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Great work and photo documentation. This LS swap has peaked my interest as my son just did an LS-1 swap in his '68 Camaro (much to my initial response to go with a vintage motor). He really won me over with his LS-1 and T56 (6 speed) swap. His package turned out to be an "animal". Car is stupid fast.
rtruman, think it was just his initial "will it fit, what issues do I have" install. "Well the engine was in briefly this weekend. I wanted to lift the LS3 onto the mounts to see how close to the "stock location" the Dingo mounts would be and to check for any unknown clearance issues."
daz_au, please keep posting as you fine tune your install. If I ever pull my Gen I small block, this will be the route I will consider.
why didn't you do a little sanding and spray paint the frame area and firewall .It would of been easy then.
Oh yeah, that was just a test fit to take photos of clearances and make a list of any work needed. The engine is already out and the whole engine bay will be stripped back and painted.
Oh yeah, that was just a test fit to take photos of clearances and make a list of any work needed. The engine is already out and the whole engine bay will be stripped back and painted.
I just finished the project last week, and I'm enjoying the "test drives"!!
Hopefully I will find time to post the many pictures of the 2-1/2 month project. Best of luck with yours......
I was away for work for the past few weeks, so not much work on the car, but I did collect some parts along the way :
1) Front disc kit from MGChevy, kit certainly looks nicely made.
2) New master with disc/drum prop valve
3) Some gauges and a pod. I plan on putting these in the glove box as I want the interior to look largely stock. I want to connect the stock gauges also, but these ones allow me to set limits for temp, oil and fuel pressure so I can set an alarm if anything goes out of range.
I also picked up some ebay adapters for the sensors. I got this T piece that allows me to plumb the original oil press gauge under the sensor used by the LS3. Its hard to see, but whoever made it was sloppy, leaving aluminum burrs on the inside of the tapped holes just waiting to enter the post filter side of my oil system... grrr :
I also managed to get a new shift shaft for the muncie. I *think* the broken one was an original but the replacement I got is identical to the other one I found inside, so it was replaced also at some stage. Here is the broken one and replacement side by side, I believe the broken one is an earlier design.
Installing it was simple and the box in general looked nice inside, but I am no expert. It was certainly smooth shifting prior to removal, so I am going to replace all the gaskets and seals and put it back in service. The countershaft does have the typical leak at the front, I will try the usual fixes there and see how it goes. The front bearing retainer bolts were quite loose though, certainly not to spec, will replace gasket and retighten that also.
You can buy replacement Muncie sidecovers with bronze bearings installed for the shifter shafts, it comes with new shifter shafts and seals and with the lock out rooster combs and spring installed for like $140; shifter forks are another $50. Just did all this to my '63.
As to the countershaft leak I recommend the black RTV sandwiched around a thin piece of rubber. Many here have found the RTV alone allows the leak to come back after a while. I used a piece of old toolbox drawer liner rubber. No leaks several thousand miles later.
Looking good, how's the wiring for the LS coming along?
I have a full GMPP harness, essentially one of these.
The only real risk is that there is something different about the sensors on the Holden motor and the controller wont run it or throw codes, but as far as I was able to research, it all looks the same.
Originally Posted by Frankie the Fink
As to the countershaft leak I recommend the black RTV sandwiched around a thin piece of rubber.
Thats good advice, thanks, I have seen a lot of people say the RTV alone doesnt work !
I forgot to mention that I also came across an exhaust shop last month that was doing a lot of exhaust swaps on brand new LS3 HSV sedans and customers were leaving behind their bimodal (NPP) mufflers. I picked up a pair for $100.... amazing, these are basically new (QA stickers still not burnt off) stainless bimodal mufflers with actuators.
They are not that hard to get working, just need a vacuum line to the rear with a solenoid to control the actuators, then you have fingertip control over mild/wild sound. They are a little larger than the flowmasters I pulled out, but a quick test holding them under the car seems like they will work ok !
Another test fit today, waterpump looks really good, I am going to fit up radiator and hoses and then work on an intake. I will also layout the harness this week and start looking at the routing. Really happy with how its looking though !
Have you ran into any other problems? I am considering on doing this when I yank my numbers matcher 327/340hp engine out of my 63
Nothing too difficult yet, but I am not finished
One interesting one has been engine mounts, seems easy, just buy the plates and bolt some mounts on. So I got some new fancy "energy suspension" mounts last time I put it in and they totally didn't work, didn't allow the engine to drop low enough for the through bolts to go in.
This time I just used the old mounts that came off the 327. Problem is this style of mount didn't clear the plates or block and I had to grind them a bit here and there. Thats not great in principle, plus the rear through hole on the passenger side mount still isn't lined up well enough for the bolt to go in.
Now I have read about people keeping all the bolts loose on the mounts until the through bolts are in and then tighten everything, that might work.... but still this wasn't as smooth as expected.
I need to post some updates and pics, I have been working on a bunch stuff around the engine while it is sitting in place like
* The Z-Bar bracket
* ECU, harness and fuse box mounting
* Intake and airbox
* Mounting electronic gas pedal
* Radiator and heater hoses
I expect at least some of the ways I have solved things will need to be reworked, tweaked etc.... but I am only working on this a few hours at a time on the odd weekend, so only time will tell !
Ha ! Artifact of the previous owner(s), done a very long time ago, most likely in the garage at home with a roll from the parts store ! You can even see shadows of some that were removed on sections of the paint that appear to be original.
One interesting one has been engine mounts, seems easy, just buy the plates and bolt some mounts on. So I got some new fancy "energy suspension" mounts last time I put it in and they totally didn't work, didn't allow the engine to drop low enough for the through bolts to go in.
This time I just used the old mounts that came off the 327. Problem is this style of mount didn't clear the plates or block and I had to grind them a bit here and there. Thats not great in principle, plus the rear through hole on the passenger side mount still isn't lined up well enough for the bolt to go in.
Now I have read about people keeping all the bolts loose on the mounts until the through bolts are in and then tighten everything, that might work.... but still this wasn't as smooth as expected.
I need to post some updates and pics, I have been working on a bunch stuff around the engine while it is sitting in place like
* The Z-Bar bracket
* ECU, harness and fuse box mounting
* Intake and airbox
* Mounting electronic gas pedal
* Radiator and heater hoses
I expect at least some of the ways I have solved things will need to be reworked, tweaked etc.... but I am only working on this a few hours at a time on the odd weekend, so only time will tell !
Good stuff. As you go can you itemize the parts you had to buy and/or replace and where you got them. I really want to do this and this winter will be rip apart frame off restore. going to try to do this all at once, frame off, paint, new gauge set, TK0600 hooked to a LS3 525hp
One interesting one has been engine mounts, seems easy, just buy the plates and bolt some mounts on. So I got some new fancy "energy suspension" mounts last time I put it in and they totally didn't work, didn't allow the engine to drop low enough for the through bolts to go in.
This time I just used the old mounts that came off the 327. Problem is this style of mount didn't clear the plates or block and I had to grind them a bit here and there. Thats not great in principle, plus the rear through hole on the passenger side mount still isn't lined up well enough for the bolt to go in.
Now I have read about people keeping all the bolts loose on the mounts until the through bolts are in and then tighten everything, that might work.... but still this wasn't as smooth as expected.
I need to post some updates and pics, I have been working on a bunch stuff around the engine while it is sitting in place like
* The Z-Bar bracket
* ECU, harness and fuse box mounting
* Intake and airbox
* Mounting electronic gas pedal
* Radiator and heater hoses
I expect at least some of the ways I have solved things will need to be reworked, tweaked etc.... but I am only working on this a few hours at a time on the odd weekend, so only time will tell !
Good stuff. As you go can you itemize the parts you had to buy and/or replace and where you got them. I really want to do this and this winter will be rip apart frame off restore. going to try to do this all at once, frame off, paint, new gauge set, TKO600 hooked to a LS3 525hp
06-10-2014, 09:16 AM
