Say you had a 98 or up Camaro with an LS1. Next to it you had a 69 camaro with an old tired v8. Say the 98 was wrecked. What parts can you bolt in? Motor, tranny, rear end, suspension, brakes, lines, exhaust.....everything? And what kind of extra work would it take? All the things I've heard so far is that the motor will bolt on after welding in some new mounting locations, the tranny will after moving the hold for the shifter back a little, the tranny will, but a shortened driveshaft will be required. Any additional iformation would be deeply and greatly appreciated! Thanks!!
Toby

 

The short answer is probably not much will "bolt in" without a lot of work. Certainly not suspension, brakes, exhaust, etc. Even the engine swap will be a struggle.

You might be able to adapt the front seats. The early ones were not very comfortable or supportive.

 

Quite a few people have already swapped the Gen3 block into a 1st gen camaro body. I believe there's quite a bit of stuff out there for the swap too.
Search around on the net... you've got me curious so I'll check it out and let you know what I find later.

-Mindgame

 

Go here,
http://www.pro-touring.com/

Seem to be quite a few people over there who've done the swap. Best of luck!

-Mindgame

 

Teetoe Jones (on this board) has done an LT1, and last I heard was doing a twin turbo LS1 swap but don't know the status of that project.

 

Thanks for all the reply/advise guys! That web site is great, good info!!
Ok, here's the deal. I could sit here and try to save money and build the car/motor as is (Very difficult cause Im a laid off computer engineer in college working as a waiter )
OR i have a fellow waiter that works part time for his fathers business buying wrecked cars for the scrap metal recycling they do. He can get me a wrecked LS1 or LT1 for cheap. If anyone has advise on which they think would be cheaper for the end result...going with what I have, or going for a newer motor...
And anyone in the area (Im in San Jose) that wants to go in on this? Maybe we could colaborate and get a few of these and work together? If anyone is interested, maybe we can work something out? Rent out a small place to work on cars? Maybe build/manufacture parts for this kind of transplant to fund our projects? I dunno...just some thoughts. My passion for modifying cars WAAAAY exceeds my current, non-existent budget..
Ok, well thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it, it will help in my decision.

 

This COULD be a bolt in swap. There are enough parts available now that with a little creative skills, you could swap in a LS1 engine. Check with street and performance, as they have almost everything you need. I'll write more later, boss just got back, and i'm not supposed to be online....
Tyler

 

Tee-toe jones, thanks for your help! I saw your car on your web site, it's great! Wow, it's cool to see what I want to do actually DONE on a car How difficult was it to get the tranny in on your car? haw much custom stuff did you need? Thanks!
Toby

 

Toby,

I'm in the middle of the same swap right now. I have the engine and transmission in and will be working on making headers and a transmission crossmember in the next few weeks. Then I'll bolt the radiator in and try and start the beast.

I'm in your area so if you want to see what kind of project you're getting yourself into shoot me an email and you can come by and check it out.

 

I think if you are on a budget, and want a newer fuel injected engine, the LT1 is a better choice than the LS1. Why?
All the old style trans, motor mounts, headers bolt on.
There are plenty of "turn key" computers and harness' out for this.
The LS1 requires mount adapters, specific trans, custom headers..

Just my 2 cents!

Oh, and here is my LT1 in a 68 project.. should be running late Dec (already ran with the LT1, I am just, uhmm, modifying it a "bit" )