Well here we go. I've had this Firebird in pieces for over 10 years. At the time, it was taken apart in a previous "resto-mod" attempt. Unfortunately it didn't work out. You've probably heard that story before. The car spent years sitting in a garage as a big pile of rubble, until I've decided to give it another go recently. I hope to post some pictures of the progress here in the coming time.

At this point I've spent weeks sorting out the wiring, repairing where needed (with the service manual and TGO by my side). It seems to be going somewhere. I've bought a very low-mile LS3 engine (2010 Camaro), a new 4L70E transmission, and the Hawks LS swap kit, a torque converter and a flexplate. I'm about ready to order something to control the new engine/transmission.

It turns out I have received a 17-pin transmission, something I didn't even know existed. I wanted the Terminator X-Max system, but according to Holley it can't control a 17-pin transmission. I am now considering Speartech, they can support the LS3/4L70E as a turn-key solution with harness and new E38 and T42 computers. They even offer a cruise-control option. Or..... I can have an adventurous go at that too, and have two random E38 and T42 computers reprogrammed to an OS that would work together. Then order a PSI conversion harness. Then buy HP Tuners to finalize / finetune the setup. I've never done it, but it sounds fun and I have some experience in working with OBD-scanners and flashing firmwares in devices.
Edit: Holley Terminator X now supports 2009+ 17-pin transmissions with the optional 558-455 adapter cable)

 

No advice to give, but wanted to give you kudos for getting started on your project again. I'm in the same boat and wonder sometimes if it's really worth it at this point. Take your time, choose simplicity when you can, and remember that this is a hobby and not a race in itself. Glad to see another bird getting refreshed

 

Well thank you 3.1EyeCandy ! I've decided to try and just see where it goes. This time I'll do it one step at a time indeed.
I'm afraid that "worth"-point was already passed a few years ago. I still like the looks of these cars. And I still would like to finish this and have a "cool" car.

 

Here's a bit of warming up. A decade ago I've decided that it would be "cool" to have certain parts powder-coated. Surprisingly, the sales guy sold me it was actually possible to powder-coat items like springs. He told me the coating wouldn't crack, even with the spring compressed. I wouldn't do it today, but as the work was already done back then, I've researched ways to somehow put clear finish on the powder-coat. I found an article somewhere that stated clear primer for plastic garden chairs could be used on powder-coats. Well. On top of that another layer of clear coat. Why not .

 

Many bolts, nuts, and screws were very rusty. I soaked them in batches in cleaning vinegar, for a week or so. The rust fell right off !
Then cleaned them off with a mixture of water and baking soda. Then sprayed some WD40 on them. Then do the next batch.

I'm not actually sure this was a good idea. I'm open to suggestions about using a better coating than wd40 is.
Update: WD40 is not a good idea. It won't last. One proper method is blackening the bolts. Just a suggestion for people who are clueless like me.



Update: I've ordered a blackening kit, which comes with a degreaser, a chemical blackening agent, and dehydration oil to get the water out.



The chemical agent, after degreasing, will put a black protective coating on the degreased bolts.



Then, the oil bath will expel the watery agent. Afterwards they look all black and supposedly more corrosion-resistant. At the very least they look better.

 

Other parts were galvanized a decade ago. Again, I'm not sure I would do this today, but that's how they turned out. They are now on the car.
Edit: this is not a very good idea for the bolt-threads in the part. It needs re-threading those holes afterwards.

 

It was pretty hard to get the springs in the car. I think they are WS6 springs. It it takes an incredible amount of force to compress them enough for installation ! We ended up buying a tool that compresses them from the inside, but even then it was tricky to get them in. So long, nice powder-coat.
Edit: these springs are unusable anyway, as the new engine is aluminium and much lighter than the cast-iron smallblock it replaces. I've now ordered base-V8 coil springs (5.0L, no AC, manual transmission)

 

I guess this described the "re-boot" of the project. After a decade of nothing, this was actually a big step forward.

 

Obviously the intermediate steering shaft needed replacement. The rubber boot was worn. Besides that, I was missing the correct bolts. Also the plastic bearing on the end of the steering column did not look very fresh. TGO member "robertfrank" was friendly enough to send me an upgrade. It's the "Astro van upgrade" -shaft and a ball bearing! It fit without issue and looks less bulky.





.

 

I too was duped way back when. Powder coat isn't the miracle coating everyone makes it out to be and now I cringe when I see people coating all these parts. Inevitably they will rust from the inside because no one actually prepares the metal properly before hand, NO ONE. I'll stick with plated and painted/epoxy parts and be able to touch it up if it ever cracks

 

Thanks for you thoughts, scooter. Maybe someone else reads this in time.
Besides: I've read many posts you wrote, and I would like to thank you for all the wiring insights and "a-ha"-moments I got in the meantime.
I'll post some of my adventures in harness-land when the engine is mounted in the car.

 

While waiting for parts I had nothing better to do than polishing the tail lights. There were many coarse and fine scratches and I've used some cheap chinese pads and Meguiar's Plastic-X fluid to polish most of them out. I've started off a bit too enthousiastic. It looks like the "grating" is actually a sticker, and forms small air bubbles if you polish too hard. I've turned down the RPMs on my electric drill a bit, and the bubbles disappeared. I guess it's temperature-related. Just a caution to whomever reads this. After about an hour and a few drops of Plastic-X it looked really good. Left is polished, right is not. You can see the difference in reflection.

 

It seems the LS3 timing chain tensioner is prone to failing. The newer part 12626407 less so than the older design. Most of the posts I find recommend using the LS2 "dogbone" dampener instead. I did buy the LS2-style damper. I have the oil pump removed, and it would be easy to bolt on. However, it seems much harder to remove the factory LS3 plate with tensioners.

Is there a smart way to remove the LS3-style tensioner? It seems the only way is to remove the timing gears and timing chain. It would mean finding a way to lock the cam one way or another, and actually I would want to avoid removing the gears, if possible.

pic is not mine but similar.

 

Never thought of galvanizing parts before. That looks pretty neat!

 

The only way that tensioner is coming out is if you remove the timing gears, unless you feel like getting creative with a torch or cut-off wheel.

There is no need to lock anything in place; just line up the dots on the gears and go.

 

I think you can get to it after removing the oil pump. Unbolt the pump and slip it off the crankshaft. If you end up needing to remove the chain then line up the dots on the cam and crank sprockets first, and then take off the cam sprocket. Use a new chain while you're in there (I recommend IWIS or C5R from Brian Tooley Racing).

The LS2 guide looks symmetrical to the untrained eye but it's not. It must be installed correctly.

 

OK, thanks. The engine ran less than 10k miles when it was pulled. Initially it seemed a bit overkill to replace the chain already.
However: I did read that the stock LS3 timing chain is not very strong and has the tensioner to reduce stress.
Considering this, it does make sense to replace the chain. Now I need to get those timing gears unbolted. Edit: it seems GM instruction is to lock the flexplate in place.

 

I believe you can press on the sides and place a pin to keep the tensioners to the side (and off of the chain). That is how new ones are shipped, and you pull the pin after you install it. I second the IWIS and or C5R chain. Although the LS3 chain should be the same one GM has used since the LS1. Not sure I've read much about LS3 failures. I have read about cam phaser problems on the L99 though. Yours doesn't have that feature.

 

When I did my swap in 2012,I sent my camaro engine harness to Speartech and he sent back a reworked harness that was basically plugin except for a few wires under the dash for speedo and tach. He also did a startup tune for the e38 and the t43 for the 6L80 . I don't know if he still does that but I was very happy will his work.

 

This seems outdated information now. Apparently things have changed ! This makes the decision even more difficult...I've reached out to Holley again, as I found some posts of people successfully using the X-Max on these transmissions and they confirm it.

"After some research I found that the 558-455 will work for the 4l70e 09+. What you would do is purchase the terminator max that you need for your combination then purchase the 558-455 Transmission wiring harness separately, to replace the transmission harness in the kit, it will plug into the connector where the original transmission harness plugged in, then inside the software you would go into your trans control section and simply select from the drop down menu 4l70e 09+ after you have made those changes you will have full control over the 4l70e trans."

 

I've bolted the new windage tray and oil pickup on. Very straight-forward. However, I'm scratching my head about the 12628771 swap oil pan itself. It seems to hit something on the inside! I haven't been able to figure out what exactly. It was late and I'll try again in a few days. There is a gap of about 1/4" between the block and the oil pan, all around.

If you can spot my error right away, please feel free to point it out: thanks.

 

Do you have the correct pickup tube?

 

On my swap, the pan was hitting the edge of the windage tray, causing a similar problem. I trimmed it with a cutoff wheel.

Second or third picture down.

 

WOW!

I have never run into this issue before... maybe it is because I never use an OEM windage-tray with that oil-pan.

Take a look at the Oil-Pans, Crank-Scrapers, Windage-Trays, and Pan-Baffles from "Improved Racing".

For that Engine and Oil-Pan combo, I usually use their...

-Crank-Scraper and Windage-Tray Combo part: LINK

-Oil-Pan Baffle/ Trap-Door Combo part: LINK

 

Good question! I've sent pictures to Hawks to double-check if I forgot something. Eventually Bruce came on the phone. Really friendly guy! He assured me I had received the correct parts and they -should- fit as-is, without mods. He was interested to know where the parts hit as this apparently is a rare issue.

Thanks for your post! It's good to know that I'm not the only one having this problem.

I've marked a few places (the brown spots), and discovered it actually is the oil tube hitting a plate!. We've just unbolted that plate, and gave it a minimal dent. I don't like bashing engine parts, but everything fits nicely now. I'll just assume this is a rare combination of "barely in-spec" components.

 

We've test-fitted the engine and transmission. They went in fine, but we ran into some issues:

Crossmember:
- the Hawks LS-swap crossmember didn't line up to the bolt holes very well. It appears about 1/2" too wide. Well, since we'll have to fabricate and weld a provision for the torque arm to the crossmember anyway, we cut up the new crossmember to make it fit. Great.




Transmission:
- I accidentally received a 2009+ transmission and apparently those don't come with the 3-hole bolt pattern for the torque arm bracket! (to be continued)

- The transmission appears to have -6AN ports for the cooling lines. Could anyone confirm? If the stock lines are indeed 5/16" inverted flare, I guess I could find a -6AN to 5/16" inverted flare adapter.
Update: I quote here: "Starting on 11-29-07 the cooler line fittings changed to 9/16-18 thread, Before 11-29-07 the fittings are 1/4" NPSM on ALL 4L60E, 4L65E, & 4L70E" -- I'm sorry I don't know who posted that info, but it was supposedly from a GM TSB. I can confirm; ordered Earl's 00113ERL and that appears to be the correct adapter to interface the transmission to the new (replica) oil cooler lines. So that's "9/16 in.-18 inverted flare" to "1/2 in.-20 inverted flare".

 

I've been mostly busy with body work -- doors, hood, hatch. Just about everything was in mediocre shape.
As far as the driveline goes, the rear axle is out and is getting new moving parts -- more on that soon.

I've cleaned out the tank with cleaning vinegar to get rid of the rust in the tank. This was after a completely failed electrolysis attempt.
Yeah well, I've tried using a -supposedly- steel stick that -apparently- was not, and ended up completely dissolving the stick instead .
Sooo... I've reverted back to the vinegar method which worked before.



I've cleaned the in-tank unit and sanded and painted the outer fuel lines.
I've bought a Walbro 255 fuel pump to replace the old TPI unit.
I've very carefully cleaned the fuel level sensor with a soft brush and some wd40.
And surprisingly enough, it eventually worked.
Minor victory.

Then the unit went back in the tank and I've mounted the thing.
Note to self:
[1] The thick line with the -6AN adapter on is the fuel supply
[2] Next one is the fuel return
[3] Next one was canister, cap off in the future .... or not... I've read it could function as a vent with a regulated cap
[4] Breather, leave as-is.



Showtime! Note to self: Black = gnd / Pink (middle) = 0-90 ohms Fuel level sensor / Tan = +12v fuel pump.
Yes it worked!
Although I will probably upgrade the factory wiring to a smaller gauge wire later on.

 

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything. Happy new year, I guess! I've been working on rebuilding the rear axle with the 9-bolt Borg Warner differential.

Question: I've read 150 - 180 ft/lbs (200-240 Nm) of torque for a new crush sleeve. At 180 ft/lbs, it's not enough. The pinion still spins freely. Could it be even more? The torque wrench is able to do about 220 ft/lbs. But the amount of force I've already put on it at this point, troubles me.
Edit: I've solved this by putting the new sleeve under the hydraulic press to get to the point that the crushing would just about begin. At around 10 tonnes I could see the dial starting to slowly fall and immediately quit. It still took a considerable amount of force crushing further to the point that the pinion bearing would have acceptable drag.

Rebuilding the rear axle was something completely new for me. I ordered a rebuilt carrier and installation kit (shims, seals, crush sleeve) from 9bolt.com in Australia. I'm re-using 3.45 ratio gears. I think I've achieved a somewhat reasonable setup with shimming the pinion and carrier gears. The prints look "acceptable", like pictured in the service manual. I've done this alignment without the crush sleeve, but torqued until the bearings would 'catch' a little. It took about 25 tries to get the shimming right. I thought putting it back together with the new crush sleeve in place would be the easy part!

Here's what I've learned on doing it without any special tools:
* The bearing cap bolts are 3/8-16 thread (thirdgen forum, somewhere)
* You will need to torque the new pinion nut to about 125 to 150 foot pounds. I always use red Locktite on the threads to help keep the nut from backing off. (this thread)
* Backlash without an indicator: have some lash with dry gears and when the cold gear lube coats the gears the lash disappears. Getting the right pattern is the critical part of the setup. (thirdgen forum, somewhere)
* Future reference: run an 85/140 with friction modifier. It takes approx 1.7L. (9bolt.com advice)

 

Well, here goes another one. I just can't get the driver's side wheel seel in. It goes only halfway through. Anyone?

I did check I have the actual left-side seal. I did check if the axle actually goes fully into the differential by doing that on the workbench. It seems to align okay and go all the way in. I'm about to order something like a spacer (inside diameter about 42mm, outside about 62mm), cut it in half, and try to get the seal in further, by tightening the cap. I wouldn't know what else to do without damaging the seal. I've seen people with the same problem in other threads but haven't found a handy way yet.