Hi all,

After receiving tons of useful feedback on this forum I’ve finally decided what direction to take to make my 1976 L82 into a modernized road tripping machine.

I’m going to go the LS swap route. I have a friend who builds these and he can use whatever accessory drive and oil pan I want, so I just need to know what to tel him.

I’ve read tons of posts on this but still not clear on a few things, could someone help out:

1) Seems like Camaro/Firebird accessory drive is the way to go for water pump, PS, and alternator. Is that true?

2) How do I mount an A/C compressor? My car has A/C now but it doesn’t work well.

3) Is the Vintage Air kit the best way to go to make it work better, or is there a way to just get a new compressor and use the remainder of my stock setup effectively? Vintage Air is both expensive and labor intense…

4) What oil pan fits best?

5) What headers should I use?

I am sure there will be more questions but that should get me started on what to request from him.

 

I went a slightly different direction. As in I believe in my Gen 1 Small block. And yes I take some really, really long drives in her.
However, perhaps I can help with your air-con question. Yes you can get your factory system working great without the high cost of a Vintage Air System. The limiting factor with your 76 is it came with a VIR Style system. Which really doesn't play well with modern refrigerant.
Bottom line is, do all of your controls work well? Your current system holds pressure? Just isn't real cold? Then a simple upgrade will do ya. But if all your controls are junk, your evaporator leaks, and everything is trashed. Then a Vintage Air system may be the best option.
I wrote a fairly good thread a couple years ago. Titled 73-E77 Air-Con upgrade. A quick google search should bring it up. Might be worth a read.

 

Thanks. Yes the controls all work, and I didn’t see any leaks. What would I need to upgrade specifically?

 

What reliabilty issues. I never understand these proclamations. If your motor is under 100,000 miles, take care of it. Do your 3000 mile oil changes if you have dino oil, 5000 if its synthetic. The original flat tappets need high zinc oil that you can still get at Walmart. Keep up with the tune. Make sure your oil is full. Inspect your belts every 1000 miles. These engines drive thousands of miles with no issues all the time. Engine failures are generally due to poor maintenance first, then bad chinese parts second. When you cant find quality parts for the gen1/gen2 SBC motors, then ya, we will all have to change over. The only real difference is, stock roller cams, 1.7 rockers and better flowing stock heads.

Mechanics know these things. And you can add these things to a gen1

 

These might help..

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...directory.html

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-their-c3.html

 

scuderia_kannan

Here. Watch this guys video on LS swap. He tells you what parts he used and why. Wonderful build. There are other episodes also so lots to watch...

 

Good choice on the LS!

Check out the LS swap guide for C3s at ICTBillet.com

Specific
https://www.ictbillet.com/collections/corvette-c3-68-82
And General (lots beyond this one)
https://www.ictbillet.com/pages/meta...pan-swap-guide

 

Thanks! Your comments on several of my posts helped convince me. I’ll PM you, I think we actually both live in the DMV area. Would love to check out your build and pick your brain!

 

I did a GM LS3/480 crate for my 1978 corvette with a T56 6-speed trans.

1978 LS3 Swap Completed. - CorvetteForum - Chevrolet Corvette Forum Discussion

Items that will be more than the engine itself are.

1. Gas tank mod's to fit a electric fuel pump. ( will the gas gauge read correctly ) if you use a 82 sender unit in the tank gauge will be off.
2. Where to run the gas & return lines. (LS3 like driver side) return line can be in-tank or C5 corvette style. (shorter return line)
3. original Dash gauges or Engine RMP, oil pressure, engine temp,
4, clearance from upper control arms. FEA (front end accessories ) choices. narrow means closer to the radiator which interferes with CAI
5. Gas pedal, drive by wire or cable ?
6. vacuum hose connections / PVC LS3 system.
7. cruise control system may be not solvable without a control system.
8. engine fan system requires rad mounted fan systems / controlled via ECU
9. exhaust system requires O2 sensors
10. Cold air intake routing. hard to get cold air in a C3.
11. PS pump mod's depending on the steering system you are using. Most LS3 PS pump's (type II) run more flow & PSI making the steering very light.
12. Radiator hoses require custom match & fit.

Just a few things to think about.

 

Just answered some of your points above in bold, any thoughts on that plan? Thank you for your response!

 

I am struggling with the transmission decision. I just found out from SST that the TKX package to work in a C3 with an LS swap is a whopping $6,300. That's not going to work for me.

What would I need to do to mate the LS1 to my stock 4-speed? New bell housing? What else?

Are there other 5 or 6 speed trans options that don't cost a small fortune?

 

I expect to keep the 4-speed with my LM7 conversion. The janky shifts are part of the charm.

The LS6 in my wife's fancy 79 gets the TKX (and the SRIII chassis). No budget on that one, it costs what it costs.

There is another thread right now on the gauge issue. If you don't mind running two sets of senders, it is pretty easy to keep most of the stock gauges. Keeping the stock interior appearance is important in both cars.

 

I used a 2001 Camaro as a donor for my swap. Almost everything fit in my 82, even the radiator, fans, and hoses.

1) Yes this is about as good as it gets. Everything but the A/C compressor will fit where it is in the Fbody. The alternator is very close (1/4") to the driver side engine mount but I haven't seen any signs of contact.

2) The only place it can really go is high on the passenger side. There are a number of companies that make brackets to mount the compressor where it needs to go.

3) The stock system might work, but you'll have to fight the evaporator box. Mine hit the #8 coil pack and header tube. Solvable but I chose to go with VA system since it's all behind the firewall then I used the now open area to mount the computer and fuse block. You can find mounts for whatever compressor you need (R4 I believe).

4) Fbody pan fits. I've heard a C5 batwing pan will as well. There are others too.

5) Fbody shorty's and mids will fit, idk about long tubes. I've seen Speed Engineering LS swap headers for a 2nd or 3rd gen Fbody fit.

 

A couple quick follow-up questions for you: Regarding the power steering pump, I was under the impression that if I use the newer type two power steering pump it would have too much pressure, and I have been trying to find a bracket to use an older style power steering pump on the LS motor. What are you doing for that?
Second, I was prepared to drop $1000+ on an LS swap aluminum radiator for the C3, are there cheaper options that will fit just fine? How much work did you have to do to get a Camaro radiator to fit in terms of mounting? I hate to spend this much money on a radiator, it doesn’t seem necessary but I don’t know what else to do…

 

The answer to your power steering pump question will depend on what LS pump you're using. IIRC you'll need somewhere in the low-mid 2 gpm range. There are LS pumps that flow the right amount.

I switched to a Borgeson box before ever driving it with the stock steering with the LS. The Borgeson with the Fbody pump was light and numb but didn't feel twitchy or overboosted. I even played with the flow rate but that was only a minor improvement, not really worth the effort. Point being, the LS pump may end up working for you.

Almost zero work to get the Camaro radiator to fit, just had to trim off the plastic mounting tabs from the Camaro fan shroud then make a simple upper mount to hold it in place. Other than that it dropped right in. That's not to say it's perfect: the inlet and outlet get quite close to the driver's side UCA and passenger frame rail and took some figuring to make work. But on the plus side, the Camaro hoses even fit with very little trimming.

Not sure about other options but that was my experience anyway.

Also: be aware that any pieces above the radiator/ core support play a pretty big role in getting air to flow through it and not over it.

 

I saw a couple of concerning items on an article I was reading this morning, that I had never seen discussed on this forum before. Could anyone help with these?

This seems to imply that if I have factory power steering I can’t use the F-body oil pan, is that correct?



I have never heard of this concern before regarding the ignition coils. Have others experienced this?


If it helps, I’ll be using motor mounts that place the block in line with the standard bellhousing position, so that I can mate the motor directly to my 4-speed transmission. I believe that makes it 1 inch back.

 

Easy! Don't use stock C3 power steering.

Of my three C3 chassis, zero have a stock power steering control valve. I also used a MAST pan for more clearance. Not sure yet if that's needed.

 

what did you do instead of stock power steering?

 

Stock manual steering (80), Borgeson (79), and R&P (SRIII).

Never going back to the 4-hose kludge GM came up with.

 

Agree. The stock PS setup is hot garbage and is almost guaranteed to have leaks.

Borgeson here too.