Irish350

iTrader: (14)

Well where do I begin. My cars been down for a few months now, and Ive never gotten around to doing any sort of 'build' or 'swap' thread for it. Ive also never made any sort of all inclusive thread for all my dumb ****, i normally fling it all over the boards. Well ive gotten a few inquiries, and im a picture *****, and im always up for input, so i figured Id finally make a thread. So ill try to restart, from the beginning. (if you prefer to skip the talk and oogle feel free)



When I bought this 2000 Blue Green Chameleon TA, i had already had some time in an f-body with my old ^camaro^, which i did the on. Its own story entirely, but regardless, it left me longing for more (after a number of other car swaps). I got the car when i considered it to be 'done'. It sounded gnarley, was way faster than the ol lt1, and aside from a bit of audio work it was perfect.. great stance, sweet wheels, 6 speed (vs the camaros 4) Here's how it sat..



..In The Beginning:
AFR 205 heads
AZPS 01 cam
FAST 90mm intake
NW trottle body
Qtp 1 3/4 headers
True duals (under the axle) with Borla XR1s
Spec Stage 3 clutch (which tbh, i hated)

But anyone who says 'its done!' standing proudly, chest puffed out in front of their car is either rich (to have had all that money), poor (to have spent all his money) or a fool (to think hes done spending money. After having the car for a few months all of that showing off and daily driving with that spec3 (i guess it mightve been a "3+" since i think they do that, but more than likely my issues were more install related) that was amazingly "on or off" my left leg was buff, but my trans was having issues with 1/2/4/6th gear, so i wandered on over to my buddy Sean Britzius @ Top Gear Motorsports just in time as the clutch was dust by the time i got there (ive always been impressing him this way). He quickly shqapped out all the dirty-nasty that had been in the (surprisingly low mileage - about 65k at that point) trans am. While I was at it i decided to compliment the stock shock/2" lowering springs with some decent cushion. In went a:

RPM transmissions stage 4 t-56 and
ls7 clutch/ls2 flywheel combo
Tokico shocks

And i fell in love again. Now the 430 hp and 405 ft/lbs was even more fun to drive, because it was easier! I could modulate the power, and i could feel where the car was going.

NOW i was done! so onto the other stuff, right?! I did some audio work, and some little mechanical stuff i felt necessary (most noteworthy being the swap from the duals to a QTP y pipe with a flowmaster merge and a Magnaflow catback. Those xr1s sound good enough to offset the sheer volume, but the ground clearance of the under the axle finally got the boot). In this time I traded my 92 lt1 Corvette (that i traded the camaro for) for an 82 GMC Caballero (elco ss clone), which then got traded for a 65 mustang coupe with a 5.0.THAT was supposed to be the project car, but things didnt go as planned. One day after some serious ***-ramming from a local specialty shop (more on that later) I drove the car home and it was acting weird - next time I tried to start it it wouldnt. Honestly, its been so long since it happened, im not exactly sure what led me to do it, but i decided to go big.

This:

To This:

To This:

But mostly This:

Irish350

iTrader: (14)

Engine

So the heads/cam/bolton 347 was no slouch, but I was unsure that any of the bottom end was okay. I was (and still am) under the impression that oiling was an issue previously. A this point id had the car for probably a year and a half, and id been trying to stay on top of it. The car starting losing oil pressure as rpms went up at one point, so again, TGMS came through and tossed a Melling High Flow pump in. After ditching the true duals the car no longer shot out fireballs at high rpm shifts, and while I enjoyed my car pooping oil on people as i romped past them (which i usually only did if someone was driving like an *** and i needed to be in front of them) I did see a potential issue there, so i also put a catch can on. Both mods did their jobs, but the engine still quit. I researched for like a month straight as the car sat, and I weighed my options. I settled on this:


HKE built ls2 402 - callies crank, scat i-beam rods, wiseco 3cc pistons, ~11.1 comp
LS3 heads/intake (and fuel stuff) - Hand ported and matched, sodium filled valves to get pushed around by a bunch of lunati stuff spec'd by Ed per these flow #s
Comp Trunioned l92 rockers
Ed Curtis/ FTI cam- 235/248, .651/.629 113lsa
PTM 95mm tb
TSP 100mm maf
ARH 1 7/8 Headers/y (still going to the magnaflow catback for now)
ls9 valve covers/coils - will get painted, and provide a mount for the kurt urban setup


This time around (for the sake of overpaying to over-insure to over-quell my fears) Ive not only bumped up my catch can game but also grabbed some shiney stuff to help with the looob.

Saikou Michi dual catch can setup (-an fittings 4 the ladies)

Improved Racing pan baffle/thermostatic adapter
Setrab oil cooler
Kurt Urban steam vent system - not oil, and i havent overheated an ls, but lt1s have taught me that a few bucks for insurance is better than a trip to the machine shop to deck yer heads

This catch can is twice the size of my old setup not to mention its got 2 cans, so it filters the clean and dirty (lots of info on PCV/cans/routing here) air I feel like my vapor issue is safe; the liquid oil is handled by the pan baffle and cooled by running along some more -AN goodness up to the front of the radiator, where the cooler will sit. I dont see this being a problem with induction, as ill be running a 6le shaker setup, with a light-weight-racing-scoop!



UPDATE:turns out my beloved heavy ls7 clutch soaked up some oil, so ill be switching. Ive decided on a Mcleod RST twin disc, and im pretty sure Ill go with a fidanza aluminum flywheel. Feelin like this will make as much of a SOTP difference as the swap itself...

UPDATE:

Should have this in tomorrow, and im hoping to be looking at all the annoying stuff, like the -an lines, oil cooler, shaker, etc.. Might be done this week?

Irish350

iTrader: (14)

Driveline/Suspension

So this car was my first real taste of suspension stuff, and its still a daily driver, so right off the bat, it was the last thing on my mind. The GMC had drag suspension, and the camaro/corvette were stock (the camaro was such an opposite as far as well-roundedness goes; it would jump forward at lights unless i kicked it into neutral because the cam was too big), so the TA's dun-it-all mod list, especially in the suspension area setup really had me grinning:

Hotchkis Subframe Connectors
BMR Lower Control Arms
BMR Panhard Bar
2" Eibach lowering springs
Random Tech torque arm
Baer brakes

When the stock trans was taken out I decided to toss the ol orange shocks, and sometime before that on my way home that random tech arm randomly broke the **** in half, and left me limping home on my driveshaft. Chromoly makes it better. So aside from regular maintenance and repair, I left it all alone until now. "Well, Sean" i said to myself one day, "if the engines out, and youre wasting all of your money anyay.." so opted for some weight savings (/money spending), so heres whats different than above:

Expensive parts table:


Chromoly torque arm (old mod, new list) - no brand, but im more comfortable with it than another random tech unit..
bmr shock tower brace - man is this cool! i had it on for a couple months and then decided to go with the intake i did, so i cant use it anymore sold fast though
Tokico shocks
BMR k member
BMR torque arm reloc

If any of you are starting to wonder why there hasnt been any mention of the rear end; here it is! I bet this thing'll blow up. But ill leave that until another update Right now its stock with a ta cover (read:biding my time)

Irish350

iTrader: (14)

Appearance/ Audio

So, i anticipate this'll be the biggest section (which kind of makes me queasy, after considering the budget for section 1..) but I also am a lot more hands on in this department (I can make an amp rack; not a shortblock), and its just kind of more all encompassing anyway. Thats the main reason why this thread is here, if some of you were wondering

When I got the car, for one it already had these Privat Profil 18x9(.5?) wheels; I wish i could take credit for the choice, but I cant.. it was just another deciding factor for me getting it instead. Just thought id throw that out there, I get more questions about those than anything.

It also had some audio stuff done. Daniel, who I got it from had put in a 10" sub, a rockin pioneer deck and an amp that I actually look for a 'timex' stamp on from time to time, just because its been going forever. Here's how it sat:

Pioneer premier deh860mp- this is like an '04 model, so its nothing groundbreaking, but its ridiculously tunable, and it got me into tuning (my first pioneer, swoon)
Stock Monsoon setup- i knew this wouldnt last long
Hifonix Nemesis 2 channel- My first experience with Hifonix, by far not the last
MTX thunderform 10- I used this box up until the FG one below- after some trimming it fit some really large 10"s, but it wasnt made for it (flimsy)

Theres a tangent coming like my car history above, so if you get bored with my **** definitely skip ahead. At this point in time I worked in car-fi at best buy, and knew how to use warranties for the powers of evil. I grabbed a set of type r components for the front doors and bypassed the monsoon stuff. I used the Hifonix in its true 2 channel form, and ran it to the components in the doors instead of the MTX 10", which i considered to be pretty weak (old setup). A buddy of mine got a killer deal on a Kicker 1200.1 that was pretty well worn, but that meant 500-1000 watts with a 250w (generous) sub. I grabbed an alpine type e, because at work we'd had good experiences overpowering them.. 8 type Es later (man, they were clean sounding for a couple weeks at a time..) I shelled out the 40 bucks for the upgrade to the type R. These are what I had in my Camaro (and were given Alpine power), and even though this would be a smaller scale, I felt like this would be a good fit. It was, after I dremeled out the MTX box some (mtx/type e/infiniti perfects fit fine) but then I got greedy. While the amp was fine with taking it easy, the sub was happy with a little more than 500w (the box is smaller than they'd like) so I cranked it up and went through a couple of those as well, but this system was CHEAP and i was grinning like a **** ("thats a 10!" id say to friends; a lot). So here's what I consider to be like stage 1:

Same deck
Type R components
Type R 10
Hifonics on door-duty
Kicker 1200.1 crushing subs

I had the car for long enough that I started to get bored in one way or another - this was after stuff was done breaking. A very dearly departed friend of mine fiberglassed me a box on the opposing (passenger) side of the hatch (foam was because the plan was vinyl), this time with over 3x the cubic feet, and made for a 12". The driver of choice was actually just me copying him once again (the box from the camaro was in his 94 with type xs once upon a time). It was another new brand for me, and another to become a favorite; Fi Car Audio. I knew that when I upgraded the mids/highs would need help keeping up. I also knew that I didnt trust the haggard kicker, and the hifonics that originally drove the cars sub was now too small for the door speakers , it was time for another trip to hifonics. Ill skip past the chronological crap, cause no one cares, but after a brief testing phase, where I replaced the original Fi Q sub with an upgraded unit, wrapped the box and made a rack. I also had to fiberglass speaker bezels, since these are actually 6.75 (surprise!) and a bit deeper. That Pioneer Premier that had warn itself a place in my heart with its admittedly fiddly controls lost some gears in the motorized face, and i decided to get another old Premier unit fixed that i had grabbed when I was at best buy from a co-worker (id now been gone from there for like a year and a half, so no more free crap ). I was looking at putting down real power inside the car now too, so i also opted for some more INSURANCE/SUPPORT necessities (are we seeing a theme?) too.. (youll also notice i still blow **** up, so it only works so well.. haha)

Current:
Pioneer Premier 9800bt- 06 model year, im movin up!
CDT audio es610- 300w rms for door speakers? the msrp on these was like 900+, and they cost 1/3 of that, so i felt good about it.
Fi Q 12"- 1500w rms with some upgrading (SOP on their site- if youve heard of RE audio, these guys came from there, and cost a fraction)
Hifonics Brutus BXI2608- 2600w.. srsly. this was another 'it only costs how much?' moments.
Hifonics Titan TXi-6008- 600w 2 channel, blue glowie to match the rest (crossovers mounted there too)
Excessive Amperage 225 amp alt, powdercoated black so that me and Sean @ TGMS could see it was pretty before it disappeared forever inside the car (is going on the ls2/3)
Stinger digital capacitor- i forget the farad, but who gives a ****

Thats how it sits still. Im planning on glassing/plasticwelding both rear 1/4 panels, as well as the hatch panel (for clearance for the sub) and for the 'storage flap'. Those blue lights bounce right up on the hatch and render that mirror useless at night.

Ill finish up with where my other interior stuffs at in the mernin

uLs1a

iTrader: (22)

No one cares











Cant wait to see it finished

SRfastZ

Those wheels look really good with that color.. NICE

bj350hp

iTrader: (4)

X2 very clean. !!!

Irish350

iTrader: (14)

youre still around ?!

i thought you sold that thing like 2 years ago?

do you guys prefer the linked images to imbedded ones? i figured i was too spastic with text/images to have both spattered in there

brian_rs/ss

i like embeded better.

Super-Bat

iTrader: (38)

Your links fail so bad. You linked the embedded version, ie. you linked [img] tags.

Embed them in here and eat up that bandwidth!

SuperSport01

Nice! Really like the wheels.

uLs1a

iTrader: (22)

Yeah Im still here, I have a feeling I will be die and this car willl still be with me

Irish350

iTrader: (14)

me too, time to swap

you'd think i could figure this out, being that i do it for work

at least itll still look good; hows the vette? or was that what got sold


I have more info and i didnt finish the first time around, so ill go through and update it all shortly

uLs1a

iTrader: (22)

The 2003? We sold that about a year ago. Out of the two Corvettes we have had, thats the one I miss the most.

Irish350

iTrader: (14)

Updated - thanks for all the comments guys

I got the old engine home and there are some iffy cam lobes, which makes sense looking at the old lifters..

Trying to decide if i should tear the bottom end apart and take a peek at the rest, or if i should say eff it and leave it to the machine shop who rebuilds it...

Irish350

iTrader: (14)

Well, ive been sitting here waiting patiently for like 2 weeks for a damn throttle body..

hate it when someone drops the ball. repeatedly.

Anyway, I should have a real update soon.

strikeone

iTrader: (2)

looks great man, can't wait to see the final product.

InsaneAuto86

iTrader: (60)

anything?

Irish350

iTrader: (14)

SIIIIGH.. Ive been brainstorming w my mustang to keep my mind off it.

Yeah, the douche who I got my topend from still hasnt delivered on the throttle body. Ive decided i need to eat the cost and get another one if im ever gonna drive the car.

Getting a PTM 95mm, i really hope to be able to update before the weekend

InsaneAuto86

iTrader: (60)

Have you seen this thread?:

https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...le-bodies.html