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I would basically get nothing from the drive train. He wants it all for his Cutlass. I have an LS1 with T-56 sitting here ready to be assembled I just have to make the final decision on chassis.
That's fine. A 10 bolt for the 79 will be pretty strong and relatively cheap to find (I just junked a 3.08 open diff and can get my hands on a 2.56 for free). What year cutlass? I think those are coil spring rears while the 2nd gen ta will be leaf - won't fit without cutting and welding.
That pretty much drives home the point of safety equipment, doesn't it? That dude got out and walked away almost immediately after that crash. Amazing.
I haven't been on here much but just got done reading all the updates and all I can say is Well Done sir. Your suspension brakes are something I need to pay attention too.
I have tubular QA1 upper/lower A-Arms with Coil overs to put on the front now but haven't done it. I may go with a ride tech real coil over setup. For brakes I got the C5z front and rears I need to put on somehow. Haven't done it either. I moved from Hawaii to Montana and got custody of my 9 year old so ive been busy. But I am about to get down on the car for sure.
Any how, congrats on the new setup and I look forward to hearing more and talking to ya in the near future. Thanks for the epic posts!
-Chris
I'm just jumping on board to follow your thread. My 77 TA has been gone about 13 years and I still miss her. Always wanted something similar to yours just didn't realize there were others like me. You have an amazing car.
Thanks guys. I'm glad to see this is helping others out.
Now, on to my latest wrinkle to iron out... while the 8.5 inch 10-bolt is a strong axle, I did discover one of its weak points last week. The welds that hold the tubes to the central housing are prone to failure. When that happens, the pinion twists upward and causes all sorts of problems. In my case, it makes the output shaft on the transmission sound like it's got a bad bearing (which could still be the case, but I'm fixing one thing at a time).
The fix for this is to do something *before* this problem bites you on the butt. Most people weld the Tubes to the diff housing. Some tap the housing and tube for set bolts.
Lucky people who've had their housing twist up on them might be able to twist it back down and weld it. I wasn't so lucky. Mine wouldn't budge.
However, remember that 2.56 posi I mentioned a few posts back? I did get that, and will be using its housing as a new home for my 3.42 guts. Pics will come later, but here is the run down:
Remove and sell 2.56 posi guts (yes, it is a posi diff, and works well)
Drill and tap housing and axle tubes for set bolts (welding steel to iron is not a job for amatuers).
Cut axle ends off, wire wheel the housing
Weld on new moser ford-style axle ends
Clean up and paint housing
Have someone who knows what they are doing set up the internals.
The LS3 and T56 are in the car now. I'd like to figure out a way to preserve the shaker hood scoop's function if possible, so I'm seeking ideas on that. FWIW, the C6 oil pan clears perfectly, with about 1/2 inch of clearance between the sump area and frame cross member. It literally took 5 minutes to drop the engine into place, compared to 20 minutes with the C5 Batwing pan (more jockeying around and shifting).
Been a long time since I posted an update, so here is the latest:
I'm reinstalling an interior to ensure compliance with Scca CAM-T rules. It doesn't add much weight (carpet and door panels) so no big deal there
I'm replacing the wilwood clutch master with a beefier wilwood clutch master. The little one I use before kept blowing the plunger seal and I also got tired of the relatively hard pedal. I'm going to a 5/8 bore 1.24 stroke, instead of 3/4 bore 1.0 stroke. I had plenty of pedal travel available.
The master cylinder switch forced me to rethink my firewall arrangement. Pics will come later, but basically I'm moving the mount point about an inch lower.
The 2008 Corvette ls3 is installed and running. Only, I'm getting a p0016 code (crank and can sensor out of synch). I did replace the timing chain before dropping the engine in and I suspect I've got it off by a tooth. Any insights, guys?
Again, nice stuff 81! First time I found your car online was through TAC. Hopefully I can race around a track against you some day. Yours looks like it has been sorted out very well.
Got a pic of the new master cylinder arrangement. Instead of going down an inch, I actually went up an inch, plus an toward the driver side. This got me a MUCH better connection angle (90 deg) between the clutch master push rod and the pedal, using the stock mount point on the pedal. The 5/8 bore master is also a lot lighter to push than the 3/4 bore master was.
Old Setup: Look at Post #128, above. See where that red hose is in the upper right corner? One end goes to fill tank, the other goes to the master cylinder. Here's an underneath shot of it:
New Setup (sorry, crappy cell phone camera):
This new arrangement forced me to relocate the wiring harness junction about 1.5 inches to the driver side -- something that can only be done with the E-brake assembly permanently removed. I fabricated a mounting plate from 16 gauge steel for the clutch master that also patches existing holes in the firewall in this area.
Holley / Hooker 2nd Gen conversion trans crossmember
Everything cleared quite easily, literally taking 20 minutes total to mock up, trim the exhaust pipes so the mufflers fit in thee correct spot, reassemble everything and test fire the car.
First, a bit of history: Right after my first engine grenaded, I'd decided to make sure its replacement was fairly beefed up. This included getting a double-roller timing chain and an expensive front cover to clear it. Since then, I'd decided to just stick with well made single chains, but I still had the cover. I wasn't going to recoup the cost selling it off, and it was a pretty nice cover. Put it on my LS2, which lasted just over 2 track days. Put it on my worn out 5.3 JY engine, which had all sorts of odd crank case pressurization issues. Oil coming out of the breather, couldn't keep the stupid thing sealed for nothing. I figured it was a side effect of being in a tow truck for 150K miles. The thing was worn out.
...sorta. Below are two pics of my front cover, in particular, the area where the cam sensor is mounted. What's different? About 5 to 7 degrees of ignition timing. This might explain the 4 pistons that overheated and fragged at Road America in my low-mile LS2 (and the odd crank case pressure issues we saw then). It might also explain the difficult starting and excessive blow-by on the 5.3/Fast EFI setup (which, incidentally, didn't notice the timing problem).
At any rate, this was a VERY expense lessons learned, thankfully in time to keep me from blowing up a perfectly good LS3.
Comp Cams Cover with Cam Sensor in wrong position.
Comp Cams Cover with Cam Sensor in correct position.
You're welcome. My hope was to keep others from learning the same lesson the hard way. It's notable to point out that the factory ECU detected this problem immediately, while at least one aftermarket ECU (FAST EZ EFI 2.0) didn't.
After getting that problem knocked out, I went on to iron out other bugs, which at least appear to be normal for a used engine:
1: random misfire on all cylinders. Traced the issue to gas fouled plugs, likely due to the ECU retarding the timing in reaction to the ping sensors/bad timing. Corrected this by cleaning the plugs with a propane torch (holding plug at the boot end with pliers). Worked like a champ.
2: misfire on #7. Eliminated plug, wire and coil as possible causes. Likely a clogged or dirty injector.
All: What are the merits of having someone test and clean the injectors (best price for 8 that i found with google-search was @160), vs. buying new (Jegs has FAST injectors for 322 dollars)?
When you run a programmable aftermarket ecu it's always a good idea to put in a flat timing table and hit it with a timing light to check timing in order to make sure it's accurate.
so now, I have a buddy who's offering me a Procharger D1SC, with intercooler, brackets and injectors for $2500. It needs the fuel pump, waste gate/blow off, and bits of plumbing. The kit is for a base corvette LS3, which I have. Any thoughts on this?
07-25-2015, 04:22 PM
