my lq9/4l80 stuff w/ pics

[blubaldmontess]

OK, so I figured I would share the prices of the swap, so if anybody wanted to ask questions or do it, they could just let me know. I'll try to give websites where I got or did the stuff as well. Right now we're figuring with this swap we're going to get a mid/high 11's car out of this with a little more than stock motor and a 4l80 trans.

4l80 and 6.0 LQ9 from salvage yard with 65k miles--$2300

wiring harness local salvage yard w/ puter (for 4l60) $125

rewiring harness/programming computer (done by jesse @ www.wait4meperformance.com ) $350.00

Complete LS1 front end accesory brackets, ect--$800 local dealership

Transdapt Motor Mounts--$60 from summit

Trans crossmember from Summit for--$220

Fuel Filter from Napa for 00 Corvette--$60

Mini Starter from Summit Racing--159.99

ZO6 cam,springs/pushrods used from www.ls1tech.com --150

Headers from BRPHotrods.com--525.00

CAI from Ebaymotors--100.00

Driveshaft shortened--160.00

Fuel lines and fittings--100.00

Fuel Sending unit from gbodyparts.com 180.00

Throttle cable Lokar from summit--45.00

Steering shaft from jeep ebaymotors--65.00

Wiring harness to make 4l60 harness work on 4l80 trans from www.speartech.com--180.00

radiator top plate from ss4ever--50

electric fans from intrepid on craigslist--50

Guages for speedo and Tach from summit--300 (depends on which ones you buy though.)

Thats what I can think of right now, about 5500 bucks total, yes somet things on there are "extras" and you could probably take about 1k off that price tag w/o headers and cam and ministarter. The reason I didn't use the Motor Mounts/crossmember from BRP in the end was that it sat a little too high for comfort with the truck intake I used. The Jeep steering shaft was used to help clear the headers.

If you want to do the swap and save money, try getting an ls1, this way you can cut back on the front end acesories but you'll have to get a different pan or you can get teh 5.3 or 4.8 and still have fuel injection. The wiring harness, I would have just bought one from GM, even though its 1k, its a much easier plug in. The swap isn't bad though, once you do it, you realize that its not as bad as everybody makes it sound, specially when you look at it. I went through emissions yesterday, and was only 1/5 of what i was alotted, passed wtih FLYING colors!!!! I have 4.11 gears in the monte, drove around town and highway, got 23/25 mpg...and its more streetable than my last combo.

Websites to learn from:

www.ls1tech.com
www.wait4meperformance.com
www.gmperformanceparts.com
www.speartech.com
www.maliburacing.com

thats all I can think of right now


if there is anything specific you want for the pics, please let me know, I'll try and get them for you.

Otis

OK, so heres teh swap guys. Pictures here have the following the first has the gauges (electric) all work just fine, old and new. There is also pics of the 3" cats on there. The oil pan is the truck pan, stock, but its a little too long so eventually I'll get the shorter one from the CTS-V. What else, the clearance is good almost all teh way around, a few little problems. Also the water pump and the harmonic balancer are still from a truck, as I've not gotten back around to get things done...like I said, its driving now. Oh, the computer is in the front drivers side of the car, adn the fuse block is from a cavalier.

Yes, car gets 22+ MPG right now with the 8.5 rearend and 4.11 gears. As soon as I get some timeslips they'll be posted, and I'm going to scan my emissions sheet, just to show how well it really did.

 

[Cutlass3800]

Complete LS1 front end accesory brackets, ect--$800 local dealership

I don't see an AC compressor. Are you running power steering? When you say "complete LS1 front end" do you mean new alternator, power steering pump, serpentine belt, tensioner, pulleys... the whole kit 'n kaboodle?

For fuel line, did you run a high pressure rubber line?


Thanks!

 

[Roller406Bu]

never seen a serpentine belt routed that way....

 

[blubaldmontess]

LOL, neither had we, but thats the way it went on and hasn't overheated, had any problems ect.

Cutlass--when I say 800, that was the whole kit, including the a/c bracket and a/c compressor, the power steering pump and pulley...alternator and bracket. Talk to these guys: http://www.sdparts.com/ they usually have the best prices. Junkyards work too. You may want to see where Ralph (boostedlq9 i believe) as he did the whole front end with corvette accesory kit.

Any other questions jsut ask away guys. I know mine looks different than others, as each one will I'm working on getting more for it, such as the FAST 90 mm intake and throttle body, then getting the air intake hose routed differently, getting the wires hidden better ect, but each of these things cost money that right now I don't have....yet...maybe I'll go sell my body

 

[87SS]

Looks great, thanks for the info.

Quick question. Did you end up using your stock gas tank? I was planning on reusing my old 16 gallon fuel cell with Aeromotive A1000 external fuel pump and filters that I used on the 400 and just change to an EFI regulator, but really hate having to pop the trunk, pop the cap and tell the attendant (full service here in NJ) not to overfill it each time I have to fill up.

Thought about just getting a gas tank for the 4.3 FI Monte instead, just not sure how to incorporate the pump, filters and AN-10 line I currently have now in the car since the feeds would be coming from the top of the gas tank. Maybe a sumped stock tank with AN fittings welded in and some sort of sending unit for the gas gauge?

 

[blubaldmontess]

Forgot, yes high pressrue rubber hosing is what my fuel lines are. If you remind me saturday I'll get a picture of how its running...

As for the gas tank, I'm running a stock SS tank, an in tank pump and the FI sending unit. The only other way I could see getting around it is to buy a custom made, or have one custom made, tank with the sump and the sending unit on bottom. You can go out and find the FI tank, I bought one and didn't see that big a difference, specially not for daily driving, so I returned it and got my 180 bucks back.

theres always one popping up in teh for sale section:

http://www.maliburacing.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=84362&hilit=sumped+tank

This one has a picture showing the sump on bottom:
http://www.maliburacing.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=82415&hilit=sump+tank

But you get the idea

Any other questions I'll help the best I can...enough people on here with info that it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[87SS]

Got it. Thanks for the help.

 

[Cutlass3800]

I wasn't aware that there were wiring issues associated with using a 4L80e transmission instead of a 4L60e. I just assumed that the wiring harness would be the same for the two transmissions - afterall, they are both computer controlled 4-speed automatic transmissions so why would GM design two different harnesses? $180 for an adapter would suggest that it's not simply a matter of soldering on a different plug either.

 

[blubaldmontess]

The plug issue is this in three steps.

One--either when tuning your computer or having somebody tune it, make sure that they put in the info to have a 4l80 as a transmission. My wiring harness came off a truck with a 4l60, and the 4l80 came with the motor so I had the programmer ( www.wait4meperformance.com ) put it in there. If you buy the efilive kit, you can simply go to teh website, copy it and drag it into the computer when you do the tune. Also reset your rpm to shift ratio to work with what the transmission has to get best performance

Two--the wiring harness is because instead of one VSS speed sensor, the 4l80 came with two. When you get this wiring harness, it is almost as simple as plug and play, teh only thing you have to do is hook it to the transmission and then hook two of the pins into the plug. You can see it in my picture it is two wires, one red and one blue wire that are running down the drivers side.

Three--Make sure you don't hook any other wires to your VSS. I did this with my speedo wire, and it caused it to shift only at full...vaccum I want to say, but basically it used all power to shift meaning that if i was on it, I'd hit the rev limiter then shift on every shift and it would throw the rearend sideways every time...very hard on the back and on the car itself!

Again, more questions ask away guys...I'm like everybody else, here to help!

 

[Monte LS...1]

Currently working on a ls1/4l65e swap in my 87 monte ls. I'd like to keep the column shift in the car, but the linkage rod right off the column runs into the manifolds. I was wondering if you kept the column shift and if you did, did you run into the same problem and possibly come up with a good solution for it? Any info would be great as I've searched about 5 hours on the net tonight alone lol.