Hello, I own a 1978 chevrolet Camaro, 350 engine abot 275hp stock u can say, I bought a 1997 lt1 Engine from a Camaro z28 with a a couple of mods, well I have the engine harness and computer, now I have no Idea what to do or how to get the engine to start I can connect all the wiring and install the engine but what do I do with the computer and how do I power it up, as u can see I got my self a pickle.  can anyone help and instruct me on what to do or is there a manual or book i can buy were it might give me specific instructions on what to do.   thank you .

Sincerely

Jose F Garcia  Las Vegas NV.

Hey Jose - Nobody seems to want to help you so I will take a stab at it.

First, I am no computer guru.  I work on computer cars that were made with them and have done some successful swaps within certian groups of chevy engines, but that's it. 

First of all, I think that you can toss the computer that came with the engine.  That thing controls everything including the dash guages in the 1997 car or truck it came out of.  All you need is something that is going to control your gas flow and ignition. 

Really the best question I can ask you is what the engine has on it for carburetion.  Is it multi port fuel injected or what?  After that, we can go to step two which is the distributor.  Is it an HEI, or is it the computer controlled module? 

Once you let me know those things, I think that either Jegs or Summit will have something that will get you going.  No, I'm not a salesman, but you could go nuts trying to figure out that standard equipment thing.

When you get back to me with some info, we can talk again.  Regards - Bowser.

Thank you for your reply, its a tune port fuel injected and a computer controlled module, thank you again any suggestions are welcomed.

Back again,

Looks like there is a product out there that will allow you to use the old computer with a new harness.  The harness only utilizes the functions that the computer needs to make the fuel injection and ignition work.  It is not going to be easy, but should be a fun challange. 

They have a bunch of applications so yours should be included in there some place.  Really the only thing you will need is a fuel pump heavy enough to charge the fuel rails on the intake.  Depending on what you get,  there are some programming changes that may be required but that should be covered in the installation manual. 

I found the wiring harness in Summit under "Wiring Harnesses" on around page 89 of the 2006 catalog.  Hopefully this should help.  I'm not plugging summit, but I don't see a better or cleaner way of putting fuel injection on your 70's vintage Chev.

If I could be there I could be more help.  I do auto electric all the time.  You should be OK as long as you follow thier wiring diagram to the letter.  Also, if you start getting in too deep, use any tech service offered by them. 

Good luck and let me know how it goes.  Bowser

Hi Jose,

Good luck on what sounds like a cool engine swap.  You do have several options to get your LT1 running.  You could use the comptuer that came out of the '97.  You may have to do some re-wiring and splicing to get it to fit, but that may be the easiest option.  There are also companies like Painless Performance Wiring that will build a harness for you to work with the stock 97 computer, or you could build a stand-alone engine management system and wire everything in yourself.  

There is a lot of info available on the internet about swapping newer, fuel-injected engines into older cars.  Check out www.montecarloss.com and www.lt1tech.com for some good technical info.  Also, I found a really detailed write-up by a guy who swapped an LT1 into an 86 Monte Carlo SS.  It is available in a pdf at home.comcast.net/~spudmanmike/scrapbook.pdf.  This is a really detailed, step by step account of the process and may help answer some of your questions.  

-John

Jose, I have a '96 LT-1 in a '92 RS Camaro.  The easiest way to get up and running is to get an aftermarket harness from one of the many suppliers (Painless, Howell , TIPIS...) you have the option to have the factory computer reprogrammed by these companies or to buy a stand alone setup offered by these folks.  I assume that you're using the factory fuel injection (don't bother to get bigger injectors as the factory ones will get you to 400 plus HP) .... this will entail an aftermarket electric fuel pump (an adjustable regulator is handy too) to feed the injectors properly .... with these parts in hand, you've just got some wrenching to do to get running.  It's a good swap and you'll have fun with it when you're done.  Good luck.  

If you just want to fire the damn thing up to hear it.. look at the 5 or so connectors that went from the engine harness to the chassis harness on your lt1.

pink wires go to ign 12v
black wires go to ground
orange wire (should be only one.. maybe two) goes to const 12v

Then just send juice to the purple wire to the starter it should fire up.

The rest of the wires are for the stock camaro gauges, evap, etc.. most of them you dont need.

.. the fuel pump signal wire I think is a dark green one.. you might need to get the manual out for that one, but just jump the fuel pump on with a switch until you figure it out.

Oh yeah you need to hook up one of the red wires to the cluster so the alt will charge too.

I think that's about it.