- Joined
- Jul 16, 2009
- Location
- Monterey/Falun
I would buy a American power trains t56, the reverse lockout is low profile and it fit in the tunnel of my 240 with no bashing
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Gramp's Wagon: 960 LS3 Swap
- Thread starter Will325
- Start date
Uncleknucklez
bruspeed
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2006
- Location
- Sacramento, CA
I had no idea, that's really neat! Wish they would do that with more motors. I have an appointment with the ref here in Sac in a week, to check out my b230ft (LH24) swap in a B21 (kjet) car, I'm hoping it goes well.
I couldn't agree more about the mounts.
How much did you have to beat up the tunnel to make it work in the stock hole? I have read it was minor.
Thank you so much that would be great!! I will send you a PM after I'm done here.
I don't think I can flip it over. The motor would be on the ground lol. The pan that came on the motor is a massive truck pan. I think they do that on purpose so you have to buy another pan lol. I have a holley 302-1. It looks like it will work with not much modification to the crossmember.
The mast pan definitely looks interesting. I found this comparison online. I think for what I am doing, I think the holley might be better because the sump is back a little more (every inch counts!)
About the E-rod, it definitely was not what I was planning to do from the get go. But the more I looked into the swap it seemed like the path of least resistance. Yes its a lot of money, but god damn it makes it easy. It comes with everything. From cats to the ECU etc etc. I guess you have to pay to play by the rules. Supposedly you don't even have to go bar it. I am going anyways lol.
I wish they made more motors like this as well! Chevy also makes an LSA and LT1 e-rod
In our research for this swap, we found where dodge is thinking about doing one and Cummins makes one. I don't think it's applicable to us but, you could have a cummins volvo lol. http://www.4wdmechanix.com/advance-adapters-and-cummins-2-8l-diesel-engine-conversion-for-jeep/Good luck!! I have been a few times now with the bmws. One thing I have learned is to make sure the job looks clean and be prepared with any info they might ask for. It also depends on the ref a lot. Some are complete hardasses and others are way more open to new ideas lol.
Good to know. We have one sitting in our garage right now
Speaking of transmissions... Does anyone have any words of wisdom on the subject of a trans mount. I am thinking the best way to go might be just fabbing one?
Thanks again for all the support. It makes us feel less crazy.
PS. My friend is a way better writer than I am and is writing about this project as well.
http://drivewerks.co/gramps-wagon-part-2-so-much-room-for-activities/
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Cool info about the smog compliance, I'm a couple towns down in RWC
So the 740 brackets didn't work... We spent about 3 hours trying to get the motor and trans fall into place and it was a no go. They were angled wrong and they did pushed the mounting point about an inch back.
it was back to the drawing boards....
What we did is figured that we needed about a half an inch between the subframe and the rubber mount to get the motor to sit where we wanted it. We decided to make our own plates like JTR uses. Then drill a hole through the subframe there the rubber mounts nuts needed to be....
It was all was working out great until we drilled through the power steering line that connects the sides of the rack together. I wish I had a photo for you but let's just say we were not happy campers at this point.
We made up some different width wood templates to try.
We ended up using 3/8 so we can shim it if needed.
finally kinda looking right:
Here are the (hopefully) final brackets. We also found in our bmw parts pile some solid rubber mounts off of an m5. that are the same height and offset as the e36 ones that came with the arms but have a much smaller footprint.
Another issue we ran into is our aftermarket t56 has a more forward shifter position.... WTF we can't win.
Its not the best photo but you get the idea.
After a lot of googling we found a t56 magnum shifter relocation plate and short shifter made by Sikky. They are a big nissan and bmw v8 fab company. They offer a 4, 7, or 9 inch plate. I think this is the nicest thing I have ever bought. We did some measuring and think the 4 inch is the ticket.
The puddle box is now out as well. We noticed the 960 brake pedal doesn't have a return spring, is this right?
What we ended up doing is just switched out the pedals from the 740 box to the 960 box because they have a little different mounting points.
Other random things we need to figure out and would love input on:
power steering high pressure line out of pump.
Trans mount/ driveshaft angle.
...And many other things I am forgetting about.
Thanks as always!!
it was back to the drawing boards....
What we did is figured that we needed about a half an inch between the subframe and the rubber mount to get the motor to sit where we wanted it. We decided to make our own plates like JTR uses. Then drill a hole through the subframe there the rubber mounts nuts needed to be....
It was all was working out great until we drilled through the power steering line that connects the sides of the rack together. I wish I had a photo for you but let's just say we were not happy campers at this point.
We made up some different width wood templates to try.
We ended up using 3/8 so we can shim it if needed.
finally kinda looking right:
Here are the (hopefully) final brackets. We also found in our bmw parts pile some solid rubber mounts off of an m5. that are the same height and offset as the e36 ones that came with the arms but have a much smaller footprint.
Another issue we ran into is our aftermarket t56 has a more forward shifter position.... WTF we can't win.
Its not the best photo but you get the idea.
After a lot of googling we found a t56 magnum shifter relocation plate and short shifter made by Sikky. They are a big nissan and bmw v8 fab company. They offer a 4, 7, or 9 inch plate. I think this is the nicest thing I have ever bought. We did some measuring and think the 4 inch is the ticket.
The puddle box is now out as well. We noticed the 960 brake pedal doesn't have a return spring, is this right?
What we ended up doing is just switched out the pedals from the 740 box to the 960 box because they have a little different mounting points.
Other random things we need to figure out and would love input on:
power steering high pressure line out of pump.
Trans mount/ driveshaft angle.
...And many other things I am forgetting about.
Thanks as always!!
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Very cool. I work in RWC
The engine is finally mounted in the car!!!
The winning combo was the bottom mounts that we make out of 3/8 steel and we modified the sts top mounts to have more purchase on the m5 rubber mounts we are using.
.... Now on to mounting the transmission.
We test fit the stock 960 trans mount and look up through the hole and what do you know we see the mounting holes for the t56, F**ck yea! The t56 holes are almost exactly an inch and a half above the top of the stock mount. The holes for t56 are about a quarter inch off of the center of the old mounting hole. V1 of the mount is 3 by 1 and a half inch square tube. But upon our first test fit the front of the tube was interfering with the back of the trans. Now we are going to cut it to 2 and 3/4 or so to give clearance.
Here is v1 mounted to the stock crossmember.
The shifter plate made a huge difference.
We have been figuring out and making mounts for the ls' fusebox and ecu. We ended up over by the ABS unit.
The engine bay as it sits now:
On the CTS accessories the power steering pump high pressure line sits really close to the pulley, so close in fact it's almost impossible to get a fitting in there. A company called turn one makes a piece to solve this by extending out past the pulley while converting it to an 6AN fitting. On the rack side speedway makes a banjo bolt that fits with a 6 AN male coming off of it.
The last major thing to do is, figure out the mounting of the drive by wire gas pedal and how we are going to get the connector through the firewall (sawzall solves all )
Thankfully a good friend spends way too much time on craigslist and ended up finding a set of BBS Rks that are volvo specs for a good price. They are beat up enough to be perfect for this car.
The winning combo was the bottom mounts that we make out of 3/8 steel and we modified the sts top mounts to have more purchase on the m5 rubber mounts we are using.
.... Now on to mounting the transmission.
We test fit the stock 960 trans mount and look up through the hole and what do you know we see the mounting holes for the t56, F**ck yea! The t56 holes are almost exactly an inch and a half above the top of the stock mount. The holes for t56 are about a quarter inch off of the center of the old mounting hole. V1 of the mount is 3 by 1 and a half inch square tube. But upon our first test fit the front of the tube was interfering with the back of the trans. Now we are going to cut it to 2 and 3/4 or so to give clearance.
Here is v1 mounted to the stock crossmember.
The shifter plate made a huge difference.
We have been figuring out and making mounts for the ls' fusebox and ecu. We ended up over by the ABS unit.
The engine bay as it sits now:
On the CTS accessories the power steering pump high pressure line sits really close to the pulley, so close in fact it's almost impossible to get a fitting in there. A company called turn one makes a piece to solve this by extending out past the pulley while converting it to an 6AN fitting. On the rack side speedway makes a banjo bolt that fits with a 6 AN male coming off of it.
The last major thing to do is, figure out the mounting of the drive by wire gas pedal and how we are going to get the connector through the firewall (sawzall solves all
)Thankfully a good friend spends way too much time on craigslist and ended up finding a set of BBS Rks that are volvo specs for a good price. They are beat up enough to be perfect for this car.
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Just got a call from the driveshaft shop suggesting that they convert the driveshaft into a one piece to make it easier to put the new yoke on for the t56. My only hesitation with this is that the 960 has a loop near the gas tank that the driveshaft and I'm not sure if I can fit the one piece into place. Any thoughts?
Following. I'm actually around the same point you are in a similar build and your pics have been helping alot. 92 960 with a 6.0 t56, just test fitted my engine trans with sts mounts in the car but I may have to make some like you did. I used the 740 pedestals and mine lined up no problem but the engine height looks like it can come down more. I had c6 exhaust manifolds laying around but they are aiming right at the steering shaft for me so ill have to find another solution there too. I have an f-body t56 so my shifter location is good. I have an 8.8 ill be modifying later down the road as I have a solid axle already but ill use stock rear for now. also sts makes a big brake kit that uses 04 up v70r big 4 piston brembos and larger rotors up front. I'm waiting on my brackets to ship but I have everything else ready to go cant wait to fit them.
update for me, mines running and ready to go. also my local driveshaft shop converted my 2 piece driveshaft, they actually made it a bit short by accident but luckily I was able to buy a longer slip yoke to make up the difference so its good to go now. they said due to the length if they made it a one piece shaft it would have to be a 3" diameter tube which I don't think would have fit without cutting that loop out of the car.
also I accidently put regular power steering fluid in and it was doing some weird stuff, apparently these cars take the "type f" fluid, I flushed mine out and it was great afterwards just fyi
That's great to hear that you got the car on the road!! We finally just our 960 running last weekend. Thanks for the heads up.
I will post more photos and details soon. leaving for Austrailia tomorrow but just wanted to give a quick update and say congrats!