I bought this car a couple of years back with only ~60k miles on it and it had been sitting in a garage for the last 15 years barely being driven. I've always wanted a 3rd gen and this was a pretty clean example so I figured let's put a modern drivetrain in it and make it a nice driver. The search began for a good swap setup and I found a lower mile 6.2L/10L80 out of a 2022 Camaro so I figured this would be perfect for it. Hawks Third Gen sells some swap parts for the Gen5 engines so I bought their mounts, trans crossmember, and longtube headers along with their branded subframes and torque arm setup since I needed something to relocate the torque arm off the back of the transmission. I started with installing the subframes and torque arm setup first so it would be ready for the swap when I had the chance... well I finally got started with the swap. My time is very limited, not sure why I even decided to take on another project right now so it's been slow going and who knows how long it's going to take for me to finish it but here are some progress pics.

 

 

very nice

 

Wait.... What? That fits like a glove so far. Are you freaking kidding me?
I will be watching this one for sure.

 

Thanks for sharing your progress. That's a mint car you're swapping into!

 

NicD, your car does look very nice. I hope you're able to find time to keep working on it. I'll keep coming back into this thread to see your progress.

I'm on the way to LS7/570, Tremec T56 Magnum F swapping my 28,200 mile, 1987 IROC. I'll be starting a build thread on it soon.

 

Gorgeous car, and gorgeous work! Looking forward to seeing more, and happy to see that it is as good a fit as I thought it might be!

 

OK so I made a little bit more progress, I got the driver side header in place and that's where things started to hit. It's hitting the steering shaft and the factory k-member a bit down low. The steering shaft I'm going to fix with a nice aftermarket one that eliminates the rag-joint and gives more clearance everywhere so that should be fine. The bottom part of the header though I'm going to have to take a hammer to and give it some more clearance as you can see in the pics. Probably won't take much, makes me wonder why they chose to build these headers with 2" primaries when it probably would have fit just fine with 1 7/8" and wouldn't have had any power loss. The heater core line I just needed to bend to the passenger side a bit to clear the back of the intake manifold.

 

Good work so far! Love to see the progress!

 

Nic, are these the headers that you have? 82-92 Camaro/Firebird LSX Conversion Stainless 2" Primary Long Tube Headers w/ 3" Slip Fit Collector, HAWKS

I'm surprised that they are hitting parts of your car. It's a bummer that you're going to have to hammer clearance your Hawks headers.

I purchased the inexpensive, Speed Engineering, 1 7/8" SS headers for my LS swap and they seem to get really good reviews.

 

Yes those are the ones. I was hoping they would fit nicely seeing as how they are made by a company known for their 3rd gen products but I know they are contracted to another manufacturer. I had thought about speed engineering but my experience seeing those headers on lots of other GM platforms made me stay far away but at this point they may have fit better. Oh well, moneys already been spent so now it's time to break out the BFH.

 

can you put a 1/8" or 1/4" spacer on the motor mounts to raise the engine up enough so you don't have to hammer the headers??

 

That's a possibility but some of the clearance is also on the sides so it wouldn't help there. Either way hammering it in a little bit isn't going to really compromise the flow enough to make a difference power wise.

 

Hey nic, good to see your name pop up

would love to see this in person some day
maybe ill bring mine by the shop to get it on the dyno

 

Can you tell me more, please?

I originally wanted to use the Holley Hooker Blackheart headers but Holley quit making them. I have Hooker Blackheart headers on my LS swapped Foxbody.

 

When you change the steering shaft, move the brake lines to the other side and away from the headers.

 

On the newer platforms like C7s, Gen6 Camaros, etc those headers don't exactly fit well.

 

There is actually a decent amount of room right now as I already pushed them back away from the headers. Once I remove the shaft though and swap on the other one I will see if it's easy enough to push them even further to the other side. They moved without much effort so maybe it won't be too bad.

 

Thank you for elaborating. I've heard that they fit 3rd gens well. I'm praying/hoping that they do.

 

Making more slow progress... I've got all of the accessories bolted up, it's the Holley mid mount kit and everything fits nice and tidy with plenty of clearance up front. Now starting to work on A/C lines, P/S lines, and coolant hoses. Looks like the stock bottom coolant hose might just work, the upper is too short to go across so I will need to find something but it's a simple hose so I'm sure something is out there that is just a bit longer.

 

The best way to find a hose is to ask any parts store to meander behind the counter and look at all the hoses and find one that has the shape you need even if it's in the middle of a crazy shaped hose. They cut pretty easy if you have a large hose cutter.

 

I downloaded the Gates hose catalog and found a couple of candidates so I'll be heading down to take a look, 20893 is looking pretty good right now assuming the length is good.

 

Please consider implementing some type of additional protection for the Automatic Transmission Oil Pan.

The 10L Series Transmission installed the way you have it becomes the very lowest point of the Vehicle/ Power-Train.
These Cars can have difficulty with ground clearance under the best of circumstances when stock...
But now the Transmission Oil Pan hangs lower than the Engine oil pan and is at risk of being damaged easily by objects in the road.

Some type of steel plate shielding at the least as a Belly-Pan should be used to protect the Transmission.

 

I used a 4th gen upper radiator hose, but mines an LS3. Plug and play install. I made my own hard lines for the heater core w/ 90¤ silicone elbows.
You can cut the section between the lines and weld the flat end back on to give some header clearance. With tubular a-arms you can cut twice as much off. I did this on mine.
That car is mint! Love the 10 speed too, great work.

 

Making some more progress, slowly but surely...

Power Steering lines mocked up and will build them appropriately out of the correct hardware. Just need to get some proper fittings and see if I can make some nice crimped lines or I'll just get the adapters and a pre-made fragola hose or something, not sure yet.




A couple of pictures showing how close the coil pack is to the HVAC box, just a bit of cleanup required but we will see if it hits when the vehicle is in motion, etc.





PSI harness is in, unfortunately it's just an inch or so too short and it's tight running it like the factory harness was run. Might have to drill a hole somewhere but not sure there is really any room around the HVAC components to do so. Literally if they would have made the harness just a couple of inches longer it would have so much more breathing room. Going to see what I can do with this but everything is plugging in right now for the most part... Oh yeah Gates 20893 fit great for the top coolant hose, just needed a bit of trimming on one end.




Going to get after these two OEM harnesses, found some diagrams to go through and see if there is anything that I need out of these two harnesses. At first glance it looks like they integrated some power/body stuff into the PCM harness so I might have to strip that out of the harness and reloom but we will see. Obviously I'm not going to need a majority of this...

 

Finally got it all started up! I was just happy that the engine wasn't making any bad noises since this was a used engine and I had no way to verify everything was good. Still have a lot of things to finish up before it's mobile but I'm starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Congrats on firing that baby up!
A great milestone on any build.

 

I got the shifter cable/bracket in place so that's all done and got a driveshaft built locally with a slip joint in it and adapters to mount up to the 10L80. This thing is getting really close to being mobile, need to finish up some wiring but it's almost ready for it's maiden voyage.

I also started working on the exhaust and chopping up the y-pipe that came with the swap headers. It didn't really fit at all so I'm going to have that part fabbed up but in the mean time I've got the rear portion coming forward going over the torque arm mount crossbar and just kind of fitting things up.

 

The car made it's first drive, open headers and all! I ended up putting in the Dakota Digital RTX gauge cluster as well, so easy to just grab the data over CAN and wire in the relevant warning lights, etc. So here is a quick video of that...


Also what the under hood looks like right now, still have to finish up a cold air intake of some sorts and clean up some wiring but it's getting there!

 

This is incredible. This engine & trans fits better than the SBC and 700R4 combo that GM designed the car for.

 

Really nice work!

 

Nic, I just noticed in your picture in post #29 that you used the original fuel lines. I'll have to go back through this thread to see if you talked about the fuel system.

I have my car's original fuel lines but for my LS427/570, Tremec T56 Magnum F swap on my 1987 IROC, I was planning on bending up my own new fuel lines like I did with my Mustang coupe in my signature. The problem with bending new lines is it's a total PITA to try to get everything just right. I spent a solid two weeks of fuel line work on my Mustang. I said, "never again!" yet here I am contemplating it.

If your stock fuel lines are working for you, maybe I should consider just using the stock lines.

 

It fits very well, only thing with the 10L80 is that it's a relatively huge transmission and it does hang down a decent amount. The trans pan is about the lowest point on the car so if you do this swap don't plan on really lowering the car much if at all.

There is no reason to change out the fuel lines for something like this, they are plenty adequate. I did put a Racetronix/Walbro 255 fuel pump in it a while back before I even started this swap just due to the original pump taking a ****. The original fuel pump sock literally disintegrated and the pump ate it.

 

It's still hard for me to understand how these modern, fuel injected, fairly high powered engines can use relatively small ID fuel lines and not starve for fuel. Old school, low fuel pump pressure, carbed engines would need -8AN or 1/2" diameter hose/tube for 500-600hp. Higher pressure FI seems to be fine with -6AN or 3/8" ID hose/tube.

I am planning on using a late, 4th gen F body plastic gas tank.

 

So the factory electric fans are total garbage, no shroud what so ever and they don't move much air at all. I had access to a used C7 Z06 fan/shroud assembly so I figured out how to mount it up to the radiator using the original bottom fan mounting tray and bolted it directly to the upper part of the radiator. I just cut two slots in the middle of the C7 fan shroud so it could drop down on top of the existing OEM fan mounting tray and slightly sanded down the outside portion of the C7 shroud where the two outside tabs were so it literally sandwiches in between and holds it nice and tight. The upper I just drilled a hole in the top part of the radiator rail to mount it directly to the top. The OEM radiator mount assembly I just cut off the center portion to give clearance and bolted it down. No it doesn't cover the entire core but it doesn't need to and is going to be WAY more effective than the original fan setup and now I have PWM control over a nice brushless fan with the computer.






Then I brought it down to the shop to have our Fab guy mate up the exhaust to the existing Magnaflow catback. It's tight under there for sure, but there is enough clearance around everything and it doesn't move much at all so it's good to go now. There is no way that the included y-pipe assembly that came with these swap headers was going to fit.




Here is a quick video just throwing a few revs after the exhaust setup was completed. I'll do a longer video later on after I finish up a few more things but it sounds great and it's a LONG ways away from the old 305 boat anchor that was in there.

 

That 600 watt, C7 Corvette, PWM fan is fantastic. I'm running one (genuine, GM part purchased new from RockAuto) in my LS376/480, Tremec T56 Magnum swapped, 1991 Mustang coupe. Mine is controlled by a Holley Dominator. This fan is physically on the small side but this 600 watt brushless fan can really move some air. It has no problem keeping my car cool with the AC on, in stop and go traffic, in 95F Houston, TX heat.


There is quite a bit of radiator that is not covered by this fan. However, the fan is so powerful that it pulls a tremendous amount of air through what it does cover.

 

Oh for sure, this fan moves some serious air and it's a great upgrade as long as you have the means to control it with a PWM signal. They aren't even that expensive and the aftermarket has also come out with some good brushless fan upgrades with external controllers if you don't have a standalone or factory ECM capable of outputting the PWM signal required.

 

So I finally got the fan wired up and took it for a bit of a longer test drive tonight. Damn this is really dark and crappy looking video, but at least I roll into it a bit and you can hear what it sounds like at part throttle.

 

Oh yeah, took some current draw measurements of this fan tonight as well. Maybe this will be useful to anybody else thinking about putting a fan like this on their car. At only 60-70% this thing is moving some serious air, above that it's ridiculous. Was making too much noise too late and skipped 60% and 80% but it's easy to interpolate.

Fan Duty cycle - current draw
10% - 1.80A
15% - 1.80A
20% - 2.72A
30% - 4.87A
40% - 7.12A
50% - 11.56A
60% -
70% - 25.92A
80% -
90% - 41.49A

 

Man that car sounds good! Good work on it so far!

 

OK so this past weekend I swapped out the 3.23s for 2.73s to really let this 10 speed shine. The 3.23s were a bit too aggressive for 10 gears and really not necessary, the 2.73s will definitely calm it down a bit and take advantage of having so many gears. This change makes it a lot closer to that of a Gen6 Camaro with it's final drive ratio. I also changed out the diff from the old Auburn since it was a 3 series carrier and put a Truetrac in it's place which is just a bit more robust and I haven't personally broken one. I also put in upgraded Moser axles just to try to keep everything happy. Yes it's a lot to spend on a 10 bolt when I could have just upgraded to an 8.8, 12 bolt, or 9" but I'm really not going to be racing this thing and I'm hoping with these parts it's going to be relatively trouble free.





This is what the engine bay looks like now with the cold air intake finished up. I'm going to powdercoat it black to make it match a bit better but it's done and in it's final configuration. About the only thing left to do under the hood is finish up the A/C lines and wire up the compressor but that's going to be very straight forward. The only problem I've got to solve is the A/C request on the CAN bus since the computer controls the PWM fan and there isn't an easy way to tell the fan to just turn on when the A/C compressor turns on without it. I can't just switch the PWM input on the fan to ground or something like that to kick the fan on high, it doesn't have any mode like that and it needs a real PWM signal so I can't just override it. That means making the OEM Gen6 Camaro computer see A/C pressure, see a CAN request for A/C, and tell the fan to turn on/up. I've found a box online to try to replicate the CAN request but not sure it's going to work with this computer/OS, guess I'll just have to try it.



Also had another opportunity to make a quick part throttle acceleration video during the day time with the new gears in the rear. Pretty much on the edge of traction the whole way through as I slowly squeezed the throttle a bit harder as the speeds increased. These little 245 BFG tires weren't having it and barked a bit at 55 mph on the shift with some minor wiggles in the middle. I've also come to realize these brakes SUCK as I tried to slow down after that quick little hit so I'm going to be addressing those in the future as well.

 

Are your new 2,73 gears quiet (no gear whine?)

With my current LS427/570, Tremec T56 Magnum F swap project, 1987 IROC, I've been thinking about replacing the Australian 9 bolt with 3.23 gears with something much stronger. I read so much about gear whine, usually from Ford 9" rears but the GM 12 bolts aren't immune either. For sure, the gears have to be set up right and the threads that I've read claim that their gears have a good pattern and are set up properly. Rear gears till whine. Some guys have even sent their rear ends back to the manufacturer to have the ring and pinion redone to eliminate the whine to no avail.

I absolutely would not be able to tolerate gear whine. Last week, I called Strange Engineering and the guy that I spoke with suggested that I keep the 9 bolt and avoid brutally beating on it. He said the larger ring gears of the Ford 9", GM 12 bolt and Dana 60 along with our cars' torque arms are what causes the gear whine. Like you, I'm leaning toward keeping the rear end that came in my IROC. I'll just run the stock 3.23 gears and see how it goes.

 

Mine are relatively quiet yes. That being said you will always have SOME transmission of noise when you have poly/body mounts for things like the torque arm, lower control arms, transmission, etc. Generally speaking though I hear a lot more noise on rears that have higher numerical gear ratios like 3.73s, 4.10s, etc so I was pretty confident that the 2.73s would be pretty quiet. So far so good...

 

Finally looks like the Gen V engines/Trans are getting put in our Third Gens!!! Really nice build. I put a Gen V 6.2 Six Speed in my 88 IROC and it runs great. If you have any nagging questions, I may be able to help. I had to be very creative to get mine to work.

 

About the only thing I'm still working on is the A/C integration. I found a CAN module that broadcasts the A/C request and I just need to wire that in with the A/C pressure sensor and I will have the PWM fan being fully controlled by the ECM with A/C pressure. Other than that the CAN module also has two inputs for upshift and downshift CAN requests so the TCM should pay attention to that as well. Just need to find the time to do it.

 

We have a private track rental tonight with a few cars so I talked myself into running the IROC just because I am curious. The air is going to suck though as it's 100 degrees today and right now it's 4500 ft and will stay there for the next couple of hours, so I'm sure the track times aren't going to be anything impressive. Even after the sun goes down the DA is still going to be around 3500 ft or so tonight so nothing special.

Still need to have the A/C lines built but it's pretty much done at this point, guess I'm still working on mounting the ECM/TCM as well so that's a pain in the ***.

Oh yeah, I added an MSD intake manifold and a flex fuel sensor and threw it on the dyno. No video or dyno graph because I couldn't get it to hold gear as I don't have a shifter hooked up that has manual control, but it did show right around 440 rwhp and 450 rwtq so it's got some power behind it. Let's see if this rear end will hold up. LOL

 

Good luck, Nic. That's a good bit of DA to have to deal with and your times will be a little slower than if it were cooler. Hopefully you have a good time and still run some good numbers.

 

Just saw this build....totally awesome. I can appreciate trying to run a good number at high elevation tracks...and in even (way) higher DA's. Frustrating. I'll be interested to see what she traps. I'll take a stab and say 120.

 

Ran well, thanks!

Good guess!

 

Everything ran well and no problems! Drove it home and it was pretty uneventful but I was happy with the times considering the air was hot garbage, 4500 to 3700 ft DA. Took a quick video, wish it was wide frame and not vertical video but that's just what these glasses record in.