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Awesome progress man. I'm really digging the custom fuel tank.
Thanks!
Thanks again. Yeah Chris at Behind Bars Race cars makes them anyway you want. He did a great job and as usual I asked him a million questions and he answered all of them. Great customer service and great work.
Can't wait to get this installed Started pulling the old wiring harness today. Looks like it won't be that bad, just time consuming. I need to get the dash pulled now that I have everything else started.
I also need to look into redoing some gauges. I'll have the Holley system to track everything but I still need a good tach with a light and I'd like to have a speedometer still too. I think the rest I can check on the computer display screen. I didn't get that yet but I probably will so I don't need the laptop all the time.
What book was that you are using for reference? Very cool build, risky because it was already a strong runner. Very cool none the less. ha
Hey Spade. Looks like you've been around here awhile
Thanks for props. It's always going to be risky pushing the car but what's fun without a little risk lol
Here are my references. LS1howto of course and 2 books which both have been recommended to me and have full color pictures which is nice when you haven't done something before.
Got started on the dash. It seems a little tricky but there's a good howto thread on Tech here so that's awesome.
Also, the wiring harness is coming off a little at a time.
Took off the bumper and fenders. Those will go back to the paint shop soon with the hood to get fixed up. A few pieces at a time. I never had the car buffed after painting and it's cracking in a couple spots.
I'm going to do some weight savings mods on the fenders and doors soon too. Looking pretty bare now. I should be able to finish the wiring harness after I pull the dash and steering column. Then I can get started on the new wiring. Might be kinda tricky but I'm sure some guys have done it on here. I want to do the switch panel on the roll cage or where my stereo used to be. Depends what looks better. I've been watching a couple other builds, one here on tech so I'll see how his goes too
Looking good! What do you mean measure for gaskets?
Thanks. I'm making a little progress so it's a lot of fun.
I didn't understand at first but basically I need to find out how far the pistons come out of the block at TDC in order to put the proper space between the head and the pistons at that point. I think that is called quench but I don't completely understand it yet. I think the definition to quench (or piston to head clearance) is actually the combination of the deck height clearance of the piston plus the compressed head gasket thickness. I know Tony says quench is very important to keep tight but it seems all the tolerances need a close eye if you want to have a solid engine especially with the most power it can produce. I know the gasket thickness has to do with making compression exact as well but I don't think that's the key goal.
If I'm reading it correctly it seems most people get a reading of about +.006 when measuring the pistons at TDC, which means that at least one of the pistons rise above the deck .006. The most effective space to have between the piston and the head is .035 which would give a gasket thickness of .041. In order to keep the head away from the piston a total distance of .035 you have to add the 2 measurements together. The stock gasket thickness is .057 so a pretty significant difference.
The procedure the way I understand it so far is repeated for the piston at each corner of the block (1, 7, 2, 8) to be sure you are actually getting the highest piston. I was reading that these are usually the same but to check them for repeatability.
-So what I did was start with piston 1 because it was already close to true TDC after just aligning the cam and crank with the timing chain
-First step is clean the block surface (which I didn't do initially and my first silly mistake in this procedure, waiting for my longboard in the mail now)
-Then I zero'd the dial indicator on the block deck surface and rechecked it in multiple spots to make sure I had it right
-Next you have to find TDC of the first piston. Placing the deck bridge and dial indicator over the piston, first you turn the crank to find the highest point of the piston. Then literally push on the piston and make it rock in the bore until you get the same reading at 12:00 and 6:00 with the deck bridge. (The 12:00 position is closest to the center of the engine and the 6:00 position is closest to where the headers would be.) This number represents the measurement of what the piston is above or below the deck by, which is your true deck height. (This is where I messed up next because I just used the highest single point of the piston to check and Tony said I need to check the flat surface on the edge of the piston at 12 and 6:00).
-The number found is what is used in order to find the exact gasket thickness needed. And is the number that is referenced above is "usually" .006. So if the piston is above the surface of the deck you just add it to .035 to find your gasket thickness needed. If it's below the deck I would assume you just subtract.
-The .035 number I believe is just a number that has been found through working on these engines to be the most effective space to use for quench on LS1s but I haven't read everything so I could be wrong there.
Here is a pic of quench represented in a diagram which always helps me. Deck height clearance plus compressed gasket thickness makes up the piston to head clearance. I think I actually understand this a little bit better after typing this
Here are some pics of me attempting to measure. I sent these to Tony for my critique lol and that's how I learn.
Finding zero on dial indicator
Finding zero here here but I need to clean the deck surface instead of be lazy lol
Here I'm checking the actual pistons, but I'm just not using the correct spot on the piston. You're supposed to measure the flat portion of the piston on the perimeter at 12:00 & 6:00
On this picture I'm close to the 12:00 position but I also need to check the bottom of the piston and get the 2 values to match by actually pushing on the piston. I haven't tried this yet because I need to clean the block anyway.
I also ordered another dial indicator because my deck bridge has 3 holes for multiple positions and/or multiple dial indicators. If I use the 2 holes toward the outside of the deck bridge I should be able to measure the 2 positions on the piston at the same time which would be a little easier.
I haven't done this before so it's been a process but it will be easy the next time around
Darth_V8r helped me a ton on this as well as with a few other more technical issues or it would have taken me a lot longer! He's been a big help and I think he likes cars as much as I do lol. He also helped me to bug Tony a lot less lol
Does anybody know about converting over to a 16 volt electrical system?
From what I've read people just change the battery and have the alternator converted over to support the 16v system with a different voltage regulator. Then maybe I'd have to change the starter but I'm not sure on that.
I don't have a stock pcm or any stock wiring now.
I still want to use my lights so I don't know if those would need 12v or work fine with 16v. I assume they would just be brighter.
I was reading that people that do it say the whole car works better. I'll research more and maybe post up in the electrical section if I can't figure it out but it seems really easy to do based on what I've read and not really any reasons not to do it.
Spent a few hours today removing most of the wiring harness from the engine bay and interior of the car. Pulled dash which ended up being the easiest part of the day. And I pulled the steering column which was pretty easy too. Pulled the HVAC system completely too.
This is all the stuff I removed from the interior of the car.
The windshield wiper motor is pretty heavy actually. I was surprised. And I wouldn't need those anyway lol.
Here's the new Racecraft steering column next to the stock one. So much lighter it's crazy. Didn't expect that either. I'm just going to wire the turn signals and ignition all on the center of the dash with a plate.
Me and the blower motor got into it lol. It wouldn't come out because the cage is there now so I had to do some persuading.
Here's what the interior looks like now
Hopefully some more work next weekend with the holiday again.
Went from open heart surgery to a full bionic upgrade! I'm really excited to see how this build goes.
Ha! Yeah definitely. Getting more and more fun. I'll post a couple pics but I keep pulling stuff out of the car that isn't going back. It's crazy how much stuff is jammed all over. I'll definitely drop a couple hundred pounds by the time I'm done. Just the wiring harness is a beast. I know the new harness will weigh something but definitely not what the stock one weighs lol. I've been looking at Racewire solutions to possibly just have them make me one. Wow are his setups nice. I wish I would've found his website sooner. I heard about them from a member in here and Midwest Chassis too. I'll see how long the wait is. I'd like to hit the dyno around March or April. I know I'll have some bugs to work out. Or maybe not.
I'm almost ready to paint the cage. I bought some Rustoleum hammertone paint and some foam brushes and rollers. Should look nice when I'm done. I also want to finish painting the interior metal, especially where the cage went in. I know I don't have to make it all match but it bothers me it's multi color too. And the first time I did it I didn't realize some was flat and some was gloss. I wanted to do all flat in POR15 but I didn't double check the order when I got it in and just went at it.
Going to change my cam retainer plate now. After reading that thread on here I ordered one from Lingenfelter. That would suck if I got it all together and then had an oil leak. It doesn't seem like it is common and I saw a bunch of people reuse them but it won't take me that long to change. I also wanted to take my lifters out and "cook" them in the crockpot at 175 for awhile. They say it's not necessary but I figure it won't hurt and it's easy to do.
Damn, man. You really have everything torn apart! It looks totally awesome.
What was your reasoning in going with the Holley management system? Are there too many limitations with the stock PCM or is the Holley just easier to manage?
Damn, man. You really have everything torn apart! It looks totally awesome.
What was your reasoning in going with the Holley management system? Are there too many limitations with the stock PCM or is the Holley just easier to manage?
Thanks!
No I could have used the stock system for sure. The reason I upgraded was 2 fold.
One is I have a 98 car that has the limitations of the 98 PCM. 99+ are much easier to tune. I don't know how to tune but I don't think I can run a 100mm MAF with a 98 PCM. Anyways, I'm going to use my 99 PCM from this car for that car.
The other is my tuner likes the Holley system a lot and it does seem "easier" to tune from what I read. And there are no limitations at all for any future engine swaps for this car now. And more options as well. I mean, it's just a better system overall. Just expensive is the only downfall like a lot of racing upgrades.
This is the REST of the wiring harness. I had to finally cut a spot in order to get it out around the cage or I would have had it all out in one piece.
Clean slate to work with
With the wiring harness, all the relays and the brake booster gone it looks pretty empty in here. Got my cam plate ready.
Changed out my cam retainer plate last night. Didn't spend much time but it was crazy the difference in thickness of the gasket. I posted this pic in the "cam retainer plate" thread on here too. There was .019" difference in the two gasket thicknesses. Visually, I'm glad I changed it.
12-25-2015, 06:46 PM
Started pulling the old wiring harness today. Looks like it won't be that bad, just time consuming. I need to get the dash pulled now that I have everything else started.
