69 Camaro Conv. - LS3 Transplant
 

;) Hi Guys

It's been a solid car for the last 7 years, enjoying many miles on various cruises and Power Tours. The 383 stroker and Tremec 5-speed performed well, but I've had the LS bug for years now. Drivability, horsepower, reliability, gas mileage, etc., plus the fact I wanted Air Conditioning for the cruise home. Power Tours are great, but as some point you just want cool air and quiet surroundings. The time has come.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/Poster-1.jpg
2009 Power Tour with daughter, priceless.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...5_edited-1.jpg
Stroker before the pull.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...g66/Engine.jpg
Thanks to Craigs List, the 383 is going to a new home.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/Sep09005.jpg
I know, should have pulled front clip first, but I had to remove the motor quickly for the new buyer.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...g66/LS3001.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...g66/LS3004.jpg
Removed old heater core, and took steel "bolt-in-plate" from Vintage Air package and decided to cut and weld into place for smoothing the firewall. I know many folks hide the lines underneath the fender well, but I decided to go this route. Just going to keep in simpler and use all the hard lines from my Vintage Air kit as they were engineered to by used. First time ever welding so this was a learning experience for me. I can say afterwards I know more now.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...g66/LS3006.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...g66/LS3ab1.jpg

I'm much further along than the photos show, but will have to post more later. I hope you all enloy this as much as I've enjoyed reading all the posts from everyone elses builds. Feel free to ask any questions!

Very nice looking car! It looks like you are well on your way to being on the road again. Are you going to re use the Tremec?:cheers:

Yes-I've been working my tale off
 

The tremec is sold to a buddy of mine, and the Ls3/T-56
going in came as a package from Regal Performance in Texas. They installed the Z06 cam, and claim I should have a great reving engine with approx. 500 hp at the flywheel. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Very nice! Please be sure and post up lot's of pictures of it going together.
That firewall looks great! No need to hide the lines, we all know they are there right?:rofl:
I will be doing something close to that with one of the bulkheads from VA and it will be exposed too. I want easy access to it in case of any service issues.

Very Nice:thumbsup: It's cool to see you updating your car as you go, It keeps it fresh and exciting.

Great looking car and nice upgrade underway....thanks for sharing!!

Killer car already you will love the new setup. Ronnie is my neighbor about 1/2 mile away if you want me to put the motor in something and test it out for a little while before he sends it out. :D

Too late!
 

It's already in my garage, but thanks for the offer. They were great people to work with. Sent them my Autokrafters pan, Sanderson compressor and Kwik Performance bracket. The whole thing came crate ready.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...ng66/Motor.jpg

Very nice. Nice looking car and nice goodies in that crate.
I do love the color combo on your car. Keep us posted.:thumbsup: :cheers:

Did you do the long haul? You will love the new engine. nice project

Beautiful car! Love that color.

Heart transplant is very cool.

Good deal Jon. :thumbsup:

Let me know if you need any help.

More photos
 

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I remember second guessing my decision on paint 10 years ago, but I've really been happy with the choice.

Regarding the question on "Power Tour", I've never completed the Long Haul, but this last year was probably the most I've ever completed. I peeled off in Dayton, and based on the wash-out in Somerset, it was the right choice.

My first time welding on sheet metal was a learning experience for sure. Made the mistake of buying .30 wire, and kept blowing small holes on the metal. Panel going in was a little thicker than factory sheet metal, so the holes ususally ended up on the factory skin. Switched to .24 wire and finished her up, and filled any pin holes inside and out with 3M sheet metal epoxy, the stuff they glue panels on with. My cousin owns a body shop so access to the guys at the shop and supplies sure comes in handy. Firewall is in primer now and the subframe is completed with POR 15 satin black.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s.../Camaro001.jpg
Notice the 10 year old Merrills!:lol:
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s.../Camaro002.jpg
Next step was to throw together some DSE stands and move the car for first mock-up with engine and tranny going in.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...66/LS3ab11.jpg
For motor plates I went the route of Car Shop Adapter plates with 1" set-back and Energy Suspension Mounts. Hooker Headers and Competition Engineering Cross Member kit from summit for $50. I figured the money I save from making it myself helps pay for the new Hobart Welder.:woot:
Besides, welding, cutting, grinding and fabrication is 1/2 the fun.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s.../Camaro012.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s.../Camaro011.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s.../Camaro013.jpg

I'm having a blast on this project!!!!

Awesome!! :thumbsup:

Love it!

Had a pair of those once!

Oh -- and the car is killer too!!


:thumbsup:

Looks good
:yes:

Looks killer!

Your making great progress Jon, Keep it up.

Keep up the great work.:thumbsup:

The motor looks sweet in there, and I love those green headers were they extra??? The car looks great.

Crossmember Fabrication
 

The crossmember is #3601 Competition Engineering from Summit.
First step to the crossmember installation was to relocate the emergency brake pull cable from inboard side of drivers side subframe to outboard side. Used a Lokar Universal emergency brake cable that originally was purchased for the Kore 3 C5 brakes, but now I rerouted for crossmember clearance. Worked out so nicely I realized it should have been done this way from the beginning.

Area cut from
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...g66/LS3002.jpg
Outboard relocation
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...g66/LS3003.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s.../ebrake002.jpg
Now for the crossmember. I welded some plates which extend from the frame up to just below the floor. My decision for this was for two reason, 1st being this put the crossmember high enough for a direct exhaust shot rearward from the headers. Should keep the pipes tucked up neatly to the bottom of the car.
2nd, having it up this high gave me access to drilling holes and using 1/2 bolts from the inboard size and while able to access the nuts on the backside of the plates. Should make future installations and removals easier leaving this main part as a bolt in. I'm very happy with how this turned out, especailly for the price.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s.../Camaro017.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s.../Camaro015.jpg

Some progess to report
 

YES this is going on Power Tour 2010. One of the reasons I took it off the road so early this Fall was to insure she'd be road-worthy early Spring.

As most of you know, LS motors have an electronic output from the harness to pulse an electronic speedometer and tach. I wanted to keep the original dash though and try to make it look as original as possible. I'm very satisfied with the outcome.

First picture represents the removal of the bezels which hold the gauges in and house the blinkers/idiot lights. Stripped these down and used my dremel to carefully remove just the clear portion of the lens without cutting into the black portion. I also used the dremel to cut out the awkward shapes on the back side of the dash which mirrored the back side of my factory fuel gauge and speedo. I needed to create smooth places for new mounting plates.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s.../Camaro007.jpg
Backside
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s.../Camaro008.jpg
Once this was done, I took my gauges to a buddy with a machine shop and had him trace and duplicate the flat portion of each gauge from aluminum to create new mounting plates.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s.../Camaro009.jpg
Once these were painted flat black and I resprayed the bezels, walla!!!! I'm really happy with the stealth look.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s.../Camaro020.jpg

Nice work on the dash. Ok, the rest of the car too!!:cheers:

Nice progress Jon! I'm also planning on doing another Long Haul in 2010, probably in the Chevelle this time. I bought the 502 out of Rick's 69, along with the 6-spd. Going to convert it to EFI and add some more power.

Tony

Dash idea....CHECK ENGINE LIGHT

Here is an idea that we did with our car. I had a donor 1996 Caprice that I was taking all kinds of parts out of - but any late model GM will work. I took the Caprice I/P apart and removed the ICON for the check engine. I then cut it down and put it in the STOCK camaro dash on the right side of the cluster in the stock black out lense location.

I wired the LS check light wire to the 69 I/P. So...when I turn on the key I get the engine ICON in orange/yellow glowing - and when something goes wrong...it glows too.

This might work better - I took out one of the idiot light glow through covers and replaced it with the check engine ICON that I took from the caprice dash. However, any late model GM car has the same symbol. This is one of those mods you can do that costs very little - but is very cool. Nothing worse than one of those ugly aftermarket amber lights to let you know the computer is functioning...or having a code stored.

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/mil_op_800x600.jpg

Thanks !!
 

Looks very familiar.:thumbsup:

Thanks for taking the picture and posting. Consider yourself "copied".

Copied is a good thing - and I also hope you can improve on it. While on that subject...I have another suggestion from the "copy me" files. :lol: It drives me nuts that guys go through so much trouble to smooth the firewall, then turn around and leave some things out there without much other thought or consideration.

Making a close out panel for the front fender to inner fender is easy. And, there is enough room to hide a perfect cone K&N filter behind the panel to encourage cold air from behind the headlamp and reduce breathing hot air off the radiator...and having to look at the filter. So...we stuffed ours in there.

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/files/camaro_fisheye.jpg

Finally - on the fuel tank, there is no reason to get a $1,000 stainless piece back there...or suffer with minimal fuel capacity on a custom cell. Unless you do the mini-tub, you can (with some creativity) get a early/mid 90's Caprice/Impala tank to fit. This gives you 22 gal of capacity - quiet and smooth built in pump with factory built in tank baffles (makes cornering on a low tank not a problem)....and the black just blends.

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/files/c...k_complete.jpg

Little more progress
 

The mock-up of motor and trans position clarified a few things, both requiring the use of my buddies new Miller Plasma Cutter. Can't remember the model number of the machine, but it's super small and can run on 110 or 220. That is one cool too and if I did this kind of stuff more regularly, I'd have one in my garage for sure.

The convertible has a brace in the floor which directly interferes with the the tail housing of the t-56. I probably could have cut less out, but figured if I ever wished to service the shifter location or upgrade, cutting and notching would be more appropriate. Here is a couple of photos showing the work taking place and the final box-in of the brace after removal of material.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s.../Camaro006.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...irewall006.jpg

The next item which had to be addressed was a small notch in the frame where the alternator was coming into contact. Initial mock-up revealed a slight bit of contact between the alternator housing and crossmember, where maybe some grinding and cutting of the housing would have eliminated the problem. But that darn plasma cutter though, just sitting there looking at me- I knew what I had to do.

I cut a square pocket from the frame, and then proceeded to find a nice piece of curved steel to weld back into it's place. Once this area is painted (see last picture of completed firewall), you can hardly notice the alteration.
Couldn't resist the a few photos my wife took of me in action. Sorry....
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...irewall003.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...irewall001.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...irewall004.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...irewall005.jpg
Once the frame was finished and repainted, moved on to finishing up the firewall. Added seam sealer, cut the hole for the wiring harness, and wet sanded. As mentioned before, I will be using the round plate with four holes which comes with the kit to finish off this spot of the firewall. Hope you like!!!
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...irewall008.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...irewall010.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...irewall011.jpg

Looks great! You will love the LS3/T56! It's a blast with my 99 WS6.. 27mpg with gears is great also haha..

Did you use POR-15 to paint the firewall also?

Thanks
 

For the firewall, I used a product from Dupont, called "Hot Rod Black". Has a matte finish to it.

Reason for tunnel modification
 

This main reason for modifying the tunnel brace relates to the fact I bought a turn key package of LS3 and T-56, and the T-56 is the f-body generation. My research, unfortunatly after the fact:( , I came to the realization that the shifter is located much further back on F-body T-56's versus the aftermarket styles from Keisler or Hurst Driveline.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...num_select.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/Sep09009.jpg

I used the car shop 1" set-back plates, and even reduced the set-back by 1/4" by re-drilling the plates. I didn't redrill just to avoid the tunnel modification, but was trying to eliminate the need for notching the frame as well. Didn't work obviously cause I had to notch the frame ever so slightly. Probably could have raised the motor a little bit, but that makes getting the driveline angles more difficult with a factory tunnel and the height of a T-56.

Another item I ended up having to re-address was the steering box hitting the Hooker Headers. Attempting to drop in the motor in for the last time I came to realize the headers were making too much contact. Contacted Frank and he set me up with DSE's 600 box. This netted me a little more room, but I had to dimple the headers still, but only a slight amount. Frank gave me a quick tip of using a large socket and felt pad between, then struck with hammer on the socket to create a clean dimple. Worked out great, and a big "Thanks" to Frank for the idea.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...irewall017.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...g66/Jan006.jpg

Very nice work. I love that color, very elegant. :thumbsup:

Update
 

Watching a little playoff football so I decided to multi-task and throw an update together. Worked on clutch assembly to accomodate a factory f-body clutch master cylinder. First reason is this its about the cheapest method compared to others for a hydraulic assembly, but also for ease of replacement when many miles from home. A buddy of mine a few years ago on the Power Tour lost his master cylinder and had to replace his. With that being said I want to make a "swap out" as easy as possilbe without having to shorten a pushrod while on the road.

Used some paper and tape to mock-up the angle for the pushrod mounting bracket while in the car, then proceeded to remove and weld while on the bench. Once assembled and back into the car, the actuation is perfect, with the pushrod remaining directly centerd to the piston during the entire stroke.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...g66/LS3012.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...g66/LS3016.jpg
Next project was to finish up the wiring connections to LS prior to reassembly of front clip. Harness is completly attached now, fuel line in place and new tank hung.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...g66/LS3011.jpg
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...g66/LS3010.jpg
The inner fenders and back side of core support needed some work, holes welded up etc. I did not wish to completely dis-assemble the clip, so I unbolted the inner fenders from the outers and pryed them down a bit to get coverage up under the outers. Worked great and I bet no-one could tell they were painted while on the car. I'm very particular, so it had to look good or I'd disassemble.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...6/LS302019.jpg

Nice progress! I have to weld a tab onto my clutch pedal too. Nice to see a pic of it done! :thumbsup:

Very cool, I bought a similar ls3 t56 combo from Regal. I can't remember where or how but somehow I figured out the alternator issue with the Fbody accessories, so I ordered it with the corvette set-up, no notch!

I'm fairly quiet but I'm excited about this one. Keep up the good work!

You're making great progress with the car and it looking good.:cheers:

Thanks for the kind words guys
 

I like this first shot of the two halves about to come together.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...g66/LS3027.jpg
The satin black I sprayed on the inner fenders and core support.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...g66/LS3028.jpg
Getting the front back on is a little of a milestone for me, a light at the end of the tunnel for sure.
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...g66/LS3037.jpg
Now for the buzz kill, and would sure welcome some opinions as well. After filling the motor with oil a few weeks back, a couple of times I have wiped some drops which were hanging from the bottom pan. I surely haven not come this far to have a freakin oil leak, so I'm a bit bummed. Leaking with out running? Doesn't make sense to me. There are two bolts on the backside of each corner of the pan, and they appear after a few days to have a droplet hanging from them. ARRGGHHH? Anyone else experienced any problems with this? It's a brand new gasket, autokraft oil pan, and the bolts appear to be tight. It only happens when I take the car down off the DSE stands, dropping the rear of the car first, which in theory tilts the motor back. It's only after this procedure I ever notice the oil, so I guess it's a problem at the rear of the pan?
http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/s...g66/LS3029.jpg
I'm not sure what to do next, so I welcome any input or ideas.

Ohhhh, that sucks! I really wish I had some kind of answer for you. I hope someone here can ofer a simple solution to the oil droplets. Good luck.

So here's my "fix" ---

Tilt the back end UP -- Remove the two affected bolts -- clean the snot out of them AND the threads in the block -- I use a cotton tip like an ear cleaner - soaked in brake cleaner ---- just twirl in the threads BEING CAREFUL NOT TO LOSE THE COTTON IN THE THREADS -- allow to dry --

Apply thread sealant on the bolt -- NOT thread Locker - SEALANT - silicone or black gasket sealant -- and thread in and allow a couple hours before oil contact.