Hey everyone,

I bought a 94 caprice w/LT1 and I believe the tranny is the 4L60e?? all original cep for the flowmasters..it was cheap...ring and pinion gears were shot..I'll come back to that (project 2)..I bought the caprice to swap the LT1 and 4L 60e out and put it  into my 84 elcamino and then  take the 350 and th350 from the elky back into the caprice and sell the caprice $$$ for my elky project..This is what I know right now the swap includes ,changing the orig. gas tank to a baffled one from a fuel inj.4.3 elky w/ fuel pump ,driveshaft short /length,crossmember(tranny),a couple options for the a/c unit and notching the frame for the a/c,bringing with me the radiator setup from the caprice w/ tranny cooler,wiring harness w/ brain...does the wiring harness have to be all 100% hooked up ??? (my biggest fear).Please elaborate more on these  plus whatever else...I got both here...hopefully I can swap the majority of the parts back and forth. Now the gears on the caprice. I'm finding out that the ring and pinion gears are a problem w/that ABS sensor on the diff..I'm in Hawaii and resources are limited but I have a brother in Ark. to help scour the junk yards and machine shops. THANKS!!

You’re getting into a pretty complex swap. I highly recommend that you get some books from Mike Knell at “Jags That Run” (JTR) their URL is http://www.jagsthatrun.com/  They have two manuals that are a wealth of information about the swap you’re doing; these are “Chevrolet TPI & TBI Engine Swapping” and “Chevrolet S10 Truck Conversion Manual” Although your not doing an S-10 swap, this book strongly supports the TPI&TBI manual with more info. The same can be said for the Colorado swap manual as it gets deeper in to more recent engines like the LS series.

Mike recommends that you get the Helms manuals for both your El Camino and the donor vehicle, just bite the bullet and do it. Otherwise you’ll consume 100s of wasted hours to arrive at problems you didn't know were there. Wiring, emissions and fuel systems will be your biggest problems in that order. Wiring includes everything from getting the injection to work to the speed sensors, security system, etc.

The El Camino uses a gear driven speedo, the 4L60E only generates electronic signals, you’ll either have to spring for an adapter that supplies a mechanical output to your speedo and the electronic out put for the computer or you’ll have to convert the ElKay to an electronic speedo. The speedo selected must conform to the signal which varies from year to year.

The 4.3 fuel tank is from what? A tank from a 4.3 with TBI will not have the right fuel pump for the TPI system. TPI type systems require considerable more pressure than TBI, so the pumps are not interchangeable.

Like I said these are not easy swaps but certainly worthwhile.

Bogie

How did this swap ever turn out for you? Iam looking at a similiar swap I am considering for my 83 El Camino. I am looking to ourchase a 94 LT1 donor car.