S14: Ditching the 1JZ and going LS

[nrmskate]

Hey guys, I'm going to make this intro short and sweet. About 2 months ago I purchased my 1JZ S14 from a guy about an hour south of me. I got it for a good price, it was rust free, has JDM kouki aero (minus front), and it had full interior. The motor setup was stock 1JZ with the stock twins, AEM v2 standalone, 2jz harness, R154, Spec stage 3 clutch, etc. I drove it around on the weekends for about a month or so and I absolutely loved it. You could tell when driving it that it was just an incredibly reliable setup that had a lot of potential. There was just something about buying a car already built/swapped that was bugging me. I didn't like driving or owning a car that I didn't build... so I made some changes. I sold the entire turn key 1JZ swap for $3500 + a pair of Work XD9 18x10 +18 wheels.

I had it listed for a couple of weeks, had some flakers and bullshitters contact me. I couldn't believe that people weren't hopping on the deal like fly's on shit... I was asking what a basic SR swap would cost for an S-Chassis. I had a guy from Chicago contact me and asked if I would part it out, and I said I'd prefer not to, but he offered me a good amount of money for the AEM v2. Well, we got to talking and worked out a deal for the entire swap, so a couple of weekends pass and he drives down and picks it up. I had him put a small deposit down via paypal so I knew I wasn't pulling the setup just for someone to flake out...















As you can see from those pictures, the person who originally built the car did a VERY poor job or painting the engine bay. They decided to not scuff up the bay before shooting it with a very cheap quality spray can of undercoating/bed liner. The stuff layed down very thick and made it very hard to get off, there was no sanding this stuff, it's something that needs to be removed via wire wheel. I had about 4 hours or wire wheeling and wire brushing the bay before prepping it for primer.





I took a little break from prepping the bay for primer, so I drove down to STL and picked up the new heart. Drove down there and picked it up in my buddies 82' VW Caddy Diesel; man are these little trucks fun.



From this point I went home and dropped it onto the engine stand to start doing some regular maintenance.



While I was doing some regular maintenance, I decided to go ahead and start ordering parts, so I ordered the Sikky swap kit but decided to go with the Hooker headers as I'm on a budget and they were a bit cheaper.





At this point of me typing this, I am currently still waiting on the Hooker headers to be shipped (it's been a week already and nothing from Enjuku). The Wiring Specialties harness should be here tomorrow.

Spec stage 3 clutch kit came in.



Started etch primering the bare metal spots in the bay. I decided to not spend the 40+ hours on removing all the bedliner in the bay and kind of half assed it, I'm sure i'll regret it down the road, but I couldn't get the bedliner out of the small crevices of the bay.


Decided to wire brush the block and paint it black. This is simply aesthetics as the LS1 is an Aluminum block so it wouldn't rust anyways.




Installed some of the Sikky swap parts.



Found out the Sikky hardware isn't the greatest, snapped 3 of the 6 mount bolts when torquing to their specs (65 ft/lbs.). I purchased Chromoly hardware and installed the mounts, held up much better. I had to cut the windage tray, install the new oil sump. Installed the oil filter relocation fittings.



Engine bay etch primered.







Engine bay 2k sealer primered and block sanded.





Beat the shit out of the trans tunnel. I'll be upset if I have to yank the engine/trans to beat it out some more, I beat on it for probably a good hour. I primered the area after beating on it so it wouldn't rust.




Painted the bay. It was 105 degrees outside and the humidity was outrageous. If anyone knows anything about painting, they know that humidity will absolutely kill a paint job, and that's exactly what it did. But it was supposed to be 100+ degrees for the next 10 days, so I said ef' it. It's a decent 20 footer paint job. The color is Black Cherry Metallic, used on Mazda's.









This is where I'm at currently. All of this progress has been done in the last month or so, so it's moving right along, which is surprising considering I have an 11 month old son and a girlfriend that requires 24/7 attention. I somehow find the time to tend to their needs and work on this bad boy.

Stay tuned!

More pics of the exterior.











18x10 +24 in the rear. 18x9 +22 in the front. Cobra R Replicas, fit the stock body nicely.

[nrmskate]

The wiring harness showed up in the mail today. Yuri does some absolutely amazing work, and this harness definitely shows that. The quality of this harness is outstanding, very glad I went with Wiring Specialties.



I'm waiting 7 days before I start installing things back into the engine bay. Trying to give the paint plenty of time to cure.

[D-Clem]

sick man, I am envious of the 1J lol but the LS will be an amazing power plant as well! nice start.

[dudermagee]

torquing bolts to 65ftlb on an aluminum block is probably a bad idea.....

Why didn't you just build up the 1JZ?

And you're probably going to have to hit that tunnel some more.

[nrmskate]

I torqued the bolts to wh at Sikky recommend for an LS1 engine, so I ended up torquing them at 60ft/lbs with the chromoly hardware.

Trust me, I wanted to slap a big single on the 1jz, but growing up I was raised around LS style engines and have always wanted to do an LS S-chassis. I liked the 1JZ, but I wanted a taste of both worlds. I used Sikkys measurements to bang out the trans tunnel, so hopefully it clears, if not, I'll be learning the hard way...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

[JSimpson]

Awesome! love it

[nrmskate]

Got a few small things installed lastnight. Only worked on it for about 30min before the heat really started to get to me.

Got the CMC installed, BMC, and the fusebox back in place.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

[greenwood]

nice work!

[nrmskate]

Small update.

Trying to get as much done as I can before the headers show, sense that's the last piece of the puzzle..

Got the wiring through the firewall, that was a pain in the ass. Got the pilot bearing installed, flywheel torqued down, pressure plate torqued down, transmission installed.







Here will be my fuel setup. Walbro 255 to corvette filter/regulator, to summit fp gauge, to the stock LS1 rails.


Only thing left to really do is cut the stock fuel hardlines, install compression fittings, install nylon AN lines, DEI fire sleeve, install headers, drop it in, and connect all the wire connectors from the wiring specialties harness.

[jaysgottaredtop]

Originally Posted by nrmskate

Warble 255

That's kinda what they sound like too.

[nrmskate]

It's nice having my new MacBook Pro, but one thing I do not like is that it has autocorrect... It autocorrected Walbro to Warble, which I didn't even know was a word?

Anyways... I got impatient tonight and decided to test fit it to make sure that I banged the trans tunnel out enough.





Try to ignore the ratchet straps, you gotta do what you gotta do when it's a one man band..

More to come when my headers get here.

[nrmskate]

Another small update. Again, I'm going to apologize for the not so great quality pictures, you would think a new phone would take better pictures.



Here is the fuel setup all plumbed up. Did compression fittings from the stock hardlines to 6AN to the Corvette C5 filter/reg. Then I went 6AN out of the filter with a DEI fire sleeve to a Summit FP gauge to the stock LS1 rail.




Oil filter relocation installed. Wiring harness installed. Clutch line installed. Remote bleeder mounted. Chassis ground hooked up. Starter positive cable installed. Radiator installed. I am taking the radiator to a buddy tomorrow to TIG in a nipple for the steam port.





Kind of at the home stretch here.

Things left to do:
-LS1 fuel rail fitting
-Spark plug wires
-Fluids
-Interior wiring
-Remount steering wheel
-Tighten BMC nuts
-Bleed brakes and clutch
-Install brake line relocation kit (Thanks JSimpson!)
-4 rear driveshaft bolts/buts
-Install radiator/fans
-Plumb intake
-Exhaust
-Mount shifter
-Mount body panels
-Go do skids and shit.

[Koukiii]

Very nice build so far. I'm planning a 5.3/6.0 truck motor 6spd swap in the future so your build thread will be useful.

Are you going to try to get A/C working? That's a must for me.

[nrmskate]

I at one point had thought about having working AC, but the previous owner who did the 1JZ swap removed every AC component from under the dash, so sourcing everything would be a pain in the butt. Just to me wouldn't be worth it, it's already a tight fit in the bay with the LS anyways.

[nrmskate]

I'm going to apologize for the terrible video, I will get a better one. Fired it up for the first time on Friday of last week. Have to fix a few small things then she should be ready to go on her maiden voyage!



It's hard to believe that just 21 days ago the 1JZ was in there. Now I've done all this work and have gotten to this point. Such a sense of accomplishment!

[nrmskate]

Small update:

Fixed a small high pressure power steering line leak. The Sikky line was leaking at the hardline fitting. I also bled the brakes, lowered the car another inch and finished the intake setup. I plummed in a IAT sensor as I didn't receive one with the motor setup. This week will consist of interior wiring, cleaning up the bay, and driving the snot out of it.

I will update with pictures shortly.

[Koukiii]

Originally Posted by nrmskate

I at one point had thought about having working AC, but the previous owner who did the 1JZ swap removed every AC component from under the dash, so sourcing everything would be a pain in the butt. Just to me wouldn't be worth it, it's already a tight fit in the bay with the LS anyways.

O damn yeah I wouldn't bother either in that situation. Glad it all worked out.

[S14kouki805]

Mind if ask what is cost you to get the swap done?

[nrmskate]

Didn't get a chance to get out and take pictures last night, got too dark after replacing 2 calipers and 4 rotors on the ole ladies Equinox.

Small LS swap break down (these are the prices I paid):
LS1 dropout engine ~$1800
T56 transmission ~$1200
Spec Stage 3 clutch kit ~$300
Sikky swap kit ~$3200
Wiring specialties harness ~$540
Fuel hose/FP gauge ~$150
AN fittings ~$120
Radiator with steam port bung ~$200
Radiator hoses ~$130
Fluids ~$175

These prices are accurate, but I'm sure there are small things I missed. I had to purchase new MAP and IAT sensors. I had to pay to have the EVAP, VATS, and other things removed from the tuning.

[tayloray]

Nice build, good job on getting it done fast without running into any crazy setbacks.

[wiring specialties]

Build is looking good. How did the harness install go?

[nrmskate]

The harness install went like a breeze. Getting the PCM connectors through the firewall is a different story! The quality of the harness is absolutely amazing! Can't thank you guys enough!

[wiring specialties]

Very glad to hear! Will be watching the rest of the build.

[Juan@Fontananissan]

so how do you like the LS compared to the JZ? pro's and Cons in your opinion?

[nrmskate]

Juan, the main difference was the powerband. I wouldn't feel much of any torque with the JZ until the obvious power band kicked in. The LS is torque through the entire spectrum of RPM. Cost wise, the JZ is a better solution. Power/reliability wise, I personally think the LS suites those needs for me. Parts availability is another big thing for me, LS parts are more than easy to come by. I can't say the same for 1JZ/2JZ parts. I will be updating this thread more soon, I have been having charging issues, I thought it might be the wiring, but i've placed a multi meter off the ALT terminal and it's not charging one bit. Picked up a new ALT today and should have it in this evening to drive it to the exhaust shop and get that taken care of.

[nrmskate]

Small update:

I purchased a new seat with a buddy club rail/slider. I got tired of the exhaust shop giving me the run around and not being able to get my car in the shop, so I decided to make the exhaust myself. I ordered 3" V Bands and a Y pipe and got to work. I obviously don't have a bender, so pie cuts were the only way to go. I also got my charging issue figured out. My Alternator exciter wire wasn't getting any voltage, so I decided to run a wire from PIN 15 (Alt 8v out) of the PCM straight to the exciter wire.





I also got my water temperature and oil pressure gauges wired up.


And here's the new seat setup.



I also purchased Circuit sport clear lens, Mini H1 projectors, and clear turn signal lights as well, so that will be on the next update.

[nrmskate]

Couple of updated shots: