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Swapped an LS1 into my 81 DeVille Limo, have some questions

7K views 16 replies 7 participants last post by  cadillac kevin 
#1 ·
Swapped a LS1 into my 1981 Cadillac Deville Limo, have some questions on loose ends.

Electronic Climate control - is there an aftermarket or universal unit that can replace the stock one? Trying to determine if its as simple as hooking up the power to the unit and splicing it into the wiring for the ls1 compressor of if I need to do something custom.

Gauges - anyone done a custom gauge panel for the dash? Want to ditch the stock gauges and go custom, didn't know if there was something already out there or if I have to go complete custom. Not going to be using the stock gauges as they are a headache to switch over. (Tranny is upgraded to a 460le).

Thanks in advance!
 
#5 ·
Stock Tranny out of a 2000 Camaro. 460le Transmission.
Stock Computer out of a 2000 Camaro.

The AC head unit worked prior to the engine swap; however I didn't use the AC since the enigne had problems and it wasn't charged.

Here is a pic of the car as it sits now:



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If you have tried to turn on the heat, the blower will not go on.. this is because the computer has to ground a wire to make it go on. The computer does that when a temp is reached.. But if you put it on defrost the blower will go on.. All I had to do was find that wire and ground it.. Then everything will work the same except the delayed blower on...
If I find that ground wire, then it's just a matter of hooking up the ground/power to the body harness while still retaining the stock AC unit?

Do you by chance remember which wire it was?
 
#6 ·
I had the same problem after my motor swap. It was a ground wire coming from the passanger side somewhere. It had a ground loop on the end and I just grounded it to my engine block. That motor is looking good in there. Was it hard to get the computer stuff out the Camaro or did it come out in one piece? I would love to do a swap like this but the computer stuff would worry me.
 
#7 ·
Thanks for the lead, I'll check it out once all the needless items are out of there.

I bought the entire engine, trans and harness together as an entire package. I even have the F-body body harness and fuse panel. I'm doing all custom gauges on the inside, so there will be practically nothing left of the original harness.
 
#11 ·
^That's a good option, as the stock gauge cluster is tiny on this car. Unless you hack up the dash, you really can't fit a nice set of autometers in there.
I was never a fan of the Dakota Digital gauges given their price. I'm thinking I may just go ahead and buy a spare dash that I can hack up.

The gear indiator on the dash no longer works so I'm just going to open up the entire area where the gear indicator and speedo are, should be enough for some 2 1/6" gauges in there. Will need to measure tonight.

Outside of the stock climate control unit, all the gauges will be re-wired into the new harness/custom wires.
 
G
#12 ·
Check out Aeroforce Interceptor gauges they are a single gauge that plugs in to the diagnostic port and will read everything the cars computer reads providing a digital display of it on a standard pod gauge.
They even make an adapter to run 2 gauges at once..
You can display 2 readings per gauge at once or program them to cycle through 8 displays per line for 16 readings changing very couple seconds.
They will display everything that you have on the dashboard and more a long with reading/clearing trouble codes 0-60 ect,ect..
It will basically read what a GM tech2 can but without allowing you to make changes to the computer..



I ran one in my G5 GT and might possibly move it over to my CTS if I can find a spot for it that looks nice but we use them in every car..

http://www.aeroforcetech.com/products_order_gm.html
 
#13 ·
Took the idea right out of my head. I'm heading down to the shop tonight and if there is enough space in the dash after removing the gear indicator/speedo clusters to mount the dual Aeroforce gauges (2 1/16") than I'm just going to mount them in there.

Set one of them to MPH and RPM and set the other to Oil Pressure & Fuel Pressure.

I already have Autometer gauges for the coolant temp and fuel level that will be going into the center area where the Mirror adjuster (fixed them) and that ridiulous MPG/Cylinder thing is.

Don't know what I'm going to do with the stock fuel level gauge/area.
 
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