1970 Swinger Build Thread (PURISTS BEWARE)
Now the idea to LS it came to be. I found a wrecked 2004 Tahoe near me for $300 that had a beautiful running 5.3 so I snagged it. The 4wd 4L60E was going to go in my brothers Datsun and I wanted to rebuild his blown up one and convert it to 2wd. No big deal. Got the enfine, transmission, PCM, harness, throttle pedal and TAC module from the Tahoe thrn sent it to the scrap yard. Since a tired old 5.3 just wouldn't be enough, my plan was a twin turbo setup with two 55mm turbos for packaging reasons. Sometimes turbo cars get sloppy under the hood with change piping and such so I figured twins would only be a little bit more money but the finished product would look a lot nicer.
After a talk with a few friends they made me realize that pouring moneynimto a 4L60e to get it to live behind a boosted 5.3 was a waste and that if I really wanted to prevent from hacking up the floor to fit a 4L80E, I would have to put a clutch pedal in the car. Tremec T-56 6 speeds are strong transmissions, but I had a really big problem spending $2500 on a used, 15 year old transmission that would probably need a rebuild. Afterall, my Dad's GTO ate it's synchronizers in 63,000 miles which is totally unacceptable.
Thanks when a friend of money who drag races Imports suggested the Nissan FS5R30A Transmission from 1990-1996 Nissan 300ZX's. Remember how I said "Purists beware???. I picked up a junk 300ZX for $500, took the transmission and driveshaft, then my buddy gave me $100 for what was left and he took it and parted it. Good riddance. For those who are not familiar with these, it has the same internal parts as the AWD transmissions in R32 and R33 Nissan Skyline GT-R's. I knew it would be plenty strong in a rear wheel drive car since these had an all wheel drive rating of 700hp.
Anyone that's looked into LS swapping am A Body knows the biggest issue is the oil pan. GM never sold a vehicle with a mid sump oil pan like the Mopar. The closest available pan of from 2004-2006 GTO's and although it's not perfect, it's front sump design can be made to work and clear the K Frame and steering linkage.
Then I thought about possibly just replacing the entire front suspension. The HemiDenny and RMS kits that are based in Mustang II front end parts would give me spindles that are front steer and allow the usage of a steering rack which gains me oil pan clearance and should give MUCH greater feel than the sloppy manual box my car had in it. I've designed the 4 link suspensions that were on both my Jeep Cherokee as well as the Wagoneer and have always loved fab projects like that so I decided that the route I wanted to go was to build a new K frame, and use Mustang II suspension. This deletes the torsion bars giving me more room for headers and solved a bunch of issues.
Now the idea to LS it came to be. I found a wrecked 2004 Tahoe near me for $300 that had a beautiful running 5.3 so I snagged it. The 4wd 4L60E was going to go in my brothers Datsun and I wanted to rebuild his blown up one and convert it to 2wd. No big deal. Got the enfine, transmission, PCM, harness, throttle pedal and TAC module from the Tahoe thrn sent it to the scrap yard. Since a tired old 5.3 just wouldn't be enough, my plan was a twin turbo setup with two 55mm turbos for packaging reasons. Sometimes turbo cars get sloppy under the hood with change piping and such so I figured twins would only be a little bit more money but the finished product would look a lot nicer.
After a talk with a few friends they made me realize that pouring moneynimto a 4L60e to get it to live behind a boosted 5.3 was a waste and that if I really wanted to prevent from hacking up the floor to fit a 4L80E, I would have to put a clutch pedal in the car. Tremec T-56 6 speeds are strong transmissions, but I had a really big problem spending $2500 on a used, 15 year old transmission that would probably need a rebuild. Afterall, my Dad's GTO ate it's synchronizers in 63,000 miles which is totally unacceptable.
Thanks when a friend of money who drag races Imports suggested the Nissan FS5R30A Transmission from 1990-1996 Nissan 300ZX's. Remember how I said "Purists beware???. I picked up a junk 300ZX for $500, took the transmission and driveshaft, then my buddy gave me $100 for what was left and he took it and parted it. Good riddance. For those who are not familiar with these, it has the same internal parts as the AWD transmissions in R32 and R33 Nissan Skyline GT-R's. I knew it would be plenty strong in a rear wheel drive car since these had an all wheel drive rating of 700hp.
Anyone that's looked into LS swapping am A Body knows the biggest issue is the oil pan. GM never sold a vehicle with a mid sump oil pan like the Mopar. The closest available pan of from 2004-2006 GTO's and although it's not perfect, it's front sump design can be made to work and clear the K Frame and steering linkage.
Then I thought about possibly just replacing the entire front suspension. The HemiDenny and RMS kits that are based in Mustang II front end parts would give me spindles that are front steer and allow the usage of a steering rack which gains me oil pan clearance and should give MUCH greater feel than the sloppy manual box my car had in it. I've designed the 4 link suspensions that were on both my Jeep Cherokee as well as the Wagoneer and have always loved fab projects like that so I decided that the route I wanted to go was to build a new K frame, and use Mustang II suspension. This deletes the torsion bars giving me more room for headers and solved a bunch of issues.
