beginner beginning a project.
 

i am in the process of a starting a PROJECT .
1994 z28. no engine/trans.
My question is what all is involved in putting an engine and transmission in the car? there is no wiring harness. interior is complete. the car is a factory auto. what will i need. I am new to such a big project. ive installed engines in trucks with the same engines never started with an empty engine bay.
Im thinking i want to go with a 350 and a 4l60e in mind.
I am assuming i will need an ecu engine harness mounts.

The easiest thing to do is to install the correct year engine back in. These cars are designed around the motor. Putting anything in there except what was designed will require you to "make" parts that do not exist. If you really want of "build" a car sell the 4th gen and buy a 3rd gen. The 3rd gens where built when GM still had the "standard" Small block design and there is parts for just about everything.

you will need a 94 z28 engine compartment wiring harness, a 94 z28 auto ecu/ecm, a lt1 and a 4l60e. you should make sure that the wiring inside the car is complete and your not missing other parts in the engine area. easiest way would be to look at another 94 z28 to compare. maybe take some pics

i have a ton of pics of my 94Z with the engine out pm me and ill send them to you if you want.

I put in spaces to highlight the most important question in the post.

The answer= money and expectations

since you are going through this I highly doubt that you want to just toss in any ole junk. I would assume you want a rebuilt engine/tranny because why do it any other way?

With that said, between the acquisition cost of an engine/tranny and getting them rebuilt if they are tired then allow $6-$7,000 to do it right. Do you want air conditioning, heat, power steering, power brakes? We have no clue how much was left for your car.

If you want to go with gen 1 SBC then it will be less but you must allow fabrication and also depending on where you live, it may not be street legal.

Oh, this assumes that you are doing the labor of putting it all together and do not even state that you will "rebuild the engine yourself"

I am assuming that when you say you put engines in trucks that they were just base 350ci engines, not LT!. there is a quite a big difference in these two applications. what you are looking for is going to be an LT1 engine (1993-1995) they were all the same make through those years, they all also used a 4L60E trans. the 96 and 97 camaros came with a different style LT1 that utilized a different opti-spark distributor among other little details. as far as installation goes, you have 3 choices, raise the car up and install the engine and transmission with jacks (how GM recommends) pull off the entire front clip which will allow room to install both without having to raise the car very high. the third most difficult option if you do not like the prior two is to install the engine block (with lower end assembled) and complete the engine build with the block in the car.

you can get an lt1 from a corvette 92-96 (its a slightly more powerful engine and has the 4 bolt mains) 93-97 lt1s f-body engines are all the same with the exception of the timing cover. Z28tallcan was right when he said the optis are different buy you can get the timing cover and opti from a 94 and bolt it right on or upgrade to the vented opti. DO NOT get an lt1 from a b-body (caprice,rodamaster, impalla) the block is the same but the heads are iron and lack in the flow department (you can get a b-body block and bolt aluminum camaro/corvette heads on it)

92-93 do not have a 4l60e, they have a 4l60 aka 700r4. the vette motor did not have more hp because of the motor but the intake and exahaust. the blocks are all the same, as far as i know the heads are the same except for 561 casting number heads. they are cast with better flow but are not friendly to porting.

I can't remember which magazine did it, but the iron heads actually outflow the aluminum ones, but not by much and the weight difference was quite a bit. I'd still just a F or Y bodied LT1. Makes things simpler.

93 was also special with the speed density vs MAF for 94+ and the computers being different between 93, 94, 95 and 96-97.

so after pulling the interior out i found the ecu among other parts. ( washer bottle, coolant tank, ac lines) and the harness is going to be disconnected from the interior this weekend to pull the complete engine harness out. it looks complete. it needs some new looming and some elctrical cleaner on the plugs. is there a way i can test the ecu to see if it is a working unit or just a paperweight?

so a 94-96 lt1 out of a camaro, trans am or corvette. as for the transmission sticking with the 4l60e is there a certain year ? or the same 94-96?

as for the installation of the engine and trans, i will probably be removing the front clip due to the fact the fenders and bumper need to be replaced anyways.

thanks for the help gentlemen.

and yes z28tallcan the engine were 350's . lol