Red Headed Stepchild-75 Swinger LSX Swap

[SwingerLSX75]

Well the slant and 904 has left the building. It went on to its new home to replace one with a blown head gasket so an older Mopar gent could get his daughter into a car. Before it left I decided to do a side by side with the 904 and the turbo 400.

I have to do a little massaging to that lip I'm told in the top of the tunnel but other than that I plan on having it up and relatively in the right place tomorrow.

After doing a test fit using the lift to get it roughly into position where the pan wasnt resting on the center link, stock truck mounts still bolted in and resting on the stock slant 6 mounts and a support under the oil pan, the motor will definitely have to slide to the rear quite a bit (and up a little i think) to meet the trans and will definitely need a much shorter oil pan or a front sump. Once its slid back in the right position the crank pulley will basically be sitting right above the cross member and leave gobs of room up front, but i dont think the truck intake that came with the motor. I think it's definitely going to need a more low profile car/aftermarket intake to clear the hood, or get a scoop.

 

[SwingerLSX75]

Slowed down a little bit today, I cut the lip in the tunnel and bent it back to allow a little extra clearance for that 400 today.
Also lowered the motor and back a little bit to see how the mounts would line up. This is where it lines up with the factory Truck mount installed. However in this pic the motor was lowered straight down, rather than the position it needs to be in.

I think I think i found the set of mounts im going to go with. itll put them in a good spot and have a ton of adjustability. By that I mean avle to adjust it to the right position before welding in.
Dirty Dingo Motorsports

 

[GGs66GT]

Art Carr at California Transmission builds a strong 200R4 that will handle the power and give you 4 speeds with overdrive 4th and fit like the 904.

 

[SwingerLSX75]

Art Carr at California Transmission builds a strong 200R4 that will handle the power and give you 4 speeds with overdrive 4th and fit like the 904.

I looked there, but that's about $3500 for the transmission and converter, and this being a more budget minded swap, that trans would basically cost as much as everything else I need for this swap. I appreciate the information though.

 

[Lewis]

Nice thread to watch and learn...starting on a 5.3 LS swap myself on a 69' Valiant...keep up the great work

 

[SwingerLSX75]

Well today i decided to go ahead and drop the oil pan off the motor and see if I couldn't get the turbo 400 in place and bolted up to the motor. You can see the results of those efforts below. Much like LSX Valiants thread I found out the rear tunnel area needed a little trimming since the turbo 400 is a little thicker further back, and I took Danny's advice and cut tapped back the lip in the front of the tunnel to make sure I had clearance. I will work on the rear part of the tunnel either this weekend or next week sometime as I have plans with my kids most of the weekend.

Despite the tunnel being notched a little bit it still got lined up pretty well with the huge truck oil pan off the motor. Its leaning a little bit right now do to it being block up to try and get the height right for measuring for a pan/motor mounts. but using the template I traced from my brothers 2" adjustable dirty dingo mounts, I will most likely be going with on of their sets as they will require the least amount of modification to make it fit, and it wouldn't change the current height of the motor much. Once I finish the tunnel and lift the read of the turbo 400 up, it should help with the angle of the motor too.

With these manifolds flipped like this, there is no interference with the steering box(mine was power steering, which i'm going to try and retrofit the new ps pump and keep it. But they are also a tad long to fit a t4 on there so im goong to shorten them and move the vband back so i can fit the turbo im there properly.

Overall happy with the progress so far this week. Gonna take a break for a few days and spend some time with the kids so it'll be a few days b4 my next update.

 

[SwingerLSX75]

Well after some digging and almost starting on a set of mounts myself i found somone who just recently made a set to put an LS into his 74 Dart, /6 car originally as well.

These are early pics and he will be finishing them next week. He found some bushings to make them non-solid mounts and he is going to test fit next week and verify everything fits before sending them down. They will require me to shorten the passenger side like most of Schumachers 73-76 mounts would have as well.

Luckily he was nice enough to make a second set and allow me to buy them(significantly less than any other guaranteed to work set I've found). So hopefully I'll have those next week and the motor solidly in place. He went with the GTO pan as most with LS swapped Mopars have, which may as well be my route when the time comes but i have a couple other avenues to explore in that aspect before i commit to cutting up my kmember and endangering my hotchkis sway bar.

 

[SwingerLSX75]

This week I didn't get much done because I was spending some time with my kids before they head back to my mom and dad's in NC for school. But I did put the water-pump up there along with the PS and alt to get a feel for how much room ill have in the engine bay. Alternator is a little high but once I get the mounts from Dave ill know for sure where we stand on the clearance. If its too high then I could use a hood scoop(which I don't really want to for stealth purposes) or a low mount alternator.

I also took some pictures measuring clearances on the steering shaft side of things. Some of these will change slightly when the mounts are installed, but it gives you an idea of how everything will clear. Ill throw another one up later with the intake on there too.

 

[HemiDenny]

l really like to watch builds like this....ingenuity on steroids.

 

[SwingerLSX75]

l really like to watch builds like this....ingenuity on steroids.

It definitely makes you use your noodle. Because you have a very small amount of resources to pull information from. Plus going a different route than everyone else is a good learning experience because it hasn't been done enough. So you end up learning a lot more than doing the typical swaps that are overdone and have cookie cutter build sheets where you can just plug and play all the parts. When you do it that way some of the magic of making it all work and come together I think is lost. Dave and I are kinda like a two headed dragon with this because were both doing similar swaps and both doing them at the exact same time. So we're also kinda learning on each other for lessons learned and tidbits of information.

 

[813Demon340]

I really like your build thread. I'm going to be swapping an LS into my 68 AMX, but just might have to see how one fits in my Demon since it will be on the hoist. Keep up the great work and updates.

 

[Canyon]

Love the thread. Think I'll be doing the same thing to my 74 just can't beat the price, strength, and power of the ls. Doesn't help I've been watching tons of sloppy mechanics seeing what can be done with the motors and the power they make.

 

[SwingerLSX75]

Love the thread. Think I'll be doing the same thing to my 74 just can't beat the price, strength, and power of the ls. Doesn't help I've been watching tons of sloppy mechanics seeing what can be done with the motors and the power they make.

Very true. I'm waiting on Dave to do the mounts right now. Rumor has it he is making a few sets of mounts, so you could sweet talk him into selling you a set. His also allows you to run the truck accessories and clear the stock hood.

 

[Canyon]

Very true. I'm waiting on Dave to do the mounts right now. Rumor has it he is making a few sets of mounts, so you could sweet talk him into selling you a set. His also allows you to run the truck accessories and clear the stock hood.

You should pm his info! See if I can snag a pair. I can't wait to see more progress! What are your plans for the wiring?

 

[SwingerLSX75]

You should pm his info! See if I can snag a pair. I can't wait to see more progress! What are your plans for the wiring?

I plan on modifying a factory harness myself, much more budget friendly. But i also plan on using a drive by cable system, not the drive by wire that this engine originally came with. if it doesn't pan out then maybe I'll go megasquirt gold box or something. Seems to be alot of success there with turbo ls swaps.

 

[Canyon]

I plan on modifying a a factory harness myself, much more budget friendly. But i also plan on using a drive by cable system, not the drive by wire that this engine originally came with. if it doesn't pan out then maybe I'll go megasquirt gold box or something. Seems to be alot of success there with turbo ls swaps.

Well budget friendly is nice! You'll have to show us how you do it I'm very interested!

 

[daveakre]

I plan on modifying a factory harness myself, much more budget friendly. But i also plan on using a drive by cable system, not the drive by wire that this engine originally came with. if it doesn't pan out then maybe I'll go megasquirt gold box or something. Seems to be alot of success there with turbo ls swaps.

The issue with going with an OE harness and PCM is that you still either have to spend $600 on HP Tuners to tune it, or hire someone to tune it for you. So by the time you're done, you're still probably $1k into it.

 

[Canyon]

The issue with going with an OE harness and PCM is that you still either have to spend $600 on HP Tuners to tune it, or hire someone to tune it for you. So by the time you're done, you're still probably $1k into it.

What route are you going Dave? The wiring is the one thing stopping me from starting on the swap right now.

 

[daveakre]

What route are you going Dave? The wiring is the one thing stopping me from starting on the swap right now.

I'm planning on using a gold box and micro tcm setup from EFI Source. Not super cheap, but it has a custom harness, lets me control the electronic transmission, and even comes preloaded with a Sloppy base tune.

LS Gold Box & TCU Package - EFI Source

 

[Canyon]

I'm planning on using a gold box and micro tcm setup from EFI Source. Not super cheap, but it has a custom harness, lets me control the electronic transmission, and even comes preloaded with a Sloppy base tune.

LS Gold Box & TCU Package - EFI Source

Was looking at it just last night. Is it a fairly easy install as in wiring it into a non gm vehicle? Sorry for the probably noob questions wiring is not my strong point lol

 

[SwingerLSX75]

I have a guy local that's been tuning my cars for me for the last 8 years or so. He can do any thing from slightly over stock to twin turbo 1200hp monsters. So he doesn't gouge me on price. I was also looking at the option Dave mentioned above, as well as the more basic micro squirt setup for $395 that id have ti finsih wiring myself.

there is also this lit feom FITECH
Ultimate LS Standalone ECU – w/o Trans Control – FiTech Fuel Injection
so many options to choose from, it all really depends on budget and options you want it to have.

 

[SwingerLSX75]

Well there hasn't been a ton of progress as of late with getting everything for the kids to go back to school and spending as much time with them as i could before they started back on the 28th. But over the weekend i was given a new radiator/fan out of a 82 Chevy fbody. While it is a little larger than I originally planned for, id prefer overcooling vs undercooling. So with a little trimming on the ends it fit in the spot just fine. No I will not be sticking with the tiny single fan, I'll most likely be running either a large set of shrouded fans, or a large one and that one on the side where the turbo is placed if i need the space. Buy hopefully the motor mounts will be here this weekend so i can officially set it in place and measure for my pan and continue from there. Going to get the valve covers powdercoated red soon so they match the car, and repaint the accessory brackets silver to match the valley cover i did, so they dont look so drab and brightens up the front of the motor. The manifolds will still be shortened about 2.5-3" whichshould give me all the clearance i need for the turbo and everytjing around the radiator. But hey, free parts is free parts.

 

[Johnny Mac]

I picked up a junkyard radiator like that back when i was young and strapped for cash. Lasted one race day and blew a tank clean off... needless to say i ended up with a cheap all aluminum dual core for like $120 at the time, which made the $45 i wasted on the single row plastic tanked jobbie sting even worst.lol. hopefully that one holds together for you and does the job!

 

[SwingerLSX75]

I picked up a junkyard radiator like that back when i was young and strapped for cash. Lasted one race day and blew a tank clean off... needless to say i ended up with a cheap all aluminum dual core for like $120 at the time, which made the $45 i wasted on the single row plastic tanked jobbie sting even worst.lol. hopefully that one holds together for you and does the job!

it was free so im not mad at the price. if it fails ill throw an aluminum one in there that's the same size.

 

[SwingerLSX75]

With that radiator in place, it opened my eyes to how much space i dont have to put a turbo. So I ended up shortening the manifolds 2 3/4" on each side to give me quite a bit more room for hot and cold side parts and better turbo placement.

This is also the general location i plan to put the turbo in. I may have to trim/massage the inner fenderwell area to give me the best placement for the turbo and exhaust.