting to convert the 14 mm x 1.5 outlet on the prop valve to AN. Pegasus has it....#3265-62.
https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/home.asp
That's to -6. I then used a reducer to -4.

82-83 brake parts (cont.)
 

For the rest, I cut the original front fitting on the hard line off, and put a 7/16-24 fitting on and reflared the front. The back end of the line has a like fitting. To convert these I used Jegs fittings (#555-100783) -inverted flare female to -4 male. I tried Earl's fittings first, but they would NOT seat with the OEM hard line.
For the fronts, I bent new hard line to go with the tubular K and coil overs. Getting them, and the prop valve ports, to -3 was a piece of cake. Several choices, I used Earl's.

MC Outlet Lines to use with 1LE prop valve
 

Use the early Master Cylinder Outlet Lines with the 1LE proportioning valve. The threads are wrong on the late MC Outlet Lines.
I mention, again, for 82-83 owners who have to get new Master Cylinders because their Master Cylinders have standard threads.

Basic Wiring 101; would someone check my homework?
 

This is NOT Pocket pin out stuff, just the basics of how to wire in battery and alternator. Search feature pretty blunt for this, but this is what I can figure out.

Battery:
+ side;
6 gauge wire to power block,
Honker wire to Starter Solenoid
- side;
Honker wire to engine block

Alternator:
Plug to Harness
Post, 6 or 8 Gauge wire to Power Block

Harness: (per Pocket notes)
3 red wires to Power Block
1 Black wire grounded on body

On the Alternator to Power Block wire, is 8 gauge enough, or should I make a 6 gauge one?

On the purple wire from harness to starter solenoid, should that go to a separate terminal on the solenoid from where the battery attaches?

Fans, fuel pump, and engine block are grounded to body.

All plugs and sensors are connected.

Thanks-

On the ground
 

Here's a pic for all you guys whose car has been on blocks, in the garage for a while.

Brakes
 

Couple of shots of the Thin Spokes and what goes in them;

Work in progress
 

Here are some shots of the engine bay. Stiil a bit to go, but progress.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Great build, and it looks like the vette accessories are working out well. How are the 3.42 gears, do you wish you had more rear gear since ls tend to rev sky high? Reason I ask is because I have the same gears and wonder if I should look into deeper gears with the ls1/6spd.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

I'm a tad older, and bucking the trend. Short duration cam (206/214) with a bit of extra lift (.529). I don't want to rev to the moon... torque and decent trip fuel mileage is my desire. Even went from 3.73s. Haven't driven yet, but 3.42 is stock C5 so it can't be too slow.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Very nice build Flip.

I am suprised you had to modify the BMR K-member to fit the A/C as I understood all A/C mounts were common across all LS installations. Mine had fit without modification (LS1 mount though) using the same BMR k-member.

One more for the long term owner club here too ... purchased mine new from the dealer in December 88.

Good luck with the completion.

Dual Fans vs. Wonderbar
 

Has anyone with the dual electric fans had the Wonderbar in the way of the fan mounts?
My Spohn Wonderbar is square in the way of the lower fan mounts.
BMR? UMI? Whose will fit without major grinding of the fan mounts?

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

my stockers fans/wonderbar, fit just fine.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

What kind of Wonderbar?
Maybe it's the '83 thing, but the fans would bolt up fine, if the bar was not in the way.
Thanks-

My UMI Wonderbar fit fine on my '82, even though their description said "83-92" (still does, in fact, even though I let them know it fit '82 just fine - they said they'd update the description; that was about a year ago). I'm using 3rd gen dual fans on both cars.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Running the UMI Wonderbar as well, with stock 89 dual fans. Zero fitment issues, bolted right on.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Guess the Spohn is for sale, and I'm getting a UMI.
Thanks, guys.

July 1st-
UMI Wonder Bar fits great. Plenty of room for GM dual fans, big GM sway bar, and Wonder Bar. (Probably have to remove the Wonder Bar if I need to take fans off.)

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Clutch working. Sportlines on rear, and ride height reset. Exhaust system in. Dash partly in. '94 Z28 console ready for attachment.
Some pics, now. A few more soon.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Dash. Engine compartment with HVAC panels in. Exhaust tucked up nicely- Dan Hilker is proud, for good reason.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Rear 1/4 pic, another exhaust pic, and clearance at the back.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Looks great Flip! Are you going to bring it to the Florida Gathering in October?

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

I love how sleek the birds look with no wing, and that yellow pops.

great build man

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Thanks, guys.

Hope so, on my list. I'm in New England right now.

Re: The Bat
 

do you use the truck oil pan or the f-body? hows the ground clearence if you using the truck pan?

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Hi Evo-
You must have quite the ride for your homeland. Good on you.
I have heard truck oil pans do not have very good ground clearance .
In the States we call the C5 Corvette oil pans "Bat Wing"s. My engine is from a '98 Corvette, and so is the oil pan.
Since I got my engine 4 years ago, their popularity has taken off. I was saying I would show my application even though most new conversions were truck based.
If you check the oil pan pics above, you can see the wide ears we call "bat wings".
Cheers

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

This just in: I have to be somewhere else. Was hoping to get over. Would love to see everyone's cars.

Probably more pics soon... been away for a while.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Time for a new signature pic.
We drove around today!!!!!
Light as can be, with no carpet, and no interior.... love it.
Feels like all the suspension/ undercarriage upgrades are pitching in, also. Most comfortable it has ridden since I bought the car...... that was 12-86!
LS1 through my bullet cats and 3rd Gen Flow master sounds great...just loud enough.
I took some pics with my phone. Let's see if I can post. The deal with them is not something new, just it got where it was under it's own power.
Still interior and details to work out, but hey... a banner day.

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Pics from today :

Re: Gruv Shu gets a C5 LS1
 

Cellphone pic