LS Swapping an Abandoned 2nd Gen Camaro (former race car)
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- Опубліковано 21 сер 2024
- A while back we came across a forgotten 1978 Camaro z28 in a storage shed. It was a rolling shell of a former drag car, robbed of it's original 350/th350 combo, and the perfect candidate for an LS swap. We walk you through the entire process including finding a donor vehicle (a Chevy Suburban with an LM7 5.3), performing a cam and spring swap, building the trans, engine mounts, fuel systems, etc.
We also cover what areas are good to save money (for those performing a budget minded LS swap) and areas that are worth spending extra.
During the process our roller Camaro has turned out to be much more incomplete than we originally thought. In future videos we'll cover installing vintage air, building a dash and gauge panel, wiring, and much more. - Авто та транспорт
It’s crazy how your channel is so high quality and not enough views. Keep up the great work y’all’s channel will blow up !
appreciate it! thanks!
This is the exact thing I wanna do something that looks good and is reliable
👍
I see that 60s C10 in there. I literally bought a 79 race project with a cage in it with a 6.0 ls out of a truck and I’m throwing it all together snd putting a 12:1 compression 350 in the C10
Sounds cool. The c10 has a pretty basic 350 in it. It's getting a swap shortly and we've got a few videos coming out about it soon.
You are making some really high quality videos. Great job man!
Appreciate that!
Wow, this is like motortrend quality production. Really impressive considering the small amount of subscribers. I have an 80 and want to do an ls swap, so thanks for the video.
Wow, thank you! Good luck with your swap.
Great video 👍 Lots of trial-and-error. I did this in my Camaro back in 2007. When the parts were not available like they are today.
These videos are amazing!
Glad you like them. Thanks for watching!
We bought an impounded/abandoned 79z28 and it actually turned out to be way less of a project than we expected and it only needed a new battery to have it running. We will be starting our project of turning it into a fun and cosmetically appealing dragster next week. Definitely inspired by your video
My dad owns 2 the first one he bought it with my grandfather in the 70s-80s and the second one he bought it in 2018 he told me when I get my license after 1 year he would give me one of his camros can't wait for it to do an engine swap
Wish me luck bois I don’t have much experience at swaps or much at all and I think I’ll be picking up a 01 slp ss roller and swap lq4! So dam glad I found this channel super high quality
Sounds awesome! Good luck.
U couldn't find an easier generation f body to begin with....4th gens are a p.i.t.a.
Very professional video and great information. Subscribed
I’m looking forward for the videos. I also have a 78 camaro that I will be doing the same thing to it, I haven’t started yet, but I bought the swap in a box from summit racing as well as the direct fit fuel tank with pump for fuel injection it ran me about 1300 for both, I’m interested in what kind of intake you will be using and I’m really looking forward to the videos.....
Right on! Having all the pieces ready and all together probably make sit much less painful. We're just using a stock truck manifold for now. We'll have some new Camaro videos out soon...finishing up our wiring and fuel system plumbing and hopefully doing the first fire in the next 2 weeks.
Thanks for watching!
As far as on the 2nd gen Camaro, the 4th gen F-body LS oil pan will work if you set the engine back a bit. Also, 98 F-body exhaust manifolds will clear everything. They're unique to 1998 & early '99 cars and a bit rare. Last, a factory driveshaft from a mid 80s to early 90s 2wd S10 blazer is said to fit perfectly with the swap.
Sweet! good info. We ended up cutting the truck pan & pickup. We'll end up just shortening our stock driveshaft a few inches...it's close though.
@@BLVCKFLAGD I received my sticker today. I had forgotten about it and I had no idea what the envelope was. As soon as I opened it I smiled. I picked the sticker of this Camaro. The 78-81 Camaro hits a sweet spot in my heart as my 79 was my first car (nearly 20 years ago).
I enjoyed watching your Info video and I'm looking forward to your swap/build. I've got a 78' 1 owner LT Camaro. The straight 6 has served me well, kept me from tearing it up, but it is tired and I'm ready for a change.
Nice
Dude I love this channel!
I appreciate that!
Heads up ppl idk if it was mentioned but no you can't use truck exhaust manifolds, but what does work I recommend is the ls3 manifolds from 5th gen camaros if you want budget budget 👍
When i first started I scored ls1 oil pan kit for 60$ bucks so I got lucky there
Good info. Thanks!
Like the ls swap headers or u talking abt stock manifolds?
@@alexishuerta9087 stock manifolds.
I’m doing a 5.3 LS swap on a 82 Z28, great info here
Woa look! another ls swap
👍 looks good dude!
Thanks! Appreciate it.
I stumbled across you guys, I have a '74 with all the Parts, have a spare cluster if ya want it.. Dakota digital also makes a retrofit one.. so I'm curious to watch the LS swap process since my project is just starting (though I have an original 350 with TH 350)
Nice. All the little extra stuff is hard too track down, but we decided to build a sheet metal cluster with custom wiring.
Thanks, I am in the middle of a similar swap. Single turbo, using the CX Racing kit. My issue is brake booster clearance from the headers.
I ended up buying a master cylinder/brake booster kit that was smaller in diameter and angled upward. Jegs #555-631432. Mine was hitting on the roll cage in the engine bay. Don't know what car you're working with but fixed my issue.
So I might need to keep this video handy. My dad and I are going to look at a 77 roller and we have the 5.3 LM7 already sitting in the garage(engine, transmission, or harness). What kinds of power goals were you looking to make?
This ones just mostly stock with cam, springs, and headers, so I'm happy with anything 400 or over
Chevy making parts from 1978 work with modern day parts for no reason
You found $1100 headers for $79? Come on man.
lucked out on a sale on the holley website...deal was only good for a few days
@@BLVCKFLAGD thats one heck of a deal brother!!! Maybe set them out on the ground, and make a video of them so we can see them better, a d try to copy some cheapie design from fleabay. Hopefully holley has them on sale again soon!!!
I have a 1980 z28 that I’m wanting to ls swap. Idk a lot about ls engines but I’ve heard that ls6 engines are good. Wanting to go cheap what can I get to produce 300-350+ hp. Also will I need to swap my th350 trans if I ls swap?
Basically any truck engine from 2000 or later will be a good candidate. Ours is a 5.3 (lm4 code) out of a 2000 suburban. We got the whole donor vehicle running and driving for $500. The biggest difference between something like the ls6 and our lm4 is the ls6 is aluminum and cost a lot more. Other than that they're basically the same platform. Truck engines were rated 285-295hp I believe, but a simple tune will get them above 300, and a cam swap will get you way more. You should be able to find a 5.3 (or even a 4.8) for around $300 already pulled from a junkyard. Really you can't go wrong with any ls-based engine. It just depends on how much you want to spend.
You should be able to use your th350 no problem. It will bolt right up just like it was a regular small block. You might need a different flexplate though for correct spacing with the crank and torque converter, but I don't have the info off the top of my head
Lot of work.
for sure
Are you doing anymore videos on this car it’s been awhile? I was looking forward to seeing how you run a vintage air kit with an ac relocation bracket. I’ll be trying to do the same
Yes, there's more videos to edit in this series and I've yet to put the whole vintage air kit on the car.
I have a 1979 Camaro Berlinetta that I'm looking to restore for a weekend cruiser. It was my dad's and has been sitting in the garage for almost 20 years. Are the things you're doing with this z28 applicable to my Berlinetta? My dad only broke the windshield awhile back so I believe it ran perfectly fine before he parked it but they don't have much power and in looking to give it a bit more flare for cheap. It's a 3-speed auto I believe.
yes, everything should be roughly the same for your car
great video this gave me alot more information that i couldn’t find anywhere, for example if the stock truck pan/ stock truck headers will fit in a second gen fbody. my only question is if the stock truck alternator bracket will fit?
I have 69 nova with a small block 350 with a turbo 350. I wanted to install a ls3 with a 4l80e into nova. The ? I had was which parts will make it easier to do the installation and best way to do it. Can you please let me know thanks.
My guess is somebody used this camaro as a parts car for another camaro they were building.
Guy I got it from robbed the engine and trans for his '32 ford he was building.
My 81 camaro had AC at one point and I'm wanting to use the AC off my donor truck. Can you guys do a video on hooking up the AC
yes, we'll do a video on a/c when we get to it
Me and my 15 year old son are going to put a L33 trailblazer motor in his 79 Firebird on the cheap, he bought the car himself for $500, we found a trailblazer for $400, so I’m trying to figure out what junkyard parts I can use to swap it, make our own mounts, 2000 Camaro radiator and fan, Spectre Efi fuel tank and Moroso pan. I need to figure out manifolds, front accessories, we are not modifying the motor so just the stock computer and hp tuners
Nice! If the firebird has the stock clamshells in it still, you should be able to fab something up pretty easily. Sometimes you can even drill a set of regular sbc mounts to work. We haven't had any issues with front accessories...everything stock works well as long as the power steering gear clears the steering box.
@@BLVCKFLAGD did you use the truck accessories?
@@xozindustries7451 yes. Donor was a 2000 suburban. We dropped the stock a/c compressor but it was on it's own belt apart from everything else. It would have hit on the camaro frame. We're doing vintage air on this one, so got an ict billet kit for a high mount a/c compressor. It works with the stock accessories but just needs a longer belt. If we weren't doing a/c, stock routing would have worked 100% with no mods.
I have 240Ls and doing v8 swap in there.
I just subscribed. I'm interested in the specifics of the 2nd gen Camaro swap. I'm getting ready to finally get my 79 back on the road after around 15yrs. I spent almost 20yrs as a mechanic building other people's cars so I'm very comfortable with the build. I'm just interested in the Camaro specifics. Parts you used that maybe I haven't seen befit before.
Awesome...if you have questions, just ask...we've got so much video on this swap we haven't edited yet, so there's a lot more to come. We fired it up about a month ago, but we're just behind on the videos
Love the project. You might want to change the title though. This is not a second generation. 2nd generation is 1970 to 1973. 👍
But Third gen starts in 1982. What's that make this?
Lmao imagine thinking you’re right. Second gen Camaro is from 70-81 bub.
Did you have to modify any of the accessory drive to make it fit in the 2nd gen F-body?
Depends on engine mounts. 1st mounts I was considering needed a smaller power steering pulley to clear the steering box. The final engine mounts I went with were all good so no modifications needed.
How much do you think the 0-60 gon be with just the stock ls3?
Can you do a video on wiring the ls
Yes, we'll do a video covering wiring soon
Why are the springs and cam also changed out? Everyone I’ve talked to say they’ve done that. Is it something to do with the engine management system?
A bigger cam usually makes more power, but also moves the power band higher up in the RPM range. The math equation for horsepower = torque X rpm/5252, so moving the power band up in rpm makes more horsepower if everything else were equal.
The stock cam in these engines is optimized for low end torque to move a 6,000 lb SUV, so when you swap it into a small car that weighs 3500 lbs, you don't need all the low end.
Because the new bigger cam has more lift (opens the valves more) it needs valve springs that won't bind up at full lift. They also need to be stronger to close the valves fully at high rpm. Stock springs will limit the amount of lift and rpm an engine can take. If you've heard of "valve float" that's when an engine can't rev any higher or make more power because the valves aren't fully closing.
Do you have a part number for that torque converter
how difficult would it be to run a tko500 tremec. i have a sbc and want to keep my manual conversion.
sbc trans will bolt right up to an ls, but it's the flywheel spacing that's tricky. I don't have part numbers but I know its a matter of using the correct flywheel clutch setup.
I just landed a mint 76 rally sport
Nice. These 2nd gens have really grown on us.
What engines fit these second gen Camaros?
Most came with a small block chevy...Trans am and firebird with pointiac engines....you can make just about anything fit. Engine bays are huge.
Alot
Where did you buy the headers?
Holley website. Occasionally they have really good deals and huge discounts, especially on discontinued products..
Is this car still for sale?
Sounds like to much work .
It has been...learning process
@@BLVCKFLAGD I bet my son wants to do that .To a 80s camaro.