Phase 1 - Engine transplant
Here is the LS1 motor with all the wirings I got from a 1998 C5 with 40K miles.

1. Removed the old engine mounts and tranny mounts
Trans tunnel after removing the old tranny mounts

2. Modify the Vette oil pan. This was done after I bought the Fbody oil pan and tried it on and it didn't fit. The Vette oil pan is thicker at the front of the pan because of the oil pick up tube sits lower. In order to use the Fbody oil pan I will have to get the oil pick up tube and windage tray also. What a pain in the butt. I decided to modify the stock C5 oil pan and resell the Fbody oil pan (lost $30). I did some measurements and the wings on the C5 oil pan will interfere with the tension rod mountings and possibly the exhaust system. Therefore I decided to cut the wings and cap them. No more wings on the C5 oil pan. Not the prettiest welding job but it's good enough for now.

3. Headers - After searching on Hybridz I thought the JTR headers would work for my project. I ordered the headers and very soon I found out that they are made for JCI mounts. Another mistake for not carefully doing my research(lost $50 for restocking fee here). I decided to modify the stock SS Vette headers. After a couple hours looking at the stock headers I found a way to modify them. I cut sort like a cressen moon shape at the bottom of each tube right after the flange and fold it in toward the block. By cutting the wings on the C5 oil pan that's free up some room so I now have a lot more room to run my exhaust here. Here are several pictures of both headers after they are bend inward toward the block.

Passenger side

Here is a close up picture of how I actually cut the headers to get them hug the block. You can see the lines right after the flange. I have not weld them back just yet. I also weld up the 2 holes for the EGR.
Cutup stock C5 headers

4. After the driver side header cleared the steering shaft I was able to lower the motor some more. As I do this the alternator end up sitting on top of the lower steering joint. This means I have to move the alternator to a new location. So I fabed up 2 little 1/4" thick brackets to mounted it higher. Here is a link to a picture where I had it initially.

5. I have finally made up my mind how low to set the motor. I then completed the new crossmember and bolt the motor in place. I have 1/2 inch between the rack and the pulley and the pulley sits right over the top of the rack. The new crossmember is exactly 6 inches down from the top of the frame rails. I had the new motor sits dead center with the original motor, that is the crankshaft is at the same spot as the L6 crankshaft(on the horizontal plane). It is 3/4 of an inch offset to the passenger side relative to the center line of the 2 frame rails. However the new crankshaft is lower than the original crank shaft. The measurement of the old crankshaft is 3/4" above the frame rails. The LS1's crankshaft measurement is 1/2" below the frame rails. This means I will have to lower the tail of the transmission 1 1/4" to get the driveline parallel to the original driveline.
New crossmember/mount

Here are pictures of the motor bolt down in place. After these pictures I install the original brake lines without any problem and no modifications required.
Front shot with alternator moved up high. You can see how close the damper to the rack.
Steering shaft clears the header
Passenger side header clearance

Note: I don't have the AC install on this car. I couldn't find a location for the compressor.

6. Wiring mess.. Can anyone give me a hand with this? lol. I am cutting out everything I don't need, the ABS, Stereo wirings, Air bag system, temperature control, accesory lightings etc. I am also removing all the wirings that go to the BCM except for the DLC wires, VATs (the 2 wires that read the resistor on the key) wires and power to the BCM. The reason I want to do this is I want to have a clean install inside the car and under the engine as possible. At this point I will retain the BCM in order for me to start up the car. If I can disalbe the VATs from the PCM then I won't need the BCM any more and I can eliminate that too. Also I am eliminating the interior fuse box and will keep the engine compartment fuse box. This is because a lot of the PCM wires are going to this fuse box and I don't want to mess with these wirings. However I will move this fuse box inside the car. Also I am using the Vette instrument cluster so I have to watch out what I am cutting here. All the wires that will be used later on are labels appropriately. I am fortunate to have a coworker owns a C5 with a full set of service manuals that really helps with the wirings.
This is all the wire before I start cutting

LSD got sand blasted and then painted.

Got the APP sensor installed in place of the stock gas pedal.

7. Air Intake duct problem:

I want to use the stock C5 intake duct but I have to
make the radiator lean back toward the block enough so that the intake duck will go over it. It looks like I have to cut the top radiator support bar.

Air Intake duct problem solved:
Here is what I did with the intake duct. I didn't have to cut the whole upper radiator support. Just notch it and that raised the duct to the top level. I know the stock duct looks a bit restrictive but for now it still looks a lot better than a bunch of rubber elbows taking up all the spaces. If I decided to upgrade the TB to 90mm (4") I will be making the same type of duct but it will just be SS. This configuration IMO looks less clutter and much better than JTR's duct and still get plenty of fresh air for the motor. I definitely don't want to leave the air filter behind the radiator.

You can see the duct goes over the radiator without a problem.

I also ran the EFI wiring thru the firewall and tape it up nicely. Here is a picture with the wiring ran thru the fire wall.

8. Cooling -
The radiator is here and here are a few pictures of the new radiator temporarily mounted.
Front view

You can see how much room I have here for the E fan

The radiator is from Summit and the part # is 6-568AE-BAX and it has the tranny fluid cooler also. After much searching on the Summit web site I decide to go with this unit. Its measurements are 25 3/4" X 19". It fits my 77 280Z like a glove. I will be making a fan shroud out of stainless steel sheet metal and mount a 16" fan on it. I will also make a piece of SS sheet to cover the gap between the radiator and the top radiator support. All the sheet metal breakers I inherited should come in handy in building the fan shroud and other dressup stuffs.

I am getting an electric water pump. This will require the tensioner to move else where. In addition my alternator is sitting too close to the driver side frame rail and the fender well. So I will be making some sort of brackets to move somewhere else again. The only location I can find is where the old compressor sits. The problem I have is the stock C5 alternator is too big to fit there. I search around the junkyard and found a 90-93 Honda Accord alternator that is compact and looked easy enough to fab up the mounts. I bought one from the yunkyard just to go home and try to fit it in. It fitted nicely and the brackets are easy to make.

Here is a picture of the new alternator in its new location. This is the 3rd time I've moved it. The stock water pump is removed and waiting for the electric water pump.

Pictures of the electric water pump installed along with the new alternator brackets and the tensioner brackets. The alternator upper bracket is made out of 1/4" thick SS plate. The lower alternator and the tensioner brackets are made out of 1/2" aluminum plate. Many thanks to my brother for building these brackets. They are good looking quality pieces. Disregard all the tapings on the water pump and the alternator lol. I just don't want to have to clean them up later on.

I've just finished making the fan shroud out of 1/16" SS sheet. I will make the SS sheet to cover the gaps between the radiator and the radiator support after the shroud is done. Looks like it's coming together slowly and nicely.

Here is the fan mounted.

The lean back radiator

9. I got the PCM and the fuse box mounted inside the car on the passenger's footwell. Also the TAC control module is sitting on top of the transmission tunel. I have most of the wires sorted out but still a few more to go. Once I am completely done with where all the wires go I will tape them all up nicely. Also I want all the wirings connected so that they can be disconnected easily later on. I will be wiring the C5 harness into the Z electrical system soon. Here are a couple of the pictures.

10. Got the T fitting from JTR and completed the hoses to the radiator. I got some 1 3/4" aluminum pipes left over from my intercooler project for another car so I used that for the lower radiator hoses with a couple 90 degree elbows. The top hoses I got a rubber hoses from Bep Boys for now but I am working on a stainless steel pipe for it. Got the SS pipe install made with the nipple on it so I won't be needing the JTR T any more. Another mistake for jumping the gun and order stuffs I can make. Pictures coming soon.

11. Got all the wiring in the engine layed out where they supposed to go, E fan, head lights, running light, horn, alternator, starter and the electric water pump. Ran all the wires thru the fire wall and connect them. Also shorten the wires to the tranny and ran it thru the trans tunnel. Spliced all the power wires of the Z ignition to the Vette fuse box. Check out page 5 for all the info on wiring.

Got the gas tank and fuel pump installed. Install the LSD so I can get the measurement for the driveshaft. Will send the driveshaft out to be shorten and balanced. I will also look into building the LSD rear brace. The Arizona braces are nice but I will save the money for other stuffs for now.
Cheap solution for the rear LSD brace

Found a few problems with the Fbody tranny. The C5 tranny has a black box (PNP) that has 2 wiring connectors go to it and the Fbody doesn't. I don't know what this black box does at this point but from guessing it has something to do with the auto shift option in the C5. Anyway I want to use the C5 trans so I will have to pull the motor out one more time. I will have to swap out the bell housing and the rear housing from the fbody trans. I also have to put in the shift linkage and the oil lines before the trans going back in.

Just found out that the C5 trans is sealed and the Fbody is not. The Fbody trans sprays oil to the tail housing for lubricating the rear bushing. So I can't use the C5 trans. I have use the Fbody. There is another problem with the Fbody trans. The shift shaft by the trans is too short compare to the C5. The C5 has a black box that tells the PCM which gears it is in. I drop the oil pans on both trans and found out the shaft can easily be swap.

Another problem just arise and that is the tranny dip stick. Because of the exhaust manifold interfered with the steering shaft I had to move the motor all the way back as close as possible to the fire wall now I have no room for the tranny dip stick. I have to custom make a mini tranny dip stick so that it can only be check from the bottom.

Hook up fuel lines. Hook up 12V power supply to the car to check for shorts. Everything checks out good except for the BCM. Need to recheck all the wirings connection for the BCM.
Here are some latest pictures of the engine ready to fire it up now:

MORE PROGRESS ON NEXT PAGE

PAGE 1 - Introduction
PAGE 2 - Work in progress 1
PAGE 3 - Work in Progress 2
PAGE 4 - Work in Progress 3
PAGE 5 - New Wiring Info
PAGE 6 - Costs
PAGE 7 - Work in Progress cont