CutLS

I've been putting this off long enough and decided that since I've come far on my swap I better share what I'm doing. I purchased a 1972 Cutlass S with a 2BBL 350 with a TH350 in May of 2010. It had a rounded off cam lobe and lifter. The car was from Arizona and has very little rust. I put in a cam and lifters and drove it home from my parents house. Last year I had seen a few cars getting more LS swaps and wanted to do it myself since the Olds was pretty slow and I was having Accelerator Pump issues. Last September I found a guy selling a "LS6 Engine & Trans". Not knowing the difference between an LS1 and LS6, I wasn't sur what it was because I had looked up what block code the LS6's had and it had the same as them, even though some LS1's used the same block. It was an LS1 and 4L60E from a 2000 Corvette and it came with the pedal, MAF sensor, PCM, a brake pedal(which I don't need), the fuel rail covers, and complete engine and trans harness. I knew I wanted to make more power with it since I bought it thinking it would be more around 400HP but turns out its more like 350HP, so I had to upgrade the cam especially if I wanted it to push around my heavy car.
Here's what I got so far.

SLP Cam 51016
SLP Timing Kit and Oil Pump 55002
SLP Valve Springs 53003
SLP Retainers 53104
New Valve Spring Retainer Keys
Misc engine gaskets and bolts
Holley LS Retro-Fit Oil Pan
LS3 Oil tube and dipstick for Holley Pan
Windage Tray for Holley Pan
A-Body LS1 Doug's Headers D3338
Doug's Headers LS1 Adaptor Plates SK100
Jeep GC Steering Gear.
Current Performance Fuse Block SA-1000
PCM terminals for Trans Harness to pin in PCM Connectors
Metri-Pac terminals to make my own Pedal Harness
Spark Plug Wire Heat Sleeves
TCI Flexplate
TCI Breakaway Torque Converter
Cruise Control Switch from an LS1Tech member
Newer shifter from Fellow member on this site.
Shiftworks 4 Speed auto conversion kit.
Vintage Air 70-72 Cutlass kit with LS Kwik bracket
Griffin 8-70008-LS Radiator
Energy Suspension Engine and Trans Mounts
JEGS 'Quiet Ride' Ultra Sound Deadening / Heat Barrier Kit
Tanks Inc PA-4 fuel pump kit
12 Circuit EZ Wiring kit
Jegs 3/8"X20' fuel line


Here's what she looks like
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Old cam left, new cam right
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Removing the Springs with the heads on
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New Double Roller Timing Kit and Oil Pump
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Modified O2 extension harness to have the Original connector end and have the connector I need for the O2 Sensor
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Soldering in the Fuse block
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Decided to Hydro Dip my Fuel Rail Covers
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CutLS

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Custom SpeedHut gauges
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Made a firewall block off plate from an aluminum tray, where the old fuse block was and installed a grommet in it to pull the wires through. Installed my EZ Wiring fuse block and got my headlights and turn signals wired up and the wires wrapped up. Installed my main hard fuel line front to back. Pretty tough to get it over the rear suspension mounts like the factory set up.
Finally got around to installing my engine and trans. Kind of difficult to get installed by myself but I managed. Got my headers installed before I put in the engine mount bolts in. They look really good and have plenty of room around them. Installed my new dipstick tube also. I think I may have issues with my tie rod zerk fitting hitting my oil pan. At least it looks to be that way with the wheels off the ground. My cousin's husband is going to help me fabricate a new transmission crossmember because the transmission tailhousing is hitting the tunnel and I cannot get my mount installed.
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Tomorrow I plan on rolling it forward and dropping the gas tank to install my Tanks Inc kit. I also am going to mock up my A/C lines so I can take them to a local hose guy to get them Crimped.

projectheaven

That is very nice. You posting came right in time because I picked up a 2004 GTO ls1 last night that I'm planning on installing in my 72 convertible cutlass. I hope you don't mind but I'm going to have a lot of questions for you since you're clearly ahead of me with the build up?
For starters, Did you keep the stock frame mounts and just use the adapters for the ls1?
Were you able to use the stock tranny cross member for the 4l60E?

car_designer

CutLS, I've been looking at Speedhut gauges for my Cutlass.

Are you going with a 3 gauge layout similar to original, or something different?

bisscrac

man everything looks great

CutLS

Thanks guys

projectheaven: If you have a Rocket in there you are going to get new engine frame mounts. The 350 mounts are short and wide. I used SBC chevelle mounts and then energy suspension mounts. Some people used 70 Chevelle 307 mounts because they use the short and wide mounts instead of tall and narrow. They are hard to find so I just got the SBC ones. Here's a link of the difference in the two. http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/conver...s-gm-body.html
I am going to have to get a different trans crossmember because with my tranny jacked up so my tailhousing is touching the tunnel and the crossmember is in, I cannot get my mount in. My cousin's husband is going to help me modify mine or make one. Alot of people(including myself) have issues with the inner tie rod zerk fitting hitting the oil pan when the wheel is turned. I haven't fixed it yet but I'll keep you informed on what I do.

car_designer: I'm using the 3 gauges similar to the original. I'm just customizing it because I the gauges are the style with the big nut that tightens onto the gauge to hole it in your bezel and the hole for the stock gauge has the lip and will not allow you to tighten it down. Also it would have you bezel rings if you used the stock panel. I screw a plastic sheet from the hardware store on it and filled in the gaps with bondo. I then cut the back out of the old bezel so the gauge nut will tighten down, which I should've done before I put the plastic on. I painted it and now I need to cut holes in it. About the gauges, I bought the Quad gauge, speedo and tach. The quad has fuel, volts, oil pres, and coolant temp. The fuel level is adjustable to whatever style sensor you have which is cool so you don't need to just have the 0-90ohm sensor. The speedo is programmable to your vehicle by you driving a mile after you hit the set button and then hitting it again. All the gauges have recall features to tell you the min and max too which is pretty cool.
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Aceshigh

I really like your CutLS name , very cool to coin that.
Good luck on the swap. Any questions feel free to PM but I'm not on here often.
My LY6 / T-56 project was put on hold this summer for my big move.

I'm nearing the point when I can begin tackling the finishing touches though.
I like the Speedhut gauges too. Had a hard time deciding between those and the New Vintage 1969 series.

Simple solution.

You have motor mount 1/4" steel or aluminum plates made to life the engine.
Basically flat metal stock under the Chevelle frame mounts and you drill the holes to match.
That's what I read and what I did.
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garys 68

On the inner tie rod/oil pan clearance. I raised my engine with 1/4" spacers, removed the grease fittings and plugged with allen head screws. It still contacts the pan turning in one direction only. I'm planning on putting a stop to prevent the pan contact and drilling/tapping the tie rods so the grease fittingpoints down.

CutLS

AcesHigh: Yeah, I think I saw you do that before. You were the first Cutlass I saw online getting a swap. Very nice project. Thanks about the name too.

I think I will try the spacer set up and hopefully that helps.
The other day I removed my gas tank so I can get it ready for the Fuel Pump Kit. Talked to a guy at work about the crossmember and he told me to drop the center section down and weld a strip onto it so the mounting location is lower. That's what he had to do to his car. I think this will say me some time and money.

Aceshigh

Gary did his first.

He just motivated me to do my 2nd LS swap since he also did his 2nd LS swap. LOL
I think I'm 2nd on this forum, but there's plenty of people on LS1tech who have done it.

Just an FYI on the spacers.....
I had to hover and drop my engine over the K-member with my spaced out frame mounts
to locate them properly, and outline the location and drill. Gary might have had
better luck just putting them in, but mine didn't line up without special attention.

RetroRanger

I like that 3 gauage set-uo w fuel indicator, lookslike your making some good progress so far

CutLS

Thanks RetroRanger

Aceshigh: Yeah I got a lot of ideas from Gary too. You didn't use your stock SBC holes in your K-member?

CutLS

Today I had my cousins husband make some spacers for my frame mounts(1/4" & 3/8"). I tried testing them as well as I could by myself and was able to get the 1/4" in but I still contact my oil pan with my right tie rod even with the zerk fitting removed. I wish someone would design a new center link with the tie rod farther out. I don't know what I want to do yet. My cousin's husband also modified my trans crossmember. He cut out the mounting location and flipped it around and welded it back in. And then he cut a section out of the support part behind that and welding in another piece of metal. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

garys 68

If you take a look at the spindle, it normally hits the frame limiting travel. My plan is simply to put a bolt on the frame so it hits that before the tie rod contacts the pan. Just been too busy driving it.
Oh yeah, and do yourself a favor, drill/tap the inner tie rod ends for new grease fittings before you have an alignment. Much easier to do off the car.

CutLS

Gary: how much are you actually limited in turning. Do you have to make a little wider turns or isn't it that much of a difference?

Here are pictures of the crossmember I had my cousin's husband modify for me at his work. I had him measure down 3/4" and cut the mount location out and flip it over and weld it back in. He then welded in extra pieces on the sides. For the back I had him cut a section out of the back and bend a piece of metal and weld it in.
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Here's how my tie rods look with the 1/4" spacers.
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L69

nice job keep up with the pics.

garys 68

Your pan contact is almost exactly the same with mt CTS-V pan. I still have not put the bolt spacer in at the spindle. But the limited travel would not even be noticeable if you remove the grease fittings.
Btw, on the grease fittings. There is a flat spot on the ball inside the inner tie rod end. That can be rotated to allow a drilling the outer case for a new fitting. But you cant do that on the car. Put the fitting in facing down before you put everything together.

Aceshigh

I'll have to go look at mine again and post a picture for ya when I can.

My car had an Olds 350 in it and 3 point/bolt frame mounts IIRC.
The Chevelle frame mounts are obviously 4 hole and I had to drill at least
1 on each side out while pouring oil over it to keep the bit cool.

Like I said, I don't remember if I used 3 of the factory holes or not, my key mission
was to align the motor in the bay with a level and mark where I'd put new holes if I
needed them. Hence you can see my light blue frame mount outline once I got the
engine perfect. I know I needed a few, but can't remember how many.

Mock up your drivers side with the spacers and take the same pic I did and compare it.
That should tell ya.

CutLS

I asked because you put your frame mounts almost centered in the frame instead of hanging over slightly and using the holes that are already there. I wasn't sure where to put them but then I saw Gary's and and then lined mine up and the holes lined up.
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So today I tried to try out my modified trans crossmember. The mount bolted up fine and I almost got a few of the stock holes in the frame to line up so I would be able to use them, but then I looked at the headers. The header pipes will basically need to go through the crossmember. What have you guys done about this? I'm guessing regular manifold exit in about the same location to. I'm going to have to get my cousin's husband to help me custom make one now.

Aceshigh

Yes, that was also my INITIAL test fit, which I decided against due to hitting components.
Keep in mind I had my frame mounts on the wrong side here LOL.....that's why the 4th hole doesn't line up.
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Here's my mount locations with the frame mounts off. So I forgot, it does look like I drilled 4 new holes each side.
So yes, I think mine sits further back then yours, and that's why I'm not hitting anything.

I actually hovered my engine with a cherry picker over the mounts until I had EVERYTHING cleared,
and then I centered it, leveled it, and marked with blue chalk marker where I was going to put them.
Then I drilled all the new holes while my brother poured 10w40 over the drill bit for all the holes to cool it off.
He's a Union driller ...lol

Keep in mind my engine sits 1.5-2" away from the firewall, and my F-body pan totally clears.
It's a very tight snug fit I ended up with but everything is perfect......I haven't test fit my Edelbrock stainless headers yet tho.
However, if there's any issues, I'm going to fab my own crossmember.

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oh yeah, BTW I made my own LS lift plate in the welding class I was taking because the engine tilter
rear bolts wouldn't have room to be removed it was so far back.
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garys 68

CutLS
Those are the stock Chevelle mounting locations. With 1" setback adapter plates the trans/engine mounting face will be in almost the stock location (within 1/4"). I used the Muncie that came with the car, so I needed it there.
You can use other adapter plates or redrill the crossmember to move the engine where ever you want.
Oh and you'll never notice the limited steering with that little tie rod contact.

CutLS

My Doug's Headers adapter plates had two locations for mounting. One for "stock" and one for set back or forward, I can't remember. I made it so it was set farther back. I'm lucky that my oil pan is level with my front crossmember but I'm going to have to make a brace for my transmission pan because I have the Corvette pan and they have a deeper pan with a bump on the bottom. Still not sure if I'm going to need frame mount spacers or not but I will probably run the 1/4 spacers.

Aceshigh

Gary

I don't think this is accounting for the oil pan options.
IIRC you use the CTS-V pan on your A-body too ??? I know you used it on your Vette.

I know my mount plates are not the 1" set back, but my frame mounts are ~2" back from the factory Chevelle locations.
My F-body pan BARELY clears by ~1/4-1/2". So that's something to keep in mind with your mount locations,
which oil pan you chose to go with.

Down side of the F-body is tighter fit with mounting, but it's flush with the k-member bottom.
Down side of the CTS-V pan is it hangs BELOW the K-member which can be risky, but front to back has less real estate to clear.

Here's a CTS-V pan in a Chevelle for reference. http://ls1tech.com/forums/15924875-post16.html

garys 68

I used the stock chevelle frame mount posititions. 1" setback plates, and the CTS-V oil pan. 1/4" spacers between the adapter plates and motor mounts.
clearance
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Aceshigh

Yep, looks about the same in both pics, just different angles on 2 different cars using the same pan.

You been driving the **** out of it ??
I'm curious what kind of MPG you're knockin down with the 4 speed behind it in the city.

garys 68

It's my DD except when I need the truck.
I do a mix of hiway city and it's been consistantly over 20mpg. One fill up calculated to 24mpg, but I think that's optimistic without OD.

Aceshigh

Very impressive, ESPECIALLY being a non-OD car.

I can't wait to finish mine with the 6 speed.
I'm tempted to cam it up now, but I think I should wait until it's done.

This will also be my summer DD when it's complete.
I begin gutting the harness and installing the new full harness this month.

CutLS

Yesterday I installed my engine frame mount spacers for good. Bolted it down. Hopefully its the last time I have to adjust them. Got my engine harness almost complete except the wires to the fuse block. Installed my coil packs and harness. Bolted in Alternator and today I'll do my harmonic balancer. 508.jpg
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I got my A/C lines crimped last week and got my HVAC housing all bolted in. All my engine harness wires are ran into the interior so now I can begin reinstalling my dash. I also test fitted my A/C compressor with the Kwik bracket. I think I need a different pulley than the one they provided because it looks like it won't run the belt straight.505.jpg504.jpg
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I sold my bucket seats to a fellow member the other day so now I can start to modify new seat brackets/adapters for a pair of seats I'm getting from a buddy. If they don't work out, I think I'll go with more of a race style seat.

CutLS

I was thinking about a few things while being thankful for the the people who gave their life trying to save the people from the towers and those who were fortunate enough to make it out safe. It was a year ago today that I purchased my motor and trans combo. Kind of disappointed that I don't have it up and running. I kept putting it off because I wanted to get the majority of the things I need so I could do it all at once. I keep getting tripped up on a few things since I'm installing a new interior wiring kit and an engine management wiring kit and harness. It feels like I'm building a new vehicle(which I am basically). I have the rear half of my car wired up and I have my pcm mounted. I have a few more wires to hook up and I should be able to get the dash in.

I do have a question that I need help with. My Current Performance fuse block needs to be wired up with a cranking signal from the IGN switch I believe, for the starter relay. I am going to hook up my Park/Neutral switch in with that cranking signal wire. Where can I hook up the cranking signal wire? It goes to an IGN switch I believe. There is PWR(red), ACC(orange), COIL(pink), START(purple). The coil wire I am going to use for a keyed power source for engine fuse block. This has confused me for a long time.

garys 68

Original cars supplied voltage to the coil from the run terminal only when in run position. Voltage to the coil while cranking was supplied through the solenoid bypassing the ballast resistor. When I checked the output on my switxh at the bottom of the column, there was a post hot in crank and run. If you cant find that, you can use a relay to supply voltage during cranking.

CutLS

So maybe I shouldn't use the new coil wire to power my keyed engine fuse block. I also have an Alt Exciter wire that is keyed hot that I can use for something. I really need to figure out where the cranking signal wire for the starter relay needs to go.

CutLS

I got the majority of my dash wired up. I went through a lot of solder and heat shrink tubing. I'm putting a connecter in-line of a few of my wires on my dash and gauges that don't have a connector so if I ever have to remove the dash again, I won't have to re-solder the wires together. I have to install a switch for my rear defogger on my dash and then I should be pretty close to installing the dash. I wanted to have the dash installed this weekend but I got side tracked. Hopefully this week for sure. Tomorrow I think I'm going to start ordering a few more things I need like fuel connectors, radiator hoses, power steering hoses, rag joint and trans cooler lines. I think I am going to go the route of braided tranny lines since I have to run it to the left side of the car with this Griffin radiator.

CutLS

Never got a chance to work on the car yesterday because while on my way to work, I hit a young buck with my daily driver('93 Cutlass Supreme). Not much damage to my car other than needing to get a headlamp and side marker assembly from the local salvage yard. I don't think I'll get any wiring done tonight but I'm going to drill my holes for my defogger switch and both CEL and Brake warning light.

TRW

I just installed a 2007 LY6 6.0L into my 68 convertible over the winter. It was the best thing I've done to it yet. It's stock with the exception of a 2010 Camaro intake, Hooker headers and tuning with HPtuners. I'm running a TH400 with a 2.73 posi. Was at the drags last night and pulled a 13.76 sec at 102.6 mph. Not bad for 4305lbs with me in it! Still averages 16mpg too.

Good luck with the build.

Tom

garys 68

Got a build thread?

TRW

Hi Gary, I never posted a build thread. I probably should. I took some pictures along the way, so I'm sure I could still do it. I figured I could at least help with any questions if I dealt with the same issue. I have attached a picture. This was built as a driver, so it's not spotless under the hood. I drive it daily in the Summer. My other car (a 66 Chevelle SS) was built to be shown occasionally and now I don't drive it as often. I didn't want that to happen with the Cutlass.

Tom

TRW

I ended up modifying the fuel pump module from the truck my motor came from and modified the tank to take it. It ended up working out very well and no issues with fuel starvation. I've run the tank as low as 1-2 gals left with no problem.

csouth

Keep up the good work CutLS! You should really enjoy that motor with the cam swap. I went with SpeedHut gauges too, but I did a 6 gauge swap. I think the quality of their setup and price is hard to beat. I'm going to make one more panel and drop the height to make room for my indicator panel.

CutLS

I've been pretty busy the past few days on the car because I had a deadline set. I got a free photo book from Shutterfly last month and I decided to do it about the car. The deadline snuck up fast and it was due today before midnight. I finished wiring the interior and got my dash back in. 562.jpg

I'm installing my battery in my trunk and decided to install a battery cut-off switch. I made a bezel and installed a bracket so it fits in where the ashtray used to be, that way you can cover the switch at car shows.555.jpg

Got my air duct hoses installed. You have to cut them to length and either they gave the wrong measurement or I cut it too short but one of my dash vent hoses is stretched tight and fell off twice while trying to install other ones. I think it will fall off and I'll have to cap it off or get more duct hose. I got my new gauges installed. They look really clean in there.563.jpg

Got my power steering lines ordered and installed my new rag joint. My plan was to have the car close to done by now, but that didn't happen, so I just placed my console and seats in the car and took a picture and tried to cover up the unfinished parts on the engine.(Notice that I forgot to put the belt over the Alt before taking the picture.) Got make or buy new radiator support brackets for the radiator because it is deeper that the stock one. 567.jpg564.jpg

Here's a link to the photo book if you would like to see how it turned out. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...d=SFLYOCWIDGET

RetroRanger

Looking good Cutls

how do you like the guages sitting in the car ?

I find my tach view is blocked by the wheel (olds 4 spoke) and your tach is in the same spot

TRW I would like to see you make a build thread as well !!!