SBC/LS1 with R154, anyone done it?

MightyAl

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Jun 5, 2005
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Chesterfield, MO
Pressure plate is LS7 and I am still working on the clutch disc. I am waiting on my flywheel to arrive so I can make sure that they match up. Then I am going to send off the pp so that the clutch disc can be made. I am thinking about going with a full face feramic disc. My 4k ppm pass thru speedo sender showed up last night too. I need to document all my parts and pieces when I have everything.

As far as motor I have been bouncing around and would really like to go with the LQ9 as I think the 6.0L would give me all the power I need N/A. I might cut corners though and go with an LM7 or L33. The 5.3's are just so cheap that it is tough to go with anything else. The only pieces I have left to figure out are the motor mounts and oil pan all the rest should be pretty easy.
 

Chaingun

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Nov 4, 2010
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Mooreland OK
Where did you get that sender? i was actually looking at the ones i posted a few minutes ago and they won't work on the LT1. It has to be a "A 17 tooth per driveshaft revolution speed sensor used on 1993–1997 LT1 engines with the Borg-Warner 6-speed transmission. An 11 tooth reluctor ring is used on 1993 LT1 engines with the Borg-Warner wide ratio (3.35 First gear) 6-speed transmission." would the one you purchased interface correctly with the LT1 i have planned?

Edit: Nevermind, it appears that when i have the engine tuned for the new cam and heads i can have the ECU reprogrammed for a 4k ppm VSS instead of the 40,000ppm reading of the borg warner 6 speed. easy enough. Mighty Al, how high performance are you going with a clutch. I have to dig up the link but someone here had found a landcruiser clutch disc i believe it was that had the correct spline count and was nearly the same size as an ls1 clutch disc, they are 11 inch i belive and the land cruiser was 10.75. I imagine that a custom disc could be made as well but that could be a cheaper option to get the build rolling for you it's most likely what i'll do until i go to add power to the motor. I'll be using a camaro bell housing, flywheel and pressure plate as well, so it should all bolt right together on mine with little to no tweaking needed.
edit part deux: this may sound dumb but i just realized that my supra may have come from a pickup or a hilux and it may not have the correct input shaft to use with the existing bellhousing adapters. The supra originally had a 190mm input iirc, and the pickup version had a 160mm input shaft. mine would have to have been the 190mm to work with the 7m right? if so i wonder if they swapped the input shafts or if the original owner just put a truck style shifter in it when they owned it for some reason...
 
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MightyAl

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Jun 5, 2005
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Chesterfield, MO
The R151 and R150 had the shorter 160mm input shaft and will be too short for the MA70 bellhousing.

I got the 4k ppm pass thru sender from jagsthatrun.com. There is a lot of good stuff on there.

As afar as clutch I think I might go with a custom feramic clutch. I am talking to a place that says they can build me one for $250-$300. It will be solid hub from what I understand the feramic material can be slipped without hurting the grip. I have seen that the M5 feramic clutches are solid hub and have not read about any complaints in day to day driving. I don't think I need to get too crazy with the clutch as I want to stay N/A and I don't think it will see anything past 400 ft/lbs for awhile.
 

Chaingun

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Nov 4, 2010
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Mooreland OK
Going to be NA myself for a while, trying to keep the bottom end stock until I'm ready for boost. I love the turbo setup the IJ did on his LS1 but to be quite honest that is way beyond my exhaust fabricating skill. I'm looking at a centrifugal supercharger for my build but i know that i'm going to have to do some serious work to the bottom end to hold more than a few pounds of boost at the stock compression ratio of an lt1 (10.5:1) hell that may be too high for any boost tbh
 

Chaingun

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Nov 4, 2010
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Mooreland OK
not sure how well that would work, they are very wide motors when compared to an ls1 on top of that they have 4 cams...with very little in the way of customization. it would be a low initial cost, but think about how much you would end up spending on cams alone. not to mention they are made to be mounted transversly and i don't think they would be able to be adapted to a toyota transmission. I've already ruled out the toyota v8 for most of the same reasons. no for me it's either LT1 or LS1 i want a motor i can do something with, massive amounts of low end torque and probable a centrifugal supercharger at some point, all with that throaty roar that accompanies a well built v8 with open exhaust.

You know what i really wish i could pull off? Big block under my hood, Do you realize how AMAZING it would be be hide one of those under the hood of a stock looking supra, with a clean paintjob? turning the key over in a big block sleeper supra?
 
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MightyAl

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Jun 5, 2005
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Chesterfield, MO
Get an 8.1L. The L18 from full size silverado/Sierra from 2001-2007. You could probably get one for the same price as an 6.0L. The guy on lt1swap.com I know used one in his truck.
 

Greg55_99

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Apr 2, 2005
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MA
Northstar? It can be done with a Dodge Dakota bellhousing.... but... like you've said.... Not worth the effort....

Greg
 

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Chaingun

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Nov 4, 2010
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Mooreland OK
Agreed, the whole point of dropping in a v8 mated to a r154 either lt1 or ls1 etc is for torque and ease of installation. I'm trying to put together something that i won't have to spend a year fabbing exhaust for or sourcing cams or pistons, with most sbc's there are a billion parts available for everything you can imagine plus... one cam!
 

Chaingun

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Nov 4, 2010
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Mooreland OK
Update on my build just bought a 95 lt1 with 70k for 150 just need the ecu, clutch and adaptor now to get it all assembled but I won't be putting it in until the body work is done I can get it up on a rotisserie now tho since I'll be pulling the engine and trans and it won't be too heavy will keep updated as I go
 

MightyAl

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Jun 5, 2005
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Chesterfield, MO
I just bought an L33 today so I should be able to start tearing apart my car in the next few weeks and get the R154 mounted to the engine. I am still missing the clutch disc and I need to figure out an oil pan but I pretty much have everything else.
 

te72

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Mar 26, 2006
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Chaingun;1846728 said:
Update on my build just bought a 95 lt1 with 70k for 150 just need the ecu, clutch and adaptor now to get it all assembled but I won't be putting it in until the body work is done I can get it up on a rotisserie now tho since I'll be pulling the engine and trans and it won't be too heavy will keep updated as I go
Nice find there... Just a right place, right time sort of thing? I can't imagine LT1's are that cheap all day...
 

PureDrifter

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Aug 11, 2009
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www.clublexus.com
i'm interested in what stylle or vehicle sump setups you guys are using.

I take it you're both using the advance or novak adapter for SBC/LSx to R154 with your own pieced together clutches?
 

IJ.

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Mar 30, 2005
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PureDrifter;1848734 said:
custom mounts and no subframe mods? i need to go reread your build thread...
It's long gone, yep made my own mounts, I used an a340e and an adaptor I built so trans mount was stock, only thing I had to move was the crossbrace between the LCA's, I machined up a billet T6 6061 one that incorporated a bashguard.