RacnJsn95

iTrader: (4)

I asked earlier in the week if I should put an LQ9 or an LS1 into my 68 Chevelle. I decided that the 6.0 was the way to go because I would be able to use LS3/L92 heads later on as funds became available as an upgrade... Come to find out the 6.0 I was looking at is an LQ4, oh well.

So I have a few questions about my plan here... I'm on a SUPER tight budget so this project will be done in "phases" which include:

PHASE I: Get the engine into the car, running a carb.

PHASE II: Swap carb to EFI.

Phase III and on (way later down the road): LS3/L92 heads, swap trans for something with OD.

So my master plan here for Phase I:

02 LQ4, swap on a set of 5.3 heads to bump the compression.The cams I'm looking at are a Howard's Cams 190325-15 (226/232 @ .050" 578/586 on 115lsa), or the SLP 51016 (224/228 @ .050" 591/600 on 113lsa), or something similar. LT headers. Bolt it to the TH350 in the car now.

Here's where Phase I and II intertwine... I want to run either the Edelbrock Victor Jr EFI manifold, or Super Victor EFI manifold, but I will block the injector ports and run a carburator for the time being... When I get to Phase II I will swap the carb off and run a 4bbl throttle body, keep the intake, put the injectors and related hardware on.

I did some research on this next part, but could not find the answer, although I thought I read it was possible a long time ago... (In Phase I) I want to use a factory gm ECU & harness to just control the ignition/coils rather than an MSD 6010 box... I would just tuck away all fuel & transmission related wires until Phase II/III... Is this possible? If so, can someone point me to a thread related, as I have not been able to find one... If it's not possible I guess my plan is shot.

So that's the plan, I would appreciate any input, and information you may have. In theory I will pick up the engine mid-late next week and get started taking the car apart.

Below are a couple pics of the Chevelle.

Jimbo1367

Nice looking ride!

RacnJsn95

iTrader: (4)

Thanks! It's pretty sweet, I picked it up in late 03 with a blown 307 been working on it ever sense...

Well... I'm not having much luck in the research dept. So many threads on here it makes searching kinda tough to find what you're looking for... Especially if its "outside the box"... I haven't found any info on anyone using the factory computer to run ignition only... Is it possible, or do I absolutely have to run an MSD 6010 box?

Next deal is I read all this stuff about 6.0 people saying for max HP numbers you should run a "carb style" manifold (Edelbrock Victor Jr, etc) with a 4 barrel throttle body... That's what I would like to do when I hit the EFI stage, until then I would run a carb... I already have a Holley 112-538 throttle body, I'm thinking that it might be overkill for the engine... Should I sell it and get a "smaller" tb?

I'd appreciate it if someone could chime in before I start shot-gunning money down the toilet as I haven't been able to find into on either subject?

chuckd71

iTrader: (23)

It sounds like you are planning to do and then redo things, which would run counter to minimizing the budget in the long run. The MSD box itself is only $300 and I bet you could recover 2/3 of that when you sell it, so I would skip step one entirely. I wish I would have when I went with the 200-4r in my car instead of just going ahead and putting in a t56. Also, before I sold and rebought a tb I'd give the one I have a chance.
That paint looks good.

RacnJsn95

iTrader: (4)

You bring up a good point... I hadn't really thought of selling anything off though, was just in the mindset to buy, and buy as little as possible... But now that I think about it, I can buy the MSD box, and then I might as well keep it and buy the harness kit to plug it into the factory ecu stuff and retain the programmable timing curve, 2 step, and other features.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention, now I can start buying stuff.

*EDIT* Oh wait, skip step 1 all together, missed that part haha... I guess rather than spend $600 bucks on an intake, and msd box, I could probably buy the spectre efi tank, an ecu, and harness for the same or less...

chuckd71

iTrader: (23)

I heard there is a new version of the spectre tank, not sure though. For some reason I think someone had put a Buick GN tank in an A-body and if so that might be worth checking out.
If I've learned anything from this site it's that you never know what you should have done until you've already done something else.

RacnJsn95

iTrader: (4)

I just read that a few people aren't even happy with the new tanks... A lot of people don't seen happy with Tanks Inc... That pretty much leaves Ricks, and Rock Valley, both of which are out of my price range... Looks like it's up to me!

I read a couple posts I thought were good ideas, the one that jumps out at me most was someone suggested a "baffle wall" with smallish holes that would allow fuel to "move" but probably not so much that it would make the pump starve for fuel... I think I'll run with that idea, but make a "baffle box" around the pump, maybe about 12"w x 8"d... I don't see why a guy shouldn't be able to modify a stock sender to work with an intake Walbro 255? See pic:



In theory it would under hard cornering, and accel. Thoughts?

chuckd71

iTrader: (23)

Seems reasonable enough. As long as there is at least some bit of sump around the pickup you should be good to go. Anything has to be better than the options we are being presented by manufacturers. I've read at least one case of a guy not being happy with his Rick's tank, and it's pretty insulting for anyone to charge that much for a gas tank.