Well, i've recently befriended a guy (18 yearold) who has done some major work on his third generation Rally Sport Camaro. NOt to mention that he graduated from tech school here in St. Louis in Automotive Repair, has done beautiful jobs painting vehicles (his own included, with a blue metallic flake paint with blue/purple chemlian racing stripes) And has also agreed to do the work on mine come christmas break, rust repair, adding gfx (which he has at his house) a ram air hood, and 4th gen spoiler. To give you an idea of the work this kids done on his thirdgen i'll list it as follows. He acquired a 1991 chevy camaro, with a v6 engine, zero options, and a hardtop. The car was wrecked more or less (body panels crunched along with part of the frame, from the rear bumper to the backseats) He then decided to cut the car under the middle of the front seats all the way across, and cut again at the lower a-pillar setup. He found another camaro, with a 305v8 in it, and a destroyed front end, then took the rear end off that camaro (t-top car) and welded it into the existing v6 car, using the six cylinders driveline (including rear axel which wasn't damaged in accident. He put the entire car back together and did the paint job that i mentioned earlier, and you cannot even tell the car was "pieced" together unless he tells you that it was. NOw, after getting the 3.1L to run properly, he decided that the engine wasn't quite enough to get this car moving right, so he opted on an LS1 swap with a six speed. This is how the swap went. He acquired the LS1 v8, wiring harness and all sensors early, along with the T56 transmission. He pulled the original motor, harness, tranny, and sensors from the car. After installing the LS1 block, he was able to leave in the existing six cylinder radiator. Motor mounts were changed with regular v8 motor mounts, and bolted into the existing holes in the frame, although he said he had to remove some metal from the bottom of the crossmember to allow for the LS1's oil pan which was incredible large to his words. He then bought a special crossmember designed for v8's that want to install a t56 into their thirdgen and bolted that piece into place just as if the car was originally v8 equipped. Tailshaft to rear end lenght apparently was the same however and the original driveshaft was still used, along with the factory v6 rear end (which is still in the car now...i watched him do a one wheel wonder up the block), besides that he also changed the exaust over to a borla setup 3" all the way back. So apparently the swap as he has put it isn't nearly as difficult as it would seem to some, and although the radiator is smaller than an LS1 styled version, it will cool the bigger block just fine on the highway, running at roughly 220, while on the roads if you're in traffic on a hot day, temps will range all the way to the second line from the top. IN order to help this, he also installed a second fan in the engine bay to help cool the motor. Neway, just thought some people would like ot know that you won't have to change every single thing when swapping to the v8.

 

If this kid has enough money to piece together a car, for a killer paintjob, an expensive as hell engine and tranny... how is he not going to have $300 for a BeCool radiator to cool the engine right, and another $300 for a posi unit...

My first opinions when I read this thread...

 

Could it be that he ran out of money doing all of this perhaps?

 

trust me, you don't need to call bs on it, I've never lied about a thing on this board....I could take some pictures of the motor setup, but you couldn't tell that it was originally a v6 car, the six speed would give it out of course though, but that's about it. Original rear end doing one wheel wonders is out back, no posi, and no disc brakes. And like i said, he used the original radiator because the car was cooling well enough with it in. He's never raced the car, and says he's afraid that he'd snap the rearend in two if he was "fully" on the gas, but it's held up sofar. OH, and he had just graduated from tech school as a auto technichian, where he does the painting at, and we all have connections at Jess Vettes, easy way to come across used LT1's and LS1's along with trannies and complete wirring harnesses at a cheaper price. Nehoots, that's all to say.

 

we all have connections at Jess Vettes, easy way to come across used LT1's and LS1's along with trannies and complete wirring harnesses at a cheaper price.
I'm dreaming!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe a LS1 in my 1974 Corvette would be nice & a 4-Speed Auto!
I wish I had time to do that swap.
I wonder how a LS1 sounds with headers & mufflers no cats!

 

It'd probably sound damn good, lol. He's got 3" borla under his RS (looks kinda funky though, tips are actually under the car, and not sticking out at all). Car has a nice sound, but it's not "incredibly loud" think dual exaust w/o cats would definately be a treat. Oh, and on the Jess Vettes thing, My best friend, and another friend both work up there, not to mention that the kid who did this swap was there too for a while. NOt sure how he was with money, never really asked. Do know he had done some research on the swap for about a year apparently, and during that time he gathered all the parts he would need. The swap was done himself with help of his father, but you can trust me on this, it was definately done....definately done, asked if he had ever heard of the board, said he had, but never visits it. Neway, that's it.

 

When you enter new territory with new late model engine swaps, it pays to research.
This 3.4 swap boogie is about the easiest swap one can do. Everything fits so well.
Imagine me making the swap stuff for my 1974 Corvette engine bay to 1999 Corvette LS1/4-speed auto swap, as easy!! LOL!!!!

 

true enough, was just hoping that people weren't "not believing" me when i told about the swap, as it seems that many do. The swap is still no where near simple, all that's truly required though are time and money. A v8 swap is the only thing that i'm personally willing to do for my firebird, not some reason that a v6 can't get the job done, and not that I couldn't buy a v8 car for less money but it's the fact that this car has been in the family since it was new in 1985, has the straightest body of a thirdgen around, very very very clean car, and is still in the family so i'd like to keep it that way. My father and I had talked a long time ago about a v8 swap, he was very keen that a carbed, high horsepower, lopey v8 (while sounding very nice) isn't quite the class of a thirdgen. The cars we have are smaller, sleeker, and cleaner than those ole' muscle cars of years past. For a monte Carlo SS, i could see a carbed and built 350-383 swap being used to replace that old 305, but a fuel injected, high horsepower v8 would definately look better in a firebird than would the carbed version. This new found assistance I have referred you to will definately be beneficial in in this swap.

 

If you know where I can get a posi for 300 bucks please post a link. Any place I look want 700+.

see sig for what i got.

 

PowerTrax go for $400 from mail order speed shops.
There ya go!

 

interesting..........just hope I'm never in the car if it gets in an accident. Seen a show a few months back where, over in england, a lady got a car inspected & it turned out that the car had been welded together from two different cars. the welds in this case, made the car stronger along the weld, and distrorted the natural "crumple zone" . When they, poor lady) did crash tests on this car, the front driver & pass dummies were crunched. This is how they found out aout the weld strength.


Other than that, sounds like a sweet ride.

 

i'll have to tell him about the problesm with welding, and accident caution he should take...lol, eh, least it looks good eh. haha, hopefully he'll keep that LS1 out of an accident, and if he did, i'm sure he wouldn't want to fix the car,so he'd just sell me the LS1 and six speed, not to metio ever sensor that came with it for say, hmmmmm 500 bux. lol....