cosmick

I bought extra: Not just a gallon of Castrol SuperClean, and a small assortment pack of wire brushes, but also a new die grinder at Harbor Freight. They had 2 choices for $10 each, I chose the one with the least air consumption because of my modest compressor. Also chose to spend a third more for an orange 25' poly hose rather than the yellow 20' nylon, mostly for the swivel end. Also bought over-ear muffs instead of those little foam plugs, new safety glasses, and lastly a 2-inch-long cutter. It has a 3/8-inch oval made of carbide. And with it some WD40 to keep it from clogging, and some 3-in-one oil for lubing the new grinder. I will have to order a 4-inch-long cutter to finish the job. And since I'm doing that, I'll also get an arbor and some polishing rolls. Ain't it fun to buy new toys? Spent less than $ 85 today, even with no coupons.

cosmick

pic isn't showing. But I got one head clean, much better than pic looks on Flickr.

cosmick

cosmick

More later, this is too time consuming for my plans this morning

cosmick

cosmick

cosmick

After supper I'll start porting, with the idea that it's better for a newb like me to grind less, more can always be ground away later, but I can't put it back if I grind too much.

cosmick

Just got cleaned up from a little over 2 hours of hands-on learning. Nearly half the time was spent getting everything set up, figured out, oriented, whatever. Lighting, my own posture, keeping the head from moving around, finding my compressor can't even do 3 CFM :-(
I started with the exhaust ports, there are bumps in the port roofs, just out from the guide bosses, that seem to be under the springs. Maybe 1/8" tall, at most, so I blended those away, trying for consistent results. Then I started in the exhaust bowls, where I soon discovered the limits of a 2" shank. I need that 4" cutter ASAP, but I found a 6" version for $16 delivered. I'm not expecting much, at half the price of Summit, but I need to try something, and before investing too much.
Pics later, when I either have something ruined beyond saving, or something that I'm not too embarrassed about.

cosmick

Ordered 2 new cutters, one to leave at 6", the other I'll cut to 4". Not much progress and nothing to show, but progress.

cosmick

Sorry no pics, but finally good progress worth noting: One head is 3/4 ported to where it's not shameful, not ruined, and consistent enough that I'm not embarassed. I left one end untouched until I show my friends the difference I'm making. It's slow going, but the cheap cutting burr works really well. I really only need the 4", the other 2 lengths are not needed. No progress on the oilpan, as I'm expecting a bonus, if so then I can afford a proper version, and last night I started unbolting the 2.8 since there was nothing else happening within an hour's drive. Removing the hood by myself was the worst thing by far.

cosmick

I got it swapped, BUT these Trans-Dapt brackets are nowhere near lining up, and that's after I did a little light grinding on them. Until their engineers grow a brain and correct the design, I'll just have to go with a SBC-based mounting solution. The Spohn design is far too costly for no good reason. Anyway, there's no engine in my 'maro tonight.

cosmick

I'll be trying the Hooker 12611 adapters.

Atilla the Fun

So which is it, doing things right after getting a pay bonus, if it happens, or doing it all yourself at low cost?
You already have this stuff, so try unbolting the rubber pads from the frame, bolting everything else together, then test-fit everything, referencing off the trans mount. If the pan isn't hitting the crossmember, get a little bottle of white-out and mark where to drill new holes for bolting the pads in. Make sense? You might need to get extra washers for spacers, or try a shallower oil pan, or both.

cosmick

Dunno if it's the laptop, or what, but no matter which USB port I try, I get the error message that there's no camera connected.
Anyway, I tried it that way. As I was bolting the pads to the brackets, I realized how bat the pads were. I stopped and went to find new ones, holiday or not.
Long story short, it's all bolted together, with new pads and no drilling, BUT no nuts on the bolts that hold the pads to the crossmember.
I made pics, but can't get them.
Note that if you copy this, the transmission crossmember is as far forward as possible, the 305-spec 700R-4, for today, is as far forward as possible, and the Trans-Dapt brackets are slid as far forward as their mounting slots allow, while the 2 big long bolts are as far out as those slots allow. The undersized Trans-Dapt bolts might have made this easier. But I had to buy washers and longer bolts for attaching the brackets to the block. Why do they include wrong hardware?
Anyway, the truck pan easily clears everywhere, by at least 1/4", and it seems with a different pan and more work I could mount the thing another inch lower. For a 500-horse daily driver with a car intake or hood mods this should do fine. For racetrack competition I'd change things.
The pan is still open-bottomed, and the front end of my cut would be fine if I wasn't planning to attach new aluminum plate under it, but the rear end of my sump-cut is too low. When the pan comes out, I'll do a phone pic showing where it needs to be cut for this mounting.
No chance of getting any exhaust crossover / y-pipe between this pan and the stock crossmember with this mounting.
I'm happier now than I was yesterday evening. I finally have an LS V8 bolted into my car!

cosmick

Ordered an 8" x 9" x 1/4" plate of aluminum, bought some epoxy, and bought several new 4.5" discs for my angle grinder.
This is progress on modifying my truck pan.
I will be posting pics.

cosmick

Really ruined my day to get home from church only to find I got bid-sniped.
That non-person's evil cost me $ 45.
But there was a higher-priced pair of '00-'02 LS1 exhaust manifolds with a buy-it-now, so those are mine, at less than half the cost of a new pair.
Yes, you can still get those exact castings new for $ 300 / pr. Plus shipping, just not from GM. But $ 124 delivered is my cost.
Nobody makes a y-pipe for these, so I guess I need to finish my oil pan before I can try mocking up something.

cosmick

cam-

LOL^ Dig the engine'uity there on that mod. If you havent already buttoned it up this is by FAR the toughest bonding silicone in permatex's line up and what i'd use for sealing that thing on. Use lacquer thinners to clean both sides spotless and it will bond up REAL good

cosmick

Ready for a test-fit. If that goes well, then I'll get it welded. I found a guy who'll do it for $ 20. My cost for the plate was under $ 15.
No, welding must wait until I get the suction tube / screen cut to match.
Anyway, this is progress.
And my exhaust manifolds arrived.
Anyone know of a free LQ9 camshaft?

cosmick

Thanks, Cam.
Not sure why I hesitate to type before seeing if my pics appear.

cam-

Click preview post before submit and you can verify that it all looks correct beforehand

cosmick

Thanks.
I've transitioned from having no money for buying parts to having no time for installing parts. I'm scheduled to work this afternoon, so no progress.

cosmick

Had to cut another 1/2" from the pan, so it won't hang below the crossmember. The angle of my cut was about right. Nothing worth showing. However, still need to finish the oil tube from the screen to the pump. I have it mocked up, but stopped for pics. At least now I can seal up the pan and check how many quarts it holds. should be easy since my first 4.8 is still apart, and I got a second 4.8, also an '01, also missing the p/s & alt bracket, also missing the flexplate. And the dipstick tube is broken off, so now I have to extract the remains of that, then find a new dipstick tube.
Found out I can't have my intake manifold poking through my hood, so I'm leaning toward a used LS1 intake manifold rather than any sort of bulged hood. But for now I will cut a hole through my non-IROC hood, since I'm nowhere near ready for registration.
It's progress.

cosmick

cosmick

cam-

Progresss = good.

Dont know why I didnt think to ask this earlier, but are you making sure the pan can still hold enough oil? You need 6 quarts capacity, might sneak by with 5 but if it grenades with 5 dont blame me

cosmick

I will have to cut my last spare pan and my last spare oil tube, this depth at the front of the sump, but 1/2" deeper at the rearmost. I don't like that angle, but it'll save some capacity and protect the filter better. Anyway, it won't look that different from these 3 pics.

cosmick

And all 3 of these pics were intended to show using the masking tape for mockup, and cutting the tape to make 2 sharpie marks on both sides of the tube splice.
I'll report back with depth measurements, capacity measurements, and pics of final in-car install.

cam-

Please do so. That plastic oil level monitor is totally unecc if you wish to ditch it btw.

cosmick

Got the cutting done, fairly happy with my results, pics to follow another day. I was trying to have the screen 1/8"-3/16" above my plate, ended up more like 3/16"-1/4", but I guess I can always try spacing it closer with a washer under each of those standoff brackets. After the masking tape was off, I put the tube in a vise, then used some super glue to hold the 2 parts together. The gel stuff works fine for this. Then I got some of that 2-part epoxy for steel, I considered JB Quick, but went with FastSteel. I'll report back if it fails. Meanwhile, I'm planning some slow JB Weld for the plate to the pan, and pan-head bolts that'll end up flush once I drill the plate to counter-sink them. A little oil on each bolt should keep the JB from sticking to the bolts. Again, pics, measurements and reports will follow. Now to go order a new pan gasket.

cosmick

Inside depth is 5.5" at the front of the sump. This hangs no lower than the stock crossmember on these mounts, and protects the filter. If you do this, final-install the tube before final-attaching the plate to the pan.

cosmick

I should have planed on epoxying the pan-head bolts in to begin with. Not a disaster, but not ideal.
Anyway, while my work is on doing the engine without buying solutions, I'm thinking about gearing. And right now I'm leaning toward a set of used 7.5" 2.56:1 gears, however much hunting it takes. I'd trade the entire rear axle assembly for a 2.73:1 assembly, but I can't find anyone around here to trade with.
Forecast for this Saturday is a workable 54, and I have that day off, so I'm hopeful of progress. It's like grass, either growing or dying.

cosmick

Oil capacity with this Delco PF46E filter is 6 quarts. That's no oil touching the crank, with no movement. Acceleration would probably have the crank counterweights swinging through oil.
The truck intake fits under the V6 hood, barely. I had to cut away metal from the inside of the hood, and clearance the top if the intake from the fuel crossover forward, and I still need to relocate that thing that went in the top just behind the TB.
The truck bracket for the throttle cable had 3 bolts, one higher than the other two. Not anymore.
I couldn't be more pleased. I did the impossible, and I did it for many hundred dollars less than what everyone else here spends.
Still gotta finish bolting the new Anchor rubber V6 mounts to the cross member, then I can put the '01 Z28 exhaust manifolds back on.
That metal bracket behind the fuel rail on the driver's side can't stay.

cosmick

Not having much luck finding one locally. Please PM me a price if you have one now. Thanks.

cosmick

Looking back I must say I feel foolish trying to keep the old V6 heater hoses / tubes. Couldn't line the mounts up once the exhaust manifolds were on. Once I get a transmission done I may try test-fitting the V6 tubes just for curiosity, but they might still be too close. Maybe ok for winter non-turbo, but over the coils seems best if not neatest.
I cracked the wiper motor and broke a coil, I have spares, but again, waiting until a transmission is in.
On the driver's side, the 1/2" x 6" grade 8 bolt had to be shortened about 1/2" to clear the exhaust manifold. Installed both sides from the front. Haven't tried installing the starter yet.
Looks like the passenger side exhaust manifold outlet will need an immediate bend to clear the sub-frame bracket that holds the rear of the lower control arm.
No injuries so far.

cam-

^ Foolish? nonsense. When you build your own stuff you always wish for a redo, even after a couple of redos. Its just part of the process. Some things chosen work out mint, and others turn out meh. Its the pursuit and the effort that matter.

No injuries lmao. Worthy point *looks at burred up bleeding thumb as I type*

cosmick

Still thinking turbo. And since I am keeping the truck intake and truck fuel rails, I need different injectors. Like these: http://shop.zzperformance.com/store/...jectors-4.aspx ... Then for a 4.8L baseline, a turbo like this: http://www.cxracing.com/mm5/merchant...gory_Code=TOCH

cam-

Turbos are extremely effective but before you take one more step you really need to decide on one thing first.

Power/performance goals.

Seriously pick a target, then purchase parts to support that goal. Once your into boost land you can buy 95% of the top line parts/pieces out there and still end up with an under acheiver or worse, a car that never runs properly or breaks up all the time.

So seriously do some homework and decide first, the plot out the parts used.

Anything faster than a mid 9 on the street? Is going to take some serious chassis efforts ( read that as cost ) to keep the thing safe and driveable. If you chase for deeper times than that? Its going to get expensive, QUICKLY.

But a 9-10 second boosted LS @3500lbs is so very doable with pretty basic parts too. Tons of fun, just be sure the rest of the car is up to snuff. If your running stock third gen brakes at this stage, you might want to consider other hobbies instead like base jumping or suit flying because you'd be safer.

cosmick

9.50s?!!! I just don't want to be losing to the 6.0s with cams, heads, and long-tubes. Otherwise my MPG advantage is just a trade-off. As I understand the theory, 14.7 psi should double my HP, and is a pretty sweet efficiency island on the compressor map for 70 mm, up to around 550 HP. Half of that (non-boost) is 275 HP, right what my stock 4.8 should peak at. As for the 0.81 A/R, it seems to me that the 0.96 guys are building boost later in the RPM range than I want, but 0.67 may prove restrictive. It's a low cost for a baseline. A stock 4L80E in good condition, with a TransGo kit, is widely claimed to be good for more than 550 HP. I'd then need drag radials in first gear, but then I'd be worried about breaking my 7.625" As for brakes, I have my heart set on 12.8" front discs from a base-model C5 'vette, as an affordable but adequate upgrade. I figure similar cost to 1LE or LS1 brakes, with larger results, and I can still use affordable 17" wheels if need be. I've already started on the brackets for those caliper carriers. Besides, 10.5-inch rotors look too small.

cam-

Very doable and a good performance # for a max effort budget conscious "streetable" car. Glad your thinking out the brakes etc. If I repeat myself occasionally its simply when Im rushing through threads trying to get info in, without nec reading the whole thing. Busy as heck working here LOL. Anyways I'll link up a couple threads of interest in this range later when I have more time

cosmick

I appreciate your comments. I don't think I ever posted about brakes. But I'm sure we'd all do 14" 6-piston if we could afford it. After more research of my own, it seems the Vortec 8100 marine injectors are also direct fit, and adequate for this turbo on this engine.

cosmick

Siemens has discontinued the 50# injectors permanently. So for those of us needing the short injectors for truck intake manifolds with truck fuel rails, there are Lucas 42#, or if you want more, there are 60# which don't interest me right now. These 42s are rated at 3 bar, we run 4 bar, so these are really 49s. Plenty for my immediate wishes. I found them new for $ 40 each from Over the Top Performance. I've been thinking of a 4L80E with a 2.73:1 31-spline 8.8-inch, but new 2.73:1 gears are discontinued. If I insist on new 2.73:1 gears I hafta go GM 8.6-inch, which means a gen 2 F-body, which is about 1/4-inch narrower per side and already the correct wheel pattern, but only goes 30-spline, which may not be any concern since I'm not going drag racing.

cosmick

Also, as to the 80e, my best find for a lockup converter is from PATC's converter shop, anything from 1600-2800 and up to 600 horses for $ 465. Since I'm starting with a used stock 80e and converter, driving on that will give me a feel for what stall to order. Ain't it strange how I can find a few minutes here and a few there for online research / posting / ordering, but can't manage any garage time to install the parts I'm earning funds for? Anyone else ever run into this?

WTR388

I'm having the opposite... Research is done, motocross hasn't started (we still have snow) so I have lots of garage time for the next couple weeks... But waiting for a big cheque from work to order my parts... It was warm yesterday (+8 celcius... was working in a t-shirt outside) and did some painting on my engine... It's chilly again today so I don't want to work outside in the cold garage.

Warnd

Hahaha story of my life man. I think because its easier to squeeze in some research/ordering time late night after work but the same cant be said for garage time. Nice work so far though keep it up!

cosmick

Thanks.
I discovered that the O2 sensor hole in the left exhaust manifold would aim the sensor at the crossmember in such a way that it wouldn't fit. I got it removed, welded, and reinstalled.
Also, the p/s and alternator are mounted and connected, I had to drill and tap the left head to get a third bolt through their common bracket, which isn't from any LSx, but fits fine. Then some thread sealer finished that. Had to grind and drill the bracket also. There was a little interference between the alternator and the valve cover, but a couple of attempts at grinding got a thin feeler gauge of clearance. Then I added an idler pulley to get enough belt wrap around the alternator pulley. I had a new belt a few inches too long, so I cut it and zip-tied it, then the zip tie broke. Looks like A/C isn't happening anytime soon. I have half an inch between the P/S pulley and the steering box, so I'm considering sliding the engine forward a quarter inch, if the oilpan and starter will permit, to get the left fuel rail off the wiper motor.
Tomorrow I'm going hunting a 4L80E.

cosmick

No luck finding a used 2WD 4L80E, so I ordered a new radiator instead.

cosmick

cosmick

cosmick

I got the new radiator in with the V6 fan, and fabbed up hoses by cutting and splicing other hoses. The bad part is I dunno what they're from, just leftovers from previous projects, so when one fails, I'll have ro re-work whatever.
I'm having this idea about flipping the tailhousing and using shock bushings to hang the trans from inside the center console. Yes, drilling 2 holes right through the tunnel part of the floorpan. This should work for 4L60E or 4L80E.
Meanwhile, for the sake of emissions and not altering any emissions-related aspects of the tune, I'm thinking swapping a '99-'02 fuel tank should simplify the matter of the fuel tank pressure sensor. I found such a tank locally for $ 57. Plus it holds another gallon or so.