C4 Tech/Performance L98 Corvette and LT1 Corvette Technical Info, Internal Engine, External Engine

LS to ZF

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Old Oct 1, 2008 | 03:19 AM
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Originally Posted by COPO
5.3 are cheap..but the 6.0 are getting reasonable now.
How reasonable? BTW, this is great, much better then modding a gen 1 engine.

Last edited by RandyJ75; Oct 1, 2008 at 08:13 PM.
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Old Oct 1, 2008 | 08:55 AM
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COPO,

Can you post the results in this thread? Damn if that works the way it should, I would be 1/2 tempted to swap an LS motor in my 89 and drive it daily
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Old Oct 1, 2008 | 10:07 AM
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Originally Posted by -=Jeff=-
COPO,

Can you post the results in this thread? Damn if that works the way it should, I would be 1/2 tempted to swap an LS motor in my 89 and drive it daily
AMEN brotha!
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Old Oct 1, 2008 | 07:15 PM
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Originally Posted by RandyJ75
How reasonable? BTW, this is great, much better then modding a gen engine.
seen them as cheap as 1100 with bout 60 to 70k miles
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Old Oct 1, 2008 | 07:18 PM
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Originally Posted by -=Jeff=-
COPO,

Can you post the results in this thread? Damn if that works the way it should, I would be 1/2 tempted to swap an LS motor in my 89 and drive it daily
be glad to but it wont happen over nite. the time consuming will be running the pipes. calling APS in a few days to get sum measurements from them.
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Old Oct 1, 2008 | 07:42 PM
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Originally Posted by COPO
be glad to but it wont happen over nite. the time consuming will be running the pipes. calling APS in a few days to get sum measurements from them.

Actually if you could mock up the trans to LS block and such that is all I am really interested in, the rest is not too concerning to me
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Old Oct 1, 2008 | 07:50 PM
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Originally Posted by -=Jeff=-
Actually if you could mock up the trans to LS block and such that is all I am really interested in, the rest is not too concerning to me
in or out of the car. if out all i need is the bell housing becos there is always a few ls motors at the shop. would look good behind a LS9 that is suppose to be on the way.
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Old Oct 1, 2008 | 10:03 PM
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Originally Posted by COPO
in or out of the car. if out all i need is the bell housing becos there is always a few ls motors at the shop. would look good behind a LS9 that is suppose to be on the way.
Does not matter, Want to see what exactly is needed for the mating and be sure everything lines up and fits right
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Old Oct 1, 2008 | 11:14 PM
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Originally Posted by -=Jeff=-
Does not matter, Want to see what exactly is needed for the mating and be sure everything lines up and fits right
wondering like i am..if its gonna clear the fire wall. the back of the ls is a lot different than the l98.
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Old Oct 1, 2008 | 11:24 PM
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Originally Posted by COPO
wondering like i am..if its gonna clear the fire wall. the back of the ls is a lot different than the l98.
That's an issue. The LS1 and all LS1 based engines (5.3, 6.0, etc) have the heads sitting a big further back in relation to the back of the engine compared to an SBC. Most have to move the trans forward a bit to clear the firewall. This is what the Speed Hound motor mount plates do.
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Old Oct 1, 2008 | 11:28 PM
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Originally Posted by COPO
wondering like i am..if its gonna clear the fire wall. the back of the ls is a lot different than the l98.
If the bellhousing is the same depth as a stock ZF bellhousing, then you will need to do a little fiberglass work on the firewall (since the heads are further back relative to the blocks transmission mounting flange). (make things easy on yourself by buying a salvage ZR1 AC evaporator box ... then you have to inset the firewall a bit in a small area in front of the heater core, for head clearance (overlapping the AC evap box cover). And narrow the foot well pedal box area for drivers side header clearance (bring in the side of the pedal box area as far toward the master cylinder as possible) ... may require customizing the gas pedal mount.

While the firewall work takes a little fiberglass and resin work, the apparent benefits are large: 1) lots of room at the front accessory area of the engine (since the LS block is shorter), 2) and no messing with the shifter location 3) no change to the torque arm mounting, and 4) no custom driveshaft is required. If I do the swap, I am going to do it this way.

Last edited by Mr6spd; Oct 1, 2008 at 11:37 PM.
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Old Dec 29, 2008 | 10:56 AM
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Anymore movement on this conversion? I'd like to keep this thread alive since my son and I are making plans to do an LS-X swap into his ZF equipped '87. The bell housing looks like a great find. Would the slave cylinder be the same as on the ZF? Or could it be changed to a C5/C6 type ram (I think that's what they're called) slave? Would there be a benefit to changing that to a ram type? Also, would the clutch and flywheel from the L98 fit the LS-X? I think these questions are still relevant to the original topic here.
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Old Dec 29, 2008 | 12:21 PM
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Take a look at ZF Doc's cool project.

http://www.zfdoc.com/projects.htm

Adapter plate for the LS bellhousing, but has to use the ZR1 input shaft.
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Old Dec 29, 2008 | 12:54 PM
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I like the idea, but I think it is just easier to trade in or sell and get a c5!
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Old Dec 29, 2008 | 07:07 PM
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Originally Posted by James93LT1
Take a look at ZF Doc's cool project.

http://www.zfdoc.com/projects.htm

Adapter plate for the LS bellhousing, but has to use the ZR1 input shaft.


he did sum what what i was thinking. but i was using a classis LS BH and making a adaptor in front of the trans so i could make the adaptor wider to use the factory c4 cultch setup. the Quick Time bell housing is about .200 shorter than the zf BH.
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Old Dec 29, 2008 | 07:33 PM
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Originally Posted by COPO
he did sum what what i was thinking. but i was using a classis LS BH and making a adaptor in front of the trans so i could make the adaptor wider to use the factory c4 cultch setup. the Quick Time bell housing is about .200 shorter than the zf BH.
yeah which works for the Standard ZF trans.. Remember, ZFDoc is using an LT5 specific ZF trans
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Old Dec 30, 2008 | 10:55 AM
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Old Jan 4, 2009 | 08:52 PM
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Are you sure about having to do firewall cutting and glassing if you use the Quicktime zf/ls bell housing and the Speedhound mounts?
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Old Jan 4, 2009 | 09:00 PM
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Originally Posted by Bob86ZZ4
Are you sure about having to do firewall cutting and glassing if you use the Quicktime zf/ls bell housing and the Speedhound mounts?
If you use the Speehound mounts, the engine will clear the firewall, BUT I don't think the trans will line up to the C-beam mounts. If the engine moves up, the flywheel will move up, and for the trans to be in the same position relative to the engine, it will have to move up as well, and then it won't line up with the c-beam.

I'm not 100% sure, since I don't think anyone has tried this exact combo, but I do know the Speedhoud mounts move the engine up to clear the firewall.
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Old Jan 4, 2009 | 09:02 PM
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Originally Posted by Bob86ZZ4
Are you sure about having to do firewall cutting and glassing if you use the Quicktime zf/ls bell housing and the Speedhound mounts?
I am not sure!! I plan on using different mounts. but the back of the LS and L98 motors are so much different. i think i measured and it was like almost 2 inches different where the heads sit. I was hoping sum one else had bit the bullet and bought one by now. I am just waiting on TAXES and I'm goin shopping.
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