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LTX and LSXPutting LT1s, LS1s, and their variants into Third Gens is becoming more popular. This board is for those who are doing and have done the swaps so they can discuss all of their technical aspects including repairs, swap info, and performance upgrades.
if you don't mind me asking where did you purchase the BBU bracket from or did you make them yourself?
I ordered the LS1 hubs and Bracket for $200 from bigbrakeupgrade .com and modified the spindle myself, but if you wanna avoid doing that you can send the spindles to him for an additional $75 and he'll modify them for you. I will say it was a bit of a hassle and without the right tools can be very frustrating. It took me a while to get em right but you do have options at least. I hope that helps
for the most part it just slid right in i didnt have to hammer anything and the pa racing crossmember bolted right in but you are going to have to either make a torque arm mount or buy the BMR Trak Pak torque arm and brace along with SFCs
Ok thanks. Because I have someone telling me the trans won't fit and to trust him he knows. I have read before that I may have to massage the trans tunnel but that's it. I appreciate you reply.
Got most of the BMR Trak Pak installed today. The SFCs and the Torque Arm are fully installed just waiting for my welder to come down this weekend and weld the brace, only a few things left now until I finally get it on the road, its been about 9 years since its gone faster than 2mph
Last edited by Formula Fore; Apr 25, 2018 at 11:39 PM.
Got the wiring harness finished today i was having an issue with the injector circuit but its all fixed now I also had the driveshaft shortened and new U joints installed I ended up ditching the DBW i was having way too much trouble getting it to work all thats left now is to install the shifter cable and change the OS to DBC.
They're about 1 inch spacers when i measured it. the TB cable is long enough to reach. i measured it by stacking washers on until it wasn't crooked and ordered the length of spacer and bolts i needed because for some reason I just cant find any 4th gen TB brackets
Did you have any problems with the transmission shifting through all the gears? I just finished putting my swap all together and took it for its first drive last night and something isnt right with the trans. It will shift out of park, into reverse, neutral and it'll go into drive and downshift 1 gear but when driving it will not upshift gears. It's like it will go into drive and 2 gear but thats it.
My swap is a 6.0 LQ4 with a 4l80e into an 86 iroc.
I'm just curious if you had any shifting issues with your swap.
I also do no have my speedo hooked up yet either, i need to get a electronic to mechanic conversion box to make my speedo work. Do you think not having the speedo hooked up would have anything to do with the shifting issues?
Did you have any problems with the transmission shifting through all the gears? I just finished putting my swap all together and took it for its first drive last night and something isnt right with the trans. It will shift out of park, into reverse, neutral and it'll go into drive and downshift 1 gear but when driving it will not upshift gears. It's like it will go into drive and 2 gear but thats it.
My swap is a 6.0 LQ4 with a 4l80e into an 86 iroc.
I'm just curious if you had any shifting issues with your swap.
I also do no have my speedo hooked up yet either, i need to get a electronic to mechanic conversion box to make my speedo work. Do you think not having the speedo hooked up would have anything to do with the shifting issues?
Nevermind, i fixed my issue. The problem ended up being, i had unplugged the electrical connector for the transmission when i was installing the trans shift cable and i forgot to plug the connector back in so the car was driving in limp mode...plugged the connector back in and boom, car runs and shifts like a dream....well close to it for being it's first run, so it needs a little fine tuning still.
I'm actually having the same issue on mines as well when I tried to drive it o couldn't get past 20 mph and it sounded like it wanted to die. I'm gonna check the tranny plug on mines then I figured it was just a bad tune this whole time
When i was driving around with the connector unplugged, the car still had decent power and would accelerate, it just wouldnt shift automatically or recognize gear changes when shifting manually.
Do you have a vacuum leak anymore that would be causing it to want to die? The first time i started my motor, it ran really rough and it was because i unplugged the brake booster vacuum port on the intake manifold.
I've triple checked for vacuum leaks and there aren't any it idles fine it just whenever I give it gas it doesn't accelerate right even at idle it sounds like it's just not building power and when under load it just doesn't wanna move I've been trying to figure it out for a solid month now and I'm just not sure at this point
My guess is, it's computer related. Did you delete all emissions and if so did you have it deleted in the pcm? Or would it be related to you switching to drive by cable throttle from drive by wire?
I had a basic tune put on my pcm so right from the first time i started it, its fired up right away and idled perfect and so far have not had any divisibility issues besides the trans connector being unplugged. I'm actually quite surprised how smoothly this whole swap has gone.
Last edited by Irocthe86; Jul 15, 2018 at 12:25 AM.
My guess is because it's been changed from word to cable. It's been sent off to two different tuners now and it's still doing the same thing so that's over $200 just wasted at this point I'm gonna have to either trailer it a dyno tuner or buy the tuning hardware and fix it myself at this point because I'm at my wits end here
Did you have any problems with the upper radiator hose and the cold air intake interfering with each other? Doe's the radiator hose just run directly under the cold air intake and still leave enough hood clearance? I have been using a TPI intake on a 5.3 but now I am going to an LS3 and will need more air flow.Nicely detailed build,thank you for sharing.
Did you have any problems with the upper radiator hose and the cold air intake interfering with each other? Doe's the radiator hose just run directly under the cold air intake and still leave enough hood clearance? I have been using a TPI intake on a 5.3 but now I am going to an LS3 and will need more air flow.Nicely detailed build,thank you for sharing.
The top radiator hose runs directly under the CAI I have absolutely no problems with hood clearance either it fits like a glove. And thanks man I just wanted to have a detailed price list to help anyone I can.
Have you test fit the 4L80E yet? Curious what has to move to make it fit.
How did that go anyway? Any beating on the trans tunnel? How about the engine centreline angle? Do you think it's around the OEM alignment of about 4 degrees down at the back?
How did that go anyway? Any beating on the trans tunnel? How about the engine centreline angle? Do you think it's around the OEM alignment of about 4 degrees down at the back?
I didn't I have to beat on the tunnel it fit like a glove but I have heard it's different for some people they have to hammer out for the two humps near the front of the tranny but in any case it's not too much work to hammer it out being that its thin metal there. As far as centerline angle goes it's pretty much OEM just need to adjust pinion angle from my torque arm and all is well
I didn't I have to beat on the tunnel it fit like a glove but I have heard it's different for some people they have to hammer out for the two humps near the front of the tranny but in any case it's not too much work to hammer it out being that its thin metal there. As far as centerline angle goes it's pretty much OEM just need to adjust pinion angle from my torque arm and all is well
The reason I ask is because with another swap (not 3rd gen related) it wasn't possible to get the engine/trans to sit without a serious incline, (as in excessively up at the front). As a result, with the engine centreline at a 6 degree angle rather than 4 degrees, it presented a host of other issues. The foremost of which was how to get the driveline angles equal front and back.
I'll be interested to see how this goes for you. If/when you have the chance, knowing what the engine centreline angle is would be very informative.
Thanks.
Engine placement is the key to getting transmissions to fit with optimized U-joint working angles in a 3rd-gen, just like it is in most other applications. With the right oil pan, engine mounting brackets and transmission crossmember, fitting a 4L80 in a 3rd-gen properly is quite doable.
its been a while since i last posted i was dealing with tuning issues on my PCM i guess you really just cant trust people these days i sent my PCM out to jessie at wait4me 3 times and he said he adjusted my DBW settings over to DBC but i was still having my same issue so i went ahead and bought myself a MPVI2 checked the tune and lo and behold nothing has been changed the ETC values were still input ivr just been wasting money shipping my PCM back and forth to him but enough venting today is about good news.
I was finally able to take my car for its first drive in 10 years and it feels pretty damn good. it's been a hectic year getting this project to come together I still need to finish the tune on it and address a few more things but the hard work is done and I can say everything was done by me from the engine build down to the wiring harness.
Its been a while but an update on the Z28 its finally got the exhaust all put together with a tune by frost and it runs like a dream it feels good to finally have it on the road this car has been a giant learning experience for me but well worth the pay off
Last edited by Formula Fore; Oct 30, 2018 at 09:31 PM.
Any more updates I know it’s been a few months but I’m currently starting a 91 formula lq9-4l80 swap in it and I can not find the pa racing cross member didn’t know if the black heart is similar to it great job on the swap btw the car looks excellent and sounds good
Hadn’t realized that it’s been nearly 2 YEARS since I’ve posted to this thread and reading back through it brought back some good memories of late nights in the garage. I’ve had this car as my daily driver during this time and it’s been money well spent. So over these last couple of years I was able to get quite a bit of suspension work done I ended up getting some Koni yellows and Eibach pro kit lowering springs the Konis were back ordered for a good while, but well worth the wait I can’t recommend them enough also replaced the stock PHB with a Poly/Poly UMI adjustable PHB and I have some UMI Roto rear LCAs and a wonder bar getting installed soon. Replaced the steering shaft with a solid Astro shaft, the centerlink, tie-rod ends, end sleeves, idler arm, ball joints, end links and for tires I went with Nitto NT555 G2s on all four corners (245/45/17 275/40/18). I ended up re doing a little bit of wiring as well I made a relay/fuse panel so I could have my fans run on dual speed and it also cleared up some room in the engine bay. This past year I also moved from Texas to Washington and drove the car up here and it did great couldn’t believe how good the gas mileage was but I couldn’t be happier with the build I’ll post pics of everything below and also update the price list on the first post of this thread.
Its been a while but an update on the Z28 its finally got the exhaust all put together with a tune by frost and it runs like a dream it feels good to finally have it on the road this car has been a giant learning experience for me but well worth the pay off
Did you use the stock 4l80e linkage bracket ?
I see you used speed engineering headers and cut them. What did you do about the 02 ports?
Did you use the stock 4l80e linkage bracket ?
I see you used speed engineering headers and cut them. What did you do about the 02 ports?
The bracket is from a B&M mega shifter adapter kit but I’m not sure on the part number. Also my headers aren’t cut I took it to an exhaust shop to get the y pipe built for it and he welded it to the collectors, as far as the 02 sensors I’m using the bungs that were welded in place from SE.
