92 Olds LSx Swap

As some of you may or may not know, I picked up a 92 OCC last fall that pretty much went right into winter storage. The car rides nice and all but after owning almost exclusively LT1 B-bodies (with the exception of a 305 powered olds) this car's 170k L05 leaves much to be desired. Being an Olds I was more than willing to drive it as is and always though an LS swap would be cool.
Well, shortly after going away for the winter I came into a junk 2000 Suburban for scrap value. It had 140k on it and came with a 5.3l. I yanked the engine with some help of my coworkers and sold off the rest covering the cost of the truck and making a few bucks along the way. This swap just became a reality

The donor truck as I got it:


What was left of it:


LS comes home:


Over the course of the winter I had torn the engine apart and inspected everything and was happy to find a very clean engine both inside and out. I'm pretty sure this thing was rebuilt at some point in it's life, there's now way this thing has 140k on it. I decided to leave the lower end alone as everything was in such good shape. Spent my time cleaning and painting parts, and acquiring parts for the swap.

Engine before the tear down, test fit the LS1 intake:


Spaced out the Camaro pump's pulley to match the truck drive.


The truck intake had to go, so I bought a used LS1 intake off a member on LS1tech cheap. Would like to have done an LS6 intake, but this is a budget build and those go for crazy money. For the time being the cam will stay stock, but down the road I can upgrade it once I figure out how to choose a cam . For the pan I also went with an F-body pan from a 98-02. The water pump is also from an F-body as well, some say the water neck can be bent on the truck one to fit, but I got this pump cheap.
For motor mounts I'm going with a custom set someone on the SS forum makes, they allow me to use this F-body pan, and the stock trans mount location. I'll be using an LT1 cross member so I can run duals.
For wiring I'm modifying the harness myself and will be splicing it into an LT1 harness. That way I can use the underhood fuse box that the LT1 cars got. The under dash wiring looks to use the same connectors, just have to repin most of them.
Exhaust is still up in the air right now. I found some 2010 Camaro exhaust manifolds that should clear the frame and cross member, hopegfully they will fit.
For the trans I picked up a low mileage 96 B-body trans. I bought an adapter to bolt it's TCC up to the LS flywheel.
I plan to keep the AC, found a nice mount kit that uses the old R4 compressor and positions it just like the old L05.
I still have a few small details to work out, some of which I can't work on until the motor is in the car.

And now some pics:





The car:



More to come!

Going to have her done for WF?

Tom

Nice work. This is my eventual plan for my OCC. I'll be going T56 however.

I would've gone Olds Rocket.

A golden 350 would look nice sitting in that engine bay!

LS-1 =  

Very cool. Amazing how inexpensively you can get those motors if you are willing to do a little work.

Swap parts will add up fast, but keep it budget minded and don't be in a rush and deals can be found. I'd like to do another swap just to see how inexpensively I could do it.

Keep us posted,

Doug

silverfox103 wrote:

Going to have her done for WF?

Tom

Trying to, lets see if it happpens

Pooge wrote:

Very cool. Amazing how inexpensively you can get those motors if you are willing to do a little work.

Swap parts will add up fast, but keep it budget minded and don't be in a rush and deals can be found. I'd like to do another swap just to see how inexpensively I could do it.

Keep us posted,

Doug

Most if not all the parts are used. The oil pan was a damaged one off ebay, luckily I know a good welder. As much as I would like to have bought a harness I can't really swing what a good built one goes for. I do have some electrical skills so it can be done with time.

Nice. Not sayng that you can't, but might be worth Saveing up and buy the harness, i've heard so many people say its worth every penny, and saves tons of time.

Subscribed

Way cool, Dave. I'm envious. I can't wait to do an LS swap, and it looks like you're going the same route I would have/plan to. I was also going to go with his mounts on the ISSF. I may have even bought a set. I know I talked to him about it. LOL.

But your engine looks great! Keep us posted! Especially on making the harness. Because that is what I wanted to do, but am a bit hesitant on...

Go for it dude!

No Moa wrote:

Nice. Not sayng that you can't, but might be worth Saveing up and buy the harness, i've heard so many people say its worth every penny, and saves tons of time.

Yes, but how many sources are out there for an LS swap harness into a Caprice?

Besides, you have your work cut out doing a swap into a factory EFI car. All the circuits you need are already built into the car. I built a standalone harness for my TPI swap into my C10 out of a 1985 Camaro engine harness. I learned alot about wiring diagrams and patience.

So THATS where that car went  

I'll have to follow this one. Still debating what I want to do engine wise with mine.

MalibuSSwagon wrote:

No Moa wrote:

Nice. Not sayng that you can't, but might be worth Saveing up and buy the harness, i've heard so many people say its worth every penny, and saves tons of time.

Yes, but how many sources are out there for an LS swap harness into a Caprice?

Besides, you have your work cut out doing a swap into a factory EFI car. All the circuits you need are already built into the car. I built a standalone harness for my TPI swap into my C10 out of a 1985 Camaro engine harness. I learned alot about wiring diagrams and patience.

You'd be surprised what's out there, if your looking hard enough.

Ha, this is awesome, I knew you were up to something but I didn't realize how much had been done.

I'm pretty sure there's a swap harness for the LT1/L99 cars, I don't know about the TBI ones but who knows? I'm a fan of plug and play type stuff for LS swaps, manual trans swaps, etc., just as a means of keeping options open.

Dave my Tahoe's going to be related to your OCC now, your engine and the fold up [deleted for 2003+] wiper arms going on my truck.   

No Moa wrote:

Nice. Not sayng that you can't, but might be worth Saveing up and buy the harness, i've heard so many people say its worth every penny, and saves tons of time.

MalibuSSwagon wrote:

No Moa wrote:

Nice. Not sayng that you can't, but might be worth Saveing up and buy the harness, i've heard so many people say its worth every penny, and saves tons of time.

Yes, but how many sources are out there for an LS swap harness into a Caprice?

Besides, you have your work cut out doing a swap into a factory EFI car. All the circuits you need are already built into the car. I built a standalone harness for my TPI swap into my C10 out of a 1985 Camaro engine harness. I learned alot about wiring diagrams and patience.

One person who does them for sure is Brandon. I figured I have a harness and some time, what could go wrong?   
I'll take some pics one of these nights, but I'm about half way through the harness rework. Pulled all the unnecessary crap out of it (and it's a lot!) and have it on the motor. Next up is rerouting a few things, shortening and extending others. I'm at the point now where the harness is a stand alone and can run this engine without assistance. The tricky part is going to be merging this with the LT1 fuse box and harness I pulled from the yard, I gotta figure out how that one is fed power when hooked into a TBI car. I got my PCM back from having the emissions and VATS deleted too!
For anyone who's interested, lt1swap.com has been invaluable for info on this wiring mess, really does simplify it.

toomanytoyz wrote:

Way cool, Dave. I'm envious. :)I can't wait to do an LS swap, and it looks like you're going the same route I would have/plan to. I was also going to go with his mounts on the ISSF. I may have even bought a set. I know I talked to him about it. LOL.

But your engine looks great! Keep us posted! Especially on making the harness. Because that is what I wanted to do, but am a bit hesitant on...

Go for it dude!

I may or may not also have a pair of his LT1 car mounts stashed away for a future project    I didn't realise the TBI mounts were different when I bought them (probably would have been important to tell him that). Depending how this one goes, those leave an opening to put a 6.0l in something.

Matt Trakker wrote:

Ha, this is awesome, I knew you were up to something but I didn't realize how much had been done.

I'm pretty sure there's a swap harness for the LT1/L99 cars, I don't know about the TBI ones but who knows?  I'm a fan of plug and play type stuff for LS swaps, manual trans swaps, etc., just as a means of keeping options open.

Dave my Tahoe's going to be related to your OCC now, your engine and the fold up [deleted for 2003+] wiper arms going on my truck.   

There's a lot more info for LT1 cars thanks to the SS guys taking this on. I'd assume this would be much easier on an LT1 car being that the engine computer is already under the hood and the trans support is setup for a 4l60e and duals already. I'm sure your attic will be related to my swap once you fill it with all that suburban stuff I unloaded on you   

I went and took some pics, be prepared to see too much hoard and not much engine.  Better pics will come, I swear!

Here's how it looks right now with the harness thrown on it.  Still gotta do some routing and replace the injector ends with the LS1 style connectors (same as LT1).


The wire I pulled from the harness.  There would be more, but I left the EGR and EVAP wiring in place.  I have to get this car through emissions, for now those 2 will be left unplugged and the EGR valve and tubing won't exist.  Should it fail because it's missing I can find a way to make it work.


Hard to see, but here's the basic wires to hook it up and run it.  The pink wires are all ignition hot and need to be consolidated, the orange wires are battery hot and the black ones are ground.  The small bundle on the left feeds gauges, AC, etc.

Nope. Doesn't make it seem any easier...

Lol

Nice!

Small update, got the engine together and started over the weekend on the engine stand. Aside from it not idling which I think is a bad IAC, it ran good. Wiring is for the most part squared away on the engine side, vehicle side is still a mess. Integrating a 96 Roadie fuse box into this car is proving do be a pain, but will looks clean and factory once it's done.
Video of the engine start:

Ha, that is so bizzare seeing the engine running independently of a vehicle like that.  Pretty damned cool.  Was that truck a runner when you got ahold of it?



"Meeyow-ow!  Murr."

"...the hell?"

"M'row."

"Myrrh?"

Seeing it run on a stand makes you wonder what kind of lawn tractor it can be crammed into   
As far as the truck, I was told it ran but never got to see it run myself. Battery was dead, ignition was ripped apart and bunch of wires were cut. For what I got the thing for I figured I wouldn't loose anything if it turned out to be trash.

The cat has never made that first sound before.

Getting that running is a major stepping stone. Keep up the good work.

Tom

There's nothing quite like running a motor on a stand.

Kickass, dude.

A little progress; got the wiring on the engine cleaned up and here's what I'm left with. Just have to join it with the harness I pulled out of a Roadmaster.

That really looks great, Dave.

Some updates on this project. I took Friday off from work to start this project and cram it into a 4 day weekend. Lynol came up from NJ to give me a hand with this (big thanks for that!) Friday I managed to get the old L05 out of there and began work Saturday.
Saturday we got a late start and got the holes drilled out for the LT1 trans cross member (which ended up being wrong) and got the fuel line plumbed up. Not much done for that day. Sunday we got the LS mounted in the car and started work on getting the cross member in place. Ran into problems with lining it up and eventually got it mounted. It was difficult getting the bolts in the right spot but Lynol eventually got it mounted in the right spot. The drive shaft is in and the shift linkage, all lined up well.
Today we started adding all the accessories. The LS1 intake went in, and then the exhaust manifolds. That's when all the problems started. On the Driver's side one bolt snapped off (new grade 10 or something metric bolts), and the passenger side just doesn't fit. The flange hits the frame, but with some grinding it went in. It's still to close to the frame for my comfort and I don't think I could get anything bolted up to it with the way it sits.
We moved onto the power steering pump from there. I had read the TBI lines will work with this so out came the new set. With a lot of bending they fit very tight, but do fit.
So this is where it's at now:

Accelerator cable from the truck needs to be modded to fit
Wire harness is on the engine, but needs to be soldered to the car harness. I gotta find a spot to shove the LT1 fuse box (The AC accumulator is in the way of everything)
Exhaust manifolds need to be modded or find ones that fit
Fuel pump has to be swapped (hoping the TBI one makes enough pressure to at least start this thing)
Need a new alternator (140a is too tall to clear hood)
Cooling system has to be constructed, heater core is blocked by #8 coil
Bunch of small things

If anyone wants to try one of these, don't try to cram it into a 4 day weekend. It's WAY too much work to do all at once. After working at this for 4 days I was hoping to have at least a running engine, but am ways away from that. It's pretty discouraging I gotta say.

Old engine out!



Holes for new cross member


Bolted in place

I know you guys must have worked like dogs all weekend. You got a lot done, you just don't realize it. Things will look a lot more promising after some sleep.

Tom

Might not be a runner, but still some great progress Dave.

Ps, thanks for the Xmember picture. I'll have to use it as a reference when I install mine. What are you using for hardware, standard hardware store bolts?

Any step above a 305 is a step in the right direction. We build, we learn, we build better!

Look at Mike's build in his SS. It's taken him a few months until his start up success this weekend.

I wouldn't expect something like this to be done in 4 days. Not saying anything about you guys, but there's always that something(s) that will get in the way and stagger progress. It's expected.

So, don't be so hard on your progress. You're doing a great job and I, as well as the rest of us, am rooting for ya and look forward to the sweet finished product!

I think that was a ton of work accomplished as far as an LS swap in that many days, personally...  

Dave, you guys got a lot more done than it feels like! Nice work!

Thanks for the encouraging words guys  , maybe I am being a little hard my progress.   The problem with my build is I have to do the whole thing in my driveway while blocking a garage bay (damn these large cars lol).  So I guess I'm trying to rush it so I can move it.  I looked it over this morning and I do feel better about the progress.

Justin, here's a little tip we figured out AFTER we were done.  On the outboard side of the bottom of the frame rail are 2 small holes for whatever reason GM felt like putting there.  They line up almost perfectly with the holes we had to drill for the cross member.  The Driver's side didn't need any drilling.  The bolts that came out of the old cross member are the same thread as the new one so I reused them.

Here's how it sits as of this morning:

95brmw wrote:

Justin, here's a little tip we figured out AFTER we were done.  On the outboard side of the bottom of the frame rail are 2 small holes for whatever reason GM felt like putting there.  They line up almost perfectly with the holes we had to drill for the cross member.  The Driver's side didn't need any drilling.  The bolts that came out of the old cross member are the same thread as the new one so I reused them.

Just to make sure I read it correct, passenger side, use the two holes GM left behind, and use the stock holes on the drivers side?

Cadet57 wrote:

95brmw wrote:

Justin, here's a little tip we figured out AFTER we were done.  On the outboard side of the bottom of the frame rail are 2 small holes for whatever reason GM felt like putting there.  They line up almost perfectly with the holes we had to drill for the cross member.  The Driver's side didn't need any drilling.  The bolts that came out of the old cross member are the same thread as the new one so I reused them.

Just to make sure I read it correct, passenger side, use the two holes GM left behind, and use the stock holes on the drivers side?

Stock on driver's use the 2 holes on the passenger as a guide, drill them inline with the old front holes. I'll take a pic of what I'm talking about. You'll need either some large drill bits (1" plus) to make room for a socket to get in the frame or a grinder bit.

Thanks Dave   

Justin, here's a bottom up view of the holes I'm talking about. Sorry it's a real close pic, couldn't get the camera any further away.

What about hood clearance Dave?

Tomz9C1 wrote:

What about hood clearance Dave?

I picked up a 105A alternator from the yard yesterday and it clears with some room to spare.

First and second videos are up. First is an overview second is the engine in the car

This might work for the heater hose / Coil challenge.
http://www.jegs.com/i/Proform/778/69520/10002/-1?CAWELAID=1710904504&CAGPSPN=pla&catargetid=1808722425&cadevice=c&gclid=CjgKEAjwkpacBRCNlprWw-u-nBwSJACwHiw-xyaAS2h05FNCIHJyUx11fg42fRu4qaRGI8eup9GE1fD_BwE

Got it now, thanks Dave. Saved the pictures and explanations.

Cadet57 wrote:

Got it now, thanks Dave. Saved the pictures and explanations.

Theres a little more modding to be done in your case. Take a look at the pics in post #6 below, this was to allow a 700r4 to fit. I dont think the angles on the edges of the cross member were needed.
http://www.impalassforum.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=339057

Tomz9C1 wrote:

This might work for the heater hose / Coil challenge.
http://www.jegs.com/i/Proform/778/69520/10002/-1?CAWELAID=1710904504&CAGPSPN=pla&catargetid=1808722425&cadevice=c&gclid=CjgKEAjwkpacBRCNlprWw-u-nBwSJACwHiw-xyaAS2h05FNCIHJyUx11fg42fRu4qaRGI8eup9GE1fD_BwE

Those look to be for those specific valve covers. Gerry (who built the LS7 wagon on ISSF) is gonna send me pics of what he did to make the hoses fit, just waiting on those.

95brmw wrote:

Tomz9C1 wrote:

This might work for the heater hose / Coil challenge.
http://www.jegs.com/i/Proform/778/69520/10002/-1?CAWELAID=1710904504&CAGPSPN=pla&catargetid=1808722425&cadevice=c&gclid=CjgKEAjwkpacBRCNlprWw-u-nBwSJACwHiw-xyaAS2h05FNCIHJyUx11fg42fRu4qaRGI8eup9GE1fD_BwE

Those look to be for those specific valve covers.  Gerry (who built the LS7 wagon on ISSF) is gonna send me pics of what he did to make the hoses fit, just waiting on those.

Actually the kit can be separated. Coil relocation is $62.

I saw that, but it looks like they bolt onto the edge of those covers. I might be able to make it work though

It's alive!!

Looks awesome. You need a car accessory mount. The truck one puts the alt too high in the bay, and will hit the hood. Or maybe a cowl hood would work.

That actually sounded pretty nice considering some other first start videos you see...nice work!

IMPALADAKID wrote:

Looks awesome. You need a car accessory mount. The truck one puts the alt too high in the bay, and will hit the hood. Or maybe a cowl hood would work.

It looks that way, but there is a gap between that alternator and the hood liner.

Just noticed Dave, you're not 29 anymore, but 30. Happy Birthday!!

Tom

95brmw wrote:

Cadet57 wrote:

Got it now, thanks Dave. Saved the pictures and explanations.

Theres a little more modding to be done in your case.  Take a look at the pics in post #6 below, this was to allow a 700r4 to fit.  I dont think the angles on the edges of the cross member were needed.
http://www.impalassforum.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=339057

That doesn't look so bad. Much simpler than Fred's approach. Thanks again. I'll have to remember to make a sticky on this when I do it.   

silverfox103 wrote:

Just noticed Dave, you're not 29 anymore, but 30.  Happy Birthday!!

Tom

Thanks Tom!

Cadet57 wrote:

95brmw wrote:

Cadet57 wrote:

Got it now, thanks Dave. Saved the pictures and explanations.

Theres a little more modding to be done in your case.  Take a look at the pics in post #6 below, this was to allow a 700r4 to fit.  I dont think the angles on the edges of the cross member were needed.
http://www.impalassforum.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=339057

That doesn't look so bad. Much simpler than Fred's approach. Thanks again. I'll have to remember to make a sticky on this when I do it.   

Fred was trying to push his mod as the easier way, might be easier if you're an expert welder (which I'm far from)