HARRISON'S 5.3L LS CONVERSION

We just finished doing another LS conversion in a customer's 1998 240sx.  It was a great project for a great customer.  I will try to cover as much as possible in 3 or 4 write ups.

This job started a little different than most but ending up working out great.  I had a customer, Harrison, who wanted to do an LS motor swap into his 1995 240sx.  His car was completely stock and would need suspension, brakes, and a diff to even make the motor swap logical.  After pricing the motor swap as well as everything else we set a date and would start ordering parts.  That night a good friend of mine stopped by the shop and told me that he was going to get his of his 1998 240sx as well as his 5.3L LS swap.  He had previously planned to do the same build but, being a married man, family came first and we all know how that story goes.

That week I introduced the two, money transferred hands, and Harrison ended up with a newer car.  The 98 240 already had an aftermarket diff, suspension, brakes, and the stock motor had already been pulled.  Now the car just needed to be finished.  

Since we build all of our own motor mounts, we first set the motor in the engine bay and took all of our measurements.

We use the oem GTO oil pan for our conversions.  The GTO pan is a cast aluminum part and is far stronger than the fabricated pans used in most mounts kits.  The LS block relies partly on the oil pan for its ability to strengthen the block.  Since we use the oem pan, we notch the sub frame to fit.  With this modification to the sub frame, our mounts allow us to use the stock front sway bar, brackets, and end links.  Our kit is the only one with this ability.

Here we have the transmission mount all tacked together ready for welding.

In this picture the drive train is completely installed.  Pinion angles are perfect and there is absolutely no vibration in the drive line. 

I'm sorry, I did not get any photos of the engine mounts being built this time.  As you can see, we built a pedestal and mount off of the modified sub frame and mount brackets attach to the engine.

Just a shot of the driver side mount.

As I stated earlier, here you can see the factory front sway bar installed.  There is 3/8" clearance between the bar and the front of the pan.  At full suspension cycle, it never comes close to contact.

Shifter fits in the stock location with absolutely no trimming.

The shifter looks right at home.

That's all until next time.  Thanks for reading.