Chevelle LT1 T56 Swap

Havent posted much on here lately. Still got my 96 Caprice as my daily, just sold my 91 S10 from alabama a couple weeks ago so I can focus on my Chevelle again, Ive had the Chevelle for about 11 years now. And have only put about 35k on it, it has a built 350 putting out about 375 with a th-350 behind and a Spool 10 bolt with 373s. I'm all set up to do my swap in about a couple weeks. I was planning on doing a manual swap for awhile but theyre so damn pricey. About $3800 for a 5 speed kit and $4600 for a 6 speed kit. Then I got to thinking I might as well get a modern drivetrain for that much money.


        So I began looking on craigslist and ebay and getting an idea of what I wanted. After a couple months I found a guy out of upstate NY that specializes in LS drivetrains. I really wanted an LT1 because i dont have to deal with the hassle of messing with fabbing up new mounts or dropping $500 on custom ones. I called the guy up and asked what he had, he told me got a WS6 drivetrain in on a trade. 1997 LT1 and T56 all rebuilt with about 15k on both engine and tranny, with all accesories and stock harness. Also came with F-body pedals, driveshaft, 97 PCM, ps reservoir, 6 speed boot for the floor, and a few other bits I cant remember. The motor has a 220xfi cam, milled heads, light porting and polishing with matched intake and gaskets, double roller timing chain, egr delete, electric water pump, new main bearings, rod bearings and pistons and rings, etc, etc. I also had some B-body FLP long tube headers that should fit right in that I picked up for $200.

     The tranny was also rebuilt with New gears, synchros, uprgraded shift forks, bronze pads, billet keys and chryogenic treatments on all internal parts. A Spec stage II clutch and new flywheel. The motor is also painted up nicely Chevy orange, with raw aluminum heads, and a black lt1 intake. I picked up a complete Summit harness and 95 f-bod ecm off a local guy that he used for a only a few months for $340 ($650 new). I also bought a mcleod hydraulic clutch kit for the pedal assembly (probably going to use Chevelle pedals, as I already had some and I dont have to do any mods to make it work). I've also bought all necessary sensor to work with OBD1 like knock sensor and O2 sensors. I have the a/c compressor that came on the motor but I will be using a delete pulley because I dont want to notch my frame. I picked up a fuel injected tank, pump and sending unit from tanks inc. that was mad for Chevelles, and I think a few other bits that I didnt metion.

       By the end of this swap I'll be in a little over $5000, for a 400hp fuel injected motor with extremly low miles, and a rebuilt T56 with all components needed, instead of a kit that still takes alot of guesswork. I still need to grab a radiator and electric fans, as my radiator now has seen better days, and all new fuel lines and the have my driveshaft shortened. I also will be cutting my trans tunnel, I got a piece of rolled sheet metal that I'll be working with. I'm hoping to up and running by the end of the summer, as I will be mostly working on it nights and weekends. Well, sorry for rambling on and wish me luck.

I'll post some pics of the drivetrain, when I get a chance to upload them.

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That all sounds like a pretty badass swap! Looking forward to seeing that one finished. Seems like a few guys are opting for a cheaper LT setup than LS

What are the plans with the 350 after lol

Sounds good
I may have a couple of sets of fans when the time comes
Good Luck...sounds like youre all over it

Sounds like a pretty badass build! I'm looking forward to updates on this.

1984twodoor wrote:

That all sounds like a pretty badass swap! Looking forward to seeing that one finished. Seems like a few guys are opting for a cheaper LT setup than LS

What are the plans with the 350 after lol

Not sure what I'm gonna do with the motor yet, probably find a car to put around it.
I was initially gonna drop it in my s10, but I sold that to free up cash.
It was a fun little rust free truck, had A gm performance parts 3.4 with A 5 speed.

Ya, to bad you didnt post the for sale ad here.

sdstick wrote:

Ya, to bad you didnt post the for sale ad here.

I know...I'm a jerk.

...Wont go down that road...yet...

Keeping me from buying another vehicle isnt a bad thing..

Very cool project, hope you have time to document the progress with pics and turn this into a build thread !!

I would love to build a combo of LT1 and a chevelle, but i like the dual headlight ones..

Can't beat lookin' cool and get 20 MPG !

-ALF out...

So I've started finally working on this project a couple weeks ago and wasn't able to post anything because my computer broke and then the screen on my iPhone stopped working. So I just got a new phone (was putting it off because I've been pissing my money away on sweet parts) so I will hopefully be posting a lot of updates.

So I got the motor and tranny all pulled out. I also removed the heater/ac box completely and am just going to cover the firewall with a stainless plate. I'm definitely not putting ac back in the car, but I will be putting a heater box in next year as it's just not in the budget right now. The passenger inner fender had a lot of rot right under the battery box so I bought a new dynacorn plastic inner fender. The drivers side was plastic ever since I got the car so i figured I should have them match and weight reduction never hurts.

I just pulled the wiper motor, master cylinder, the column, and the pedal assembly this morning. I'm at work now but I will be degreasing the whole engine bay tonight, and hopefully be able to prime and paint everything in sight tomorrow. It's been slower than expected but it's also been hot as hell. I'm working in one of those metal framed tents with a plywood floor that I leveled the best I could. I've only got a couple pics on this phone from this morning before I started working, but I've got a good amount of pics on my last phone that I can hopefully upload onto my girls computer and post them.

The interior is all pulled out and after everything is cleaned up I will be cutting the trans tunnel and installing factory a-body clutch/brake pedals with a McLeod hydraulic clutch setup. For the gAs pedal I'm using one out of a 95 caprice along with the throttle cable, I'll prob have to do some fab work to get it even with the brake pedal but it shouldn't be too bad. As far as o can tell I've got all the parts I need minus the new fuel lines, fittings and billet filter. I will be using AN fittings and Russell lines throughout. Mostly all of the other parts are F-body pieces or parts designed for this swap, gotta love the aftermarket support for Chevelles.

Here is a couple of crappy pics, i will hopefully get the other ones upload and take better ones later.