Mdenz3

iTrader: (7)

After over a year of planning and preparing I finally got to start putting pieces together on this project.

The car I'm starting with it my brother's old 89 Camaro RS. (305, A4, T-tops) He got this car when I was 16 and just starting drivers ed. I've lusted for it ever since. Twelve years ago he parked it in his garage, and there is sat until he was ready to move to w new house. As he now had a wife and two kids a project car was not in the picture for him. Being the awesome brother that he is he gifted me the car, I just had to come get it. So two 800 mile trips later I had it with me in SC.

The starting point:



Only 65k miles on the odometer.


Today's progress was to start assembling the engine. The shortblock is a stock LQ4 for now. I got my GMPP CNC ported LS3 heads in from Summit, and they sure look nice:

Mdenz3

iTrader: (7)

Step one: clean the short block, this step just takes a drill, some roloc discs, mineral spirits, and time. I'm going to use LS9 head gaskets, so getting the deck perfectly clean is important.



Set back #1, 3 of the 4 cylinder head alignment dowels must have been stuck in the old heads when I sold the, and it seems they are special order from the dealer.

Nothing a you can't handle when you run a machine shop:


Step duce: install the head studs; first you must make sure the holes in the block are clean to get both proper torque and so that you don't build hydraulic pressure and crack the block. Don't have a thread chaser? Me either, but I do have an old head bolt and a die grinder.


One side done: (just finger tight, I'll torque tomorrow.



At this time it is strongly recommended you pour yourself a glass of ale that has been aged in bourbon barrels.



That is all for tonight;




Sorry if imgur went full retard on some of the pictures)

QwkTrip

iTrader: (22)

Yep, that looks like 12 years of dust alright. Glad you're having fun with it.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

My head alignment dowels disappeared on me as well. This was the same time we were working on my son's iron block 5.7, and when we pulled the heads from it the sleeves were corroded beyond use. I found them on eBay and ordered 2 full sets.

Were you planning on staying with truck accessories? The water pump outlet will likely interfere with your throttle body if you use a LS3/L76 intake with cable TB.

I chased the bolt threads in the block with the same method you used. Crude, perhaps, but effective. I had the bolt holes facing down (rotated the block on the engine stand), sprayed brake cleaner in the bolt holes after chasing them, and blew them out with compressed air from the bottom of the holes with a small tube attached to my air nozzle. Didn't want ANY issues when assembling the engine...

Mdenz3

iTrader: (7)

Today I got the heads torqued down, and then finally got to test fit what I call the Fun Maker:






Which gets me to the first major part of the build, the accessory routing. Rather that drop $1k plus on LSA FEAD, I've decided to use some of the truck parts that I already have and fab the rest. This will work because the truck's crank pulley spacing lines the 6 ribs up with the middle of the LSA blower's 8 ribs. I will convert the other pulleys to 8 ribs down the road.

First mock up of belt routing:

The more I thought about it the less I like this way.

The second mock up:


For the PS pump I will just cut down the truck bracket to just what I needed to mount it, make an adapter to mount the tensioner to the driver side head, and the make an alternator bracket that will also incorporate a idler mount to insure maximum belt wrap.
Much better, not to get some measurements and get started.

Ikes 91Z

iTrader: (1)

I like your thought process with the ale. Makes it so much better with a cold brew.


My car was just as dusty with cat footprints on it after sitting in my parents garage for 8 years. And they didn't even have a cat...

V6canvas

iTrader: (1)

great idea resurrecting an otherwise forgotten car. Need more wrap on the crank pulley.

I second the idea of the ale

Mdenz3

iTrader: (7)

Over the last few days I've gotten the C5 "Batwing" oil pan on, and did some work on the belt drive.



I scrapped both of the other ideas and went a new direction.
Alt low on the driver side, PS above it, two idler next to them and the belt wrapping the SC pull from that side. The alt bracket is basically done, and the PS one should be ready by the weekend.



Then today this showed up:


My new K-member from PA racing. I got the road race gusseting and had them lower the engine mounts 0.75" in hopes I can get this monstrosity under the stock hood.

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

The tensioner needs to stay in the general vicinity of its current location regardless of your belt route. I recommend swapping it for a stronger version at minimum, but it must stay on the slack side of the SC

Reason being that when the crank pulls the belt and the SC resists because it is compressing air, you want only the belt to be in between the crank and SC. If an automatic tensioner is say mounted to the drivers cyl head like you had it, then the crank will rotate the tensioner instead of pull the SC at full force. This looses the belt and promotes slippage. I found that out the hard way in a previous build

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

A simple alternative is to use the LSA SC components with an aftermarket accessory bracket system on the corvette spacing
Not DIY cheap, but def less than a grand

Mdenz3

iTrader: (7)

I have now gotten the new poly mounts in the clamshells and them along with the K-member installed on the engine. I have also roughed up the power steering mount.




Out with the old!




The two usual transmission cross member bolts broke, so that will be fun.



Looks like I am going to have a date with some POR15 also.

WTR388

I wish the underside of my car was that good.
I had to rebuild the drivers side frame rail where the trans mount is. Both bolts snapped, and in my digging around I ended up rebuilding a 6" section of that rail. Not sure how it hadn't came apart on the road!

Every time I see a S/C in these swaps I want one, even though I'm leaning towards just heads and a cam.

Mdenz3

iTrader: (7)

Since I have a break from house **** while I wait in government employees to do what they are over paid to do, I have been able to make some progress again.

The headers were finally back in stock so those have been ordered, and I got the driver side floor pan treated with Por15 and painted back to white:



The Por15 starter kit will enough to do the passenger side floor pan as well, but I'll be ordering more to use on the other various areas and parts that have a little rust on them.

Mdenz3

iTrader: (7)

Made some more progress in the last few days. The Racing Innovation headers came in and got installed, I also finished assembling the engine. Lots of copper anti seize used.





Then I got the FEAD to a testable state, I'll make the brackets nicer at some point down the road. (Alt pulley is skipped because the belt is too short.)



I've also got the stock front suspension broke down, and the brake pedal removed. Once I get the Clutch master cylinder installed I think I'll put the engine in the car.

A couple issues are that PA Racing claims you can use stock a-arms with some grinding, but I don't see how that will ever work, and I dont' have the $$ for tubular front a-arms at the moment. I'm also really not sure where to put the front heat exchanger.

Mdenz3

iTrader: (7)

Motor meet car, car meet motor:















The hood will almost close, but the highest part of the lid lines up with one of the hood braces, a little cuty cuty and it shoudl be perfect.


The passenger side header will need to be bent off the frame as well.