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IS300 budget ls1 swap

40K views 24 replies 12 participants last post by  tonynca 
#1 ·
I Finally killed my transmission transmission with 260,000 miles and was going to go get one out of a junkyard to replace it but then i decited to not waste my money on an automatic transmission when i've been wanting to switch it to a manual and after pricing a r154 swap i decited im tired of the rediculous prices of parts for our cars. so i bought a 6.0l vortec ls1 with a almost brand new 4l80e from a friend for less than it would have cost me to put a r154 into my car.
im trading the 4l80e for a t56

my car when i first got it

one of the reasons my trans took a dump






i have buddyclub coilovers on the way, hotchkiss sway bars waiting on me to install them, and a megasquirt standalone to tune the ls1 since someone hacked up my harness. After i finish the oil pan ill start on making some motor mounts
luckily for me i have a foam mock up block
ive been using the factory mount to get a general idea where its going to sit and figure out how im going to build my oil pan


i needed a good way to lift the ls up, just used some scraps from other projects

not my prettiest welds but they'll do, i should have cleaned the steel

got the trans and oil pan off, the motors actually in pretty good shape i needed the oil pan gasket for a template to build the flange for my oil pan


it took awhile to mill out because i didn't have the right tooling
after some fitting it fits snugly on the engine
 
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#5 ·
#6 ·
Got my oil pan finished this monster holds 9 quarts ,I had a friend tig weld it since i haven't done much aluminum welding.
I fabbed a bracket to run the lexus power steering pump so i dont have to adapt any lines, the pressure is right , and the gm one that came with my motor was mangled. the washers are temporary im ordering some alluminum spacers that ill weld to the back of the mount
I also finished assembleing my megasquirt standalone ,the thing was only $400 with a 12" harness included, it took me 6 hours to soldier together though.
Tomorrow im going to mount my alternator ,and start on motor mounts and the trans mount since my bushings got here today.















 
#7 ·
I drilled and taped the block for my alternator mount , i need to get our lathe wired up , it hasen't been used for a couple years because our last shop didn't have 3 phase power.

It took a day but i finished my motor mounts








Im waiting for my driveshaft to get here so i can build my transmission mount so i can get the best angles on my u joints
, i also started going through the remaining engine bay wiring for the headlights airbags and abs and extending that part of the harness to tuck it in the fender wells. Do i need any of the wires that went to the ecu? Im planning on running water temp and oil pressure / voltage readout in a dash pod so i should be able to remove all of the wiring that went to the stock computer right? just need a double check that it doesn't control anything else before i the the dash out and start snipping wires.
 
#8 ·
so my driveshaft should be here Wednesday , i wire tucked the passenger side but haven't decided what i want to do with the relay box on the passenger side so im leaving it as is for now. i also removed the stock ecu wiring.

im waiting on some convoluted tubing and clamps to cover all of the wiring back up again


cut up the original oil pickup tube and made one to work with my front sump pan , its not completed though i want to ad a brace to make sure the vibrations wont let it do anything funky
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i found a ls6 cam in a mountain of my dads parts and he said i can use it but moneys tight and it wont work unless i dish out another 100 dollars for used ls6 valve springs and money is going to be tight getting this build finished so it will have to wait
[URL=http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/jaminm6/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-04/8BA37C2D-2DCF-4587-92FB-78CB7F36357F_zpsn64ywvu5.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y472/jaminm6/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-04/8BA37C2D-2DCF-4587-92FB-78CB7F36357F_zpsn64ywvu5.jpg

oem clutch pedal parts are really expensive so im building my own setup to work with a chevrolet style clutch master cylinder

also the t56 i have is a lt1 version not a ls1 version which don't work together ,although they will bolt together the lt1 bellhousing is 1'' longer than the ls1 version and the is a .400 difference between the flywheel would be. the bolt patterns are changed on the ls vs the 1st gen sbc too and the input shafts are different lengths.
luckily gm used the same flexplate just with the different bolt pattern in it so they built a press in spacer to adapt the 4l80 with the ls motors so to make the lt1 t56 work on my ls i have to buy a ls t-56 flywheel ,put the spacer they used on the 4l80 on it ,possibly redrill the clutch mounting holes(unsure if they will bolt together yet) ,and make a press in bushing to extend the throw out bearing to the shorter input shaft i ordered a flywheel it should be here tomorrow and i already have the crank spacer so well see how that goes tomorrow...:grin: :frustrate anything to keep the cost down!
 
#9 ·
custom clutch pedal assembily i took the plate off of the dead pedal so that it matches. these first couple pictures are blurry because my phone camera was all scratched up.. :frown2:


installed the ls6 cam and valvesprings

header time!



my unfinished shifter knob

had to make a new power steering bracket because i switched to the ls3 crank pulley and water pump


my car was a automatic and i needed a shifter boot


had to change the front plate and bellhousing to get my transmission to work with the ls
i just set the body pannels on
 
#10 ·
Got a killer deal on this thing $300 with a harness shipped!



For first set of headers I've ever built id say they are pretty good , it was just a steel weld up kit so i didn't bother paying someone else to tig weld them that 18 gauge is hard to get a pretty bead on with a 350 amp mig welder though.


The abs may have some heat problems right there :frustrate



I got my PurePower Reusible billet remote mounted oil filter in and the front Hotchkiss sway bar. I got lucky that the sway bar clears my oil pan because when I designed the pan it wasn't in the car and totally forgot about it. :wink:
fast fuel rails on a stock intake make me feel stupid but the truck ones looked like crap and my dad had a set so.....
im still using the 6.0l truck fuel injectors though and they are a half inch shorter than the car ones this intake and fuel rails are designed for so i had to make custom mounting clamps to hold them down ,pics tomorrow.




In case anybody was wondering what radiator hoses from autozone will work on your ls swapped is300 here's the part numbers



I got them more than half off with my commercial account :approve:
I couldnt find a regular hose for the bottom but this flexible line fits pretty dang good.
The upper just needs to be trimmed to length.



When some jacka** sells you an intake manifold on ebay and doesn't tell you its missing a vacuum fitting that you cant buy ,you get on the laithe turn up a block off plate and epoxy that sucker in!




My clutch pedal came out better than i could have ever hoped for ! It sits level ,uses the full throw of the Willwood master cylinder which is the same displacement of my slave cylinder ,looks like the other pedals and only cost me about $80 cash and a day.





I still need to clean up the stainless, my insulation mess ,and vacuum all of the metal shavings up.

My favorite pic of the car before.

 
#12 ·
I didn't use stock style mounts like everyone else because they can fail like this one...



This little guy needed a nap...



I had to make a different power steering pump mount plate. I switched over to the car water pump and crank pulley ,so there wasn't enough room in front of the cylinder head for the pump. If anybody is doing a ls swap with the longer crank pulley and water pump dm me , you can have my first one :approve:





custom fuel rail holders because im using shorter 6.0l truck injectors



thought about this before i started the build , id doesn't fit too bad if i didn't have a billet throttle body it might look stock



And the Wiring BEGINS!!!







The msd 6100 is pretty sweet , it has a Programmable two-step rev limiter, vacuum advance curve and step retard all you have to do is wire in a switch for the rev limiter and step retard , but the vacuum advance requires a MAF sensor.

saw this massive blower yesterday , I put a penny on the carburetor for scale , that thing would look good sticking through my hood!

 
#15 ·
Just turn that Lexus logo so it's facing the front, and no one will ever know :approve:
 

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#16 ·
Wiring takes forever ,especially since Ive never done anything this in depth.



Some of the connectors i decided to crimp and soldier my own ends because i had to buy the connectors anyways.







The intake manifold is on for good now , I received my tensioner pulley yesterday so i put it on and found a belt to fit



I don't know how anyone else has done it but i found drilling a hole in the floorboard is the best way to bleed the clutch , there was no way i was going to be able to get a socket on the bleeder otherwise.
I think most peoples swaps have the engine further forward.

my custom clutch assembily feels amazing , im curious why everybody uses 7/8'' master cylinders ? the 3/4" disengages it fully and im sure its much easier on your leg...



This car is going to be my daily only for a little while. Im probably going to buy a older diesel vw jetta, or a ls400. im going to keep this car street legal but slowly build it into my drift/ time trials car :grin: by having two sets of adjustable front suspension that are aligned how i want them and making all of the factory adjusters fixed in place. That way i can change set ups without re aligning the car.
so all of the factory radio, airbags and heat/ac are getting removed ,i will be leaving the defroster ducting on the bottom side of the dash and connecting it to 2 12v electric heater/ blowers so it is still streetable. iv driven cars without any heater and really hated wiping the windshield every 30 seconds when it was raining :frown2:



Having the Firewall cleared off is going to make it 100% easier to modify the gas pedal to work with the gm cable

Btw those are factory power seat brackets that i modified to work on a bucket seat , they move forward , back and tilt :surprise:



The efi harness is ready to put in the car , just need to connect the water temp sender, and crank position sensor at the right length



not sure if im going to use the Lexus engine cover , there's just so much custom shiny stuff all over the place that it doesn't look factory , i might look for a cover that came on a Lexus v8 when everything else is done.
 
#17 ·
This is one of the most unique builds i've seen, Your skills and knowledge are uncanny, not to mention your stamina. Watching this so far is an emotional roller coaster.. . At times I was cheering and then crying.. .. lol Overall great work, keep it up and finish this beast! We all would like to see your finished product. Good Luck to you.
 
#18 ·
I'm very envious of the simplicity of the clutch pedal you designed. The stock one has so many moving parts! I just had to take it out to change the bushings because it was squeaking, it's a PITA but nothing compared to what you've done in this build. Very impressive stuff so far, keep up the good work!
 
#19 ·
So the car runs now but only half the time because my cam sensor is bad and the msd box doesnt know which cycle the engine is on. also my alternator is no good so once i change those out it will be ready to start fixing the tune. also i don't care how streetable it is anymore so im pulling out all of the factory wiring and insulation then wiring up the brake lights ,turn signals ,and windows for now as well as removing the sunroof. the car is still going to have carpet door panels a backseat and dash+console im also going to ditch the factory brake master cylinder/booster and abs and go to a Wilwood non boosted setup with a proportioning valve i got a steal on a couple hundered feet of 1.75'' .095 wall dom tubing so im going to start on a wrc style cage with front and rear door bars once i get all of the insulation and wiring pulled out. The goal is ultimately to have a 4 door drift machine


the first time in a year i washed it


big jumbled mess


zipties holding the fuel regulator because when i change the brake system the lines wont be in the way to mount it to the firewall

don't know why its rotated but here's the engine


Anyone in texas want to buy a truck? decided to sell my lightning it just costs me too much for a daily even with gas prices down my gas cost is a lot and on top of that im paying $2400 a year in insurance so im going to sell it to fund this project some more and get a vw diesel

389hp and 496ft/lbs at the wheels with some big drag radials
 
#23 ·
So i've been working on the cage for a couple days now its almost half way done.

I used dry ice to remove the sound Matte from the floor, will probably come Back later and get the rest off of the trans tunnel.
Decided to do drop thru's because boxes are ugly

floor plates are temporarily in place



sorry for the crappy photos it got dark before i got the camera out

The forward bars are positioned so they don't obstruct your view, they will also be plated in later when i pony up the cash for a set of dimple dies.

You may have noticed how this build started in a bigass shop full of equipment then it stopped for 8 months and now im in my driveway. With the oil industry going to shit here in Texas it didn't make sense to keep the doors open anymore and most of the heavy equipment is in a storage building without 3 phase power. :( So after working out of town for a while im back home and inbetween jobs. The weather has been brutal this last week 95 degree weather with 70% humidity and no breeze because of all of the damn trees.

 
#24 ·
I managed to remove the rear window without breaking it , but i have it taped in place right now because we've had a lot of rain.



The cage is almost finished being fitted now, just need to run 2 bars to the front strut towers and two to the rear strut towers + plate those areas but unfortunately my plasma cutter needs the consumables replaced. Im going to order a furick cup for my tig welder, the gas diffuser on my torch right now is trashed and i don't have any collects the right size for it anyways....







Parts of the door bars aren't tacked in place yet because they need to be taken out to be sanded and degreased before welding.
 
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