LS1/t56 swap

Want to know how to get more out of your Beretta? Or have a mod you would like to share?
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woody90gtz
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Re: LS1/t56 swap

Post by woody90gtz »

Ohhhhhhh sweet tools. Nice rear arms too...I'm going DIY with "jeep" stuff for mine. What's with the weird shape on the one pair of links?

Is that one of those China routers? We have an awesome Swiss one at work but it won't do metal. What kind of tolerance will it hold?

And where will you have room for all that equipment? haha


91 "SS" - WOT 3400/5spd - 13.29@101.6 - World's fastest N/A FWD Beretta
96 "T56" LS/6spd/8.8 RWD swap - 13.45@104.7 lol
GEARHEAD dezign youtube
Alxsmt
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Re: LS1/t56 swap

Post by Alxsmt »

Thanks! Nothing wrong with "jeep" parts considering your doing a straight axle, probably the best way to do it for that application.

They have that shape to go around the coilover. I think the s13 and 350z have a round hole in the center and goes around on both sides if that makes sense. S14 had it a little different. Going for the ultimate lightweight setup to makeup for all the heavy stuff im adding..

The router is a diy kit type deal made by cnc4newbie in Canada. I'm going a bit off the deep end with it.. I have a chineese spindle sadly but its massive... and 240v.. upgraded the controller to more of a commercial grade setup that will allow another axis if I choose to do that down the road.. making it way stiffer also.. might do a cast aluminum t slot bed plate for it, but well see.. bed plate is the last part for it I need aside from the software.. its getting pretty spendy now... not sure what the cut tolerances will be, but they will be much better than I will ever need I think.

Well the plasma is going in the garage.. its a 2x4 table. The router is probably going to stay in my house.. it might look nice in the kitchen haha. I dont think I have room in my garage for it..


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88 Beretta CL - your average grandma car.. Ls1 swap in progress
77 Celica - needs an engine swap
96 Geo - 1.0L, Cam, 3 angle, magnaflow, Koni, coilovers.
86 Subi - Supercharged @7psi
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woody90gtz
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Re: LS1/t56 swap

Post by woody90gtz »

We do aluminum t-slot beds for engravers we sell at work, you might be able to find a relatively cheap one from our source. https://www.worldofclamping.com/Cast-al ... -plates-cm


91 "SS" - WOT 3400/5spd - 13.29@101.6 - World's fastest N/A FWD Beretta
96 "T56" LS/6spd/8.8 RWD swap - 13.45@104.7 lol
GEARHEAD dezign youtube
Alxsmt
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Re: LS1/t56 swap

Post by Alxsmt »

I almost went with them actually! Was getting a quote to have them cut some the size I needed.. it was $1400 for me to cut it down.. they responded with ~$3500.. so I was going to just bite the bullet and cut it myself.. in this whole process of talking with them the price doubled on the sheet for me to cut. I walked away.. ended up doing it in 4 section from another company, still way overpaid in my mind.. but it is what it is.. they just showed up last week, all damaged..


Image
88 Beretta CL - your average grandma car.. Ls1 swap in progress
77 Celica - needs an engine swap
96 Geo - 1.0L, Cam, 3 angle, magnaflow, Koni, coilovers.
86 Subi - Supercharged @7psi
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woody90gtz
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Re: LS1/t56 swap

Post by woody90gtz »

They are SLOW. But they do good work.
Sucks your stuff got damaged. Shipping is risky business these days.


91 "SS" - WOT 3400/5spd - 13.29@101.6 - World's fastest N/A FWD Beretta
96 "T56" LS/6spd/8.8 RWD swap - 13.45@104.7 lol
GEARHEAD dezign youtube
Alxsmt
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Re: LS1/t56 swap

Post by Alxsmt »

so.. back at it.. I actually did the engine mounts the very end of december, that was my goal for that year. I just havnt updated this

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Mockup


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The first plan using the kit I bought.. decided I didnt like it, It didnt leave much room for the steering or headers.. so I redesigned the mounting tabs, cut them out by hand and made them all match perfectly.. spend 2 days on that.. but got it done!

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Note how close the steering is to that mount!

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of course the mounts had to be on the section of the frame that started to dive down, and the engine is also at a 1.9* angle. good times!!!

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difference between the front and rear mounts

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all cut out and ready to go!!


Image
88 Beretta CL - your average grandma car.. Ls1 swap in progress
77 Celica - needs an engine swap
96 Geo - 1.0L, Cam, 3 angle, magnaflow, Koni, coilovers.
86 Subi - Supercharged @7psi
Alxsmt
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Re: LS1/t56 swap

Post by Alxsmt »

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mocking it up with my mounts

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passenger side tacked in

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drivers side tacked in

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let the fun begin! this was literally the worst thing ive ever welded. It seemed great on paper! when it came to actually holding those pieces together and getting the tig torch in there to do it, it was brutal! luckily I have an extra poly section for the engine mounts, it did not like the heat very well..

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it never fails... right after I got the last part tacked in, I looked over and saw the starter location...... I didnt plan for that at all.. and also didnt have a starter. The plan is to box these mounts in on the engine side, just have not done it yet.

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factory Fbody starter, fits!! The back side of this mount is slightly different, 5 bolts on the engine vs 6 on the other side. Completely spaced that out, gotta modify it slightly. but still have to box them in so no big deal.


Image
88 Beretta CL - your average grandma car.. Ls1 swap in progress
77 Celica - needs an engine swap
96 Geo - 1.0L, Cam, 3 angle, magnaflow, Koni, coilovers.
86 Subi - Supercharged @7psi
Alxsmt
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Re: LS1/t56 swap

Post by Alxsmt »

The steering got a bit in depth. Im still not 100% sure what im doing with it, its very very very tight... everything has to be synced correctly. If its not, I way as well just not finish the car! ill get something figured out for sure.

I did a comparison on borgeson and flaming river chromoly DD joints, Really had to build my engine mounts around these and pick what worked the best in this application. I literally could not find any information on these as far as dimensions go, figured I would add to the net of information and maybe help somebody out.

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Borgeson 014946 3/4 DD x 17mm DD
Flaming river Chrome moly FR1932 3/4 DD x 17mm DD

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88 Beretta CL - your average grandma car.. Ls1 swap in progress
77 Celica - needs an engine swap
96 Geo - 1.0L, Cam, 3 angle, magnaflow, Koni, coilovers.
86 Subi - Supercharged @7psi
Alxsmt
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Re: LS1/t56 swap

Post by Alxsmt »

few months back, I decided to pull the trigger on getting my CTS-V trans converted to the fbody style and also get it fixed. Turns out I didnt have all the parts I had thought I needed.. Some were impossible to find... and worth gold.. I decided I didnt want to deal with that.. half the reason Im doing this build was to have readily available parts! The t56 is sadly a dying transmission.. and the whole covid ordeal didnt help any as far as parts supply goes.. so.. in the name of having to proceed with my build, I sold that transmission to a friend who has a ctsv, and bought a new Magnum-F t56 close ratio transmission. End of the day the gearing will be much better, in stock for its about equal with my old built t56 i believe. The magnum-F is basically tr6060 internals, in a t56 housing setup to fbody spec for the shifter location. The standard magnum is a hair longer, I didnt want that for driveshaft angle reasons..
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literally sat in the box for 3 months...

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Finally did something with it! put it in..

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testing it out.. trying to get a feel for the seat location

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on we go.. more cutting, trying to come up with an idea on how to mount the back of the transmission, and have room for exhaust.. literally been thinking about this for the past 8 months lol.

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More mockup and thinking

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This is what I was able to come up with. Red is 2x4 box, yellow is 1x3 box for the seat mounts, green is probably 1.75 dom tube and same with the grey that ties it back to the frame and goes through the 2x4 box. I will have a driveshaft loop in there also. I have some metal on the way, in the process of ordering a driveshaft also.


making progress! and have a plan!!! Also got a bunch of interior parts last weekend to help me figure out exactly what to do with that, and the cage.


Image
88 Beretta CL - your average grandma car.. Ls1 swap in progress
77 Celica - needs an engine swap
96 Geo - 1.0L, Cam, 3 angle, magnaflow, Koni, coilovers.
86 Subi - Supercharged @7psi
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woody90gtz
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Re: LS1/t56 swap

Post by woody90gtz »

Whoa, I didn't know an aluminum block LS had 6 engine mount holes. All my iron blocks have 4 holes, but it would make sense to have more with an alum block.

Doing steering sucks. Those Borgeson joints are supposed to be really really good, but they're super bulky and pricey. That Flaming River joint looks a whole lot like my cheap china jobs I got from eBay.

Magnum F is a damn good choice. I think everything about it is tr6060 except the tail housing, and all stronger than OEM t56s. I considered one for my Camaro when stealing the factory F t56 for the Beretta, but it would have required all new bellhousing, flywheel, clutch, Driveshaft, slave that I already have a bunch of money tied up in, and my beautifully finished shifter hole would have to move back. Haha

Looks like your shifter position is wayyy further back than mine. What are you going to do with pedals? I'm working on mine right now and they're kind of a nightmare.


91 "SS" - WOT 3400/5spd - 13.29@101.6 - World's fastest N/A FWD Beretta
96 "T56" LS/6spd/8.8 RWD swap - 13.45@104.7 lol
GEARHEAD dezign youtube
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snowblindburd
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Re: LS1/t56 swap

Post by snowblindburd »

We are truly in a golden age of v8 swaps :D. Glad to see more progress on this one! I love that you include illustrations when talking about your plans too.


1991 Beretta GTZ
Alxsmt
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Re: LS1/t56 swap

Post by Alxsmt »

So on the aluminum blocks, one side has 6 mount holes, the other has 5. Not sure why.. or if they even are used in a factory application

The flaming River are actually supposed to be pretty high end like borgeson. So I hope they are.. not sure ai would trust cheap ones for steering a car with me in it!

The shifter is way back lol. But I think it will work pretty good. Might do a slight offset shifter im not sure yet. I have the mgw-p gto shifter that I highly doubt ill be able to use, it will be very very high.. that shifts will be really.. possibly too short.

I have some wilwood pedals I bought off a friend for a stupid good price. I may or may not use them on this build but im planning to try. I really want the Tilton 900 series overhung pedals, but its a bit spendy, and I'm not sure if thats really the route I want to go down yet.

Sometimes you have to sit down and draw stuff out to get a good idea on if it will work or look right. Or remember what you were thinking lol. It helps me at least!




Update: driveshaft ordered, have all the box tube to get the seat mounts done and currently cutting it at 4:43am lol. DOM will be the next purchase I think, possibly some rear lower control arms if I can decide what company to go with since spl does not make any..


Image
88 Beretta CL - your average grandma car.. Ls1 swap in progress
77 Celica - needs an engine swap
96 Geo - 1.0L, Cam, 3 angle, magnaflow, Koni, coilovers.
86 Subi - Supercharged @7psi
Alxsmt
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Re: LS1/t56 swap

Post by Alxsmt »

little bit of an update. Spent about 25 or so hours on it this weekend so far!

I got the seat/trans mounts in. whatever you wish to call it.

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I guess technically the seat mounts are not done.. I have to weld the 1x3 tube in still, its going between the 2x4 not on top. Half of me wishes I did 2x3 to get the seat a hair lower but oh well. It will work, more visibility I guess and it is a good position. I decided there is no way shape or form the seat is going to be in the correct position to be centered in front of the gauges and steering wheel, the transmission is simply too big. My solution is going to be to cut the gauge cluster area out of the dash, and slide it over to make it right! Something about that just has to be correct in my mind, that was just a solution I came up with, not a huge priority as of right now anyways.


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This is what I ended up having to work with for the actual trans mount. Not as much room as I had thought! a bit tight.. after toying with a few ideas I finally came up with an idea and ran with it. Everything has to be above the floor, including dual 3" exhaust.


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This is the basic idea of what it will be when its done (green drawing). It will be completely boxed in, There was a little rust inside I wanted to treat before I sealed it all up so im waiting on that. It will bolt to the front seat mount using a 4 bolt flange and weld on nuts on the inside of the car.


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Just playing around with Bend tech a bit. The basic idea of my cage. The dimensions will change, it was a quick tape measure ordeal. I need to dig into a few rule books still, but it will be more extreme than shown. Im even debating an FIA spec cage.


but thats where its at! still working on it slowly when I have time.


Image
88 Beretta CL - your average grandma car.. Ls1 swap in progress
77 Celica - needs an engine swap
96 Geo - 1.0L, Cam, 3 angle, magnaflow, Koni, coilovers.
86 Subi - Supercharged @7psi
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Rettax3
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Re: LS1/t56 swap

Post by Rettax3 »

Nice to see this still moving forward. Doesn't look like you are experiencing much 'shelf wear' on your project... You must have it stored in a pretty decent place, I know for most of my long-term cars they start deteriorating when I ignore them too long.


1989 SuperCharged 3800 Srs-II (First)Six-Speed GTU
1990 Turbo 3.4 5-Speed T-Type
1990 4.0L 4-Cam 32-Valve V-8 5-Speed Indy GTi (Project)
1990 Stock(!) 3.1 MPFI Auto Indy
1995 LA1/L82 4T60E Z-26
1995 3.4 DOHC Turbo 5-Speed Z-26
Alxsmt
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Re: LS1/t56 swap

Post by Alxsmt »

Thanks! I do fight rust a little, I have a lot of moisture is my garage. The weld through primer seems to help with it quite a bit, but its going to really suck removing it when it comes time to paint


Image
88 Beretta CL - your average grandma car.. Ls1 swap in progress
77 Celica - needs an engine swap
96 Geo - 1.0L, Cam, 3 angle, magnaflow, Koni, coilovers.
86 Subi - Supercharged @7psi
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