alan91z28

Your set-up looks nice and all your postings have been a big help. I just did the install on my tick cylinder yesterday as well. Mine was an original 5 speed and the nice thing is it fit without any clearance issues.

I have the engine out so getting it in wasn't to hard at all, probably about an hour to get the original out and the new one in

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Nice! Glad to hear that the Tick will fit in an original M5 car without troubles! Tick will be glad to hear it as well...it'll open up their market some.

Im not sure if I could have installed it without taking the booster out. I had to move harnesses that I had tucked under and hidden. Also had to trim the body sealer etc etc. Overall not bad.

Also...I decided to loctite studs into the Tick bracket. It seemed to go in/out easy enough, so I figured Ide leave them in. I had them in for mock up... Worked well! Im excited to drive it more.

J.

alan91z28

what did you use to reconnect the rod to your pedal... mine had a plastic piece that i had to cut to get the old one off, i am going to go to the dealer to get another one, just wondering if you did something different

thanks

Spike-Z

iTrader: (4)

This man speaks the truth! I also installed mine and went in without any problems. Congrats on your hard working week-end J. It seems to really have paid off.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Not really sure what plastic piece you had on there... I used the little spring clips. Our brake pedals have the exact same size and type clip. I bought a pack of them from GM because before I had an E clip, and that was a royal pain to install/remove. Also, the RAM adjustable I had wouldnt allow anything else to fit. The Tick rod end is thinner, thus allowing for the normal clip.

I guess its worth saying that I have thirdgen pedals...but my clutch pedal has the mount peg from a 4th gen pedal set. The thirdgen's clutch peg is skinnier...or thicker. I cant remember.
--------------------------------

I drove her some more day. One thing I forgot to comment on last night. WOW what a difference that k-member notch made. Its soooo much smoother and quieter. The pan was making such a racket on the k-member. Now when I get into it, its just smooth sounding acceleration...instead of the banging sound mixed in. Much happier.

I also thing I just need to get used to the new shifting feel. Its very consistent like I said. One thing I thought of. I wonder if the difference between thirdgen and 4th gen pedals is affecting how we adjust the Tick. Because Im almost out to the stock pedal height. I wonder if thirdgens would require a shorter adjusting rod to allow for more adjustment, but keep the pedal lower. Any more on mine and ill be level with the brake again. Ill see what Joey at Tick says.

Here's a quick of the new gauge addition. According to that thing, my car is dialed in fairly well with AFR. It never really goes extreme one way or the other. I like the new gauge. Better than the narrowband piece of crap I was using. It even has a nifty little light sensor, so at night it dims itself over 50% so its not as distracting. I dig it.



Monday Ill be doing some more work. Just little stuff, like wiring and cleaning up in the engine bay. Also going to pull the push rods and check them for bends...and also use the checker I got to verify the lengths are correct.

J.

Spike-Z

iTrader: (4)

Great infos! Are those gauges from Autometer's Phantom series? Love them to death.

V8Rumble

iTrader: (2)

Here's a quick tip - instead of rolling each pushrod on a piece of glass (or something similarly flat & smooth), fasten it into a drill & spin it - that's supposed to make any bent ones quite a bit easier to see.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Spike...Yup they are the Phantoms. I kinda wish the Phantom II's were out when I did this swap. But the gauges are awesome. I have orange bulbs behind everything. Tried to keep the red backlighting that birds have...but red bulbs or bulb sleeves were just too red. Orange looks good.

V8...I hadnt thought of that. Only problem is Im pretty sure my drill's chuck is wobbly. haha. Im quite abusive to my tools. But maybe Ill do a combo of glass rolling and drill checking...good idea! I was actually trying to think today of where I have a piece of glass to use...I didnt come up with anything. Ill figure something out.

Im actually putting my money on incorrect push rod length. The original owner said the combo was always noisy. SO that sorta rules out the bent rod thing...sorta. Im still going to check things out. Ill report back as usual.

J.

V8Rumble

iTrader: (2)

I just thought of one other thing - if you put the pushrod/drill combo in front of a trouble light when you're spinning it, I would think that it would make it even easier to see... (But maybe I'm too...)

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Alrighty... Lets see. Tonight had its ups and downs.

I drained my trans and filled it with Dex III... I was running Pennzoil Syncromesh, so I wanted to give the good old Dex a try.

Next I started pulling things apart. This brings me to a down of the evening. I broke one of my plugs in half. One of my AC Delco IRIDIUM plugs. I was slightly irritated by that. I was trying to use one of those stupid magnetic spark plug sockets from Autozone. Its gone now...out into the darkness and into the woods. haha.

With the plugs out, I was able to rotate the motor easier to get #1 at TDC. Once it was, I started checking pushrod length. I checked both the intake and exhaust half a dozen times. I both measured the checker length with a mic and figured length using the little markings on the checker itself. I kept coming up with 7.29x". So....say Im looking for .080" preload. That gives me a 7.370". So I figure a 7.375" pushrod would be perfect. 0.085" preload.

The rods that were in there are aftermarket. They are Thunder Racing push rods. They are 7.350" rods.... So right there, my suspicions were somewhat true. They are in fact short. Im thinking that at some point they were correct, then the previous owner changed cams with a smaller base circle.

Now...Im not saying that 0.025" will make my motor quiet. But Im going to give them a try. I could go with 7.400" rods... but that would be 0.110" preload...and thats sorta high for those lifters. If they dont make a difference, oh well.

I also rolled them on glass as well as tried the drill method. They arent bent. Everything else looks good. So this is my last ditch effor to quiet things down. Im going to call around and see if anyone can get me a set of rods by thursday afternoon. Ill be back at the house that day....so Ide like to put her back together. Ill obviously report back.

Ok...now the obligatory pics. Mostly just random crap to give you guys something to look at. haha.





Things look pretty decent.



The checker.



And the checker's measurement.



Cont'd...

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Annnnnnd just thought this pic was cool. haha.



Ill let you guys know how things go. Ill also give more driving updates after some more seat time with the Tick master. I plan on bleeding it alittle more just for the heck of it. It felt pretty good while just moving it around today.

Thanks for watching!!

J.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Comp Cams 7.375" pushrods on their way. Good old summit. They'll be here Thursday at some point...so it looks like Ill get to put it back together.

I would have saved money and skipped the next day shipping, but if I dont work on it this thursday, I wont get to work on it again until after the weekend. And Im too impatient for that. haha.

J.

Jaysz28

iTrader: (30)

Ok, off topic.... where is your cruise mounted?

-jason

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Directly below my fuse blocks on the driver's side. Right next to the radiator support. I might move it though to make room to move the fuse blocks down and route my air intake over there.

The cable for the non-traction control cruise (what you need) is SUPER long. It goes along the chassis rail, up around the bulkhead connector, over the brake booster, behind the intake, and then along the fuel rails. haha. Its crazy long.

J.

cam-

Well... I set my initial build up with .100 preload on the lifters. Nice and quiet. Went for my tune and the guys from Canadian Performance were telling me as soon as they heard the car run that I had too much pre load. I asked how they could tell by hearing it run and they said its not making enough noise and that I was NUTS for running that much preload. I was a bit skeptical at first but they made some very valid points and backed it up with proof. Keep in mind these are the guys from ARE who were pretty much the first major LS1 specific performance shop ever and have built some of the fastest LS1 powered cars to date.

Well i was there and had dyno time booked so we ran it anyways and tried to tune it but had all sorts of issues. My valves were floating after 6K RPM and the TPS wasn't working and my injectors were 130% duty cycle and all in all it was a disaster for my car that day.

So I ordered new pushrods ( ironically 7.35's ) which put me at .50 pre load, new Patriot Gold springs, new SVO 30 flowmatched injectors and we did a road tune afterwards. The performance difference was incredible probably due to the valve float I had prior from the craptastic 918's but anyways onto the main point of this long winded tale.

My engine ticks sooooooo loud since the 7.35's BUT its fast and its dead nuts reliable so I'm happy with that.

As the boys explained it to me on a hydraulic cam running this high of an RPM the lifter pre load ( or lack thereof ) is like a big fat life insurance policy on your engine. Anyways not trying to totally freak you out I do see some guys running high pre load and managing to survive but check out most of the broken spring posts over at tech or blown engine posts and see what pre load those guys were running on their push rods. High pre load may be quiet but its risky....

1987ZTPI

I gotta say it but that .060" of preload you would have had with the thunder racing push rods is the kinda pre-load your want for a performance motor. i'd hate to say .080 is even scary for a motor that will see 7500-8000rpm, it may be noisy but as CAM said you basicaly building a failsafe into your motor. When i start my car on a cold day, damn she is noisy but she gets better when she warms up.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Good to know cam. What do you consider high preload? .100? With the 7.375" rods, Ill be right at .080 preload, which is what Ive been told is a good setting. Also what the factory lifters are designed to be set at.

I have to wonder why the motor was set up with the 7.350" rods....but figured it was a pre-configured set up or something. Im already running dual springs and all that jazz.

In any case, Ive never experienced valve float, so Im not even sure if I know it if I felt it. haha. Thats usually only an issue in the guys running weaker springs right? But Im willing to give the .025 longer rods a try and see if it quiets the motor down without changing its characteristics. Ill hold onto the 7.350 rods just in case though. Its not a huge deal to swap them out.

Thanks for the input though...I will definatly keep it in mind when I start testing the set up out. Probably keep it lower RPM at first then slowly wind it up and see if I get any ill conditions.

What RPM do you run your motor at cam? I see 7000 every so often...maybe a tick over that. Just curious.

J.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

See mine doesnt get better. It just ticks away like a sewing machine on steroids the entire time. I have heard these cars with more mods than me sound pretty darn quiet... But......I can always go back to what I had before. Ive never messed with pushrod length before, and honestly, this is the first Ive heard of .080 being too much preload for an LS1 lifter. I must have searched over on tech for 6 hours the other day and thats when I decided to try out that preload.

Haha maybe posting on the 4th gen site is the wrong thing to do...you guys over here all seem to have your heads screwed on a little tighter.

J.

1987ZTPI

I can't say it's unsafe to run.080" but thats close to factory i believe, and mine doesn't go away, it still ticks just not the loud tick it has when i first start her up, sounds like the rockers are running with no pre-load. between the ford injectors and the preload i'm running it ticks enough to ***** me off, thats why i made my exhaust louder. But i drove across cannada in the 3600km with it as loud as it is and had no issues period. It probably wont hurt your motor at all to run .080" preload, i just run .040-.060" because i don't want to worry incase i over rev her.

1987ZTPI

Just as a comparison, i have had some "car guys" come up to me and tell me theres something really wrong with my car and it's running like ****, i just say the day the ticking stops it the day i start to worry. Do you have a video of the motor running so we can hear hoe loud it is?

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

My ticking isnt as loud as some describe I guess. And the car runs pretty good. Its just annoying to me inside the car more than anything...as well as outside. So I figured if the .025" will make it go away, it wouldnt be enough of an increase in preload to really mess with the motor's reliability. Ive never had any mechanical issues with this set up...yet. haha

Ill see if I can dig up a vid. But I dont have a great camera so audio is never fantastic. Im going back through tech and trying to look at more preload info. Still finding lots of people saying .080 is the number to shoot for... and the guys with LS7 lifters are aiming higher than that (.080 - .100). Still gonna do some research.

J.

1987ZTPI

I love these forums but i sometimes just call up a reputible engine shop and ask their opinion. Maybe if theres a shop around you with some lsx expeirence they could lend some helpfull info.

cam-

They told me to shoot for .40-.60 tops and as it turned out I ended up with .50 but its LOUD! Kinda oddly random too... Sometimes its not terrible but then on other days its loud as heck. The only constant I seem to notice is on very hot days when the engine is good n hot idling in traffic is when it ticks the loudest. That said my engine never seems to heat up hotter than the thermostat temp it runs cool but on hot days maybe the oil temps get higher or something because thats when it is at its worst.

My limiter is set at 7K and I see it pretty often. I'm over 6K on an absurdly regular basis

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Ive jumped all over 7100 on several occasions...and there was no limiter yet. haha. I have no clue where it is set. I was going to have Harris put it where they felt safe, but since they couldnt do the tune, and I wrecked it on my way home from picking it up, it never got done.

I remember when I first went from my 305TPI to this motor, 6k was crazy. Since the other car fizzled out at like 5400. But now 6k is old news, and there isnt a time when I drive it that I dont sneak out to atleast 6500. Haha.


Cam are you running stock LS1 lifters?? Stock rockers too?

I have heard some call for .060". But Ive also read a ton of people saying GM shoots for .080 - .100. Either way, I dont think Im pushing any limits. But Im going to keep my eye on things. If the motor is just as noisy, Ill probably take the new ones out and sell them. Chalk the loss up to a learning experience.

Ill know by tomorrow night...

J.

V8Rumble

iTrader: (2)

Oh yeah - did that a couple of weeks ago... I had the engine sitting on the motor mounts, trying to get that LAST fraction of an inch that I needed in order to get the 2nd through-bolt in. Had a moment of sheer "genius" & thought that I might be able to 'persuade' it into place with my 4-lb mini-sledge... Ummmm, NO.

THANKFULLY, I only broke one of 'em, those things are freaking EXPENSIVE!



Sounds like you found a "Dammit tool"! (heh)

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Update:

Well... I feel like yesterday was an extreme waste of time. haha. Here's how it went down. And I sort of feel dumb for the way it went down also.

Put the new pushrods in, buttoned it up, fired it up. Immediately noticed it wasnt running quite right. It was missing and lightly backfiring. Most importantly, it was still ticking. So instead of tracking down the missfire, I decided to just pull it all back apart and toss the old rods back in. Lesson learned.

Got it all back together....again... Missfire still there. And it was still popping through the exhaust. So now its time to start tracking things down. I pulled all the plugs but couldnt find one that showed signs of missfire. I still had the NGK TR-55s that the original owner was running, so I took out my iridium plugs and put those in. Then I started to OHM out the wires. The first 6 I tested measured 31 ohm. The 7th measured like 180 kohm haha. Brand new taylor thundervolt wires too.

Luckily I still had my old wires. So I found the best one of those, popped it on, finished putting it back together. Runs great again. Like I said. Lesson learned. Ill have to deal with the ticking until I can get some blower whine to cover it up I guess. hehe.

Now...the shifting. WOW. It shifted SO nice last night. I almost powershifted it felt so good. Im not sure if the Tick master cylinder settled in, or if changing over to the DexIII fluid helped. But its pretty darn smooth. The faster and the harder you shift, the nicer it is. Pedal feel is perfect. I might even be able to lower the pedal some. I think I have it out too far.

So...that'll be it for awhile I guess. Gonna put some miles on her. I still have projects lined up for this spring. But they will be slow since Im moving...again...and will be 45 minutes away from my garage and tools On the list:

Bi-Xenon HIDs with FX-35 projectors
Cruise wiring
Racetronix upgrade harness install (still havent gotten around to that)
Custom fuel line
Move fuse blocks and build new air intake.
Get a friggin tune....
New hatch glass, defrosterless if I can find it
Put on my fiberglass spoiler and add an under wing third brake light.
Power lock install, then along with that an alarm.
Tie up some loose wiring ends....

The list will grow Im sure. Thanks for following along guys! I gonna take some vids for the heck of it once the weather gets nicer. So Ill post em up.

J.

EDIT: I think Im going to ditch the Taylor wires. I doubt Ill get the wire replaced by them, even though they are brand new with hardly any wires. I ordered a set of GMPP wires. $60 shipped and from what I hear they are the best when it comes to snapping onto the plug and coil. Comparable to MSD in quality...which was my second choice.

Im not sure what Im going to do for plugs though. The NGKs that are in there now are old, and not super clean. I guess I could throw my iridium plugs back in, since they arent THAT old. But Im thinking about just getting a new set of TR-55s and calling it good. They are cheap, and Ill keep my Iridiums as back ups. Ill figure somethin out.

1987ZTPI

Well i guess you could call it a good lesson learned, i always worried about my engine ticking, i wanted to swap rockers and re-adjust valve lash all the time but i just decided to leave it cuz it never gets worse and it performs great. I pull my plugs all the time to check the colour so i just run factory delco plugs their cheap and they work.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Yeah the ticking is annoying. But I guess its just a noisy valvetrain. Its louder under the car...which makes sense since the stainless long tubes carry the sound easy. I can hear it most when driving along side of buildings or bushes or something. The echo drives me nuts. Its not a problem with my cut out open though haha.

I need a good tune before I can really trust what my plugs are telling me. I dont think there is anything wrong with the iridiums that I took out. They were tan-ish with no deposits or anything. I just have a problem putting old stuff back into my car. haha. I might even just pop them back in... Probably what Ill do actually. I got them for free...so either way Ill get off cheap.

J.

1987ZTPI

How loud is your exhaust, i had a magnaflow setup befor and it was too quiet and i could here the ticking alll the time , so now i have a sidepipe with a dynomax bullet. any souund clips yet?

SheldonZ28

iTrader: (1)

Ive heard some noise in a few of the vette's we've done, and some others have made no noise at all, that or i couldnt hear it.

We had a '02 Camaro get H/C on it, and the valvetrain was noisy, but it ran perfect.

Then there was a '04 Z06 Vette, Novi 2000, big cam, made no noise. That or it couldnt be heard past the blower noise

From what ive experienced, some combo's make noise, some dont.

cam-

From what I understand some cams are noisier than other due to the fast ramp rate iirc. I have the old school TR224 which was soooooo noisy they changed the grind but the old ones make more power so I dont mind.

Stock rockers btw

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Yeah... I guess Ill just live with it. Now that I know there is nothing I can do about it, I can start ignoring it. Haha.

I really gotta meet some of you guys and compare how noisy your cars are compared to mine. Haha.

My new wires were supposed to ship friday, and be here today or tomorrow...but the site still says processing. Judging by my other purchases from newgmparts, it wont ship til later this week anyway. So I guess Im going to pick the car up today or tomorrow and bring it back to my place. Start driving her everyday for the season. Not sure what Im going to get to do next. This month is busy as crap. I might bring my HID stuff with me...since I plan to bake plexi to make lenses....might as well do that in the oven that Im about to leave behind hahaha.

J.

Hey cam.... I think I asked you before, but what are you running for PCV/Breather setup? Thats nother thing im struggling with and would like to sort out before I do much serious driving. I have the LS6 valley cover, and was running a PCV valve. Oil all up in the intake. So I switched to a breather, and capped everything else off. Seemed to run fine, no oil in the intake. But, the downsides...made my car stink to high heaven inside. Also put an oil film on the FRC, and I dont think I had anywhere near 5k miles on my oil, and it was pretty dirty.

So...finally, I just put on a different breather. Its totally closed except for a 5/8" nipple. Also it has a foam inside with a little baffle at the opening. So far the smell seems to be just about gone, but now I worry about actually having enough ventilation for my crankcase. Ive run the motor pretty hard with no immediatly apparent ill effects...

Im considering getting either a RevXtreme can or a Saikou Michi can...possibly a dual if I go with the Saikou. But Im still not sure they are going to block ALL of the oil from going into the intake...and Im afraid Ill just have to empty them everyother day. haha...Thoughts?

cam-

I've been running a breather that I cant recall who I bought it from. I think it was Thunder Racing but in my old age I'm forgetting these little details more and more

Anyways I only have to wash it once per year and I dont have any smell issues or oil film in my engine compt. I cant say whether its because the breather is so great or if its because i have less vapor floating around than others as I really have no other local car that I can compare too. It was ridiculously priced though i believe it was $59.99 but I was at the end of my swap and throwing money at it like crazy to just get er done and get it out.

Oddly enough as well as this breather works I'm going to ditch it soon because up here in Canada we are getting MAJOR hassles from the pork patrol who are targetting us gear heads big time. Plus they are backed up with harsh new lefty gov't legislation that certainly would appear to want to just completely wipe out the entire high performance scene. I even read a quote from a local politician who said if "we" ( that being street racers because we are ALL street racers according to the gov't here *sigh* ) anyways he said if "we" have the money to soup up our cars then we can afford higher fines as a deterrent... ? Sounds like the ol' guv thinks we have too much money and wants more tax to me but I digress...

Anyways rant aside the key to staying out of trouble is being sneaky and I am now in the midst of building my own hidden breather that should be uber stealth so if it works out I'll post some pics

The games we are forced to play just to be free to do what we want.... now thats

1987ZTPI

Cam the sad part is that Ontario is the only part of canada that really enforces those emissions laws, Thankfully. Canada is supose to have some of the highest emissions regulations around but that only applies to ontario, atleast southern ontario. I moved to alberta 6months ago and they don't know the meaning of emissions here, any exhaust shop will reommend cutting off your cats, they did to me anyway and all the new deisel trucks that are supose to have cats on them are amazingly missing them. There are more imported jap cars here than the rest of Canada because there is no emissions testing and those cars wouldn't pass the tests if they were required to do them.

On my SBC i always knew the crankcase ventilation system was causng weird idle problems for me, not sure why but it was. I proved this last week i went and bought 2 cheap edelbrock breathers and put them on and my car has never ideled sooo smooth also revs much quicker, i think the old system wasn't breathing enough for my motor. It's not emissions legal but here thats the last thing i need to worry about, All the F$$king speed cameras are my biggest worry now

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Darn cam...didnt realize they were so tough on you up there... I cant stand the lefty's...and its hard enough around here. My only saving grace is that I keep my car under 5000 miles, so I dont get emissions testing. Doesnt mean that if I get pulled over Im exempt from a ticket though...haha. Stupid.

I think you are talking about the Metco breather. Screws right in place of the oil fil cap?

The breather I was using was an open element breather...with nothing inside. Can you take a peak inside yours and let me know if its just open? Or if there is some type of packing or gauze inside....baffles...anything?

I think thats my issue with my old breather. I know it was venting plenty...just think because it was a cheap autozone breather, its missing the benefits that the more $$$$ ones have.

J.

Shift06

Hey cam, if you don't mind me asking (not trying to highjack your thread J.) but since we are talking about emissions in Canada somewhat, what did you have to do to get your car e-tested? Did you just run it through without volunteering any information about an engine swap or did you have to put it through as something specific?

kubus_stroinski

I can answer this one. What I did was go to the GM dealer and they will take a look at your swap and write a letter that the engine you have swapped in was never available in your model of car. After that, you take it to a Mufflerman or any other etesting place and they will run your car under hotrod standards. This means there is no visual inspection and the emissions limits are raised. Mine passed without issue.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Really??? They'll say that a GTA never came with a 5.7L V8? Wow they are even stricter than I thought... Example. Down here, old Jeep CJs came with V8s. Fast forward to the Wrangler...never came with a V8, quite a different vehicle than a CJ. However you can swap a Hemi into one if you want. Or a 318 or whatever. Just as long as the motor is newer than the model year of the car you put it in. Then you get tested to the motor's year standards.

J.

Shift06

Yeah I figured that the LS1 would be WAY better on emissions than my 305 TPI anyways.

cam-

I only tested mine once and I have a big cat. My car was originally carbed so it sailed through WAAAAY under spec. So my car is far cleaner and more enviro now than the stock engine which is nice to know. Make things even better because its an 87 I dont have to have it tested anymore so for me its moot.

I just took it to Canadian Tire, gave em my ownership and took my chances. No one noticed anything different and I was on my way in 20 mins with a pass sheet

Justin also I forgot to mention yeah stock lifters too. There was 72K miles on the engine when I bought it and i probably have another 15K on it since my swap ( total guess off the top of my head going by # of oil changes LOL ) The breather is the Metco iirc and yes it screws right on the oil filler. I just checked it right now and there is no baffles of anything in there it looks like any other K&N valve cover breather aside from the extra billet aluminum screw in mount that comes with it. The billet mount screws into the oil filler hole and the filter has a rubber base and just pushes into the mount. After looking at the mount thats probably the majority of the high cost right there as it is pretty well made.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Cool thanks... I went the cheaper route

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/post...5-post141.html

Im gonna run my breather with the nipple on it for awhile. Hopefully I dont blow any seals out. haha. Still considering a catch can set up, but we'll see. I dont want to spend ~$100 and just put more oil into my intake.

J.

cam-

Aside from the aluminum piece it looks damn near identical to mine. The diameter of the hole is quite a bit bigger on yours though the Metco unit is about 1/2"

I did see TR sells a nice catch can set up that has a bracket that bolts on the head and all. Compact and fairly decent looking. It was about a hundred bucks or thereabouts

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Couple updates. Car has been upgraded to DD status as of this morning. I forgot how much fun a manual car is to drive haha. Other than my subwoofer not working, the drive was great.

I put in the new NGK plugs as well as the GMPP wireset. Those wires are pretty nice. I just wish they were a TINY bit longer. I run into issues on #8 because I have my coil moved up alittle bit. Not sure....but the car seems to run better now. I dont know if the bigger gaps helped or what. But throttle response feels better for sure.

Im still getting oil out of my breather. And after driving around for a couple hours yesterday, I stunk like oil. So Im at a loss. I dont know where to go next. I dont think I should be pushing that much oil...and Im sure its only coming out when Im doing HIGH RPM stuff...which, lets face it, is just too fun to quit. I guess Ill try a catch can??

Damn shifting is still sketchy. Every once inawhile its butter, then its notchy. Going into 1st is notchy. Its much better than it was. And I think its as good as its going to get really. If I nail the pedal and yank the shifter, its pretty smooth, and I guess thats whats important.

We'll see. Tomorrow I have off, so I plan to drive the hell out of it. Just going everywhere I can think of unless its raining. Its making a 50 mile drive out to my GF's parents house, so I figured Ide put some miles on her before doing that.

J.

cam-

I wonder if you restricted the orifice of the opening of your breather down a little if that would help? Maybe its getting splashed with oil and thats causing it? Especially at high RPM the oil is flying around pretty intensely in there at LS1 oil pressures I can only imagine what it must look like... My breather is at least another 2" higher that the plastic elbow. Its so high when I got it at first I didnt think it would clear my hood but it does. Plus as I mentioned above the hole is only about 1/2" dia so maybe thats why I dont get any oil seepage? If I run the engine and the hood is open and Im under there doing something I can sometimes smell it a bit so its not smell'less per se but I dont notice it at all when Im in the car.

Also I'm very curious about the TICK master so give us a report after your cruise I'd like to know whether its the magic fix or not as I am improving on my shifting issues with fluid changes now but still far from perfect.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Yeah...im starting to think I need more "baffle" with my breather. Right now its so close to the neck, I dont think its working like the metco does. I just dont watn to spend that kind of dough on another breather, only to have it be just as bad.

Smell....Im sitting here in my office and I reek of oil. It comes in through the vents and even through the windows. Really obnoxious. Im almost wondering if its coming in through my HVAC box. Since thats totally custom, I might not have the front sealed off very well. Its kinda close to the breather...so the odor wouldnt have to try hard to get in. I might try to seal things off a bit and see what happens. Still doesnt explain the oil I have coming out of the breather itself. Its almost dripping out of the nipple right now.

As for the TICK. I can already give you my review of it. Its a good piece for sure. I still have notchy shifting. I can slam gears with no problem. And pedal feel is really consistent compared to the stocker. Im thinking I might freshen up my trans at some point...it might need it. Its built already, so I dont know whats in it, or whats going on in there. Or if its just going to be notchy. I never get blocked out of gear, never get a dead pedal, never get a sticky pedal... I feel safer slamming down on that metal master than the plastic one, even though Ive never heard of them busting.

I just switched from Pennzoil Syncromesh to regular old Dex III...not sure if thats messin with me or not. I realize the car isnt going to drive like a bone stock 4th gen. But its just a brute to drive almost. Not really terrible as a DD...but you gotta pay attention to what you are doing. No lazy shifting or it'll notch you to death.

I just like to whine haha. I realize today Ill never be totally happy with my car unless I totally break the car down, and replace every piece with brand new parts. Totally fresh trans, motor, rear, re-do wiring...PAINT. haha. Im retarded.

J.

1987ZTPI

I work tranports and damn near all of them use to just run an external tube underneath the truck for a breather. but with emissions these days they stopped that. But it's effective also a catch can would work good. Your best chance is to run a baffle in the valve cover if theres any room but they're aluminum so that would be a challenege. I havn't met many lsx owners who havn't had issues with the oil in the breather tube. Is it brning exsessive amounts?

cam-

Hmm well I only clean mine once per year and its oily at that point but not dripping. It sweats ever so lightly down the filler elbow but doesnt reach the valve cover and its sweat not drips. Just I'm leaning towards the thing is getting sloshed with actual oil and not vapor. Elevate the thing up and close the hole down a little will probably help a LOT. Got me to thinking too thats what we used to do on the old stock car sbc's when we ran breathers we welded 4-6" high tubes on the valve covers to get them up clear of oil slosh.

1987ZTPI yeah I can understand the truckers not doing that anymore. My issue isnt emissions related as much as it is pig related. I just need to pass a road side visual and right now I have a big fat breather staring anyone who opens the hood right smack in the face so I need to remedy that a little LOL.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

I just wish I knew if one of the better catch cans would help. Because Ide buy one in a heartbeat. I just do not want oil in my intake. I just rebuilt my FAST and there was so much oil in all the little crevices. Its bone try now, and I watn to keep it that way.

Maybe my motor just like to puke up oil. Im not sure how Ide extend the breather...but Im creative, so Ill see what I can do.

I have a piece of hose for the nipple on my current breather. My concern with that was where do I route it. Under the car? Then oil is going to get blown back onto everything under the car. I could stick the end of th ehose into a can or something...but that will require it to be up in the engine bay, and then the smell will probably still be there.

There is a company that makes one of the best catch cans, and they offer a dual set up. One can handles the PCV side of things, and the other one filters the fresh air side...which from what I hear is needed in road race applications. Do I road race? No... but Im all about overkill. Ide just like to know that its going to keep oil out of my intake. I doubt it will get it all...which is turning me away.

J.

Jaysz28

iTrader: (30)

Why not stick some foam baffling into the breather and see if that cuts down on your consumption

or relocate the breather to the drivers side valve cover and see what happens. Kinda odd to have the breather and the vacuum on the same side don'tcha think?

-jason

cam-

Well i got stuck waiting for a few minutes so I made this up. Just an idea how to baffle your existing set up that will definitely prevent any oil from getting up but still breathe. its a bit crude but the idea is two 3/4 circular disks epoxied in the middle of a small piece of abs or pvc that you can glue in the opening. The blue line and the bottom is meant to be screen so it can catch anything glued that may one day decide to go south. The red 3/4 circle below is an idea of what the red bars should look like. Be easy enough to make up and cheap. Anyways just an idea