So I am restoring my old vette (1976 with stock hood) and believe I am going to go in direction of the LM7 purely for economical reasons. I have a few questions, read through some of the LS posts, and I see everyone says to use the Fbody accessories if I want all accesories to fit. I have a few questions:

Do I need just the fbody brackets or the brackets and accessories?
What is the cheapest source for this?

Any problems retaining A/C, steeroids, etc? Do i need new hoses for the steeroids? What power steering pump should I use?

Will the engine fit stock for now under a hood with no modifications or intake? It is my understanding if i switch intakes I will need to get a custom harness.

I would love to swap it in as it came in the truck using the stock harness and intake manifold and 4l60E changing nothing other than the brackets and accessories. Is this doable? I figure save up some cash and throw in a new intake manifold/tune/cam later.

Thanks,

Paul

I realize somewhere in the LSx posts, there might have been answers to my questions somewhere within the hundred some odd pages of posts but I have been busy with work, and I am trying to keep my vette addiction from consuming my life so I really appreciate anyone who has any positive input.

 

The truck intake will typically not fit under the C3 hood (you did not spec year or hood style) When you switch to the F-body/vette intake the truck upper pulley and upper water pump inlet are in the way. On the LS series engines, there are 3 distinct pulley spacings. The truck sticks out the farthest, F-bodies next, and Corvettes have the tightest arrangement. The PS pump on the cars have remote reservoirs, the truck is built in. Check out http://kwikperf.com for some options on keeping most of what you already have. I shop on http://LS1tech.com and here in the C5 parts section. You should speed read through the 100+ pages in the above sticky or use search within the post. A lot of blood, sweat and beers have been shed in the various quests. Different combos of AC, PS, auto, manual, intakes, etc. Find the guy that is closest to your plans, follow his posts and have at it.

Rob

 

Thanks for the reply MrForce, added my year and hood style, sorry about that.

 

The F-body LS1 engines have a PS pump with an integral resevoir.



Rick B.

 

Before you start buying the 5.3 -LM7, start pricing the little things out that you will need to do the F-body oil pan, intake, injectors, fuel rail, throttle body, MAF, PCM, wiring harness, and accessory drive conversion, and you'll find your probably a wash between the two. If you just go out and buy the LS1-4L60E combo from the get go, you'll save yourself lots of time and headaches, and have more cubes to boot.

 

I went with the 6.0 LQ9 truck motor. They're not much more than the 5.3s and are a better choice for upgrades (cam, L92 heads). I could not get the truck intake to fit so I picked up an LS1 intake, injectors, and fuel rail for $100 (craigslist) No new wire harness is not needed, just swap out the injector connectors. You'll typically need the F body or vette water pump and accessories or something aftermarket like Kwik performance. I made my own. Superpowers on here makes an AC bracket for the old R4 compressor. For an oil pan, you can use F body or vette. I chose the bat wing vette because of price ($100 on ebay).
Check the smaller LS sticky for someone with steeroids, they can help you with that.

 

You don't need Steeroids, but it will fit with whatever pan you use. Power steering pump does not matter. I used a remote on mine because I did not want the reservoir right there in the front of the engine, but in hindsight it probably would have been better.

Because of the C5 supercharger, I used Corvette spacing with a milled down Fbod alt. bracket and a Street and Performance AC bracket. Bolted a Corvette power steering pump directly to the head. If I were to do it again I would make my own brackets or use the www.streetshopinc.com motor mounts and brackets that put the small sanden down low in the stock LS location.

 

I had the VBP Rack Attack (Same as Steeeroids basically) before I did the LS swap.

You will need to increase the length of your high pressure hose from the power steering pump to the HB unit.

The return hose from the R&P and HB unit may need to be extended slightly as well. I believe I bought a new 1 foot low pressure power steering hose section and used that. I have a "T" union that connected the HB and R&P returns. I only need to deal with the return hose section from the "T" to the pump.

The F-body oil pan clears the R&P unit just fine.

 

I'm trying to install a GenIII in my 1980 Vette, this looks to be the same frame but theres something wrong with this photo, I can see no way how you could install the engine this far back without hitting the firewall, plus (assuming you are using a 4L60E box) the transmission mount would have to be moved or modded and the tail shaft shortened, is this what you did?

My alternator does not clear the front sub mounting position and barly clears the front cross member. I'm using the Hooker plates that move the bloke 3" forward from stock.

Would love to know how you did this?

Thanks in advance

 

It also depends on what front accessory mounts you use. I am using truck spacing and my block is ~1.5" rear from stock.

 

Rear! well I have been learning that No Two Conversions are the same, even if the car is!



Actually, looking at it now I can see that it's sitting pretty high, shame there is not a ground level photo, I wonder what the clearance is to the hood for a GenII over the old carb 350 in a 1980 Corvette?