well i ordered my re ring kit tonight, i got mahle piston rings, a felpro gasket set, and aluglide main and rod bearings, also ordered my alex springs .550 lift spring kit. looking at getting an lt1 cam right now.

can anyone tell me the difference between a roller timing chain and a regular chain?

 

ordered my cam today, 95 firebird lt1 cam. should be here this week.

 

got my cam today, looks good and fit great. but i have a question, on the front of this cam is doesnt have a cam pin, but my old vortec cam did, do i need to take the pin out of the old cam and put it in my new one? getting my ring kit tomorrow so ill get this bad boy together and drop her in.

 

i've been looking at the sealed power kits summit has for my 305 its gonna need a rebuild soon enough and they have the best prices

 

I didn't go to summit. Was looking around around and found a place called kmj performance and they were cheaper and had name brand items. And I am pleased I did. Everything was hand picked to my request, boxed excently and everything was great. Might check them out. They are on eBay aswell.


Www.kmjent.com

 

side note: when i recived my package from KMJ it had a cataloge with it, apon looking through it, their ebay prices are ALOT cheaper. the re ring kit i got was $84.99 on ebay with free shipping. cataloge is $189.99. go ebay!!! lol

 

well another note from KMJ, they sent me the wrong piston rings, they sent me standard size rings and my vortec block takes metric sized rings so my new steel mahle rings are for sale!!! ordered plama rings from summit today for my block and since i got my bearings i set in my main bearings in and set my crank in and torqued my mains down to a factory spec of 77 fp. getting my new rings tomorrow so ill get those put in the pistons and get my pistons slid in and button up my bottom end.

 

an american engine takes metric rings?

 

newer ones do. starting in 92 they all went metric.

 

well got alittle work done this week, got my main bearings installed, crank installed, and mains torqued down. today i got my new plasma moly rings installed on my pistons today, cam lubed up and slide in and put the cam retainter in, and i installed and lubed up my lifters. still have to figure a way to install my pistons with easy. i cant figure out my spring compressor, i can get the piston rings compressed but when i got to slide it in the rings decompress. advice?

 

Well got up this morning and knocked all my pistons in. Just gotta find a socket to fit over the connecting rod nuts to torque them down to 45 ft pounds

 

well got alittle more work done today, went out and got a socket to fit the connecting rod nuts and torqued them down, got my oil pump, windage tray, and rear main seal holder on and torqued down to factory specs. gotta get my new springs and some valve grinding compound so i can lap my valves and re assemble my heads then put them on, then its off to find an intake, carb, serpentine setup, oil filter adapter, radiator, tranny, and all the small stuff. im hoping ill have everything by the end of this year.

 

lookin good so far

 

thank you, its moving slowly, but moving to say the least. i think your my only follower anymore lol. but hey, that works for me. lets me know who my friends are

 

Nope there are more of us out just watching to see how it goes. Keep up the slow but steady!

 

just hiding from me eh? Lol trust me slow but steady is all I can do right now.

 

Got a line on a tranny from an 86 camaro along with the front serpentine setup and the oil filter adapter. The tranny is only $50 so that's good

 

better then me i dont have any, and i'm making even less progress then you haha

 

I always look at yours when I see it updated.

 

well thanks, not that i'm an attention *****, i'm incredibly self conscious of all the work i do to the car

 

Might not be getting that tranny, the guy quit talking to me and wont respond to my texts so im not sure what's going on, oh well.... Would have been a good deal

 

Yes that's usually a good sign that the deal is off. Not sure why people don't just respond and say "Sorry, it's gone."

 

he was talking to me lol, i was talking to him about just buying the whole car and stripping what i need then he just went blank after i told him i didnt want the whole car anymore and just the tranny. oh well ill take my $50 else where lol

 

you know a 50 dollar trans probably isn't the safest bet to throw behind the motor you worked hard and took the time to rebuild, just saying

 

well sold the old vortec intake today and got $70 out of it. didnt do much today but noticed my oil pan gasket and valve cover gaskets are wrong so i have to re order those so i have the correct ones and i also bought a b&m shift improver kit for a 700r4 for $20 today from my buddy so thats good. hoping to order my spring kit and valve seals this week. will have to see how much of my money i have left....

 

lookin good man, I envy your motivation lol

 

thank you, it will all come together one day

 

how much was the whole parts car?

 

$350

 

wow, i'd of just fixed and driven the parts car haha i'm just that way

 

no floors and the engine wasn't running.

 

i thought you meant the first parts car, the red one from like page 4 or 5 i think

 

wait the red one on page 4 here? That is the car I'm driving. I'm talking about a car I found on Craigslist

 

order my spring kit and virton valve seals yesterday from alexsparts.com. hoping to have them by this weekend.

 

springs and seals will be here saterday, i need to order a new oil pan seal, timing chain and gear set, timing chain cover, valve covers, and a rear main seal then my block is done. all i need then is an intake manifold, carb, dizzy, and the smaller stuff for my swap then i can drop her in. also need a tranny lol. next month my car is going into the shop at school, i got into autotech at my schools career center and i was talking to my teacher and told him my car still has the stock original brake fluid in it and he said we will bring it in and change the fluid as a class project so i dont have to pay for anything.

 

dont forget the suspension, dont wanna drop a heavy sb on a v6 chassis and neglect the struts and springs

 

gonna keep the v6 springs for now, heard it only drops the front nose about 1/2 an inch and should handle fine but i am going to keep a set of v8 springs in the garage just incase. i am going to swap the rear springs though since they are different . i need to get the big swap bars though. i forgot about those.

 

got my valve springs kit today, must say i love how they packaged them, its kinda cool, but i ran out of money, ran up to zone to get a valve spring compressor and my card was denied :/. thats a way to kill the mood

 

well got very little done today, got my timing chain and gear set installed and my crank and cam timed. still need to get a new cam dowel pin and i can box it up there anyways. need to get my new timing chain cover, or just use my old plastic one, not sure yet. got my heads set up and cleaned so i can lap my valves and get my heads together once i get a valve spring compressor. after that its just getting an intake, carb, and tranny. then shes ready to drop. i still need a radiator, plugs, and plug wires, all the little stuff but shes pretty much there. after january 2nd im ripping the old motor and tranny so i can get everything together and in.

 

The vortec timing covers are a one time use, so just buy a new one so you don't get leaks, there is nothing worse then after you fire your engine up it starts making puddles on the ground. Also keep up the good work.

 

yeah i was thinking about it anyways so i dont have the crank sensor sticking out. i think a new one from summit is like $12 shipped to my door. and i know i want to make this engine right the first time so i dont have to re do it, do you know where i can get a new dowel pin for my cam? and i wish progress would pick up alittle. if the block was done i could atleast get my paint for my engine bay for a tranny and get it ready.

 

well made a deal with my dad, we agreed that if i come up and finish the work on his 68 cougar he would buy my entire serpentine setup and my 145 mph gauge cluster. looking forward for that. that means all i need is a tranny, radiator, intake, and carb. iv got my old motor and tranny sold so when i get that money when its out i will get all the little stuff like fluids, hoses, ect.

 

cool

 

well got to put my car on a lift today and learned alittle more about it, saw that my floors are still amazing, starting to get alittle rust near the drive sider pinch weld and my spare tire area, but also saw that im leaking oil and tranny fluid, my rear swaybar bushings are starting to crack, my exhaust pipe is rubbing my rear axle so i need to get that taken care of, my idiler arm has some play in it, not alot but alittle, my brake fluid is BLACK and needs changed ASAP i think, so does my teacher so hes doing it for free. my air filters need replaced, i have a high beam out, and the biggest news to me is my drive shaft has been balanced. iv always noticed 2 zip ties on my driveshaft up near the factory weight but today i finally saw why, theyre holding a weight on. i wonder what the reason for this is.

 

nice work so far! its alot of work, but so worth it in the end! your build just reminds me of how far i have to go yet lol. patience patience

 

usual camaro problems, honestly they all are

 

what can I do about my exhaust though? I thought about taking it back to the shop that installed it and telling them to fix it

 

is it badly riding on the axle? if so i'd do that, or get some hangers or universal straps from any parts store and set one up to get it off the axle

 

i cant tell, ill have to climb under it to really look when the axles are in the rested position.


update on the 350, i was slapping my heads together and when setting in my valve springs that cheap *** autozone valve spring compressor slipped while i was putting my keepers in and one of my keepers fell into the spring and is stuck and the valve spring compressor bent so its un usable now. gonna haul them into the shop tomorrow and finish putting them together.

 

take the compressor back and get a new one free, sometimes it happens, i'm not defending our products just saying lifetime warranty bro