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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.
I mounted this near my shifter to allow eyes free volume adjustments. RCA inline. and less then 10 bucks.
Nice. I might go with something alittle cleaner. The tablet is well within reach but I might put a bluetooth volume controller on my steering wheel or somewhere near by so I can adjust the volume on the tablet vs the amp.
I was thinking of getting the same kicker speakers.Let me know how you feel about them.
I'm sure they are fine, these are discontinued but they are the older model of what just came out. At $50 for kicker 6x9 and has slightly more power handling than the newer version. I have the newest version in my truck I just swapped like 2 months ago and they work really well. My Amp should be doubling power to each of these compared to my rams stock headunit so it should be pretty loud.
Phew! Speakers are mounted and wired. Just need to make the connections at the amp. i ran into a few snags during the install.
1. Front 4x6s the speaker connectors were uber tiny and old/short patched together crap. Lucky I had kicker speaker harnesses left over from my recent ram upgrade and used those. Wired in the 800hz bass blockers when I soldered it all together. So these bass blockers are rated at 800hz at 4 ohm and 400hz at 8 ohm... so if I'm running 2ohm then these should be doing 1000-1200hz right?
2. Speaker install... not very fun contorting myself around a 8pt roll bar. The speakers look good but 2 holes didn't line up with the stock holes/clips. I ended up getting 3 to work and just said screw it and drilled the last hole with the speaker mounted. Why don't all 6x9s just use the same mount pattern/spacing... geez.
3. Rear speaker covers... ugh! I had originally cut the speaker area open years and years ago as I had sone Sony xplode popping through. But I had filled those in and covered them with pleather. Pleather doesn't let sound through... sooo I had to open the holes again and then cut the speaker openings through the pleather and re wrap the inside area. Not the worst as I've done it before and the hole was already cut as I just glued in a filler peice. Now the speakers are out in the open again and should sound great.
4. Power and ground and REM are run and connected to the amp. Just speaker connections are left. And I've started putting the dash and other panels back on.
I took the metal case of the potentiometer apart. I didn't use the case, just the curcuit board and RCAs this made it a very small unit.
The blue arrow in the picture shows how I mounted it. There is a lock nut on behind the **** just like the nitrous rocker switch, that holds them firmly in place. Then the **** pushes on, it has a little arrow if wanted.
The radio/heater area I made a panel that has multiple magnets on the back that clicks into the factory push clips. Just slip a piece of metal into back of any tablet or phone (or the case) and it will stay nicely and removed instantly.
There is a Bluetooth receiver in the ash tray, as well as a headphone jack with a jack splitter going to the "Volume" ****.
Very Nice! That is a much cleaner install for the ****. I like the magnet idea as well. I have a tablet mount that moves the table out and up and allows me to tilt and move it and makes using it/viewing it much easier. I put an ABS panel over the original and used tiny screws to mount it. So it locks down like stock.
If i did what you did I would need to get a 6ft RCA cable to connect from the **** to the amp and then run my tablet 3.5mm to the **** with my RCA cord I have.
Do you have more info on the bluetooth receiver and the jack splitter? Do you get FM radio? I'm not sure if I want FM radio yet... but I dont want to be limited to using the same old music on my tablet. I also dont want to worry about streaming pandora or something and blowing through my data.
Ouch... $30!!! I was thinking more like $12-16. The annoying part is that all these need to be charged. Something I need to remember to do or have it hooked up constantly. Maybe rig up a cigarette port by the amp under the rear seat that uses 12v switched so it charges when the key is on only.
I took apart a cigerette adapter (low amp on) and have my adapter plugged in all the time (keyon), they don't use much power. I have had this set up a few years now, there might be more out there... but the auto connect is a feature that was hard to find. and the Auto on and off with a switched power is great too.
I usually leave my phone in my pocket so that was a very desireable feature, for me.
Well I ended up getting the Bluetooth adapter that fun recommended and the 3.5mm splitters. Got everything Saturday but haven't done that yet but everything looks good.
I finished the wiring ring on the sound system and got some crazy hum through the speakers. I had the gain set on the amp at 1/2 way. I decided to add a switch inline on the switched 12v so I can kill the amp when I don't want music and just want to hear the motor. I ended up turning down the gain to 1/3 and most of the hum is gone.
I plastidipped some used cup holders I got off the forum and installed the driver side. Gona be so great having those.
i swapped out my rear camera for a smaller less noticable camera and think it turned out great. I also added a real carbon fiber license plate frame to frame the plate and shrink it alittle.
Finnally got some distilled water and filled the cooling system with new prestone dillutted to -10 and added wetter.
Some more updates! As of prob over a week the engine has been running. It isn't running great so I've been busy diagnosing the issue. Seems that tuning this cam is harder than I thought and I'm fighting a loss of vacuum yet I have no leaks that I'm able to find. Engine idling will only pull 13.3-13.6" of vacuum or 55-60kpa MAP reading. Cam motion said it should pull 19" vacuum but my stock cam only pulled 19" vacuum at 550rpms. So far I have been able to tune the idle to 650-750rpms but as stated vacuum is low and idle isn't the best and overall it sounds alittle off. Thinking my pushrods are too long as I didn't measure them with the cam and new heads but now it seems like lifter preload is .078" when it shouldn't be higher than .060" with the morel 5315s. Sweet spot is .050-.060 so I ordered some new 7.375" moly pushrods and hope that solves the vacuum issue as I feel like they are keeping the valves open and causing a vacuum leak.
But other stuff had happened. New sound system works and I'm looking into adding the Bluetooth now. I have added dual 3rd brake lights, large one is only when brake is activated and the small one is on when the running lights are on. They are pretty bright and work with the angle of the glass so being able to see when I brake is always a plus.
Ive also been working on a new fog light setup but seems like I might not like it. Pics of course lol but they are dual intensity LEDs so if I don't use them I can always add them to my truck or something. I've also changed out all my last remaining interior bulbs (overhead and rear cargo to Red LEDs) I've also added a large red LED for interior up lighting.
Got some more done on the car. New pushrods showed up but they were so out of spec I can't use them so they will be returned. Ordered some BTR 7.375 pushrods and hopefully they don't take too long to get here.
i scrapped my fog light idea... I just didn't like how it looked. Going to use those LEDs for reverse lighting or something on my truck.
New fog lights and they fully done and installed. I figured out I could get my 2.5" bixenon projectors in the fog light area and some mini graphite shrouds looked awsome. Took no more work to retrofit them into the fog light housing... just enlarged the hole and dremeled out some of the plastic for clearance. Installed some 3000k morimoto XB h1 bulbs and left the ballasts and wiring as it was. Plugged in and they throw a lot of yellow light but have a great cutoff so no more blinding
i had to re-aim my headlights and somehow the brackets shifted and caused them to be off. So I fixed everything and got them all lined up. I will have to adjust final height/aim once it's on the ground. New 35w densos fire up real quick = instant brightness.
Also got the bluetooth adapter wired up and installed and tested it out. Works great! I knotched the plastic inside the cigarette lighter and left it alone otherwise. Got a dual side port cig adapter and just run off the one side. But the other side is open if I need it but not sure if it's accessible.
Comparison left side blinding above
Huge difference in output, beam pattern is crazt wide compared to the reflector housing
Both done! Think it gives it a more sinister look
Just the fog lights
quad projector headlights & fogs
Last edited by customblackbird; 04-12-2017 at 09:04 PM.
Made some progress. I have officially swapped my last set of pushrods... ended up with 7.350. Motor is all back together and started it and seems to be running good. Vacuum is still low 13.6-14" but I guess that's what I'm going to get with this cam.
I have also tried something to help with BOV noise as it gets unbearable and draws slot of attention. Used some UNI air filter foam 65ppi to help muffle the noise.
I have also added some slim 5630 backup lights to the underside of the rear bumper as my new rear camera is not IR. They can't be seen from any angle of the car but light it up well enough to see everything from the side mirrors and the camera. Will get some night shots tonight when it's dark.
Other than that the car is ready to come down off the jack stands.
Got some night shots of the lights. Pretty bright but has a sharp cutoff. You can see the backup camera and how it lights up compared to the pitch black front camera.
Also got these cheap plug wire covers/heatshields and had to modify them to fit but should work.
Looking good man. You're going to have to post up some videos of you driving it around and with some pulls. I thought I was about done with my swap but I might have to go this route now.
Well I've been very busy with the car. It's up on stands again and has been for a few weeks. I swapped out the off center flexplate for another SFI flexplate and hope it will work. It still caught the bellhousing slightly but it fit around the crank just as tight as the OE one. Since then I've also made a lot of changes to the engine supercharger cold side.
I ditched the FMIC and I'm going full on water air! I've just finished up the cold side plumbing tonight and started running the water lines. It consists of the following.
Cx racing 12x11x4.5 intercooler good for 1000+ hp
two vibrant tight radius aluminum 90 bends
1 gallon fabbed aluminum swirl tank for reservoir
toyota Prius inverter coolant pump (5.19 gallons a min) brush less and pushes like 3 GPM through my exchanger.
14x18x1.5" heat exchanger
50ft of 3/4" ID Heater hose
10 22mm tension clamps
ebay programmable time delay controller
expansion tank for air bleeding and filling
3/4"X1/2"NPT 90 degree barbs and 1/2" NPT plugs
everything is mounted and installed except the electrical and i need to finish running the hose and mounting the expansion tank.
I had to fit the heat exchanger between the rad and tranny cooler due to its dimensions. And I added a 11" SPAL pusher fan to the front of the tranny cooler. My only worry is that the tranny cooler with blow warm air on the heat exchanger and affect its efficiency. Fan will more than likely be controller by a manual switch as well as the high temp coolant fan pcm control.
The goal was to get better IAT temps and open up everything in front of the radiator. I was seeing 30-50* over ambient with the smaller intercoooler and it was decreasing air temps by 30* or so. The water air should do much better!
Thanks, it was a PITA! I have had 3 different layouts but this is the best its going to get. Trying to keep the BOV located before the intercooler and having spots for both IAT sensors pre and post IC as well as a meth injection point was fun :/
I cant run the STB thanks to the 4.5" core but I ordered a used IC the same as twinturbo used in his build and might try to get that to work but it uses 2.5" inlets/outlets and this one is 3" and all my clamps, tubing and bends are 3". But the 2.5" is 1" thinner and it will prob fit on the driver side with more piping across the front. Not for this summer tho I want to drive the **** out of this thing already.
She's all done! Started her up and she was running 19.5:1 yikes!!! She was idling 14:15:1 with the FMIC so the new setup must be flowing a lot more air! I richened her up and she's idling in the 14.7-15.1:1 range and happy. Ran her up to operating temp and was seeing 115-100*F pre and post IC and engine IAT in the 90s with lots of starting and stopping in a tent with 70* ambient. Got some heat soak in the pre and post intercooler IATs so I wrapped everything in double sided foil HVAC insulation and aluminum tape. I then plasti dipped the top half of the IC bs it was wayyy to shiny. Wrapped the 2 pipes with the IATs located in them and wrapped the reservoir as well. I put capacity at 2 gallons with DEI intercooler super coolant. I don't think it was hot enough bc when I activated the pump and circulated the IC water I didn't see much temp drop.
Going to take her to work tmrw and see how her temps do.
Been taking her out prob 3 times last week and so far so good. IAT temps are slightly warmer than the A2A but they are very consistent. I'm seeing 90-111*F on a 80+ degree day with a good bit of idling at lights etc. when in boost the IATS drop and meth kicks in and I will see another 11-14*F drop with about 450-550ml injection nozzle during boost. I just stepped that up to about 750ml nozzle but haven't had her out yet.
Im looking into throwing more pump at the intercooler setup. I didn't flow test the system in the car with all the hoses/fittings and the IC but with just the heat exchanger I was seeing 3.5gpm so I would assume I'm less than that. I'm not dropping a lot of coin on a new pump so I'm looking at my options. People on LS1tech are recommending the ewp150 but I'm running tiny 3/4" lines and I don't think I have anywhere near the capacity to use that not to mention the flow of that doesn't like pressure. Assuming a standard 6psi restriction on my system which is typical. So I've been looking at the EBP40. 37lph or 9.77gpm but should flow 25-35lph or 6.5-8gpm at .7bar or 10psi. It's a brushless motor so super long life , low amps and no seals to leak.
Good news is that I saw 9.91psi on my datalog at 5600rpms so that means I only lost about 2psi with the cam and heads which seems more on par with what was expected. The car makes a lot more power through all Rpms so it's doing pretty well. My only issue is that it's pulling 2* timing about 80% of the time that I'm in boost due to knock. I've maxed out knock retard to 2* bc it would pull max all the time and kill my power. I personally think it's false knock so I can either figure out how to desensitize the knock sensors even more and keep the 2* or slightly more or just zero out the table and hope for the best which is not ideal. My timing is set to 18* total at WOT so I'm usually only seeing 16-17 at WOT which I don't think is aggressive.
I have to look, I know I limited total knock to 2* and burst knock might be at 0. I just find it odd that the stock tune and stock 150k knock senors showed no knock ever. Cam and heads and new knock sensors and I'm getting knock. Prob the old ones didnt work but the pistons and plugs looked great.
i had been driving the car and ended up going with the Davis Craig EBP 40 and man that thing moves a lot of water and it's quiet and soft start. I had to start a large house Renovation so I had to park the firebird which got blocked by a large dumpster so for the last 3-4 weeks I've been working on the house. But I wanted to make some changes to the car from my last trip about 1.5hrs each way. I Knoticed that my tune is pretty good except for startups both hot and cold. My intercooler is getting alittle heat soaked being above the engine where my IAT sensors are giving me elevated readings. So since I have no room under the hood to move the intercooler I had to relocate the battery out back. Made my own kit for about $100 with 1/0 welding wire and a large 7x11 battery tray. Turned out pretty good and should work well.
now that I got more room with the battery gone I'm going to stuff the intercooler where the battery was to get it off the engine and get the IAT sensors off the top of the motor. Some slight cutting and removal of a small peice of the battery tray and it's in. This is the only way it will really fit and it does so with less tuning and bends. I need another 45degree coupler which I just ordered and will cut it up when it arrives. I drilled and tapped the one side of the intercooler to house the pre intercooler IAT sensor as I don't have any room to put one before. Using my meth injection coupler and the BOV coupler everything fits. Hopefully this will help with heat soak and it also opens up the top of the engine bay for access to my oil fill tube and oil dipstick which I didn't have before.
Just waiting on the coupler and I'm going to redo the water lines. Since it's about the same height as my water tank I might get rid of the full tank/surge tank at the firewall.
I also picked up a new NNBS truck intake and a WARR 92mm billet throttle body. That will be going on over the winter most likely. I'm also sick of tuning this thing so I'm highly considering the new FITECH LS self tuning PCM/harness which is boost capable for a mere $700-800. And let it tune the car and be done with it. I know upgrading the intake and TB will net me more than 20hp over my stock stuff but tuning a large TB with the stock PCM is challenging and I don't want to deal with that. That's why I'm considering the FITECH.
Finished her up late last night and drove her to work this morning. Wasn't able to get on it at all really. Tried to simplify the intercooler ester plumbing but realized I couldn't get all the air out of the system so I had to plumb the expansion tank back in. She works and constantly bleeds the air.
Hows she sound when you get on it? Maybe get a video on some idle and some quick pulls? Really trying to decide on sell my car, turbo or put this supercharger on it.
She sound real good. You dont hear the supercharger at all. only at idle can you hear the straight cut gears alittle. Its all exhaust honestly. The dynomax ultra SS muffler is more throaty than the summit catback chambered muffler but sounds good. I personally have nothing negative to say about the supercharger... has given me zero issues and my mind is at ease as its made right here in the USA. The CX china stuff scares the crap out of me but the price is great.
It makes boost super quick too which is great and she goessssss! I mean if you could bolt on 12psi in 1 day and not change your exhaust its pretty crazy. Something like 75% power increase at 12psi. I could prob get some idle clips but pulls will be difficult as my DriftHD720 is obsolete and I cant get a replacement battery for it.
Was really hoping to hear the super charger haha, I think my cam is a bit on the big side and not real boost friendly but i got a deal on it so i cant complain. I think id swap out and sell my ls1 intake and put my truck intake on. Probably port and polish the heads but i might just swap in the Sc or turbo. Really cant decice on things atm. Every time I start my car up all i can think of is "do i really want to sell it"
Was really hoping to hear the super charger haha, I think my cam is a bit on the big side and not real boost friendly but i got a deal on it so i cant complain. I think id swap out and sell my ls1 intake and put my truck intake on. Probably port and polish the heads but i might just swap in the Sc or turbo. Really cant decice on things atm. Every time I start my car up all i can think of is "do i really want to sell it"
no worries. Here's a video I just took after work. What I mean is u can't hear the supercharger from the inside of the car over my exhaust. Outside you can hear the supercharger lol.
no worries. Here's a video I just took after work. What I mean is u can't hear the supercharger from the inside of the car over my exhaust. Outside you can hear the supercharger lol.
... the whole build came out sweet, well done. Idle clip sounds great.
Hit me up if you want to run me w/some highway pulls, like you I no longer waste my time at the track either. Boring as hell, not to mention have no free time for that anymore.
updating this but might start a new thread for the new setup. Supercharger was fun and ran good! Was making 10ish psi at 6k and drove it around all summer to work/shows and some errands. Yanked the supercharger for a CX turbo kit. Going to save the supercharger for another 5.3 I'm building. I want more power and the supercharger is maxed out, think i was around 480-500rwhp and looking for 600rwhp and 12-14psi.
CX hotside, 76/65 .81AR journal turbo, recirculated WG into the DP. Just mocked up the turbo system and the flex coupler rests on the fan and the truck tensioner spacing puts the belt resting on the crossover. So going to hack up the crossover to push it closer to the block on the driver side and add the section I cut out to the pass side to push it out away from the tensioner. Then I will figure out the WG dump recirculation. Then the pipes all get wrapped and turbo blanket goes on.The charge piping is going to need to be figured out as the turbo comes out in a different area of course! Then I need to hack up the down pipe at the back of the block to tie into the 3" catback with a 3" electric cutout.
Ive also wired up 70% of the new Fitech ultimate LS engine management system (self learning and self tuning to 30psi boost). So far engine side is run just need to do exhaust bungs and PCM hook ups for power/ground yadda yadda. Its a really nice kit for the money and the PCM is tiny compared to the stocker!!
Engine is also getting a new NNBS 90mm stock truck intake for more power! This also gets a custom set of billet fuel rails with ICT billet injector spacers using the same bosh 60lb/72lb injectors. Due to the new 90mm intake opening it wouldnt make sense for the stock ported 75mm TB to go back on so I got a 92mm WARR billet TB and bolted it up. Worked on the TV cable bracket and need to fab up a throttle cable bracket for the intake.
So mods are:
CX turbo kit 76/65 turbo, crossover mods, WG recirculation, downpipe to exhaust
Fitech ultimate LS EFI kit (self learning and 30psi capable)
3" ebay electric cutout
rework cold side
50mm Tial copy BOV
NNBS intake, 92mm TB, custom fuel rails, TV cable bracket for TB and intake, 3bar MAP sensor
So I mocked up the turbo kit for fitment as seen in the pics. The new intake is bolted down and mounted and fuel rails are done. pressure tested at 58psi and no leaks! I did drop fuel pressure to 43psi so they are now 60lb injectors vs 72lb at 58psi. Just need to mod the cross over,WG, DP, 02 bungs and make the throttle bracket for the intake. Will wrap all the exhaust and finish up the wiring. Exhaust and cutout afterward and then play with the Fitech tune and get her started!
Yea the logs show on light/medium throttle in to 100kpa at 3k. I can’t really get any load on it on heavy throttle as you can see the cars tires just break loose. These are 275/45r18 sumimoto HRZ IIs and still pretty new, a decent summer Performance tire. My only other option is a drag radial but I’d rather the tires break free vs breaking parts.
The other problem is the 5.3 with the 218/228 custom blower cam the rpm just zings to 6k like an animal lol. Hard to keep it down low but it cruises on the highway at 80mph at 2300 Rpms like a champ. The guys at the show said they thought it was stock when I pulled in lol, till I popped the hood.
No, you want traction. Tires breaking free = loss of control. You do that at higher speed and it is only a matter of time until the car ends up in the ditch. You've got a fast car now and need to have a LOT of respect for it or you'll lose it.
Mickey Thompson is a real drag radial. The Nitto, Toyo, and the like are just glorified summer tires. But there really is no such thing as a "street" drag radial. They are a race tire and street driving kills them. I have to buy a set every few months (way before tread is gone). And traction is only temporary until tire surface is reconditioned again. But I am really hard on tires because I do a lot of short throttle bursts that cold spin/scrub the tires. And driving in rain is pretty sketchy (don't ever want to do it again).
For what it's worth, I think your car got out of shape way too fast. Probably need to spend time on suspension, squaring things up, and corner weighting. My car would have gone straight down the road spinning like that. And getting out of shape with sticky tires can make for a real wild ride so even more reason to work on it.
No, you want traction. Tires breaking free = loss of control. You do that at higher speed and it is only a matter of time until the car ends up in the ditch. You've got a fast car now and need to have a LOT of respect for it or you'll lose it.
Mickey Thompson is a real drag radial. The Nitto, Toyo, and the like are just glorified summer tires. But there really is no such thing as a "street" drag radial. They are a race tire and street driving kills them. I have to buy a set every few months (way before tread is gone). And traction is only temporary until tire surface is reconditioned again. But I am really hard on tires because I do a lot of short throttle bursts that cold spin/scrub the tires. And driving in rain is pretty sketchy (don't ever want to do it again).
For what it's worth, I think your car got out of shape way too fast. Probably need to spend time on suspension, squaring things up, and corner weighting. My car would have gone straight down the road spinning like that. And getting out of shape with sticky tires can make for a real wild ride so even more reason to work on it.
While I would agree that traction is good, my stock ford 28 spline axles do not think thats a good idea. I dont do that often, car show and guys wanting to hear it roar, figured open 2 lanes and low speed it would be ok. I agree tho its scary when the *** end kicks out on you and ive had it swing around and bust rims/break axles/bend axle tubes so I have respect for it. Normally the car sticks straight when the tires break loose (going up decent speeds to a highway on ramp) but i'm already going like 40 and then get one it. This was more of a creep and then get in it really quickly (low speed and lots of tire spin) prob caused it to push out... who knows. The suspension is all done, vogtland springs, UMI tubular front LCA, racecraft moly kmember, Wonder bar, STB, KYB agx struts, founders rear LCA, Founders PHB,Viking double adjustable shocks, shorty tq arm, SFC, roll bar etc. Car handles great most of the time on the street, I'm sure its not setup well for gobs of power and straight lines but then again you can't have your cake and eat it too.
I ran MT streets 295/65/15 on this car back in the day and they stuck good, however like you've stated the car is ONLY street driven and the tires wont last long at all. I try not to take it out when its wet already but it does happen to get a spritz when its parked like when I'm at work.
Ive read that the falken Azenis are pretty good balance of grip and wear plus wet traction. I thought about stepping up to 18x10.5 but feel like its going to be tight in the rear of the car and going with a 305 style tire. My 18x9.5s won't accept that large of a tire tho I dont think.
03-30-2017, 06:26 AM
