ss4ever

Awesome job. What did you use for a radiator? I have been looking to change out my radiator for something a little better fitting of a LS engine.

You are really making great progress!!

You will love the gauges, I love mine. I see you are here in MO, where exactly are you?

That will be fine.

Thanks, seems like a pretty fair price for as nice as the car looked.

Just a quick update. I painted the Holley coil covers and painted the intake a grey color a couple weeks ago, really helped the looks underhood IMO.

Any idea what the car brought?

Thanks guys, it looks like on my car the third bow back is missing, it is the one that locks in to the clips and since mine is gone there is only the tension on the front bows to hold the headliner up. I guess I need to find some bows now.

Hey guys the bows in my headliner have been messed up for a while and the other night I tried messing with them a bit but I don't know as much about these kinds of headliners as I was hoping I did. I took off the A pillar trim and was able to slide off the side trim a bit and was able to see that at least on the passenger side the headliner bows are still in their place. There seems to be a piece of metal or something that the headliner is attached to that makes it nearly impossible to reach the ends of the bows. Does anyone have a step by step on how I can find out what is up with my bows hopefully without ruining the headliner? Thanks Randy

Thanks!

I currently have Hotchkiss 2" drop springs up front with KYB Monotube shocks all around. Hopefully this picture will show how the front sits now. The red 72 Monte in the pic is a local buddy's car, last year I was able to get the engine back together in it for him and he finally got it on the road after a 14 yeah hiatous. BTW, last weekend we painted up a cowl hood for his car and got rid of the ugly scoop that is shown in this pic.

Hey guys I just thought I would post on here some info on the LS1/4L60E swap I did in my 72 Monte. I don't have many pictures at the moment of the swap but I will see what I can come up with. I started out with my 72 Monte Carlo that originally had a 350/350 combo and I purchased a 18,000 mile LS1/4L60E from a wrecked 1999 Camaro as a complete pullout with the engine harness. I used a set of "Dirty Dingo" aluminum engine mount adapters to mount my stock engine mounts to the block, it worked best for me to have the engine mounted furthest forward. With the engine mounted furthest forward the alternator just barely clears the engine crossmember and the factory F-body oil pan clears perfectly. I modified the factory Camaro powersteering pressure hose to fit, while I was doing the engine swap I decided to go ahead and install a 83-88 Monte Carlo SS steering box. For exhaust I found a set of cheap shorty stainless headers on EBay for under $200, I also installed a Pypes 2.5" X-pipe system with their Violator mufflers and their 70 Chevelle stainless tips. For the instrument cluster I did some figuring and it made sense to go ahead and bite the bullet and buy a Dakota Digital VHX instrument cluster which is a great system expecially when doing a LS swap in these cars. For the transmission crossmember I just drilled some new holes and bolted it down. For the driveshaft I needed one that was about 53.5 inches long, knowing G-bodys like I do I bought a driveshaft from a buddy and had to install a conversion rear U-joint to make it fit the rear differential yolk but it fits good. I did go ahead and upgrade my factory floor shifter by installing the kit from Shiftworks to convert to a four speed auto shifter which also supplied me with the brackets on the transmission. I reused my stock radiator, the stock 350 upper hose works well as the lower hose in my application and I got a stainless "bendable" hose for my upper hose. I used a LoKar throttle cable and brackets and their engine dipstick as well. Their stuff is all top notch. For the fuel system I bought a fuel filter for a 98 Corvette which has a built in pressure regulator, I mounted it in front of the rear wheel on the passenger side. For the fuel pump I found a new EFI fuel tank with a high pressure tank on EBay and installed it along with some high pressure fuel injection hose in the rubber hose locations. To get fuel to the fuel rail I spliced in to the factory line just behind the front wheel and made me a line to run to the fuel rail. I did modify the factory engine harness rather than spend the money on a stand alone harness. I did go ahead and delete the emissions and rear O2 sensors from the harness and had the computer re-programmed for my car. I mounted the ECM on the passenger inner fender by using a ECM mount from a 96-05 S-10. I hope this post helps someone out, if you have any questions please feel free to ask.

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Hey all I have been really enjoying this LS1/T56 swap that I have done in my 72. I am pulling in 18mpg with a good mix of highway driving and some hard thrashing on the back streets around here. As of today I have put just over 2300 miles on the car so far this year. Upper radiator hose/radiator. I used my stock radiator and used a cheap Ebay flexible metal hose for a upper hose and modified a stock small block upper hose to work for my lower hose. On this LS1 the thermostat is in the lower hose which means I am feeding the radiator backwards, this way allowed for the easiest hose hook up. What is everyone else with an LS swap using for a radiator and hoses? I am not fond of the fact that if I happen to loose a little coolant I could starve my engine for coolant. AC: My car originally had AC and I would like to restore that option(been very warm lately). What has everyone been doing to put AC on their first gens on the cheap without cutting up the frame to mount the factory LS compressor? Cruise Control: I would like to ad this option to my Monte, any tips on adding cruise to my LS1 in my car? Thanks for the help everyone! Randy

I put a 18,000 mile LS1/4L60E in my 72 Monte and LOVE it. I used a set of Dirty Dingo aluminum motor mount brackets and set the mounts to the furthest back position which allows the alternator to clear the engine crossmember and the factory oil pan cleared fine as well. I moved the crossmember to the correct spot and drilled new holes for it. For a drive shaft I was able to used a stock fourth gen Monte driveshaft with a conversion rear U-joint and it is all fine. I used some cheap EBay shorty headers but the factory F-body manifolds cleared everything just fine. I did find a replacement fuel tank with an in-tank high pressure fuel pump, it feeds the engine fine but even with the internal baffles if I am below half a tank and try to take corners hard it will starve for fuel.

This weekend I installed the Pypes 2.5" stainless X-pipe system with their Violator mufflers. The fit was great and sounds very good. I would compare the sound of my car with a 2000 Corvette now if that makes any sense.

Well guys it's been a while since I have given any updates. I do have the car running. I ran in to some problems with a bent exhaust valve on cylinder 3, pulled the head and replaced that. I put it all back together and drove the car down to the shop I work at. I bought some 45 degree 2.5" exhaust elbows and was able to hook the shorty headers to my current exhaust. The engine runs well and sounds great but I am having a fuel pressure problem, runs strong running normally but under WOT the pressure drops and the car starts laying down on me. I hope to have this problem figured out soon.

Yes I would appreciate if you could forward me the info, my email addy is rtwells@centurytel.net As for my swap, things are still moving pretty good, slowed down for a few days but the dash is mostly back together. I am still trying to decide what to do with my dash as the person that cut out the dash for the CD player was apparently blindfolded at the time and was equiped with a reciprocation saw. Horrible job. I got another dash trim piece from Dan and I am debating on either covering it with a carbon fiber wrap or either painting it satin black or silver/aluminum, not sure yet which way I will go with it.

Yesterday the guage housing showed up so lastnight I started installing the new Dakota Digital VHX cluster. If anyone is on the fence about buying one of these I can tell you these are GREAT pieces, bolts right in place of the factory cluster and is pretty straight forward on instalation. It even comes will very detailed instructions and all the sensors needed to get everything going.

Long time with no updates, sorry about that. Things got pretty busy around here and when I did have time to work on it the money wasn't there. Things have been slowly changing for the better and slowing down some so I have recently been back to work on it. Like as always with me when I work on something, plans change along the way. I started out planning on keeping with the stock LS1 exhaust manifolds, things changed and I ended up buying some stainless shorty headers from EBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LS1-LS6-LS2-LS7-...a5a&vxp=mtr Anyhow if anyone is ever interested in a set of those headers the listed says they come with the collectors and bolts, they don't. I contacted the seller and he issued a partial refund of $25 to buy the parts I needed. They fit great on the car, they clear everything very well. I did install a steering box from a fourth gen Monte Carlo SS which has the quicker steering ratio. It also has the newer style O ring seals on the lines. I was able to do some modifications to the pressure hose and reflare it and made the factory F-body pressure hose work on my car. I also managed to buy a set of the plastic Holley coil covers for the engine. Lastnight I did some work on the drivers side and did a test fit on it. I know it's a crappy picture but you can also see the headers. I bought some different plug wires but the coil end of the new wires will not fit in the coils. I am still waiting to hear back from the seller on them but I doubt I hear anything from them. Tonight I spent a while tearing out some of the wiring put in the car by a previous owner including an aftermarket tach, OLD Stewart Warner guages, crappy lockup converter switch and pulled a bunch of the wiring out from the old ignition system. The reason I pulled the old wiring and guages and instrument cluster out of the car is to install the new Dakota Digital VHX instrument cluster that came in the mail last week. I pulled the instrument cluster out the other night but with me trying to spare money every chance I get I didn't order the new aftermarket cluster housing with the new cluster. I got my cluster removed and the housing had been JB welded back together in several places including the mounting bossed for the cluster so I ordered a new housing. For the driveshaft I was actually about to use a stock G-body driveshaft with a conversion u-joint in the rear and while it would be best if the driveshaft was about a half inch longer this one will work fine for now. For the fuel system I have bought the 98 Corvette fuel filter and have it mounted under the car along the passenger framerail and I have purchased a in-line fuel pump which will at least get me up and running for the time being. Anyhow I hope to have the car up and running again in the next month or so.

I haven't done much with the car in a while, been doing a little bit too it every now and then but nothing worth noting. I plan on getting mine running this summer.

http://www.fgmcc.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=355907&page=1 There is my post from when I started my LS swap which has a picture of the mounts I used, I used the stock F-body oil pan with the engine set back all the way on the mounts. I used the stock F-body accesories but no AC.

Tonight I got the harness modified. I removed the downstream O2 sensors, purge solinoid and EGR wiring from the harness and got rid of a few other minor things. It was pretty nice to have access to the Snap On ShopKey system, helped a bunch with which wires to remove from the harness and which ones to keep.

I figure the driveshaft guy will have to replace the entire tube section of the driveshaft, I would not trust any shop that would just section in a piece of the driveshaft. Feels great to have the engine in the hole but it makes me realise that I will need to drop the front suspension VERY soon.

Lastnight when I set the engine in there I just sat it down in the mounts and left it as it was. I went back out today and got the engine mount bolts in and tight and got the transmission crossmember mounted up. Before I could get the trans up high enough the mounting tube for the F-body arm on the top of the tailshaft was rubbing the transmission tunnel. I took the tailshaft off and cut the top mounting tube off with the reciprocating saw. I got that taken care up and now the trans fits like a glove. I was able to put two bolts in the crossmember to bolt it to the frame and then drilled the other two holes so I could bolt it down all the way. I need to find my tape measurer so I can figure the length I need for my driveshaft. I am going to TRY to have the factory F-body aluminum driveshaft made longer to fit my car, if that is going to cost too much then I will have my factory driveshaft shortened.