LS2 motor mounts

[Zfan1]

Went to BrokenKitty and read there info regarding the Ls swaps. Is this the best bang for your buck engine mounts/conversion? I did not find anyone else out there but thought before I purchased a pair I would check as I would rather not be kicking myself in the butt for screwing up. I am only looking for the motor mounts as I am adding a 4L80E behind it and nobody makes stuff for this. The good thing is I am 20 minutes away from there shop, no freight but will have to pay taxes.

 

Thanks

Mike

[RebekahsZ]

JCI (Johns Cars Inc., also known as BrokenKitty) is what most of us have used. A few guys have mad their own mounts. wfritts911 made a pretty cool system in his front yard! But, I talked to him recently and he seemed to like JCIs a little better than his home made mounts because it left more room for exhaust routing. I used JCI. That system uses the LS1 camaro-firebird mount on the left side and an aftermarket mount on the right that is included with the kit. Alternator placement can be a problem with the LS2 alternator from the GTO-so with advice from the forum, I changed to an LS1 camaro alternator and it worked great. Some guys with truck motors have put the alternator up high (look at Cable's build). I think there are some front accessory drive variations that have to be resolved, but I don't know the specifics. I believe it has been discussed on the forum, but I don't know where. I think Cable is the guy to talk to when it comes to using truck motors.

[SUNNY Z]

For the record, the passenger's side is an old school SBC mount - nothing fancy.

[RebekahsZ]

SUNNYZ- did you use JCI mounts or make your own, I can't recall.

[SUNNY Z]

I just used the JCI engine mounts, and made my own trans mount. Theirs is a joke IMO. If I ever do anything requiring more room (aka Bewst) Then I'll probably make my own mounts. I just think theirs are clunky and take up too much space.

[wfritts911]

If you are a handy with a welder and some cutting/grinding tools, making your own mounts isn't hard. I used some DOM tubing ran up the the stock f-body motor mount plates that bolt to the block. Pretty simple to make and worked well. The only thing I would do differently with my motor mounts would be to change the passenger side one to bolt to the front of the motor like the JCI mounts. Using the stock f-body mount location doesn't leave much room for headers to fit between the mount and the starter.

 

Don't be afraid to make your own mounts, they aren't difficult to make.

 

-Will

[Mikey303LSZ]

I used the John's Car mounts and found them easy to install and the quality to be good. I could have made my own but my labor to dry fit the motor multiple times, buy materials, weld, re-weld, fit, re-fit etc. made it a simple decision to simply buy from JCI. From start to finish it took me about ~3 hours to install my LS1 w/ 4L60e trans with the JCI setup. I also bought John's headers and all other associated accessories (once again good quality and all the "homework" is done).

 

I happened to be in Dallas, TX last week so I stopped by JCI to meet John. John is a great guy who provides good support, willing make things right if there is a problem and willing to provide information if you have a question.

 

The only caution I have is if you are installing an automatic transmission... I bought the JCI trans mount and found it not to work well with exhaust fitment using a 4L60e trans. It appears it would work great with a 6 speed because the 6 speed is much narrower in size but with the automatic it's not conducive for easy exhaust fitment. On the automatic I found the mount to be positioned too far forward not allowing sufficient room for the exhaust to pass by the rear of the trans pan and through the exhaust locations on the mount. As a result I modified the JCI mount to provide more room for the exhaust.