Hey guys, I'm doing a v6 -> v8 swap in my 96 Camaro. The problem is, the LT1 that I bought is from an early 95 car that had a single cat. The shop doing my engine install said that I need to get a new exhaust manifold as well as some new brackets from a late 95 or a 96 camaro to mount the engine. Any idea where I would be able to get these?

Thanks

 

Engine brackets? Do they mean motor mounts? Yuo can buy the motor mounts from autozone or the dealer. As far as the exhaust - you might as well just get some headers while you're at it

 

headers are going on as well.

he said brackets and motor mounts. are they the same thing (clueless as I've never looked at a motor mount before). if so, then it should be fairly easy to find

 

The V8 has a different Kmember then a V6. You do realize that right?

 

you might want to ask about this in the V-6 forum...I have seen some V-6 > LT-1 conversion guides posted in there before. The Lt-1 motor mounts aren't going to bolt right up. I believe there is a company that sells some customer ones or something. Head that way and run a search in the forum for "LT1 swap" or something.

 

Yes, and I got a new k-member from the donor car, as well as a new tranny, radiator, struts etc

 

Hmm.. I'll do a search again. Going to talk to the mechanic tomorrow anyways, maybe I just wasn't hearing him right or something.

Thanks

 

If you got the complete k member/engine assy from the donor V8, there should be no other brackets I know of that you need. You should not need any exhaust stuff either, if you are doing headers.

 

The problem is, my car is a 1996, and the engine is off an early 1995, and apparently they dont fit well.

 

Can't see how it matters.

 

I'm not sure He said something about my LT1 being an early edition 995 one, and in late 95 they moved to the 2-cat verison they had in 96 & 97.

I'll have to find out exactly what the deal is and update this thread in the morning.

But like you said, if I have headers, I don't see why the exhaust manifold would be a problem

 

He is in error. They did not go to a 2 cat version in late 1995. 2 cats were used on California emissions cars throughout the model year (just like the 1996 design).

Should not be an issue if you are going to use headers (depending on the style of headers you are using).

 

Just an additional note, only the California emissions A4 cars got the dual cats...the M6's did not.

In any case, it's a non-issue for the swap, unless he's worried about emissions, in which case he'd want headers with dual cats and a CARB EO # specific to a 96. Still can't see why anything more off the donor car is needed though.

 

OK, just got done with talking to him down at the shop.

Apparently the engine/tranny I have is from an early 95 model car. I guess here in Cali, the early 95's had a single cat, while the later 95+ models had dual cats.

But somehow the k-member is off of a dual-cat car and the brackets don't line up exactly. So all I need to get is the k-member off a 93,94 or early 95 model Camaro. He's got a buddy up in SJ with a few of them, so he's shipping one down here ASAP.

As for the exhaust manifold, I can't use the headers I was originally going to use, because they are setup for a single cat, not a dual-cat. So I need a new exhaust manifold as well, which he is giving me for free since he had one laying around

So it's an extra $350 for the k-member.. not as bad as I was expecting

 

single cat headers will fit on a dual cat car. My friend has done the swap on his 97. Actually its kind of a common mod. So if that guy is telling you it can't be done he is full of it. I would talk to shoebox as he would probably be able to tell you if the kmembers and motor mounts are diff. I don't think they really are. They only sell one kmember for LT1 cars not ones for early and late cars. 350 for a stock kmember is really high i think too. I think this guy doesn't know what he is doing or he is just BSing you for more money.