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Subbed! I've currently got my LT1 and 4L60E out of my car. I'm building up a LY6/T56 swap for my '94. The only thing I havent quite decided on yet is what to do with the front accessory drive- what donor parts to use or if I will keep AC or not.
Stock LS3 heads, long tubes and a decent cam is the only way to go with a cheap 6.0 swap. Spending serious cash on some Cathedral Ports to retain the "low to mid-range" torque everyone always talks about isn't worth the money. Run a manual trans or a 3k+ stall with the LS3 heads and have some real fun.
The trade off is the LS3 heads don't make as much torque and power below 4000 rpm like cathedral head. Don't forget you need a different exhaust rocker arm and a rocker arm trunnion kit if you going to have a cam with lifts over 0.550 lift.
Its a cheap way to get near stock LS3 flow numbers and the ability to adjust combustion chamber size.
I have a set of cnc 0821 GM LS3 heads, I'm on the edge on whether to sell them and going send in my LQ9 0317 to Kaltech. The LS3 is really too much head without the variable cam timing for us high geared C4 corvette.
My car is driver and I worry more about fuel mileage/drivablity than maximum power. Worst case is you could throw on a boost adder device if you need more power.
The trade off is the LS3 heads don't make as much torque and power below 4000 rpm like cathedral head. Don't forget you need a different exhaust rocker arm and a rocker arm trunnion kit if you going to have a cam with lifts over 0.550 lift.
Its a cheap way to get near stock LS3 flow numbers and the ability to adjust combustion chamber size.
I have a set of cnc 0821 GM LS3 heads, I'm on the edge on whether to sell them and going send in my LQ9 0317 to Kaltech. The LS3 is really too much head without the variable cam timing for us high geared C4 corvette.
My car is driver and I worry more about fuel mileage/drivablity than maximum power. Worst case is you could throw on a boost adder device if you need more power.
Blah blah blah.... I don't like making a lot of horsepower and torque above 4k, I drive my 'driver' like a baby and want the extra 18 ftlbs below 4k.
Hey guys, well it here been quite a while since any post or update on this project. I have to tell you, I thought it would be fairly simple but I was relatively wrong. I ended up taking the vehicle to a shop near my place in PA and they gave me about a 6 month turn around. 2 years later...shop still isn’t done with it. The guy did the swap, got it running, and has had health conditions ever since. I recently moved from PA to Central Florida and the car is still at the shop in PA. I have spoken with the shop and at this point I’m just going to have the car shipped down to Florida so that I can attempt to finish the project.
From what I understand, the car runs, drives, and shifts from 1-2, 3-4, but 2-4 is sticky. And it ends up puttering our after awhile because the fuel filter gets clogged. The mechanic says there is stuff in the tank but continues to have the same issue over and over, even after cleaning the fuel system out repeatedly. To me, sounds like it just needs a new fuel tank. But the mechanic never got to that.
so hopefully, I’ll get the car shipped down here sooner than later.
Well, my car has finally arrived...so many things to say about this ordeal. Good news, car is in one piece. The shipping was actually pretty painless. But looking over the car from what the shop has done, I can see this is going to be bigger than what I expected. But hopefully you guys can help.
I looked over the car, lots to do. Car doesn’t run very good right now, so that’s the first hurdle. Then I’ll tackle why the dash isn’t lighting up anymore and other gremlins. For now, here’s what the engine bay looks like.
And finally, if you want to hear how bad she runs, here’s some videos.
Quick update for you guys...I replaced a coil wire that had been cut through or ripped or chewed, something. However the car still stalled. Slept on it, researched what I could. I ended up changing some of the vacuum line placement the shop had done and the results were much better. The car doesn’t die anymore at idle and sounds much better. The hesitation and stumble are still their under load, so I am sure there are more issues. For now, here’s a video of it running and the current issue.
Happy Thanksgiving guys. I have been plugging away at this car as best I can and figured I would give ya an update.
I’m still working on getting the engine running good. At the moment it still hesitates under load but it’s much much less than it was. I ended up building a smoke machine to find all the vacuum leaks and that did a lot. I bought a fuel pressure gauge to get an accurate reading and have it plumbed but just not wired. I haven’t wired it because I already have some electrical issues in the dash and am waiting on the FSM to come in the mail before tackling that and those issues.
While waiting I moved on to some other issues I wanted to address. Most of the interior is in great shape except for the top window rails on the doors. Took the door panels off, they fell apart...gathered all the pieces to epoxy them all back together on reassembly.
My stereo system is shot so it was also a perfect time to remove the door speakers...that was an interesting removal. I was slightly prepared, but nothing ever goes as planned. Nonetheless, I was able to recondition the original vinyl and carpet on the doors. I decided to switch all the interior lights to LED lights and am waiting on them to be delivered to full finish the doors. I also added some carbon fiber vinyl wrap to the hard black plastic throughout the interior of the car.
Since I plan on deleting the bread box and fixing the electrical dash issues, I knew I needed to remove all the dash panels and such. So, took the dash pad off, the dash trim, removed the radio to replace, and the breadbox. I continued the theme of carbon fiber wrap in the hard black plastic areas. Definitely will need to redo this one day but it was a first time thing.
Hopefully this FSM gets delivered so I can move forward with the next steps.
Happy Thanksgiving guys. I have been plugging away at this car as best I can and figured I would give ya an update.
I’m still working on getting the engine running good. At the moment it still hesitates under load but it’s much much less than it was. I ended up building a smoke machine to find all the vacuum leaks and that did a lot. I bought a fuel pressure gauge to get an accurate reading and have it plumbed but just not wired. I haven’t wired it because I already have some electrical issues in the dash and am waiting on the FSM to come in the mail before tackling that and those issues.
While waiting I moved on to some other issues I wanted to address. Most of the interior is in great shape except for the top window rails on the doors. Took the door panels off, they fell apart...gathered all the pieces to epoxy them all back together on reassembly.
My stereo system is shot so it was also a perfect time to remove the door speakers...that was an interesting removal. I was slightly prepared, but nothing ever goes as planned. Nonetheless, I was able to recondition the original vinyl and carpet on the doors. I decided to switch all the interior lights to LED lights and am waiting on them to be delivered to full finish the doors. I also added some carbon fiber vinyl wrap to the hard black plastic throughout the interior of the car.
Since I plan on deleting the bread box and fixing the electrical dash issues, I knew I needed to remove all the dash panels and such. So, took the dash pad off, the dash trim, removed the radio to replace, and the breadbox. I continued the theme of carbon fiber wrap in the hard black plastic areas. Definitely will need to redo this one day but it was a first time thing.
Hopefully this FSM gets delivered so I can move forward with the next steps.
Thanks man, this project is for sure a PITA but it keeps me occupied especially during the Corona. It’s like every step forward is actually two steps backwards, but that’s a 36 year old car for ya.
Also what type of head unit is that? looks like a perfect fit.
Thanks man! The head unit is a Power Acoustik PD-454B. I found it on Amazon for $100. Single DIN but has a 4.5” touchscreen. It fits really nice! I’m pleased with it, but it’s sad because I already have an upgrade that I want to do. I’d like to install a Nexus 7 in that spot. This way I can get a bunch of extra amenities.
I'd love to see a write up on the nexus 7 conversion when you do that, if your able to do a thread at some point that would be awesome.
I really want to upgrade the tech in my C4, but want to get the LS swap, paint and interior work done first and out of the way.
I'd love to see a write up on the nexus 7 conversion when you do that, if your able to do a thread at some point that would be awesome.
I really want to upgrade the tech in my C4, but want to get the LS swap, paint and interior work done first and out of the way.
I certainly will try to do that. Maybe by then I will have enough experience with these while write up stuff. I’m new to documenting my work and stuff and writing everything up. I’ve always just been “in the zone” and forget to take pictures or anything.
I’m sure it will be a bit of time before I get to the Nexus 7 install. Especially since somebody is going to sell me their brake upgrades 😁
One of the many advantages of moving from PA to FL is the weather! Well, at least the part about not having to deal with freezing temperatures and snow throughout the winter. It has definitely increased my time spent working on this ride. I have gone on a few test drives since doing the swap, maybe 10 miles total, and last night I took BLK_BETTE out to a GM car meet here in Orlando. She is definitely starting to run better, maybe the ECU just needed to sort itself-out through some mileage, Idk 🤷🏼♂️.
I couldn’t stand the amount of rattling throughout the vehicle so I went on a bender trying to relieve the noise. I found that the door panels had undone at the window again so I removed them first. I bought some of the Anti-rattle window guides from Eckler’s and installed them. Mine were ok, but better safe than sorry. I also bought some sound deadener sheets from Amazon and installed them on the outside of the door frame, behind the panel.
I used Gorilla Glue epoxy putty to rebuild the door panel window lip. And after installing the door panels back, no more noise!! Thank goodness. Honestly, after looking at everything, I think the rattle was coming from the door lock mechanism that goes through the silver metal panel inside the door. So I made sure to put some deadener around that area.
One suggestion I had been given on the LS community was that the MAF sensor was too close to the throttle-body. So I made that adjustment. Honestly, not sure that’s the culprit. I’ve also got a cheap fuel psi gauge that reads 65psi. So who knows. Could be accurate, could be off. I plan on taking the car to a dyno and having it tuned. It’ll be $500 but hopefully all the bugs will be done as far as motor goes.
And lastly, snapped a picture while getting some tacos today.
04-16-2018, 10:35 AM
