Just picked this up on LS1tech. It'll be going in the car soon, just need to buy some odds and ends for it before I put it in.

 

Sweet car! Glad to see it has been kept clean!

My car was sweet when I got it, but 4 years of DDing it, the clear coat started flaking to all hell... 5k paint job coming soon for me!

When I was younger, I really wanted a Flame Red Metallic GTA... Beautiful car man!

 

very nice GTA...i love the seats...mine are starting to break on the sides

 

Thanks guys! It's hard to believe it's got 103k on it now. It's holding up pretty good though.

Bullydawg, I've always wanted a Formula 350...wanna trade?

 

Super nice GTA. Reminds me a lot of another one I know, haha.

If you run into any snags on the T-56 swap, let me know. I did one on my Formula about two years ago and I just finished pulling it back out again to swap over to the GTA a few weeks ago.

-cal30sniper

 

Thanks man, I'll definitely keep that in mind when I eventually do the swap. Your GTA is really sharp too

 

Looks awesome man. I really like this car. You're going to love that T56. Word of advice though, I would stay away from the racing puck clutches. I have a Spec Stage 3 in my car and mated with a lightweight flywheel, it is torture to drive in NYC stop and go traffic. On open road though, it's a blast!

 

I went with an LT4 clutch from Napa Auto Parts in my T56. Held up very well, and was really easy to drive on the street. I put something like 25k miles on it, including a whole lot of traffic jam driving and some autocrossing, and it still looked great when I pulled it out the other day. Not saying it's the best alternative out there, but it worked great for daily driving, and it was easy on the wallet.

-cal30sniper

 

The deed is done

 

Very cool! How was the swap?

 

since it already had a T-5 the swap is pretty straight forward

 

Very straightforward this time around. It was easier to go from a T5 to a T56 than it was to go from a 700R4 to a T5. Didn't have to cut any holes in my car this time! lol. The only real hassle was getting my speedometer to work, but even that wasn't too bad.

 

yeah its a little easier than the auto to stick swap as that is a little more involved as you know. but if you have an ailing t-5. T-56 is the way to go. its basically a bolt on lol

 

As it sits now:



About 2 1/2 weeks after I installed the T56 back in May, I was out driving around one night and started feeling a weird vibration through the shifter followed by a noticeable loss of power from the engine. By the time I got home maybe 5 minutes later, the engine was knocking and white smoke was coming from the exhaust I already knew what was going on, but I checked the oil and was greeted with gray metal goo on the bottom of the dipstick. Later, I drained the oil and nothing but gray sludge came out of the pan. The weird part was it didn't overheat and I didn't lose any oil pressure. Also, the coolant in the radiator was very low, but it was still clean.

After pulling the engine and tearing it down, I found that the intake manifold gasket failed at the driver side rear crossover and leaked coolant into the lifter valley, I guess from there gravity took control and it then proceeded to destroy everything inside the engine very quickly. I mean everything. Nothing was salvageable.

Soooo, now it's time to rebuild. And since I'm 22 and have no real responsibilities yet, here's the basics of what I have planned:

ZZ383 shortblock from GM
Super Ram intake
Comp XFI280
AFR 195 heads

I've spent the summer gathering parts together for the build and selling off a lot of my old stuff. I'm getting closer, stay tuned.

 

Sounds like a beast in the making. With a 383 and that head/cam/intake combo, you're probably going to want to look into getting rid of the 9-bolt though. That thing's not going to last too long, haha.

There for a second I thought you were going with a ZZ383 crate and putting the AFR heads on it. I was going to try and talk you out of those fastburns, lol.

-cal30sniper

 

Oh man that thing is gonna be a beast

 

Sounds like a pretty stout build... If I were you, I would go onto summit and check out their 355 4 bolt blocks... If I recall correctly they do a pretty good job with their blocks along with a great price. You would just have to clearance it for a 383 rotating assembly. That is my plan next time my engine has to come out.

 

Thanks guys.

Yeah, I don't expect it to last long either LOL. I'll have to take it easy until I can afford to replace it though. This little project is going to beat the hell out of my wallet.

I remember reading that about their blocks, I'm going to look into that option some more. The only thing that's really set in stone for the build is the top end, mostly because I keep finding deals on stuff haha

 

Yeah, when I pull my engine to paint the engine bay, I am going to have the heads and intake fully ported, and probably step up to a 280xfi. I will be keeping a close eye on your build. Seems like we are pretty much headed in the same direction. If I get stationed out south in June, I would love to meet up and run them.

Any idea how much your car weighs?

 

Yeah man, that would be awesome if we could run them! I've never weighed my car, but based on what I've read, it should be right around 3600 lbs. Maybe a bit less with aluminum heads and a T56. That old 700R4 was heavy! lol

 

My car will be around 3250 or so without me... I weighed it at 3290 with AC compressor an d the 700R4... My car will have a few less cubes that your car will, but should be equal with my car being lighter.

Either way, I should find out where I am going around February hopefully.

I still love the way your car looks... There are just too many cars I want to own, with not enough room to keep them all. Bummer.

 

Make sure to let me know where you're gonna be stationed. I should have it back on the road well before June, but you know how these things go haha.

And thanks! I really like your car too. That's the best color combo for a Formula IMO.

 

Bit of an update, not an exciting update, but an update nonetheless. I had to scrap the original 383 plan because I've realized I just don't have the $$$ to reasonably do that at the moment. And it just wouldn't be smart for me to spend that kind of money on a weekend car at this point. Particularly because I just spent a ton of money on my DD Explorer (insert Ford joke here).

Anyways, warm weather is finally here (it was 80* in MD today!) and I don't want the GTA to be sidelined for yet another summer so the other week I bought a low mileage 350 from a 91 Z28 to use as my foundation for $500. My plans for the top end will stay the same since I already have a lot of it ready to go. It won't be a stroker, but it should still be a strong running engine that I can at least enjoy while I save for bigger and better things.



The SR freshly painted


This is what it looked like when I bought it. It looks much better now I think


I also scored these a while back


Assembly should begin within the next week or two and I'm shooting to have this thing back on the road within a month's time. (fingers crossed)

 

Awesome stuff! Great update! Nice work on the superram! Please tell me you aren't going to run those bolts on the plenum though... I am still trying to figure out if I want to polish or paint my plenum. I picked up a billet flat lid a while back after searching for a couple years... Haha, I only have 2 spare setups, not including the one on the car.

As for an update, I got screwed and got stuck here an extra 9 months until I get out, and since I am here longer I got picked up for a deployment that I leave for soon.

So I guess updates from me will start coming when I am out of the military!

Looks like you are headed in the right direction. The only question's I have are:

What tune are you going to run? Are you going to change out the clutch at all?

 

Thanks man! I'm looking forward to seeing some updates on your car too, I really like those Ronals you picked up not too long ago. Where are you getting deployed to?

Whoever had the SR before me studded the plenum, so I think I'm stuck with those lame acorn nuts. I was going to polish mine, but it would have been entirely too much work and I don't have the patience for that. They sure do look awesome polished though. If you've got the patience, go for it!

As for the tune, I'm going to do a mail order to get a base tune because I'm pretty clueless with tuning. I did buy an Autoprom a few months ago so I figure I can use that to fine tune it later on. The I'm clutch I'm using is a RAM Powergrip HD that came with the T56 I bought last year. It's still pretty fresh and only has maybe 150 miles on it.

I've got a question for you, what size injectors are you using? I was pretty set on using 30's for the 383, but I think I'm going to need to go smaller now.

 

Currently I am running 24lb accel injectors, but when I put on the AFR Comp's and Welded/Ported SR, I am going to be stepping up to 30lb ones. So if you are still looking in a year, I can give you a good deal.

Also, if you don't like the plenum, PM me and I can put you in contact with someone who can get you a brand new plenum at at pretty good price.

You should look into the EBL flash ECU, that is what I installed, and it is pretty simple to get the car running good. When I am back again, I am going to be trying to get all the power out of it.

Thanks! Yeah, I love the Ronals...

 

...

 

I'm probably going to keep this plenum, only because its PO did quite a few things to it that supposedly make it easier to assemble. It looks like there's a lot of studs welded in where there would normally be bolt holes. I'm not totally sure though because I've never even seen another SR in person haha.

Thanks motobooks! I think it's come a long way since I've owned it, I was lucky enough to find a solid and very clean one owner car to start with though. Speaking of which...

I was going through the files on my old computer earlier today and I found some pictures I had saved from the classified ad when I bought it back in 2006.

 

Great car!
Good luck as you progress on the engine.

 

Awesome car man!

 

i like that they dont look "polished" but stock.. care to share how you did it and what things you used?

EDIT: Im an idiot.. just saw you had a blurb later in post...forget I mentioned this.

 

That GTA is Hot SEX!

 

great looking car!

 

Nice looking car man

 

So it's been a while since I last updated. No, I haven't given up on the car. Finishing school kinda took precedent over finishing the car but I finally graduated and payed off my loan so now it's time to get this thing back on the road.

So, that "low mileage" L98 that I bought last year ended up being a complete POS. The bottom end looked worse than my original engine that grenaded itself. So I did what I should have done in the first place and bought myself a crate ZZ4 shortblock from GM.

Here it is with the AFR's bolted down. I also installed AFR's 8019 valve springs.




I couldn't resist doing a quick mockup


I'm going to do some more work to it tomorrow so updates will follow.

 

Sucks about the L98. The ZZ4 is probably a better engine though. What cam are you planning on going with?

 

Cam is a Comp 280XFI. I'll be putting it into the engine tomorrow.

 

Looking good Mike, its really coming along nice.

 

Mike, car is coming along great! Anxious to see it back together.

I'm glad the hide-away license plate link was posted. They're such sticklers about it in MD! Front tags aren't too bad on camaros bc they fit between the air inlets on the grill but on the 'birds and T/A's, they just look out of place slapped on to the front end.

 

Thanks guys! Ed, That hideaway plate bracket was one of the better things I've bought for the car. I hate the way the front of the car looks with a front tag and I have the tickets to prove it. I haven't gotten any more since getting that hide-away bracket.

I haven't gotten much done on the engine lately because it's been so cold outside here the last few weeks, but I made a little bit of progress today.

Got the cam and timing chain installed


Oil pump and Canton pickup are on


Canton oil pan and timing cover are also on


This pan isn't any deeper than the stock pan, so ground clearance shouldn't be any issue


Check out the trap doors to keep the oil around the pickup. Pretty cool I think!


I pulled the ECM out of the dash and got the hardware for the Moates Autoprom installed. Looks like someone replaced the ECM at some point in the car's life.


Also, I decided I didn't want AC anymore/didn't want to spend the money to make it work right again, so I pulled that out too. I ordered a fiberglass AC delete box on ebay and I'll post up some pics when it comes in the mail.


I'm off work again on Thursday so if all goes according to plan, I'll be setting up the valvetrain, putting the intake base on, and hopefully dropping it in the car.

 

Definitely need to think about that hide-away tag holder.

You'll like that pan. Had it on my Iroc and hung onto it for when I do an engine build for the 'bird. Doesn't hang past cradle and worked well with the crossover pipe for the SLP headers.

 

I haven't been working on the car too much lately mostly because it's been so cold here lately. I have made a fair bit of progress in the last few weeks though working on it a few hours here and there after work.

Got the engine in! Comp 1.6 rockers are installed too, they just need to be adjusted. Any tips?


Transmission and exhaust are in as well.


Here's a picture of the y-pipe I had made after the T56 swap. I know the crinkle bends aren't the best, but I have a friend who worked at an exhaust shop at the time and he offered to make this as a favor. How could I say no? I'll probably have a better setup made in the future, but for now this will do.


Got the AC delete box installed. It took a lot of trimming to get it to fit, but it looks pretty good I think.

 

Roller tips...lol

 

Coming along nicely. Here's what I used to adjust my valves: http://www.cpgnation.com/forum/comp-...ment-2076.html

 

nice work!!!! search on here i cant remeber when i did mine exactly but there are great posts on valve adjusting

good luck


actually look at this...post 8 and 9 summarize (disregard v6 talk)...good luck

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...djustment.html

 

Thanks for the links on valve adjustment guys! That has a HUGE help. I was sweating that step for no reason, it went much smoother than I expected. I got them all setup today and it looks like the rockers will clear the stock valve covers with no trimming or anything.

I'm having some issues with the super ram though. I have a post about it here. If you all could check it out and give me some input it would be greatly appreciated!

 

Long time, no update! I've been busy working on getting a new job, so the car got put on the back burner yet again. Anyhow, here's where I am now.

Finally got the intake, fuel rails, injectors, and serpentine setup installed. That damn intake did nothing but fight me every step of the install. I still need to figure out a place to mount the ignition coil. Maybe mount it somewhere on the firewall? Any suggestions?


The radiator, fans, and a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff have been put back in too.

The interior is still a mess, but I got the AEM wideband and Moates Autoprom wired up too. It's not in this shot, but I finally got around to installing the Dakota Digital box for the T56 swap I did 2 years ago. The autoprom is ziptied to the bottom of the dash so no one steps on it. I need to figure out a place to mount the gauge, so I’m thinking I might be able to put it inside the ashtray if I cut the bottom out of the tray. After eyeballing it, I think it might fit. I’m going to try and find a shiftplate from the junkyard ant test it before I cut up mine though.

 

^^^coil mounting on firewall does well for hsr, so much easier to access distributor bolt for timing

looks like its getting close, any chances on starting up???

 

I ended up mounting the coil on the firewall. I'm having an issue with it not wanting to start. It's getting fuel and spark, so I'm thinking I might have the rockers too tight. I'm going to re-do them and see what that gets me.

 

I think I have the no start issue figured out. The timing mark on the dampener was not consistent with TDC on the timing pointer so I the ignition timing is way off. I'll try to get it worked out tomorrow. Fingers crossed.