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So my 4th gen addiction started in the late 90's when I picked up a car and driver magazine comparing the 96 SS to the 96 cobra and trans am. Since then I always wanted a SS and more specifically a ls1 car. Well I started my driving career behind the wheel of a 1950 Chevy 3100 pickup and enjoyed that for a few years until my twin brother sold his turbo eclipse to buy a 98 4v cobra. One drive in that car and I knew I wanted a 4th gen. So after selling my truck I searched the web for a good deal.
So there she is I found the perfect car in Greenbay WI. The car already had long tubes and a borla exhaust. A m6 with factory hurst shifter and slp lid and strut tower brace. Other than the exhaust everything was stock.
To make a long story short I put a few bolt ons on the car and bought a set of et streets. I put a ton of miles on her running around town racing and enjoying the car. My brother and I spent several weekends at edge water raceway park in Cincinnati OH running almost every Friday growing up. So fast forward about 6 years and now I am out of college and ready to build the car I've always wanted.
Now after a lot of research and planning I've settled on the route I want to go. I want an iron 408 filled with some boost. So I picked up an lq4 out of a wrecked HD Silverado and began tearing that down. Once tore down I dropped the block off at Williams Precision Engines on St. Paul Indiana. Here is the build as it sits now.
Hey, Thanks for posting your build. Good to see another NBM! Doesn't seem to be too many of us! I will watchin and waitin to see it all come together. Nice work.
Hey thanks man and yeah there doesn't seem to be many of us out there. I love the nbm and glad I went with it over black (I was between mine and a black SS when I was looking). I've been really trying to get the car together so will be updating this as much as I can.
Just noticed your avatar has different rims, cool. Ive still got rims previous owner installed and I hate em. What size or bs did you use? Im probably gonna look into something new soon. Thanks! Hey, Im located just down the road in Ohio...If they ever finish Dragway 42 cmon down.
Yeah I've got factory alloy 10 spokes that are oaky but I've always loved bogart d10s so
I picked up a set from a member on here. The rears are 15x9.75 and have approximately 7" of back spacing and the fronts are 15x4 and around 1.25" of backspacing. What are you thinking about looking for? And sounds good when the cars done (which I am hoping to get it tuned by the end of the month) I'll be wanting to take it around.
Man I keep changing my mind on rims and whole set up. One day its a drag thing and then maybe lowered with 5 spokes....Guess just keep lookin at all the stuff I can and just pull the damn trigger. I do think the more drag oriented style is what Im lookin for, Racestars maybe? Yeah, Im located bout 40 miles from Norwalk {summit} Raceway, 15 miles from Dragway 42, and 20 miles from Mid Ohio. A lot of racin for a place that's under snow 6 months a year! Thanks for the info on sizes, now maybe I can settle on what I want.
Man it sounds like you are in the middle of it all. Yeah I like the racestars actually was going to buy a set until the bogarts came up for the right price. Just keep an eye on the backspacing and what rear you are running. That will determine the tire size you can fit.
So after taking delivery of the 408 I had to plan the removal of the ls1. Again I turned to the tech and found a fantastic write up on engine removal out the bottom. I'll post a few pictures of my progress as I took a ton so I can be sure everything goes back smooth. If anyone has questions just ask but the how to write up on here was a savior.
The removal went pretty smooth with the exception of a broken sway bar mount bolt. So now that everything is out it is time to swap over my accessories and wiring to get the 408 ready for its new home.
So ran into an issue while disassembling everything. I unbolted the four bolts that's hold the motor mounts to the k member on the drivers side with no issue. Well I broke 3 of the 4 on the passenger side. So needless to say I decided to go ahead and purchase a tubular k member ahead of schedule (I planned to purchase one when I got a turbo kit). Just money I didn't want to spend yet.
I tried separating the control arms from the factory k member but couldn't as the rear bolts where bound up so I got a package deal on a tube k and a arms.
So at this point I have the suspension assembled and the 408 mounted up ready to throw in this weekend. I have all my wiring done for the most part.
So now I have a few questions. What is everyone doing with the EGR harness connector as I am getting rid of the EGR?
Next question is where is everyone putting the main block ground strap that is mounted in a different spot on lq motors than the ls1?
Thanks guy yeah I love the nbm and after owning the car in basically stock trim for 9 years I'm glad I can finally start putting money in the old girl.
Update for the night my brother came over and we got the motor set in place. So after a weekend of weddings and baptisms I'll be back at it getting everything hooked up.
Yeah I have been trying to get the car back on the road. I have almost all of the wiring complete and plan to send my computer off to Mike Norris in Indianapolis to have him throw in a start up tune so i can get the car fired. Once I have it ready for the Dyno I will take the car up to him.
Ill be working on the the rest of the engine bay like AC Lines and radiator ect. . . Also I plan to get the torque arm and tunnel mount cross member installed this weekend.
Okay few updates tonight: I sent my pcm off to Mike norris in Indianapolis to have a start up tune uploaded. Hopefully I can start her up next week.
Also I finished my wiring and installed everything that was removed ac, radiator, brake lines, and the odds and ends.
Also I deleted my air pump and egr. So I do have a little write up for that. Removing everything is pretty straight forward. So when you take the hose off the air box (slp in my case) you will be left with a hole.
Now go to autozone and get a Chrysler "master cylinder gasket" in the help section part number 42081.
I put a few dabs of silicon to make sure it is air tight but it honestly fits pretty tight.
Update: everything is wrapped up. All wiring is done and pcm is plugged back up. Altered a harness and added it to the cars main harness for the MAF.
After completing that I drilled and tapped the mounting location for my tunnel mount torque arm so I could use bigger hardware.
Next on the list is to alter the couplers I bought for the lid and maf so I can get that mounted up for the last time. Then fluids and startup.
Wow, you still have DeCarbon shocks... I wonder how old they are? Would have been a good opportunity to swap them out while the block was out, but I realize it's an additional expense.
I recently connected a fuel pressure sender to the EGR harness using a weatherpak connector and just stuffed the extra wires back into the factory harness after adding a bit of nonconductive metal to the tips. Do you have decent clearance between that Lingenfelter MAF harness and the underside of the hood? Do you live or drive in a dusty environment?
09-09-2015, 08:52 PM
2000 NBM SS long overdue build thread: 
