GMan 3MT

iTrader: (4)

It is, and he's right, and I've been slacking. Sorry tho I have caught up to when I started this thread!

I threw in some 3/4" oil plugs into the manifolds where the AIR system tied in.

I always find it amusing that the biggest lump of an engine swap is usually the easier part, and it's held in by just two bolts.






Fits like a good small block chevy should.

GMan 3MT

iTrader: (4)

First immediate issue to solve was the throttle cable. The LT1 had the box for the cruise and all that jazz, so it made sense to just adapt the TPI cable to the LT1. The LT1 (right) was held in by a clip, the TPI (left) had it's own.



I started overthinking the issue, and then just did this. It's not pretty, but it holds it in place.



Flywheel, clutch & pp, bellhousing all went on with no issues. If you don't have a flywheel turning tool, get one. Much better than trying to jam the ringgear with a screwdriver to torque the bolts.

I also finally bought a transmission jack for this go around. I gave it a shot, tho it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Still lots of shifting around and finagling to get the trans in. Maybe with some more practice...

Installed the LT1 starter while I was under there too. May as well go with the one with less weight and bolts right in. It really makes you appreciate the enormity of the standard third gen starter. Mini starters arn't specifically allowed, so this is kind of a grayish area, but since they allow the rest of the LT1 engine, I don't see how using the LT1 starter isn't legal.

GMan 3MT

iTrader: (4)

Went to the parts store and picked up the hoses for the power steering and the radiator and such. Felt like such a pimp asking for those parts. '97 Camaro upper hose and serp belt. '92 corvette lower hose. '95 Impala p/s high pressure hose. Huh? Oh, no it's all for an '86 Camaro.

Got the rebuilt power steering pump on the engine as well as the alternator and started some trial fitting of the power steering hose. It just doesn't look like it belongs.



Putting on the belt, I have the realization that in order to replace the belt in the future, the p/s line will have to be disconnected. Not a huge deal, just not something ideal. Other option is to make/buy some braided -AN lines. Figure if I can make it work I'll keep it as is for now, considering how it's VERY nice to be at a track and to be able to goto any parts store and buy a stock part off their shelf.

I dropped the radiator in to get a better feeling of how everything will line up.





Not liking the upper hose to radiator connection. I ended up cutting off that elbow for 94 2.4L 4Runner elbow, trimmed to fit.

GMan 3MT

iTrader: (4)

For the p/s routing, I'll just work with what I have for now. Went ahead and bent the return line slightly to keep it away from the belt and ran some 3/8" hose to the reservoir. Also replaced the wimpy ground strap on that side with the beefy one I've been previously using.


The power steering reservoir kinda picked it's own place. With a little bit of trimming of the LT1 hose, I was able to fab these temporary brackets (I'll replace them later) to hold it in place. Doesn't need to be super sturdy or anything, so these aluminum straps will do for now. Used the holes that were for the overflow tank.




Cut the excess and painted them black.

kmcn47

car looks suprisingly clean for a race car, tell me did you re spray in the off season?

GMan 3MT

iTrader: (4)

Yup, see post #187.

While the paint might look pretty, I hate wiring and it never quite looks nice.
I was able to leave pretty much the entire engine harness hooked up on the engine. I had stripped the wrecked camaro of the fuse block and other parts of the body harness, thinking who knows what I might end up needing.



Starting with this, there wasn't much left after stripping out all the unnecessary wires. I knew I'd have to match up the plugs (top center) to the existing wires in Knocker.


When it came time to mount the PCM, I wasn't too fond of having it in the engine bay. I know that's the OEM location for 4th gens, but too many times I've have oil or water spraying about. Found a few posts here on TGO talking about getting the PCM connectors thru the firewall and decided to give it a shot. It was a touch short for putting the PCM in the factory (or even where I had mine bolted to), but inside IMHO was better than in the engine bay. I'll come up with something to secure the PCM later.




For gauges and other stuff...

GMan 3MT

iTrader: (4)

Front bumper needed to back on so I could figure out what I needed to do for the Mass Air unit. Air box has seen better days, but here it is beat back into some form of being flat.



I bought a mass air "Y" from someone here on TGO so that I could have a factory looking place for the air temp sensor. Got the rubber boot from a mass air third gen (since the SD TPI was too long) on ebay. I could have used a rubber hose or sewer hose or something instead, but hey, this just looks like it is made for it. Wanted something with a little bit of flexability for when the engine moves/torques.



I hate wiring. This stuff here is mostly redundant, but I wanted to make sure it 100% was needed before I started cutting stuff. I did leave the wiring for the third gen fans, fuel pump, and brake sensor.

GMan 3MT

iTrader: (4)

I had hooked up the power steering lines using factory something parts. For the fuel lines, I wasn't going to get so lucky. Braided lines was the answer, and I know some people will say they're easy to make. I wasn't about to try my hand with fuel lines being my guinea pig tho. I ordered a set of lines from Pure Choice Motorsports. I called and they verified the fittings that were on Knocker so that it'd be plug n play, and sent me the standard length kit all for about $100.



Here they are installed. This was their natural curve. Played around with them a bit, and decided to try find a 90* -AN fitting to put right before the quick disconnect fitting at the fuel rail. Figure that'd be the proper way to do it.

Also installed a cheap little overflow tank, bought from ProAm. It's been years since I was at that store, since way back when I started autocrossing with Houston SCCA.



I hate wiring. Time was running out if I were to have it ready for dyno day, and I needed to get to the muffler shop to get the exhaust done on a weekend. I would have liked to have it done and running, but the interior side was just not ready. I had also hoped to clean and repaint the interior, but at this stage that wasn't going to happen.

The silver hose is my defront that I rigged up a while back. It's a dryer hose, fitted to a roof vent attached to the firewall where the blower used to be. The cowl area where the windshiled wipers used to reside is sealed (taped) off, and this blows a decent amount of air onto the windshield. I can also direct it towards me.

kmcn47

your car is the template i will base my lemons racer off of, it will be nowhere near as nice or powerful and it'll probably be a 2.8 but hopefully it looks as good as knocker does

GMan 3MT

iTrader: (4)

May I point you towards this...
http://www.witchdoctormotorsports.com/ch128.htm

That was the good. For us, it pretty much went downhill for the events that followed.

I'm a bit surprised Lemons is still going. If you're going to run for fun and beer/bbq good times, I guess it's still the place to go. If you have any sort of competitive spirit, I'd recommend Chumpcar instead.

Actually, I'd personally recommend neither. By the time you have the $500 into the purchase of the car, a few thousand for the cage, seat/harness safety gear, wheels and tires, it's far from a "$500" car. Their entry fees are pretty steep on top of that. And, at the end of the day, you're still stuck with a POS car that you're hands are tied when it comes to repairs. Well, that is, if you stick to the spirit of the rules, which I find isn't always the case at Lemons. For that amount of cash, I'd either buy a cheap CMC car (or some other actual racing series, Spec 944 etc) or a dedicated open lapping car. At least when you're done you can get something back. Saw a third gen in the for sale section here that's essentially a CMC car for $5k.

kmcn47

rest assured its nothing were rushing into, we just enjoy racing, however none of us are really good enough to do something like sccs or cmc there isn't even anything like that i know of in my area other then some auto x, were all around columbus and the closest lemons race would either be mid ohio or joliet and its a years away plan when were all out of college and working, probably end up with a fiero as thirdgens are going up in price it seems

mcgarnicle

iTrader: (14)

Where are you man? Lets get an update dude.

RaverRacerX

needs more update..

Gibson

moar?

madsv1000

iTrader: (1)

Man Ive been building this new spec car for NASA and I've been bitten by the racing bug. Now I know what I'm doing with my old car. HPDE then CMC here I come! Helps that my house is fifteen minutes from Road Atlanta too.