LT1 help

[allee85]

hi everyone...

im new to the site and have done lots of reasearch on here and love thise site. I recently purchased a 69 c/10 stepside. it was completely stock with no ps, pb, or ac. it has a few rust outs in the cab but it is fixable. it came with a 250 inline and 3 OTT. I recently did a 2/4 drop with springs. I love this truck and planned on keeping it as is and just fix the body up.

well my cousin has a lt1 out of a camaro (not sure of the year yet) with the wires and everything still attached except for the tranny that he is going to sell to me for $100 . its just sitting in his garage so he wants it out. now here is my questions

1) what tranny should i use? i want an auto to cruise... should i get 700r4 or the 4l60e and if i swap out the steering column to the non tilt auto column shift would that workout fine? dont really need tilt and dont want to spend money on just the tilt.

2) i plan on going with painless perfect plug and play harness... good idea or bad? is there another stand alone that is worth looking at? dont want to wire it myself and dont want to send it out neither...

3) what should i do with the gas tank and fuel pump problem? is there a bolt in kit that i should look into? will spend extra for easiness of install but not too much...

4) last question... hopefully... i am goin to get the ac relocation kit by march and was wondering how the power steering and ac will work in my truck if i did not have it previously... i really want power steering but if its too much parts or expensive i can do without it for awhile. but the ac is a must for summertime in northern CA. what parts will i need to make both work if posssible

sorry for the long post but im new to the whole chevy/ hotrod/ classic scene. this is my first ever project and im not too good with stuff like this but my bro-in-law is a mechanic but this will be his first as well and will be helping me with this truck every step of the way.

any and all answers are appreciated. thanks

[6772owner]

Welcome to the board, you will find everything and anything you need through this forum. I recently installed a 96' LT1 in my 72' C10, you can check out my build thread here, http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=313644

I would say the Painless Harness is the way to go if you want easy plug-n-play, as far as transmission goes, I would receommend a 4L60E if you can go that route. I have a 700R4 in mine, but the TV cable and adapting it to the LT1 isnt all that fun.
The best option for the fuel tank (IMO) would be a new rear mounted cell with intank pump, I am using a universal fuel with inline pump (Walboro 255), and it doesnt fit great and the pump is loud....

I was able to use the Camaro P/S feed line and adapt it to my P/S box by making a new hard line and joining the two together with AN fittings.... Not sure the A/C side, I dont have it.

Feel free to PM me if you need any further help.

[JMac11]

About half way done with mine. I have a 700r4. Took me awhile to find the right kick down bracket for it, but have a source on them if you go that way. I am yet to sort out all the details to hook up the cruise, trying to sort out the VSS stuff and keep a mechanical speedo. Lots of info on here if you use the search function. I would be done with mine if I didn't overthink everything.

[Jacfourteen]

Welcome to the best site in the world, the only downside is that you become an addict . Glad to see we got another member from norcal! Sorry I can't answer your questions, just wanted to welcome you.

[trucks72]

4l60e is the easiest way. I have a 93 lt1 with a 4l60 in it. Same as the 770r4. Came factory that way. So if you go with a 700r4 you could look for a bracket and cable off of something that year. I also used painless wiring on mine. In my experience do not get the the vats delete stuff from them. Mine did not work right. I had my computer or chip programmed to remove that and the other things it did not need. As for my fuel pump, I wanted to be able to fix my car if it messed up on the road somewhere. So I could go into a local parts store and get what I needed. I used a inline fuel pump off a ford bronco. Mounted it close to the tank and have not had a problem at all. Can barely hear it at start up.

[6772owner]

If u need help with the VSS, I got mine from Jaguars That Run, runs the mechanical and has the electronic pick up as well, just have to get the right pulse output. I also used the Lokar kit for the TV cable, but would recommended using the Bowtie Overdrives kit.

[Shon]

To run your stock mechanical speedo contact me for an Abbot Cable X box, I am using it on my truck and it works really good. You connect it to the VSS signal coming out of the PCM and in the PCM you tell the computer what tire/gears you are running and it works.

If you need someone to tune the LT1 PCM I can also help, if it is an OBDI PCM.

Let me know if you need more LT1 information!

[allee85]

thanks for all the info... more is welcome... as of right now i cant buy much stuff until i pick it up tomorrow... i will be getting a 4l60e... i was wondering would any year go with this motor? they have one on CL going for $500 and claims to have only 20,000 miles on it. it is out of a 2000 camaro. also wondering if a stock non-tilt column with auto shift on column out of a 70 c/10 would work for this swap, or would i have to spend extra on an aftermarket column? also wondering about my driveshaft, would it be fine or would i have to get it customized also? thanks again for the info and Jac, im already an addict... love this site

[Shon]

I am using stock column with my 4l80, i have not gotten the 4spd display so it looks like I am in N when in gear but that is fine with me since I am the only one that uses it.

As for trans, you need to get an LT1 trans, the input shafts are different.

I use the Lokar rod as the shifter rod.

[allee85]

so Shon, all i would need to do is change the indicator if i wanted to on the auto column? also would my 250 l6 motor mounts work or would i need a different set? so i guess i wont be getting that tranny... i will keep a lookout for a tranny but for the mean time i am going to buy all the small stuff and slowly piece this thing together... hope to start on it soon while the weather is not too hot... gives me more time to work on it

[Shon]

I have a stock TH350 column, and you can feel the detents in the trans and feel it going into gear when you move it. I can only go to 3rd, I can not select 2nd or 1st with the column b/c of the angle of the linkage, it binds up on the headers, which is OK with me, I do not need to select either one of those gears.

GMCPauls has the 4spd shifter indicator that I am going to try sometime....there might be others, just have not found elsewhere.

As for motor mount, we normally fab up our own so I am not sure...

Check FS ads on www.camaroz28.com, www.z28.com, www.ls1lt1.com and www.LTxtech.com might have some luck finding what you need.

[allee85]

ok thats fine, i dont really need gear 1 or 2 neither, just drive, neutral, park and reverse. also for the radiator and fan, would the stock 93-97 camaro radiator and fans work fine or do i need an aftermarket one... there are plenty of camaro radiators around here and not that expensive so i would like to go that route and save some money there

thanks for all the info shon

[Shon]

I am using an LS1 Radiator and fan set up on my 6.0 swap. Made me some brackets to hold the rad up and it keeps it cool!!

LT1 rads are 'better' due to size and they cool better. but mine does not get above 210 and the fan comes on and cools it right down. I have 2 fans wired in but only know that one of them is coming on b/c I have the other one not coming on till 215 but it never gets that hot....

If you have the option, get an A4 rad that way it has the trans cooler and then you also will run an aftermarket one but it will help keep trans temps down.

[6772owner]

I am using the stock 93-97' radiator and the factory fans as well. I just redrilled the holes for the saddles and and upper clamps and used the factory Camaro upper/lower radiator hoses as well. I havent had any overheating issues and I have headers! I would also recommend an auxiliary trans cooler as well, I have heard that the 700R4 does not like heat at all.