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LQ9 engine swap questions?


ss4ever

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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.

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It must be a nice feeling to have the motor sitting in the hole.I've never seen a driveshaft lengthened.Let us know what happens.I've always wondered if any pickup had an aluminum shaft that could be cut down.I can't think of many vehicles that had a longer driveshaft then our cars.;)It's too bad you are so far away.I don't know if it would fit but I will be replacing my shaft from a 700 4R.

Here is some good info on late model/older model transmissions.

 

http://ls1tech.com/forums/automatic-transmission/815618-th350-th400-frequently-asked-questions.html

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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.

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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.

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  • 6 months later...

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.

 

297624_3472979111914_1561910659_n.jpg

 

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.

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I failed to read the entire thread before posting my reply, but I put some good info in here, so I will leave it...Sorry!

 

 

I would highly recommend the 4L80E over the 4L60E simply based on the weight of the vehicle and the physical limitations of the 4L60E. The cost to properly build a 60 is upwards of $4k including converter and it's limited to ~600hp. The 80 can be built to 600hp limits with less than $2k in upgrades. The cool thing about the Silvy SS/Escalade PCM is that you can segment swap in the 4L80E controls when you have the VATS disabled and you will be good to go! Trans crossmember/mounting will be custom, but that is it!

 

As for hood clearance, I cannot attest to that, but my recommendation would be to find a cheap stock LS2 car throttle body and intake manifold and swap that on. They look far better aesthetically than the truck manifolds and have better top end. The Vette/GTO intake manifold is a direct bolt-on to the LQ9's 317 casting heads. The injectors and rails will all need to come from the car intake for sure.

 

The Fan controls are simple as long as the Silvy SS/Escalade PCM is 2005 or 2006. If it is 2003-2004 it will not have the controls as those trucks had clutch driven fans.

 

You best bet would be to have the harness modified by someone to match your project so the necessary wiring can be removed or added or shortened or lengthened to work flawlessly in your install...

 

The best option for an oil pan will likely be the stock C6 LS2/LS3 Corvette wet sump oil pan, as long as it clears your engine cradle. http://www.crateenginedepot.com/C6-Vette-Rear-Sump-Oil-Pan-Kit-SSPK-P10994.aspx

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Yesterday the guage housing showed up so lastnight I started installing the new Dakota Digital VHX cluster.

 

264719_3479423873029_973624838_n.jpg

 

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.

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Randy I see you went with the white faces gauges. Just a heads up as the manual or at least mine did, the third switch is to be installed for the clock. I have the information for it in a email which I can pass along to you. You will never use the green or orange wires for anything, so just cut them off at the white plug. The only wire you WILL USE is the BLUE, which connects to one side of the third switch, the other side of that switch goes to ground.

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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.

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

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.

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  • 7 years later...

The factory harness for the car or for the swapped engine? For the factory car harness you'll use just about everything if you want your gauges to work; the only wire that I removed was for the GEN light as I used the LS charging system. I turned the GEN light into my MIL light.

For the engine, LT1Swap is a great resource. https://www.lt1swap.com/

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