Indeed, blood offerings must be made every so often We all have small scars to prove it

 

Looks like it certainly will flow better. As far as L98 VS LB9, manifolds...there is a thread hear discussing that and the conclusion is that the manifolds are the same.

 

I remember seeing a few threads about the manifolds, and I don't recall any of them saying they were the same. I remember the "HO" and L98s were supposed to be the same, but not the LB9. I may be mistaken. Either way, I don't think the manifolds on the car are the original set. The driver side has p/n 14094047 (can't see the passenger side at the moment). Just looking at the collector area, it is very obvious that the L98 manifolds are larger.

Update: I just went out and measured the outlet of the driver side manifold. The L98 that is going on the car is ~2 1/4". The manifold that is coming off measured nearly a whopping 1 3/4" !!!

 

How are those Morimotos? Still like them? My HID bulbs and ballasts are over 10 years old now, so I was torn between keeping HID or going Morimoto while everything is on sale for the holiday. I ended up ordering new HID stuff. But I feel like I'll eventually go LED, so I'm still tempted to jump on the Morimotos just to have them around when I want them, if not now, then during the next sale.

Those y-pipes look like they fit at very different angles, but it could just be the way they're positioned in the pictures. What's the new one? It's not like my MAC y-pipe, so I'll guess it's the Magnaflow? Is the swap going ok?

Edit: Btw, the part numbers for L98 and LB9 manifolds are 14094063 and 14094064. Those are what the aftermarket y-pipes were designed to fit, "86-92". And the passenger side spacer is likely to be needed. It was needed with my MAC. And, yes, those manifolds dump at 2-1/4".

L69 manifolds might measure the same, but they have different part numbers, like 14071200 or similar, which more likely matches 85 LB9 manifolds. But whether or not those will also fit the aftermarket y-pipes, I couldn't say. I think Vinny said they do because that's what he's using.

 

Morimotos are holding up fine. Only issue I've noticed is that when I first turn them on, the seem to take a couple of minutes to fully warm up if that makes sense. They still turn on like normal, but initially they are just a touch dimmer than they are a few minutes later. That might be attributed to the resister(?) that I have inline that makes the dash show the correct bright/normal.

The angle of the Y-pipe is different, but that is because the y-pipe is configured for the L98 manifolds that are going on the car. The old pipes were configured for different manifolds. The ones that came off weren't even original. From my brief search they look like they were off mid-80's TBI cars. The opening at the collector area was only 1 3/4". Yes, the y-pipe is a magnaflow piece.

Swap is progressing good. Just going slow to make sure I don't get impatient. Getting to some of those bolts with the engine in the car has been a challenge. Worst part was getting the bolt off without twisting the oil dipstick bracket. Same with the heat shield bracket on the passenger side. Get everything off, cleaned out the threads and started to install the driver side.

 

You are correct, at least in my application. I tried to use a Walker crushed metal exhaust gasket from Autozone. Had the right inner and outer diameter. Installed the y-pipe and everything looked good until I looked at the rest of the pipe. It was pressing on the bottom of the floor pan because the passenger side spacer wasn't thick enough. Well, crap. Luckily I was able to find one of those spacers. It was not easy as those things seem to be really hard to find. Hopefully it will be here next week and I can get the y-pipe in correctly.

 

Got the spacer right after Christmas. It fit great, problem was that the stock pipes have a rolled steel flange whereas the Magnaflow flange is solid and about 1/4" thick. That little extra made it so the bolts on the manifold weren't long enough. So damn frustrating! Finally got some time available and took the car to the exhaust shop to let the professionals finish it up. He was able to get the manifold studs out and put longer ones on. Once that was done the rest of the exhaust went on pretty smooth. He had to make some adjustments to get the catalytic converter to tuck up under properly with the SFC brace. I'll try to get some pics soon.

Now just need to do some minor tweaking and get it ready to smog sometime in late March/early April. With any luck it'll be ready to register in May.


BTW, if there is anyone in the SoCal area (close to Ventura County), I highly recommend Kenz Muffler in Oxnard. They are great with exhaust installation. This is the third car I've taken to them and each time they nailed it.

 

Car has been PNO for a few years now. Going to smog it and register it soon, but have to wait till mid-May. My understanding from what I read on the DMV website, if I register it before the registration renewal date then I have to pay for the entire year (last year) AND the next year. Their logic is that if the car is driven at all during the registration year then you have to pay for that whole year. So if I drive it before May 17th, then I have to pay for the entire previous year. So at this point I'm just going to take care of minor cosmetic stuff until I can get it registered.

Last week I took the tail lights off and cleaned behind them. Then took them to get a tint spray on them. Was going to get them wrapped, but my tint guy said that getting down between the lights would be difficult and would only last a couple years. He suggested that I get them sprayed instead. He was right. They came out great. What the shop did was buff the lights, spray a coat of clear, sprayed a mix of clear and black (tint), apply the stickers, and then another coat of clear to to help protect the paint and lettering from UV rays. I think they look amazing, but that's just my opinion. Judge for yourself.

 

The taillights do look great. I like your garage floor too. I've been wanting to do that, but my garage is 2000 sf, and it will be heck to clean and prep, but maybe one day I'll be motivated enough. More likely I'll do a design out of floor tiles, a section at a time.

You're right about CA. I had mine non-op for a couple of years long ago, and when I decided to take it out, I had to pay for the full current year, so if a new year is approaching, and you can wait, then wait. That said, I believe renewals can be done up to 3 months in advance, so maybe that would be a loophole for getting it out now without having to pay for 23-24 too. It would be worth checking into. I think smog certificates are also valid for up to 3 months prior to registering the car too, so you can probably get that done now, even if you can't register it until May. If, for some reason, it doesn't pass, then at least you still have time to work on it before the registration date.

 

Those tail lights do look great!
Curious, did you have any delamination/degredation internally, and how did you correct that?

Thanks!

PFA!

 

Yes, I did have some delamination on one side. It didn't remove or correct the delam, but it does help hide it. If you zoom in on one of the pictures you can see it above the letter "C". But in person it's not noticeable like it was unless you're looking for it. If you went darker it would probably hide it, but I didn't want to go too dark. I think where I got the color it still retains the character of the original design.

 

Took it to get smogged yesterday. Failed bad for high NOx. The numbers for the 15mph were over 1300, and over 900 for the 25mph. When I got home I was looking things over and was going to bypass my EGR solenoid. That's when I saw that I had forgotten to connect the vacuum line on the bottom of the throttle body after I replaced the EGR valve a few months ago. The line was sitting under the planum unconnected. Going to retry the smog test next Saturday.

Also noticed during the test, that the coolant was sitting in the 210-220 degree range, but the fans never kicked on. Figured now is as good a time as ever to swap in the LT1 fans that have been sitting on the shelf for a while.

 

Yup, that'll do it. I had a car in the late 2000s, the only used car I've ever purchased, and it failed several times. The tech suggested the problem was in the intake, so I drove to Vegas to pick up some of GM's Top Engine Cleaner, which was illegal in CA, cleaned and cleaned, also replaced EGR valve, the solenoid too, checked that all of the vacuum lines were connected, but nothing helped. Finally I decided to pull the intake and inspect and clean it by hand, and while disconnecting the vacuum lines, I found a small hole in the underside of one for the EGR. Wrapped it with electrical tape, took it back, and it passed. Good luck!

 

Retested today and passed easily...with the vacuum tube connected this time. NOx was down in the 380 range. Yay.

 

Was able to take it to the local Cars & Coffee with my son. There was one other thirdgen there briefly.

 

Awesome!

 

Car looks great. Are those seats original leather?

 

That TA Vert would look so much better , with it;s hood closed!

 

No, the seats were recovered shortly before I bought it.

 

I was 50/50 on whether to open the hood or close it. The lines of the car look great when the hood it closed, but the engine bay looks good as well. Plus, must people have the hoods up, and I was the only TPI car there.

 

You know if they re-used the accordion sections or if they used a kit? They look like OE replacements.

 

It looks like just the leather was replaced, with the plastic parts reused.

 

 

That is a clean setup. Where did you get the spark plug organizers from?

 

Those are Made For You wire looms. I'm pretty sure I got them from Summit. They don't come in the green that I have, so I bought black ones. I scuffed them up and then painted them. Over a year later and the paint on them is holding up great. No chipping or fading at all. I also painted the screw heads and bolt heads to match the rest of the engine. It's the details that make the difference.

 

Replaced the stock replacement headlights with a pair of Holley Retrobrights. Yes, they were pricey but I'm pretty happy with them. The road pic is with the low beams. I have to fix my dimmer switch before I can get some hi-beam pics.

 

Bright! I went to an older thread to see your Morimoto pictures. These look brighter than the Morimotos, but not as wide. But this picture is on a 4-lane road, whereas the Morimotos were on a 2-lane road, so maybe these are as wide. Both are way better than stock, and it's cool that with two cars you can have both brands.

 

Are these LED lamps?

 

Yes. They are LED headlights. They fit in the '91-92 headlight bucket without any modifications.

 

You are correct in that the Holley beam is not as wide. They seem to have more of a square-ish output that casts light straight down the road with some light spreading out, whereas the Morimotos seem to have a trapazoid-ish shape to them that spreads out wider. Here's a comparison of the two in my garage. The GTA on the left has Morimoto, and the T/A vert on the right has the Holley Retrobrights.(The height difference in the center of the lights is because of the ride height of the cars)

 

91-92 firebird, you mean? Which i believe are the same (4656) headlamps as camaro.

 

No, the earlier thirdgens had the 4656 (5x7) headlights. The '91-92 had the smaller 4666 (4x6) headlights.

 

Almost.

Camaro 4x6 is 4656 and uses the correct connection. 4666 for Firebird uses the spread connection. 5x7 for earlier Firebirds is 6052/6054.

Edit: So the answer is, yes, essentially, but not quite the same in stock form and part number. 4×6 Retrobrights are likely to be plug and play in Camaros (and are available in both types: high/low and high only), whereas they require an adapter or re-pinning in 91-92 Firebirds.

 

 

Yes, I had to repin my plug to match the Retrobright orientation.

 

Hey Alex. Long time, bro.

 

I'm always creeping in the shadows

 

Stop creepin'! We need an update on that Jade SLP car. I have 2 Jade Verts.

-Jim

 

Not too much to update lol. It's still sitting safe and sound in a sea train. I put her away with new paint, new tires, fresh oil change, new upholstery, and the rest of the interior stuffed inside with a TON of NOS parts.

One day I'll get back to it. 26 years of ownership so far, and I'm sure I'll own it for another 40 if I live that long.