Goose Poop - my '95 LS swap project (1 Viewer)

[JohnnyFish]

Five weeks ago at 6 in the morning, @Wopega posted his locked '95 for sale in Ft. Worth for $1000. I DM'ed him about 20 minutes later and was first in a long line. Bryon was awesome to work with, and that Friday evening I dragged it home to Austin.

It had been sitting at a Ft. Worth Landcruiser shop for three years since the head gasket had blown. Bryon was in no hurry to have it fixed because he had found this incredible supercharged 97 CE. Nice of him to winch Goose Poop onto the trailer for me.

The drive south on 35 was a little sketchy until I took the cylinder head out of the back of the truck and put it on the tray on the front of the trailer. It towed nicely after that.

 

[JohnnyFish]

Bryon said it had rust but nothing eating though, which is exactly right. I ran the carfax and found that it spent its first eight years in Chicago. Coincidentally that weekend we watched "Last Dance" about Jordan's Chicago Bulls, and in that show Bulls championship guard B.J. Armstrong was driving a green 80 with the damage multiplier brush bar just like this truck. It was registered in a town within a few miles of the Bulls practice facility. I've pulled out 90's aftermarket cell phone equipment, a high end 90's grill mounted radar detector, and some serious audio wiring going to the cargo area. I've decided this was his truck, which makes this the second movie truck I've owned. If you saw "The Lost Husband", I owned that blue '72 GMC pickup at the time.

 

[JohnnyFish]

I pulled it into the garage, disconnected the trans from the engine, and pulled the later two weekends ago.

 

[JohnnyFish]

 

[JohnnyFish]

Rust is such a pain in the ass. I haven't found any in the body worth mentioning (less in fact than a couple of "rust free" 80's I've had before) but all of the fasteners underneath are of course a struggle. This is the transmission and transfer case linkage.

 

[JohnnyFish]

So this is how Goose Poop sits now, ready for my Land Cruiser Shop LS mounts, the $500 quarry truck 4.8 with cam and springs that was my first LS build, a marks adapter and craigslist 4l80e. I've gone with Holly instead of an unlocked stock ECU and harness.

 

[lazy]

I'm curious how the 4l80e will work. I'm having hell with mine trying to get the double cardan drive shaft to fit. I had the cat trimmed and pushed in a bit. But the tranny pan is still in the way. I have the stock in now and it grinds like a mofo on the interstate and the cat was in the way. A better fabricator than myself could probably have made it work better. I'm about to pull the tranny pan and knock a little corner out.

 

[JohnnyFish]

I'm curious how the 4l80e will work. I'm having hell with mine trying to get the double cardan drive shaft to fit. I had the cat trimmed and pushed in a bit. But the tranny pan is still in the way. I have the stock in now and it grinds like a mofo on the interstate and the cat was in the way. A better fabricator than myself could probably have made it work better. I'm about to pull the tranny pan and knock a little corner out.

What did you for engine mounts? The LC shop instructions say to shift the engine drivers side as far as possible, maybe for that reason.

 

[lazy]

What did you for engine mounts? The LC shop instructions say to shift the engine drivers side as far as possible, maybe for that reason.

I dont remember, but i can't go driver's side any further because of the power steering pump (and i already took the hydra boost arm off and welded it shut).

EDIT: I looked up my motor mounts, Advance Adapters. I cut off the drivers side a bit to get it to work.

713088 : GM Vortec LS series engine mount kit | Advance Adapters

Advance Adapter These sturdy weld-in engine mounts allow the installer to fine-tune the engine placement according to transmission placement or other needs. A double rubber cushion on each side provides vibration isolation at the ends of the two mounts. ...

www.advanceadapters.com

 

[JohnnyFish]

Tuesday night I took the exhaust out by cutting the bolts at both flanges with a grinder and cutoff disk. That wasn't as much fun as it sounds like.

 

[STFU]

Will be watching this thread as I am getting ready to do a simialr swap. Just building my 6.0 right now, getting ready to dump it in over the winter. I too have the Marks adapter and will be using the 4L80e and Landcruiser shop's engine mounts. Have you looked into adding the speed sensor tone ring to the output of the 4L80e yet?, It looks like this will be a requirement to make the ECU work, at least if using the stock GM electronics, maybe the Holley has a way around that.
What system are you using from Holley?

 

[JohnnyFish]

Will be watching this thread as I am getting ready to do a simialr swap.

This is my first time, so I'll be leaning on the LS thread here heavily. I've learned most of my LS stuff from Matt Happel's Sloppy Mechanics YouTube channel. Specifically the "Don't BS me build" video series.

What system are you using from Holley?

Holley Terminator X MAX

Holley Terminator X MAX Engine Management Systems - Free Shipping on Orders Over $109 at Summit Racing

Find Holley Terminator X MAX Engine Management Systems and get Free Shipping on Orders Over $109 at Summit Racing! Holley Terminator X MAX engine management systems let you take control of your domestic V8 engine. They give you complete charge of your engine and self-learning fuel strategies...

www.summitracing.com

 

[STFU]

That Holley system is pretty appealing. At first glance I thought it was too much money considering that I already have the ECU and harness from GM, but I was planning to just buy a stripped down stand alone harness to simplify my install and that is $500-800 by its self, then I need to have the ECU reprogrammed, and probably tuned (big cam, intake, injectors...). The gap in price closes quickly.

I currently run a Holey Sniper system on a built 6.0 LS in my 64 cutlass and it works flawlessly. The self tuning and the 3" touch screen system is nice and I havent felt the need to get it tuned on a dyno by a Pro (though Im sure they could squeeze some more horsies out of it).

 

[JohnnyFish]

That Holley system is pretty appealing. At first glance I thought it was too much money considering that I already have the ECU and harness from GM, but I was planning to just buy a stripped down stand alone harness to simplify my install and that is $500-800 by its self, then I need to have the ECU reprogrammed, and probably tuned (big cam, intake, injectors...). The gap in price closes quickly.

My thinking exactly. If you have to have more than one tuning session, your DIY savings go out the window pretty quick.

 

[lazy]

The computer will need to know the input and output of the tranny. If you didn't get a 2wd 4l80e, I am pretty confident you'll have to put a reluctor ring in the bottom of the trans. It's at least a question I would ask Holley before getting too far down the road. A stock ECU is a must.

The good new is, it isn't that difficult to pull the guts and put it all back together and the ring is only $35. My notes from doing it....

Impending Vortec Swap

Posted over at ls1tech.com about the output carrier. We'll see if they have any other opinions. 4l80e output carrier chipped - LS1TECH

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[STFU]

Thanks, a little more research is in order I guess. I have a 4wd 4l80e. I think the Marks kit I bought will work with a 2wd trans too, but need to cut the output shaft down iirc.

 

[thatcabledude]

One thing about the Holly harnesses is that they lay out like crap. Not clean looking harness at all. I know a lot of people don’t like electrical, but reworking the engine’s factory harness is very easy and obviously saves a lot of money. And you can route it however you like and place the ECU wherever you like.

Just my .02.

 

[STFU]

Valid point, I wasn’t aware of that with the Holley stuff. My Sniper system was pretty clean and tidy. I don’t mind wiring, but my time is worth something and is better spent on other portions of the project that will require fab work and custom solutions. Figured an out of the box answer for this might be the way to go. Off to do more research...

 

[Brav]

We do a lot of LS swaps (classic hot rods not Toyotas) at my shop but I would recommend sticking with GM computer and harness, unless you have a wild build and a local Holley tuner. Get a professional custom harness made (PSI), use stock computer, have parts and diagnostics readily available. Have a reliable truck with $millions of R&D into the LS platform from GM.

 

[Wopega]

Glad the green 80 is going to good use, can't wait to see more on your build. You were such a great buyer to work with.