Two coats of chassis saver.

 

More of the underbody.

 

Driver's side.

 

So I removed the subftrame connectors, then wire wheeled the underside of the floor plans. I then used an electric sander and 80 grit paper to go back over everything. I then cleaned it with degreaser followed by denatured alcohol. Over the course of a couple days I put two coats of Chassis Saver on the underside of the floorpans.

In a few of the hard to reach areas and inside the subframes, I used small wire brushes on extensions to clean up as much of the loose rust as I could. I then vacuumed out these areas and used a small magnet to get all the debris I could. I used a length of wire and wool rags dipped in degreaser and denatured alcohol to clean out these areas as well. I then took wool rags on a stiff wire and dipped them in Rustoleum Pro Rusty Metal Primer to coat these areas. The following day I used Eastwood Inner Frame Coating in those same spots. I taped the hose extension to a wire and was pretty happy with the coverage.

I will be painting over these areas in the next few days. After the paint dries I will be putting the inner subframe connectors back on and then welding them into place.

 

Sealed up nicely.

 

Thanks, yeah I'm pretty happy with it. DO NOT get Chassis Saver on your skin, however, it has to wear off. Laquer thinner and gasoline won't remove it after it hardens up. I had to throw out the brushes I used. I put the first one in a plastic bag and duct taped it up and it still was rock hard the next day. I put the second one in a small container of gasoline overnight and all it did was stop it hardening, it didn't remove any of it off the brush.

I applied my first top coat tonight on the passenger side. I wll take more pictures and update the thread this weekend.

 

Painted the hard to reach spots.

 

The reflection is a little bad on this one, it is actually coated really well.

 

I'll also be spraying cavity wax in these areas before sealing them back up.

 

This weekend I'm working on topcoating the bottom side of the floor pans. I will get pics up when I am finished. If I'm lucky, this will all last another 32 years.

 

I used a long extenstion on my cordless drill with a wire brush on the end to clean up the rust inside the rear frame rails.

 

Here's the brush at the end of the extension.

 

I also attached a smaller extension to the shopvac and taped it to a small rod to clean out the rust and paint flakes after wire brushing the rear frame subframe.

 

I used an extendable magnet to attract all the loose rust after vacuuming out the subframe rails. I then used a rag dipped in denatured alcohol to clean everthing before following up with Eastwood Inner Frame Coating.

 

Before painting.

 

After two coats of Eastwood and then a coat of Rustoleum.

 

Close up.

 

Inner subframe connector bolted up to the rear subframe. The gray is weld through primer I painted after grinding down to bare metal along the edge of the connector and where is meets up with the underbody.

 

Front of the connectors.

 

A shot of both inner connectors.

 

We had a couple of weeks of warmer weather so I painted a couple of topcoats of Rustoleum over the Chassis Saver. Most of the floor pans are covered on the underside so I could get the inner subframe connectors bolted up. I also sprayed a couple of coats of Eastwood inside all the nooks and crannies of the rear subframe that I had not already gotten to. I followed up with a coat of Rustoleum after letting the Eastwood dry for a day or two. All of these areas will get cavity wax shot in there as well at a later time.

I will be welding the inner connectors in the next couple of weeks as I have time. I have a couple other projects to work on before I can devote more time to the 'bird. I also decided to take apart the 6.0 and 5.3 and discovered an absolute horror show when I pulled the heads off the 6 liter.

 

Yeah, I think there might be something wrong here.

 

Hmmm...is that one of those new roller wrist pins I've been reading about?

Sorry. That does not look like good news.

 

Good pictures, I see you have been making progress. I am still working on digging mine out after 6 years. Keep the updates coming.

 

So the guy I bought the 6.0 off of had bought it as a drop in from someone else. He put it in his dad's truck, heard a rod knocking, and then took it back out. He sold it to me as needing a rebuild, but didn't know it was missing a piston.

I broke out the inner bore gauge and micrometer and took multiple measurements of the deepest part of the gouges. I took probably ten different measurements and miked them and never had one come up deeper than .027. That hopefully means a .030 bore will clean it up with maybe a .040 being the max it needs. I still also have the 5.3 if I decide to go that route instead.

I haven't decided what direction I want to go with the engine yet. I have considered doing a N/A stroker with a 3.9 inch crank, but I already have a K1 forged 3.622 crank so I may not bother. That leaves the option of just building an N/A 6.0 (bored .030 obviously). I've also considered going with a single turbo or a procharger. I can't see any reason to do a N/A 5.3 unless the 6.0 block is junk, so the 5.3 would definitely be forced induction if I went that route. The engine build is still a ways off, so I have awhile to decide. I will be looking to balance performance with reliablity/longevity. I would like to see 550-650 at the wheels.

If anyone has any input, feel free to pass it on.

 

You snuck in while I was writing my last post. Yeah, it sucks, but I'm 90% sure a .030 bore will clean it up.

 

That's just crazy. They sold the guy an engine with a piston missing? Or do you thinks it's all in the pan? I've seen pistons break, but I've never seen one completely disappear like that. Would expect a lot more damage if that was the case.

That's a whole new kind of rod knock.

 

Thank you, I will update as I have time. Unfortunately, my pole barn is not insulated or heated so I will not be able to work on it as often soon. Though it will have to get pretty cold for me to not work on body repairs or do some welding.

 

No kidding. Yeah, he said he bought it at LS fest for $1000 as a drop in. I removed the oil pan and no piston debris, so someone actually reassembled it and sold it missing a piston just to make a buck. I bought it for $500 as a rebuild. I've been back in touch with the guy I bought it from and he seems like a good guy. I believe his story because I can't see anyone forgetting a piston and then running an engine without it.

 

I'm sure this happens frequently. Who hasn't forgotten to tighten a bolt or made some really simple mistake before. What's one piston? There's 7 others assuming there weren't more forgotten. Thats still like 87.5% assembled correctly.

Maybe just a new fuel saving technique. The ultimate cylinder deactivation.


Cool project by the way. All the metal work looks like it's coming along well. Pretty cool.

 

Keep in mind a .030 overbore is on the diameter. With that deep scratch you might need to go .060 to get it out. With the scratch that deep in the cylinder you might not need to get it all out? Darn shame at any rate.

 

Thank you. Yeah, I think it's an old version of displacement on demand. It just takes a lot longer to remove/add displacement.

 

Crap, you're totally right. I completely overlooked that. That means it would need bored .060 to clean it up. I'm not going to go .060 with any power adders on a 6.0 block. Guess it's back to the 5.3. Oh well.

 

Arent LS motors sleeved? Thought i read that somewhere.

 

Sure, who hasn't reassembled something and had a screw left? Or a Piston?

 

I believe only the aluminum ones are.

 

The really shitty part is how hard is it to find a used LS piston for next to nothing? To go to the effort of putting it back together missing a piston and sell it as a runner takes a special kind of *******.

 

Well, it's been a minute so I thought I'd post an update. I got ahold of a BMR T-56 crossmember that I mocked up the other day. I had to do some minor trimming of the inner subframe connectors to accomodate it. I may mod the crossmember if necessary to make room for the exhaust, but that will be much later and dependent on if I try to run a dual exhaust or single turbo.

I will be welding up the connectors as weather permits, but it is 19 degrees outside which means it is 19 degrees in my pole barn. I will also be assembling my Strange S60 and removing the engine and drive train. I will post pictures as I do all this.

I also bought a Gen 3 6.0 block that nobody tried to run without a piston. The cylinders are in great shape and will likely only need a hone. I will post updates as they happen, but it will be weather dependent.

 

UPDATE:

So basically the more I dug into the car, the more rust I found. I was looking at cutting the quarter panels off and doing some major rust rehab. I decided to start keeping my eyes open for a better chassis. I suffered through the usual Facebook Marketplace shenanigans: a Trans Am get bought before I could look at it (ironically, the same guy that sold me the junk 6.0 block bought it), I found a few dead ads that nobody would reply too, one really shady guy that wasn't sure what state his car was titled in, and piles of junk that people wanted $2000+ for.

I ended up finding a 1988 roller with a really solid body. It has a power bulge hood which I didn't think anything about until I realized it had WS6 wheels as well. I measured the the front sway bar and it is 36mm so I checked the VIN sticker on the underside of the hood, the one on the front crash bar, and the actual VIN and they all matched. So I picked up a legitimate Formula WS6 roller with minimal rust for $700.

A prior owner removed much of the interior, most of the dash, and the A/C to convert it to a race car. I will be using the 91 as a donor for the 88 to replace all of this stuff.

I have some medical stuff coming up, so I won't be doing much to it until summer time. I will update this thread when I start working on it.

 

 

Well, it sounds like Kenny Rogers message got through. Hard pill to swallow, but I’ve always preferred the ‘88 front end anyway. Keep ‘er going, and great find with that WS6!

 

Thought I'd post an update since it's been awhile. I had surgery in March, so I didn't do much work on the car for a couple of months. I have been back at it for awhile now, so here are a few pics of what I've been up to.

 

I picked up a Holley Hooker crossmember for ridiculously cheap a few months ago, so I modified my inner subframe connectors to work with it.

Cutting the passenger side connector.

 

The piece I cut out and the angle iron I replaced it with.

 

The finished connector.

 

Both connectors trimmed up.

 

While test fitting the connectors, I cut some notches and used a hammer to contour the connector to the subframe better. I then stick welded the notches and ground them back smooth.

 

So now I am mountring the inner connectors and MIG welding them in place. Next I will grind my ugly *** welds and paint everything so it looks decent. When the inner connectors are done I will work on the outer connectiors and patching the passenger side floor pan. I will be on vacation (or more accurately a staycation) in a few weeks, so I will have some more time to work on it. More updates to come hopefully in the next few weeks.