1989 wagon with LQ4 6.0L!!!

 

I love B-Bodies. I had been looking for a gray interior wagon for a long time, and a friend jokingly posted a Craigslist link on my dorkbook page that was about 30 miles away.  I went and looked at it and struck a deal for it WITHOUT the oil leaky swapped in 350. Brought it home and started working on it. I bought a 52,000 mile LQ4 from an 05 Hummer, and a 4L80E out of an 06? truck.



Sat the engine in.  Routing wires.



Regular harness routing was this, but I didn't like that.



Tore out the entire harness and re-routed it.





Took out the booster and got a Hydroboost from the U-pull, since the Hummer came with a power steering pump FOR Hydroboost

Modified factory gas pedal for the DBW setup.



Got a plastic tank from a 95 wagon



95 Caprice underhood fuse box tied into harness. I also am running Trailblazer SS exhaust manifolds.

Looks like a cool project. Now we have two LS swaps to follow on the board.

I had to notch the front crossmember A LOT to fit the factory truck A/C compressor. I ended up having to weld the engine mounts to the crossmember as well.





Notched for the F-body oil pan.





Exhaust manifold notch.



A/C compressor notch

Pulled the inner fenders and battery tray, blasted and painted.




Reinstalled. Painted the exhaust manifolds with high temp VHT black too.




Was VERY lucky to get THE first set of VHX gauges from Dakota Digital for 77-90 Caprice






Getting closer!!

Built the exhaust out of mandrel bent 3". I got restless and only went to in front of the rear axle. It has a turn down on a Super 44 right now. I will finish it up in the next month or so over the axle and out the rear.

I ordered a nice Griffin radiator from Summit and found a set of V6 Firebird fans at the U-pull.





AirRaid U Build It intake kit.

Dark gray Bonneville seats up front with a 96 Impala center console



Scored a set of truck rallys at the U-pull also.  Blasted, etch primered and painted.



Out setting up the speedometer



Here it is 2 weeks ago.





Then we shortened the shifter 1.5" also last weekend.



That's it for now.  I have all new carpet and sound deadener at home, but will have to wait for a couple weekends to have to to work on it again.

It is fun.  It has a 2.93 rear gear, which is not as fun as it could be though.   

Wow nice work...

Thank you. It took a little longer than expected, but quicker than I first planned. I planned on just letting it sit for a year or two, because I just wanted to get a gray interior car. LOL.

Nice work, didn't realize there was that much hood clearance in the box wagons. BTW, those are some cool looking gauges there. Do they have any idiot lights at all or do they all show up on the lcd as text?

I don't know!! There is SO much that they can do. They have about 20 add on boxes you can use too. What lights were you wondering about?

Looks sweet!
Certainly a lot of time, skill, and patience put in.

loweredd wrote:

I don't know!! There is SO much that they can do. They have about 20 add on boxes you can use too. What lights were you wondering about?

I saw that it said check engine on the display, was wondering if something like the oil light, generator, etc showed up there as well.

It's got the gauge for those, don't know if they have a warning for them.......I will find out and let you know. I know it shows 0-60, fastest mph, goofy stuff like that.

95BRMW wrote:

loweredd wrote:

I don't know!! There is SO much that they can do. They have about 20 add on boxes you can use too. What lights were you wondering about?

I saw that it said check engine on the display, was wondering if something like the oil light, generator, etc showed up there as well.

In fact it said to check engine @ 3:00 o'clock. Very forward thinking car!! LOL....

Very nice work. I wish I had that kind of time and talent!!

LOL!! It actually does have a service vehicle countdown you can setup to remind you. The dang things were almost as much as the car, but STILL cheaper than 6 AutoMeters.

I bought a really fancy watch one time,..all kinds of features and gadgets,.damn thing wouldn't tell the time tho,..

you still had to look at it,..


So you have much vibration with the motor mounted solid?

Nothing that I can tell.

I was following your LS1tech thread, haven't been on there in a while...was wondering if you had completed it, nice work!

How did I miss this thread? Nice work!!!!!

Thanks guys. It is running and driving, I'm slowly redoing the interior. Trying to find unobtainable GM clips and stuff.

these guys have alot of clips i could not find any where else. worth a try
http://www.clipsandfasteners.com/default.asp

Already tried them. =(

How bad was the wiring? That's the part I fear most in a LS swap after the frame mods, never learned how to weld.

Oh man, this what happens when I leave! Started swapping my 89 wagon a while ago but haven't been posting. Looks great man. I was considering the plastic fuel tank too, looks like that's what I'm doing.

Wow, great mods, love the interior
Pete