Am I biting off more than should be chewed???

**DoubleNickel** · 06-03-2007, 01:55 PM

Currently, I am in the process of doing a Resto-Mod on a '55 Bel Air HT. At first I thought about putting a built up L99 (Baby LT) 265 cid and 4L60E in the car but since I found one that suits my needs alot cheaper than what I was expecting I decided to go with an LS1 instead with the same tranny.

I guess I'm going to need some advice from other LS1 owners as to what I'm going to need to do to make this conversion...There's ALOT MORE hoses and wires on a LS1 than a Gen I Sm Block.

I'd like to know basically what all can be eliminated so as not to clutter up the engine well, like I'll get rid of the stock air induction and go with something like a RAISS. I do intend to keep the A/C and other modern amenities like PS/PB on the motor.

I'm pretty sure that I can use motor mount converters from Ecklers and I'm looking at wiring harness options. Does anyone know if anyone like Painless makes an appropriate harness or would I need to order something custom? Also is it possible to mount the computer in the trunk of the car (I'm also going to be moving the battery and the fuse block to the trunk)?

Happy to hear all opinions and recommendations and once the work on the project starts getting underway, I'll be posting pics.

Thanks for taking the time to read my babblings.

John

**Rhinohuey** · 06-05-2007, 07:56 PM

Theres a guy thats got a 71 Chevelle with an LS1 that lives somewhere around here. I see him at car shows every once in a while. I believe his harness is a Painless harness and from what I've heard from him, everything went perfect for the wiring. I'd say you shouldn't have any trouble finding an appropriate harness for an LS1 55 Bel Air. Minor mods will probably have to be done to the harness to relocate the computer and battery and stuff to the trunk.

In the way of hoses and wires and everything, from what I can tell he has all the same ones that my car has, its just that he has them all nicely tucked out of the way and hidded to clean up the engine bay and make it un-cluttered looking.

**0rion** · 06-05-2007, 11:50 PM

I'm pretty sure painless makes a harness kit. That's a lot of wires to extend to the trunk. It could be done but if I were doing it I would probably find a nice and small chrome box to hide the pcm in up in the engine bay.