billyjones454 Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Greetings! I finally bit the bullet and started an LS swap on my 1974 260z! It's been a little nerve racking wondering if I'll be able to get it all back together. This is my first major undertaking, and first build where I'm really putting some time and money into the project rather than skimping, and doing little mods. I've had several mis-starts, and am now trying to keep it simple. Get it on the road, and then refine things as I go. I bought a t-56 out of a CTS-V, but then realized it would take too much to convert. I recently purchased a 2009 6l ly6 and 4l80e that I've decided to use. After receiving it, and doing a little more research, I discovered that those transmissions are quite a bit bigger than their little brother the 4l60e, and so I've been contemplating switching to the 4l60e. Ultimately I decided to stay with the larger transmission because of the cost of buying a custom/alternative ecm to run the engine and different transmission. I pulled the original datsun engine/trans, cleaned up the engine bay, used my Dirty Dingo ls swap engine mounts, and got the engine mounted in the car! It looks awesome! The only problem is that 1. I bought the wrong oil pan off of Summit. It ended up being 8" deep which was way too close to the ground. So I'll have to grab a new lower profile oil pan. 2. More concerning is even the transmission oil pan is really close to the ground! The trans oil pan sits about 3.5 inches off the ground. I can tuck the tail up a little more, but ultimately the pan heigth is tied to the height of the engine, so I'm not sure what to do there. Does anyone have any thoughts? The car has been lowered, but not excessively. I'd guess the frame rails are 6-8" from the ground. I plan on putting the ECM and fuse/relay block near the firewall where the clutch cylinder was. Toward the bottom I have some pictures of the clearance issues. Thanks for any help you're able to give! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrandenZ Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Congrats and welcome to the LS party! Once you get it on the road, all your efforts will be completely worth it. Say goodbye to cold start and cold running issues, and hello to amazing reliability, cheap parts, surprisingly good gas mileage if you're cruising, and an obscene amount of power for such a light weight chassis! This is the oil pan set that I went with, out of the C6 Corvette: https://www.ebay.com/itm/GM-New-Oil-Pan-Pickup-Tube-Windage-Tray-LS2-LS3-Corvette/251749654073?hash=item3a9d72de39:g:bwIAAMXQNhdSDp1T Definitely confirm that it will bolt up for your application, but it's an absolutely perfect fit. Not only does it offer much better baffling than the alternatives, but it clears the cross member and even sits slightly above it. You can check here for various posts (mine included) on wiring harness and PCM locations: I'm running the T56, so unfortunately I can't comment on clearance issues with an auto. Since yours was a manual already, my bias would tell you to go T56 instead. It really depends on your use case, though. I do mostly autox and track events, so automatic anything was never in my personal consideration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkerbk Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 I utilized the 4l60e in my LS swap and also had fitment issues but on a much lower scale than you currently have. I had to cut the ears off the original transmission mount and hammer the area in by the shift solenoid on the passenger side. I then later on found out that my transmission cooler lines were up against the body which ultimately resulted in their failure (every time the engine torqued over they slammed into the transmission tunnel). That being said, the 4l60e is still a smaller transmission that can be built to handle the amount of power the LS engine will be putting out. There are three factors that kill the transmissions, h.p, torque, and vehicle weight. Since the 280z is so much lighter than most cars out there, the 4l60e is more reliable. The ECU is going to be sent off any ways since you will have to get VATS removed and such. swapping the transmissions within the tune is super simple (I dont even think people would charge for it because they should already have a 4l60e base tune). If you need help with the wiring check this site out. http://lt1swap.com/index.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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