dsaxman
05-28-2005, 10:27 AM
(posted on the M90 thread in the Holden section as well, but thought I'd share my experience here as well since every few months someone asks)
I almost did a 2005 l32 (series III) swap but decided go turbo instead - main reasons I didn't were the money (about 2k more than I had anticipated in parts, and I budgeted $5500 originally) and length of time to do the swap (probably 5-6 weeks considering I'd only be able to do the majority of the work on weekends - if you were having a shop do it, it could probably be done in a week and a half).
So back to the basics.. The motor w/ blower will *barely* fit under the cowl (about 1/2 an inch clearance). If you want to intercool it, you're going to have to notch the cowl (and possibly windsheild) to get the IC block between the blower and the block.
The big problem as you all know is the intake. My solution was going to cut an 8" wide x 6" tall x5" deep box into the firewall to allow the throttle body to come out of the engine normally (although backwards), then put on a 90deg. silicone elbow, a short length of pipe, then two 45 degree elbows to get the intake tube out to the driver's side of the engine. There I was going to mount an SLP LS1 MAF. It was pretty much business as usual from there. I discussed my plan at length on a couple of occassions with Loyde from Fast Fiero's and he made a few suggestions (like the LS1 MAF upstream instead of on the throttle body). My only problem was since I have a 99, I'd need a fly by wire throttle body or convert to a cable driven throttle.. was ready to go down the cable conversion until I found out that the 2005 L32/L67's are now fly by wire.. so you could go that route (but that's 300 of the 2k I hadn't budgeted for).
The other "gotchya" with cutting the box to allow for the intake to come out and snake around is that you would also have to cut your AC/heater vent box.. The way we measured (which was almost perfect) is to cut out the top set of vent channels (so you would lose your side defroster vents), and plastic weld the open channel closed.. the box would fit right above there with about 1/4" clearance. Tight fit, but it seemed to work. (un)Fortunately, we had a buddy of mine's wrecked firehawk that had been stripped that we were using to do all of these calculations on, so we didn't actually have to tear my car apart to get the measurements.
Also, the one big downside I really didn't want to deal with is to do any work on the intake side of things (like a blown gasket), you'd have to pull the motor to get to it..
The other option was to get a custom k-member made with the engine mounts 6" forward. Plenty of room to move the motor up, but that means adapating the steering column and rack, custom driveshaft, custom headers (depending on where your ball connections end up - mine weren't going to clear the fender wells) and the *little* problem of the balance being off with the motor farther forward. Granted, the LS1's have the weight further ahead, but there's also not that big cavity in the back there.
Would have been a neat project to do, but like I said, I didn't have enough cash to do it right and couldn't live without the car for a month and a half.
I almost did a 2005 l32 (series III) swap but decided go turbo instead - main reasons I didn't were the money (about 2k more than I had anticipated in parts, and I budgeted $5500 originally) and length of time to do the swap (probably 5-6 weeks considering I'd only be able to do the majority of the work on weekends - if you were having a shop do it, it could probably be done in a week and a half).
So back to the basics.. The motor w/ blower will *barely* fit under the cowl (about 1/2 an inch clearance). If you want to intercool it, you're going to have to notch the cowl (and possibly windsheild) to get the IC block between the blower and the block.
The big problem as you all know is the intake. My solution was going to cut an 8" wide x 6" tall x5" deep box into the firewall to allow the throttle body to come out of the engine normally (although backwards), then put on a 90deg. silicone elbow, a short length of pipe, then two 45 degree elbows to get the intake tube out to the driver's side of the engine. There I was going to mount an SLP LS1 MAF. It was pretty much business as usual from there. I discussed my plan at length on a couple of occassions with Loyde from Fast Fiero's and he made a few suggestions (like the LS1 MAF upstream instead of on the throttle body). My only problem was since I have a 99, I'd need a fly by wire throttle body or convert to a cable driven throttle.. was ready to go down the cable conversion until I found out that the 2005 L32/L67's are now fly by wire.. so you could go that route (but that's 300 of the 2k I hadn't budgeted for).
The other "gotchya" with cutting the box to allow for the intake to come out and snake around is that you would also have to cut your AC/heater vent box.. The way we measured (which was almost perfect) is to cut out the top set of vent channels (so you would lose your side defroster vents), and plastic weld the open channel closed.. the box would fit right above there with about 1/4" clearance. Tight fit, but it seemed to work. (un)Fortunately, we had a buddy of mine's wrecked firehawk that had been stripped that we were using to do all of these calculations on, so we didn't actually have to tear my car apart to get the measurements.
Also, the one big downside I really didn't want to deal with is to do any work on the intake side of things (like a blown gasket), you'd have to pull the motor to get to it..
The other option was to get a custom k-member made with the engine mounts 6" forward. Plenty of room to move the motor up, but that means adapating the steering column and rack, custom driveshaft, custom headers (depending on where your ball connections end up - mine weren't going to clear the fender wells) and the *little* problem of the balance being off with the motor farther forward. Granted, the LS1's have the weight further ahead, but there's also not that big cavity in the back there.
Would have been a neat project to do, but like I said, I didn't have enough cash to do it right and couldn't live without the car for a month and a half.