sk8r fer life

Ok so im about to start swappin but fair warning this is going to be VERY slow because im about to start college.

But besides all that I'll give yall some history on the car. Its a '90 Camaro RS it was bought in Dec. of '90 with cash for $14.5k. I bought the car in March of '09 at 15 for $4000 cash, the car had 115,xxx miles a 305 tbi and 700R4. Car was mint clean from everything I saw especially for buying it out of chicago. The car was sitting for 5 yrs. prior to me buying it, and the weekend before I got my license the fuel pump had kicked the bucket. I ended up rebuilding the tbi, new regulator, filter and pump and it ran like a top again.

Some time passes and I use it as a show car here and there and get compliments on it, ran at the track once best I got was a 16.63 @ 83mph on the 7 yr. old tires that were on it ( there super hard). Winter came and i wanted to redo the undercoating since it was flaking off already. I lay there scraping along and my scraper went through the rocker, my heart stopped for a second. So I said fine and gutted the car and replaced the bad spots and in the process found out the the cars been rearended quite badly before since the rear from the front of the hatch back is off a different car and was painted, body codes didnt match up. Youd never be able to tell because i cant find the weld seams and the car is perfectly straight, I knew the original spent money on this car but apparently he spared no expenses when there was an issue with the car.

Anyways jumpt to sept. '10 two weeks before i ship to BCT, I'm driving to the dragstrip in in the rain and end up hitting a rut made from a semi, my rear end popped off the ground, I spun out whent through two lanes without hitting any cars and procede to take a sign, two trees and get stopped by the third tree sideways in a ditch with the passenger side tires half dug into the ground. At 65mph needless to say i was extremely lucky and my little brother, girlfriend and myself got out without a scratch.

Where im at now, the RS is getting to that point where everything is goin out due to age, and with it being wrecked its time for an upgrade and half-resto you could say.

So the plans:

-5.3/4L60E (just until the other motor is built)
-Alum. DS
-Front end rebuild
-2" drop springs
-new shocks and struts
-frame ties
-C6 corvette replicas 17"x9" on Falkens (dont know which yet)
-LS1 brake swap
-AC delete
-New fender and GFX for the pass. side, Sunaco hood
-not sure if Im going to do all braided fuel and brake lines yet

More to add and don-t be suprised if something changes, you know how these go lol.

Theres more that depends on how money goes but I dont expect for the car to be done soon I really dont want to rush this car as it was my first car, Ive already done a restoration on a '95 z28 that I'm selling ATM.

1st pic is what the car used to look like, the next two are after the wreckage, not at all bad for hitting three trees and land ing in a ditch at 65mph.

sk8r fer life

How the car is sitting right now, getting it ready to pull the drive train. Really doubting itll be road worthy by TGFest, but well see how quick things move. But I'm definately not expecting to get it there. Still going to be positive about it, after all I am doing an LSx swap

cprmn14

iTrader: (3)

Congrats on the swap, maybe ill see you at TGFest if its all ready

Good luck!

sk8r fer life

hope so im going regardless but itd be nice to bring the camaro haha

coptzer

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like a nice plan, good luck with swap! And definitely, post more pics...

sk8r fer life

Will do for sure! And looks like ill be stayin auto for a while.

coptzer

iTrader: (2)

Yeah a T56 would definitely add $1500+, and then you need all the other pieces to go along with it. That was a good price on the motor/trans setup you got.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Looks like it will be a nice project. I was just wondering though if you had the frame checked for straightness after the accident. I'd hate for you to do all of that work to find out that the frame is bent later.

sk8r fer life

Ya I was going to get it checked but I cant see it being bent since I drove it for a month after the accident and still drove straight and everything but you never know. And yes Ive been running across a few good deal like my new '04 Canyon I got for $3500, its completely rust free has a 65k motor in it and is almost like new, I'm getting the engine and trans from the same person since he likes me.

But, anyways didnt get a super big amount of things done because im about to go help my girlfriend get some stuff ready for my brothers birthday tomorrow. What I did get done though was, finished pulling the rest of the stuff off the front end. Pulled the fans and radiator, pulled all the AC and condensor stuff and I got all out in one piece without breaking open the system, pulled apart some odds and end and I have a little over a third of the wiring labeled. tomorrow I will try and finish pulling everything out and have it all labeled and have it ready to pull the engine and trans ill prolly get to it sometime this next week and hopefully someone is near by and is willing to lend a hand .

Questions I have,
-Is all the wire harness thats in the engine bay going to be pulled out or just what is connected to the engine; I.E. -the headlight harness, brakes and AC, etc.
-What is going to be easier and or safer to pull the drivetrain, Some say through the top some say drop it out the bottom. Also keep in mind I might possibly be doing this myself( never pulled an engine before so ill be learning as I go.
-Is there anything I might be missing or need to think about before or as I get ready to pull the drivetrain?

Parts for sale
-Brand new Heater contol valve (installed right before I shipped so it didnt get much use)
-The entire AC system (still enclosed with refrigeration fluid, blew cold never used it much so it can go)
-Anything else I'm pulling off you think I might have, just ask.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

I made the mistake of pulling the entire harness out, headlights and all, which was a pain in the rear. But it worked out okay because I ended up painting my engine bay, so I would have had to remove it anyways. So if you aren't planning on painting the engine bay, you'll only need to remove the engine half of the harness from the connection point below the master cylinder (C100). And I would probably just cut the HVAC harness at the firewall since you are getting rid of the A/C. Then just plug the hole. I would recommend keeping the a/c harness you cut off too in case you ever decide to put the A/C back on.

As far as how to remove the engine goes, seems like people on here are split on that issue. Half from the top, half from the bottom. I've done it both ways on 3rd gens and prefer dropping it out the bottom now. I think most people that like pulling from the top don't want to have to mess with taking the front suspension apart, but it's not that bad in my opinion. I got pretty detailed in my thread if you want to see how I did it. https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/ltx-...my-89-a-3.html There are quite a few little pitfalls on my thread that you might be able to avoid if you drop it out the bottom.

I didn't do it, but most people raise the rear wheels off the ground if dropping the engine out of the bottom so that they don't have to raise the front end as high. I didn't think about it until it was too late, but it still worked out okay. If you pull it out the top are you going to pull the trans with it or seperate the engine from the trans? Just take your time doing it either way and you should be fine. Make sure you disconnect the ground strap from the back of the cylinder head to the firewall. I missed that on the first engine I pulled and it took me awhile to figure out what the problem was.

sk8r fer life

Well I'm going to repaint the engine bay so I guess im pulling everything, oh well it just makes more room for the new stuff And I'm pretty sure I read your swap but ill look through it again I ve beeen referencing everyones swap lately haha. And what is a ground strap that you speak of?

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

It's just a ground wire that goes from the back of the cylinder head to the firewall. I think it's on the passenger side.

sk8r fer life

ok ill double check before i try and pull it, im reading your swap right now and i have a list of things to do for tomorrow haha but at least i have a little better plan of attack from reading your swap. Hopefully everything will go well

coptzer

iTrader: (2)

I have pulled/installed my motor/trans 3 times through the top, and I am about to drop it out again. I am going from under this time. My brother has dropped many 4th gens from underneath and it is really easy. From the top was kind of a pain for me as the nose of the car gets in the way to get that extra few inches needed. It would be smoother if you had an extension for the engine hoist and a leveler bar for the motor, it might go easier.

There is a build on here somewhere where they couldn't get the car high enough to go in from the bottom, so they lowered the K member so that when they put the motor in from the top it would clear the motor mounts, then raised the k member up to the motor.

Good luck!

sk8r fer life

Found that ground wire dprest68!

So today I got a little more done. I pulled my driveshaft and I'm going to cut the exhaust tomorrow maybe. I pulled the AC bracket and the alternator so there shouldnt be in the way when I drop it. Got the ECM out and ended up cutting the wires on the outside of the fender grommet and then realized there was tabs on the other side I could have used to keep it all intact but lessons learned I guess. The olnly wiring that needs to be disconnected is the C100, I think? The wiring going through the firewall on the drivers side to the right of the brake booster, I couldn't figure how to get it out. Also found out I have a couple different things spliced into the wiring under the dash, I guess one of them is part of the alarm? and the other said shock meter? I've seen quite a few pics of the under dash wiring and have never seen either of those under there before. Maybe someone can tell me what those are? Also am I taking any of the drivers side wiring of the dash out?

So the plan for the next day or so other than getting that last bit of wiring out im gonna pull the pitman arm, the braces holding the sway bar, the brake lines from the prop. valve, and take off the the pwr. str. lines. I'm going to drop the engine/trans with the k member, sway bar, and steering stuff all attatched. So im going to drop the front suspension and all in one piece with the drivetrain ill put all back in like that cause im replacing it all anyways.

The first pic is what I'm having issues with. The other two are progress

sk8r fer life

more pics I forgot

sk8r fer life

Still need some questions answered please also what issues am I going to run into since my LS1/4L60E combo is out of a '98 trans am?

cprmn14

iTrader: (3)

The harness under the brake booster is held in by a 1/4" hex bolt right in the center. You will see when you get it off that the harness splits in 2, DO NOT remove the harness for your headlights, its a pita to get back in.

The fact that's its out of a 98 shouldn't be a problem. Actually since its already equipped with an F-Body oil pan/front acc is a plus. And if you cut the exhaust don't cut it past the cat converter, all that can be re-used

sk8r fer life

Well all my ehaust is rusted out flowmaster so its done anyways. And ya its a complete drop out and I'm not sure I thought I saw something about staying away from '98 harnesses or something.

cprmn14

iTrader: (3)

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1511484

Googles your best friend. Lol

sk8r fer life

OK update time, haven't been able to get a lot done but progress is going, just kinda slow. So I got the rest of my wiring pulled from the engine bay, felt kinda dumb after I saw that bolt holding in the C100. I also got my blower and the rest of the AC out the engine bay. I pulled off my crash bar and bumper bar, bumper was gettin pretty gross so I hand sanded it with some 200grit and nocked most everything off and coated it in some rusty metal primer so it looks like new. Started sanding the braces that hold the fenders so they can also be painted they have some kind of wax and a little surface rust so I'm knocking all that out.

I'm bringing the camaro to a frame shop tomorrow to be checked I doubt theres any damage but its a nice reminder that the car is ready for the lsx, plus a few people are tellin me it would be a good idea haha. After that tomorrow I will pull my exhaust and start dropping the motor and trans. Then I'll have a lot of cleaning to do I think I'm going to do matte black in the engine bay, and have some things painted the car color for accent should look good.

Also my engine and trans should be at the shop tomorrow I just need to pay the rest off and pick it up. Also need a job so things can start rollin parts wise, been back a little over 2 weeks and still nothin yet. Very hopefull to get one but don't be suprised if it comes to a stand still here.

Is there another way to post pics other than attatchments so i dont have to pick three pics every time?

sk8r fer life

more..

mwfrels

Upload your pics to a hosting site such as Photobucket. Then you can just copy and past the links to particular pics any place in a forum posting they best go with what you are trying to say. It might seem like more work but it really isn't once you get the hang of the process and it makes for much better threads.

M

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, I need to do that too. It gets kind of annoying only being able to post 3 pics at a time.

You're making good progress. I'm glad you are getting the frame checked. It will be nice to have a little piece of mind that it's not bent (hopefully). Good luck with the job search.

sk8r fer life

Ok, so so I brought the camaro back home last night, and the verdict was.....all systems go!! Frame checked out to be great only issue was the drivers door needed to be adjusted, but I already knew that. Man I'll make sure I have help next time I do this or have a winch or something getting a car on a full-size trailer like I had does not work with one person. Ended up having to hook my brakes back up so it would be somewhatt safe. But it all worked out in the end.

So today I'm going to pull my exhaust and start dropping things and should have it all pulled in the next day or so hopefully. Also might have my Dr. side fender in primer, then ill start workin on the engine bay and the bumper.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Congrats man! I'm glad it turned out to be straight. I bet you did have your hands full trying to load that on the trailer by yourself! Geez!

So many things to do. Are you going to have someone help you drop the engine out?

sk8r fer life

Ya I got a hand from some good freinds of mine thank god. The piece of mind is great I woulda hated to go through all the trouble then find out, especially since its my first car.

Well last night was a decent work day, I finished getting all my exhaust pulled which came out way easier than I would have thought for being 22+ yrs old but hey I got a break yesterday I guess. I dropped it all then dropped my rear links, shocks, phb and sb and slid the exhaust out in to halfs (we had cut it at the axle a few yrs back to drop the tank). So i took it all and my TA and radiator to my friends shop to scrap and to check if my ls1 was there yet and it wasnt, should have it in the next couple days on a stand cleaned up and able to fire so I can see it run before I grab it, which is awesome.

Today I'm going to more or less hook stuff back up in the rear and throw the wheels back on so I can have a stable pivot point when I drop the engine and trans. Then I'm going to start pulling everything, after i clean up the garage a bit.

Question,
-1. Is there any order I should go in when dropping everything since I am dropping literally everything up front (drivetrain, steering, suspension, etc.) or should I just go in any order with it all.
-2. What should I have under it all to roll it out? Not big on the bucks right now for a bit, so the less I spend the better. So any suggestions?

P.S. I'm sorry bout the lack of pics I'll try to start putting in more for you all.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like a good plan. I have a few questions about what you scrapped:
1. did you check to see if the cat was gutted or not? you can often get pretty decent money from them from the scrap yard if they aren't. I just want to make sure your friend isn't taking advantage of you. I've made a couple hundred bucks scrapping my old junk so far.
2. Why did you scrap the radiator? Was it leaking?
3. Why did you scrap the cat back exhaust? It looks like a Flowmaster setup. You could just cut the pipe off where it turns the corner to go to the cat and reuse it from there back. (oops, I just read above that your exhaust is rusted out) I'm just trying to save you some bucks. Maybe see if your friend still has the stuff and if you can get it back.

That will be nice to get to see your engine running before you stick it in the car!

I don't think I had any specific order that I used when dropping mine. What are you doing with the lower a-arms & springs? Are you going to remove them before you remove the engine from the car?

I just put a dolly under mine and rolled it out. Here is a pic. They're cheap enough to buy. I made my own though. I bought the casters at Ace Hardware for like $20 and they are heavy duty.

sk8r fer life

ya radiator had cracks in the plastic so it was done, all the scrap goes to my friend that owns an auto recycling yard, I bought my canyon from him and im buying my ls1 from him so all the scrap is paying off my motor, really good guy there.

I was hoping to leave the a arms and all attatched to the k member and drop it all as a whole.

And basically you put some 2x4s together and put some wheels on them? sounds easy enough

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Ah, okay. That's cool.

You may try connecting the a-arms to the k-member using chains so that the springs don't try to decompress. The potential energy of those springs will try pushing the a-arms down toward the ground otherwise.

Yeah, my homemade dolly was pretty basic & easy. I think it's stronger than the ones you can buy at the harware store too because they usually use those cheap rubber wheels on them. My metal wheels can support much more weight.

sk8r fer life

ok guys, sorry been a while I've had a lot goin on and I just got the engine hoist from my buddy a few days ago. So I repulled the brake lines and everything else so it just needed to be dropped. I forgot to take a pic of the dolly I built but you can kind of see it.

Got the car all strapped and ready to go, I went and bought a 14ft. 3/8" tow chain that had hooks on both sides because I didnt feel too safe using the chain I borrowed that only had 1 hook, I wanted it to be supported on both sides somewhat.


I went through and broke all the bolts free: k-member, trans, and shock towers. And it all came out suprisingly easy I was very happy with the results I had no issues really.


Down she goes!!!!

sk8r fer life

...cont.

Now heres where it got a little tricky and slightly unsafe...I ended up stuffing some wheels and a woddedn table uunder the car to hold it in place so that I could remove the hoist and pull the engine out from underneath.



Then I tied it up to my new Canyon and hauled it out.


It was not at all fun to push the 8-900lb+ dolly around...but I got it done, alll by myself

This is how she sits now,



I'm going to clean it up and primer it this week, as well as seperating the engine/trans, and a few other odds and ends. We'll see how things pan out, I got my first job interview Monday so I'm very hopefull and if I get said job I'll most likely only be able to work on the weekends on the car but well see, wish me luck ya'll!!!

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Nice progress. That's a big dolly you built! Good luck with the interview!

sk8r fer life

Thanks, and I nailed the interview BTW starting this monday!!!

Any who, Its been a while since I've updated progress has been slow but should pick up soon. Getting my list of parts together to order, which is mostly done.

My little brother has been lending a hand here and there...


Got the engine and trans off the K-member and both seperated. Then getting it into the truck which was a little nerve racking, but I got it done and brought over to the shop.




Kinda thought I could get away with it just sittin in the bed, i drove a block and it started movin around, scared the hell outta me. So I tied it down and went on my way.

Payed a visit to Harbor Freight because i messed up my other paint guns from not cleaning them properly, love the purple gravity feed gun. Hate the suction feed silver gun. Every psi guage i got and returned all had leaks where they failed to put a proper weld, so i got my money back since i was tired of running back and forth.


Cleaned up and sprayed my shock towers


And Finally after removing pretty much everything and lots of cleaning and hand sanding, I got the engine bay in primer! Its getting a coat of gloss black tomorrow. Going with gloss and flat black for everything in the engine bay. Its overdone but it'll go with whatever color I paint the car and I'm just focusing on cleaning it up and getting it to run ASAP.

sk8r fer life

And I got my fender in primer since its been sitting and ready forever and there exposed bare metal.





Thats all I have for now, when I start ordering parts I'll start a part and price list for my swap.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Looks great man! Congrats on the new job! That's great. I like that your little brother is helping you. Is he into it or just helping because you ask him to?

sk8r fer life

Thanks man! And he likes it someways it depends on what I'm doing

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

That's cool. A nice brother bonding experience

sk8r fer life

Got the car painted yesterday not sure if I'm going to clear it or not, I prolly will. But something I was thinking aboutwas another paint choice for the car, I'm so undecided. I was thinking a matte white with gloss black full length stripes. That'd be different I'm not sure that I've ever seen that on a thirdgen before plus with the gloss and flat black scheme of the engine bay I think it'll all tie together and maybe have the FTX a flat black too.
I load up some pics later I can't do it from my phone. But let me know what you think about that color scheme.

sk8r fer life

Ok here is some pics of the engine bay. Should I clear it or not?










And just for kicks I laid the fender on the car just to see, and thats what started the whole matte white car idea.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Take your time on the exterior paint color decision. You'll come across a color that you really like eventually. That's how I came up with the blue that's on my GTA. I was undecided too until I saw this color on a Chevelle and I knew right away that it was the color for my car. No regrets. I'm not sure about the matte white. You might get bored of it after awhile. Besides, there are so many things you can do with the paint to make your car different than others if that's what you are going for.

As far as the clear coat in your engine bay, I think it looks good as is. It could give you a little more protection from scratches and such though with the clear on there. It just depends on your preference.

sk8r fer life

So I went into the shop yesterday to see if they ever got my engine running, and turns out the car they got it from was wrecked way worse than he thought the rear end got ripped out and the motor had a huge dent in the oil pan and was still running so it runs but the insides are all torn up. So the motor is trash.

On the bright side hes is going to the auction friday to try and buy two more LS1 cars that were just in fender benders and have in the 60-70s for miles. So hopefully he gets one of them and if one of them is manual he wont charge me more just for the extra swap parts.

We'll see how things works out, so I'm not ordering anything until I get my engine to be on the safe side. Haven't done a lot, I'm cleaning up the Kmember and putting a few things together on the camaro. Ill let yall know whats goin on when I find out whats happening.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

You haven't posted anything in awhile. Any progress?

sk8r fer life

Hopefully im about to move so im waiting to order parts should have an updte soon!!

sk8r fer life

Figured i'd throw a little update up.

Put my front end back together with out a cherry picker, my brother thinks hes an innovator for helpin me with it, lol. Got it to roller status and got it out of the garage for a little bit. She is getting stuffed with parts, should be moving to louisiana in the next two weeks so it'll be interesting.

Also I ended up selling my GMC Canyon, bought it for $3500 resold it after cleaning and some odds and ends, nothing major, for a hefty $6200 I was a happy camper. So I just bought me a '99 Ext cab Short bed Silverado, 5.3L auto, a LS truck with all LT options and then some, basically an all option truck minus 4WD and the Z71. Love the truck to death, and actually really suprised with the gas mileage. Its getting better gas mileage than my Canyon ever has, haven't calculated but its at least 15-20 range so im more than happy.
-so far put on a new hitch, blacked out the tails and parking lights, painted rear bumper (waiting to find a new front), new tires and a tune up.

sk8r fer life

Ok y'all not much of an update, but I'm officially down in louisiana now!! My god the cars are unreal here nothing has rust on it D: Its like car heaven down here! Got my camaro sitting at my uncles for now he has a nice sized shop building that me and my brother are hoping to do a slight renovation on and use as a shop. Thank go my relatives love me down here. Now to get a job and hopefully start throwin up some updates on the car. Wish me luck!

Also I'm going to try and save come thirdgens down here and part them out to help you all, damn near everything is rust free so ill keep my eyes peeled.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

Congrats on the move! Good luck with the job search. And get busy on that car!

DennisCarithers

Where in Louisiana are you living? I'm in jonesville

sk8r fer life

thanks dprest!! we have a house and a good piece of land, but I am garage-less unfortunately but I do have a job so that a starting point. I have to get my z28 running and sold before I can play with the RS. I'll get around to some parts hopefulle in a month or two well see.

And I'm living in Houma, Dennis inbetween baton rouge/ new orleans kinda.

Hoping to have an update soon, Im going to try to get a 5.3 just to get the car running with until I build the 440lsx Im waiting to build. (Or did I give tto much info away ) Right now I want to get the body complete then throw in a 5.3 to get it running and driveable before the big setup goes in.

dprest68

iTrader: (1)

440? Nice! Looking forward to some updates. Sucks you don't have a garage though.