'04 5.3L in a '01 V6 Camaro.

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted by 67chevysupercharged

How economical is this swap compared to just buying a V8 98-02 f body? What would be different with bolting the tailhousing and torque arm in say a 94-97 fbody?

It depends on how you look at it, LS1 F-bodies cost between $5,000 & $10,000. The one's in the lower price bracket have all been wreaked...More like totaled & rebuilt. The one's in the higher bracket have clean bodies & interior but have been ran HARD, Have pretty bad blow-by, Oil leaks, Rear diff's wore out. Needs shocks, Brakes, Tires & The trans is probably on it's last leg.

I have $5,637.82 in mine right now including the price of the car, TT&L & the following parts..

LS K-member
F-Body Oil pan, Pick-up tube, Windage, Dipstick & tube
LS6 valley cover & PCV hose
LS2 Intake
LQ9 cam (FREE)
L92 valve springs, New take-offs (FREE)
Hardened push rods
Motor mounts
Trans mount
Aeromotive rails (FREE)
Aeromotive regulator
Various AN fittings
4-bolt to 3-bolt throttle body adaptor
L99 brackets & accessories (2011 Camaro) (FREE)
V8 driveshaft, The V6 shaft is 2-piece with a carrier bearing (FREE)
BBK headers & Y-pipe
ARP header bolts
Flowmaster 3-inch universal muscle car exhaust (fabrication required)
Borla 3-inch muffler (FREE)
LS1 radiator
'98 F-body oil & temp senders
2 gallons of antifreeze
3 cans of Freon
Receiver drier
orifice tube
WS6 rear sway bar (FREE)
Rear Bilstein shocks (FREE)
Yukon 3:42 gear set
Diff bearing kit
Spicer rear wheel bearings
Moser axles
Posi Carrier (FREE)
Mobil 1 gear oil
LT1 front springs, For the iron block 5.3L (FREE)
Bilstein struts
Moog strut mounts
Timken front wheel bearings
GM LS1 heater hose assembly
GM brake pads
AC-Delco rotors
AC-Delco left window motor
Kee Audio/CDT speaker kit
BF-Goodrich Comp-2 245ZR-50-16 (4)
Staked plate trans cooler
P/S return line
Royal Purple P/S fluid

Still need to buy....Windshield (cracked), AC hoses (Custom, L99 Compressor), Radiator hoses (Not sure with L99 brackets), LS1 4L60E dipstick & Tube, Air Intake set-up.

I recently rebuilt a '07 4L60E & put it in my 'Burb after the Sunshell broke on the original '04 trans. I sold the '07 trans to a overseas customer this past week. Going to rebuild the '04 trans......But not including that in the price list because I will actually make money.

Your questions about '93-'97 F-bodies......
All '94-'97 4L60E use a 4-bolt tailhousing. (Same on '93 700R4)
All '98-'02 F-Body 4L60E use a 6-bolt tailhousing & a different trans mount location.
Trans Crossmembers are different....

I will find out if a '93-'97 Torque Arm Mount & Torque Arm are the same as '98-'02.

[clinebarger]

Made some headway today, Tear-down, LQ9 cam, F-body pan & LS6 Valley cover installed.
Valve springs, Pushrods, Coils, Accessories, & Intake next week...I hope.

I only take Saturday to work on this project, Some after pics, To busy to take "during" pics.

[truckster]

You're going to love it once you're done. My wife recently bought me a 95 Z28 convertible and it's a blast to drive. I find myself looking for errands to run.

[67chevysupercharged]

Thanks for all the information! I think if I could find a cheap v6 camaro that I'd seriously consider going this route. The reason I asked about the 94-97's is because I seem to be able to find those the cheapest that are still in decent shape. Good luck with the rest of the build, I look forward to seeing the finished product!

[clinebarger]

Got the Brackets & Accessories put on, Had to drill & tap a hole for the Alternator bracket, Only able to run 2 of the 3 bracket bolts. Done it several times installing 6.0L truck blocks in 4th Gens, It causes no issues.

I don't like the lack of a belt tensioner on the A/C belt, It will be hell to change the belt in the car. Probably a special tool to do it.

Got the steam line bent to clear the LS2 intake, And found a EVAP purge solenoid & line that works, Just need the bracket that holds it to the intake.

[clinebarger]

Ordered all the Trans parts, Going to beta test some Alto Hi-Energy-Graphite frictions to see how they hold up.

Parts List,

Sonnax Performance pack (Shift Kit)...
Pinless accumulators & springs
.490" boost valve
PWM delete valve
Servo springs
Accumulator valve shim
Pump slide spring

Sonnax smart shell, Stator bushing, & Sungear bushing
Sonnax 4th super hold Servo
GM "093" Vette 2nd Servo, Going to beta test this & "try" to tone down the 1-2 shift using the servo piston everyone & their mom INSISTS that I use in their trans, Wish me luck.
GM 5-Pinion Input planet, Cheap as a 4-pinion on Amazon!
GM 4-Pinion Reaction planet (High Speed), $100 cheaper than a 5-pinion.
Borg Warner forward sprag.
Alto HEG frictions
Alto standard width red eagle or OE Borg Warner Hi-Energy. If the OE band in the trans is in good shape I will reuse it.

Pics of the 5-pinion planet, Nice piece, Has Teflon coated thrust washers.

[clinebarger]

Tore the '04 trans down, Stripped sunshell, Broken 1-2 accumulator spring, Band clearance way loose, & Forward clutches a little distressed (Very little). Not bad since I beat on it pretty hard in a really heavy truck, The loose band clearance played a big role in the sunshell failure....The servo builds up a lot of speed before it hits the band when clearance is excessive, The broken accumulator spring finished it off.

Got it built back up to the Input Planet after work.

Need this trans built so I can bolt it back on the engine, Then I can build a harness.

Have a '00 T56 harness, Going to add the DBW, & Trans circuits.

[Clyde65]

your moving right along there Chris! looking good, you bringing her to my house when your done??

[clinebarger]

When do you want it delivered John , And I get the '65?

Got the Trans finished....Finally, Had to burn midnight oil after work on that one.

Did the Intake, Fuel rails, TB adaptor, & throttle body today. Had to mod the Multec II injectors to fit the LS2 intake, Pop the plastic spacer off, Then use a regular injector O-ring, The Truck Multec use smaller O-rings on the bottom.
Mod the fuel rail hold downs because the shorter Multec injectors.

It would have been easier to buy Injectors, But I'm spent out on this project as it is.

[clinebarger]

Engine work

[solidaxel]

Some folks have all the fun !!!

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted by solidaxel

Some folks have all the fun !!!

This fun sure is expensive! Like this $80 rail cross over.

[solidaxel]

What computer are you going to use with all of these upgrades?

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted by solidaxel

What computer are you going to use with all of these upgrades?

'04 "Blue/Green" truck PCM, Not really doing many upgrades, The LQ9 cam is the same as late LS1 cams, Springs/pushrods just for piece of mind. The Aeromotive rails I already had, The AN fittings to install them are outrageous, If I did it over I would have bought stock LS2 rails & injectors.

[cableguy0]

Nice work looks good man.

[ls1nova71]

Just curious, but do you think the factory V6 F body DBW pedal will work with the truck OS, or are you planning to mod a truck pedal?

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted by cableguy0

Nice work looks good man.

Thanks man!

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted by ls1nova71

Just curious, but do you think the factory V6 F body DBW pedal will work with the truck OS, or are you planning to mod a truck pedal?

Not sure? The TAC module/APPS is all built into the pedal on the V6 F-body. I do plan on modifying the truck pedal.

[Clyde65]

No you dont get the 65 Chris!

but you can still bring that old girl to my house!

Looking better every day bud!

[clinebarger]

I started to get a engine harness built.

I have a '02 F-body T56 harness, I was going to add the 4L60E & DBW controls to it...Simple, Right? The harness is in very bad shape. The Texas sun had baked it at one point in time? The connector locks are rock hard & had insulation damage & bleaching from UV exposure.

Then I got the bright idea of modifying the 5.3L truck harness to mimic a F-body harness......Wrong! The routing is to far off, That is putting it lightly!

My F'ed-up F-Body harness...

[clinebarger]

My attempt at modifying the truck harness.... An hour removing the loom & tape, Another hour finding out how wrong it is!

[clinebarger]

Priced out new Connectors, Terminals, Seals, & Wire from Mouser Electronics to build a harness from scratch.... I don't buy in bulk, But their prices are still astronomical! Then I have to buy Loom, Tape, Solder, Heat shrink & the amount of time it would take (me) to build the harness.

I contacted Bill @ BP Automotive about PCM tuning to get the factory gauges working with a Blue/Green PCM, Very knowledgeable guy! And said he could help me. He also mentioned he could build a Plug & Play engine harness for my car for $800. At first I told myself No Way I'm going to pay someone to do what I can eventually get done myself! Called him back later that day & ordered a harness once I considered the Time & Money involved with doing it myself. In fact I spent yesterday building a 4L80E at work instead of messing with this harness & made up half the cost....In 1 day.

Got the Trans bolted to the engine, Torque converter bolts, Starter, Trans mount, & Motor mounts done today. Need the heat shield that's bolted to the left motor mount, I have thrown away a ton of those over the years doing swaps...Hind sight is 20/20 I guess.

[68c10airstream]

That's what i say "do what you do best and like to do to pay for what you like best" Looks like you are in your glory, nice work and keep the pics coming. Good luck, Brian F.

[Clyde65]

man this swap sure is looking nice Chris, Is this thing gonna get you in trouble? I can see you on the side of the road now, with those lights flashing behind you!

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted by 68c10airstream

That's what i say "do what you do best and like to do to pay for what you like best" Looks like you are in your glory, nice work and keep the pics coming. Good luck, Brian F.

Yeah, At least the engine harness will be 100% new & I can concentrate on other things like rebuilding & beefing up the 7.6" "Self Imploding" differential.

Originally Posted by Clyde65

man this swap sure is looking nice Chris, Is this thing gonna get you in trouble? I can see you on the side of the road now, with those lights flashing behind you!

"Don't you put that on me Ricky Bobby!"

I'll be good, I learned when & where to "Stab & Steer" a long time ago. As for speeding.....In our congested traffic conditions, That would be few & far between.