Hey guys, , im fairly new to the LS swap thing. I bought a couple 5.3 truck vortec/LS engines, one a fairly complete cutout , the other not so much.
Then i found a 84 Cutlass in good shape , almost zero rust on frame or body. Entire underside was undercoated a long time ago it seems. Most everything works in the car with exception of wiper pump and side marker lights. It ran pretty decent with a 305 4bbl at least once warm but it was weak. So i bought it with hopes of putting one of my LS motors in it.
Already pulled out the 305 about 2 weeks ago and got the LS attached to th350 and wedged back in the car. It was a very tight fit w/o taking off either the intake or crank pulley but i got it in there.
Now the problems started;
First off the podoy engine mounts looked just like lsx innovations so i thought they would work. Well, they dont, truth be told i dont think the lsx innovation ones would either. Not sure what happened when the stock 307 was pulled and this 305 was put in?
I could only get one or the other mount bolted together with clamshells off the 305, the other mount was 2/3 of bolthole off.
Being that the LS is gonna TQ ccw and pull away from drivers side mount i chose to use that mount as is and remove passenger mount and fab a pushup bracket spacer under frame mount. [after 5-10 hrs of jacking, fabbing, rejiggering i thought i had it done.]
But going to put in the manifolds was a deal breaker even with drivers side sitting lower than passneger and turning the manifold more into open space between ls block and frame rails, the collector of manifold is right up against the frame and brake manifold which also has gear shifting bracket mounted to it.
So realising this isnt going to work anyways, i leveled the engine hanging off my 2 ton hoist, and now i have to fab a new mount spacer bracket on drivers side. ONLY THIS ONE has to be much stronger as the motor will TQ away and pull on it for rest of its life in the car.
PLUS i now have to cut the collector off the stock manifold entirely, clock it backwards about 2 hrs and cut a wedge out so that it points closer to transmission and existing hole.
as is the engine seems to be closer to passenger side by about 0.5 to maybe 1 inch and tailshaft of transmission seems to be exactly centered so that means its probly out of wack a couple degrees longitudanaly which would help it fit better but i cant move the rear of block any closer to the passenger side as valve cover is already hitting heater box. so to straighten it out that 2 degrees i would need to scrap the 10 hrs work i did on passenger mount and start all over rebuilding new mounts ALL with engine in the way.
Does anyone else here have experience with mounts in Gbody swap?
if so, did the mounts you bought bolt right up?
if so did the manifolds also bolt right up?
any bright ideas from guys who have done this exact swap?
Then i found a 84 Cutlass in good shape , almost zero rust on frame or body. Entire underside was undercoated a long time ago it seems. Most everything works in the car with exception of wiper pump and side marker lights. It ran pretty decent with a 305 4bbl at least once warm but it was weak. So i bought it with hopes of putting one of my LS motors in it.
Already pulled out the 305 about 2 weeks ago and got the LS attached to th350 and wedged back in the car. It was a very tight fit w/o taking off either the intake or crank pulley but i got it in there.
Now the problems started;
First off the podoy engine mounts looked just like lsx innovations so i thought they would work. Well, they dont, truth be told i dont think the lsx innovation ones would either. Not sure what happened when the stock 307 was pulled and this 305 was put in?
I could only get one or the other mount bolted together with clamshells off the 305, the other mount was 2/3 of bolthole off.
Being that the LS is gonna TQ ccw and pull away from drivers side mount i chose to use that mount as is and remove passenger mount and fab a pushup bracket spacer under frame mount. [after 5-10 hrs of jacking, fabbing, rejiggering i thought i had it done.]
But going to put in the manifolds was a deal breaker even with drivers side sitting lower than passneger and turning the manifold more into open space between ls block and frame rails, the collector of manifold is right up against the frame and brake manifold which also has gear shifting bracket mounted to it.
So realising this isnt going to work anyways, i leveled the engine hanging off my 2 ton hoist, and now i have to fab a new mount spacer bracket on drivers side. ONLY THIS ONE has to be much stronger as the motor will TQ away and pull on it for rest of its life in the car.
PLUS i now have to cut the collector off the stock manifold entirely, clock it backwards about 2 hrs and cut a wedge out so that it points closer to transmission and existing hole.
as is the engine seems to be closer to passenger side by about 0.5 to maybe 1 inch and tailshaft of transmission seems to be exactly centered so that means its probly out of wack a couple degrees longitudanaly which would help it fit better but i cant move the rear of block any closer to the passenger side as valve cover is already hitting heater box. so to straighten it out that 2 degrees i would need to scrap the 10 hrs work i did on passenger mount and start all over rebuilding new mounts ALL with engine in the way.
Does anyone else here have experience with mounts in Gbody swap?
if so, did the mounts you bought bolt right up?
if so did the manifolds also bolt right up?
any bright ideas from guys who have done this exact swap?
