Northwest Members - List your wrenching experiences

I thought it would be kind of neat to see what all people have done themselves, both LS1 wise and other engine/car wise

Here goes mine:

LS1/ F-body:

Head/Cam Swap
Cam/valve spring swap
Torque Converter swap
Shifter install
sway bar
cat back
K-member
brakes
lowering springs
surpisingly, I haven't "got" to do a set of headers yet.

My truck:
Rebuilt SBC
ported heads
2 cam swaps
header install a few times
posi install
pinion yoke install
drop spindle install
manifold more than a few times
rebuilt carb/rejet a few times
brakes
shocks
re-wired entire vehicle
spray in bed liner
custom autometer dash
stereo
custom center console
ratchet shifter
and I'm sure I've leaving other stuff out

Other vehicles
2 intake manifold swaps on Tahoe (5.7L Vortec....what a royal pain in the butt)
2 timing belt changes on 91 Camry
water pump on Camry
brakes on an old talon
brakes on 90s conversion van

as well as a bunch of other "tune up" crap that I've done on various cars throughout the years.

I don't think there is enough room to list everything.....here's a brief sample:

57 CHEV Sedan Delivery w/327, 4sp B&M Turbo Hydro
57 Chev 2dr post with 427, M22 & 4.11s (brothers car)
64 Chev w/327 cam intake & gears
61 Chevy bubble top with built 396 intake headers B/W super T10 4.11s etc
69 Road Runner NHRA E Stock (moms car)
61 Vette 305 stroker NHRA D Gas / E Mod (friends car) 10k rpm, 10 sec car
63 Nova wagon w/350 headers & Olds rearend with 513s?
69 Camaro 302 headers 411s
76 Fire Arrow bolt-ons

And my current ride....

Yeah... How about the car I did the least to while I owned it?

88 Iroc
Starter
water pump
Alternator(ALL at the worst times)
Replace rear spoiler
Slamm two inches
FULL HO Exhaust upgrade into a Flow master
Full cutsom sound(modifid Stock Caddy head unit. Amp under each seat, cross over hidden in dash, Bazzooka 10in tube hidden under rear deck, Sound stream 6x9s and 4x6s, and all the proper cable hidden in a stock package no one could see...Can you say sleeper)

Gosh i know there was more but that is just one car I never worked on.

And YES I personally did ALL the work ;)

Heh, way too much to list. But here goes

My Formy, so far:
Ported TB swap, RT Cats and Y, Hooker Cat Back, BMR Panhard Bar, BMR Extreme STB, BMR LCA's, Lid, SLP CAI, Spohn DSL, The Menzerna Twins.

My best friend in HighSchool's 68 SS 396 Chevelle, 2 motor swaps, 3 tranny swaps, 2 rearend swaps, multiple cam, intake and carb changes.

My 67 Chevelle:
Running gear swap from a bad body to a good one, 3 motor changes, 2 cam swaps, 3 rearend swaps, 3 Header changes, 4 tranny swaps, 2 intake swaps, 6 different carbs tried. 3 QuickSilver installs with a custom center console. header and dual exhaust done 3 times. I think i'm done with that now that I have dual 3" all the way out the back. Full Hotchkiss rear suspension swapout from stock. Electric fuel pump and filter mounting location changed 3 times. I think I found the right location this time. Solid cam and lifters, roller rockers, stud girdle. Dual remote oil filters. Tranny and oil coolers. Made my own switch panel and installed it. Dual electric fans. Etc........
All that shit and I'm still only about 2/3 done with the car.

Helped all my buddies on their cars throughout time, just like we all do now.

The list of my buddies cars that I wrenched on many, many times: 65 442, 65 LeMans, 69 Camaro, 74 Blazer, 79 Mustang, 68 Cougar, 69 Mustang, 67 442, 71 Nova, 68 Nova, 68 Chevelle, 23 T Bucket, 74 Vega, 69 Firebird, 66 Chevelle, 66 Nova, 67 Nova, 72 Nova, 78 Camaro, 71 Camaro, 73 Camaro. Thats all I can remember.

I figure this is as good as any fr a first post here.

Havent been able to work on any LS1s yet, as i dont have one. Am hoping to get one this summer. But i have worked on plenty of things. i was a lone wrech in a repair shop in Eatonville for a couple years, also worked at an off road shop for a few years. Worked for Morgan Dollar Motorsports on their Grand Am road racing vettes, as well as with their Craftsman Truck (Dennis Setzer). Am trying to save enough money to start my own shop building chassis, and doing custom suspensions/cages. That sort of stuff

You've got to be kidding ? :D Here's a list of just the so called hot rods I've owned. I built and put engines into each one, did the trannys on most of them as well as the typical suspension/interior type stuff that hot rodders normally do. I've done stock motors on a few cars I've owned not listed below. I've also done many engines for friends/work etc. I also built 4-5 Kawasaki KZ1000 engines including a 1265 cc 12.5 to 1 monster motor. Rebuilt a few dirt bike engines etc etc.

62 Impala 350 . Turbo 350
63 Impala SS 327 M4
66 Chevelle 327 Turbo 350
68 Mercury Cougar 302 C4
69 Camaro Z28 396 M4
'71 Ranchero 302 M4
71 Z28 Camaro sbc 400 Turbo 400
71 RS/Z28 Camaro 454 M6: Current car
'01 WS6: Current car/no motor work YET !

I'm pretty much a rookie when it comes to the wrenching thing... the Z28 is the first car I ever turned a wrench on (other than basic stuff like changing oil). So far I've done these things on my own or with the help of friends:

intake
suspension
headers
catback
cam
valvesprings
rear end swaps

well lets see.

evrything with the t/a.

built alot of motors, never really did to much on the cars, once wiped tire for a seven second pro mod :eek2:

-few 383
-1 502
-2 706's
got to watch a guy do heads for gravedigger :) alot more hp than they tell you.

a bunch of 350's
4-302's
1 347 ford stroker.

god wish i could think of some others but oh well, you get the drift.

03 Cobra head swap
98 408 install
93 short block swap
93 supercharger install
98 twin turbo fabrication stuff
98 locker install

Specifics are too long to list, I can take apart my 4'th gen fbody and put it back together without much trouble. I'm not very experienced with other cars though.

Lots of in tranny out tranny on a 93 LT1 car
H/C headers on same

H/C headers on 01 ws6

Shift knob on the 01 vette


Probably the man reason I got the 98 for the old lady is I can work on it. She wanted a Saab and I have no interest to learn about that....

Mine's a short list as I am rather incompetent.

1)
2)

... get the picture?

Well, I haven't done too much on the WS6 other than bolt ons, springs and brakes. See Sig, all done by me. Hell, I don't even change my own oil anymore.......but I have lost many a knuckle skins in my 35 years of shadetree auto mechanics..... :cry:

Some other stuff:
Engine rebuild 1957 Ford Fairlane
Engine rebuild on 1971 datsun 1200
Engine Rebuild on 1966 Vette 327
Suspension, cam and intake 1976 Dodge Power Wagon
Misc wrenching on others' cars, cams, intake, exhaust, wheel bearings, import and domestic.
tune up lawn mower engine.... :eyes:
motorcycle and bicycle maitenance.... :eek2:

I don't have any experience,,,,, matter of fact, I don't even like cars. :devil:

Mike

I don't have any experience,,,,, matter of fact, I don't even like cars. :devil:

Mike

Yeah we know, that's what Ellis said. :jest:

There is not a single nut or bolt on a fourth gen F-body that I have not wrenched.

Ryan

I'll just pick the most obscure one to list. I channelled a 56 chevy wagon. Does anyone in this newfangled tech website even know what that means? :)

Cory

Channelled? Damn Cory, you ARE old school. :jest:

I guess I should have listed 4 cams, 3 sets of headers, 2 rear end swaps & 1 intake in addition to all of my stuff on LS1s too.

That takes a lot of work, how far off the ground was the rockers?

Yeah I really have no clue wtf you guys are talking about.

I'll just pick the most obscure one to list. I channelled a 56 chevy wagon. Does anyone in this newfangled tech website even know what that means? :)

Cory

I know what that means. :hail:

I've dropped a few wrenches on Mark. :D

That takes a lot of work, how far off the ground was the rockers?

1 inch above the bottom of the frame. The whole floor had a lot of rot and patch panels screwed in. I decided why not cut it all out and drop the body about 3 inches since I had to put a new floor in anyway.

That's more like chopped Steve....

I consider myself the bolt on king. :jest: I try my hardest not to tear things apart, they just do not want to go back together correctly and work.

Basically I installed everything on my car in my garage. I am trying to list every single little thing to make the list LOOK long. Not wrenching but I do all my own polishing. :)

>ATI Procharger Supercharger (entire system).
>Auto Meter Pillar Mounted Boost & Fuel Gauges
>Fuel System-240 LPH at 42 PSI Fuel Pump High Volume Cooling Fan
>Weiand Polished LS6 Intake
>Bosch 42# Injectors
>SLP Stainless Ceramic Coated Long Tube Headers with Random Tech High Flowing Dual Cats
>SLP 3” Y Pipe
>Show Polished Borla w/chromed bolts, clamps, etc.
>TB Coolant Bypass Mod
>3” Flow Tech Exhaust Cut Out
>3” McCord Electric Power Plate
>Wolf 6 Point Roll Cage
>Baer Eradispeed Rotors
>SLP Strut Tower Brace
>SLP Sub Frame Connectors
>BMR Lower Control Arms
>BMR Pan Hard Bar
>BMR Front & Rear Sway Bars
>Custom Fuel Rail Covers with SS Decals
>MMS Crank Pulley
>SLP Drive Shaft Loop
>NGK TR-6 1 Degree Cooler Plugs

That's more like chopped Steve....

Chopping is making the windows shorter by removing vertical material from the posts and a and b pillars and making new or cutting down stock windows to fit. That is much harder than channeling.

Cory

Yeah, I was referring to the gouges Seve put in my head with the wrenches.

I had many wrenching experiences in the late 60s and early 70s, here's a few.

built 327 4spd. in to a 51 chevy coupe

409 4 spd.in to a 64 impala

built 327 4spd. in to 56 chevy, put straight front axle on front and put the rearend housing on top of the leaf springs.

put 409 4spd. in a 57 chevy

put a briggs & stratton 2.5 HP motor on a bicycle frame with small hard rubber tires and the damn thing ran good, mounted the motor on a piece of plywood, used a piece of string for the throttle and had to compression start it, no clutch, I was 12 yrs. old.

pulled my first motor out at age 14.

I could go on all day long, anyways I don't do much wrenching these days. Back problems prevent me from doing to much. Now I do the fun stuff and let Shaun and other good shops do the serious wrenching. :)

1 inch above the bottom of the frame. The whole floor had a lot of rot and patch panels screwed in. I decided why not cut it all out and drop the body about 3 inches since I had to put a new floor in anyway.


As good of a reason as any :headbang:

I'll just pick the most obscure one to list. I channelled a 56 chevy wagon. Does anyone in this newfangled tech website even know what that means? :)

Cory

Yep, I know. I ran a '56 Chev shorty wagon back in the 70's. It would lift the wheels off the ground. Man those were the days: cruising Highlands Hills and hanging with the Lakewood Street Racers, lots of Friday/Saturdays spent at Puyallup Dragstrip or known at the end as Puyallup Raceway Park.

Screw this.

I have dozens of scares that prove i do not know what I am doing? I have over a dozen on one hand ;)