debating new transmission, or a LS1 drivetrain swap

[00firebird]

well guys, my trans finally crapped out after 2-3 years in the making. clutch plates are completely gone, needs to be rebuilt. i was considering going with a performabuilt trans, stage 2 (700hp) with stall for 1800. it is a very reliable combo.

my other option is buying a pullout ls1/4l60e and swapping the whole drivetrain. i'm not sure to the amount of work it would require, but if i could somehow keep the cost all under $2000, i'm thinking its better to go this way. how realistic is that number and would i be able to do it? also, i probably dont have the capabilities to swap it myself so if i had a shop do it- im guessing their price would make it unaffordable. what are your opinions?

[steddy]

Depends, would it be more affordable to just get perhaps the beefier sun shell, Vette servo, higher stall and replace the band and clutches with kevlar and installing a shift kit, while keeping the original trans housing (assuming the valve body's ok)?

[97rs4life]

a swap is not going to be near $2k. You will nickel and dime yourself to death.

[steddy]

True, I was thinking of the fixing what's broke angle. There's a place on Ebay out of Oregon that sells individual parts pretty reasonably. Perhaps if you supplied the parts (i.e. what's broke)?

[sman]

You'll have 3 to 4 grand in the ls1 and tranny alone, then theres about a million little things. Id expect 5 to 6 grand to do it right.

[00firebird]

ive found some engine/tranny with all accessories combos for 1500 or so on ebay/craigslist. what parts are still needed for the swap if i buy a drivetrain of the exact same year as my car (00 to 00 swap)?

[meissen]

Go talk to Mike Ridings (Ridings Automatics, sponsor on here) and he'll rebuild your transmission for you.

Doing it yourself, there's no way you'll be able to keep it under $2,000 - you'll be spending that much on the engine and transmission alone. Ebay has 'em going for like 2-4 grand buy-it-now. Back when I had my accident a few years ago I had Sean Collins give me an estimate for an engine swap and he quoted me $3,000 to swap the v6 to v8. That's just labor, mind you.

[sman]

IF this is coming out of an fbody you dont need anything in bold
all accessories including the balencer
all accessory brackets
fbody oil pan
ls1 intake, throttle body, and all hardware and gaskets
you will have to fab your own pcv system if its coming off of a truck

k member
motor mount towers and the clamshells
springs
shocks
harness
computer
radiator
ls1 heater hoses - these are different look very close to the same but are different and can be expensive because they are partially aluminum
radiator hoses
tranny cooler lines
ac lines
ac accumulator
a gas pedal and throttle cable from an ls1 car, the gas and brake are one piece in the ls1s to you have to cut them apart or swap your brake with it.
ls1 gauge cluster

I know im missing something

then tack on 500 to 100 dollars for good measure

[meissen]

And having just bought an LS1 gauge cluster thanks to my 97+ dash, I can tell you it's just shy of $200 for the gauge cluster alone

[sman]

Someone recently sent me a pm on this, this was my response, a little more detailed than my previous post, either could be missing something, theres just so much stuff.

Well, if you really want to do this, ok. But in hind sight, I would have sold my car and bought a v8 one. It was SO much more work that I expected, but I felt "attached" to the car, so I went this route.

You will need
Ls based motor (if you chose a truck motor ie 4.8, 5.3, 6.0 you will need to drill a hole in the block for the alternator. Ls1, ls6 etc already have it. Needs to be from a 97 - 02 vehicle because the reluctor wheel (tells the crankshaft sensor what position the crank is in) is a 24x those years, later gm switched them to a 58x, making the engine totally incompatible unless you pull the crank and switch the wheel, at that point you might as well to bearings etc. What ever the pocket book alows.

V8 kmember from 98+ ls1 car

Steering rack from an ls1 car

Front springs and shocks from ls1 car

If using a truck motor you need ALL the accessories (none of the truck ones work with the car) so thats alternator, a/c compressor, waterpump, intake, oil pan (oil pan is EXPENSIVE, look to spend $200 minimum for and USED one) power steering pump, starter, motor mounts, manifolds (or headers), throttle body, even the crank pulley is different, looks the same but dont be fooled the truck one sticks out just a tiny bit farther and the belt wont line up, ask me how I know.

The v6 and v8 harnesses are totally different, if you have a 98 car you will need a 98 ls1 harness, if your car is 99+ you can use any 99 - 02 ls1 fbody harness. 98's are the same looks wise but are wired TOTALLY different, connectors, sensors, computers, all completely different.

Ls1 radiators hoses, upper, lower, heater(kinda hard to find, most parts stores CANNOT get these, I found mine on tech) and the hoses that go to the throttle body and the steam tubes.

Steam tubes that go to the heads off of an ls1 if you use the ls1 intake or tubes off of an ls6 if you use that intake. The truck ones will not work.

Ls1 radiator

Transmission - the v6 auto tranny CAN be modified to work, but for the cost of it your better off finding an used one on ls1tech or buying a core at a junk yard and have mike ridings rebuild it(thats the route I went)

Your supposed to get new battery cables because the v6 ones "dont work" but if you swap some things around ie switch the cables for the body + and the starter +, mine worked just fine.

V8 cluster, again 98's need a 98 but 99 - 02 are interchangeable

Y pipe and catback

Figure in 100 for misc hardware and bolts

Atleast another 100 for fluids, oil, tranny, power steering, brake, a/c recharge etc

Then add all that up, see what your total comes to, and tack on about $1000, thats probably more like what it would cost, because inebitabley I forgot something and you will to. Its easy to figure out the big stuff, motor, tranny, k member, but this project litterally nickel and dimed me to death!

This whole thing might be easier if you bought a v8 and trans from someone parting out a car on tech, our you could buy a cheap v8 car with a rod knock or something that way youd have all the pats you need.

Im sure I missed something here but that should get you started.

[sman]

Im really not trying to turn you away from this, just want you to be fully aware of how much it entails.

This is another issue I had, something I forgot about.

No matter what it will only run on 4 cylinders until you change the b pin on the c101 connector to a 12+ keyed power source, this provides power to the driver side coils and injectors. This wire is a ground on all v6 cars.

[00firebird]

i already have the v8 suspension, and the engine/tranny combos come with all pulleys, harnesses, and ecm. that would leave..


k member / motor mounts
radiator work
gauge cluster
throttle cable
steering rack

not to be overly optimistic but i feel like i could get all that done for less than 1000...


the following seem like they might already be included with the trans/motor?

steam tubes
tranny cooler lines
ac lines
ac accumulator

[sman]

Dont count on the ac stuff coming with it, but you never know, if this is actually coming out of an fbody than you should get the tranny lines and steam tubes. I cant stress this enough, a gto or vette engine will need modification to work, that HAS to come out of an fbody if you think your doing this for less than a grand.

Also dont forget a intermidiate steering shaft, not real expensive but discontinued for some time now and have to come from a bone yard, just have to find one.

Again not trying to turn you away, im just telling you I dont think you can do it for that cheap. Your going to run into various stuff.

[DETROITMUSCLE]

Spencer has some very very good points, like he mentioned everyone would like to see more guys doing this but look at his and Brian's threads and decide for yourself what exactly a "budget" means lol.

[meissen]

I started out thinking my swap was going to cost $2000 to $3000. I'm $7500 into it and still have little things here and there to fix.