thatkevinc

After looking at this cam for 8 months, I decided to finally put it in this weekend.









This was terrible. Even with the ziptie, it ended up falling into the pan. Luckily, my buddy was able to fish it out 15 minutes later.



Success.



Cleaned up the valve and timing covers, didn't spend too much time on them since they won't be seen, but I still didn't want to leave them pretty much black.



The bolt for what looks like an engine mount backed out, same with the other side. I assume this was from the previous owner when they put in the solid mounts.



I'm not sure when the plugs were done last, but they were in great shape, nothing to be concerned about.







AND managed to over tighten a rocker bolt and it snapped. My buddy managed to get it out with a pick, as it snapped flush.



Didn't end up finishing as I hoped. Will be ordering new rocker bolts asap.

Left to do:
- Torque rockers
- Put on valve covers / Hook up coils and wires
-Throw belts on
- Mount rad/ac condenser
- Fill coolant, oil, ac
- Bumper and trim pieces

**EDIT**
Forgot to add, finally put in the new fuel filter.

thatkevinc

Rocker bolts showed up yesterday, so after work we *almost* finished the car.



Filling up the ac lines again, hoping there's no issues. Ended putting a few dents in the high pressure line when we were doing the valve springs.



After it was mostly done, started the car and within a few seconds had 48psi of oil pressue, no weird noises, so everything should be good to go. We did manage to shred the belt a bit, not sure if it was misaligned. I'm praying that the balancer is on tight and won't have any problems with it. Followed the F-Body how to, it said to torque it to 37ft-lbs, then with a breaker bar tighten the bolt 90-140 degrees. After the 90, we couldn't tighten it anymore without the crank moving.



Everything put together.



Tonight a new belt will be put on, and hopefully over the nest day or two the tuner will throw on a base street tune. It'll be on the dyno next week sometime to finish up.

I know a lot of people have had issues with their ECU falling out. I see my bracket is holding up fine, but threw a ziptie on just to be sure.

thatkevinc

Towed the car home last night finally





Destroyed the belt some more as I backed it into the driveway. The new one didn't show up yesterday, so hopefully today.

thatkevinc

I was just looking up some info on the belt and balancer on the V1 facebook page and came across this post. Luckily, I take pictures of everything and I have on of the belt after it was put on. I managed to put it on incorrectly, and HOPEFULLY that is my only problem. I'm still nervous about the balancer coming off, we were only able to turn the bolt 90 degrees (some places say this is enough, but some say go to 140 degrees).

LQ4-E39

iTrader: (7)

Are you sure the balancer is pressed on all the way?

thatkevinc

No, I'm not sure. That's why I'm nervous.

It looks like it's on right, but the car won't idle without a tune, so I can't see what it looks like while moving. My buddy did his not too long ago and about 2 weeks after the balancer bolt backed out. He ended up drilling it and putting a dowel in so it wouldn't come out.

LQ4-E39

iTrader: (7)

You should remove the stock stretch bolt and throw it away. Buy an ARP bolt, they're reusable and well worth the cost.

Install a threaded rod/washer/nut assembly to make sure the balancer is FULLY seated. There is a spec out there that shows how far recessed the crank snout should be, behind the face of the balancer where the bolt head seats.

thatkevinc

Thanks for the advice, I saw that a lot of others were recommending the ARP bolt. At this point, I need to get the car running, so once it is I'll keep an eye on the balancer. If it backs out, I'll probably just put a dowel in it as well.

EDIT* I did use a rod/washer/spacer to seat the balancer, just to confirm.

thatkevinc

Got the belt on the right way last night, and everything is good now. Tuner showed up, got it running well enough for now. He said we should be throwing it on the dyno early next week. Felt great to drive it again. It chops harder than I thought it would, but no complaints about that.

DMITTZ

Great build thread, I verybmuch enjoyed reading about your work. I'm also a V owner, I have a Silver 05'.

thatkevinc

Here's a video of it idling for sh*ts 'n giggles.

BudRacing

iTrader: (3)

That sounds awesome. Was that with the cutouts open or through the mufflers? It's hard to tell through camera audio.

thatkevinc

Thanks, it was with the cutouts open. The BB mufflers are way too quiet in my opinion. But also, the cutouts are too loud haha.

BudRacing

iTrader: (3)

That sounds like a good problem to have. Tame when passing while not trying to attract attention but still able to wake the dead when needed.

thatkevinc

Brought the car in last night to get dyno tuned. Absolutely no complaints.





1st run, the "driveway tune" from last week: 400/367



2nd run, after some adjustments: 411/378



Then we did a few more pulls, hovered between 407-410whp car was hot of course from doing so many back to back. Decided we wanted to see what effect the cutouts had on the numbers. These two pulls were done back to back, first was the Blue with the cutouts closed, second was the Red with the cutouts open. The cutouts being opened managed to gain 11whp and 12ft lbs between 4500 and 5200 rpm.



Last run, we let the car cool down for about 25 minutes, it was also later in the night so the sun was gone and the temps had dropped. Managed to put down 417/396 (cutouts open).



Here's the video. The cutouts were open for this one, and was too loud for the camera mic. The audio is a little distorted.

DMITTZ

Great numbers!

BudRacing

iTrader: (3)

In comparing that final chart to my OEM LS6 cam dyno tune post-headers, I really like that cam's results and it looks to add about 50ft/lbs of torque across the band and the HP is less peakish. How are the manners around town?

thatkevinc

That makes sense, I saw 51whp as a peak gain compared to my dyno last summer. Without the A/C off, the car drives like stock. With the A/C on, it can be annoying accelerating from a dead stop.

BudRacing

iTrader: (3)

Interesting. I haven't experienced any noticeable differences with A/C on/off in this car, but I would expect that with a stock cam and a strong V8.

thatkevinc

Nothing much to update. Took the car off the road at in the beginning of November. The same day I put the V in the garage, someone rear ended my daily. Then about 3 weeks later, a "mentally unstable" neighbour came out randomly and caused $3000 in damage to my daily, roughly $2000 (still being determined) to a rental I had, and assaulted a woman who drove by. He threw his weapon at her car, she stopped, he went into her window and started grabbing her hair. I caught it all on my security cams and waiting to see how it all plays out in court to see if I'll see any of that money. The good news is, the V was in the garage!

Pulled it out last night so I could rearrange the garage a little, plus I wanted to hear it idle since it feels like it's been forever.





Got the battery on the tender for the winter. Only 4 months to go...