JustinZ28

This is a general cut and paste from a local racing forum to get us up to date of where im at.

Well, had a work log for this, but that was a while ago, and i was dumb(er back then.) Wanted to start a work log earlier, but was gonna wait till i had something to show, anyone can make pipe dreams...

Overall goals for car, not much other then a clean *** third gen. Building this thing for me and me alone. Only set goal is i would like it to make it on the pages of a magazine some day....

Speaking of pipe dreams. Current vauge plan is:
2001 5.3 with ls6 cam (Acquired 2-17-13) (also an fbody oil pan)
Edelbrock Performer rpm carb intake
MSD 6010
AIR CONDITIONING
HEAT
WINDSHIELD WIPERS N' ****
Jakes performance stage 1 th350
Strange S60 rear with LS1 rear brakes
Bigbrakeupgrade.com LS1 front brakes (ordered)
Koni spa-1 up front with moroso trick springs (have)
QA-1 double adj rears with stock v8 spring (have)
Founders camber plates (have)
Spohn x-member mounted torque arm (Have)
Spohn tubular LCA's
Spohn Panhard (have)
SFC's (have)
blah
blah (Looking to buy )
blah

___________________________________________________________

Got this car when i turned 16, This was then:



Being a stupid ****ing teenager, i beat the hell out of it and thought it was fast (yay LG4). Started with cutting off of exhaust, removing smog and ac, bunch of stupid regrettable ****. If i had a chance to do it all over again, i would have bought a beater honda and started restoring this car then. But oh well, ya learn.

Did a couple decent things, ceramic headers, stainless Magnaflow, but eh, was still just a 305 turd.

Fall of 2009 (i think... maybe 10") i got hit and runned by some dipshit with no insurance, so i ended up with:



Thats what happens kids, ya be stupid, ya end up parked next to jeffo. :doubt:

That spring, bought another car, and this set.

UP UNTIL about 3 months ago. Decided to finally start tearing into it.

Thats enough rambling on.

Pulled motor and limping tranny out, and started getting dirty.

I wanted to do a clean engine bay, but not overly JDM shaved.

Started by welding the strut towers smooth. (excuse me, some of the pictures were taken with my iPotato)



some filler (Evercoat rage, fancy stuff)




Smoothing out coolant and washer fluid bottle mounting bumps, and then removed the ONLY bit of rust the car had (battery tray). ( i could have wirewheeled, but this looks better..)




Then throw on some primer (And were a quarter of the way there! YAY BLOCK SANDING!)




From there, it was hours, and hours, and hours of block sanding, i wanted this bitch to be smooth as glass, and so i made it be. Couple coats of slick sand (Like feather fill on roids). Very high build primer (about 3-5 mil per coat). Sands INCREDIBLY well, and highly recommend it if you are trying to make something as straight as can be. Followed by more block sanding of course!

No pics of the slick sand, but picture smooth grey primer. Got it? Good. Moving on.

Last weekend i finally finished up the engine bay. I can step back, and say it is how i pictured. It took 2 attempts of spraying ( first attempt thinned the paint too much and had coverage issues) so.... more sanding. Second attempt went perfect, only issues were some small dust nibs from my old sheeting (should have replaced it, but oh well, they.... sanded out (1500 grit, followed by M105 on PC 7424 with orange LC pad, then m205 on black LC pad, and pinacle 360 on blue LC pad) (im so sick of sanding and i still have to do a whole car)

Here is what i got:





In between the engine bay work, i wirehweeled the complete underside of the car, primered, and coated with 3m rubberized undercoating. ( no pics, tight quarters down there)

Same treatment to front wheel wells (looks better in person, really nice looking rich matte black) (every seam on car is hit with 3M 2k seam sealer, good stuff.)





Did some chassis suspension refreshing:



(Eastwood epoxy primer (same primer used in engine bay) and Por-15 matte chassis coat)

A-arms got the same treatment, but those are at work so i can press in new ball joints tomorrow.

Thats about where it sits now. Picked up a heart today from DJ. (2001 5.3 ls6 cam)

Updates will be coming at a steady pace.

JustinZ28

Wewt.


Control arms and mounts in.



Alos got the motor spiffied up a lil bit (block is same color). Nice dark metallic grey. Probably gonna do the front steering components in the same color.



Bump.

Little update, been busy working 6 12's at work so havent gotten a whole lot done. Finally back to normal 40hr weeks, so have gotten some small things done.

-Stripped out interior (clean up wiring, install sound deadener, etc on the list)
-Doors off (to prep jams/back side of door for paint)
-All trim/bumpers/Glass etc removed
-Started sanding the car down with 180. Plan is to "scuff" with the 180, followed by a thin coat of epoxy to get an even surface, block that with 220, followed by a medium build, blocked out to 600, then paint, hopefully be spraying paint by the time summer hits.
-Rear end/gas tank out to finish the underside of the car.
-I sorted, organized, and cleaned up the engine bay wiring harness. Getting rid of the ECM harness, cleaned up the headlight harness, and re wired the power/ignition harness.


Havent bought anything for it in a while, bought a new truck so gotta pay the man for that.

Probably get some pics this weekend of recent progress. Just kinda a junkyard ready shell in my garage currently.

Bare interior. Gonna lay down something like rattle trap (cheaper dyna mat) or something similar..) and start throwing it back together.



Undercoating (still need to do rearwards of doors.)



Started sanding the pass side, went really smooth, really straight on this side.



Started sanding on the drivers side and i noticed it had a different color primer going on. Dug deeper, and noticed it had been hit, and instead of straightening the metal, just filled with putty. close to 1/2" in some areas
Stripped it all down to bare, and went at it with some studs.









So thats where im at with that. i feel ill end up with still a little bit of filler on, but it wont be bondo, and it wont be near that thick... Kinda shitty.

JustinZ28

Quick little project


With going all aftermarket tubular suspension pieces in the rear, i wanted it to mostly match. Everything is available, and at a decent price, other then the upper pan hard brace. For some reason, this part is only made by 1 or two companies, and pretty pricey for what it is. Why a simple static brace with no bushings of any sort is upwards of 200 bucks is beyond me. So, for the sake of keeping any crappy, twisted stamped steel off the car, and because tubular **** looks cool, i got busy. (the bracket will be boxed in in the near future)

16 bucks for 4 feet of ERW 1"x11ga tubing from metal works is all ive got into this project.







First time ever doing any sort of tube notching. Did it with an angle grinder to boot. ( I now have a band saw, so pretty cuts are on their way)

Pretty happy with how she turned out.

Finished up the panhard brace today.



Red for extra HP.




Also made up a front bumper support. take a little weight off, as well as free up some room for... stuff.
weighs about 6 lbs. stock is upwards of 25.




Found an oil pan (and all the acessories) local, decided to jump on it saturday. Got the tray, pickup, and pan on, dropped the motor in.


Padding (I was a nervous wreck with the motor swinging around countless hours of paint work... so went ant got some matress padding at wally world ): (Cant thank Jeffo enough. He sacrificed feeling in his hand to keep the back of the motor hitting the firewall)



Safely home:




My "clearance" (Very thankful i got the 1" setback motor mount plates. The rear of the k member is touching the pan, but once the trans is mounted up, it should bring it off a little bit.)




Im going to KC this weekend, so not much will be done. Turbonetics T76 will be on order sometime by june hopefully. Motor should be ready to fire by july (need MSD box, Intake, Carb, Fab up the headers/Downpipe, Radiator, Fans, Intercooler, and other odds and ends)

JustinZ28

And that brings us to now.

Ive been working some ridiculous hours, not a whole lot getting done.

Hopefully that will be over with by july and i can get back to more time on this thing.

Stay tuned for updates

BADNBLK

iTrader: (11)

Looks great man! Subscribed

86_irocz-28

Hey man builds looking awesome I finally got my 5.3 two days ago what intake are you going to use?

Javier87z28

iTrader: (1)

subscribed

'87IROCZOWNER69

iTrader: (1)

Joining on to see another "local" car!

ghost91

Your expressions and ways to describe things is great Looks like an awesome build. Good luck with it!

2007xl50

Glad to see you are bringing her back to life even better than before. Keep up the good work.

JustinZ28

Small update:

Steering linkage set up. Waiting to find a manual box so i can mount all this up.




Progress on the body:



Pass quarter, roof, and deck lid sanded down to bare. Still workin on the rest. Used some stripper so any paint thats still left lifts easy as hell.


Not a big update, just a loft of sanding done. And a lot left..

JustinZ28

BUMP





Also ordered a sonoco cowl hood from hawks, MSD 6010 box off of tech, and installed camber caster plates.

Put in an order for a gallon of SPI epoxy primer. Only got to sand down the rear bumper, and the drivers fender and were ready for priming.

3318RS

That's looking incredible, I'm in!!

roamaver

Subscribed! Keep up the good work!!

JustinZ28

BUMP

Finished up hot side turbo piping




Should spool pretty damn quick. Getting it to a buddy of mine so he can tig it all together. Once i get it back, work on wastegate placement.


Thas all for now.


OH!

ALSO!!!

Found an s10 manual steering box. 30 bucks. Tore it apart, new seals (15 bucks), new grease, and some paint to match my linkage. Looks pretty dope, son.

Replacing the rag joint in the steering shaft and then that ***** good to mount up for realz.

IROCgiraffe

iTrader: (3)

Subscribed! A lot of good in this thread.

JustinZ28

My bad dudes. Been updating the local thread, forgot bout this one

Found and rebuilt ls1 front calipers. Started doing my own powder coating also!

(check me out on facebook, mention TGO and get 10% off) https://www.facebook.com/AvantCoatings

Update on my brakes:

Got me a powder coating setup



(Theyre really this color, not ***** red. it matches my paint near perfect, shout out to prismatic powder for the color suggestions)




As i said, when i got these brakes, they were rough. dust boots torn, seals leaking.


4 dollars in seals later:

New seals in



All done. Wish i would have cleaned up the pistons a bit, but eh, youll never see em.



Caliper and bracket together. Quite happy with the turn out for first time ever coating. ***** fun and easy.


(check me out on facebook, mention TGO and get 10% off) https://www.facebook.com/AvantCoatings

JustinZ28

All dis **** showed up:


Edelbrock intake, msd box (not pictured), lakewood 90/10s, ls9 headgaskets, arp head bolts (wrong kit), ls7 lifters, comp cam pushrod length checker tool.




Pulled motor apart to prep for LS9 head gaskets, and arp bolts, found dis ****:




Came to the conclusion it was a seized lifter or valve. No metal shavings anywhere, and lifter rollers looked decent, so im gonna assume the cam is fine.

Got a set of 706 heads for 200 bucks. 400 miles on em, surfaced, new ls6 valve springs, new retainers/guides/seals. Saved me money on cleaning up the stockers, may port these out a bit.

Been doing lots of powder coating:



[IMG][/IMG]




Lots of work to do this week. Making up a valley plate as the stock one has the holes for the knock sensors.. which im not using. Prepping the block deck for head install, and my correct arp head bolts (ordered ones for 04+) are on backorder until jan.

JustinZ28

Got ls7 lifters, and new trays installed tonight.

Coated this up:




And my custom fabbed valley plate i made up. Unsure of gold, but it does match the gold two tone theme ill be keeping with the car.

Barlow8869

iTrader: (1)

nice, can't wait to see it finished

86_irocz-28

Nice to see some progress when do you expect to have it completed?

JustinZ28

Id like to be giving it a test spin come spring. Im halfway in my 9" savings fund, then i need another 2g for tranny, and 1.5g for the carb. Those are really the only really expensive items left. Then take it to the shop for them to spray color on it.

In anticipation of my bolts showing up (hopefully Monday) i finished up the prep on the pass side of the block.

Im very paranoid about the cleanliness of these bolt holes, being blind drilled and all, so i made up some... "Apparatus'" to help me get em nice and clean.

Stock head bolt, ground in some flutes on the side, so it would clean out the threads, then attached it to the drill.



soaked em in brake cleaner for a while, and ran the 'chaser' through again, then this little sucker came in to dry em out nice like.



Just a straw taped to a shop vac. worked great.

Cleaned up the 'new' head



Tossed it on top of the new ls9 gaskets, and threw on the VC to see how i liked the colors. Looks quite nice i must say.



Thats all till monday.

83Z28/L69

Very nice build and write up! I'm enjoying the build. Good luck.

JustinZ28

Thanks Corey!

Head bolts didnt show up. guess they just shipped em yesterday.


Oh well, got some more mock up done.



Intake is black in person btw, just dusty. (like the whole engine bay, need to dust this bitch off again)

RS/SS 4.8

iTrader: (1)

Nice. Hopefully I'll start on mine come spring with a 5.3/700r4. Subd for results

compuwiz1937

iTrader: (17)

Very nice! You have damn good skills! Subscribed.

JustinZ28

Finally got my brake conversion kit it. All it is is a stock thirdgen rotor, cut down to fit inside a ls1 rotor, and then a caliper mount bracket. Installation is fairly easy, just have to chop off the ears of the spindle the stock caliper mounts to, and then drill and tap the dust shield hols to 12x1.75.












Mocked up.



(I feel it necessary to add, again, that the calipers are not that red in person, they are in fact maroon.)


Also, found a 91 dash in perfect shape. These go on ebay for 180. Got it for 40 from some kid in neb city.

Mounting wasnt difficult, but wasnt straight forward like id expected, Had to use the bracket off the stock one, and drill some holes to match, and make up a bracket or two for the ends.



Stock piece, srsly almost cracked in half. Which i still find wierd, considering the interior was near mint on this thing...





Im coating the spindles tomorrow, and my front rotors should be here thursday. After that, i should in theory be done with the front suspension.

Rear axle is still a week out or so.

Returned the a1000 after i did a little more reading and figured it would probably not be enough. Got a magnafuel prostar 500, and 30ft of 12an ptfe line on the way.



/sitrep

LivinLarge

What did you paint the intake with? Finish looks awesome!

JustinZ28

I powder coated it (check the sig, discount for TGO Members) in Wrinkle Black. Very oem looking finish.

JustinZ28

Dropped the fuel tank off at the shop to get a sump welded on, as well as my timing cover for the oil return line.

Mock up:



Also, installed balljoints, spindles, hubs, and new big *** brakes. Look pretty nice, cant wait to get some wheels on this thing... All the front end needs is springs, then i can set it on the ground. But it technically neeeds brake lines and ****, so that too i guess.

JustinZ28

BUMP




**** this things huge.


Woot: Strange S60




I ordered it with lt1 backing plates, as they were free, and the ls1 backing plates they charge an extra 400 for, so i bought lt1 style brakes. well, it showed up with ls1 backing plates, but not with the extra charge, so looks like ill be getting the nicer brakes too. Which is ****ing sweet.


Powder coating my stock springs for the front, and then thats literally it for the front suspension.

Also, check out my facebook page (in sig), doing a 20% off once we hit 200 likes.

tylercamaro

iTrader: (1)

nice build!

JustinZ28

got my springs done up

1bad91Z

iTrader: (1)

I have a '91-'92 145mph instrument cluster for sale if you need it.

propaintball96

siiiiiiiccccckkkkkkkk show more pics of what youre doing with the suspension components and interior. Im about to the do the same **** I cant wait

Psychoz28

Good job! Seems to be a nice build!

JustinZ28

Smoothed my manifolds, than coated the hotside. Finishing up the downpipe this week, just gotta smooth than coat.

camarozz383

iTrader: (2)

any new progress?