khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Alright, I guess that it's about time that I tried to do a thread on my car. I had been lurking on here for a few years, and then picked this one up last year while I was in Afghanistan. The car had been sitting at my parents house until I got back to the states. It's a blue '89 IROC with a LS1 and a 4L60E. The plan is to make it a quick weekend warrior that can still be driven daily.





I was crawling under the car in the last few days, and some parts started falling off of it. Weird.





There is also a pile of new parts that are waiting to go on the car, but this pile keeps getting smaller. Strange.



Once that stuff goes on, and I get the car from my parents house in Missouri to where I'll be for the next few years in Louisiana, I'll be ordering a 12 bolt and a set of track tires. The car sit's pretty high, I can crawl underneath it (barely) without it on jackstands, so I also have a set of V6 springs coming to hopefully drop it back to stock ride height. Wish I had some better pics besides the car in the garage, but when the weather is nice I just take the car out and enjoy it, instead of taking pictures.

89blues

iTrader: (1)

I know this problem! You better check your wallet you'll also notice that it's misteriously empty...

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

The wallet is empty because I don't like to walk around with cash. The bank account is doing alright. After my divorce and paying off everything that my ex-wife racked up, I was smart with my money.

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

Looks like a great project. I'm sure you are going to enjoy it.

Were you in the service?

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Thanks DynoDave43.

I still am in the service, I'm active duty Army on a little over 30 day leave in between assignments. I was stationed in Southern Italy for the last two years, and transferring to Louisiana. Three visits to Iraq and once to Afghanistan.

I made an appointment today for the car to get the sub-frame connectors and the Trak-Pak to get welded in. There should also be some boxes arriving soon from a few different places.
I guess I should have been a little more specific about the goal. To run an 11.5 (so that I don't need to put in a rollbar, I still put my daughters in it), and still remain as original looking as possible on the outside. The exhaust gives away that it isn't a 305 Tuned Port, but nobody has really asked what engine is in it, yet. Mostly the car just gets a lot of compliments, and a few people making offers on it.

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

Glad you're home. Thank you for your service.

I meant to ask...what brand of suspension parts / sub-frame connectors are you using?

jazzdadss

Nice ride and good luck with the project. Might want to see if it has the "high rate" springs in it now. The V6 springs and most V8 springs are "Low rate". My 89 came with High rate BZW code springs which I cut too much off of and had to put a set of lo rates in until I find some replacements. Car reacts very sluggish now.

Just food for thought.

Again, NICE RIDE!

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Thanks, I loved Italy, but I didn't have my daughters with me, so it was time to come back. I also didn't see a point of shipping my car after I got back from Afghanistan when I only had 10 months left there.

Suspension parts, Founders LCA's, Panhard bar and Caster/Camber plates, BMR SFC's and Trak-Pak, Koni Yellow struts and shocks, and a set of V6 springs to get it back to stock height. Stock wonder bar and Edelbrock STB.

I'm well aware that a basically stock LS1 won't get me into the 11's, but I need the suspension to handle the power that is already there before I start adding more power. The plan is to get to a track and get some baseline numbers once the suspension is done, probably early next week.

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Thanks Jazzdadss,
This is actually BlueZee28's car that he built for his dad.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/ltx-...-2-1989-a.html

He mentions that the car was originally some sort of race car, and when I spoke to him a few months ago he mentioned that he has no idea what springs were in it when he had it. The guy that I got it from, who is a member on here, didn't change the springs at all. Either way, I figured that going to some known springs, instead of a set of unknown springs, would give me a baseline to start from. I also only came out of pocket something like $80 for all four (I had a credit remaining from Rock Auto. Christmas present from my parents for me to get a new steering box and some other small things).

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Something showed up at the front door today.



A bunch of AN fittings and braided hose.



Looks like new trans lines once the new cooler shows up.

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Picked the car up today from getting the sub-frame connectors and Trak-Pak welded in. The car feels very tight now. Between replacing the worn out steering box with the quick ratio box, installing the LCA's and panhard bar, and now the SFC's and torque arm, it's a completely different car than when I bought it.

There is still some work to do before taking it to the track, but it will be going to ThirdGen Fest.

khulsebus

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Got the car all washed up and finished putting the interior back in the car today.

visitor

beautiful car!

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Thanks visitor.

Lmancha96

Really nice car dude.... Its even better that you know it was put together by someone who really cares about these cars and knows what they were doing....

Hope i get to see it in person next year at Thirdgen fest, or one of the many thirdgen meets....

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Thanks Lmancha96. The funny story about the build on the car is that I was on my third deployment, right after my ex-wife told me she wanted a divorce, and I had decided that I was going to get another third gen. On my spare time I was watching this one get built, only to lose track of it after it got running and I came back to the states. Then on my fourth deployment when I finally actually had money to get one that was in solid shape, I saw it come up for sale again. Also, because I watched it get built is a big part of the reason that I paid what I did to get the car. BlueZee did a pretty good job building it, and Pocket's harness is really well done. BlueZee is from the St. Louis area, and my parents are 2 hours away in Columbia. I'm visiting them for about a month before I move down to Louisiana and take the down there.
As for Thirdgen Fest, I got lucky in that they are holding it while I'm up here. I was hoping to get to Thirdgen Roundup, but they held the event before I could make my way down there. As for a future appearance at Thirdgen Fest, I won't discount it, but it may not happen. Are you still in the Houston area? I'm looking for stuff down around that way, I'll be down at Ft. Polk and I understand that Houston isn't that far off.

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Today I finished up getting the struts/shocks and springs swapped out. Man, it really showed on this job that it's been a long 8-10 years since I last really worked on cars. I really can't remember doing a job this involved since I last did the suspension on my old '91 RS. Unfortunately, I did confirm the myth that the springs will ruin your day. Twice. The first time everything was fine after the spring flew out of the pocket, I just yelled out in my Jeremy Clarkson voice "Some poo has come out!" The second time the spring got my thumb smashed between the compressor and the A-arm. That hurt pretty good, but I was able to reach the jack and drop the arm and get my hand out. I had to call it a night after that. The hand is fine, just a little sore, after quite a bit of cussing and ice. This morning I finished up the install, and taking the car in about an hour to get an alignment. Anyways, now for the pictures.



I don't know how you guys can stop mid-way to get all of the pictures, I lost track and it wasn't until I was almost done that I remembered to take a few shots. Anyways, the new Koni Yellow struts are in, as well as the V-6 springs.



And the Founders Caster/Camber plates. I'm highly disappointed that the old pieces seem to have just been masked off instead of removed when the car was painted. And obviously the car hasn't had an alignment since before the LS1 was swapped in. Might explain why the car was a little 'darty'.



Just a little more work to get done before the drive down to Louisiana, but I think that's all that is going to get done before Third-Gen Fest. I've been neglecting other things around here while working on the car. Like getting the louvers sent out.

Lmancha96

Those Koni's make a huge difference in the ride its definitely well worth all the trouble...

Im still in the Houston area, there a bunch of big car meets down here pretty much year round even in the "winter" time. The next big one will be the Blast to the past in August. Other than that there is a monthly Houston F body meet on the third of every month.

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Lamancha96, I'll check it out once I get down to Louisiana, and fairly sure that I'll be at that show, as long as work doesn't interfere. The Koni's did make a pretty good difference, as well as the springs. I think that the car has dropped some, might be back to original height, but I think I'm going to wait for the car to settle a little more before I say for sure. What I can say is that before I could crawl underneath it, whereas now I can't.

Today we are getting the car loaded up, as well as the truck and camper for the trip to ThirdGen Fest. I've just got to go pick up my mini-me from her mom once she get's done with school for the year later today.

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Just got back from ThirdGen Fest. I had a great time, didn't bring back a trophy, but I wasn't expecting to either. I did win a dyno pull, but wasn't able to accept it because we were leaving town in the morning. I was put into the Camaro Stock class, instead of the Camaro Modified class that I thought that I'd be in. I asked Denny about it, and he said that I looked stock so that was why, even after I told him that I had a LS swap. The car got a lot of compliments, and some questions about the build. I was hoping to run into someone, like an original owner of a same year car, that could tell me everything that isn't correct externally about my car. However, it didn't happen at the show.

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Went to go switch the transmission cooler lines and add the second cooler today, fail. The chart that I found on here is wrong.



The fitting SUM- 220648 is wrong, everything else seems to be right so far. The transmission line adapter fittings should be: SUM-220027, although they are back-ordered. I was also told that SUM-220647 also works but the other fittings are "more correct. All I really got accomplished today was making a big exhaust leak where I had to cut the exhaust in order to get to the transmission lines. It would have been nice if any part of the exhaust was made to be removable, but the whole thing is welded from the header collector flange back. Also, someone decided to use 2 1/4" compression bent primaries. Needless to say, this will also being fixed soon.

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

So, today is the day that I take the car and most of the stuff that I have at my parents house down to Louisiana for my next job. Nothing new to the car to report on, other than some minor things to fix that I've noticed in driving it a fair bit in the last month. Many of the issues I found while making the 8 hour drive to Third Gen Fest. The weatherstripping needs to be replaced, it leaks around both windows, the high beam indicator and one of the turn signal indicator bulbs need to be replaced, as well as some of the interior screws are missing.

In preparation of this trip I have replaced the brakes and the tires. Tires are BFG G-Force Sport Comp 2's, and the brakes are something off the Autozone shelf (not the cheap stuff, just nothing special).

The car is loaded up, full of tools, guns and suitcases. I do however have a set of louvers still sitting at my parents house, with the mounting brackets. I would really rather not do this, but I had a deal with a member on here, but it doesn't appear to be working out. I would like these gone, but I think that instead of posting them in the classifieds, if you are interested, send me a PM.

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Not much to post about the car lately, haven't been doing really anything to it since moving. The car drove pretty well on the way from Missouri to Louisiana, especially since it was fully loaded up with luggage, parts, tools and other stuff from my parents house. I did take a detour from I-44 to drive for a bit on Route 66.



The new place doesn't have a garage, but covered parking is better than nothing.


I will say this much though, the roads down here are terrible. I have the Koni shocks and struts on fully soft and the ride is still way stiff. I've been looking for a track down here, but I think the closest one is a few hours away. Anyone able to correct me on that?

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

Route 66...Sweet! I read a couple of 66 related blogs every morning. Thus far, I've only driven 66 in Illinois. How was it in Missouri?

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Actually on the way back to Missouri from the fest, we stopped at some diner in Illinois on Route 66. I drove probably a good 45 minutes in Missouri, from Lebanon heading west, on Route 66. It was pretty good, I was looking for a good spot to grab a pic with my camera, but all I could get while I was on it was that one with my phone. While I couldn't go as fast, it seemed more fulfilling to drive on it, and I kept calling myself 'Lightning McQueen'. I stayed on it until the sky looked too threatening and the gas gauge said that I needed to fill back up. Soon as I pulled into the gas station, the sky opened up, so it seemed to be good timing. Don't know if that answered your question Dyno, but it was pretty good. Perhaps if I drive back up to my parents house sometime I'll spend some more time on it.

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

Sounds good to me. Glad you enjoyed it.

jagdprcp

I've driven most of Rt 66 at some time or other. Much of it is now gone and is replaced by interstates. There are still some of the old roadside attractions that can still be seen and some are even still open for business. The condition of the old road is run down in most places but there are still some nice stretches of the original road to be found.

Skeeeter

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

The road wasn't interstate quality, and the speed limit was way down compared to I-44 that was right next to it, but at that point it was more about the drive and the experience than making time and going faster. I still didn't make the entire trip in one day, I had to stop in some podunk town somewhere in Arkansas. I had seen this picture and wanted to see if I could find something similar and get my car in there, but it didn't happen.



At some point it may happen to drive more on Route 66, but for now it's just going to have to be a bucket list item.

1Aauto

Man what a picture that is! Very cool.

jagdprcp

Judging by the landscape in that photo, I would guess that it was taken in either New Mexico or Arizona. It could possibly be eastern California also.

Skeeeter

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Well, yeah, I figured that it wasn't Missouri, but I was hoping to find a section of the road that was painted similarly. There are a few pictures that came up on google when I started looking at driving at least the Missouri part while I was on vacation.

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Ok, here's an update.... The project wasn't abandoned or anything, just that I had my daughter staying with me over the summer. It was the first time that she has lived with me since me and her mom split up several years ago. I didn't want to waste the little time with her that I got in the shop working on the car when I could be playing with her instead. That being said, she is back with her mom and it's about to be time to start working on the car.

I haven't really done much to is, besides replacing the starter that decided to quit on me. I did pick up a few parts....



So first order of business is to get the trans cooler added, and then throw these on and completely redo the exhaust. I'm thinking 2 1/2" or 3" pipe coming off of the collectors, y-pipe into 3" or 3 1/2" intermediate pipe, a cut-out somewhere before the muffler, and a 3" Magnaflow single in-single out. Second order of business is to call Moser and get a 12-bolt sent, and then follow that up with a call to summit in the area of about $3,000.

Oh, and one last pic. I was leaving work the other day, and the car started making a whole bunch of smoke.



Strange.

TBRays98

My turn to follow your thread. Awesome car man!!!

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Wait until I get back to the house from the track, I've got video and pictures to upload.

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

So the priority was to install the trans cooler and the exhaust. Then I got called out to race some Focus with a turbo. So, priorities changed to get the car track ready. I got some relocation brackets, set the LCA's to the middle hole, installed a new overflow tank (because I have the 4th gen tank that holds the battery, and the battery hold down was broken), patch a hole in the firewall, and get some decent tires. The hole ended up getting patched with a beer can epoxied in place, because NOBODY in Louisiana seem to understand the idea of a plug. Problem solved, problem staying solved.

Tires were another matter. First I ordered a set of 15" x 10" Street Lite's with 6.5", only to forget that my rear is 2" wider on each side. Stupid 4th gen 10 bolt. Bottom line, they didn't fit. Also, couldn't get a new set of wheels in time. So, now my 275/50/15's MT ET Street radials are waiting for the correct width 12 bolt. Last ditch effort, I order a set of 255/50/16's MT ET Street radials, and what do you know, I can't get a set of wheels in the stock size in time, so they get mounted on the stock IROC wheels. F***.

The 15" x 4" Street Lite pizza cutter wheels mounted up with a set of MT front runner tires fit just fine on the car, but driving home from the shop made me realize why they say not to mix bias ply and radial tires. Back on go the front street tires for the hour and a half drive to the track.





Anyways, now comes race day, and I find out that the turd with the Focus blew his junk up and won't be coming for our $100 bet. All of this started because I refused to talk about what had been done to my car, claiming it to be a 14.5 second stock 305/auto car. Oh well, big deal, I'm going to go out to test and tune night in Texas.



Got there, some passes, went fairly good I thought. I was a little disappointed with what the car ran, but I know that I need a converter, gears and fix the terrible exhaust. Anyways, on to what you all want to see. Some Chevy truck wanted to race against me. I jacked up the start, but got around him for the win. He and his buddies claim that he was on my bumper, I don't know, I wasn't looking behind me.


I decide to make one last pass before heading back to the house, and I convince some kid with a SRT4 to line up with me. He didn't want to, said something about me having a fully built race car. I told him that it's a street car, and I take my kid to day care in it. Finally he agrees. Mistake.



Oh, and the slips.....



Pretty consistent, 13.5 @ 102 all night. Set the drag radials to 18 psi, as suggested by MW66Nova and some other dudes on MM. Dead hooked, transferred the weight nicely, no complaints. For what it is, basically a stock LS1 and 4L60E I think it ran pretty good.

Now to do the trans cooler, exhaust, and all of the other stuff. Good thing next weekend is a 4 day.

Ron U.S.M.C.

Very nice accomplishment.
I really like the fact your keeping it street able for the family.

Kind of like a street car/sleeper that transforms into a rocket on request.
(The wheels and tires might give you away a little bit.)

The only cosmetic aspect I would change are the front parking lights.

http://www.1aauto.com/1985-92-chevy-...r/i/1alpp00008

If you have room maybe a engine oil cooler with a temperature controlled sandwitch adapter. Just a thought.

Heres what the lights in that link actualy look like except the flash kind of makes them shine a little to much. =

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

An oil cooler may be on the future upgrade list. Honestly, cooling the thing down between runs is something that I need to address. Not so much engine or coolant temperature, but my intake temps were sitting at 150 at times. The real pain in the *** is that when I'm driving around, they are 10, no more than 15 degrees above ambient temperature. And of course the track didn't sell bags of ice, not that I'm convinced that it would have worked all that well being a plastic intake.

As for the marker lights, they look nice, but not the look I'm going for with the car. I'm trying to keep it as original looking as possible, down to figuring out the correct badges and window sticker and everything.

The wheels and tires, I'm keeping the stock IROC wheels on it with street tires, and then the race tires and wheels go on only for the track. Pain in the butt, but less of a compromise in other ways. Like DOT race tires on the street and wearing them out all the time, street tires on the strip that don't work very well, etc.

Ron U.S.M.C.

No sense ruining nice track tires, besides those stock wheels you have look great.

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Thanks, they photograph well, but it's time to refinish them. You should see the storage room in my house, stacked with race tires and wheels and other parts waiting to go on.

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

The trans cooler is in, not too bad of a job. I was at the shop for about 6 hours, and started by putting street tires back on. I picked up another set of 16" stock wheels for it, so now the drag radials are staying on one set of stock rear wheels and the street tires are on another. I'm running out of space in the closet for wheels and tires.

I still don't like doing braided AN lines, but I'm getting better at them. Like I said, the cooler is in, not 100% happy with it, but I'll fix that when the engine comes out.

On the way home, I looked in the mirror and swore that I saw my car following me in my car. Flagged him down and talked for a little bit. Not the greatest picture, mine is flithy, and the gas station we stopped at wasn't the most picturesque. Either way, it was nice to find a buddy.



Now it's time to figure out the exhaust. Fairly sure that I'm going to go with 3" primaries into a 3 1/2" single, a cut out, then down to a 3" magnaflow and a single outlet. Also, I was recommended to use a SS4000 converter. Those two things should drop my 60 foot down to a 1.6x - 1.70.

IROCgiraffe

iTrader: (3)

sub'd.

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Probably time to do an update. Work has been kind of crazy lately, but I got a small update. Just ordered a converter, and the rest of the parts to complete the exhaust. Steve, Xp3ndble or whatever, recommended a SS4000 converter from Yank, so I'm going to give that a try. Also I changed my mind about building a custom exhaust. It seems that nobody local seems to believe in keeping anything over 3" exhaust pipe, nor do they believe in mandrel bending. So I ended up picking out the Mufflex 3.5" system with a Magnaflow. Also ordered a the parts to make the y from the collectors to the rest of the system. A local welding shop told me that they would TIG everything up as long as I tack it in place first. We'll see.

jbenge

iTrader: (2)

I just now noticed this thread - subscribed! Enjoyed the videos from the track. Looking forward to seeing what kind of results you get from the next round of mods.

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Thanks buddy. I have a feeling that I'll be durability testing the 10 bolt after that converter goes in. Everyone that I've talked to so far with a LS1 that had that converter had said I'll love it, and that it should cut my 60 foot quite a bit.

Citation X

First off thanks for your service. Second sorry to hear your at Polk. From what my cousin said, there isn't much nearby. He just left there for Leavenworth. He may have disliked it so much because he was in Hawaii before Polk. Anyways look forward to seeing the mods done on your car.

83Z28/L69

Very nice car! You're going to love that converter! I was running the ST3500. It really woke my T/A up. But get your S60/12Bolt/9" money saved up. It only took me about a week to pop my 10bolt.

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Thanks, CitationX and 83Z28/LB9, and you're welcome. Here's the thing about Fort Polk, he's mostly correct. It's a small base (only 9,000 or so soldiers) outside a TINY little podunk town, so yeah you have to drive to do a lot of stuff. However, that being said, the locals love my car, to the point that I can't go anywhere without someone giving compliments or asking about it. There is also a lot of trailers around here, so that may have something to do with it. Before here I was stationed in Georgia (Fort Benning) and Italy (Naples), which are much larger bases with a fairly big city outside of it. I just try and stay positive about it, it could be worse (I could be in Korea, or Alaska).

Anyways, I already have the money for the 12 bolt/9 inch, just haven't pulled the trigger on it yet. About half the parts have made it in, just waiting on half the exhaust parts and the converter. I'm pretty sure that the 10 bolt is already on borrowed time, especially with the ET Street Radials. The biggest thing saving it right now is that I'm on street tires 99% of the time, and the roads are such sh*t that the car just spins the tires anything above 1/2 throttle, and about 1/4 throttle when turning. In the rain, the back of the car just dances side to side.



Oh, and I forgot to post this picture. I took it maybe two months ago on the way home from work.



I have a 4 day weekend coming up, so I plan to at least do the exhaust, the converter also if it shows up. The track is open the last two weekends of the month, so I'll make the trip and see how much the old exhaust was holding it back. I should really take pics of it, it's a complete mess.

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

So the last week I've been cutting off the old exhaust and getting the car ready for the new exhaust. The old Flowmaster, tail pipes and intermediate pipe has a new home, the blue '91 RS from a few posts up. He came over and helped me cut the old stuff off. Now, I really wish that Nick (BlueZee) had put the long tubes on the car when he built it, but whatever. This is a major PITA with the engine still in the car. I started with the passenger side, because it has the most stuff in the way (starter, HVAC).



After a few hours, I got the passenger side header out.



A few hours later, some swearing, some hammering, and some cutting, and I got the passenger side header in place. There is a really bad feeling to taking a saw to a $800 set of headers.



Finally, I got everything bolted back into place. I started on the drivers side, which pretty much fell right out of the car. The drivers side header pretty much fell straight in from the top. Then as I was trying to bolt it back in, I cut my finger on the gasket. No big deal, but combined with the fact that I was working in the dark made me quit for the night.

Tomorrow, the plan is to finish bolting up the one header, and then start fabricating the Y, and hang the 3 1/2" mufflex system. Once I get the Y tacked into place, I'm taking it to a local welding shop that said they would TIG it up for me.

jbenge

iTrader: (2)

Nice progress, the new exhaust system should wake the car up quite a bit. I would expect you to pick up around .2-.3 from the exhaust with a good tune to match. You probably want to wait until you put the torque converter in before you get it tuned so you won't have to do it twice though. My car was very lean with a basically stock tune with LT headers, no cats, and 3.5in exhaust. It ran much better after my tuner richened it up.