Been making a little progress.. if anyone wondered or remembered that I was attempting a 3800/T5 swap in my 88 Camaro.

Made brackets, engine mounts, etc


So ... the a/c compressor is relocated up top and the engine bolts in fine. I had to snag some 95-99 manifolds because the 00-02 manifolds were going to take some persuading on the car, which I did not want to do:


This picture is kinda old, but it shows where the a/c compressor will be:


Doing a dash swap as well, mainly to make the wiring easier (hopefully). I've got a decent amount on my plate aside from car stuff (classes, job, etc), so it'll be some time before it's finished.


Next step is to fix up and paint the engine bay to have it semi-presentable when everything goes in.


-Bud

 

looks vaguely familiar





I was able to get the tubular manifolds to fit, but I had to notch the rear lower a-arm slightly.



edit: I see you have the throttle by wire setup too.

 

Yea, I didn't want to have to do any of that. I was ready to notch the kmember for the a/lc like the LS1 swap guys do, but there was noooo way it was going to work.. engine is farther back, obviously. Would have had to cut past the motor mount, heh.

I can't wait to have a/c again.

yea, got the pedal stuff and everything. It should be interesting. Hopefully it goes fairly smooth.

 

please change out the steering wheel, that style just looks craptaculous to me. Maybe a $50 Grant wheel w/the $10 adaptor????

Also, what's going in place of the pass airbag?? might be a good location for a dvd player/multi disc mp3/wma changer too

 

heheh.. I've got an early LT1 Camaro steering wheel that I got off Ebay to go in it.

As for the passenger airbag.. I dunno what I'm going to do. I might just end up buying another dash from the junkyard. I got that one for 30 bucks, so I'm not complaining

Just got back from 311's 3/11 day... time to start working on this thing again in between classes and work.

 

Got some more parts and pictures:

Painted the engine bay SVT blue. Car will be Sonic blue. Put a bunch of stuff in, but the a/c stuff is just laying there:


I had to cut the steering brace (top left) to allow the box to fit and had to fabricate a mounting bracket for the gas pedal since the 4th gen firewall was a different angle there:


I just got a bunch of new parts though..2000 Camaro dash and steering column, all the wiring in the dash and through the firewall from the same car.... fuse boxes, cruise control, BCM, etc... I should have pretty much everything. Hopefully things go a little more smoothly from here on out...

 

more power to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

this is really cool, cant wait to see it finished.

 

I'm planning on doing the exact same swap. I'm just doing some more research before I go about doing it, and waiting for the weather to be nice. The only thing I'm doing different is that I'm not going to use the A/C. I am also doing the interior swap, I just need to find the interior. I have the same motor and transmission too. Also was your recieving car an auto 2.8 like mine? I'm asking because I need motor mounts and to know how you did the clutch assembly. As I do the swap I will document everything and post a thread. In the mean time I'm going to do more research. Thanks for your help.

 

a/c delete on the 3800 huh, here's some info I posted up on fv6.com:

610k6 I have this belt on my engine. It takes a hammer & flathead screwdriver to put this ***** on, but the next size up was too loose.
routing


belt was about $16,

 

A/C delete will save you a lot of headaches. The compressor, a/c box, and, well, basically everything to do with teh a/c are the main things giving me trouble.

If you got the Electronic Throttle Control drivetrain then you need a gas pedal from the same style car. The electronic gas pedal will not bolt up correctly to the firewall. Also, you'll need the front wiring harness from an ETC car because the plug for the throttle body is in that harness, not the engine harness. If you're doing the interior swap then you can do the same as I'm doing... and hopfully "just plugging everything in" with teh front harness (headlights, etc) and the dash harness. When you get this front harness and try to plug it into the firewall, the plug in the firewall on a 4th gen is smaller than a 3rd gen, so youll have to do something about that. I didn't want mine to look half-assed so I'm in the process of mounting the 4th gen hole, cut out, over my 3rd gen hole.

My car was a 2.8 automatic. Then a 5 speed. Then a 3.4 5 speed.

 

Oh, and I bought a 4th gen master cylinder new from GM. It's a different style from the 3rd, but the new master cylinder mounts in the same spot just as easy on the brake vaccum deal and the other end just plugs into the transmission. The 4th gen clutch and brake pedals bolt right up with no issues.