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LTX and LSXPutting LT1s, LS1s, and their variants into Third Gens is becoming more popular. This board is for those who are doing and have done the swaps so they can discuss all of their technical aspects including repairs, swap info, and performance upgrades.
Oh! And I also picked up used Jamex strut tower brace for $50. Just needs a little TLC. Figured it can't hurt in addition to the wonder bar I plan on getting.
Some things have fallen into place, and while I don't have pictures of what little I did over the weekend, I will tomorrow.
I have come into some means, so the next 3 weeks will be a whirlwind of activity. I'll be basically ordering everything else on my list within the next few days, and will be working every chance I get. Daughter should be out of the hospital hopefully by Wednesday, and if this has shown us anything, it's that we need another car pretty damn badly.
Okay, I'm having a real hard time finding this... is there a blower/heater box gasket? Google search turns up nothing except for the delete box, search function here has been frustrating... so, should I just RTV?
Little update: still waiting on the card to come in the mail so that I can buy all the things...
Decided that instead of spending ridiculous amounts of money on aftermarket rockers, I'm going to retrofit the trunion kit and be done with it. So, that's what tonight's work will be accomplishing... that, and get the steering stuff hooked back up. Couldn't find my idler arm bolts, but now that I saw what they look like I might have better luck.
In the meantime, little bit of progress pics from the weekend.
Engine mount buckets cleaned and painted.
Tower brace brackets and bar cleaned and painted. Were chipped orange/red and chrome before. Much, much better now.
And what dominated my time last night. Painted both calipers. We'll see how well they turn out when I get home. Bright because of flash.
Can ANYONE chime in on my heater box gasket situation? I really don't want to try to use RTV if I don't have to. You know, mar the paint and all that...
No clue on the gasket. Careful cleaning the pistons in the ring lands. A old timer showed me using a old ring, break it and use the 90* end to scrape the carbon out using wd40 or some sort of penetrating oil. Also, If you arnt having the machine shop bore or do anything to the cylinders, I recommend getting a "flex hone" to clean up the cylinders and put the cross hatch. You will have to see what finish/grit to get depending on what type of ring you are getting but doing this virtually eliminates any "break in" for the rings. Just make sure you spin at the right rpm and get your stroke speed down. These do not remove material. They take the tops of burrs off of the cylinder and prep for a very nice finish. (magnified the cylinder material looks like mountians, the flex hone removes the peaks) DO NOT use a 3 stoned break cylinder hone. will make your cylinder out of round. Also, I was looking on ebay, and you can get a ls1 with a t56 for 3500 bucks.... says motor needs a little work but..... Anyways, Great work braz! Keep them posts coming! I really like when a guy does the work himself. Im the same way. Hate having people work on my stuff! So they dont. I do.
I'm going to take a brass wire wheel and gently clean them out.. also get some pipe cleaners and just manually work the grime out.
As for the block, I had the shop do a quick-hone on it. Cleaned it up real nice.
I'm still in the motor and trans far less than that LS1 that needs work, and I'll have damn near new parts instead of needing to do a rebuild. Besides, can't get the FI numbers out of an LS1 like you can with this little 4.8. That's the end goal, still.
I appreciate the praise. Sometimes feel like I'm beating a dead horse since most of the guys here have done this multiple times over the last 12+ years lol. Hence why it's mainly me in here. But, yeah.. only things I can't do is the the exhaust due to my lack of welding knowledge. I paid Pocket for the convenience too, but that's a different story.
-Brandon
Last edited by R13_Braz; May 12, 2015 at 03:23 PM.
Not getting home from the hospital until 7 throws a wrench in how much time I have to work (see what I did there? lol), but it's necessary so no real complaints.. besides, that's what the weekend is for.
The nasty, stock rockers. Pressed the trunions out in preparation for the kit, and because it'll make cleaning them easier on the shop.
Trunion graveyard.. where the terrible stock design goes to die.
My improvised tools to pop the old trunions out. 13/16th spark plug socket to sit on, my shop press and the spacer from the original sway bar link. Worked perfect.
I started on the spring replacement on my heads, and immediately ran into something interesting... first exhaust valve I started on wouldn't budge without a brass driver and 4 pound sledge. Most of the others slid in and out of their guides, but that one didn't. Don't have pictures yet, but after I finally got it out, I could see some rust buildup in the guide itself. Going to clean the heck out of it and see what happens. Valve stem looks fine, but I didn't check it too closely... on the agenda tonight. If anything, I'll scrap the idea of using my stock heads and grab a set of 241's.
Last edited by R13_Braz; May 13, 2015 at 11:22 AM.
Couldn't find my bolts for the idler arm, so I went to Ace hardware and eyeballed them. Luckily, I was right as the bolts are the perfect size for the holes, and they are hardened to boot. Plus, black! lol I'll install the steering components tonight, and get to adjusting them.
Spent my time working on the cylinder head. After an eyeball test, and a roll test, I determined that the valve is NOT bent. It was just seized in the seal and guide from nasty build up. My solution involved scrubbing the valve stem with mineral spirits, taking a pipe cleaner with mineral spirits (and liquid wrench after), and cleaning the whole thing out. Fixed it right up! No binding issues afterward. However, due to the nastiness of the seat/seal, I changed them all. Took me an hour to do the whole head, but worth it for piece of mind.
Halfway done. No labels on the seat/seals, but after some scrutiny it was easy to determine which were intake and which were exhaust.
Old seat/seal. Pretty nasty buildup. Lots of gunk and old oil inside once I pulled it off. Mineral spirits and shop towels cleaned up the guide nicely.
Seat/seal still on the head. You can see how bad it was.
Second valve I came across that was stuck. Thankfully, this one came out with some hand power, as opposed to needing a brass drift and hammer. Mineral spirits, a pipe cleaner and liquid wrench helped fix that problem.
The worst intake valve. Surprisingly clean. Mineral spirits removed all of the buildup.
Finished product.
Still need to do the other one. Should go a lot quicker than the first.
Last edited by R13_Braz; May 14, 2015 at 08:35 AM.
When you sand blasted those heads, Im sure sand went everywhere and may be why the valves are getting stuck in the guides. Id mic the stems to make sure they are in spec or you can give them the wobble test. with the valve in the guide, no more than a .001 side to side slop. thats kinda a rough general test for sbc. Id check it out while your there. Also, I wouldn't sand blast anything like that again. you can get different media that is easier on engine components, but glass/sand/media will destroy bearings/machined surfaces. when I went through engine building/machining school that was a big no no. you will never get all the sand out. Especially the block with the oil galleries and stuff. Thats why shops have the dunk tank. Just food for thought. Cant wait to see the finished product man!! Great work with the press. We use our hyd log splitter for our press. made a bunch of attachments that slip over the edge and bolt to the push end. Only crappy thing is its sideways. Making a new press this year. Keep them posts coming!!
No sand blasting here, sir. I don't have the room or know-how (not hard, I know.. just another thing to learn later). The machine shop soda-blasted them for me.
The 2 valves and guides that were stuck had a lot of gunk and rusty stuff in them. Leads me to believe my thought, that there was moisture in this block, that more possible.
As for the block, I had them clean the outside, tank it, and magna-flux it. Flushed all the oil galleries, etc. I'm going to go over it with a fine-tooth comb using a bunch of mineral spirits, and trans fluid to clean up any remaining debris. Possibly this weekend.
Ahh, Wow, that soda blasting did a good job! I was going to say... sand blasting is never a good idea. Sounds like you have her under control! Are you having the valves/seats ground and all that? Exciting build! some day I plan to do a LS or LQ. Keep them posts coming!
-Dan
I wish I had taken proper before pics... they were absolutely disgusting before. As in, I didn't think they could be salvaged. They did the best they could considering I hadn't removed the valves and springs. I'm not worried though... almost all of the carbon build up, as well as the build up in the intake side (oil/fuel etc) was mostly removed, and some mineral spirits and wire brushes cleared out most of the rest.
And no, I didn't have them do that. The plan is to put 241's on that have been milled down a some. I couldn't justify the almost $400 of work on these heads when I can pick up a set of 241's that already have the bigger intake valves, and maybe some light milling if I need to up the compression, for way less. Found a good used set for $250.. not sure if I want to get them yet.
Picture ****! Didn't get a chance to do any garage stuff because as soon as I got home, I had to do neglected house stuff. But, these came in and they are too pretty not to show:
Black zinc plated, drilled and slotted rotors. I almost don't want to install them!
My weekend was eaten up by having to rebuild most of my fence, and recovering from having to rebuild my fence... I didn't do much yesterday except spend quite a bit of $$$, but everything except the Headers (Out of stock... fuuuu) has been bought. I did do some things though.
Brand new bearings, properly packed. Rotor, caliper and pads all installed. Still need to bleed them.
Passenger side.
Tie rods, idler arm, and center link all attached. Still need to grease them all, tighten the nuts, secure the cotter pins, and make sure that they are level. Then we put on the wheels and can roll her out.
What I did yesterday (way too sore to do anything else). My garage is completely out of sorts right now, so I commandeered the dining room table as my staging ground. This is but a 1/4 of what I have, with most of it being on the way and out in the garage.
Rush concert tonight, and tomorrow I hit the ground running.
I have a wall of boxes now, with more to come. Received 13 packages yesterday lol. I'm estimating another 10-15 today.
Rolled the car out some. Decided to bleed and flush the brakes as it needed to be done, and was planning on mounting the engine on the stand afterward. Yeah... that didn't happen. Whoever designed our bleeder screw setup needs to be shot. 2 hours! Even with a mighty vac! And I didn't even get it all the way done. Couldn't seem to get it bled for ****. No room to get a hose on the screw in the front, no way to get a wrench on the back. Grrrr And, the stupid MC shot fluid all over my paint job so THAT really irked me... Going to have the shop finish it when I get my alignment done.
Getting that engine mounted tonight. I have everything needed to build it now. Storming fierce right now, but supposedly clearing up later so let's hope for that. I need to start building it ASAP.
Got the engine mounted on the stand last night. Need to go get different bolts as the ones I had gotten were too long. Somehow, in a sealed bag, these tiny tiny spiders decided it was a good idea to place their webs in some of the cylinders.. it's a good thing I'm going to be cleaning it all out again.
After going over my coils, I discovered that one of the harnesses has a broken tab on a coil connector, with possible melted wires near the large connector. Coil is also broken so new coil, and coil harness on the way. Other harness has a broken tab on the back of the main connector that helps to hold it in place... going to look into swapping the actual connector over.
Also discovered the injector O-rings that came in my kit are way too small, so LS1 o-rings ordered as well.
And, my wall of parts is growing!
Does not include what's out in the garage, and what's on the table lol. Due to lack of space, I just labeled the boxes and stacked them. Still more to come! This weekend should be excellent... 3 day weekend to build my motor, and possibly even test fit it in the car!
With the weather doing a pretty darn good impression of Seattle for the past several weeks, with lots of deluges and flooding in the area, my build is getting more and more frustrating in how long it's taking. I don't have the space to work out of the garage with the doors closed, and I've had the need to pull the car out at least for a little while, but every time I start the process it starts raining again. sigh
This weekend was no exception. No pictures yet, but I got SOME things done.
1. Trans has been swapped over to LS. Shop showed me what little they could with just the front plate off and there is a little wear showing. No matter, it needs to last long enough for me to break the motor in, drive around some, sell it and get a TR6060.
2. Started the engine build. Block got completely cleaned in and out, surface rust removed, oil galleries cleaned out. Was going to paint it, but of course the rain wouldn't let up long enough to do it, so maybe this week the humidity level will drop so I can make this ugly block less ugly.
3. Started doing measurements and immediately noticed something wrong with the crank bearing clearances. Shop supposedly ground the crank down .010/.010, so I got .010/.010 bearings. However, clearance measured in at 0.003, which is way too much. Pulled the crank, cleaned it off, rotated then reinstalled it several times and it came out the same each time. So, all progress got halted and I ordered the next size up bearings to see if it brings it down some. Really frustrating as I wanted to at least complete the short block this weekend.
4. Since the engine build came a to a grinding halt, I tried to work the best I could on other things. Got the clutch master refitted with the Russell adapter fittings, and reinstalled in the car. Drilled the hole, and ran the clutch line inside the car (need to mount up the trans so I have an idea where to drill the hole for the slave)
5. Have multiple blisters on many of my fingers from using a broken piston ring to clean the ring lands. Even after soaking, the carbon is pretty tough. 4 of the 8 are done though, and still look good enough not to need new ones.
6. Hood cable is nicely tucked up and away out of view.
7. Started trying to remove the throttle cable and got stuck. So much stuff in the way, insulation is really thick, and had to take a break. Will try again later today. Waiting on clips to hold the clutch rod to the pedal anyway.
Now, something interesting. While I was lying under the dash working on the pedals, I was looking at my wiring and noticed a few things.
1. My VATS relay is not in the alcove like a lot of peoples. Mine is tucked up in the corner of the dash, exposed. I checked the wires and they are not cut and appear to be factory still.
2. I have several (3-4) plugs that are just hanging around. 2, for sure, look like relay connectors. I don't have any power accessories (though I have spots on my fuse panel and apparently terminals that have wire leads from them). I'll try to take pictures of everything tonight.
3. Someone has been into the wiring before. Out of everything, the only wiring issue that I know of is related to the horn. and that's something in and of itself. Other than that, everything has worked perfectly with zero issues, so I'm hesitant to even dive into it without good reason.
4. Horn issue: Every time the horn gets pressed, it fries the accessory fuse. I haven't yet traced where the short is, but since I'm replacing the steering wheel I'm debating on just running new wires to a new horn and be done with it. First step is getting the schematic as I didn't see a horn fuse, and I need to confirm that nothing was tapped into where it shouldn't be.
4 fingers of a good 12 year last night to recover from my work day, and I went back to accomplishing something.
Forward progress is always good, so little steps at a time. Went ahead and put together my rocker arms with the Comp trunion kit upgrade.
Here's the rockers back from the shop. Cleaned up and nice looking.
First one done. Much, much better.
1.5 hours later (kept getting interrupted), finished product. Very impressed with the kit. Compared to the stock setup, I don't know why anyone WOULDN'T replace with this kit. Much stronger, sturdier, and piece of mind for only $100.
Harness comes in tonight, and a couple of more pieces. Have a meeting though, so no work tonight. Tomorrow, IF the weather holds, I'll be making the fuel line from the filter to the front, and running my pump harness up front. Need to do a leak test as well.
Started the weekend off strong aaaaaaaandd... fell flat on my face. Twice!
Started Friday night. After dealing with bearing clearance issues (or so I thought), I finally made a decision after about 3 hours of research. I'll run a little bit thicker oil, and I should be fine since I have a HVHP Melling pump. So, lubed up, installed and torqued down.
No binding, spun smoothly.
Passenger side:
Driver side:
And that's where I hit the first wall. While installing #5, one of the oil ring rails got caught, unbeknownst to me, and got bent and twisted. So, that stopped us in our tracks. Had to order another ring set... for one small ring! Sigh. #5 is, indeed, NOT alive.
So, moved on, got the lifters and lifter trays installed. Cam installed, degreed etc.
Sunday, I had some errands to run, but it was one of the nicest days we've had in months and I didn't let it go to waste. Rolled the car out some, got it put in the air, and set to finishing my fuel lines. All I had left to make was from the filter to the front of the car. That, and leak check. All I did for that was make one side of the line, get it attached to the filter, loop it around into a gas can, and made test leads long enough to put the battery about 15 feet from the gas can. Had my nephew follow very specific instructions, hooked it all up and voila! No leaks, pump works perfect, and a very happy me.
Measured the correct length to the front, cut and finished the line, and proceeded to bolt the line and brake line to the frame the length of the car. Also went ahead and set up the fuel pump harness. Wire wheeled the chassis ground location, bolted it all up, hung the harness and got that run to the front. Figured I was good to go for the day. Then I saw the puddle...
Turns out, with all the massaging, and maneuvering of the brake line to get it behind the steering shaft, and to get it bolted to the frame...... well, the compression fittings couldn't take it any longer. Wait, did I say compression fittings?!? Why yes, yes I did. I never noticed it before, so focused on other things, but some a-hole of a previous owner decided to repair a broken line with a terribly bent line from O'reilly/Autozone, and compression fittings. I'm shocked I haven't blown the line out sooner.
Damn thing left a puddle in the top of the spring perch on the k-member, and dripped down the k-member brace. Removed paint from the brace, but damn me POR-15 is some tough stuff. Didn't even mark it. Thankfully. So, I removed all of the fluid I could from the reservoir, swapped towels every hour or so, and ordered me a new front-to-back line. Not happy, but could be worse.
While I wait on the rings to come in again, as well as the brake line, I'm going to continue working down my list of things. Still need to lengthen the shifter hole, might try to place the transmission in the car so I can see where I need to drill the hole for the clutch line... and that's only 2 of the 19 items on the list. lol
Piston installed in less than 30 seconds. Torqued and angled to spec. Oil pump installed, as is the windage tray.
Test fit
Rear cover on. All bolts except top 2 are just snugged. Top 2 are torqued so that they hold the position of the cover. Won't be able to torque the rest until I get it off the stand.
Front cover. Same here in that all bolts are snug. I need to install the harmonic balancer so that I get side-to-side fitment correct. Already straight-edged the up and down fitment.
Remember kiddies... don't band-aid something instead of fixing it properly, especially on something intended to spare you injury... the results tend to be very messy.
New brake line installed, bolted down and the corresponding pump harness and fuel line all zip-tied together again. For the record, they are correct when they say it is pre-bent... HOWEVER! It is not pre-bent for immediate install... in fact, it required me to UNBEND quite a few portions just to gain the extra 4 inches I needed to get the end of the line and fitting to connect to the hose in the back. Even with the massaging up front to fit under the steering shaft, there is no way I lost 4 inches...
Either way, everything is back in it's place. This just encourages me even further to fabricate a shield to cover the filter and now the brake line as it doesn't follow the body contours any longer. Thinking of reusing some of the heat shields I removed for this purpose.
As for everything else, I get the nicer balancer and my RIS header in today. All goes well, I'll have the long block completed tonight!
Things are moving along quickly. Which they need to, if I'm to start break in on Sunday.
First, parts!!!
Shiny headers! For the cost, I can't complain about the quality of welds inside the collectors.. overall, I'm impressed with the headers. Shiny going away though. Black exhaust wrap will happen shortly.
New Balancer installed. Made the mistake of ordering a dorman and as soon as I opened the box of the dorman, I was pissed. The paint was melting off, so that's getting returned (and, quite frankly, I don't want a cheap piece of crap on my 400+ hp engine). So, performance products is the next step up. When I start phase 2, I'll get a better balancer, but I'm pretty happy with the quality of this one. Front cover torqued down after proper alignment.
RTV'd in the corners, and pan is installed and torqued properly.
A shot showing pan alignment. I had only 0.005 of an inch of protrusion, so I'm within spec. Took some hammering with a rubber mallet, but I got it where I wanted it.
Now, the fun part... head installation.
Head install underway. Let me just point something out here... the proper sequence of torquing PLUS angle is insane. First pass is 22 ft lbs. Not much. Second pass is 90 degrees. Doesn't seem like much, but just wait.... Third and final pass is an additional 90 degrees for 8 of the 10 big bolts. So, 22 ft lbs of snugness, followed by another 180 degrees total. Not something able to be done by one's self. I had to have help holding the block so I could do the final pass, and my back and hands are killing me. Even with the 250+ lb guy acting as a counter weight, the whole stand kept wanting to move on us.
Both heads installed and torqued/angled in the proper sequence. Next time I do this, it'll be with the $800 reuseable stud kit because screw this angle stuff... until you witness the breaker bar bending at a disturbing angle, you won't understand... I don't mind the angle portion itself, mind you... it's really a simple process. But the force needed to exert on the bolts is absolutely crazy.
Intake ports taped off. No errant bolts and bad things falling into the cylinders, thank you.
Rockers installed. Very special sequence to do this so that you don't break or bend any of the valve train components. Quite easy once you get the hang of it. Supposedly it's a 2 person job, but I didn't have any real difficulty doing it by myself. Patience is important.
Both sides done. Smooth operation, checked timing and everything is good to go.
Valve covers on. LS6 valley cover on. Intake on for mockup only. Not bolted down.
Side view. Really happy with these powder coated valve covers.
Other side
Going to try to pull an all nighter tonight. I have a lot of stuff to do still. Need to get the clutch rod clipped into place, get the old throttle cable out and new one installed. Probably get the wiring harness installed into the car so I can get the plugs inside going. Also need to do the steering wheel, bypass VATS, bypass the buffer box, clean the trans, get it mocked up as best I can so that I can drill the clutch line hole, wrap the exhaust, drop the engine into the car so that I can get an idea of how it'll sit, and a thousand other little things.
Both heads installed and torqued/angled in the proper sequence. Next time I do this, it'll be with the $800 reuseable stud kit because screw this angle stuff... until you witness the breaker bar bending at a disturbing angle, you won't understand... I don't mind the angle portion itself, mind you... it's really a simple process. But the force needed to exert on the bolts is absolutely crazy.
Did you clean out the bolt holes before putting new bolts in? Funk in the holes makes them more difficult to torque fully. I have a HF degree tool and 3' breaker bar just for LSx cyl heads. Makes short work of them. I keep an old bolt with a flute cut down the length of it via cutoff wheel. A cordless drill puts it in and pulls it out in no time so cleaning the holes doesnt take long. Alum blocks are prone to cracking if a headbolt hydrolocks under torque
Also, the stock bolts can take an incredible amount of force. My dad misunderstood me when torquing the heads on his 5.3. First pass 25lb/ft, then 180* then 180* more. They didnt break and are holding up fine. Not sure if they'll ever come out of there, but whatever its just a 5.3
Yup. All threads chased properly. Also, it's an iron block.
All of my quick progress has come to yet another screeching halt. My setback plates are completely wrong. Not only do they set back maybe a half inch, but they put the clamshells to where 1 bolt will go through 1 mount, but the other is about a half inch too high up and won't fit. So frickin pissed about this... I'd have had the car running by Sunday if it wasn't for this. Now I have to try to find another set and beg whoever is selling them to ship it next day so I can try to have it in by Tuesday... WAY behind the schedule I thought I'd be following.
Got some scrap steel or know where a metal dealer is?
I got tired of looking for dims with the offset holes so I drew this up. It uses two pieces of metal, 4.5"x8" roughly. 1/4" plate steel is preferred. These use the SBC clamshells with the stock V8 mount locations on the K-member
You can also go this route using smaller plates, but moving the mounts to the V6 position. This opens up the possibility of low mount AC. He did not offset the SBC holes so the rubber mount will be tricky to line up if new/poly
So, I've been silent for the past week... forgive me. But, you'll see why.
Took vacation last week. First time in a while I've had paid vacation, the plans my wife and I had are all moot since she's used up all hers being at the hospital with our daughter (update on that shortly), and I figured why not... I can't save it. And I still have a week of it.
So, without further ado, here's how my week went:
Friday 6/5, one of my best friends and I spent hours trying to get the engine in the car. As you know, setback plates were completely wrong.
Saturday 6/6, Had a wedding to go to, but afterwards a co-worker buddy (who I convinced to do an LS swap into his second gen) came over, and brought his mounts that came with the 5.3 he bought. We made a deal... if they worked with my application, I'd buy him brand new ones (that work).
Well, it worked.
Not only did they work, they gave the right amount of clearance as opposed to the other ones I have. Plus, these were adjustable!
Passenger side:
After checking all the fitment, we pulled it back out and got started on putting the clutch setup together, as well as installing the bellhousing.
I was going to try to install the engine and trans together, but realized that with the Russell adapters for the slave, combined with the fact that I ran the hydraulic line through the cabin, it wouldn't work. So, we got the engine in by itself, and worked until about 3:45am on stabbing the trans. It happened as it usually does.. several hours benchpressing (even with the trans jack I have), wiggling, changing angles etc. I was spent at about 3:30... we rested and talked about revisiting it the following day.. tired of dealing with it, I grabbed the tailshaft, pushed up, wiggled slightly, and gave it a good shove and it *thunked* into place. Trans installed.
Sunday 6/7: Got to work on installing as much as I could. With help, we got damn near everything on, and worked for about 14-15 hours. Several set backs, lots of frustration, and no where near close to getting it started like I thought. But got it all buttoned up underneath, front accessories installed (needed a pulley installer to fully seat the P/S pulley), and it looks like an engine again!
Spent most of Monday finishing up a few things, then had a graduation to go to.
Tuesday, we filled up fluids, got the short shifter installed, several MORE trips to O'reilly, different belt had to be bought etc... Went to start it for the first time... and nothing.
Turned over just fine, but wouldn't fire up. Fast forward 3 days over trying to figure out what's going on, bugging Pocket multiple times with questions ( HUGE shout out to him for taking the time to help me), taking the PCM out to the guys I'm having dyno tune the car to check it, and overall general frustration. Fuel pump wouldn't turn on, coils weren't firing, and I was a knucklehead and COMPLETELY forgot to check for codes... even though I know the first step is always check codes, it hadn't fully registered that I could do that now. Big, glaring CKP code. Even though the sensor was new, it wasn't seating fully and wasn't registering. so, another trip to O'reilly, dropped the starter, swapped out the sensors (much easier with the new one.. popped right in), hooked everything back up, pushed the car out and tried to start. And she did!
Btw, fuel pump still wasn't being turned on by PCM, even though output voltage was good so I ran a wire direct from battery through a fuse and a switch straight to the pump for now.
Wouldn't stay running, and it was due to a bad IAC valve sticking, so there went another $100 bucks... but we got her running! She hunts for idle, and dumps fuel when you get on it, but she's angry and mean and totally worth all of the effort.
https://www.facebook.com/tamrahennatx/videos/10206877917776794/?pnref=story
https://www.facebook.com/david.oliver.1650/videos/10200659636131044/
Hoping to pick it up from the exhaust shop tonight. Friday is my dyno appointment. Can't wait. The rest of the this week is putting the interior back together, wait on my seats to get done, put some miles on it, and enjoy what I just built!
As for our daughter, I know this isn't entirely to do with this forum, but some of you know and I figured it can't hurt. She got a liver transplant last Thursday, and it went extremely well. She should be able to come home Friday evening! :-)
Last edited by R13_Braz; Jun 15, 2015 at 11:20 AM.
After burping the crap out of the block (lots and lots of air), I finally got it to where the sensor wasn't screaming that it was overheating. Cruising the 7 miles, in traffic, to the exhaust shop kept it right at 180 the whole way. Second fan didn't kick on at all. Which is a breath of fresh air.
Also, I picked up a set of 241 heads for $150. They need cleaning, but overall in good shape. I'll have these cleaned up, milled down, valve seats cleaned up and new valves, and they'll be ready to go for the boost build! Have a broken exhaust stud like almost all LS heads I've encountered, but that'll be an easy fix.
Very nice! I love the pics of all the parts in your house! Why have candles and other junk when you can have engine parts and oil and good stuff! excited to see dyno results. What are you hoping for? Again, Great build.
Thank you! I'm hoping for 400rw. But, even 380 or so is way better than what I had before.
With a crappy stock LS1 tune, and open headers, it hauls some serious butt as-is. It tried to go sideways on me in second gear when I punched it. Going to have them set the limiter at 7k.
I have a very understanding and supportive wife. lol. Everything on the table, and against the wall is pretty much gone now. Still a mess, but she indulges my goals so I have no complaints.
Being honest here... I'm still surprised I got this together and actually running. Even open headers, it drives pretty well. My camber is off on both wheels, but I eye-balled the toe pretty spot on and everything is really smooth on the road.
For those who are checking in and have done the T56 swap...
What did you decide to go with in terms of dealing with the friction zone? I'm using the stock 3rd gen Master and the LS1 slave with -3 russell fittings and line and my friction zone is not quite halfway down. I'd say almost 1/3 of the way when it disengages. I'm used to having to go to the floor, so it was a very interesting experience. DISCLAIMER: Don't go to the floor! lol. It wouldn't go or stay in gear if I went to the floor.
Some of the solutions I've seen: Place a spacer between firewall and MC to move the pedal... make the rod adjustable etc, add a spacer to the slave (not only no, but hell no. I HATE stabbing transmissions on the ground...). I can get used to it now that I know what's going on, but if I can do a quick fix that'd be nice.
Thanks! Dyno appointment set for Friday 10am. It'll take them a few hours, but the end result should be excellent. Can't wait for it to idle on it's own! haha
Great job man! Pretty sweet feeling first time you get to fire it up. Glad to hear your daughter is doing well. As far as the clutch engagment, I went with a tick master which was pricey but well worth it. But the engagment for that is defently not to the floor lol(also the biggest pain of my swap along with the t56). But looking forward to seeing your results from dyno day.
We'll see if I even make it now.... got it back from the exhaust shop, and decided to drive it around some while I could before it rained. Took it up the highway a few miles and back and stopped to fill up. As I was leaving the gas station, I gave it a little throttle in first gear (damn, this cam wakes up around 4.5k) and then I started hearing this really bad rattle. Thought it might have been related to my clutch, but as I was nearing the house it really started acting up and sounding bad. Couldn't keep it idling and had to force it into the garage.
Sigh. The sound follows the RPM's, but it's not a knock. Possibly something loose, which I don't get. Pulled the passenger valve cover immediately (big mistake... that was hot), and none of the rockers felt loose or moved much. Unless I can pinpoint what the problem is, I'll have to yet again postpone the dyno.
Oh, and also found out neither of my O2's are reading. Passenger side I get, as the harness seems to have fallen down and attached itself to the header. But the driver side doesn't make sense.
Well, I know exactly what the cause is.. and I figured out how it happened as well.
I present to you: the culprit!
And a side by side:
My hypothesis: After reaching about 5600-5800 rpm, some debris got caught in the bearings and locked it up and then the roller proceeded to skip across the cam. Didn't collapse, which in this case really sucks. Cam is scored, but I don't know exactly how bad yet. Planning on removing it tonight and then taking it to a machine shop tomorrow to see if it can be polished. Let's hope it can.
When I took it out, we couldn't figure out what caused the failure at first... figured something else had to have caused it since it rolled smooth. But, when I was rolling it back and forth without thinking about it, I suddenly felt the binding of the needle bearings.
Keep in mind, the engine has 28 miles on it. Pretty disappointed in that fact, but it is what it is. Even after cleaning before install, it failed. So, it was just it's time. No more used lifters from now on. lol
Pulled the cam out Thursday night... and boy, was I really pissed... 5 lobes were damaged. 5!! I obviously did something very, very wrong because the chances of that happening are incredibly low. So pissed with this situation... mainly because I could have avoided this whole mess if I had just not been a cheap *** and shelled out for the LS7 lifters in the first place.
Luckily, there's a shop local that specializes in repairing and regrinding cams. Have been doing it over 50 years, so I took the cam to him Friday morning, picked it up that afternoon. $40, and it looks brand new. I called 5 different machine shops around town and asked how much to polish it up, and every single one said they take cams to this guy. I HAD a picture, but somehow it got way blurry and I didn't notice until after I had dropped the cam off. DOH!
ARP bolts are in, got the lifters and cam ready... need to pull the driver side head, then start the reinstall. Hoping to have it back together and running by Tuesday night. Still have so much to do with the interior, cleaning up the wiring in the bay, fixing the fuel pump problem... lol
I'm not about to let this setback keep me from finishing! lol. I tasted the untuned power, and can't wait for the tuned power. Besides, I have a vision for this car, and an ultimate goal. Not about to let a set of lifters kill it for me.
Raced a 5th gen SS on the highway Tuesday night before the lifters died doing a rolling 60 and smoked him pretty bad. Maybe he was new to his car, but I was amazed at how much pull this thing has. I couldn't NOT do it... lol.. he slowed down big time and came over 2 lanes to sneer at the car. /shrug
Edit: Oh, and figured out the O2's... I bought truck O2's, not F-body. lol. So, I've got the correct ones now. I don't expect to have any other issues on that side. Every other sensor worked, and all the diag tests except the O2's were completed. Closed loop, here I come! LOL!
If the harness got cooked to a header it could ground out the HO2 heater wires and pop the emissions fuse. That links both HO2s and the reverse lock solenoid. Might want to double check the fuse before calling it good
No worries, I already planned on it. From a brief look at it, it was just the insulation that got cooked. With the headers out of the car again, I'm going to reroute the wiring some more to prevent this problem in the future.
I did on the driver side, but guess I missed it on the passenger side. Which kind of sucks, but oh well. Live and learn.
Now, the REAL problem... or problems, actually.
Has anyone experienced the knock sensors getting stuck and the inner part of the sensor where the socket goes spinning freely of the outside, therefore making it impossible to remove with a socket? I tried jb welding the two halves together, and now I've broken both of them apart in the inside and started drilling to try to get an easy-out in there... any suggestions or advice?
Second, and this is the really, really sucky part... 1 of the lifters fell into the motor and down in the oil pan. I really have no desire at all to pull the engine back out if I can avoid it. Once I get the valley cover off, I might try my hand a fishing to see if I can grab it, but if that doesn't work I'm debating options. I know I could get the car in the air, suspend the engine and trans with my cherry picker, and drop the k-member down enough to access the pan bolts and get it opened enough to get in there. My fear is it landed on the windage tray instead of falling into the pan...
And to think.. all of this could have been avoided if I had just gone with the LS7's first.... lol
Has anyone experienced the knock sensors getting stuck and the inner part of the sensor where the socket goes spinning freely of the outside, therefore making it impossible to remove with a socket? I tried jb welding the two halves together, and now I've broken both of them apart in the inside and started drilling to try to get an easy-out in there... any suggestions or advice?
Drill a small hole through the outer part of the sensors and run a screw/bolt through them to pin the top/bottom halves together. Use 2-3 pins if they still wont move
Second, and this is the really, really sucky part... 1 of the lifters fell into the motor and down in the oil pan. I really have no desire at all to pull the engine back out if I can avoid it. Once I get the valley cover off, I might try my hand a fishing to see if I can grab it, but if that doesn't work I'm debating options. I know I could get the car in the air, suspend the engine and trans with my cherry picker, and drop the k-member down enough to access the pan bolts and get it opened enough to get in there. My fear is it landed on the windage tray instead of falling into the pan...
That really stinks. Hopefully its not stuck on the crank/rods and actually made it to the bottom. Either way the pan needs to come off, not fun with the stock K-member. Ghettocruiser had a good thread showing an engine bar he used to support everything while the K-member was removed. You just need to lower it enough to get the pan off, not remove completely, so lots can stay connected like struts, steering etc
I'll give it a try tonight. I don't know if I can get one that small in there.
As for the lifter, I heard it hit bottom. Nice, loud clang. Fishing first, and if that doesn't work then I'll just have to knuckle up and start the process. sigh
That's the end goal, still.
Big, glaring CKP code. Even though the sensor was new, it wasn't seating fully and wasn't registering. so, another trip to O'reilly, dropped the starter, swapped out the sensors (much easier with the new one.. popped right in), hooked everything back up, pushed the car out and tried to start. And she did! 
