Thanks for watching! Please Consider Subscribing To This RU-vid Channel: ru-vid.com Follow Me on Instagram @Ratty_Muscle_Car : instagram.com/ratty_muscle_car/
Ratty the steering is my problem now, I did a swap in a 64 Chevelle and did use the Holley pan, I may have to go rack and pinion. The arms still hit the Holley, thanks for the Video Brother.
My dad has been restoring his 1970 chevelle convertible. He was almost done. He had the motor completely redone. Put it in then finished the car. In that time he parked it outside for a couple days and unfortunately it rained and filled the oil pan with water. He didn't realize that and pulled the car back into the driveway and the motor started making noise. So on a Sunday him and my brother went to my uncle's house to get the cherry picker to remove the motor. Monday my dad and uncle pulled the motor out. Wednesday he was working on the motor when my brother went into the garage and shot my dad and his mom then 2 days later he shot himself. Now my goal is to finish the car for my dad. I just want to ls swap it but wasn't sure where to start and I found your video. Thank you.
I’m really sorry for your loss. I can’t even begin to imagine what that must be like. Building the car sounds like a great tribute though. Reach out if you have any questions along the way.
This was dope, I’m attempting to swap a 72 Chevelle and this made things a lot more approachable in an otherwise intimidating undertaking. Thanks for this
i just picked up a 70 lemans that was my niece's former drag car. current setup is SBC/glide/9", i may do an LS swap eventually, but will try to run it as-is. I started following for the wiring stuff.... I may change it to a street/strip car to hopefully do some drag & drive events eventually, but most of the stock wiring is gone, so the wiring stuff is a big help!! either way it'll be a fun project.
@@WiringRescue I’m sure I’ll have many questions! Thank you for offering sir! Mine is a 1970 LeMans with the same front end yours has. I’ve got to fix some rust on the bottom of the front fenders where they bolt up to the rockers. Those fenders are pricey on eBay!!!
@@WiringRescue I definitely will document the restoration of it as well as my other 2 cars. It’s something neat to have available if anyone ever asks about it and it’s something my kids can watch again when they’re a little older. Hopefully I can get them involved in the work!
Have you considered an F body oil pan? Under $100 new. You'd need the pick up tube $25-$30. And you can modify the truck windage tray. I went that route vs. a $250+ aftermarket pan. IIRC - pan $90, pick up tube $25, O-ring $3, dipstick and tube $12.
I’m not sure if the f-body one will work. I measured it and thought it would hit the back side of the frame crossmember. That said, I could be totally wrong, and it may also depend where your motor mounts place the engine itself.
Very cool bro . Been thinking about installing LS engine in my 69 chevelle . Would the truck oil pan work if I could raise the engine up a little bit? Thanks Chad
Honestly, The truck pan is a nightmare. You’d be way better off spending $200 on the eBay muscle car pan. The truck pan needs to be modified in the front and the rear along with having the pickup tube sectioned. It’s well worth it to buy the right one. And I’m the cheapest guy I’ve ever met.
@WiringRescue I'm wondering about this also. Swamped my 69 Chevelle and I'm now to the point of getting the wiring of the car figured out. I have removed the factory voltage regulator and the horn relay, wired my headlights up with relays, and now can't seem to figure out how to get power inside to the dash, and my blinkers aren't working now. Car sat for 20yrs and critters ate most wires under the hood.
A trip down memory lane! For a minute there, I thought you weren't going to mention the oil pan dramas! (Oh.. but didn't you buy the wrong fuel pump?) :)
Very Informative !! I do have a question and apologize if it's already been asked - When buying a Drive by Wire engine - Is it critical to get the pedal and Tac Mod from the same vehicle...? Thanks!
Nope, those parts can come from different cars as long as the parts are a correct match - part number. They aren’t synced together or anything through the security system.
My hold up was and has always been the fuel delivery / return line system. Thanks for showing that inline pump and fittings used. What pressure regulator / filter and return lines are used?
I used the stock LQ4 truck regulator on the engine, and I should have added a -6AN universal, cleanable, fuel filter to the fuel line, but never got around to it. Whoooopsie. Luckily there is a fuel sock in the tank to keep the big stuff out.
I’m not a guy that can drop thousands on all the fanciest parts, so I’ve gotta work harder instead, with research, along with trial and error. I’m happy to share my learnings so that it’s less work for the next guy/gal!
Man I’ve been keeping an eye on this for a while man super awesome I’ve been planing on doing the exact same thing on my fathers lemans that he left me and seeing someone else going through the headache is amazing keep up the good work man!
I have a 72 LeMans that I'm really wanting to do a full drivetrain swap. LS, 5/6 spd, Posi rear. I'm anticipating I need to do some suspension, brake, cooling and fuel mods all together. I'd pay for a how to guide with all that's needed and some example parts to consider
The brakes, suspension, and rear axle can be completely separate from the drivetrain. You can do it all in chunks, maybe even do the trans and engine separately. That would allow you do the whole project over time while still driving and enjoying it and not dump $15k at once. It’s easy to get overwhelmed when you’re staring at a bare shell that needs every bolt painted and reattached. A list like what you are after is pretty doable for sure!
@@stevemullin7472 - I don’t ever like recommending Facebook for anything, but the Facebook group of “gm a-body a-holes” and “ruined Pontiac’s” are both really good. There isn’t much for forums that I know of anymore.
I'm currently doing the same swap with my '68 Cutlass. How did you deal with the detent cable on your TH400 while using drive by wire? I'm trying to decide if I wanna use my 4L60E or TH350 since i have drive by wire also.
Omg you have my dream car and yes it did help me alot. I am looking for this same body style drop top. How much hp are you making and are you having any problems with it
No idea on horsepower. Probably whatever a stock 6.0L LQ4 makes. I actually sold the car, so I’m not sure what it’s current status is! :) Hopefully driving!
Have the same car n looking at maybe trying the swap I have the drive shaft for a 4l80e and motor mount plates but just curious is that all a main harness from a truck or ?? Maybe I missed that part was at work watching this
The wiring harness is from a truck, I stripped the harness of junk that it didn’t need and then attached it to the car. It takes a while, but it was not particularly hard to do.
The drive by wire wasn’t bad. In fact, the first time I turned the key with it all set up right, it started up, revved, and idled perfectly. It was pretty nice. The pedal was not hard to install either. Overall the drive by wire was no problem at all. I’d do it again for sure. That being said, I’ve never tried a carbed LS, so that could be kind of fun too.
Im doing same setup, I've heard of problems because of vss not being hooked up. They said engine thinks its in idle because of no speed sensor. Have you experienced problems?
I sold this car before driving it on the street much, but I was going to add a vss to it because I spoke to a few people that told me that automatics need it. So I’d recommend you use one for sure.
I tell ya...I did a 289 to 351 swap on my mustang....Could not have done it without peeps on youtube and the internet in general...There was a day when going from parts store to parts store and asking dumbass questions was the only way to go....LOL...and im only 56...so there you go spoiled mechanics!!! lol
Hey I have a question about wiring. I’m doing a swap on my 68 skylark. I’m trying to eliminate any electrical issues. What writes from your factory car harness did you use? I’m using the starter wires, but should I be using anything else? This is a lot different than my caprice builds. Thanks
It’s been a couple years since I did that, but I believe the only wires on the car side that were kept were the starter circuit, and maybe the power wires from the ignition switch. I probably could have used the factory gauge wires too, but I never hooked up the gauges.
Yes, I believe I sent it to LT1swap.com if I recall correctly. I wired the obd2 port into the ecu and mounted it under my dash. If you check out my Lemans playlist, you’ll find a video about it somewhere in there. :)
I forget what the problem was, but I believe that something was hitting somewhere. Maybe power steering on the frame? I forget exactly. That’s my best guess though.
Hello! It was sold and then resold again from what I heard. I’m not sure where it ended up after that unfortunately. I took it from being a dead car that should have probably been parted out and scrapped to a pretty solid, driveable car. With most of the hard work done, it would have been a terrific car for somebody to drive while they continued to improve it. When working on it began to feel not-fun for me, I knew it was time to move on.
I don't, but I do know that the 4L80 is a big transmission, so it's possible that you would need a different transmission crossmember, a different driveshaft, maybe a modified floor pan, and then the electronics to run it.
Nah, it’s a lowly Ratty Lemans that is worth more with an LS swap than it would be with a Pontiac engine. Having a Pontiac engine would cost more than the whole car is worth.
Instead of changing the oil pan You could cut the steering arm under the pan and re weld it at an angle and angle it farther down more of a half moon shape should work also
In some ways, yes! Whenever I do a project, I learn the good with the bad. With this car, I basically had a zero dollar budget, and I was trying to be as cheap as possible. I would definitely recommend having more than a $0 budget. Lol. $2500-$4000 would get you everything you need (including the engine) as long as you are willing to do the work yourself and start with a used LS engine.
I should have left it for dead in the bushes where I found it. It would have been a smarter investment. Building a Pontiac engine for this would have cost 5x what the car is worth.
@@WiringRescue hmmm so you got a LS for less then 300.00? It's better then it Rotting away but those motors don't produce the torque below 4500 that the BOP motors do and yes they can be found still because alot people are doing what is called I want a LS 2 just cause it's the trend to do...but the best part of car building is We all are the orginal recyclers
If the purists want to fund my builds, I'd love to build giant cubic inch pontiac engines with 4-speeds for everyone's viewing pleasure! Unfortunately Pontiac engines builds are probably 5x the cost of what an LS swap would be. So LS swap it is!
Do you feel the same about pre-war hotrods? Or is it okay to toss the original 201 cubic inch 4 cylinder with Babbitt bearings from a Model A and swap a V8 into it? How about a ‘41 Willys? Those came with little 4 cylinder engines too, but everyone swaps blown hemis into them. Is that fine? Should those cars stay all OEM too? The fact of the matter is that not all OEM stuff is good. Some of it was garbage that modern technology can improve upon for more horsepower, more reliability, and less money than the OEM stuff. If this were an original Ram Air IV car, with a matching block, I would have kept it original, but it’s not. It was a rotted out, abandoned, Lemans that should have been crushed and turned into a Kia Optima 15 years ago. But instead, I pulled it out of the woods, put hundreds and hundreds of hours into it, and got it back on the road again - saving another Pontiac. Since I didn’t use the garbage non-matching number Pontiac 350 that was in the car, I made sure it went to a Pontiac enthusiast. Maybe it will get another Pontiac on the road. But I’m the bad guy for doing an LS swap. Anywho - the short version is - the car is gone, and I hope it gets parted out and crushed. I’m sorry that I wasted so much time and money making it driveable, and the next time I pull a Pontiac from the woods, I’ll just bring it straight to the scrap metal yard instead.
@@WiringRescue it's more just an "everybody's doing it" jab, but you seem way too excited about it. Relax kid, nobody wants to see any old muscle car scrapped, the ls swap is just played out and tired.
@@barnabyjones5161 maybe people want a streetable car with cheap power. Who cares if it's overplayed, if it's the best option for someone,why wouldn't they do it?
I’m truly glad this car is long gone. I spent 2-3 years reviving this thing from an abandoned car in the woods, to being a fuel injected, LS, TH400, drivable vehicle with a ton of new sheetmetal. The amount of people that have told me how terrible the car is and how awful my work is, is truly unlike anything I’ve ever encountered. For your sake and anybody else that is reading this, I truly hope that nobody shits on your work the way that you do on theirs. I’m sad and embarrassed for you that you feel you need to do that.
I totally agree, and hope to do that. These two videos are a good start though! 1. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Yz9kqxWkoHI.html 2.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-y5Q3QOR4PnM.html