Small Block & Big Block Chevy Specific - carbed sbc in to a 93-97

i'm interested in this swap, whats involved in doing this?what would i need and what don't i need. anybody that has done this can give me some info.need as much info as i can get. thanx

You don't have to use a tubular K-member but it is nice if you don't mind spending the $440 dollars to get one from BMR. The guages will have to be some Autometer guages or something like that. Just make your own gauge cluster in the dash or use a gauge pod on the a-piller. Also, just use an electric fuel pump and sump the stock tank. And for headers, you can use regular LT1 headers cause the bolt pattern is the same. And the wiring should not be a problem either.. The stock wiring harness can be unplugged on the passenger side fender. Then just pull out the computer and the rest of the wiring harness that went to the engine. Leave the wiring alone that goes to the front of the car and your lights and stuff will still work..

If you need more help or specifics just let me know..

what about the motor mounts?and does the cowl have to be cut to clear intake carb setup?i need trans crossmember for a 400 and custom driveshaft right.

i replied to ur PM..

what about the motor mounts?and does the cowl have to be cut to clear intake carb setup?i need trans crossmember for a 400 and custom driveshaft right.
I'm getting ready to star the same project. My biggest question is how much of the cowl has to be cut out. If anyone has pictures of one I'd like to see them.

Jeff Georges

I'm getting ready to star the same project. My biggest question is how much of the cowl has to be cut out. If anyone has pictures of one I'd like to see them.

Jeff Georges

Jeff, per our phone conversation, I found these pics:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v490/apengineering/97%20SBC%20Camaro/54_1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v490/apengineering/97%20SBC%20Camaro/ba_1.jpg

You could always run a quadrajet and save the wipers.. :chug:

that is NickD's car... very nice and clean setup. i am right in the middle of doing this conversion but i think im gonna give up on it and buy me an LS1 car.

That car was for sale, If your looking to build a dedicated race car, its a great swap and I would do it in a heart beat.

well i dont want just a race car.. but i was gonna do a street/strip 700hp Nitrous 383.. but, i want an LS1 car to play with now.

Jeff, per our phone conversation, I found these pics:

You could always run a quadrajet and save the wipers.. :chug:


Brady, thanks that helps. I needed to see where a dominator ends up. I'm picking up the car in about two weeks. He's emailing pics of the car today sometime. If you find anymore shots email them to me jeffg@yearone.com thanks.

Well I can shed some light here, since I had to clearance for the Dominator.

Firstly it isn't anywhere near as bad as you think to do the swap. Clearinancing for the dominator was easy. I just had to trim away a middle section of the wiper trim, but it meant that wipers were out of the equation completely.

Also if I didn't do a dominator and went with a lower intake manifold I'd be willing to bet it would fit under the cowl completely. I had a lot of metal to cut out though, and also had to clearance for the distributor, in which case I used an MSD billet distributor.

I have a million pics of the swap and some that show the car in its building process. Here is a small collection of those.

http://community.webshots.com/user/badss97

Well I can shed some light here, since I had to clearance for the Dominator.

Firstly it isn't anywhere near as bad as you think to do the swap. Clearinancing for the dominator was easy. I just had to trim away a middle section of the wiper trim, but it meant that wipers were out of the equation completely.

Also if I didn't do a dominator and went with a lower intake manifold I'd be willing to bet it would fit under the cowl completely. I had a lot of metal to cut out though, and also had to clearance for the distributor, in which case I used an MSD billet distributor.

I have a million pics of the swap and some that show the car in its building process. Here is a small collection of those.

http://community.webshots.com/user/badss97

Nick,
That helps a BUNCH. How tall of a hood scoop did you go with? At this point for both strength and ease I going to us a front engine plate. Even though this will be a "STREET" car it wont have any of the factory wiring in it. I was wondering if I could keep the dirver's side wiper or do I have to remove both of them? I was looking at the wipers off my brother's 93 and it looked like I could keep it, but I won't know for sure unitl I start on it. If all goes as planned the car should be at my house in two weeks. I already picked up an Ultra-Z hood, I 'm thinking about cutting the scoop off of it and raising the back about 2 1/2 inches to gain clearance for the carb. Also what radiator did you run, did you use the LT1 radiator? How much did you have to clearance the firewall (or cowl) for the MSD dist? Can you get the dist out with the engine in the car?

the distributor cannot be removed with the engine in the car.. either drop the k-member down or pull the motor out. thats why i bought a msd crank trigger setup and a gutless msd billet distributor. that way there is nothing in the distributor that can go bad or need to be replaced..

the distributor cannot be removed with the engine in the car.. either drop the k-member down or pull the motor out. thats why i bought a msd crank trigger setup and a gutless msd billet distributor. that way there is nothing in the distributor that can go bad or need to be replaced..

I am thinking of getting my hands on a roller and duplicating my old car for a max effort motor set-up. If I did the SBC swap again you can bet your ass I'd use a crank trigger and gutless distributor.

Even though with the motor and mid plates I could get my engine out in 35 minutes;)

Nick,
That helps a BUNCH. How tall of a hood scoop did you go with? At this point for both strength and ease I going to us a front engine plate. Even though this will be a "STREET" car it wont have any of the factory wiring in it. I was wondering if I could keep the dirver's side wiper or do I have to remove both of them? I was looking at the wipers off my brother's 93 and it looked like I could keep it, but I won't know for sure unitl I start on it. If all goes as planned the car should be at my house in two weeks. I already picked up an Ultra-Z hood, I 'm thinking about cutting the scoop off of it and raising the back about 2 1/2 inches to gain clearance for the carb. Also what radiator did you run, did you use the LT1 radiator? How much did you have to clearance the firewall (or cowl) for the MSD dist? Can you get the dist out with the engine in the car?

The hood my car is a custom piece by Roger at US Exotics. It is his version of the SS hood, but has the cowl raised 2" higher than normal. Also the underside of the cowl is gutted, so there is plenty of room to clear the carb.

Not sure on the wipers, my car was track only really so I just hacked them out and never looked back.

I used an LS1 radiator. The LT1 water pump has three ports, thus three hoses coming off of it. This is not the case with an SBC or an LS1 for that matter. So since we had the shop cars factory radiator laying around, that is what went in. I took some welding rods and bent them into the shape I needed for my hoses and off to Autozone I went. Found some hoses that would fit my application and we had water coursing its veins in no time.

I used a motor plate as well for my set-up, and getting the engine in and out was no issue. Un-hook the carb, radiator, altenator, starter, and un-bolt the tranny and you are set. I was able to get my motor to slide forward enough with the headers still attached, so that I could service the distributor. Lack of A/C helps here immensely. Then out she comes, in all it took me about 35-45 minutes with a picker and hoist to get the motor out of the car at the shop. While it was easy, not nearly as convenient as using a crank trigger set-up would be.

If you have any questions as you get this project underway feel free to ask. I know there were times I searched high and low for posts about this subject and there aren't that many.

I to am looking at doing this swap I've waited quite some time to do it and now that i've found others who have done and are doing this swap I'm in Iraq so hopefully this fall when I get home I can start on it, any help or unusual stuff you guy's could tell me about is great.what size wheels and slicks can you get under the 93-97's stock wheel well? Is it hard to fab a crossmember for a th350? Thanks

The hood my car is a custom piece by Roger at US Exotics. It is his version of the SS hood, but has the cowl raised 2" higher than normal. Also the underside of the cowl is gutted, so there is plenty of room to clear the carb.

Not sure on the wipers, my car was track only really so I just hacked them out and never looked back.

I used an LS1 radiator. The LT1 water pump has three ports, thus three hoses coming off of it. This is not the case with an SBC or an LS1 for that matter. So since we had the shop cars factory radiator laying around, that is what went in. I took some welding rods and bent them into the shape I needed for my hoses and off to Autozone I went. Found some hoses that would fit my application and we had water coursing its veins in no time.

I used a motor plate as well for my set-up, and getting the engine in and out was no issue. Un-hook the carb, radiator, altenator, starter, and un-bolt the tranny and you are set. I was able to get my motor to slide forward enough with the headers still attached, so that I could service the distributor. Lack of A/C helps here immensely. Then out she comes, in all it took me about 35-45 minutes with a picker and hoist to get the motor out of the car at the shop. While it was easy, not nearly as convenient as using a crank trigger set-up would be.

If you have any questions as you get this project underway feel free to ask. I know there were times I searched high and low for posts about this subject and there aren't that many.

Nick,
Thanks, I'm sure I'll be hitting you up for advice along the way. Since mine is going to be more of a race car then a street car it won't have any a/c, ABS, air bags, stereo etc.

I was thinking about cutting a hole in the cowl above the dist and making making a cover plate and using dzus buttons so that I could lift the dis out of the motor in the car. What do you think, is the dist back behind the windshield far to to do that?

Nick,
Did you build the headers in the car, use LT1 headers or did some other application fit? Thanks.
Jeff

Nick,
Thanks, I'm sure I'll be hitting you up for advice along the way. Since mine is going to be more of a race car then a street car it won't have any a/c, ABS, air bags, stereo etc.

I was thinking about cutting a hole in the cowl above the dist and making making a cover plate and using dzus buttons so that I could lift the dis out of the motor in the car. What do you think, is the dist back behind the windshield far to to do that?



Firstly I used a set of Hooker Longtubes that I had on my LT1. Same headers.

Also I had at least 4-5" above the distributor once it was installed, so as far as adjusting the distributor that was no issue. However, it actually sits under the lip of the windshield. So if you were thinking of making a hole in the cowl to remove the distributor that will not work.

What is a trigger and gutless distributor? Does anyone have a link?

And what exactly with the motor plates do for you?

I to am looking at doing this swap I've waited quite some time to do it and now that i've found others who have done and are doing this swap I'm in Iraq so hopefully this fall when I get home I can start on it, any help or unusual stuff you guy's could tell me about is great.what size wheels and slicks can you get under the 93-97's stock wheel well? Is it hard to fab a crossmember for a th350? Thanks

I've heard the 28x10.5 slicks will fit under them with some work, but I haven't tried yet. I have put 26x10.5 slick on a 97 F-Body. For the TH350 cross member I used a stock auto cross member and added a mounting tab on the front with gussets to support it.

What is a trigger and gutless distributor? Does anyone have a link?
And what exactly with the motor plates do for you?

Anyone?.......

What is a trigger and gutless distributor? Does anyone have a link?
And what exactly with the motor plates do for you?

Anyone?.......
A gutless distributor has no trigger in it, it is just used to distribute the power from the coil to the plug wires. Then for a trigger you'd use a crank trigger.
I'm using front motor plates becuase the LT1 motor mounts only use the lower and rear top bolts from the original style motor mounts and the third bolt is towards the rear of the block. A conventional small block doesn't have the rear bolt towards the rear of the block so you can't use the LT1 mounts on a conventional small block. Plus my car started as a V6 car, so I'd have to change the cross member to use the LT1 mounts anyway.

Good info guys..

what wires can i eliminate under the dash and in the engine bay? i dont need gauges or anything like that...only working lights and blinkers...i took out all the hvac boxes ect and bought a block off for the fire wall....also with a 4150 style holley950 hp what do i do for throttle cable and mounts?and you say lt1 radiator wont work with the sbc huh?thanks for the help...im about 1/2 way into the conversion now....

thanks alot

tony

If you dont need gauges or computer than you wont need any of the wires coming out of the pass. side firewall. Lights are run off of the bcm (seperate computer from the pcm in the engine bay). For throttle cable i used one from an 85 z28 and enlarged the hole on the firewall. I used the lt1 radiator, but you will need flex hoses to route it properly. The lt1 radiator hooks up opposite of the older gm ones. (water pump attaches to upper driver side and thermostat housing attaches to lower passenger side) As for throttle cable bracket, i bought the plain bracket from autozone and bent the tab 180 degrees around so that it would line up straight with the carb. You may not need to do this on most carbs but i did on mine, holley 770 street avenger. Hope this helps.

what about under the dash?id like to get rid of all the wire i possibly can...i dont have any hvac controls or any of that to worry about...

thanks for all the help

Well you could remove all of the vaccuum lines, blower motor, heater core etc. underneath the passenger side dash.

yea ive gotton that stuff out as of yesterday...im trying to figure out what wires i can eliminate under the dash....i think im just going to leave a 1 foot pig tail off the fuse box and just run new wires through out the car for the things im gonne still power...

thanks for all the help....now you said i can use a ls1 radiator though and i dont have the backwards line problems right?

yea ive gotton that stuff out as of yesterday...im trying to figure out what wires i can eliminate under the dash....i think im just going to leave a 1 foot pig tail off the fuse box and just run new wires through out the car for the things im gonne still power...

thanks for all the help....now you said i can use a ls1 radiator though and i dont have the backwards line problems right?

I picked up the terminals for the factory fuse block in the dash, turn signal connector, wiper switch & headlight switch. I'm re-wiring it for the stuff I still have in the car (turn signals, headlights, wiper, gauges, starter, ignition and fuel pump).

Anyone running a front drive distributor? Something like the Jesel belt drive with MSD front drive or even Jesel's own front drive? I am leaning that way just so I dont have to worry about pulling the motor or fighting the cowl.

What do you do about a throttle cable, will one work out of a third gen TBI or carbed car?

we've always been able to use the stock throttle cable. I just mount the piece that clips onto the manifold to the cowl behind the wipers, then run the cable through the "screen".

And we've also used the front mount dist. w/belt drives, it's alot easier that way, just a ton more expensive than a conventional chain and distributor.

Brady-How's everything going down there? Give me a call when you get a sec.
Jeff Georges

I used a throttle cable from an 85 Z. You will have to modify the hole in the firewall but it worked great for me.

This is great information. Nice to see some others going this route as well.