Stans 1968 camaro LS swap and other upgrades.

[Bmf5150]

Hey guys,bought my 68 camaro last summer.i have wanted one for years,slowly looking for the wright car to buy.i ended up finding one that was complete re stored 3 years ago.i got a great deal on it and had plans for a LS swap from the day i bought it!ithe car had 1600 miles since the rebuild!.it had a 383 with edelbrock performer heads and a t10 4 speed. it has around 500hp.the guy i bought the car from did an awsome job on the cari,its like brand new..will document my LS swap as well as other upgrades.my swap started in december of 2010.here is what the car looked like when i got it.



Hate the wide back wheels,got to go!!

[Bmf5150]

here are some pics from over christmas when i pulled the engine!

[Bmf5150]

i bought a 1997 ls1 from a corvette,the motor is suppose to have low to no miles on it!since the motor was the older ls1 i wanted to upgrade some stuff on the motor,called up texas speed and decided on there 243 stage 2 ported heads and a 228r cam!im also going with a ported oil pump,ls2 timing chain and a stock ls6 intake.my goal was to to get more power,but dont want to kill gas mileage,want to drive and enjoy the car!

[Bmf5150]

cleaning everything up getting ready for cam..


my motor is one of the early 97 with the copper colored stock cam bearings..



does the deck surface look clean enough to u guys?need to wipe it down one last time..hate those old graphite gaskets!!


my texas speed 228r with 114 going in,using assembly lube as it goes in..

[Bmf5150]

i read about the controversy of the s&p modded oil pan with oil starvation i didnt want to have any issues,so i ordered a autokraft pan.this pan is really really nice!!!

[Bmf5150]

When i started working on the motor,i went to swap out rod bolts with ARP after i had read about all the rod bolt failure with the early motors.!i was curious so i lifted a few rod bearings to see if they had any wear.they look very clean with like no wear to them.





im a little messy with the assembly lube!

[Bmf5150]

Here is when i started re assembling the motor!




installing the texas speed stage 2 243 heads!!!i have to say these heads are nice!!

[Bmf5150]

the texas speed 243 stage two heads are nice!!!!!

[Bmf5150]

me test fitting the intake,think im going to sand it and paint it!!

[Bmf5150]

i went with the street and performance motor mount conversion plates!

[Bmf5150]

here is my performabuilt level 2 4l60e,they claim its good for up to 700hp..i went with the 3000 stall.I had a heck of a time to get the converter to seat properly!!it was a real pain!!

[Ron.in.SoCal]

Great car Sir! Welcome to the forum...

[Swiftandswank]

Now that is a great first start of a project thread

[Rybar]

Nice project, looks like you are doing a good job. Thank god you are getting rid of those wheels and tires that came on the car. I just can't figure out that someone actually thinks that looked good???

[Motown 454]

Welcome you have a sweet project going on here.

[Dobster]

Looks like a great start. keep up the really nice work...

[Bmf5150]

Thanks guys!!rybar,i agree!!

[Bmf5150]

couple pics of the motor going in,big thanks to my buddy jeremy and rich for the help getting it in!couldnt have done it without you guys!!!

[Bmf5150]

With all the issues with the Spectra gas tanks and guys having to modded them to work i said F&ck it and went with the Ricks hot rod gas tank!the ricks tank sure is nice!!shame it cant be more seen!!!

[Bmf5150]

got the hole in the floor patched from the old stick tranny and i got the new B&M quicksilver mounted!!