i bought my first f body back in august of 2017 with a worn an tired early 90's tbi 350 swapped to a carb set up. The motor had bad valve seals and smoked pretty badly upon start up and started to do it at WOT, and was losing power, transmission started to act up not wanting to shift out of second gear at WOT. So once the weather got cold and i knew i wasnt going to drive it anymore til summer i pulled it in the shop and pulled the old power plant with originally intending on picking up a built 383 stroker motor out of my boss's 65 vette but decided i wanted fuel injection n something easier to make power later down the line. so after months of looking and researching i decided to go with a 5.3LM7 from a 99/00 silverado, so i spent the last few weeks looking for a good donor engine until i came across what i felt was a deal. i picked up a 99 5.3 that i was able to see and hear run for $200 with the harness and pcm. I plan on taking the motor to the local engine shop (boardman engine & machine) and have the motor freshened up with new rings, bearings, ARP lower end hardware, high volume oil pump, and a texas speed racing 238/242 .600/.600 cam new timing chain, and some minor port n polish work on the heads,and upgraded valve springs. currently still trying to locate all the 4th gen f body parts that i need to do my swap so i have everything ready when i take it to the machine shop to have it done. i still need to get the following parts before i can get the motor mocked up.

1.4th gen f body ls1 crank pulley
2.4th gen f body ls1 water pump
3.4th gen f body ls1 water pump pulley
4.4th gen f body ls1 idler pulley
5.4th gen f body ls1 alternator bracket
6.4th gen f body ls1 alternator
7.4th gen f body ls1 power steering pump bracket
8.4th gen f body ls1 power steering pump
9.4th gen f body ls1 serpentine belt
10.4th gen f body ls1 oil pan
11.4th gen f body ls1 windage tray
12.4th gen f body ls1 oil pick up tube
13.ls6 intake manifold
14.ls6 throttle body
15.ls6 injectors
16.ls6 fuel rails
17.ls6 fuel injector pig tails
18.ls swap mount brackets
19.ls swap headers & y pipe
20.4th gen f body ls1 ignition coil brackets
21.4th gen f body ls1 ignition coils

im sure there is more that i will need but thats the start of it so far.

Also i've done a few other things to the car since i got it such as 86 hatch with 3rd brake light,91/92 z28 hood, 4th gen camaro 3:42 posi rear end from a 97 z28, z28 tails, corvette wheels with toyo slicks, 2.5" wheel spacers for front wheels, power stop cross drilled slotted rear rotors, hawk blue brake rear pads, new pbr calipers painted red. Have along way to go but got a decent start for the amount of time that ive had the car. the first day i got it
stock tails and exhaust

z28 tails installed and my buddies 89 rs with lt1 swap in front of mine
New exhaust installed and 04 monte carlo center caps

cruise to summit with the crew

meet with the crew

photo opp with 85

last time i drove the camaro before i tore it apart



the last day i drove the camaro

 

86 hatch with 3rd brake light




beginning of body work

 

pulled old motor n transmission n stripped engine bay to fix some rust spots shave the fire wall n repaint engine bay

 

4th gen 3:42 rear end and upgraded rear brakes insalled
pressure washing the engine bay

 

z28 hood i picked up that i got a deal on

 

vette wheels with toyo slicks

 

5.3 lm7 from 99 silverado

 

fit the new 3 piece onto the new hatch. still need to drill undersides to put nuts on and then do body work where i welded the holes shut on the hatch and get it primed and prepped for paint and gotta put my old rear bumper on since i sold the rest of 91/92 rs ground effects kit

 

got the rear end back together for now

 

test fitting the 2000 corvette wheels

 

2.25" wheel spacers will be in tomorrow so i can put the front wheels on n see how it looks

rear tires are toyo proxes tq 275/40r17
front tires are sumitomo 275/40zr17
wheels are from a 2000 corvette

will be going to the body shop in 2 or 3 weeks to have all the body work done,should have new doors in a few weeks as well,then will begetting painted this spring.

 

Does your digital dash still work? I have a Berlinetta I'm looking to do the same swap in. What are you going with for the transmission?

 

Well I know it's been along time, alot of stuff happened and I lost my job and was forced to sell my car. But I just recently got into another one. I picked up an 87 sport coupe with a 2.8 v6 auto for $500. Had no rear wheels on it, needed a quarter panel, a front bumper, and 2 fenders. But it's a pretty solid car. Been working on it a little at a time as I'm able, have alot of plans but picked it up mid build on another project, so it's going to be a bit before I get to building it. Needs rear suspension band body work still so I'll be finishing that up this summer and repainting it. But have some plans for it. Body will stay pretty much the way it is besides being painted matte black with gloss black racing stripes and pin stripeing, picked up a set of 18" 10-15 camaro heritage wheels missing the center caps and one beauty ring for $30, so I need to order center caps and a beauty ring and get tires for them i put z28 tails and a z28 hood in it, need some minor interior work, such as I need a matching rip free drivers seat a back seat and passenger plastics and speaker cover and to cover the giant hole where they cut the floor out to replace the fuel pump. But I'll get to all that over the summer. Other plans once it's finished are just some autometer gauges, and a new stereo and highs amp. Exterior my only plans is hood pins and aftermarket head lights, plan on redoing the suspension and lowering it s little and stiffening it up some. And engine drive train, I plan on an ls1 swap with full bolt ons, an AR5 trans, and a built posi rear end.









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New wheels I picked up for $30.need cleaned up and needs 1 beauty ring and center caps

 

Glad you're back in the game. And glad you're sharing with this build thread too.

 

Then man ,I figure i might as well pick up where I left off, so no point in starting a hole new build thread.

 

GeorgeWoods, have you made any progress on your LS and AR5 swap? I'm just curious because I'm in the middle of one right now. I was wondering if you found a trans mount that worked or if you had to fabricate one?