Things I'd do different if I did another LT1 swap

Deuce4935

Frequent Racer
Nov 19, 2007
341
0
0
Chicago, Il
jthawk71 said:
Lets see costs... its a tough one to answer because there are fabricator guys and farm it out guys but since you said farm it out in your post Ill assume your the later Ill forget something Im sure but here goes,and oh it sure helps that you have the donor car, 1. Fuel sys about $1000(rock valley tank a/n lines rear exit kit)
2. air cleaner assy $100(jtr tubes and elbows)
3. wiring $900 ( using painless and making up c/f relays)
4. cooling $800 (use a fbody be cool, used twin fans new hoses)
5. crossmember, d/shaft $400(shorten d shaft,new crossmember)
6. exhaust $300
7. throttle cable $70
8. p/s $100 (a/n fittings hoses adapters using imp res.
9. crap I forgot and do dads + $2000
man thats over 5k thats sounds high, but there it is, the cool factor is way worth it tho. If it were me and I had the donor car I would do everything I could to keep cost down using everything I could from the imp, I explained that in the thread. Man was it worth it lt1 is a great motor It just plain hauls ### I would and will do it again.

If he has the complete donor car, he could shave 4500 from the 900 and have the factory harness reworked by Speartech. He could use his original radiator. He stated its a Caprice so theres no need for electric fans when the Caprices already have a clutch fan bolted to the engine. Use the fuel lines and pump from the Caprice with a junk yard 4.3 tank and sender. The power steering and everything else ties together without any expensive parts. And the 450 he saved on the harness could be used for a set of headers and an exhaust system.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Is a suitable fuel tank available for a station wagon? I have not found one.
 

Doober

Moderator
Jun 2, 2003
14,704
1
38
Catalina, AZ
www.cardomain.com
Wagons were never built with EFI, so you'll need to come up with another solution. Some have the tank sumped, some run a fuel cell that's already sumped.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
The El Camino tank does not swap to the wagon. The wagon has a trunk in the back sharing space with the tank. They aren't close in shape.
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fatboy

Weekend Racer
Dec 8, 2009
61
2
8
Great Bend, Kansas
I am doing a 79 Malibu with the LT1 out of a Firebird. I wonder if the Caprice serpentine system will fit better than the Fbody set up and what to look for when buying one of these. I really need to be sure, I am in Kansas and the yard I am dealing with will have it shipped in but all sales are obviously final. Thanks a bunch in advance for you help!!!
 

Sd2369

Member
Mar 8, 2012
6
0
0
I put a lt1 in a car where it didn't belong (90 Nissan 240sx).
I used an accel dfi 6.0 computer that I bought off of eBay ,It came with main harness connector. Then I used stock harness to build my own. The engine came from a roadmaster with brackets. The water pump is about half the cost of the f body unit.

It can be done reasonably with a little searching.
 

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