dennisbernal91z

iTrader: (2)

Great build! I am about quite a bit further behind you in my build but love to see your progress.

Any concerns about the body filler over the strut towers? I did the same thing but with a bit less, and even with less filler some members on here told me it would crack if I drove my car hard. Just seeing if you had any similar concerns.

Also can you post more pics of the door handles? I love the way they turned out but not sure I get what the finished product will look like.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

thanks dennisbernal91z.
the strut towers were welded and then the welds were smoothed out. after that they received a light coat of filler. i'm hoping it won't crack, but i suppose it's still a possibility. the car will have subframe connectors and a front wonderbar. i'd like to figure out some kind of brace similar to the g-brace available for second gens, but i don't know if they'll fit with my turbo setup. that would really stiffen up the front of the car. below is a picture of the second gen g-brace. maybe the front of the brace can attach to the front of the frame rail.
i'll try to take more pictures of the handles. the car is an hour away at my friend's shop, but i'm hoping to do some more work on it this weekend.

dennisbernal91z

iTrader: (2)

Nice. Totally understand. I didn't weld my towers at all, just did filler.

I will be wire wheeling it all off, welding, and we filling....Ugh...

As for bracing. I am in a similar boat. SFC, 4 point bar, wonder bar and STB. I hope to make my own that ties to the nose as well as back to the firewall. I plan to run a procharger on an LS motor.

I agree the g-brace type of support seems like a great inspiration for a stiffer nose.

Ozz1967

iTrader: (4)

If you want, look at the new Hooker Blackheart system. You'll have to swap to their motor mounts, but they have a cross member that will fit the 4L80e.

Hooker Transmission Cross member

battmann

iTrader: (9)

this past weekend i mocked-up the CXRacing LS turbo kit for third-gens that i bought. i needed to make all the holes in the engine bay before having the shop finish painting the car. the kit is very nice and fit well. i believe worth it was well worth the cost. i started a separate thread on the install to show how we did things. the kit is designed for a thirdgen camaro so a couple things needed to get modified during the install. here's a link to that thread:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/powe...ml#post6124863





we also completed a few other things:
finished installing the BMR trak pak torque arm relocation kit. the front of the torque arm mounts to a bar that we welded to the subframe connectors. between the subframe connectors and this i think we really stiffened up the car a lot.





i got UMI tubular a-arms cheap off another member here and installed Eibach lowering springs, but the springs kept coming out of the a-arm because there's no bottom pocket for them to sit in. to fix the issue, we welded in a small piece of tube to act as a retainer so this won't happen anymore. i'm not sure if the ones i got where some kind old design or something. they should be good now (i hope).



we fabricated our own 4L80E crossmember awhile ago, but it was kind of bulky. i ended up getting a used PA Racing 4L80E crossmember off the classifieds here. i wasn't sure if it would fit since PA's website says the crossmember is for 85-92 thirdgens, but it fit fine.



i also swapped out my Spohn LS motor mounts with UMI mounts. the Spohn mounts don't work for our cars. there was hardly any room between the f-body oil pan and crossmember. also the engine sat 3/8" or more low on the passenger side. when i called to complain, they tried to tell me it was because i used UMI's solid motor side mounts (which wouldn't make a difference). they wouldn't do anything for me. there's threads on here with others who have had the same issue - should've done more research. some people got the engine to sit level, but it just wasn't working for me. oh well. with the UMI mounts in here, there's a finger's worth of room between the oil pan and k-member everywhere.





after doing all this we pulled the drivetrain and are sending the car back to the paint shop. they need to paint the engine bay and i should have the car back in 2-3 weeks.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

i haven't updated this thread since April 2017 because i thought all the photobucket links were broken. i don't remember if i fixed them or what, but i can see all the pics - hopefully you can too.
i've made some progress since that time. biggest thing to report is most of the car was in paint last May. only a few parts weren't done: fenders, hood, front and rear spoilers. the engine bay is painted the same color as the car, but in an eggshell sheen.







June or July we got the car back to my friend's shop so we could install the engine, transmission, fuel tank and run some brake lines. i went with a dual pump Squash Performance unit for the tank. it's a nice (but expensive) piece. the brake lines were a stainless steel kit from Inline Tube. it's a little tricky to work out the bends in the front to back line, but everything fits great. i had the paint shop paint the Moser rear end. he took the liberty to paint the third member in silver which i thought looked pretty cool.





we wanted to install the exhaust too, but ran into an issue. i went with the Magnaflow 16829 kit. when mocking up the piping, it looked like the BMR trak pak front torque mount may interfere with the driveshaft location. unfortunately i need to order a custom driveshaft so we couldn't check this. we decided that i should get the driveshaft first because if the trak pak needs to get moved, that could affect the exhaust routing.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

at the end of August we finally brought the car back to my house. i thought i'd get a lot of work done with the car being in my garage, but i haven't had a ton of extra time. plus when i have had time to do things, i can't seem to get much done because i either need a part or have to do something first before i can actually do what i had planned.
for example: i wanted to send out the headers and turbo piping to get ceramic coated, but i happened to learn from a reply in my turbo thread here that the crossover pipe was too close to the water pump tensioner. i mocked up the front accessories to check and sure enough, there was only maybe 1/4" of clearance between the belt and crossover pipe. i called CXRacing and turns out their earlier design had this issue, but in their newer design this is fixed. i had to send my passenger header and crossover back to them so they could fix it - free of charge. great customer service by the way. this whole process wasted about a month of time.
i did manage to get the fourth-gen fuel neck installed. i ended up making a spacer so i could use the mounting flange that is already on the neck. the stock fourth-gen rubber tube also works, but needs to be cut down a little. i think maybe 1-3/4" if memory serves me correct. check that before you cut just to make sure.





the hood got finished a couple months ago and it turned out great. i also just picked up the finished fenders. i won't be installing these items until i'm done in the engine bay. unfortunately i didn't take any pics of these pieces yet.
last Thursday it was almost 60 degrees so i went in the garage to take all the measurements for my custom driveshaft. i'll be ordering from Denny's Driveshaft and hope to do that this week.
now you're all caught up!

dennisbernal91z

iTrader: (2)

What did you undercoat your car with?

engine bay looks amazing.

TRANSAM82-92

iTrader: (1)

Very nice work…love early third gens

battmann

iTrader: (9)

I used Iron Armor truck bed coating. They sell it at Harbor Freight. Don’t laugh - it’s a good product.

dennisbernal91z

iTrader: (2)

Right on. I buy HF stuff all the time. Just because something is low cost doesn't mean it is bad.

Do you have more info on your door handles?

Also what did you paint your K-member with?

Streetstuff

Any other comments about the PA Racing cross member? Just found out it existed a few days ago.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

sorry Streetstuff - just saw your question. nothing really to add about the PA Racing x-member. it fits good and does it's job. i was going to fabricate something but it was a lot easier to just buy this part.

i've been making a concerted effort to work on this car the past few months though. i REALLY want to get this thing fired up before winter. it won't be 100% finished, but i'd love to at least know the drivetrain is good to go.
a lot of my efforts have been trying to get the CXRacing turbo hot side piping to fit. i sent stuff back twice and ended up just modifying the crossover pipe and upper radiator hard pipe myself. you can see what i did in my engine build thread.
i've also installed a new steering gear and brake booster. trying to figure out how to install the Wilwood master cylinder and proportioning valve. the kit i bought has the prop valve on the driver side of the MC (part number 261-13269-BK at Summit Racing). it won't fit there because of our inner fender well and caster/camber plates. i'll have to fabricate a mount for the prop valve and then rework the brake lines somehow.



also bought wheels: Cray Spider 18x9.5 all around
front tires: Nitto NT05 275/35R18
rear tires: Nitto NT05 285/35R18
brakes: C7 rotors with 2016 Camaro SS brembo calipers all four corners. bought from Scott at www.bigbrakeupgrade.com and have nothing but great things to say about him. he spent a lot of time with me answering questions and helping me build my kit.





ran into one hiccup with the rear brakes. i have a Moser 9" rear with screw-in wheel studs. when i got everything installed, the wheels would only go back and forth like 8". turns out the bolt head of the wheel studs are hitting part of the emergency brake on the new rear backing plates. it's a metal block right behind the spring in the picture below. i ordered a new set of Strange wheel studs with thinner heads so hopefully that will fix the problem. i also ordered a set of 2" thick 5x4.75 adapter plates for the wheels. can't wait to get the car off jackstands so i can move it around.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

on to the interior! i don't know if adding heat shield / sound deadener really makes a difference or not, but figured i would install it while the car is stripped. i used a product called Thermo-Tec from Summit Racing. installing this stuff is EXTREMELY time consuming! i did not use a heat gun because i didn't want to melt the stuff. everything was stretched or cut to fit. i'm not sure if i should do the sail panels or sides of the hatch, but those areas are easily accessible even when the interior is back in. i bought four 5'x3' rolls and still have a few decent sized scraps left over. i'll probably end up putting some inside the doors and behind the sail panel speakers.






next i started to install some random parts back on the doors. i bought new interior door handles from Rockauto. there is a small rubber bumper behind the base of the handle. this bumper is super small on the aftermarket handles so i replaced them with the larger factory bumper off the original GM handles. other than that, they seem to be pretty good quality. after that i put some of the door rods back in. i lost the passenger side lock rod so i went to the local junkyard to grab one. when i was removing the rod from the junkyard car i noticed the factory rod bracket was different from the one in my 1984 Trans Am. my bracket only had a spot to mount one rod (first picture below), but the junkyard car's bracket had a spot for both rods (second picture below). i'm guessing later f-bodies had this double bracket?? i'm hoping this new bracket might help reduce some of the door rattles.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

one last random update. i wanted to mount the interior heater box to the firewall, but the foam padding was all cracked and looked like junk. i couldn't find a gasket material to replace this padding so i ended up buying a $3 piece of black vinyl wall cove base molding at Home Depot. i created a gasket to slip over the heater hose lines. this looks way better from the engine bays side.

QwkTrip

iTrader: (22)

Lot of work going in to this car. Going ro be pretty nice.

Streetstuff

Hey no problem battmann, going to be fabricating my 4l80 cross member in the next couple of weeks. Loving the way the car is turning out. Those wheels look sweet.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

battmann

iTrader: (9)

another obstacle overcome!
i installed the new Strange threaded studs on my rear axles and the bolt heads were much thinner than the existing Moser studs. The rear wheels now spin freely without hitting anything!

next i'm planning to paint my brembo calipers. i found a company that will mix paint to match your car as long as you have the manufacturer and paint code:
https://www.g2usa.com/product/CBCP.html

the Camaro SS calipers i purchased were used and full of brake dust. i tried cleaning with a spray can of brake clean and it didn't do too much. i then tried Castrol Super Clean. that stuff worked. i poured some Super Clean on the caliper and used an old toothbrush to clean in all the nooks and crannies. periodically i would rinse the brush and caliper with clean water. you need to do this outside on your lawn or something cause it makes a mess. it took almost an hour to clean up one front caliber, but it worked great. i can now touch any part of the caliper without getting dust on my finger. three more calipers to clean and then i can start painting. i'll let you know how it goes.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

i finally had time to paint my calipers with the color matched G2 paint. i bought two cans because their website said one might not be enough with larger calipers. one can was enough to do two full coats on all calipers and then i did a third coat on the surfaces you'll see through the wheel. the black brembo decals were purchased off ebay and were pretty easy to install.







next i solved my Wilwood proportioning valve issue. if you remember, the kit is made for the proportioning valve to fit on the driver side of the master cylinder, but it won't fit like that on our cars. i was able to modify the lines that came in the kit to work on the passenger side of the master cylinder. i used a vice and welding pliers to rotate the lines as needed. the lines must be stainless, because steel lines would definitely have kinked. i still have to fabricate a bracket, but that will be the easy part.



the next problem was the Inline Tube stainless stock replacement brake lines I have wouldn't fit into the Wilwood proportioning valve. the prop valve is made to receive 3/8-24 inverted flair fittings and the brake lines i have are bubble flair. here are the fittings you need to install the lines:
Edelmann 262015 will allow you to connect the rear brake line to the prop valve
Edelmann 262010 will allow you to connect the two front brake lines to the prop valve
i needed to bend the lines to get them hooked up. the stock prop valve has the rear line attached to the front and the Wilwood valve has the rear line in the back. i'll have to clean up the bends around passenger side header and steering column later, but at least i know everything hooks up for now.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

next up was the start of the electronics and ECU. this was the part i was dreading about the build. after a lot of research i decided to go with the FiTech Ultimate LS EFI fuel injection system. this system contains all the engine wiring (except the coil packs), ECU, 55lb fuel injectors, intake, fuel rails, 102mm throttle body and some sensors. this setup will also control my 4L80e transmission. before mocking up the intake and wires, i purchased a Motion Raceworks steam vent kit. the kit looks awesome, but was kind of hard to install. it seems like the tubes are too long to fit on the middle distribution block. i ended up making it fit, but i think i may have cross threaded one of the rear coolant blocks. i emailed Motion to see if i can purchase another one, but haven't heard back yet. the kit comes with a tube that connects to the front of the block to hook up a rubber line. i think i'm going to tap the top of the water pump and use AN line though.



after this we spent a few hours temporarily installing the intake and routing all of the wiring. one of my concerns was the O2 sensor. i will be running one O2 sensor in my downpipe. the FiTech kit requires the use of the driver side O2 sensor for the ECU. a second O2 sensor comes in the kit, but is optional. since my downpipe is on the passenger side i was worried that the driver side O2 sensor wiring & connection wouldn't reach to the location i wanted. there was plenty of wiring though so this won't be an issue. i fed the harness through the firewall from the inside. i plan on installing the ECU and fuse block under the dash somewhere. i'll have to get the dash put back in to figure this out. this effort was more for figuring out the engine bay side though. i drilled a 2" diameter hole in the firewall before paint for the engine wiring - it is just to the left and below where the wiper motor should go. the FiTech wire harness didn't come with a grommet so i'll have to find one to fit.



one thing i didn't like about this kit so far is the fuel rails. we took one of the end AN fittings off and tiny metal shards fell out. when we looked inside, there were burrs where the rail was drilled for the fuel injectors. i tried to get a picture of this, but it was really hard to take a clear picture down a fuel rail with a phone. i'm not even sure how to get these out - long screwdriver maybe?? i plan on using Holley rails anyway. The FiTech rails are bored for 6AN line and fittings. the Holley rails i'm looking at let you use 8AN lines and fittings.

lastly, i figured i better check to see if the UMI LS strut tower brace i just bought last month still fits now that i'm using this sheetmetal intake and not the LS6 intake i originally bought. the brace fit! i had the brace on top of the caster/camber plate nuts in the pictures below, but the clearance will still be at a least an inch after installation.

dennisbernal91z

iTrader: (2)

Great update. Must be great to see things starting to come together.

Strange about the burrs. For the price we pay for stuff, that shouldn't happen.

Explain again what the small tubes are under the intake?

battmann

iTrader: (9)

yes - it definitely feels good making progress. buying parts is easy, but finding time to work on the car has been an issue (especially with the kids back at school now).
the small tubes under the intake are for the LS steam vent ports on the heads. they allow air pockets and pressure to escape the heads from extreme heat. from the factory they are routed to the radiator but i have read about people connecting them to the water pump or radiator hose without issues. some LS engines only had the front ports connected and the rear ports blocked off. here's a more thorough explanation if you're interested:
https://www.motionraceworks.com/blog...team-port-kits

JoshHefnerX

Nice car, looking fwd to seeing it come together.

dennisbernal91z

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the added information.

I needed a radiator solution so I bought an LS swap radiator from Griffin. It has a port for the vent so I should be OK.

I didn't know some engines had this blocked off in some places. Good to know. I plan to run an LS3.

I feel like I don't know as much as I should about these newer engines so any added info is always great.

SteelDirigible

iTrader: (2)

The reasoning I heard for the rear steam ports being blocked off is that the rear is typically lower than the front of the engine anyway so any steam would rise to the front of the engine.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

didn't do much on the car over the winter except accumulate some parts. now that spring is here and i have some time, i've started working on the car again. i really want to start the car this summer to make sure the engine is good - oil pressure, no leaks, etc...
my moser rear end didn't have any brake line brackets or clips. to attach the flexible lines from the rear calipers, i modified the old brackets i took off the front spindles and installed them on the back of the rear control arm mounts. i have a set of stainless steel brake lines for the car, but the rear axle lines will need to be rebent and shortened.



while i was under the car, i took some pictures of the BMR track pak that we already installed. i don't see how a driveshaft is going to fit in the tunnel with this thing. maybe we installed it up too high? anyone else have one of these? if so how does yours look?



from there i moved to the front of the car. i have a mishimoto 2-core radiator and derale fan setup. it's starting to get pretty tight in the engine bay. the stock radiator cover won't work now so i began making a template to fabricate one. i think i can just bend this on a brake from one piece of metal.

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

Wild stuff!

I have no experience with it, but I think I'd turn those forward bolts around if you can.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

The bolt heads on the other side are fairly close to the side of the tunnel. Maybe I could install the bolts the other way but I’d have to cut the part of the bolt that extends past the nut.
I just looked at the BMR instructions online and they show the bolt head towards the driveshaft like you said. The bolts they show look much shorter though. Guess I’ll switch them around and see what it looks like.

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

The excess does you no good, so there would be not issue with shortening them.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

Still making slow progress on the car. Been spending a lot of time lately trying to figure out the best plan to do the engine bay and dash wiring.
This summer I finished the brake system. All that's left is to fill it with fluid and check for leaks. Had to modify the bends in the stock SS replacement line kit I bought to fit around the steering shaft. Also had to rebend and shorten the lines for my Moser rear end. Was a pain, but turned out good.





also needed to mount the rear flexible brake line to the Moser rear end. i chose to drill and tap a hole on the top mounting bracket.



mounted a BMR battery location tray in the spare tire well and ran a 0 gauge wire to the starter. will be using a Ford solenoid so the wire is only hot during starts. i'll admit my stupidity. i installed this tray without the side J bolts and then realized i couldn't get the rear J bolt through the side of the tray because it hit the rear of the car. i followed the instructions and they didn't mention this. had to take all the mounting bolts out, feed the J bolts through both sides of the tray and then reinstall it.



got some door jamb bling



on to the engine bay. the wiper motor wouldn't fit. the DS fuel rail was in the way of the washer pump. i removed the washer pump and then cut the wiper motor cover towards the bottom where it flared out for the pump. everything fits now, but i'll need to cover up the hole with some plastic.







also ran into an obstacle on the PS side of the engine. the rear corner of the valve cover and coil pack mounting bracket was hitting the heater box. i had to "massage" a recess in the heater box. fits now.



i didn't have any coil pack harness harnesses so i bought some on Amazon. they work good, but there's too much wiring. i took apart some of the looms, moved some wires around a bit and then zip tied to the coil brackets. looks better now.





engine bay is looking pretty good so far.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

Been trying to get going again assembling the car, but weather hasn't been too cooperative lately. Biggest update is I got my wheels painted. I couldn't find the right gold / bronze powder coat color so we painted them. This is a custom color we came up with after playing around with mixes. Now I need to finish installing brake and fuel line retainer clips so I can put the car back down on the ground.




I had my friend work on a couple custom pieces for me over the winter. First he fabricated a custom radiator cover and painted it to match the engine bay. It has threaded studs welded to the underside so you can't see the fasteners when installed.



Next he did some light filler work and painted the windshield wiper cover I modified to fit with the LS fuel rails.



Over the winter I also sent all my turbo hot side parts to JetHot to get coated in Ultra Extreme 2500 Titanium. I'm doing minimal accent trim on my car in a metallic pewter color. Below is a picture of a JetHot coated piece next to some window trim. JetHot Titanium ended up being lighter than the trim. I probably should have went with Graphite, but that looked too dark on the computer screen. I still think everything will look good once installed.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

Since I've been working from home cause of COVID, I've been using the money I'm saving by not driving to work or going out to lunch everyday to get farther on this build. Been a little distracted lately though cause I'm also in the middle of restoring a semi-survivor 1984 Trans Am to complement this custom build. You can follow along on the other project HERE.
So here's where I'm at now.
Bought an Odyssey AGM battery and finished wiring the Ford solenoid in the hatch. Also finished the wiring for the Squash Performance dual fuel pumps. All the wiring under the back of the car is now done and protected by looms.





In the picture above you can see I also got the heat shields back in. The large one under the tank wasn't fitting great since I installed a plastic LS1 fuel tank. I ended up buying an adhesive backed sheet of rubber off ebay and put some strips on the bottom of the very bottom of the tank and also on top of the tank straps (between the straps and heat shield). No rattles now when I tap around on this part. For piece of mind I also installed some DEI floor and tunnel shield on the metal heat shields over the rear axle and where the cat would have been. I have a Magnaflow 16829 cat-back exhaust waiting to install and will be using an electric cutout where the cat would have been.





Had to fabricate a couple brackets. One is for the Wilwood proportioning valve. In an earlier post I stated how the kit I bought had the proportioning valve on the right when looking at the booster from the front. The valve won't fit there on our cars so I had to bend the lines to put the valve on the engine side of the booster. I basically needed a mirror image of the bracket that came in the kit. I've heard Wilwood makes a version of this now - which is just my luck.



The second bracket we made up was to hold the fuel pressure regulator. I should've taken pictures before installing this piece, but I forgot. The bracket is an upside-down 'U' and mounts to the fuel rail mounting bolts. Just had to buy slightly longer bolts to make it work. The way the bracket is made, the regulator is held up high enough to have clearance underneath between the intake and fuel rail. Too bad a lot of work went into fabricating this and no one will ever see it.






Since the battery is now in the hatch, I repurposed the relay bracket on the firewall to hold a power junction block I got on Amazon. We painted the junction block to match the engine bay. Just finished routing the LS alternator wire to this. Still need to connect the other dash items that will require power.



I bought a new pressure side power steering line and bent it like someone posted on a thread I found here. This looks great until you go to put the serpentine belt on and then the steering line is in the way. Ugh. After more bending I got the line to work, but put a small kink in the line. Hopefully this is fine and won't leak. First picture is how NOT to route the steering line. Second picture shows how the line needs to be installed to not interfere with the belt.

soloc4

Hey battmann, just finished reading through your build thread. Awesome build! I noticed that you have the Aeromotive regulator on you car and one of the issues I had with mine was that the boost reference hose fittings threads are too long and will bind the coil spring inside making it impossible to get stable fuel preesure. I shaved off about .130" of threads off of the end, leaving .140" to thread into the body. Use teflon paste to seal the threads of the adjuster and the boost reference fitting or you will have a vaccum leak at the regulator. I hope this helps, it drove me nuts until I figured it out.

GarageToys

iTrader: (6)

Nice work. The car is looking awesome.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

are you talking about the vacuum port on the side of the regulator? how in world did you find that issue? i would have never thought to check that.

soloc4

Yes, the port on the side. You will want that attached to a manifold port for boost reference, I use it to decrease fuel pressure at idle on my NA setup. I was having trouble adjusting fuel pressure, it would go from 40 lbs to 80 lbs instantly then not come down even with the adjuster turned all the way out. By chance, I removed the hose fitting to take a look at the diaphragm and I heard the spring pop. I measured the thickness of the housing and the threads and determined that it was binding the spring. I wanted to let you know what found so you can check yours.

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

Battman you have a damn nice car you've built there nice budget approach from motor/transto rear end I like it!

battmann

iTrader: (9)

Been trying to focus on my wiring lately. This is the last major obstacle I need to overcome. After this all the other things left before trying to start the car "should" be relatively easy: fabricate -6AN tranny lines, install spark plug wires, install intake, run vacuum lines, etc...
I removed the factory ECU and associated wiring behind the dash since I am installing FiTech's 70004 Ultimate LS EFI. Still have a couple wires that I need to trace before addressing. Added the factory hatch release setup I saved from a parts car while I was in there. Also decided to install wiring for an audio system: speaker wire, RCAs, etc... Don't have any plans yet for a stereo system, but at least everything will be in there so I won't have to take the interior back out in the future. I hate wiring!





It's looking like the FiTech wiring harness will be able to reach the factory ECU location so I mounted the FiTech ECU to the factory ECU dash bracket.





I started installing a 82-90 Intellitronix LED digital gauge kit and so far am not at all happy with the product. It is advertised as a "direct fit" system but requires a lot of modification to make it work.
I created an install / review thread HERE to go over all the issues.

tomsaddy

iTrader: (4)

Awesome build. I can’t believe today is the first time I’ve seen it, considering we’ve been doing our builds (and build threads) in parallel for years and our cars have a lot in common. I’m also down to the final dash wiring and wringing out final issues.

Great job on everything!
-Tom

zman1969

iTrader: (9)

I have a couple questions- LS1 oil pan? and did you notch cross member or leave as is? I love the color and beautiful engine! thanks

battmann

iTrader: (9)

It’s a stock LS1 oil pan. I didn’t do any modifications to the factory k-member.
I used solid UMI engine mounts and UMI LS swap mounts. I tried using Spohn LS swap mounts first and the pan was way too close to the k-member for my liking.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

Making some progress in the engine bay. A lot of installing stuff to figure things out & then uninstall to properly install the first piece. There’s too many things fighting for space in here! What’s that saying... 5lbs of stuff in a 1lb bag. Lol. Seems everything needs to be installed in a certain order too. Had to hook up fuel and vacuum lines while I was trying to set the intake. I’m just praying I have no leaks cause it’s gonna be a real PITA to take anything apart to fix it.



also cleaned up my steering column and installed a Jeep shaft. Had to buy a new ignition lock cylinder cause I couldn’t find the keys. Doh! Guess that’s what happens when a car is torn apart for like 7-8 years.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

sorry for the lack of updates. been making progress this year. actually took vacation this week to work on the car. made a list of things to get done before I can try and start the engine. don't mind the garage stationary. my friend said I should buy a new one cause this notepad will jinx me.



installed a B&M megashifter. looks like a previous owner had one in here because the front two holes were already drilled. only problem was he / she drilled the holes so the shifter sits crooked and they were oversized. I ended up having to use nuts and bolts to hold the shifter in place. that will make things fun if I ever have to remove it. oh well. also while installing the B&M shift cable I realized I wouldn't need the factory cable bracket on my 4L80E tranny so I had to remove it. that was a blessing in disguise because removing that factory bracket allowed me to run my fuel lines better.





fuel system is all done now. just have to hook up the vacuum hose to the pressure regulator.



I got this slick vacuum block from Motion Raceworks and mounted it to the firewall. it has 4 ports on the top and bottom and then one on each end. the line on the right is the main line from the intake. the fitting on the left will connect to a catch can setup. the switch on the bottom is a hobbs switch that will kick on my second fuel pump in the tank.



fabricated some brackets to hold the heater hoses. I needed some brackets to hold the hoses on top of the valve cover (not ideal, but it's the only routing that would work). there's another bracket on the front of the head that holds the hoses away from the turbo crossover pipe. I know a lot of people delete the heater on these swaps, but living in WNY I really wanted to be able to use the defrost.





ran into an issue trying to finish my brake system. I had my friend paint the booster, but he must have removed the rod in the middle for some reason and it got lost. I didn't notice until I went to reinstall it and removed all the tape over the center section. that sucked.
luckily TGO member firebirddude142 had one. I should have that soon.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

Got quite a bit done on my car in the past week. Fuel system done, brakes done, vacuum lines ran (except for the catch can), and turbo piping all in. There’s so much stuff crammed in this engine bay! Had to mount the tranny cooler behind the impact bar. Next is making the tranny lines. Will be using PTFE hose & AN fittings.
Here’s a couple progress pics. I was able to use some spare spark plug wire looms to organize the vacuum lines.





Here’s my list now. There’s a few things not listed but these were the main items I wanted to get done. Slowly getting there.

tomsaddy

iTrader: (4)

Looks great, congrats on the progress.
If you haven’t already considered it, you might want to pressure test your new hoses before finally installing them. I just installed a Trans cooler on my Canyon and had a leak that took forever to find…the brand new Russell braided hose leaked right in the middle.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

Already on it! I got a hose pressure test kit from Speedway motors. It was like $65.
I’ve had good luck assembling PTFE hose without leaks. I’ve done a couple regular AN hoses and those seem to be harder to assemble for some reason.

dennisbernal91z

iTrader: (2)

Fantastic updates! Keep them coming. Not enough "full builds" on here.
No details are too small, as long as you feel like sharing them.

battmann

iTrader: (9)

Thanks Dennis!
Not sure if my posts help anyone but I’d like to think so. If nothing else, maybe this thread will motivate someone with their project. Stuartswede’s thread on his 1983 TA project has definitely made me want to get more done on my car lately.
Can’t believe I’ve been working on this car for 6 years already. By the time it’s done, everything will be outdated! It will feel great to get this car done although I’m not sure what I’ll do with all my extra time then. LOL

dennisbernal91z

iTrader: (2)

100%. My build has been off the road for 11 years now. Not working on it for very large chunks of time though.
Now that my life has stabilized and I can get back to it, I am going further down the "custom" rabbit hole than I ever thought I would!

Even if my build thread doesn't help anyone else, I hope to keep it as a digital diary of all the love, sweat and tears that went into creating a true one-off piece.