ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Hey everyone. Its been awhile since I finished up my project...er...been driving it I should say. Its not done yet. But then again when are they ever. This is my first try at making a video, so Im not sure how good it came out. Let me know what you think of the car...and of the vid. I think it shows how it runs/sounds pretty good as well. Let me know!!

http://www.vidilife.com/index.cfm?f=...50-4816-93D0-1

Justin

johnnyboy

iTrader: (3)

that is pretty sick, but i'd like to see a vid of the car without the music and just being able to hear the car, but reall nice job on the swap!

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Ask and you shall recieve. The nighttime shot of the speedo got messed up once youtube got a hold of it. Its hard to make out. Plus this is alittle longer... I have some clips of the exhaust revving...but it blows the camera mic out and just sounds like static haha. I was using a digital camera set to video for all of these.

Enjoy!

Justin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdji9PETqxA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THMSMZjQrIw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih2HE_KG3Wk

I just added this to youtube. Its a vid of a cold start...and a couple revs. The noise destroys the cameras mic...so it sounds like crap. But might give some idea...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SenLu6531Bg

tuske427

Hey Justin!

Awesome video, and it's been a pleasure watching your car and your buildup along the way. Maybe I can relate a little because I was doing a similiar build up out west around the same time, but you started with a much cleaner car and put more "go fast" goodies in yours.

not to be an ***, but I think you spelled "donor" wrong (you had "donar")

Don't get any speeding tickets with that, it looks like it'd be way too easy to do such a thing.

-Brendon

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Haha...yeah I saw the spelling error. I was hoping no one would catch that. lol. I still want to add and tweak that video. But I was too excited and put it up before i was satisfied. I realized it was spelled wrong right after I uploaded it. DOH! Oh well Never said I was in english major

ssean92

iTrader: (10)

that is a bad butt bird. love it, wish i was able to do the lsi swap, but cash lead me to the lti. lol

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

wow very nice man, i do like what you have done so far. what cam do you have in it? doesnt sound all that aggressive

cam-

Sweeeet! That thing got a hemi?

What springs are you running? Looks like its sitting pretty level

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Thanks again for the responses!

The cam is a 228/224 113 +1 Comp XE-R cam (currently installed with another 2* advance). Its not a huge cam. However...Im still pullin 28-30mpg on the highway if I stay out of it, and its very streetable.

It has good low end grunt for my taste. Just enough that you have power to take off, but keeps the tire spin down some. It starts making power around 3500 - 4000...and it keeps pulling harder and harder until you **** with no signs of falling off. Its kinda weird at first...you can feel the cam really come in if you start accelerating at low rpm in a higher gear. I might go bigger...but its fine for now. Good for low 11's like it is. If I go bigger it will just be for more usable street grunt and alittle more aggressive sound.

For springs/stance... Im very happy with how this worked out. I just got an eibach pro-kit. Kept the rear isolators in place. Kept the front isolators in place. Installed everything straight up. SOMEHOW...my car came out almost perfectly level. I thought I was going to have to cut the front springs a bit. The only other part that was installed were the spohn strut mounts...at a custom height. They are close to stock. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine as to why it sits almost level compared to others.



Thanks again!

Justin

cam-

Well I "guess" its the little difference with AC and the tad extra bird weight must be up front. Stance is dang near perfect though. YOu can see your y pipe hanginmg in that pic does it rub badly?

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

nice stance! i have the prokit on my car but my front sits about 1/2 to probly 3/4 inch lower than yours. the rear is the same hieght. its like I got a sportline front spring and prokit rears

1985_T/A

awesome vid ! i hate to sound like a copy cat but i have a black ta just like yours and i wanted to go with the ws6 wheel and tire combo like u did it looks and sounds excellent, oh i also would like a autometer gage cluster like yours where did u get it and do u have any links,also what was wrong with the donor car if u dont mind me askin?

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Hmm...I guess the bird might weigh a bit more up front. But A/C and stuff shouldnt make too much difference. OH...It might be worth mentioning that the spring were used. Not sure for how many miles, but I dont remember the guy saying very much. Springs still looked great. Maybe they are just broken in all the way???


1985_T/A: Are you talking about the main gauge cluster in the dash? Or the pillar pod. If you are talking about the pod, thats autometer. If you are talking about the main gauge layout...then you already have it Its my stock TA gauge cluster that I fit everything into. Here is a link to the thread I started on the whole deal...

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...ons-trans.html

If you have any specific questions, just let me know via PM or something. Worked great tho...I love it!

Oh...and the donOr car was slid into a light pole and was pretty much mangled on the driver's side. Pretty bent up... Roll cage and sub frame connectors saved the rest of the car...and the driver. Light pole hit right at the rear driver's door jamb. Right on the main hoop of the cage.

Thanks for the props guys!

Justin

1985_T/A

thanks for the good info justin i will def keep in touch ummm any other pics of it with the ws6 wheels and did u have to use adapters to mount em? a guy from my michigan f body site told me u did

MrDude_1

it sits almost level because taking the weight off the nose has minimal effect on ride height.

ive seen alot of thirdgen LS1 swaps now, and even if you dont change anything on the suspension, they're sitting almost exactly where they were before the swap.

dingle

4th gen wheels require on average 2" spacers. At $150 per pair that is the part that's holding me back from putting 4th gen rims on mine.

1985_T/A

wow 150 bucks i think its worth it tho looks effin sweet now i just need to find the wheels on e bay lol!

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

I did have to put spacers on the front. Im using a 4th gen 12 bolt rear...so those rear wheels fit perfect. For the fronts, Im using 4th gen brakes...so due to the extra rotor thickness, I only had to 1.7" spacers for the front. The wheels are right where I like them.

I got my adapters from skulte.com . They are alittle pricey, but you wont find a better adapter. Andres is a great guy to deal with as well...very cool and knows his stuff.


As for the ride height, Ive seen some sit higher...but most of the time its like Mr.Dude says... It just doesnt make that much of a difference. Im just glad that I didnt have to go back and remove isolators or cut springs or anything. First time I set her on the ground... I was in love.

Justin

1985_T/A

i bet your car is exactly how i want mine except im building a carbed motor for mine dont wanna deal with all the pita wiring and stuff unless it isnt really as hard as it looks


ill defanately keep in touch tho!

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Definetly isnt as hard as it looks. Thats the first time Ive ever worked with an entire wiring harness. This was my first motor swap that would be considered a "conversion". This was the first time I had to make a computer controlled motor work outside of its normal environment.

If you are looking to do it...the LS1 is the way. Its harness is almost plug and play to begin with. If you get the fuse blocks, it is plug and play pretty much. Just have to be patient and spend some time going through wires that you dont need. You get the hang of looking at the pinouts and wiring diagrams very quickly. Especially if you are working with a 99+ harness and motor because there seems to be much more support/info on those.

Justin

1985_T/A

sweet how much did your donor car cost you?

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Around 6k. Receipts show over 10k in upgrades to the motor,trans, and rear. and I made cash back from selling the parts.

BUT...just the fact that I had a running driving car to take apart was WELL worth the extra over buying a pull out. I KNEW how it came apart. I KNEW I was getting everything. If I realized that I needed something else, walked 4 feet over and took it off. I just feel its the way to go.

Justin

tuske427

Not to object, but, at least with my swap my car lifted in the front from doing the LS1 swap. I had to get it re-aligned.

I too have the Eibach spring kit on my car and it was a noticable lift in the front when I got done. My car now sits just like Justin's, just about level.

and yes, my exhaust also hangs down low like that and it does scrape on speedbumps/ entranceways, etc. It's the only pita from the swap.

MrDude_1

lookup "drews crossmember" in the searchbox for help on the exhaust thing...

i only know the results from my swap and 2 other ones... did you put the eibach kit on at the same time as the swap??

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Forgot to touch on the y-pipe hanging low subject. I started a thread awhile back about the Hawks y-pipe... That picture shows just how low it does sit. Thats after I cut the thing apart and re-welded. It scrapes and bangs on everything.

The problem with the drews crossmember is that there is no provision for the spohn torque arm that I spent so much money on. There is a guy that made his own crossmember similar to drews design that had a spot to mount the torque arm. I plan to make the same thing this winter and make a much better, tighter, better flowing y-pipe.

But for now...not much else I can do about it.

Justin

MrDude_1

solution:
dont buy a spohn TQ arm...
lol


since you already have the thing, its not too difficult to measure off of and add a mount/reinforcement to a drews style crossmember.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Thats just my point Im not gonna buy another crossmember that I have to modify to make work with that torque arm. I already had to hack my nice spohn crossmember up. When I said there was no provision on the Drews for a mount, I just meant that it didnt seem like there was a spot for it. But then again I havent really seen one in person, and really havent studied it much.

I have the rectangular tubing, and plate steel already just laying around. And if I have to build a mount for the arm, I might as well just build the entire crossmember so its tailored to my vehicle and my exhaust and torque arm.

However...If I loose ambition to do all that, which is unlikely, I will be doing exactly as you suggested and grabbing a Drews crossmember and just adding to it...if it has a space to do so.

Not so sure this is going to take place this winter now. My garage is so darn small, and its too darn cold. I have two jeeps to lift, and my car has a list of things that need to be done. (door hinges, t-top seals, new y-pipe, new crossmember, fix cat back, install new bumper support cut better for the washer tank, redo fuel lines, install FRCs, blah blah blah) So it might be a spring thing where I can put the car back outside.

Justin

cam-

Talk to Drews first. I think you will be surprised at the good value. I was going to build my own as well but time is not something I have much to spare so I got his and I can honestly say you couldn't fit one in any tighter. You could make it beefier ( more weight ) but his is tucked right up in there so much so you have to mod your tranny mount to get it to fit.

Shame about that Hawks y pipe I remember that thread.

As for the Spohn arm not fitting I had to modify my rear bracket too as I am running an 8.8 which moves the bracket an inch closer to the tunnel and the Spohn arm takes some liberty's with the extra stock space so mine hit. The front tranny mount fit fine though so I dont see why you "need" to relocate it for fit. i did it cuz I dont like it bolted on the trans. Especially the way I drive

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Hmmm... Ok.

You guys have me thinkin I might be able to just make the drews one work... I guess it would be nice to start out with something built, and just modify it. I wanted to make mine out of rectangular tubing and really beef it up. I was also going to do somethings to tuck it up even more...

Im going to look into the drews xmember more and see if it looks like something I want to work with.

Think Ill be able to sell my spohn one even tho I had to cut it??? That'd be nice.

Justin

tuske427

Cool, thank you for the drews lead. I'll check it out. My exhaust is weak, but it's a starting point. At some point I want long tubes (I keep hearing they free up good torque), but after I get the car certified in CA.

No, I installed the Eibach springs (and kyb shocks/ struts) before my LS1 swap when I was running a regular smallblock 350. So, if they settled any, they did this already beforehand.

I had the car aligned with the suspension components (eibach springs 1" drop, kyb shocks/ struts, spohn strut brackets w/ the 1" offset, pst bushings in font, edelbrock torque arm, panhardbar, Wilwood brakes, and tubular lca) for the smallblock and drove it like that for a bit.

Then (6 months later) I did the LS1 swap. I took it back for a realignment because the camber "looked" off as well as it "looked" like it sat higher in front, as I had hastily mentioned above. However, they said that was fine but the toe in changed on both sides. Maybe I have another problem....

I used the same alignment shop both times which has those nice honeycomb reflecters they install on all 4 wheels and new computerized equipment and they give me a printout with all the specs.

coltenr

I watched your videos "Ghettocruiser" and your car is sick. I've been thinking about a ls series swap and went to a junkyard the other day and saw a 5.3 ls. Before watching your videos, I didn't think the 5.3 would be any good, but after, "HOLY CRAP" I underestimated it! Good Job. Just wondering,How long did the swap take?

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Hey man..thanks for checking out my car!

I THINK it took me right around 5-6 months. I tried to go by my threads to see when I started, and I think I started tearing down my car mid to end of April 06. And I was driving it regularily by the start of October. That was with a summer vacation in the middle of the project, and working outside so I was on mother nature's schedule. Also waitin on parts as I was sort of flying blind. There werent as many threads as there are now when I was doing my swap. That wa sthe first swap... The second swap literally took a few months because I was just swapping parts for the most part. Did do some custom work that took a little while, but wasnt too bad. I also did a lot of extra work, that someone that just wanted the LS in and running wouldnt have to do.

My car is an LS1 (5.7L)... Just didnt want you to think it was a 5.3. But...5.3s can sure be good power plants as well! Dont pass them up if you find a good deal. You'll still be able to build a nice car, and plenty of guys are running the 5.3 with great results.

You wont regret going with any of the LS series motors! My only advice...do your homework. Read read and read some more on here and ls1tech. The more you know going into this, the smoother your project will turn out. Try to get as many of the parts ahead of time as you can. Because waiting on parts is the worst. And sometimes you'll be on a roll, and you'll have to quit because you dont have something. There is enough info out there now that you should be able to put together a good shopping list and know pretty much everything you need.

Good luck if you decide to tackle the project!

J.

Santi1990

Impresive, Hey did you have to do any wealding for new motor mounts. I'm going to do an engine swap myself but I want to know what I need to do, specific steps. Tought I do it since I'm only getin 130hp and using the same amount of gas as the ls1. Could you help me out?

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

No welding for the mounts specifically. I did notch my k-member to give more oil pan clearance, but a lot of people dont do it and seem ok with it.

You should really check the LSx swap stickies both on here and on ls1tech.com. All the info you could possibly need for the shop is between these two sites. A couple members have even graciously generated price sheets to give you an idea of costs for the swap!

Good luck if you decide to take on the project!

J.

Santi1990

Ok thanks I'm going to do some research