Pranav catches the LT1 misfire zeka

[Adam Ginsberg]

Ls-5.3 swaps for 4th gens are unbelievably expensive.

Can you elaborate, thoroughly, on this statement?

[Pranav]

Of course a 5.3 by itself can be had for $500-800 easily, I paid $866 for my aluminum lm4 and sold $200-300 worth of truck junk off of it. It is a direct swap for an 98-02 ls1 Camaro, and can go into a third gen with less pain parts changes than an lt1 4th gen.

However to LS/5.3 swap a 93-97 LT 4th gen you have to:

Replace or modify the t56 (swap front plate + input shaft)
Replace lt1 bellhousing, clutch/fw assembly, pedal assembly, master and slave cylinder pair+line, and throttle cable with LS1 versions
Source all front LS1 Camaro alternator, ps pump, tensioner, and all brackets, hub/damper, water pump
Source LS1 intake, throttle body, exhaust manifolds, fuel rail, exhaust y pipe
Source LS1 Camaro steering rack, lower steering column shaft
Source 5.3 long block
Source LS1 ECM and full engine harness
Source LS1 Camaro coils and Camaro coil bracket assemblies
Source LS1 camaro motor mount assemblies
Source LS1 Camaro k member and engine stands
Source Camaro pan + pickup (and baffle if you use a stock pan)
Replumb power steering, oil cooler, radiator stuff.

I'm sure I left a couple of things off. I got into this thinking I'd fetch more than I've actually gotten for my good LT1 parts, and my lt1 remains unsold for the moment although I've been too busy to try hard to sell it. I just did a cold leakdown on it and was happy with the numbers so it will be listed soon.

The Canton pan was a cheaper shortcut that left me with horrible ground clearance so I'm burning cash going back to a more expensive stock or Holley pan with IR baffle this summer.

Given that the Camaro LS1+t56 take out is the gold standard for swaps, most everything Camaro specific fetches a premium, especially in the accessories and transmission department. Good luck finding a used, ready to go LS1 tremec t56 for much less than $2k. I was very fortunate to have Francis and Richardson help me convert my lt1 borg warner t56 which still ended up being $500 in parts.

You may get lucky finding a complete pullout for cheap or stumble across a wrecked donor car, but neither are often cheap. One guy did buy a complete pullout for cheap in this region but the engine blew in the first event and they did have to rebuild the trans.

I had my very specific reasons for swapping away from an LT1, but for most others that have perfectly healthy lt1s in their cars, doing such a massive swap to avoid ignition issues seems a bit excessive.

The delteq external northstar coil conversion seems to be a pretty solid option. On the upside you get the move to a more robust ICM and coil pack assemblies, removing the ignition source from within the Opti housing making the optical piece last longer.

On the downside you are also still relying on the optical portion of the opti, but I've never actually had an issue with that part. Some have however. You are also relying on the delteq "brain" which is an obscure, low volume aftermarket part from a company supporting a dying lt1 market for who knows how much longer, especially when Delphi has stopped Opti production and the market for clean lt1 hard parts is drying up.


If I were still an lt1 guy and in my third round of chasing misfires, I'd volunteer being the guinea pig.

[Sook]

I tried to get a hold of a delteq kit before swapping and wasn't able to. I think the company is dead but the website lives on?

[Pranav]

Ah bummer, is the LTCC conversion still around? It's $399 for a module and harness, you just have buy the coils brackets and make the plug wires so probably about the same cost as the delteq

[Supercharged111]

Man apparently I need to start sniping optis. Last AC Delco opti was under 3 hundo shipped from Amazon and it's been ticking since 2014 knock on wood. Have a spare in the trailer ready to go and a generic presumably good opti on a spare junkyard engine.