mcalus

iTrader: (14)

Ok, so now that it is pretty much out, i need to start making a list of stuff I need for the cam swap. And I am pretty clueless when it comes to this, I know what all the stuff is (mostly) cam, rockers, pushrods, etc. I don't know what valve lash is, or how to install any of the stuff.

I have pretty knowledgeable friends that have done cam swaps installed bearings etc.

What is a list I need and approximate amount I am going to spend on each, I know it would be probably cheaper to buy it as a package but I wont be able to fork up around 2k for everything at once.

Really what I am going for is a fun weekend/strip car. I have my LS1 to dd, I am more or less looking to take this out for dinner or to have fun at the track. I know they say you cant have reliable and cheap, but this is my first actual engine build, the only other engine I have pulled was my old 350 in my 89 silverado. I guess I am more or less looking to make some good power with the cheapest way possible.

One of my brothers friends works at a machining shop in town and his dad owns it. He said he can port my heads (stockers) for 150-200 depending on how much he is taking out. Is that a good deal? How much power am I looking to get out of ported stock heads?

I was looking to get the 503cc or the GM847, really I just like the sound of them but I dont want to have to rev to the sky to make power.

What am I looking at price wise to build my 4l60e? When should I worry about it going out?

Sorry about the 50 newbie questions.

Thanks everyone!

mcalus

iTrader: (14)

BTW, I dont have a maf? Is that werid? I dont get any ses lights and the car idles fine.... I was looking at LT1 engine pics and i dont have the maf. I just have the little thing that is connected to the elbow. Also I dont have a random connector just hanging out.

tdevil55

iTrader: (23)

93 Camaros were speed density cars, no maf. The other connecter on the elbow is the air temp gauge. You should be fine with the upgrades, just may need a good tune when you get everything in place on the rebuild.

Blk99ek

egr plugs just tuck them away some where no need to cut them out just leave them just in case. Car looks really rusty also.

mcalus

iTrader: (14)

Yeah there is some rust up in the engine bay, i might take care of some of it when the engine is out. Its nothing major. Flash makes it look worse than it really is. Not too worried about it. Ill probably end up repainting the front core support.

Ok, ill tape the connectors up.

Anyone have any answers to my first post on this page??

Thanks!

mcalus

iTrader: (14)

Got some more done to it this past Friday, my computer has been giving me problems and I had to work a 13 hour shift yesterday ... so sorry for the delay on pics and a update.

I still am not sure what exactly I want to do to the engine when I get it out.

It took us a bit to get the gas lines off because the quick disconnect my buddy had was for a ford so it didn't work. So we make shifted one of our own out of a WD 40 cap (the red thing everyone throws on the ground when you buy a new one) We wrapped it around the line, shoved it up into the slot and they popped right off.







My buddy kinda pissed me off, cause after he got there, worked on getting the exhaust off then left 30 min later because he wanted to go "watch a movie" with his ex... makes sense to me...

So I took my anger out on the rest of the exhaust and went to town with the sawsall



Also got the driveshaft out.



Rearend has seen better days



Rotors are near new so i am going to keep these guys on for now, calipers could use some new paint, pretty sure I still have a can of this gray color laying around, haha 2 years! Going to have to put another coat on.




Check out that wonderful oil leak, cant wait to powdercoat the oil pan, will look so much better, I wont have to get a deeper one will I? What is the point of a deeper pan? More capacity for bigger CI?




Borrowed the wheel idea from Larry works great!




Drive shaft has also seen better days. Should I paint it? I shouldn't have to upgrade to aluminum should I?



Crossmember




What do I have to disconnect for the trans? Is it the line? how far will I have to take it out?




Interior with carpet back in since the phone pics were blurry, still need to detail the dash and the door panels. Then I am going to plastic repair the dash and give it a good coat of matte black paint.





So far all I have left before the engine drops is the the bolts that hook up my front cradle I think 6 or 8 bolts, then the trans mount bolts, and what ever I have to take apart from the shifter, which is??? Also, where should I dissconnect the brake lines from? I believe that is it. Not very much trans fluid came out of the trans when the driveshaft was removed not a good sign, fortintually the trans shifted well other than when you put it in drive it took about 5 or 6 seconds then would go in. Any suggestions on that?


Ok so answers to qustions I need before working on it again (which will be tues)

Shifter disconnect?

Brake lines?

Why the trans takes a min to go into drive?

Also the other random q's in the post..

Thanks!

camaroz28383

iTrader: (9)

Shifter disconnect? u should be able to just pop the shifter linkage off the trans if you crawl under there and take a look the rod that goes up into the consol should be obvious and you can just wiggle and yank and it should come off

Brake lines? disconnect them at the abs block

Why the trans takes a min to go into drive?low on fluid????

Also the other random q's in the post..I would go with a ls1 drive shaft or an aftermarket one don't forget to unbolt the upper shock mounts

Thanks!

BlackScreaminMachine

iTrader: (17)

The trans taking a min to go into drive is either fluid or a shifter linkage adjustment issue, but im leaning toward a blown tranny that will take a good 1600 for a good rebuild. Might as well start pricing a th350/400

mcalus

iTrader: (14)

Cool! Thanks!

Well I know it was super low on fluid, Its really 1600 for a rebuild! WOW!

slingshot928

1600 for rebuild will get you a nice transmission to hold alot of power....if you do not need a crazy built transmission I would look around for a local shop to build it. In the 93 it is a 700R4 with a reverse valve body making it the 4l60. The transmission is in the 92/93 corvettes, and the 93 camaro, in 94 it changed to the 4l60e. There should be a tv cable going to the throttle body to the transmission, so when the throttle opens, the transmission sees more line pressure which holds it in each gear longer.

I was very lucky, had a local guy who built transmissions on the side do it for 750 + a case of beer + 250 in sonnax hard parts that I had purchased before bringing it to him. He builds th400/th350/700R4/powerglides for some friends that are currently running 8.0 in the 1/4. I also bought a edge 8.5 inch torque converter with a 3400 stall for 500, which makes it a blast driving on the street.

You do not need a deeper oil pan on that car, when you take the pan off, check the oil pickup tube going into the pump to make sure it is not loose, my pickup was swinging causing the car to loose oil pressure when hard braking. When we took the pan off, the pickup fell into the pan. You can weld it back on to the pump.

There is a one piece felpro pan gasket for our cars, easy to put on, someone please chime in with a part number for it.

mcalus

iTrader: (14)

Ok, so I have a 4l60? The e is 94 and up correct?

So basically this narrow's down my options. Would I be able to do a 4l60e swap? Is there any pros or cons for having a 4l60?

Learn something everyday.

moderate Z28

I wouldnt paint the DS it might make it wobble. Get an LS1 aluminum or just leave it alone. I rebuilt an old TH-350 for a little over $100. It wasnt too hard.

supadez2k

I have a 93 A4 as well, it's basically a 700r4...so cheaper to rebuild actually....my shop quoted me $875 for a basic rebuild, but I'm gonna have a 3000 stall converter and trans cooler so that pushes it to like 1200-1300....just wish I had it! lol

Trans shop said to swap in a 4l60e (cuz I had one I could get pretty cheap) I had to get a electronic trans controller, 94 up throttle body, ect. just not worth it....

I'm thinkin of going with a th-350, but dang I'll miss OD on the street

slingshot928

You break the tv cable going to the throttle body to the transmission, tough luck trying to get another one. Other than that the transmission is solid, i really do not see anything different. If you look it has a high first gear then falls on its face, that is the only problem with it. Burn the tires in first, and then second it falls on its face without gears.

mcalus

iTrader: (14)

Got out of work early so I got a real good start on it. (1:30pm)

Started working on the seats, I cant believe how much dust can just sit up in the seat brackets and tracks! UGH I'm stoked about this interior getting back together cause I will actually be able to breath in it!














My buddy Jason holding some of the wiring harness out of the way.




This needs to be CLEANED!




Dirty engine bay!





Working on getting it on the trailer.








Home safe and sound! I coudn't resist but to pull a valve cover off and see how gummed up it was, wasn't that bad.











The only 2 problems we ran into was my buddy accidentally pulled one of the wires out. (oil presser sensor correct?)




Also broke the little nipple off the starter solenoid.

Well??

LaVy

iTrader: (5)

Thats the low oil sensor.

mcalus

iTrader: (14)

Worked on the engine a bit last night.

I got the manifolds of and the stock y pipe and cat. Do I need to make a block off plate for the back of the intake where the egr went in? Will a little bit of rtv and some sheet metal bolted in work?



Had to use a good old trusty pipe on the end of the ratchet. 0 bolts stripped nor broken, well except the ones that hook the y pipe to maniflods but that isn't really an issue.




I am going to assume these vac lines broke while we were taking it out, because wouldn't it give me a idle issue?





I pulled 2 or 3 plugs out to see what they look like, this was the worst of them all. Not sure, put pretty sure the previous owner before I originally had it put new plugs and wires on it and also a opti, do you think I should still replace the opti? It looks like crap but works great.



And last but not least, I traded my clears for some stockers, here is the before...




And... the after....Just needs a bit of wet sanding and wheeling and they should look pretty nice!






Didn't get any pictures but I also removed the A/C....

Buddy and I are going to work on it again tonight, what should I do next? Water pump and opti and wires? Intake? My dad made some pretty good chili that we are going to dig into when my buddy and I get over to my house so we might not have much time to work on it on account of having to "do work" .. if you know what I mean lol


Any suggestions?

BTW thanks Larry for the heads up on it being cheaper to buy stuff seperatly.

Thanks Mike for the stock parking lights and the prices on gaskets.

mcalus

iTrader: (14)

Got some pics up. Some of these gaskets are DESTROYED!


Here is the damage to the pulley, seem ok?



Water pump off-








I still can't get over the amount of oil and dirt build up.



Does this mean it has been replaced?




Still debating on just doing small things that are needed and make it a reliable track car vs cam swap. Go with a stall, new gaskets etc.

How do I get the starter off?

slingshot928

I am pretty sure it means the transmission has been replaced, that sticker was not on my tranny when I pulled it when it blew at 83k miles. Make sure you get a good transmission cooler when you rebuild the transmission, it will help it last a lot longer. It is a necessity when you get a good torque converter, with the added slippage from the converter, there is more heat in the trans.

I would go for an electric water pump, no more water pump drive on the the motor, and less chance of the opti getting sprayed with coolant. You need to put a freeze plug in the timing cover, and a freeze plug in the water pump housing for it to work. The electric water pump bolts onto the front of the water pump where the cover usually sits.

mcalus

iTrader: (14)

Being busy with school, work and family thanksgivings and what not, oh and being broke.

I finally got some time to work on it today. I pulled a bunch of parts off and apart and tons of random bolts I plan on powdercoating tonight. Which a lot of the bolts and pieces are probably not work the time but I would like to have a really clean engine bay with out all the corroded pieces.

I ran into I believe my first problem. I was looking at the engine for more parts I could take off to powdercoat and I noticed the splines that the splined shaft from the water pump go into are very rusty. Whats my best bet? Do/can I replace it? Will it be a difficult task? The shaft itself is fine but the other part isn't.





Here are some pics of pieces I plan on coating.


Obviously not the side facing :wink:


Still not sure what color I want to do these. I was thinking a charcoal color.




Some of the bolts that will be done (chrome)
-Water pump cover thingy bolts
-coolant neck bolts
-water pump bolts
-coil pack bolts
-a/c brackets and bolts
-tb cover bolts
-I'm sure I'm forgetting other things

Here is some random pics of the water pump and thermostat.






Also, when I took off the tb cover the rubber gasket thingy was very flimsy and like it was sucked in. covered in oil too. I don't think it will seal very well if I don't replace it. I should be able to get one of them from autozone shouldn't I?

Sorry camera phone pic