NOVA LS SWAP COMPLETE ENGINE INSTALL! 

There is an entire playlist of videos outlining everything we did to this car step by step and links to all the parts we used. Click the playlist tab on this channel and look for the DR Nova playlist. 👍

Thanks for watching and glad the videos are helping. Keep in mind that the mounts you use also effect fitmemt.

I can’t either and I’m sure Ray is feeling even more anxious than me. 😉

Thanks brother. I was really worried about how this video would turn out but I'm actually pretty happy with it myself.😊

Thanks brother. It’s been awhile since I put out a video due to setbacks but the DRNova is almost ready to fire and I plan to put out a video tonight going over the updates. 👍🏻

@@BadLuckGarage nice looking forward to it bro👊

Thanks brother. Hopefully that’s gonna happen in the next few weeks. Planning to start on wiring tonight. 👍🏻

Yea I’m not sure what’s going on but there are already over 300 new subs this month! Unfortunately it doesn’t look like they’re watching many videos. 🤷🏼‍♂️

I appreciate that brother. Keep in mind that every build on the channel has its own playlist and I try to document everything I do to them so if you want to see what’s been done to the DR Nova, The Chinavette, or the Turbo C10 you can just click on each playlist and see it all step by step. 👍🏻

Glad to hear it! If you’d like to see more video on this particular build, they can be found in the “DR Nova” playlist on this channel. Thanks for watching!

Thanks brother. I really appreciate that. 👍🏻

I agree. This week has been rough though. Everything I’ve started has went unfinished and having to reevaluate and change a lot of plans with the Nova. I don’t even know if I’ll get a video out this week. Very frustrating.

Yea he wants to be driving it by spring. That’s part of the reason he chose to spend money on certain things like the transmission crossmember instead of taking time to fabricate one.

Thanks brother. It will be eventually if I can get more time to finish it. 🤦🏼‍♂️

Well let’s pour some gasoline on that 🔥😈

Yep its all part of it. I was actually pretty happy with how well it went together even with all the issues we had though. We actually had a bit of good luck though when the engine and transmission were dropped on the concrete(HARD)!!!!! And nothing cracked or broke as far as we know. 🙄 That was one of the "damnit Ray" moments we were talking about,lol.

@@BadLuckGarage LOL....thank God no cracks on impact! ...and we all have our "Damn it Ray" moments...lol Its going great....it'll be a fun car when she's done...

I think so too. As long as Rays happy with it, that’s all that matters to me. 👍🏻

Thanks Jason. I’m kinda worried about hood clearance now though. Intake sits a lot higher than the hoodline. I’m just hoping since it’s a cowl induction hood that it’ll clear but I’m having my doubts. Everyone I talked to said it would clear even with a stock hood but if I lay a straight edge between the fenders, it doesn’t clear. When Ray comes over Sunday we’ll have to set the hood back on and see what’s up. 🤦🏼‍♂️

@@BadLuckGarage Your welcome brother. Hopefully it will clear i know its a pain but you might have to space out the k-member if thats possible or worse case get a big cowl hood or just cut that hood and use a scoop i know id rather have the hood but their not cheap unless used i hope it works out for you guys

Thanks brother. I just wish I had time to move it along a little faster.

Yes sir! Glad you’re enjoying the content and I hope some of it helps you out with your future swap. Be sure to check out the rest of the DRNova playlist to see all the parts we used for this build. 👍🏻

@@BadLuckGarage I am certain I'll be watching them all again. one question I had and probably come to light soon but will the 6.0 fit under the stock hood, I suspect not as you have a different hood in the video I am now watching.

I am told the stock truck intake and accessories DO clear the stock hood but not with the Denali engines covers on like I have. The mounts you use will also effect this. It’s important to remember the hood doesn’t just go “flat across” from fender to fender but rather arches across so it may appear that the alternator sticks about an inch above the fender line but the hood will actually barely clear it since it’s arched. The cowl induction hood on the DRNova is directly above the intake so helps to clear the Denali covers but the alternator is actually under the part of the hood that is still following the stock profile and it clears just fine. 👍🏻

Thank you sir.. The DR Nova was one of my favorite builds.

Yea or bolt some chain links to it and call it a day. 🤣

I was going to use a factory style mount(theres already a hole in the inner fender for it) but Ray seems to be ok with the whole Zip tie thing at the moment,lol. There actually is a big truck shop not far from here though so I may swing by there and see what they have so thanks for the tip brother.👍

Absolutely!

Thanks brother! I had alot of fun making it over the last 2 days. We actually got way more done than I had planned. Its nice having help sometimes.....especially when they're competent .lol

Thanks brother. I actually had fun making this video. Believe it or not, sometimes this youtube stuff feels like a 2nd job. Not the case this time.😊

@@BadLuckGarage glad to hear man. Making videos is becoming second nature to you.

Thanks brother and I wish that were truth but the truth is I have to do A LOT of editing to get rid of the billions of mistakes and misspoken statements I make in every video, lol. Sometimes I’ll say the same line 3 or 4 times before I feel like the right message is being conveyed. People have actually commented that they like my “jump cuts” but the jump cuts are only there because I miss pronounced a word or thought that I didn’t say something correctly or sometimes just because I went off on a ramble and it makes the video too long. 🤦🏼‍♂️

@@BadLuckGarage no one is perfect. Keep on trucking. I see your fanbase growing. So you're doing something right lol.

Yea I’ve been averaging over 500 new subscribers a month for the last few months. Problem is they don’t seem to be watching the videos which is really weird. 🤔

Glad the video helped brother. I don’t see any way these header could ever be made to work with a column shifter but definitely cut that tab off BEFORE the engine goes in!

@@BadLuckGarage How far below the sub frame do they hang?

Honestly I haven’t even looked under the car since we put them on, lol. Ray did the undercar work once we got it in jackstands because he wasn’t tall enough to reach in the engine bay. 🤣 But I’ll check when I get home.

Looks like right at 2 1/2” at the front and as it goes further back it only about 1” at the end of the collector.

@@BadLuckGarage Perfect, thanks for checking.

This could be the case. Fortunately Speed Engineering has actually redesigned the Nova swap headers since this video was made so others won’t have to deal with any of these issues. They have done away with the swept crossover tube for the #3 cylinder as well as reconfigured the routing to allow for more mounting options and has raised the collectors higher into the chassis. This was covered in a separate video several months ago. 👍🏻 The update was actually done in December of 2018(two months before this video was published) but unfortunately we had ordered these parts several months before that and Speed Engineering was not willing to help us by exchanging for another set. This led us to having to make the modifications shown in this particular video.

@@BadLuckGarage I have the same headers you show with the #3 runner going over the other runners and love this design. And I got my headers before the update as well. Either way, with the mounts I stated it fit with lots of room to spare. Awesome headers and have zero complaints with fitment, quality and design. I even had mine Jet Hot coated and installed them without scratching them. Of course I had to have the headers in place as I lowered my LS3/6L80e tranny combo in place. I will have to see what the new designed header looks like and look for your other vid.

Worked great and still working great. No we never ran a separate trans cooler.

These were the gen 1s. I talked about that in a later video.

@@BadLuckGarage thank you for your reply. I will re-watch the other videos. I appreciate you putting the videos out. Very helpful info!

Yes sir. If you click on the playlist tab you’ll see playlists for all the project vehicles on the channel. 👍🏻

I really can’t say for sure but I’m almost certain it won’t fit with this setup. I believe there are other mounts that would allow the compressor in the stock location though. Looking for a pedestal type mount would probably be the way to go.

Bad Luck Garage Cool, thanks again for the info. It’s appreciated.

Good to hear. They also fit our C-10s, Camaro, and Corvettes great. The Nova, obviously not so much.

It’s been awhile, but I don’t believe it was. But this Nova sits at factory ride height and we had replaced all the springs and shocks in previous videos. So there was plenty of room under it.

I believe I actually addressed the crossmember in another video but yes, it bolted right up. Keep in mind that most transmission mounts are intended to fit with the engine withing a certain position so which engine mounts you use will determine whether or not the crossmember lines up properly.

As you can tell from the later videos it’s working great. No problems.

We used a 4L80e GForce crossmember from summit Racing. Pretty sure they have them for 4L60s as well.

It’s covered in the video. 18:30

Sry didnt watch all the way thru..1 final question..say if i pulled 1 outta an avalanche and put it n my nova do u think i could make it work? And if so would ur vids help me? So far man ur the reason im getn 2 do this..and u probly thibk nobody watches ur atuff but u made a believer outta me dude and im so glad i found this on here..did u make ur own harness or did u buy one that plugs directly up to ur existing gauges? Im sure u covered that n ur vid but man im lucky 2 watch a commercial i stay so busy? If u have any parts layn round ud b intrested n selln and if it helps me id buy em dude..i rather get parts from an average guy like myself..and thank u man 4 makem ur vids..eventhough i cant watch em all the way thru sometimes

Zero clearencing. I can reach all the way around the transmission everywhere. I'm actually gonna talk about that when I do the video on making the transmission lines and the trans crossmember. 👍

Very comparable to a TH400. Shouldn't have any issues with clearance.

The transmission line locations were the issue. And a 4L80 case is nothing like a TH400 brother. They share some internal components but externally they’re nothing alike.

crxman9119 good info brother. 👍🏻 Also using mounts that set the engine back another inch would clear the headers but of course would also put the engine very close to the firewall. Neither of these would remedy the issue with the column shifter arm though. But I was informed by Speed Engineering that they actually totally redesigned these headers a few weeks ago and the new ones do not have the #3 primary that wraps over the top so all these issues shouldn’t apply to the new series anyway. 😉

Back when we did this build we used the Holley 302-3 pan. Now we use the TSP pan on everything. Same quality but way less money and you get more with it. Check this video out for the details. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-u0DQ7-vCz7s.html

Watch the entire DR Nova playlist, click the product links in the description of each video to buy the parts, and repeat what you see in the video with those parts. ru-vid.com/group/PLnObA-smhvwOf2HieN2Y7iilrz1ulNHie

G-Force RCF1-4L80

Thank you! Did you have to convert it to a slip yoke?

People do it everyday brother. 😉

The entire DR Nova build is covered in this playlist along with links to all parts. ru-vid.com/group/PLnObA-smhvwOf2HieN2Y7iilrz1ulNHie

Thank you I was just going through your videos and found it!

Good deal brother. I try to organize the channel in such a way that people interested in certain project vehicles can easily find what they’re looking for. It should be noted that the cheaper pan we used on the Chaos Theory Camaro is basically the same pan for $100 less. 😉

Hey does the oil pan hang below the crossmember? Also do you have an issue with the headers hanging to low or do they hug the floor pan well

2500HD

Thank you. That’s what I have for my 68 nova. It just don’t seem to want to clear everything. I’ll keep trying.

I don’t remember having any issues with the dipstick. It has been a few years though. Lol

Denali

No clue as I’ve never swapped a 1st gen. But I’d bet there are several differences.

@@BadLuckGarage Got it, thanks boss

Speed Engineering changed the design of the nova headers. I actually talked about that in another video. These were the first design

@@BadLuckGarage do the new design make installation around engine mount and steering box easier? Comparing the visual difference it looks like the new design will not work?

@@BadLuckGarage I actually have a 72 Nova that uses the different motor and engine mounts and I have LSX Innovations adapter plates which give more lateral adjustment (front/back) but I want to be sure as my next purchase before installing the motor is these headers.

No, Links to the adapter plates are in the description and I actually did a whole video on them in the DR Nova playlist as well.

It’s in the video description as stated in the video.

Hey brother I really appreciate your input but neither Ray or myself are really into flashy stuff under the hood. And in this particular case we want it to look almost factory installed and clean. That’s why we were looking for a prebent hose. We did end up finding one and I’ll be adding the part number in the description of this video later today for others that are looking for a more factory look as well. If you’re more of a chrome type person or not not worried about that “factory installed” look then the stainless flex is DEFINITELY a great option though. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

They have black ones as well.

Yes I talked about that option in the video but it’s still not a fitted look.

Bad Luck Garage Ah, I gotcha. The speed engineering headers look different from their image on the eBay page. Is the image not the actual product ya think? I see the second tube on driver side comes up over the rest.

That sir is a very funny story. You may notice I’ve used Speed Engineering headers on every single project vehicle I’ve done on this channel. Even the turbo C10 project had thier shorty swap headers on it prior to building the turbo kit. So I contacted them and was informed that they had actually changed the design of thier nova/Camaro swap headers previous to me ordering and that I must have received a set of the “leftovers” from the first design. I had hoped in light of all the fitment issues I had and all the headers I had purchased in the last that they would send me a set of the revised headers which no longer has the swept #3 primary tube. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and I was stuck dealing with the spark plug wire and column shifter issues. But according to them, the new design should clear all that and also doesn’t ride as low under the car.

They were mismatched. I covered this in a previous video as well as grinding them to fit flush in the adapter plates. If you check out the “DRNova” playlist on this channel you will find every part of this build was covered step by step in detail. 👍🏻

ru-vid.com/group/PLnObA-smhvwOf2HieN2Y7iilrz1ulNHie

Bad Luck Garage Ah did not realize that! Much appreciated!!

No problem brother. I bounce back and forth on this channel between all the projects so I try to organize them into their own playlists to make things easier to find. 😉👍🏻

Bad Luck Garage Nice, your DRNova vids are going to be a huge resource for us. We just dropped the 6.0 LS in Wednesday night. Still have to put the new cam, the 5.3 heads etc in, but we were definitely hitting a snag with the mounts. Super happy to have come across your channel!

ru-vid.com/group/PLnObA-smhvwOf2HieN2Y7iilrz1ulNHie

The third video in that DR Nova playlist has all the info and a link to the booster we installed in that video is in the description. 👍🏻

Bad Luck Garage sweet thanks dude hopefully start my LS swap soon

Good luck to you. Hopefully some of my videos can help you out. 👍🏻

Bad Luck Garage definitely will thanks so much man

Driveshaft was made by a local company “Post Trailer”. It’s the same shop I’ve used for all my project vehicles driveshafts. 👍🏻

Did the splines match or did those have to get changed as well as the shaft

4l80 uses the same yoke as a th400

All this is convered in the videos in the DRNova playlist.

@@BadLuckGarage what vid exactly cause i was lookin through your videos for bout 1hr yesterday about this topic so i didnt have to bug but i couldnt find the video were you talk about this

No clue where she got it.

Dang. That thing is great

Yea I'm liking the heck out of it!👍

Talked to my daughter yesterday and she said she got it on Amazon. I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything off amazon so couldn’t really say where. Lol

Haven’t really totaled it up but links to all the parts I used are in the assembly videos in this DR Nova playlist. It wasn’t much though. I basically built it with stock components except for the cam which I put in it several years before this channel even existed. One of my subscribers hooked me up with the LS2 pistons and rods so basically the only thing I bought this time around was the bearings, gaskets, and Holley oil pan. Keep in mind this is the second time I went through this engine. About 6 years ago when I bought it, it had a bad rod bearing so I bought a $319 crank kit at autozone and while I had it apart I went ahead and put a high volume oil pump, LS7 lifters, a BTR stage 3 truck cam, and comp cams pushrods in. Then after I turbocharged it, it suffered a lean spike due to a fueling issue and broke the ring lands on #7 and bent a few rods. So this time I Honed the cylinders, dropped in the LS2 rods and pistons with new rod bearings and new gaskets and the Holley oil pan to fit it in the Nova. All of this is covered in this DRNova playlist if you want to see how I put it together or need any specific info on the parts I used. 👍🏻

Oh yea, and the disassembly and diagnosis videos are in the turbo C10 playlist if you’re interested. 😉

@@BadLuckGarage Thanks

No problem brother. You thinking about building a new engine for your vette? I’m hoping to start a somewhat low budget stroker build for the Chinavette after the $1500 goal is met. Of course the entire build will be documented in video. Just FYI

@@BadLuckGarage yes but i will go for an ls3 stock style just to start with and keep the cost down. More cost effective and better power than redoing a ls1

5 and 7 are more easily accessed from underneath. Hope that helps you out! 👍🏻

@@BadLuckGarage yeah I learned that the hard way....lol

Trent Dawg lol, yep, from the bottom, a universal joint and an extension to break it loose, then just use your hand to turn the socket to get it out. Honestly it wasn’t too horrible, but I definitely wouldn’t want to do it at the dragstrip between rounds while the headers were still hot. This video is actually over a year and a half old now. I actually talked about how Speed Engineering changed the header design right after we ordered these a few videos later. So the version 2 headers no longer have the swept over #3 primary tube that blocks the plugs. I actually contacted them and attempted to get them to swap out headers before we did the install but they refused. I was pretty disappointed given that I’d used their headers on every single project vehicle on this channel up until that point. And even on several vehicles I’d built that aren’t on this channel.