I've got one that has done the same thing. i bought the car as a builder that had engine damage and got it home that night to find that it had ate #6 and threw it through the block just like this one. It also damaged the head because the piston shattered and the top ring was caught in the intake valve. Mine would not crank at all because the wrist pin got jammed between the main cap and a crank weight. This motor had no mods with only 60000 on it and i have no clue what caused it either.

 

^ At least you bought it that way and knew it was a builder. Mine blew up in my driveway when I went to start it. I haven't taken the engine apart, but I know it is a total loss. I am sure there is all sorts of smashed and bent parts inside of it.

This may sound insane, but I traded the AFR 205s for a different set of heads that are on their way to my house now. They are scheduled to arrive on the 19th. Once they come in I'll need to buy a few random parts and the long block is going together.

I also posted some more parts for sale. Get some cheap items and support the build at the same time.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/lsx-parts...lt1-parts.html

 

Holy crap man!

I just read through this whole thread and you have the worst modding add ever!!

Get it done!

On a lighter note, I'll be tuning in to see then end result!

 

Ha no ****, Im with you. I just read this thing thing front to back and OP you gotta get this on the road its been over two years! Ill be following this one...

 

You guys may be right to an extent, but I've had a lot of things come up in the past 27 months that have made me change my plans. At first I had some basic plans of just putting in an LS2 with my 243 castings, bolt ons, cam, and an LS7 clutch. That was pretty basic, but again things change. Some one broke into my friend's shop and stole quite a few of the parts I had stored there.

I got money through his insurance for it which leaded to stage two of wanting to completely overbuild the car. I went completely overboard wanting to build a dry sump, solid roller, bad *** headed, 408 with two stages of nitrous. I was on my way and had most of the parts and then I got laid off from my job of 2 years and 9 months at the beginning of November of 08.

I filed for unemployement, got three $258 checks from them, and then they cancelled my unemployement. The company I used to work for said I was fired for insubordination because I was arguing with them about them trying to lay me off and that constitued misconduct which is not covered under unemployement. I then had to sell off a ton of the parts that I was going to use for not only this car, but my 93. I had to sell my All Pros, Eagle crank, GT4202 turbo, nitrous parts, short blocks I had, etc....

I filed an unemployement appeal at the beginning December. It takes them 30 days to process and schedule an appeal hearing. Mine was scheduled for the beginning of February. During which time I had acquired a job on 1/27/09 having gone 3 months with zero income because of the ******** I used to work for. Then, the judge got sick so it had to be rescheduled for March. The problem was during which time they were saying that I owed $778 to my old company for the unemployement I had recieved (which I didn't have by the way). Putting me in an even more precarious position attempting to save every penny so if I did have to pay them back I would be able to.

I then had my appeal around the middle of March which I won, but I had also gone three months with zero income other than having to sell off the parts I already owned. That put me even further behind on work on my car. Not to mention I started my new job at the slowest season of the year and grossing $1000 a month wasn't getting me very far with the car.

I then took the $2000ish that I recieved from my unemployement that I should have gotten over the three months I didn't work and ordered a bunch of parts for my car again. I continued to save money and slowly collect parts.

I noticed Katech was running a sale on their ported heads and no longer owning a set I decided to buy some from them. When I talked to Jason he said he wasn't exactly sure on the chamber volume of the heads, but thought if he remembered correctly they were around 67-68cc. At the time I had a -8cc Wiseco piston and I would have to had the head milled to 64cc to meet my compression goal, roughly .030 off of the head.

I sent the heads to TEA to have them cut the seats for larger valves and do a little work to them. When they got to TEA Mike told me that when they poured the chambers they were slightly over 71cc. To reach the 64cc I was looking to meet my compression goals I would have to mill the heads roughly .050s. Which is the exact opposite of what you want to do to a stock casting with a 350 shot on it.

I told them to go ahead and do the work on the heads, I would sell my current pistons, and buy a -2cc piston instead. Which of course I did. Here enters one of the stages where it is my fault. I found a Canton oil pan and a set of AFR 205 Heads. I bought them both for $2008.50 shipped from Connecticut. Which is a great price and I was very excited. Ends up that those heads were a 62cc chamber. They would have worked for my original -8cc Wiseco pistons, but now that I had the -1.8cc Diamonds my compression would have been around 12.75:1 = way too high for what I am looking to do.

I then traded the AFR 205s + $350 for a set of basically brand new big bore AFR 225s with 66cc chambers. They are exactly what I am looking for, meeting my compression, flow, design goals, and I don't plan on changing my mind on heads again. These are on their way to my house now and should be here the 19th according to UPS.

The most recent set back is I had some random ******* on 8-21-09 decide to slash all four of my tires, break my driver's mirror, window, and hatch glass on my 95 DD.









Now:


All of this crap ended up costing me $768 and I even already owned the replacement glass.

This is an extemely consolidated version of everything that's happened recently in the past 10 months or so. I won't even get into moving, my DD breaking down, and all of the different people that owe me money. I'll just say at this point that total is $2142.77. Which could get me very close to finishing my car.

The official count at this point is that I've been through 2 different sets of pistons, 2 sets of rods, 3 cranks, 4 sets of heads, and been back and forth a million times on what valvetrain parts I want to run. At this point in time though it is finally coming together. I just need to decide on whether or not I want to stick with the solid roller setup or save the parts for my 93.

At this point in time I just want the thing to run. I'm getting kind of tired of explaining to people that, "No, my car still doesn't run and hasn't run in the past 27 months."

 

Damn man, talk about when it rains it pours! I guess considering all that, you're moving along pretty good. Ill be watching to see it finished, I love following build threads!

 

I happen to have very bad luck. All of my friends joke about what horrible things are going to possibly happen to me next. I've honestly considered selling it a few times. I just couldn't do that after saving for 3 years to buy it. If it comes down to it I'll just put another stock short block in, run it, and slowly gather everything else. At this point in time though everything looks like it is FINALLY coming together.

 

I know your pain man, i had a LOT of crap happen to me while trying to piece my car together. Nothing was quite as serious as some of your mishaps, but still set me back quite a bit. My car is finally almost done, i just need to sell my motorcycle to cap it off.

Hang in there, it'll be worth it when it's done. I considered selling mine and/or parting it out a couple times too, but woke up the next day being VERY grateful that i didn't.

 

Something always comes up. I used to always wonder why people on here never finish their projects and now *** deep in two of them I now am becoming an example myself. The main disadvantage I had was that my car was pretty much stock when it blew. All I had added was a lid and catback. Most people get to go through it in stages. They put in a cam, clutch, maybe some gears, and suspension parts. Then, they decide to put nitrous on it. Oops, it blows... Time to build a new engine.

I didn't have the advantage of being able to sell my old parts. I'm pretty much doing this all from scratch. I now have the parts and most of the money to assemble the long block, but I still need around $5000 in bolt ons, clutch, fuel system parts, suspension pieces, and random parts.

On a good note though my AFR 225 heads are here. I recieved one yesterday and then got the second one today. I find it odd how you can ship two exact same objects at the same time and then they end up arriving two seperate days. Every time I've shipped or had heads shipped to me this has happened.

AFR big bore 2.08 / 1.60 225 heads




Intake Runners:


Exhaust Runners:


I'm pretty excited about getting them. I now have most of the major components for the long block. I still need to have the machine work done to the block, fasteners, gaskets, rings, and bearings, but I'm getting there.

 

so how did you get owned by your professor?

 

Damn. I remember reading this thread when I first got my 98.

I bought mine 3 days before you got yours. I have since put 37,000 miles on it, and broken (2) 10 bolts.

Get that done, fella!

 

Making some bad choices on my part followed by some of my famous really bad luck. It is on seatstaysup if you'd like to read it. Search threads started by me and it should come up. Basically my teacher epically owned me and it just snowballed from there for everyone to read.

I wish I could say the same thing. I would happily trade two ten bolts for not nuking my engine. I drove mine maybe 3k miles and then it blew. I bought 2 new front 275/30/18 front tires about 300 miles before the engine went and now they're dry rotted to hell.

 

Man i feel for you. If you lived closer I'd just give you the short block I'm going to pull out until you get back on your feet and other motor built

 

Thanks for that great offer and if you were closer I would take you up on it. I am thinking about simplifying my build some. I am looking towards $2000 in parts and machine work to have my bottom end done. Then, there's roughly $6000 in other parts to get everything thing else up to par.

Right now I am looking around to see if I can find a 6.0 or LS1 short block for a decent price. I could spend $2000 and have a nice setup in the car and running. Then, I could just slowly gather the rest of the parts and enjoy having my car running.

I'm thinking along the lines of:
6.0 short block
ARP rod bolts
5.3 Heads with work done = Have / Can do
Cam
Springs = Have
Yella Terras = Have
pushrods
ls7 lifters
oil pump
ebay headers
Exhaust = Have
Powerbond pulley = Have
LS2 Intake
Edelbrock 90mm TB = Have
Gaskets
LS7 clutch setup

I'm guessing it should cost around $2500, but have the car running very soon and be better than what I started with. I'm not going to go changing my mind again before I have a complete game plan. I'm going to look around, price everything out, and go from there. We'll see...

 

Good idea.

This is what you should of done in the first place.

Keep it simple to get yourself back on your feet then you can go bigger later.


I'm in the processes of figuring out what set up I want to go with for the spring. I have a good amount saved in the back from the job I started in May.

 

It will come together Beaflag, hang in there. Also a priest, holy water and a few incantations

 

I'm kind of leaning towards a hybrid of the two. As in finishing my long block and saving money by utilizing cheaper options for some things and not installing some others right away. That brings the grand total down considerably and still gives me something to build on that'd be worth it in the long run.

It's going to take some kind of miracle to get it to come together any time soon. I'm guessing by the time it is done it is going to be a 3+ year project.

 

I would not use the LS2 Intake on the 6.o engine I read a article on hotrod where they tested a stock iron 6.0 to different variations of bolt ons for maximum horsepower. The LS2 intake actually lost 10HP compared the the LS1 this was on stock heads of coarse but with 1.8 roller rockers.

I am not sure if bigger heads will make the LS2 intake wake up.

They did test the fast 90/90 setup and it made the most HP of all

 

Consolidation time. I am simplifying my build. I just created a massive parts for sale thread that'll help me get this thing back on the road. Most of the parts you've seen posted in the past couple pages are on there:

https://ls1tech.com/forums/lsx-parts...-interior.html

I am changing my plans once again and aptly naming this setting the foundation. My largest fear with getting this car back together the way I had planned was grenading something like the stock rear or transmission once I got it running. I knew if I had continued down that road that the path would be the same. I would get it running after dumping all of my money into it, get to enjoy it for a couple months, and then have something grenade on me. Again, leaving me without the car and saving all of my money once again trying to get it running.

I don't want to deal with that so I've been talking to a couple sponsors and have all of the new build planned out to an extreme detail.

1998 Firebird Formula – Setting the Foundation

MWCP Setup
- Midwest Chassis fab 9 inch rear end with Strange 35 spline gundrilled, lightened axles, ½ inch ARP wheel studs, Detroit locker, back brace, narrowed 4 inches per side, Strange aluminum center, 4.11 gears, cross member for 4 inch Y pipe or true duals, and CM torque arm
- Midwest Chassis bolt on Anti Roll Bar
- Midwest Chassis Strange front double adjustable coilover setup
- Midwest Chassis Strange rear double adjustable coilover setup
- PST 3.5 inch aluminum driveshaft for T56 / 9 Inch
- MWCP subframe connectors
- MWCP CM APHR
- Energy suspension polyurethane motor, transmission mounts, and sway bar end links for SS sway bars
Total = $XXXX shipped

Wheels and Tires
- Two 16x6 Bogart street / strip front wheels
- Two g-Force Sport 225/55ZR16 (24lbs each 25.7 tall)
- Two 15x11.5 Bogart street / strip wheels 5.005.25 Back spacing
- 325/50/15s = HAVE
- Mini tub the car using the Wolfe mini tub kit = HAVE
Total = $XXXX

Suspension
- My BMR standard tubular K member and A arms = HAVE
- My Wolfe offset LCAs = HAVE
- My SS sway bar set = HAVE
Total = $-X

Engine - Bottom End
- LS1 short block
- ARP Rod bolts
- Entire set of gaskets to assemble the engine
Total = $XXX

Bolt Ons
- LS1 Fuel Rail
- Ebay stainless 1-3/4 headers
- 34 inch y pipe
- Section of 4 inch tubing to make it over the rear axle and dump
- Paint Y pipe backwards BBQ black
- My March under drive crank pulley = HAVE
- ARP Crank pulley bolt and new belts
- Homemade ram air setup that angles down
- Cut black hood so that the nostrils are functional
Total = $XXX


T56 Parts
- SDPC LS7 clutch kit with Ram aluminum flywheel and ARP bolts
- Tick adjustable master cylinder and NEW 01+ slave cylinder
- My B&M shifter + **** = Getting shipped back to me
Total = $XXXX

Fuel System and Gears
- Dual walbro 255lph in tank setup
- ARP wheel studs on all 4 corners
Total = $XXX

Miscellaneous
- 99+ M6 Engine harness and repin for 99+ PCM = Blank Owes Me
- Clutch fork holder
- Shift boot
- Relocate the battery to the spare tire well
- SJM ABS delete / Line lock kit = HAVE
Total = $XXX

TOTAL = $XXXXX (total) - $XXXX (part out) - $XXXX (money I have) = $XXXX / Top End Swap = $XXXX
My total pending cash = $XXXX

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Engine - Top End Swap
- 5.3 heads milled, stock LS6 valves, radius throat cut, and hand blended
- TEA .660 lift springs = HAVE
- Patrick G Hydraulic / Solid roller cam hybrid
- LS7 lifters
- 5/16ths pushrods
- Melling oil pump
- My Yella Terra Rockers and JP double roller timing chain = HAVE
Total = $XXX

Induction Swap
- Ported FAST intake manifold TB opening at 100mm
- FAST intake manifold gaskets
- RevXtreme 100mm throttle body
- TSP 100mm MAF sensor
- Fast Toys 104mm Lid
Total = $XXXX

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have all of the prices listed, but out of respect to certain people I removed a lot of the details.

This should pretty much make my car impervious to what ever I can throw at it with the stock bottom end. An LS7 clutch doens't have enough bite to take out my T56 and the rear end definetly isn't going any where.

By the end of the month I will / should be ordering the complete MWCP setup that is listed at the top. I need to talk to Steve at SJM about a set of wheels, their measurements, and my options. I want to do something different than what I've seen anyone do and it should turn out really nice. Once that is done it is just a waiting game for the rest of the money and slowly gathering parts. I am guessing by the beginning of next year it'll be done and on the road. I'll be able to enjoy it and do my HP mods in stages the way most everyone else gets to do them.

 

Beaflag, you did it again man. Changing your whole plan.
Just put a motor in it and drive it, everything else can be swapped at leisure.
Because after sitting for so long, you'll have plenty other issues to deal with.

IMO, get a stock longblock with very low miles, 01>04 and just slap it in, get it to work with clutch replacement.

The longer you wait, you'll change your mind once again