awesome build,any update
awesome build,any update
Not really 
All of the DDs were crying for maintenance. I did throw the GTO and Muscle car oil pans in the engime bay to measure.
It looks like the GTO pan with come modifications (pan and crossmember) is the way to go. The Muscle car oil pan, being rear sump, places the engine too close the firewall; maintenance would be a nightmare. Map, cam, oil pressure sensor would almost require lowering the cross member to replace. Replacing the clutch would definitely require dropping the crossmember.
Small update . . . A win and a loss.
Let's start with the loss. The NV3500 won't work due to the shifter location. With the engine and transmission in the approximate location, the shifter comes up under the HVAC unit (about 10-12" away from the stock shifter hole). Also, the height of the shifter base is tall as berk . . . there is no way it will work. If I wasn't trying to keep all the amenities, it would be non issue. So I have to find something else to row gears (no T56).
Now for the win . . . The V8 Volvo mounts may work for this swap.
Dropped in with the NV3500 and LS3 Vette exhaust manifolds
Forgot the take out the stock Duratec V6 motor mounts. Looks like the LS3 manis will foul against the mount location. The truck manis exit at the rear. I'll more than likely use those unless I stumble upon some cheap CTS-V manis.
Before and after crossmember modification
Since I'm using truck motor with truck stuff . . . the crank pulley and FEAD will foul the swaybar. I'll have to mod the GTO front sump pan to move the engine back ~3".
V8 Volvo mounts appear to work!!
Marked the pan for some cuttin . . .
Here is the approximate location it will live. After the pan is modded, it will be ~2-3" lower and ~3" closer to the firewall.
I plan to do some more test fitting once I cut the oil pan and find a suitable manual box I'm currently thinking Z32 or Solstice/Sky manual box since they have remote shifters and have been adapted to LS engines.
I just picked up a "better" piece to this puzzle:
Z32 transmission + flywheel + driveshaft for $220.
The remote shifter will make this MUCH easier than trying to use the NV3500.
There are some ots solutions for mounting these to Gen III/IV engines (starting at $600). Before I go that route, I'm going to read some the build threads on here to create my own adapter plate. The flywheel will be straight from a Camaro turned down to use the Z32 flywheel's ring gear, redrilled for a Z32 pressure plate, and added crank spacer.
Dug into Maciekb2002's Red Pig Replica Build for his tutorial on how to make an transmission to engine adapter.
And the result . . .
Thanks Maciekb2002!!
With rain in the forecast for the rest of the week, I may not be able to roll the engine out and test fit the adapter. Bolt sizes listed are approximately correct for the engine and absolutely wrong for the transmission side; more investigation needed. I already sent an email to the local metal man for some materials!
What is the story on the 3550? Will it fit a traditional sbc? I'm looking for a cheap trans for the challenge car. ...
Yep. It will work with SBC. You will need a V8 168 tooth flywheel and a late V6 Clutch kit. The trans requires a hydraulic throwout bearing.
you have a PM
Well . . . Berk!
I picked up a LS1 flywheel, found a machine shop that could mill the flywheel down to fit the VG30DE flywheel ring gear, but not enough clutch (240mm/9.45in) for full surface engagement . . . Damnit! I could look for a turbo ring gear and turbo clutch (250mm/9.84in) to test, but costs start creeping towards the price of the ots kits.
Looks like I'll be contacting the two places that have adapter kits and flywheels.
Jumped in the interior to fish out all the crap and "mods" done by the PO. Let's just say lots of stripped wires tied and taped together 
Looks like I have a lot of correction work to complete.
Out of curiosity, I took some measurements of the LR4 and NV3500 + shifter again. The air ducts to the rear and ash tray would need to be deleted . . . EASY! However, the restraint control module is right in area where the shifter wants to occupy . . .
Does anyone know if it could be relocated 8-9" rearward?
In reply to Strike_Zero:
This is great- I've always thought these were good looking cars. Keep up the good work!
as for the shifter I think in the "rice rod" thread there were a few pictures of shift handles being located way rearward of the actual shifter on the trans. I'm not sure the science behind this but it looks straight forward. And cool!
That's EXACTLY how I'm planning the shifter.
I'm researching possibility of relocating the RCM. If I can move back (on the same plane) ~8 inches, it would save me ~$700.
I decided to move the RCM 8 inches back to make room for the NV3500 shifter. I measured the mount, but will save the relocation for last after I'm done with positioning the engine and trans.
I need to raise the transmission a few as I am aiming for 3*
Peek-A-Boo!
Surprisingly, the hood closes with room to spare! I'm trying not to modify the oil pan unless absolutely necessary. It looks like I can go back 1-1.5 inches if I can move the engine up 0.5-0.75. This will give me the room needed for the truck FEAD to clear the fan shroud and sway bar.
I currently have the C6 LS3 exhaust manifolds installed and there is a decent amount of room. I'll try out the LS6 CTS-V manifolds to see if I like those better.
More to come . . .
Alternator and PS Pump bracket
More room coming soon!
As you can see, the alternator is too high. I ordered spacers to use a LS6 water pump I have on the shelf. Once those come in, I can make some brackets to mount the alternator on passenger side.
Very cool to see you back at it.
Ya know this is pretty sweet haha... But if it were my car and I were to take on a LS swap, It would be called the Lincoln HelLS
The car named itself being overwhelmingly smelly 
pres589 wrote: Very cool to see you back at it.
Thanks! After I pulled some interior panels to get the PO's hacked auto junk out, I found a bit more room for the shifter. That and I REALLY don't want spend $700 to adapt the Z32 trans. I have everything except the clutch for the NV3500. So, it made sense to give it an offical try.
With the LS6 water pump and spacers:
The current setup on the car is the hydraulic fan shroud (fan assembly is long gone) with an aftermarket electric fan. The engine can go back an inch or so, but the shroud will still need to be trimmed. The Gen II electric fan and shroud are supposedly thinner. I'll have to investigate . . .
I will attempt to use as much of the LS' instrumentation and controls as possible. Welcome to longest and hardest part of the project!
After digging around some forums and Pull-a-Part, I settled on the Ford Contour dual fan setup. These are dual speed and can be controlled using various controllers and sensors. The fans at low speed supposedly move ~3600cfm of air The current plan is to use the Volvo 2-fan relay.
I installed the fan (will need to make some side brackets) on the stock rad with the fluid cooler and AC condensor. I gained TONS of room switching to the contour fans.
The lower rad hose will be run similar to the 1st Gen CTS-V; across the bottom and up to the thermo housing.
The radiator is taller than the fan shroud. I'll have to modify it a bit to get full coverage. Also, the BMWs mounts I originally planned to use are a bit short. Unfortunately, this dude dumped the stock V6 mounts during a clean up day 
. I'll measure up a set the next time at Pull-a-Part.
The weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow . . . I'll dig through the scrap pile for pieces to fab an alternator bracket.
I found some 1"x1" square tubing to set the engine a bit higher. Doing so, moved the engine back another 1". Not sure on the final angle of engine and trans; I'll have measure it later. I'm thinking of moving it back down .5" . . .
I also installed all of the cowl brace and plastics, radiator plastics, and cabin air intake box so I can lay the harness
Option 1:
Issues with this option is the ECU and air intake occupies the same space. But I believe I may be able to build a bracket on the shock tower and mount the ECU there.
Option 2:
Issues with this option is physically going in the harness to move things and modifying the cabin air intake box to mount the ECU. I REALLY don't want to monkey around with the harness and screw something up. The plan was to turn off stuff I won't need and remove the pins from the ECU.
Other options include mounting the ECU to the cowl brace or just opposite of the ABS pump (passenger side)
I would prefer Option 1. I can make jumper harnesses all day without worrying. The ECU placement may be tricky, but looks doable. Mostly importantly, it keeps me out of the harness 
. Once the weather is a bit more tolerable, I'll grab a chair, a beer, and stare at it until I come up with something workable.
Oh! The hood shuts with at least 1.5" of clearance. I still would prefer to move it down .5" to mitigate possible driveline alignment issues. I'll worry about that bridge after I resolve the harness issue.
I cant believe I missed this thread. I really want to swap a Nissan RB26DET into one, and have a really comfy, and somewhat rowdy DD or weekend brawler on my hands. Kudos for having the cajones Detroit didnt.
There's a guy on the Lincoln forums that has 1uz-fe, manual trans, and big turbo stuffed in the bay. That engine looks like it belongs there!
So far the hardest parts of this swap is the amount of $$$$ I don't want to spend.
A $500 oil pan would eliminate the cross member surgery and engine location compromises. A $1500 T56 plus the oil pan would put the shifter near the correct location. Or skip the T56 and add a $700 adapter and flywheel would let me use a strong $200 manual trasnmission with a remote shifter.
So far, the spreadsheet says $2424 (I sold off $500 worth of stuff; I still have ~$250 of other stuff to go).
Which oil pan is needed to avoid surgery?
Canton (15-276) has a road race pan that looks like it would work well. But at $405 and oil filter stuff not included is a wallet gut punch. I'm using the 04-06 GTO front sump oil pan and trying my best not cut it. With crossmember hacked out and the engine 1" higher, no oil pan surgery is need as I can see so far.
Most of the crossmember hackery is due to my use of the truck specific FEAD. Using the Vette, GTO, or CTS-V FEAD would have given tons of room in the front.
An adventurous person could use the GM muscle car (rear sump) oil pan if the engine is moved right up against the firewall. The LS steering rack and hard lines are at the rear of the crossmember. Doing a rear sump oil pan would make it a maintenance nightmare . . . like dropping the engine and crossmember to remove the trans and change the clutch.
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