LSx Z32 with stock TT transmission.

[hobbdebub]

I've had the engine in the car for a while but have been laid up with a broken ankle so I haven't had much time to mess with it.

The car is a 1992 2+2 that had a JDM TT 5sp swap in it when I first bought it. The TT motor had cracked ringlands on cyl 6 because of the egr was what I was told. I had every intention to just pull the engine, do a simple rebuild, and be on my way.




After pulling the engine out and getting it apart. I felt that it would be cheaper and easier for me to work on in the long run to just swap the motor out. (I understand its a great motor and makes crazy power but it is a pain to just do general maintenance on)

I found a cheap LQ4 in a local junkyard for a good deal so I decided to bite the bullet and start the swap.

Parts and part numbers to make this swap easier...

Universal LSx mounts --welded to the subframe
Trans-dapt part # 4501



Oil pan/pickup/windage tray
Moroso 20140 (oil pan)
Moroso 24050 (pickup)
GMPP 12558253 (windage tray)--has to be modified to fit pickup tube



Stock vette fuel filter/regulator combo
Napa # 3737



normal fittings for filter for hoses:
3/8" (pressure): DOR-800-121
5/16" (return): DOR-800-120

AN stuff if that's your thing:
3/8" -> -6an: 640850
5/16"-> -6an: 640860

I know that there are better intake manifolds out there but I used one from a 98 firebird. The stock truck intake would have required a HUGE hole in the hood.

DIY throttle cable bracket.



Corvette harmonic balancer for this reason...



I went with the big pulley waterpump with the forward facing outlet from a LS1 but one from an LS2 with the thin pulley would be quite nice as well.



I ended up using the alternator and bracket from a C5 corvette which places the alt up top.

You can keep heat if you braze some bends on your heater core but I took the easier route and pulled my core out (was leaking and I don't plan to use the car as a daily anyway) These show how close the engine sits close to the firewall.





I removed all of the powersteering lines and depowered the rack while I had everything out. I took everything apart and regreased it. The oil pan sits very very close the rack and required me to cut all the lines off the rack and weld the holes up (not needed for my setup anyway)

Flyin' Miata : Tech: 1.8 conversion



I did the swap on a pretty strict budget and found that stock headers from a LS2 Corvette fit almost perfectly. I had a local exhaust shop help build the pipes to connect to my factory exhaust. Here are a few pics of the driver side.





The fun part of the build was getting the transmission mated to the engine. I had an adapter plate made at a local shop out of aluminum. Its around 3/4" thick.

I can't find any of the pics I took of the plate itself, but I did find one I took of the wooden model I made just to get an idea of what I wanted.



I took a stock LS1 flywheel and had it turned down so a stock TT ring gear would fit. I'm sure you could use the one from an NA if you have it. The flywheel has a spacer and a custom set of M11 bolts (had no clue that you couldn't just buy longer ones) The pilot bushing fits nicely in the spacer.

You can use either an NA or TT clutch with the swap just make sure you have the dowel pins/holes drilled for whatever you are using.

Because of the way the engine sits and the size of the intake I decided to cut the core support and lean my radiator forward a few inches. Looking back it may have been more beneficial to use an aftermarket NA radiator because they aren't quite as wide.







I ended up cutting the latch and some of the ribbing from under the hood to accommodate the new radiator position so hood pins are a must.

You can see that the transmission just sits a little further back. We modified the stock transmission crossmember a little and it works perfect. You will also have to hammer the starter pocket with a BFH as well.



I used the shifter kit for mounting a Z32 transmission to a SR powered 240.

Xcessive VG30 / KA Shifter Relocation Kit - Enjuku Racing Parts, LLC





**BIG thanks to Future_Gohan for showing me this.**

You have to trim the tunnel just a hair because of the way the shifter is offset on the transmission. It fits pretty well and with everything back together and sealed up its hard to tell a difference.



I had a one piece driveshaft on the car already so it was a simple as having the shop take a few inches off and rebalance.

Wiring was super super easy. I stripped out most stuff from the harness and used the body plug for most of my stuff. I rewired the fuel pump (the stock Z used a grounding system with the relay and the fuel pump, the chevy ecu used a diff signal so that was an easy fix) The good news with the swap is that you will only need one signal converter for the tach. Here is one that should do the job:

Universal Speedometer Signal Interface

I mounted an OBD2 connector in my center console so I can hook EFIlive up and tune. Currently the car is running on an open loop speed density tune. I still need to get in and pull a ton of timing. I see something like 10 degrees @ WOT? It also needs to have fuel pulled from the higher rpms as well.

Here's a few pics from the first day out and getting the layer of dust off from the shop:






First start:




Yes that is a gatorade bottle as a catch can, I've since swapped to a LS6 valley pan to clean things up a bit.

If you have any questions about the swap I'll do my best to answer them.

[stockbee]

cool swap. Don't see that everyday!

[Imarvin240]

well done on the swap

[mag300zx]

Very nice. I'm actually in the process of doing the same swap on my 2+2. I got goosebumps just watching the video haha!!

[hobbdebub]

Found this, it gives a little better view of the plate itself:

Originally Posted by mag300zx

Very nice. I'm actually in the process of doing the same swap on my 2+2. I got goosebumps just watching the video haha!!

Have any pics of it? I'd love to see what you used for your acc. drive setup and headers.

I've also been looking in to mounting the alternator on the bottom/driverside so I have a little more room for a better intake setup. Everything is still pretty tight in the engine bay although nothing like the vg was.

[OLDSCHOOLRICER]

Would you be able to make a kit to use the z32 trans on the lsx? Im pretty sure there would be a lot of interest i know i am for sure.

[zane]

so bad ass.. i miss my z

[hobbdebub]

Originally Posted by OLDSCHOOLRICER

Would you be able to make a kit to use the z32 trans on the lsx? Im pretty sure there would be a lot of interest i know i am for sure.

I could easily get the adapter plate and flywheel stuff replicated if I could pull the motor. I'm not able to get to it for a few more weeks though.

[s14unimog]

Nice! I like it! Cool shit using the z32's trans.

[JERAVICIOUS]

Nice! I like seeing more z32 mods

[Corbic]

Wait! Time out - how did you mount up the TT Trans to the LQ4?

What flywheel/Clutch did you use? Custom adaptor?

Cost?

I'm putting a LM7 into a '79 Z28 with a 4L80, the only reason I didn't go manual was the lack of an inexpensive trans.

[hobbdebub]

adapter plate
flywheel spacer pressed on to flywheel
pilot bushing pressed into spacer
stock ls1 flywheel cut down to accept TT ring gear (much smaller diameter)
custom length M11 bolts <---surprisingly hard to find
TT transmission

I had the flywheel drilled and dowel pins installed for a TT clutch to start but found an amazing deal on a beefy NA clutch so I had it redrilled for that.

I had the same issue when I first looked in to the swap. T56's are great transmissions no doubt but for the price you find them for you could easily pickup 2-3 Z32 trans.

The gearing is def different. 1st gear is VERY short. 1st in the Z32 is 3.21 as compared to 2.66 which is common in F bodies I think. 2-5th on the RS5R30A are much much closer to a T56 1-4th gear.

[mag300zx]

Originally Posted by hobbdebub

Found this, it gives a little better view of the plate itself:





Have any pics of it? I'd love to see what you used for your acc. drive setup and headers.

I've also been looking in to mounting the alternator on the bottom/driverside so I have a little more room for a better intake setup. Everything is still pretty tight in the engine bay although nothing like the vg was.

I haven't started the swap yet. I'm barely in the process of pulling the vg out this week but I'll deffetnatly be contacting you for questions . I was gonna go with the t56 tranny but you're making me change my mind looking how you kept the Z tranny.

[mag300zx]

By the way the last pic is hilarious. It reminds me of the elementary school days where the boys use to compete in the bathroom on who could pee the farthest lol.

[project-D180]

niice.......

[Big Zee]

great build!! I like how you have detial, and a finished product AND VIDS!!

how long did this build take you ? does the shifter hit the plastic in first and second ? or is the pic of it already in first/second ?

[txrxs]

You'd have huge market for adapter plates if you could keep the cost down due to the expense of T-56's.

[twistedsymphony]

Nice swap!

I have a T56 in mine but I can definitely see a market for the Z32 trans... the T56 ends up being one of the hardest to find and most expensive parts of the LSx swap

The only thing that sketches me out is the flywheel spacer, I guess I just see it as having a ton of potential to become unbalanced which could lead to some very bad things.

[jackasspyro2]

how thick is the flywheel spacer

[Corbic]

Originally Posted by twistedsymphony

Nice swap!

I have a T56 in mine but I can definitely see a market for the Z32 trans... the T56 ends up being one of the hardest to find and most expensive parts of the LSx swap

The only thing that sketches me out is the flywheel spacer, I guess I just see it as having a ton of potential to become unbalanced which could lead to some very bad things.

I think the market extends beyond the Z32 crowd. Lots of people are swapping the truck LS motors (LM7/LQ4) because you can pick one up for a few hundred bucks.
Being able to get a manual behind it for less then $8-900 would be a huge boom.

[DrIvEsldEwAyS]

my buddy has this swap in his z, he did his 4-5 years ago though. believe it was the 2nd one ever done.

[hobbdebub]

Originally Posted by Big Zee

how long did this build take you ? does the shifter hit the plastic in first and second ? or is the pic of it already in first/second ?

Took about a year and a half working on it here and there. I normally work 50hrs a week in a kitchen so I don't feel like doing stuff all the time haha.
In the pic it's in 2nd. When it's in first its really close to the plastic. I notched the metal piece that holds the shift boot up.

Originally Posted by twistedsymphony

The only thing that sketches me out is the flywheel spacer, I guess I just see it as having a ton of potential to become unbalanced which could lead to some very bad things.

Originally Posted by jackasspyro2

how thick is the flywheel spacer

Heard and read the same,

The spacer is around 1" thick. It all boils down to the thickness of the adapter plate. I could probably get the engine adapter made out of steel and get it down to 3/8" thick (it 3/4" aluminum right now) I'm sure doing this could knock some off of the size of the flywheel spacer.

I had originally wanted to used the stock spacer that the flexplate had on it. It's something like 3/8" thick? I can't remember why i went with the thicker plate, it may have had something to do with the way the flywheel had been spaced on the VG motor.

When I dropped the fly wheel off the spacer had been pressed in and the guy at the machine shopsaid when he turned it down he balanced it. So far so good. The swap has around 1k driven on it so far and no problems as of yet. i'd like to get some driving in but I couldn't push the clutch in if i wanted to right now ha.

[2000gtx]

what starter did you use?

[hobbdebub]

Originally Posted by 2000gtx

what starter did you use?

stock TT starter

[BryanR00]

I will buy an adapter and flywheel spacer from you as soon as possible You should really consider selling a kit.

[drscooper]

damm that z sounds mean as fuck! straight up! nice build man!!

[mnmax]

exactly how much farther back does the tranny sit? i have a hard mount shifter already in there and i don't really want cut or notch any part of my chasis.

[NoPistons!]

If that was mine, i'd jizz soap all over it at the carwash too. Love it dude. I used to hate lsx. Starting to really warm up to them.

[chino38]

badass set up

[StockSC300]

Yo, I can build an adapter plate if you guys want this... here is a picture of the design in the computer..



Let me know.. I could probably do the Flywheel spacer too if you guys want this sort of thing..