LT1 Swap

[amassey30]

I plan on doing a engine and tranny swap for my 87 regal over the summer, anyone have any good advice, tips, links things of that nature or maybe step by step intructions lol

 

[turboc87gn]

Umm a regular sbc with a carb will be a lot easier if swapping into a regular regal everything you need wiring wise is in the driver side of the car...Your idiot lights for the sensors will plug right in, the alternator will plug in as well as an hei distributor..When at the parts store buy everything for a monte ss,motor mounts ,power steering hoses sensors for ur idiot lights etc it will all bolt in...Your motor mount bolt holes are already there you use three out of the four bolt holes in the mount..The lower front of the mount hangs off the front of the crossmember and you can access the bolts thru the gap in the lower control arm...If doing it on the ground you have to jack the car waaaaay up to install the passenger header it will only go in from the bottom..Youll need to buy a trans crossmember from jegs(cheapest) or someone or have someone modify yours so it has two cutouts for your dual exhaust to clear..You cant just hammer it flat it will make ur transmission sit crooked...Ive seen people do this...Umm autozone has a heavy duty radiator 3 core for $100(at least it was when i bought mine..) Use a gn or cutlass upper radiator plate..Hth

 

[amassey30]

Thanks, I'll keep all this in mind

 

[cdr.performance]

I plan on doing a engine and tranny swap for my 87 regal over the summer, anyone have any good advice, tips, links things of that nature or maybe step by step intructions lol

Are you trying to keep the EFI and LT1 optispark(barf) ?
Of something else?

With frame mount swap a V-8 it is a bolt in, (depending on trans).

 

[amassey30]

What are my options if i dont keep the EFI and optispark, and i dont know about the tranny yet, havent gotten that far into my research

 

[Louie L.]

On a budget, If you are going through all the work of swapping motors and engine harness, the best route will be to use a LS1 style motor. You will get more base performance and none of the optispark problems.

 

[cdr.performance]

Louie is correct, the LS is a better swap more options and the e 60 & 80 automatics are bolt on. So overdrive is a bonus.

 

[amassey30]

Well looks like this has turned into an LS1 swap

 

[streetknight]

LT1's are a waste of $ IMO, my cousin just spent over 5k on one and only ran low 13's. LS is a LOT better choice, that's what I'm gonna put in the wife's 81' TA

Sent from my DROID2

 

[amassey30]

So LS1 I gotta few questions about this like what engine wiring harness to use, and What in tank fuel pump should be used, and if i were to supercharge would it be a waste of money and would it be easy

 

[Onalky87]

So LS1 I gotta few questions about this like what engine wiring harness to use, and What in tank fuel pump should be used, and if i were to supercharge would it be a waste of money and would it be easy

For a supercharger I'd go with procharger. Kinda pricey. But worth it. My friend has a ls1 with catback and procharger and makes 450whp (7#). Dynoed 398whp on 5#. Don't wanna go much past 8psi on a stock ls1 tho. Unless u buy an Alky kit

 

[cruzn57]

I'm doing a LT1

into a 71 el camino, from a 96 corvettewith computer and all wiring,
,,( corvette eng has a/c comp on upper left of motor, others have it on lower right of motor and do not clear frame) including ALDL , so car will think its still a corvette. LOL
PCMforless.com reflashes computer. my goal is for 25 mpg el camino,
with all creature comforts,
if you want a race car (IE more power) the LS motor is the way to go,
I wanted a cheap ( bought the whole wrecked corvette for $1500) FI swap, with late technology.

 

[jleews6]

On a budget, If you are going through all the work of swapping motors and engine harness, the best route will be to use a LS1 style motor. You will get more base performance and none of the optispark problems.

That about sums it up. Plus the fact that you can buy A 6.0 with a 4l80e from a salvage yard for about $1500 and now you have a motor that can make 450HP with just the basics (cam,headers ECT) and a transmission that will hold up to 700 plus HP.

FWIW my friends 6.0 with nothing more then a 228/232 cam,Headers and exhaust, and a Paxton novi with 9# and a meth kit just made 646RW and ran 11.4@136 on street tires@3400 pounds.The shortblock and heads have never been touched. The tuner ,East coast supercharging told him that just pulling the restrictor plate out of the blower and retuning will get him another 100 HP easy and it will still live a long life. They have stock 6.0LS2s with 700 plus RW that have been together for 20000 miles with no problems.

 

[turboc87gn]

Depending on your pockets,A sbc carb swap is the cheapest by far and you can do it urself,no wiring headaches especially if ur starting with a base regal...If you want the latest and greatest and your pockets are deep then go ahead with the ls swap..Theres a much higher degree of difficulty but youll have a smoother running engine with better mileage different kinda swap that you can drive every day... sbc swaps are more common and will cost you thousands less and there may be a lil more in the area of maintainence ...depending on the level of performance you are lookin for etc....

 

[turboc87gn]

That about sums it up. Plus the fact that you can buy A 6.0 with a 4l80e from a salvage yard for about $1500 and now you have a motor that can make 450HP with just the basics (cam,headers ECT) and a transmission that will hold up to 700 plus HP.

FWIW my friends 6.0 with nothing more then a 228/232 cam,Headers and exhaust, and a Paxton novi with 9# and a meth kit just made 646RW and ran 11.4@136 on street tires@3400 pounds.The shortblock and heads have never been touched. The tuner ,East coast supercharging told him that just pulling the restrictor plate out of the blower and retuning will get him another 100 HP easy and it will still live a long life. They have stock 6.0LS2s with 700 plus RW that have been together for 20000 miles with no problems.

That looks like a lot of $$$$ to me... A 6.0 for $1500 will prolly be a truck motor and prolly wont come with a transmission at that price unless its got a bazillion miles on it, ive priced them here in case i need a replacement for the 6.0 in my van,idk about where you live.. youll need an intake$2-400,headers$5-600,cam and lifters ,$1000 +,meth kit ,$500,supercharger kit $1900+,wiring harness and computer$1000+,paying a tuner to get it all right ????....Plus the trans will need work to get it support high hp...Its easy to look at what someone else did and say oh you can do that no prob..But try to do it yourself and you open pandoras box...Im telling you from what ive done before myself and helped others do..Do your homework before you pick your poison.....hth

 

[jleews6]

That looks like a lot of $$$$ to me... A 6.0 for $1500 will prolly be a truck motor and prolly wont come with a transmission at that price unless its got a bazillion miles on it, ive priced them here in case i need a replacement for the 6.0 in my van,idk about where you live.. youll need an intake$2-400,headers$5-600,cam and lifters ,$1000 +,meth kit ,$500,supercharger kit $1900+,wiring harness and computer$1000+,paying a tuner to get it all right ????....Plus the trans will need work to get it support high hp...Its easy to look at what someone else did and say oh you can do that no prob..But try to do it yourself and you open pandoras box...Im telling you from what ive done before myself and helped others do..Do your homework before you pick your poison.....hth

LOL There are a couple of well respected on here that can tell you about some of the cars I have built.In the past 25 years I have been down this road a "few" times.:biggrin: I know it would cost but for what your getting (HP per $$) its about the best way to go. If you want to find a 6.0 and a 4l80E go to copart. You will find a ton of them at good deals. I just sold a 2005 6.0 with 64K on it for $900 and it was complete. Still had the belt on it.

Im in the middle of building a fake T type with a turbo 6.0 . Its going to be my wifes driver because she misses her WE4.:smile:

 

[beastoakland]

LOL There are a couple of well respected on here that can tell you about some of the cars I have built.In the past 25 years I have been down this road a "few" times.:biggrin: I know it would cost but for what your getting (HP per $$) its about the best way to go. If you want to find a 6.0 and a 4l80E go to copart. You will find a ton of them at good deals. I just sold a 2005 6.0 with 64K on it for $900 and it was complete. Still had the belt on it.

Im in the middle of building a fake T type with a turbo 6.0 . Its going to be my wifes driver because she misses her WE4.:smile:

Someone else told me this and i checked it out online and i found about 10 engine/trans ready to be picked up no more than $1500 and 120k miles max....i cant wait to start my swap soon.

 

[RegalT-type85]

I agree with everyone on LS choice, LT was just a stepping stone to better tech like today's tech (LS-so on)

If anything The V8 carb or EFI is also a good choice,forced induction would be even better.on V8.

 

[turboc87gn]

LOL There are a couple of well respected on here that can tell you about some of the cars I have built.In the past 25 years I have been down this road a "few" times.:biggrin: I know it would cost but for what your getting (HP per $$) its about the best way to go. If you want to find a 6.0 and a 4l80E go to copart. You will find a ton of them at good deals. I just sold a 2005 6.0 with 64K on it for $900 and it was complete. Still had the belt on it.

Im in the middle of building a fake T type with a turbo 6.0 . Its going to be my wifes driver because she misses her WE4.:smile:

You have a link because everything i found for copart was vehicles for sale /auction..where are you guys finding the engines /parts?