I'm using the steel LS2 flywheel. I really thought about going with aluminum flywheel due to improved throttle response, but I ended up sticking with the steel flywheel to maintain the excellent drivability that it has now. Not only that, my exhaust is very very loud for a street car (the video doesn't quite capture that), so I really didn't want another reason to have to rev it higher on take off.

With all that being said, I don't have any real plans to race the car. It I wanted to road race or auto cross it a lot I probably would've gone with the aluminum flywheel.

 

Nice work! I am a huge fan of the gauges! That Will be my next thing to do after paint. Do those gauges just hard wire into the harness?

 

The gauges are great. It's nice to have confidence in them now since I always wondered about the stock gauges. The need to buy the speedo converter box with the stock gauges pushed me to go with the Auto Meter Ultra-Lite gauges.

I bought a gauge kit for 82-89 camaros that came with this wiring harness from American Autowire http://classicdash.com/product/1982-...iring-harness/

Having that harness is nice since you can easily remove the gauge cluster for troubleshooting. You could even make your own harness, but it would take some work. You'll also need the Auto Meter LS install kit to adapt the senders to the LS engine. I'm running the oil pressure sender in the stock location and the coolant temp sender for the gauge in the rear of the passenger-side head. The 98 cts is still in the driver's side head for PCM input.

 

Might I ask What the panel, gauges and harness cost you total?

 

Congrats, very nice!

Nice headers, Stainless works?

How did you run the fuel lines? Any Pics?

 

For the panel, gauges, harness, and Auto Meter LS Install Kit it was $895. I did get about $100 of that back in summit bucks, so that was nice to offset some of the costs. So basically it was $795 vs $330 (for the abbot cable x box) and I got much more accurate and, depending on who you ask, better looking gauges out of it.

ATM-4314 FUEL LEVEL GM AFTER 65 $49.95
ATM-4327 OIL PRES 0-100PSI 2 1/16" $74.95
ATM-4337 WATER TEMP 100-250DEG 2 1/16" $54.95
ATM-4391 VOLT GAUGE 8-18 VOLTS 2 1/16" $49.95
ATM-4488 SPEEDOMETER $214.95
ATM-4497 TACHOMETER ULTRA-LITE 3-3/8 $134.95
ATM-5284 LS INSTALL KIT $35.95
CCL-110-82-5200 WIRING HARNESS 139.95
CTH-101820011 GAUGE PANEL BLACK $139.95

Total: $895.55

 

Thanks! Yeah the headers are stainless works (Hawks) headers with 1-3/4" primaries and a 3" collector.

I ran the AN fuel lines in the stock location until I got to the transmission crossmember where I ran it above the transmission to keep it away from the heat from the exhaust. Just to be safe, I still put some heat sleeve on the line where it got near the headers. I'll try to get some pics of what I did.

 

Never seen this before. Does this plug into the stock harness and create leads for the senors, turn signals, grounds and all that fun stuff? I ask because I am doing a custom harness for gauges and this seems like a much better route than cutting up the factory wires.

 

Almost. You do have to cut off the stock connectors and add the terminals that come with the harness to the stock wires so you can use the supplied connectors. I made sure to leave enough wiring attached to the factory connectors so I could put them back in if I ever wanted to. I'm sure I could've made my own wiring harness, but it would've been very time consuming and I doubt it would have been as clean as the one I bought. I've got the installation docs in pdf, but they're too big to attach to a post on here.

 

Did you use steal lines when you went above the transmission or steel braided? I guess you needed to bang open the tunnel a bit too? Its tight in there with a t-56.

 

I still need to get those pics for you. It's a little warmer here today, so I'll try to get the rear jacked up so I can get under the car for some pics. I have 6an stainless steel braided lines with Russell Performance fittings all the way from the sender to the rail. I didn't have to make any modifications to the tunnel. There was quite a bit of room to run the lines above the T56.

Not sure if you have truck coils or not, but I'll try to get a pic of how I had to bend the rail as well to clear the connector on one of the coils.

 

Im going all auto meter and custom LEDs (blinkers, high beam) so this is a great find. Thank you for sharing

 

No problem. If you'd like the install docs pm me your email, and I can send them to you. They used to have them posted on their site, but they didn't update the link when they updated their site. It's mostly straight forward, but you do have to adapt a little to account for the LS swap.

For instance, the speedometer signal wire comes directly from the PCM and connects to the purple (VSS) wire in the harness. The yellow VSS wire is unused with the LS1 swap. Also you need to run a separate wire from the gauge to the autometer temp sender in the passenger-side head.

Other than that, it's pretty much the same as it would be if the TPI motor was still in there (assuming your engine harness is done correctly).

 

pm sent

 

Spent some time driving around today with my new GoPro attached to the side of my car. I'm still sorting through video to pick out the best footage. Here's a quick clip. I was was shifting around 3500-4000 rpm.

 

That car is SO F***ING BAD ***!!!

Please let me know if you ever think of selling it!

 

Thanks! I'd like to get some more video of it this weekend if it stops raining. It's a ton of fun to drive. I'm pretty sure I'll never get really good gas mileage out of it because I just can't keep my foot out of it haha.

I think I'm going to need some time to work out all of the bugs before I can think about selling it The last couple of times I've had it out it's turning over slowly when it's warm. I believe I'm having some heat soak issues with the starter being so close to the stainless headers. I'll be applying heat wrap on the starter this weekend. Considering all of the changes that have been made to it though it's been very reliable so far.

 

Here's a bit of a longer clip of the car driving around on some back roads with the camera mounted facing the other direction. It had been raining for a few days prior to filming this, so I picked up a little bit of water on the camera at some point on the drive. Just after the 3:00 mark with where I have a little fun with it. I also wanted to mention that the thermo tec starter heat shield worked well. The car now starts great when it is warm.

 

Sounds Great!

 

That's sweet!

 

Thanks guys! It's even better in person

I'm getting ready ready to change out the ring and pinion and wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations. I'm going to stick with the 10 bolt for now. I will also be sticking with the 2 series carrier since it seems to be in good shape. Which do you think would be best, 3.73 or 4.10 gears? The car will be used for mostly street driving including some longer drives to car events such as the annual F-Body Gathering in Georgia. I will occasionally take it the the track, but not often enough for that to influence my decision.

 

3:73's if you're going to be putting any distance on it - you'll hate the 4:10's when you get on the highway - may not like the 3:73's either.

 

That definitely gives me something to think about then. The car will be driven and enjoyed a lot. Fortunately there are quite a few events relatively near Nashville that I should be able to make this year. I thought the double overdrive on the T56 might be a help with the 3.73's or 4.10's. I definitely know that the stock 2.73 gears that I haven't gotten around to changing yet are not the way to go. I feel like I can go 80mph in first gear and honestly that may not be too far off . That and 6th gear is basically worthless. I have a 4th gen rear with 3.42's that I might do something with.

 

I run 373s in mine with a 4L60E and will probably go to 342s. With the T56, You might enjoy the 373s??

 

Just ran some calcs and I'm getting 1958 rpm with 3.73's in 6th gear (0.50) at 80 mph. Looks like it's 2152 with the 4.10's. Does that seem off?

 

http://f-body.org/gears/

Try out this link. You can put in the gear ratio's for the T-56 you have, redline, and tire size.

From what I have heard with LS motors with 4L60e automatics you will want to go with 3.73's.

For LS motors with manual transmissions a lot of guys have said 4.10's.

If you pick the T-56 with the 6th gear 0.50 overdrive ratio (i think this trans has a 1st gear ratio of 2.66) even on the highway your rpms should be low enough to get decent fuel economy.

 

Thanks for the link! It's nice to have all of that information with one calculation. It sure saves me the time of having to create it in excel.

I'll have to study it a little more, but it's really looking like the 4.10's would work well with the T56. Transmission gear ratios are as follows: 2.66 1.78 1.30 1.00 0.74 0.50. I'd pretty much be at the same rpm in 6th gear with 4.10's as I am in 5th gear now with the 2.73's. Seeing that it's roughly 1200 rpm in 6th gear at 70 mph confirms that 6th gear is worthless with the 2.73's in hilly Tennessee.

Does anyone have experience with the thick gears? Do they require additional modifications for our 10 bolts? I'm willing to spend a little extra money on the ring and pinon to improve the driveability of the car, but I'm not wanting to sink too much money in this stock rear end. Although an upgrade would be nice, I'm not wanting to drop a few grand on a much stronger and better rear end for a street car right now either.

 

I was thinking the 5spd, forgot you had the 6spd.

4:10's!

 

So after all this time here's where I stand on my drivetrain. After a lot of thought I decided against upgrading the 10 bolt. I have since gotten an 8.8 out of a Ford Ranger that I'm planning on building.



I'm hoping to get started on this next week since I'll be done with the PE exam which has had me pretty tied up with studying for the past few months. I'll be running a new ford racing traction-loc, ford racing 4.10 gears, and Strange 31 spline semi-float axles which means it's getting new Strange housing ends to accept the big ford bearing. I'll be using a hiltsy mount for the torque arm. Everything has been ordered except the axles so I should have everything I need to start building the housing next week.

I'll also be using a truing bar to make sure everything is true when I narrow the housing. Looking forward to getting going on this.

 

If you said in the thread I missed it, did you put in a Tick master cylinder?? If you did, was it the 4th gen version and how do you like it?

Thanks, and great build! I've got 3.70 gears in my 9 bolt, but I think you'd be fine with either.

 

Thanks! It does have the 4th gen Tick master cylinder with the Tick Remote Bleeder which is extremely convenient as well. I really like the adjustability of the Tick master cylinder and it's really easy to set up. I've not had any problems with it at all. Can't beat the lifetime warranty that comes with it either. I haven't had the car out to my local track yet to really put it to the ultimate test, but it has worked great on the street.

 

That's good to hear! I just replaced my clutch, now the pedal engages really low. To the point that I'm not 100% sure it's fully disengaging. So, I've been thinking of getting the Tick master, but I wasn't sure if it would work on 3rd gens. Hope the car runs some good numbers for you.

 

Nice build! I love those black Iroc Verts... Great job.

You'll do well with that 8.8. Ive built probably a dozen of them, and they remain my favorite axle to re-gear and mess with. They're tough, easy to set up, and there's plenty of gear selections. You can find 4.10 posi units as well as 3.73 posi units...both with disc brakes.

The only thing I don't like about them...or any axles similar, is the crush sleeve for the pinion pre-load. I hate dealing with those things. Once they're crushed, you really should replace them any time you back off the pinion nut. But they require so much torque to crush, then you have to be careful you don't go too heavy on pre-load, or you're doing it over. My Strange 12-bolt was crush sleeve, and I swapped in a spacer kit. So you just crank the pinion nut to tq after figuring your pre-load shims, and no worrying about the sleeve. Leaking pinion seal? Toss in a new one, crank down the pinion nut, and you're golden.

I for one love my 3.73's for what its worth. The car will pull in 5th gear going 40mph uphill haha. And 6th is nice on the highway. Awesome mpg, and will still pass faster than a regular passenger car without downshifting usually.

Good luck getting it built! Im curious to see how the 8.8 works out for you! They're so cheap and readily available!

Justin

 

Thanks for the compliments! Your builds were definitely very helpful and are a big reason my car is where it is now.

Also thanks for the heads up on the crush sleeve. I suppose I'll see how it goes the first time since I have access to all of the tools to do it right. If I have any trouble with it I'll just order the crush sleeve eliminator kit.

I was really on the fence on the 3.73 vs 4.10 gears choice and ended up going with the 4.10s because the difference in rpms at highway cruising speeds was minimal. I took my car to a local cruise in last night and got another reminder of how annoying it is to drive with the 2.73s in it. It's still a blast to drive, but in traffic it requires a lot of work.

I've been working on it today, so I'll try to get some pics posted up as I go. I've pretty much got it stripped down to a bare housing at this point. I picked up the truing bar for the housing from a coworker this morning so hopefully I can get going on building the housing tomorrow afternoon.

 

Amazing build man. Sounds great and looks fun

 

Well I'm at the point of no return now.



I cut the 8.8 axle tubes 4.5" inches from the center section. I've also measured and cut the 10 bolt tubes off the spare 4th gen rearend I had. The next thing to do is to get the 10 bolt axles into the 8.8.

 

Here's where the 8.8/10 bolt hybrid stands now. It is identical to the stock width of my factory 10 bolt.



To say the 10 bolt tubes slide right in the Ranger 8.8 tubes would be a generous statement. I had to use a die grinder to grind down the seam inside of the 8.8 tubes. I also used a 40 grit flap disc to clean up the 10 bolt tubes. They eventually fit after few more passes with the flap disc after they were cleaned up. By fit I mean using a drilling hammer and a block of wood to drive them into the 8.8 tubes. They are buried 3 inches deep and they will be plug welded so I don't think they'll be coming out Once they were in I was able to use a few calibrated whacks with a dead blow hammer to get the spring perches set to -5 degrees with the pinion set on 0 degrees.

Now I've just got to weld the hiltsy torque arm mount together and get it over to a certified welder to weld the mount to the cast and finish up the rest of the welding. My mig welder does not even pretend to be able to competently weld steel this thick, so all I've done is tack it in place to make sure it's not going to move.

You can see in the pic above that I'm using a rear end narrowing kit from leadmine products on eBay. The 1-1/4" alignment bar was sourced from a local machine shop. I believe I mentioned this before, but I'm getting rid of the c-clips so I've got the Strange Engineering H1143 Small GM housing ends on there. Moser makes them as well that accomplish the same thing, but they are made quite a bit different if you want to see what your options are.

 

I had to take about .040" off the OD of the 10 bolt tubes for all the 8.8's I built like that. A die grinder makes short work of the slag on the ID of the 8.8 tube. Eventually, I just ground a groove on the outside of the new tube to clear. I use an angle grinder on the 10 bolt tubes to make them fit

 

Yeah I used a 40 grit flap disc on an angle grinder to remove the material off the OD of the 10 bolt tubes. I wanted to keep it a very tight fit, so it took some time to remove the material just to the point where it would hammer in there. A carbide burr on a die grinder did the trick on the seam inside of the 8.8 tubes for me.

As far as an update goes, the torque arm mount is welded together and installed on the rear end. Waiting to hear back from a friend of mine to weld the mount on using nickel rod.

 

Well it's been a while since I've updated my thread, so I thought I'd post a couple pics of the 8.8 housing that I built. The last thing I need to do is order the axles from Strange which I plan to do tomorrow.

Here's the full housing with the Strange Small GM Housing Ends and the Hiltsy Torque Arm Mount.



And here's a close-up of the torque arm mount.



Finally here's the near rear end girdle I ordered for it.

 

On another note, I won Best Third Generation Camaro at Camaro Fest VI yesterday!

 

Here it is in the midst of a lot of 5th Gens.