LQ4 into a 3rd Gen/1972 Nova by frojoe

4 minute(s) of a 891 minute read

Thanks!

Yea for the electronic throttle body there really is no other way of connecting the TV cable <-- (wrong, actually a kickdown cable) that I could see because nothing external physically rotates anywhere on the throttlebody, so the pedal idea is really the only thing I could think up. I've tried taking pics but it seems camera's don't like being so close and in such little light, very few pics are even half-decent, but I'll try again sometime soon.

I wanted to dump as little money into the th350 as possible because I knew I'd eventually want a stick, but now I think I'm just gonna throw in a T56 ASAP and get rid of the auto.

As for the whole swap, I will eventually clean things up when I get a TIG welder/make my own stainless headers/possibly turbo?/have the time and garage space to rip the subframe out and redo everything ground-up with fresh paint. So far it's a temporary-ish setup to just get everything running so I can drive the damn thing!

The paint looks a bit better in photos than in life, it's got some scratches and dents that are noticable in person, and paint will be the very last thing I do to it. I kinda like it like that, build it up with speed parts but have it still a bit raggy like I'm "just another young kid in an old car with rims..."

Also, the oil problem... I'm thinking it's the oil tube itself. I cut and welded the stock truck oil pick-up so it'd fit in the modified pan, but the tube might've warped during welding and so when the pickup support strut bolts to the windage tray bolt, it torques it and doesn't let the pickup seal to the o-rin/pump properly, because I've already replaced the o-ring.

PS.. I've tried to be as helpful/descriptive as possible to share my experience and knowledge gained, because it seems that questions about an LS1 into a 3rd gen Nova are popping up more and more.. (even though 1st gen Camaro's and 3rd gen Nova's have damn similar underpinnings)

9-17-2008

I just got back into the same town as my car tonight, so I'm gonna get crackin on pulling the engine and pan tomororw and report back with my findings hopefully sometime within the next couple days...

9-18-2008

The engine was getting oil to the lifters, and would hold 35psi for 5 minutes at idle when I 1st/2nd/3rd started it again, but when I took it for a drive the oil pressureslowly dropped to around 10.

The very first times I started it before this, it was getting next to no pressure, so I figured o-ring. I was lazy and just wedged the engine up, pulled the pan, awkwardly inspected the oil pickup/pump with engine still in car, pulled the o-ring, and it was fine, not pinched or anything. I carefully put it back together and bolted down the tab to the oil pump, but then noticed that the pickup still slid in and out maybe 1/8" of an inch or so. I had also noticed that it did this the very first time I assembled everything way back when, so I decided this time around to throw in some high-temp silicone sealant to "safeguard" against any possible future leaks.

My thinking is 1) that was a horrible idea and I wish I wasn't so lazy and had pulled the engine in the first place. 2) I think that the sealant held pressure fine at idle but when I drove it and it heated up, the bond between sealant and metal pooped and it started slowly sucking air instead of oil.

It's also good to note that I had to chop up and weld the stock truck pickup to fit my modified pan, so I thought maybe during welding the pickup warped, so when I bolted the pickup support strut to the windage tray, it would twist the oil pickup and not let the pickup/o-ring to mate into the oilpump properly.

I'm tired so I only unhooked 90% of things, but I will tomorrow pull it, flip it, and really investigate how well the pickup seals like I really should have done in the first place. Of course I will report back with my findings!!