Thought I would share my build thread with you guys, I hope this is the correct sub-forum for this. So my old 350 lived a long long great serving life. Survived my grandparents and my uncle hotrodding it as a teenager. So it was time to either rebuild her or retire her. I went in favor of replacing her with a 2005 Chevy pick LS series truck engine and 4L60 auto trans. So here is some pics of my progression in this project, I'm very close to firing this up and going for a drive.
More.... These pics show where I had to open up the trans tunnel for the bigger 4L60 to make room. So I welded in a filler strip done the middle and sealed it then under coated it. Also in Pic #3 show the new Drive by wire gas pedal. I had taken the stock truck pedal, cut it down 4" in length and rewelded into a nice angle that feels really nice on the foot.
More pics... These pics show the new exhaust system with o2 sensors installed, the new Griffin LS swap radiator, the new tank inc. gas tank, with fuel pump, filter regulator and high pressure hose.
More pics. these pics are the most recent showing the mock up of the cold air intake and the process of me laying out the wiring and trying to get it all mapped out and wired.
Are those A-body LS swap headers or are those truck headers? The reason I ask is because there is basically no collector length at all,thats usually how truck headers are built for more low end torque. Nice looking install though,not what I would have chosen but it should a fun ride.:TU: Derek
Wow, great thread you've started here. You are doing exactly what I want to do with one of my '72 Skylarks that runs but has a 169k mile engine that is very tired. Strange thing is that yours appears to even be the same color as mine. I look forward to reading more posts about this swap. I am interested to hear about any hurdles that you encountered with this swap besides the modifications to the transmission tunnel. I'd also be interested in hearing what a swap like this really costs when it's all finished. There are always so may little things to buy and it usually adds up to much more than originally anticipated. If you prefer to not share that personal information, I understand. One thing I'm curious about is the power steering pump and lines that you used.
Love it...although I would've painted the entire thing Buick Red. If you want a complete MP112 kit from an 06 GTO let me know.
K Welcome again and thanks for posting your progress. Was the tunnel work the only fabrication that had to be done to make this all fit? I know you have done a bunch of other changes but curious about the structural mods. Why the truck engine? Keep going and let us know how it runs and drives.
The headers, motor mounts, trans crossmember, and CTS oil pan where all recommendations from http://www.brphotrods.com/ for the GM A-body chassis. all of the components worked great... Side note: they did offer full length headers, but I choose the shortys for better ground clearance.
There has been some hurdles, but nothing major. the tunnel has been the biggest. The DBW pedal took me like 2 hours to cut and form to a length and position that felt comfortable to my foot. I'm 6'6" tall and wanted a nice feeling pedal for long freeway driving. The finished product is awesome and way cheeper than the aftermarket Lokar pedal kits. Than obviously the driveline had to be cut down, the exhaust redone with the addition of O2 sensors, and the hurdle i'm working on right now and part of it I HATE, connecting all the wiring and making it look nice..UGH. Speaking of wiring, rather than modify the truck harness like alot of guys do, I opted to sending it and the truck's PCM to the guys at Speartech. They do an awesome job on reworking the harness and removing all the modern junk our old cars don't need. Like evap, pass lock, rear O2 sensors, etc..The cost of this build has diffidently exceeded the original set aside budget. But I keep telling myself that in the long run it will be soooo worth it. The power steering issue was relatively easy actually. I used the stock truck pump and just took the high pressure hose along with my old buick's hose down to my local hydraulic hose repair shop and had them build a hose with one end of the hose as the modern truck and the other end of the hose my old buick end. Should work... I hope...
Yes the tunnel has been the only structural change made to the car. I went with the truck motor strickly because of the price and because they are so readily available. They are quit a bit cheaper than the sister motors out of camaro's, corvette's ad GTO's at least around here. The other reason I wanted to stick with the truck motor is as you guys all know the Buick 350's had an awesome low end torque and my research showed that the truck motors also have great low end torque. They are rated stock at 300hp/335ftlbs than with the headers and intake a bit more, plus if you add the truck performance cam they really wake up. I did not do the cam, buuuut it might be a future ad.. hehe. But mostly the cost and availability is why. I spent along time weighing out weather to rebuild the stock buick motor or do this conversion. initially the price seemed to be close if not just a little more to do the LS swap, but the gas mileage of around 18mpg's and the well improved horsepower is what I really liked...well it has become quit a bit more$$.
