LSX swap questions

[jetice]

i was just wondering how hard it is to transplant a Ls series engine into a '93-'97 firebird. i have an idea in my head and was wondering if i ever came
across some money that it might be possible. now to the questions.
How would the cruise work transferring to a dbw system?
Would i need a different/bigger radiator?
Could i just swap out gauges to a newer style?
Are all LS series blocks the same?
What all do i need from the previous system to make it work?

I am sure ill come up with a few more questions by tomorrow, but that's all think of right now.

[Kwazrollinz28]

would be 100000x easier to just buy a Wrecked LS1 donor car.

[phoenix_rising]

Actually thats not a bad idea... Just swap the front clip from your car onto a an LS1 car with front damage...

[Kwazrollinz28]

yes because my friend tried doing this exact thing in his 93 bird and ran into having to buy bolts and crap from the dealer and those little bolts are 11 dollars each DAMN YOU DEALER.

he ended up giving up and sold it last year.

Actually thats not a bad idea... Just swap the front clip from your car onto a an LS1 car with front damage...

What i meant, Was buy a wrecked LS1 car, Gut it and use all the parts you need and transfer them onto his car.

[98blackbeauty]

easier to swap the front end to an ls1 car. Your car is obd1 or odb1.5 depends on year. LS1 cars are OBD2. PCM engine harness, Engine Bay harness, and interior harness, and rear end. LS1 are 4 channel and OBD1's are 3 channel. the gauge cluster has to be changed. Can all be done but not simple engine swap, because of all the ancillary stuff.
We had a lot of wiring issues going from 94 V6, to a 95 LT1.

Edit: rechecked you have a 94 formy so your obd1. Would be easier to build LT1 up for more power than do swap.

[98blackbeauty]

i was just wondering how hard it is to transplant a Ls series engine into a '93-'97 firebird. i have an idea in my head and was wondering if i ever came
across some money that it might be possible. now to the questions.
How would the cruise work transferring to a dbw system?
Would i need a different/bigger radiator?
Could i just swap out gauges to a newer style?
Are all LS series blocks the same?
What all do i need from the previous system to make it work?

I am sure ill come up with a few more questions by tomorrow, but that's all think of right now.

Answering your questions:
1. Cruise unit needs to be changes aswell as throttle cable.
2. Gauge cluster has to be changed because your now going to OBD2.
2a. This means whole dash aswell because surrond is different.
3. I believe radiator is the same, Hoses are different.
4. Not sure.
5. My previous post outlined a lot and there is probably more.

[b.a.camaro]

It's a great idea, but be sure you know what your getting into, after it's all said and done it will be one mean machine.

Good luck and post pics of your progress.

[jetice]

so would you guys think it would be easyer to just sell my car or trade up to an ls1 car? i wasnt planing an ls1 swap, i was talking about an ls7 swap. and on the part about the obd conector, how come i can use an obd2 conector on it right now, and get all of the readings?

[meissen]

An LS7? If you have 14 grand laying around to buy an LS7 you might as well buy a 98+ Trans Am while you're at it. Shit an LS7 swap is going to easily cost you 15-20 grand.

Edit: OK - on ebay they're selling LS7 long blocks with no accessories for 8 grand, not including shipping. So it might be a little less than my estimate.

[jetice]

yea, but a guy my dad knows works at schrams auto recycling. i can get an at cost ls1 from him, computer and all, for less than 2 grand. he estimates that an ls7 would be around 5-6500. i am going to call him today to get an official price quote.

[meissen]

LS1 or LS7 - big price difference. It shouldn't be too bad but with your 94 you're going to an OBDII setup and will have a lot of wiring issues to sort out.

[jetice]

thats kind of what i was afraid of. i can do the mechanicaly inclined stuff but i am not real good with wireing.

[steve40]

i was just wondering how hard it is to transplant a Ls series engine into a '93-'97 firebird. i have an idea in my head and was wondering if i ever came
across some money that it might be possible. now to the questions.
How would the cruise work transferring to a dbw system?
Would i need a different/bigger radiator?
Could i just swap out gauges to a newer style?
Are all LS series blocks the same?
What all do i need from the previous system to make it work?

I am sure ill come up with a few more questions by tomorrow, but that's all think of right now.

i just swapped a ls into a 97 bird. pics are in the link in the sig. its pretty involved. i ended up using a stock k-member and mounts from a ls1 car.

but for your questions.

1. i'm not sure about the dbw, why not use a regular throttlebody with a cable, my cruise hooked up to it, just have to set it back up, need to modify by cable bracket for it to clip in. you might not need to do this depending on your intake, i went ls3 heads with a single plane and elbow

2. the rad works, you have to plug the lower hole on the drivers side, and i had to put a reducer in line for the line to the cross over line between the heads

3. i'm using the stock 97 cluster, all my guages work, the temp is a lil off, i have a pigtail and 98 coolant sensor (3 wire on order) to see if this corrects it. you have to modify the tach signal in the pcm to double it for the tach to read correctly.

4. all ls blocks are not the same. i have a 6.0 iron block, had to drill a tap a hole for the alternator and missing one as well, not in the casting that the alum ls1 has.

5. not sure what your last question meant.

i found a ls1 engine harness and had current performance in florida modiy it, its been plug and play so far. going to have to modify it for the coolant sensor as mentioned above.

[Derek]

I looked into this a lot when I was selling off the parts from my supercharged 1999 v6 car. At the end of the day after all the parts that are needed its just way smarter (and cost efficient) to just buy an ls1 car. They are going DIRT cheap right now for ones that have even under 100k miles. To add, if you ever have to sell the car for any reason a correct ls1 car will have a much higher resale value than a v6 car that had an ls1 chucked in it..

Just my .02 cents, I ended up selling my car and all my performance parts to buy the current trans am. I don't regret it for a minute after seeing all the hassles everyone seems to be having with all these engine swaps. It was nice to have the car shipped here turn the key and drive it, much easier than the headaches of a big swap

[jetice]

To add, if you ever have to sell the car for any reason a correct ls1 car will have a much higher resale value than a v6 car that had an ls1 chucked in it..

i'm not going from v6 to v8, iam talking about going from lt1 to ls1 then futher down the road upgrading to ls7. does anybody know where the cheapest place would be to get a totaled '98-'02 t/a? Preferably rear colision.