97 LQ1 to 95 Z34, whats involved?

[farley463]

Well, where do I start, I found a 95 Monte Carlo z34 on craigslist recently with a whole bunch of new parts on it for 400 bucks, but the LQ1 is blown up. I have a 97 LQ1 sitting on the stand and a 4t65e coming back from the transmission shop soon, so I'm thinking about taking everything from the 97 and swapping it over to the 95 with the nicer body. I'm thinking that if I just put the 97s engine wiring harness into the 95 car, everything would work and I would have OBDII. I'm probably wrong, but being that I would have both cars, I would just need to know what I would need to swap over. Will the 97s wiring harness match the 95s firewall bulkhead? Will I have to swap anything over under the dashboard? I have all the mounts from the 97, so dropping the engine and trans in would be no problem. I know there are some differences in the years, like the 96-97 engine having 2 knock sensors and a bunch of little different things like that, but the way I see it is that as long as I have the 97s harness and computer to run it, it should be fine, right? Someone please help me! Lol

[timg]

The 97 wiring harness won't connect to the 95 firewall without a bit of wire swapping. It's not a huge issue, but it's not plug and play. FWIW, you should be able to run the 97 engine on the 95 computer.

Tim

[farley463]

Alright, that's what I was thinking. I want to run on a 97 pcm because I have a fresh 4t65e coming back from the rebuild shop that I want to use, and 97 was the only year they had the LQ1/65E combo. Do you know where I can get wiring diagrams for both a 95 and 97 z34? If its gonna be a bunch of work ill probably just swap the dash wiring harness out with the 97 as well. I know its more work, I just want to try and keep everything simple...

[pocket-rocket]

Pm robertisaar about diagrams. Or maybe he will join in the convo soon enough.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

[farley463]

Well I got the diagrams, and comparing the two there is a lot of things that are different between the two harnesses, so I'm thinking about just taking both dashboards apart and putting the 97 harness in the 95 body. I've done a lot of pretty involved projects before, did engines, I tore apart and reassembled a 4l60e, but I've never done a dashboard before. The biggest thing I'm worried about are the airbags, any tips or tricks on these? All I know is that anything with thick yellow wires has something to do with those, so I'm not going to touch them, but other than that, I'm just trying to think of things I need to be most concerned about. If anyone else can think of anything, please let me know! Thanks!

[robertisaar]

after the two torx bolts(i think) on the backside of the steering wheel, it flips down(or is it up?) and you can disconnect the airbag connector for the driver's side. at that point, you should be safe to do anything other than hit it with a hammer to accidentally set it off.

driver's side.... i don't know, i've never had to dig in that far. the cover can be removed, but putting it back and getting it to look like it was never removed can be a challenge.

[Dave96z34]

I know for experience what a pain in the ass it is to pull apart a monte's dash. I would re-pin the c100 plug and be happy with that and yes you will need the 97 pcm for the 4t65. Does your 95 have duel climate control? If not swap that air box and harness in!

[Dave96z34]

Also dont forget you will need the drivers side half shaft from a 97 to run that 4t65.

[farley463]

Well I know its been a while since I posted, but I decided to drop the idea of the swap, and keep the 97 engine in the 97 car. The 95 I bought wasn't in as good of shape as I thought it was gonna be, but it did have a complete 95 lq1 which was running but knocking, and a good 4t60e trans. It also has a bunch of new suspension parts I plan on using, as well as a new radiator, brakes, fuel pump, etc. Before I send it to the scrapyard is anyone interested in anything? Its got a lot of good parts on it.