1984 "Rustang" GT (Slow Build)

[WallaceMFG]

I like keeping cars brands match motors too, but I get the LS conversions.
Bonus, that LS1 has similar weight to my Turbo Lima 2.3L at 450 lbs.

I'm getting it more too now! lol. Hopefully I can lose some weight with the swap, the Aluminum LS will save me some weight, but the T56 is going to add some compared to the T5. Wish I could have weighed the car before removing the old powertrain.

Wow, what an update! I'll be watching your swap with great interest. I'm the exact opposite of your beliefs, hot rodding is engine swaps! Good luck!

I mean, I'm not against engine swaps, just try to keep the brands the same lol. In a perfect world I'd be doing a Coyote swap, but it's just too expensive compared to the LS. So to the dark side I went lol.

[WallaceMFG]

Well, I got my LS1 back from the machine shop, but not with good news. The rust in the cylinders was more than a 0.010 overbore could clean up, so the block is useless. Probably going to be made into a coffee table now. Fortunately, I came across an aluminum 5.3 block for a good price and I grabbed it. Current plan is to get it bored out to LS1 spec so I can use the LS1 rotating assembly. So in the end, I get to keep my aluminum block that I wanted. And since it is a Gen 4 block, I can get it sleeved for big displacement in the future if I want.

22179 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr

22182 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr


Since I can't do much with the engine currently, I tore my trans apart to work on fixing the failed bearing. Again, my luck seems to be bad, the bearing race seems to be welded to the mainshaft and I haven't been able to get it off. I've found one other bearing that wasn't in good shape, but otherwise the trans is in great shape inside. So worst case, I need a main shaft. Even if I need it, I still come out money ahead compared to buying a T56 from a junkyard.

20210113_071926 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr

20210112_203249 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr


Progress will continue slowly. I'm currently hunting for an SN95 K member to make the swap easier. Found one at a Junkyard, but don't want to pay their prices if I can avoid it.

[WallaceMFG]

Hey all,

Made some progress recently. Managed to find an SN95 K member local to me for a good price and picked it up. Ordered some motor mounts for a Modular 4.6 and tried to bolt them to the engine. Apparently the "4.6 mounts bolt right up" I was told was a lie. The front two bolts had to be enlarged one size with a unibit, nothing major. But the rear bolt is at least an inch away from lining up. So I'm going to weld another plate on to extend the rear bolt flange to make it line up and I will be set. Overall, not that bad of a problem to have. I also had to notch the K member for oil pan clearance since I'm using the F-body oil pan that came with my LS1. I knew that going in, so it didn't bother me. I cut the area out and will box it in for strength.

After all that I checked that everything was going to fit.

20210207_202622 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr

20210207_202629 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr


I stuck the F-body manifolds on just to see how they looked, they cleared everything easily. Not sure if I will use them or not, I will have to see how the steering shaft clearance is in the car before I'll know. Either way, it was nice to see how well it all looks like it will fit. I need to find a starter too, that area might be tight with exhaust.

Otherwise, since my new block is at the machine shop I got started on prepping some of the car. I may have gone a little further than I planned...

20210207_202618 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr


I wanted to clean up the wiring, and it has turned into a much bigger job. There is lots of stuff that is not needed any more I can remove, just need to find where it all terminates so I can remove it while keeping the rest of the car functional. I'm also going to run all the wiring down the drivers side fender, instead of down both as it was before. I hope that will keep all of the wiring in one place and look cleaner, especially once I add the harness for the LS.

Progress will come as I'm able to get out in the garage!

[WallaceMFG]

Howdy!

I made more progress over the past few weeks. Here's an image of how the 4.6 motor mounts had to be modified to work with the LS.

20210213_145401 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr


I boxed in the K member where I notched it for oil pan clearance.

20210213_145428 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr


After that, I got the K member put into the car. The rear bolt holes have to be slotted to line up with a Fox, so I did that and trimmed it shorter to clear the frame rails. Got it in and dropped the block in to see how it looked.

20210216_144836 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr


I have lots of oil pan clearance to the rack.

20210216_165647 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr


I threw the rest of the parts on to see how it looks.

20210216_165653 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr

20210216_165703 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr

20210216_165733 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr


It's definitely tight in some spots. The steering shaft goes right through the driver exhaust manifold, so it looks like swap headers or a different manifold are required. The heater hose outlets are aimed right at the coils, so I need to figure that out. And one coil hits the brake booster, so a coil relocation kit may be in order.

Otherwise, I ordered a bell housing and crossmember for the T56 so I can mock up the trans in the car. I don't anticipate any issues, but want to make sure all the bell housing bolts will go in with how tight it was to the firewall. And as always I'm still working on wiring, taking all the crap out of the harness that I don't need but being careful to make sure the car will still work as before. Fun stuff!

[WallaceMFG]

Hey all,

Not much to show but I have been making progress. Since my last post I received the bellhousing and crossmember for the T56 so I could try putting it in the car. Overall, it fit ok but needed improvement. The shifter was perfectly centered in the floor opening, but the body of the trans was hitting the top of the tunnel. Also, I discovered that the back of my intake manifold was hitting one of the ribs on the firewall and wouldn't seat properly. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone and fix both problems. I took my motor mounts that I had previously modified and modified them again lol.

This time I extended the front of the mounts and relocated the rear hole, to push the motor forward 3/4". This gained me the clearance I needed for the intake, as well as gaining clearance in the trans tunnel. The shifter is still pretty close to the perfect location, I can use an offset shifter if I need. A result of the mount change, I had to redo the notch I previously put in the K member. It now goes all the way across for oil pan clearance. After those changes, the motor now fits very nicely in the bay.

20210321_173220 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr


Aside from that, I've been picking away at my PCM wiring. I got an 0411 PCM and harness from a truck and have been weeding out the circuits no longer needed. It is a slow and dirty process, but going well so far. I've found a few places where wires have damaged insulation from sun exposure which isn't ideal. But since I'm going to be extending the harness to mount the PCM in the fender, I'll be able to do some creative splicing and fix all that. I'll be sure to show how much I pull out when I'm done lol.

20210321_173217 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr


Otherwise, I make progress when I can. My wife and I recently purchased a new to us toy hauler that needs a little rehab, so I've been working on that a ton to try and finish before summer arrives. And the usual project list for the house, kids, etc... I want to have it running by the end of the year if I can! lol

[Mikey97D]

Nice progress.

The prices on toyhaulers right now are nuts. Well, nuts on any rv. Good luck with the new to your toyhauler.

[WallaceMFG]

Nice progress.

The prices on toyhaulers right now are nuts. Well, nuts on any rv. Good luck with the new to your toyhauler.

Thanks! And yes, they are crazy right now. Plus there's just none available. And when you start looking for a specific model it gets even harder. Less than a month after we got it the stimulus checks hit and people got tax returns, trailer market literally dried up overnight.

We had decided on what we wanted, so had to pay to play. 07 Weekend Warrior FSW3200.

20210306_151024 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr

[WallaceMFG]

Hey all,

Still making progress as I can. Been picking away at the PCM harness, finally got all the unused circuits weeded out. Here's the pile of unused wired from the harness, almost bigger than what is left lol.

20210417_180134 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr


Threw the harness on the car to start seeing how things are going to go.

20210411_190546 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr


Not sure if this is final, but the PCM fits pretty good right here. And the harness might not need extended at all, or very little.

20210411_190539 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr


And in other news, my new block is back from the machine shop. 5.3 now bored to LS1 spec, ready to go together. Just need to order bearings to start checking clearances.

20210417_142139 by Nelson Wallace, on Flickr


Things are going well!!!