My 97 LT1 engine swap into my 1997 camaro

I purchased this 1997 Camaro brand new in late 1998 after ordering a 98 camaro and being mislead by the dealership that the 98 camaro would look identical to the 1997. After learning about what would be different I cancelled my order and the dealership did a dealer to dealer search and came up with this one.

It had the 3.8 v6 with automatic, Y87 performance package, chrome wheels, fully loaded except for leather and T-Tops (both of which I hate) It came with a medium grey interior, nicer AM/FM CD radio.

I drove this car 151K miles with no major issues, to date it is still in excellent shape. Only mods ever done to the car are 17x9.5 & 17x11 ZR1 replica rims.

Then over last 5 years I have wanted more power without the hassles of modifying the 3.8.

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x...amaro001-1.jpg

Looks great! There are some members here who have done the V6 to V8 swap (@meissen for one), they can tell you how much of a hassle it's going to be.

About 4 weeks ago while looking on craigslist I found this 1997 Z28. Owner stated car overheats, won't pass smog, shop recommended to him needs new engine. Selling price was 1,000.00. But what can you expect for a grand right? But I figure it would give me the year correct stuff for california smog legal swap.

Car was about 75 miles away in a town called san juan capistrano. So my girlfriend and I drove my car to at least look at it. While the prior owner and I were talking and car was left idling for about 30 minutes (of which it never over heated just went up to between 1/2 way between 210 and 3rd mark on the temp gauge and fans came on and brought down temp.

I noticed the upper plastic radiator cover gone and then looked under car and air dam was gone.

The LT1 seemed to run really nice, no smoke or odd noises so I told the seller we have a deal. Drove the car 75 miles home of which it performed excellent and while yes it ran hot it never overheated nor did it smell like it was overheating.

But for a grand we got a 1/2 way decent looking z28 LOL

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x...psa6bed77e.jpg

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Damn, you practically stole that car! Toss the air dam and radiator cover back on it and I bet you it'll run back in normal temp range. They get hot easily without the air dam on there. I'd almost say don't even bother with the swap and keep both cars, the Z28 for fun and to build up as you please, the V6 as a daily driver/gas saver.

The original plan was to just strip the z28 and send it's shell to the junk yard but then my girlfriend took very quick interest in the looks of the Z28 (she has a 2003 ford taurus) So that is where the swap took a turn, I wanted a V8 and she wanted a camaro.

Prior to the swap I needed to make sure the LT1 was really ok, so we took airdam off my camaro and put it on the z28 temporarily cleared it's PCM codes and the z28 passed smog with ease (go figure) My camaro also passed smog so now both car are registerable even with swaps.

Well we sat down and came up with since I have a good running 3.8 and auto lets build the z28 for you. Dont let z28 pictures deceive you it has quite a few issues.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Blackbird96WS6

Damn, you practically stole that car! Toss the air dam and radiator cover back on it and I bet you it'll run back in normal temp range. They get hot easily without the air dam on there. I'd almost say don't even bother with the swap and keep both cars, the Z28 for fun and to build up as you please, the V6 as a daily driver/gas saver.

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Fuel mileage isn't a concern. I also have a 1997 firebird 3.8 with a 5 speed that does very good on gas.

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x...psfac2ed74.jpg

Nice! Both cars look really clean, you must take good care of them.

The white 97 firebird was bought for 1,000 with a bad engine. Found a recently rebuilt 3.8 out of a wrecked 96 firebird and put it in and car has been great.

So we started he stripping process, keep in mind all electrical and electronics are being swapped from each car

Z28

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My camaro

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while I did this my girlfriend started cleaning all her carpet and seats.

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps5978a774.jpg

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