overview of my retro swap 98 camaro ls1 into 71 chevelle.

[tomcamaro97]

below is the step by step process i went through on my swap.. plenty of help from other posts here and on wiring help from lt1swap.com. i didnt include exact part numbers but can for anyone interested. ill try and get them added in at some point here when i get some time. hope others find this helpfull.

1. Pulled engine and trans with full wiring harness from Camaro.. dropped the kmember disconnected the brake lines and abs.. the wiring harness connects 4 connectors on pass side fender and 3 connectors in cabin behind pass side kick panel. (later in my build I also took 6-12 inches of wire and connectors that clip into these plugs so that I could keep those plugs in place.
2 with engine out do any mods or rebuilding you want. I disconnected ac/egr/rear o2 sensors/abs, at this time I modified my harness to remove all of these wires from the harness. Also at this time I would recommend doing the research to remove any wires from the (7 plugs you disconnected from the harness as well) don’t need to do that but it will keep harness cleaner and less wires to get in the way later. also sent ecu out to pcm for less for tune and remove of all non needed items.

2. The basic items to get it into the car.. holley swap plates , I went with stock location (had about 1 inch between back of block and firewall. Holley oil pan, (can use the gm performance pan for a lot less $ but it does extend lower and if your car is lowered you may have clearance issues. I used the stock motor mounts I had on my 350 slightly modified to work.. they make special ones , I didn’t look into it.
3. My camaro had headers on it.. pass side fit no problem. Driver side no way. could have made work with modifying one tube, I didn’t wanna destroy so I baught the hooker headers. (in retrospect I would have baught the full holley retrofit kit they sell.
4. Trans mounting. My 71 had plenty of holes along the frame rail so with slight finessing they line up easily. I did run into clearance issues with the tunnel using the 4l60e. I googled short trans mount and napa had one for $3. Worked like a charm. (think is was from an early Camaro). The top torque arm hole hit my tunnel still , but 3 mins with a sawsall cutting off the aluminum and that was not an issue anymore either. I used my chevelle driveshaft.. my output shaft to diff holes was 53inches on the dot so I had that cut down at a local shop. Camaro driveshaft was way to short.
5. I didn’t run a/c or egr.. so that bracketry was removed and all lines were capped where applicable.
6. Hoses, I was able to take what I had laying around and cut , I had to buy 3 addaptors. 1 1.5in coupler for lower hose. 1 1.5in 90degree elbow for top hose. And one jegs 1.5 in coolant drain hose that I took the petcock out of and added a 3/8 nipple in it as a place to run the steam hose to. Disconnected the throttle body coolant hoses , but could run it either way. the jegs drain seemed the way to go , vs drilling and tapping the waterpump or radiator. Steam hose is supposed to be hooked up.
7. Spark plug wires.. I had to modify 5 ends to put 90 degreee elbows on them as the straight ones were hitting the headers.
8. Alternator issues, I had clearance issues with my steering box, although it seems not all people have this issue. I notched my alternator housing and it should be ok..otherwise a relocation kit may be needed
9. Exhaust, the hooker headers come back further than my old headers. And needed a more severe drop to clear the trans cross member . had to have a custom x pipe made.., could have modified the headers to use stock stuff but I wanted an x pipe anyways.
10. Power steering. I use the high pressure hose from my Camaro setup cut the end off and put a standard flare on it to mount to my steering box. I used my chevelles return line and that worked fine.
11. Trans cooler hoses. Upper hose worked fine with minimal bending. Lower one was not long enough. Spliced in an 18 in hose to the end and worked great.
12. Intake. Intakehoses.com 4-3.5 in 90 degree reducing elbow. 3.5 in connector sleeve. 3.5in 24in long aluminum pipe. 3.5in 45degree elbow, spectre air filter cone. And clamps. I used an extra clamp to actually mount my intake to my upper radiator hose to stabilize it. (my upper radiator hose runs directly below my intake piping and is fairly hidden. Ive heard if you run 4in intake you can gain HP, but aftermarket maf is required for this as stock is 3.5in housing. Could also add an extra 45degree elbow if you wanted a true cold air intake.
13. Fuel system. I went the inline pump and inline c5 vette filter/regulator , other people like the aeromotive intake setup. ( I will likely go that route down the line, but well see) I baught 7-8 ft of stainless braided line (wrap it in electrical tape when you cut to get clean ends) 3/8 dia. 3: 6an to 3/8 adaptors. Three other fittings were needed for the efi connectors. 1 for fuel rail. 1 for output of filter, 1 for input of filter (Russell makes um all). There are plenty of posts on this. and 10 ft of 3/8 reg fuel line. Ran my fuel line down driver side. Regular hose to the pump, then stainless. Mounted the pump and filter actually inside my frame rail. Looks bad ass and hidden from damage. For my return I used the evap line that was there and instead of running it into the canister, I ran it into one of my three evap lines coming out of the tank. I also replaced a lot of old hoses at this time . grounded pump to frame, ran power to cabin. (ran a separate fused line to cabin from battery and a relay to get this working properly. You also need the signal wire from the ecu)
14. I moved my battery to trunk baught 1 80 amp breaker, and 1 150amp breaker for $10 each off ebay and ran all electrics off this. main power wire running down pass side frame rail. put a relay block under the hood for all hood electronics. Helped clean up the engine bay a lot. And the breakers are nice if you don’t drive car often.
15. Fuel rail covers, baught from summit for $50 ea. Pass side I had to modify where the throttle cable mount hits and the dip stick comes up. Driver side only had to modify where the fuel line comes out by widening the stock opening slightly.
16. Throttle cable. Lokar 36 in cable.. was simple install.
17. Trans linkage.. I have a b&m pro stick shifter.. baught a 4 speed plate and 4l60E mounting kit both from b&m, $45 total. Works well.
18. ECU placement, I cut a 2 1/8 hole just big enough to get all wires through in my firewall just behind the pass side cylinder head. Cant see it once headers and fuel rail covers are in. ebay grommet. once in the cabin I routed up above heater controls inside the dash, tight fit, but completely hidden. Or some people extend the wires and mount under the seat.
19. Wiring theres tons of stuff out there on ls1.com and lt1swap.com essentially you are just dealing with the 7 connectors you unhooked earlier, one connector is the starter wire. You’ve got the constant 12 volt wires. The switched wires and the wires for your fans/obd2 and gauges. Plenty of wires on those connectors you wont be using at all.
20. Fan. I have an electric fan on my 4 core aluminum radiator. Some people use stock Camaro or ford Taurus fan setups. Either way your going to run a relay for each fan and the “ground” signal will come from your ecu. To turn the fan on and off.
21. Other wiring: Ive got a 10 gauge switched ignition wire that I ran to a fuse block and another 10 gauge wire I ran from my battery to another fuse block.and a third for the fuel pump specifically. Im using these two blocks for all my ecu wiring. Then the wires to my obdII . and gauge wires as needed.
22. Gauges, plenty of options and ideas out there.. im going Dakota digital full gauge cluster , they also make an electronic conversion that reads all gauge information from your obdII, should be a real nice setup, once it hits the market in august 2014. Right now im using my scan tool as my gauges.. I know its kinda hokey.. but if I only have to wait a month to have it how I want it , I don’t mind.
Currently working out the gremlins as I expected.. but no leaks spotted. My alternator isn’t charging , so im gonna use and extra wire off my switched block to terminal b on my alternator (with resistor inline), well see if that works.

looks like im limited on the pics i can have in my gallery.. see if i can figure out how to get more pics and ill uplod um

[SMWS6TA]

you should be able to start posting pics using photobucket for the img code.


Would like to see the work you've done.

[tomcamaro97]

pics here, well see if i used it right, my first time on photobucket.

http://s1295.photobucket.com/user/to...24647910727867

pretty happy with everything given it was 2 months from start to finish i thought not to bad.

[tomcamaro97]

I know theres plent of information out there already but incase anyone finds this usefull..i made this to aid me well doing my wiring

connector position color circuit what to do with it.
100
A, pnk 639 powered switched
g pnk 239 powered switched
f not used remove
b,c not used remove
d grey 596 5v reference, not needed remove
e dk blue 417 not used
h dk blue not used, I only have one fan
j drk grn 335 hook up to fan ground
k blk 452 grounded


101
a yel blk, 625 not used, disabled.
b, fuse output ign 1 839 switched power
c brn not used? remove
d grn white 465 fuel pump , to relay this is signal wire for relay
e pink 439 power it switched
f not used no used remove
g orn 340 constant power
h blk white 451 ground

105
a ppl white 1572 not used remove
b pink 539 switched power
c brn/white 1571 not used remove
d dk grn 83 not used remove
e tan 800 goes to obd2 connector
f wht 85 not used remove
g wht 121 tach signal, is this the same as the tach signal to cluster?
h PPL 421 not used remove

c210
a gry 598 reference voltage feed 5 volt, not needed remove
b wht 1310 not used remove
c gry 720 reference voltage feed 5 volt, not needed remove
e dk blue 1936 not used remove
f dk grn 890 not used remove
h ppl 30 not used remove

c220
a red 225 power to instament cluster if needed, use this for alternator turn on..hook up 12 v switched w a resistor inline.
b tan 31 oil pressue for cluster/electronic gauge
c brn /white 1173 not used remove
g grn/wht 817 speedo signal y
h wht 375 not used remove
j yel/blk 625 veh anti theft coil enable, not used remove
k dr grn 153 coolant temp signal to electronic coolant gauge

c230
a gry 48 not used remove
b brwn/white 419 ses indicator feed
d wht 121 tach signal to cluster
e dk grn 229 theft deturrent fuel enable. not needed remove
f dk grn/ wht 762 not used remove
g pnk 539 brake pedal swithc to torque converter, contant power
h ppl 420 tcc power feed,power up, switched, through brake pedal w relay, 12V when brakes not depressed.
j orn/blk 434 park neutral feed from switch, hooked up w constant power
j lt grn 24 not used remove
k ppl 1807 obdII signal 2

[Firebirdjones]

You'll find you'll want to go "in tank" pump in the future. That in-line pump won't get you more than 10-15,000 miles, and if you're lucky it will die close to home They are also a major source for heating the fuel.

If you want a different solution than the Aeromitive in-tank retro-fit kits (which are excellent choices by the way) Take a look at Tanks-Inc. They reproduce factory style tanks for alot of classic cars, but with baffling inside and sumps made just for in-tank pumps. The tanks are cheap and I highly recommend replacing the tank anyway when dealing with 40+ year old cars that are unknown. They use Walbro drop in pumps that are cheap to replace and found anywhere.

My father just went this route on his 69 goat, very slick setup complete with tank/pump/sender for about $400 including the optional silver powder coat. Just couldn't beat the price and simplicity. When installed it looks like a stock tank with no external hints at any modifications.

[RONS98TA]

Man that car looks awesome. Great job.

[tomcamaro97]

well im a year and a half past my build. and starting to think about more HP... Im very much so thinking i want a supercharger, i just cant seem to get past spending 5-6K on it.. so maybe a turbo is the way to go.. I just spend $1000 on the exhaust ide have to throw out the window, but turbos just seem so much cheaper, and then of course ill have to find if anyone even makes that setup for an a-body/ls1. Ive only got 2K miles on my build, so that aspect is kinda a slap in the face.. i dont want nitrous. thoughts.