When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I'm going to call them on Tuesday and see what their options are.
Another random thing it turns out you need for the Holley kit, an angled TB spacer. At some point the price of all this stuff makes the drive junky and others seem palatable. - https://www.summitracing.com/parts/hly-717-15
And this is so I don't have to re-find it later, these instructions explain the ports on the front of the intake/ valley cover, at least as they relate to using a catch can. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...f4cDFvTik/edit
The only thing I still don't know about is the big port on each of the valve covers. I've read about what they do, but can't seem to find a picture of how to route the hoses in a swap application. This is cool and page 34 explains it but I'm not sure how to reconcile this with the catch can instructions. http://www.whitestonelakes.com/docum...e%20Manual.pdf
The LS is out for the final time. At the last minute I decided just to go ahead and pull it with the trans, which actually worked quite well except for the fluid draining out the trans. A fairly minor problem in the grand scheme of things.
My garage is an absolute **** show; I went from moving stuff out to get the floor epoxied to cancelling that and tossing it all back in to avoid the rain. Once the guy picks up the LS tomorrow I'll get this place back in order. For now it looks like a garbage dump.
In case anyone else has the Holley LS stuff and is looking to go LT here is a partial list of the things you'll need. The last few things are not necessarily LT specific but are for redoing my fuel lines. At some point you have to ask yourself if just starting fresh with a Drive Junky system or similar isn't a better idea. If I were starting from scratch accessory-drive wise I'd probably go that route. As a side note, regarding clutches, from what I gather an LSA 8 bolt clutch will fit the LT1 crank, but it is too wide to fit an F body bell housing. I'm not 100% on that, but I've seen people who deal in these things mention it a couple times in various forums. I'm not going to take that chance so will just wait and get a Monster next time they have a sale.
Finally, if you are looking for fueling/ gas tank options I recommend Carl at Vaporworx and Hector at Rick's tanks. Both of them have been super helpful with answering questions and getting me sorted out. Stand up guys for sure.
That's good info for the LS guys. Too bad about the LSA clutch pack being too big.
The LSA clutch is dual disk and pretty tall. On the gen 2 CTSVs GM integrated the bellhousing with the trans to allow more room. The front plate on a t56 Magnum can be swapped out for the OEM CTSV bell housing. This gives greater depth and also adds the OEM fluid pump.
The LSA clutch is dual disk and pretty tall. On the gen 2 CTSVs GM integrated the bellhousing with the trans to allow more room. The front plate on a t56 Magnum can be swapped out for the OEM CTSV bell housing. This gives greater depth and also adds the OEM fluid pump.
Andrew
That's some great information! Depending on what the Monster clutch costs vs. a OEM LSA clutch kit and bellhousing swap it may make sense to go that route.
Apparently the Monster is just a stock C7 clutch which I guess they paint green. Find a stock clutch kit has proven difficult, and even when piecing it together it looks like it'd be over a grand. These were the best prices I could find, and that doesn't include discs or another $50-60 in shipping. Seems like a Monster or McLeod on sale is as good a plan as any. Taking the guesswork out of the process is worth a few bucks as well so it's basically a wash.
Didn't get too much else done this weekend, but I did get the oil pans swapped out. It's a pretty straightforward affair, and most of the actual work involved is just getting all the old gasket material off the engine block. Had to make a quick run to the store to grab some wire brushes and plastic scrapers, but other than that it was a quick job.
For whatever reason it seems Holley can't be bothered to arm their foreign labor slaves with wire brushes. I guess they don't trust children with anything that could be made into a shank. Putting the rest of the pan together takes maybe 10 min tops if you are just sort of dicking around. Tolerances for some of the bolt holes and fitment are what you would expect from a cast aluminum pan, which is decent for the most part.
From the looks of the hole I expected a larger brush to fit but ended up having to use a rather small one. I mention this because while out shopping I was debating just grabbing a dryer vent brush instead of the variety pack of small ones, and that would have meant another trip to the store. Moral of the story, always by more than what you think you need.
I don't have a picture on me, but the stock oil pan had a sensor port just above the oil filter. For my LS I just drilled and tapped the block off plate and added my own but I'm not sure if this flat piece provided by Holley will allow for that or not.
With that done I moved on to the intake, installing the evap purge delete plug and the Holley TB spacer.
This tiny thing is what $25 sent to ICT billet looks like. I'm all for someone making money but this is a bit much, unless it's something they make in house. I've seen several things from them that are just other people's products resold with the price jacked up, so I'm always hesitant to buy from them as I never know if I'm getting ripped off or not. Regardless, it was all Summit had and seems to work.
Inside of the intake was pretty clean. I was expecting more in the way of LS-style intake oil.
This spacer is used when running the LS front accessories on the LT motor, supposed to keep the angles correct and allow you run the throttle body right-side-up instead of having to flip it for clearance. Oddly, in my mind at least, there was no gasket or provision for one between the throttle body and the spacer. The instructions, such as they were, didn't mention it. The design itself is interesting, and installation requires a fairly thin wrench. I picked this up in a junkyard from a Mercedes trunk tool kit and it has come in handy a number of times.
The last hurdle I see at this point is getting power the injectors. The motor didn't come with injector sub harnesses and the PSI harness, like most, doesn't have them built into it. Unless some used ones turn up I might end up having to make them myself. Not what I was hoping to do but it shouldn't be too hard if I have to.
Rockauto doesn't have them, and most of the various other GM parts sites make it hard to find them without a part number. Fortunately someone on FB gave me the part number for one of them and I was able to go from there. https://www.wholesalegmpartsonline.c...oduct=10487749
For what it's worth, GM Parts direct seems to have the best prices, but wholesalegmpartsonline has the best diagrams for finding related parts. When you expand the images you can scroll down to find more stuff. Pretty helpful and the prices were close enough that I would've ordered from them if they had everything I needed, but they were missing a pcv tube.
That's some great information! Depending on what the Monster clutch costs vs. a OEM LSA clutch kit and bellhousing swap it may make sense to go that route.
Hopefully you’ll have a smoother engine swap. I’ll be rooting for you
I called monster again today and they said they don't make twin disc clutches for the Gen 6 Camaro or 2014-2015 Corvette for that matter (McLeod uses same part number for both cars), but the guy on the phone said they could most likely take the dual disc stuff from the LT1-S and mate it to an 8 bolt flywheel. How that would end up being different than a stock C7 clutch I do not know, and neither did he, but he said if I email tech support they could say for sure.
Since I'm not using intake vacuum for my brakes I was going to be left with a rather difficult-to-plug hole in the back of my intake, but kind of randomly someone posted a part number for the port adapter (12559760 GM) which will make capping it off simple. While searching for that part number to verify fitment I came across the instructions for LT1 crate motors, which as it turns out has some solid info in it, particularly about the PCV and sensor positioning. https://www.chevrolet.com/content/da...9355458-v2.pdf
A few posts up I mentioned uncertainty regarding being able to drill/ tap the blockoff on the oil pan, but it looks like others before me have had this problem and Dirty Dingo solved it. I still haven't fully unpacked from moving down here to FL, so ordering this will be much easier than digging through boxes. This will also point the sender vertically - up I hope - instead of horizontally if I were to drill and tap. The LS block off I used before was a curved piece that allowed for a downward pointing sender; the LT one, at least the one Holley sent, is flat. https://www.dirtydingo.com/shop/prod...oducts_id=1654
In non-motor news I picked up some new brakes and will get them on sometime in the next few weeks. A while back when I switched to the 9 inch I came across a good deal on the Wilwood rears and had been waiting to decide on what to do about the fronts (currently using the C6 calipers). The whole red caliper thing isn't my favorite, but Jegs had these marked down to $430 or something, then had another 10% coupon on top of that, then to further sweeten the deal I found them on Jeg's ebay store while ebay was having a 10% bucks promo. After all the discounts they were hard to pass up. Huge 6 pistons won't fit with my current wheels, but these are decently large for 4 piston calipers and I like the ease of pad swaps. Plus they will now match the rear.
This whole project will have to be put on hold for several weeks but I'm hoping that during this time I'll be able to make a decision on these
Still waiting on a few parts to come so I haven't made much progress, but I did have a pile of boxes out front when I got home so things are heading in the right direction.
Nothing really crazy with these, they are just the Hooker clamshell mounts with the inserts. I've read mixed reports regarding whether or not they come with the hardware: mine came with the bolts to screw the halves together but none to bolt them to the block.
Dirty Dingo block off plate with the provision to put an oil pressure sensor. Also came with a plug to block off whichever hole I don't use.
Also picked up the PCM mount from DD. Looks pretty cool I think.
Too bad my $300 PCM from PSI is for some reason filthy and has dirt on it. You'd think for what they charge they could at least clean it. They were nice enough to deal with on the phone though so not a huge deal.
Found a pretty new stock LT1 clutch with only a couple thousand miles on it. Got a decent deal on it, about $1,000 less than a Monster so I'm going to give it a shot.
In the interests of time and cost I went with the Speed Engineering headers. They look decent enough for the price. Not sure about the clamp to connect the headers to the other piece, seems like it might be a good place for an exhaust leak? The O2 sensor bungs did come with plugs, which I thought was cool.
If you want something that hugs the block closely then these might be right up your alley. Stock oil dipstick fits okay with some slight bending.
Very close on driver's side.
A bit more room on the passenger side. The driver's flange was nice and flat and fit rather nicely but the passenger's side wasn't quite so straight. I think it'll snug up fine when bolted properly, but I guess that's Chinese tolerances for you.
And here is one compared to the stock LT1 manifold. The stock truck manifolds look a bit more like the SE ones and I've read that they will fit a Chevelle. Not positive though, and using these avoids having to mess with drilling a hole and welding a sensor bung.
Cool build man. Good progress so far. I have an extra ict Blockoff plate i was Going to offer to you but looks like you got to spend that $25 already. Better that spending than $25 twice lol.
Thanks, it's coming slowly but should speed up in September when I have more time. Too bad I missed your plate; you don't happen to have a 26 spline Quartmaster clutch tool by any chance lol?
It's been kind of a drought in terms of time to work on it but I found a few minutes tonight to mess with getting the crank pulley off. I'm debating a cam swap, but either way I have to swap to a truck pulley so the car one has to go. Knowing I would need the flywheel on to hold things steady I went ahead and put the pilot bearing in before I could lose it in my tool cabinet.
Nice and flush. Stacked some washers over it and tapped it in with a socket and hammer
I've seen plenty of low-budget ways to hold the crank, but this tool is worth its weight in angel dust.
Bolts in starter holes
Everyone knows crank bolts are tough, but I thought with a long enough breaker bar I could get it. I was wrong, initially, but history has shown me that if you keep trying eventually most things will end up working. After a quick search of the forums I saw it mentioned that heating the bolt will turn the thread locker to a liquid (or at least weaken it), so using low heat with frequent breaks I slowly got the bolt hot to the touch. I melted an ice cube on the bolt head to get it back to room temp then took one last shot at it with the breaker bar. Came right out no problem.
Flame on
In line with the theme of having the right tool for the job, this thing is one of the few things from Harbor Freight I'd actually recommend. It's great for pulleys, but sadly there is no way to use it on this LT1 pulley, there just isn't anywhere with enough room to fit the hooks. Bummer. Going to have to find a smaller one or go with a parts house rental puller.
Continuing in the theme of parts that don't fit, it dawned on me that this oil pressure sensor port plate will require both another gasket and some longer bolts, at least if I'm going to use it with the outlet cover that came with the oil pan (which I'm not tied to, it's just all I've got). The one I was using on my ls was a single piece, which I guess I was hoping this would be as well. I mean, I knew what it looked like when I bought it, with the openings going all the way through and all that, I just never actually thought about it from a functional standpoint until just now. Not a huge deal, and it looks like it can be mounted with the holes facing either up or down, so I still think it's the best option for my application.
Actually, now that I look again, with the Holley solid block off being countersunk I think these bolts will work out. In hindsight, I wonder if I could've just drilled and tapped one of these https://www.gmperformancemotor.com/parts/12630766.html
And just so I'll have it later, here is the gasket part no 12623359
Finally, just in case I end up doing a cam swap I made some oil pump alignment tools. Apparently if you don't use the Kent-Moore tools (or equivalent) to properly relocate you oil pump when you're done it's not terribly uncommon to end up with low oil pressure or pump failure. Not a risk I'm prepared to take. I have several sets if anyone needs a pair.
That's pretty much it for now. As a side note, I'm casually looking for a 70-72 Blazer. Ideally a 2wd at a normal height and not some massive redneck thing, I'd be using it as a DD so MPGs are a concern (motor and trans, unless already LS swapped, will of course be pulled. don't care what, if any, driveline it has).
Im in Houston with a good amount of time to dedicate to my project but it’s too damn hot lol. I’m also looking forward to September but only for the cooler temps.
I just ordered it from Summit actually, should be here in a few days, then if nothing else I can get the trans and motor mated back up and hopefully at least sitting in the car instead of taking up floor space.
With the little bit of time I had this week I was able to make a small amount of progress before once again being stalled by things I forgot to order. I stopped by the parts place to get a puller for the crank and with the bolt loose it was a simple ordeal. The hardest part was dealing with the clerk, who seemed convinced that the smallest puller wouldn't work and kept telling me I needed the big one. I got both just to get him to shut up. Needless to say, the big one was not needed.
With that nonsense out of the way I moved on to working on the Holley 21-5, which is the set of brackets and harness that mates the LT block to the LS water pump. You just pop off the VVT actuator, put a shim of some sort over it, then replace the stock front harness with the one from Holley.
With the LS motor, I was running an LS3 water pump with truck accessories; I was using water pump spacers from LSSimple to do this, one of which were tapped for a steam port. The Holley kit comes with similar pieces, but one is tapped for a temperature sensor. I don't see that the LT has a need for a steam vent anywhere, but that could just be another thing I'm overlooking/haven't gotten to yet. As a side note, those black Fel-Pro water pump gaskets are garbage. Pure trash. My single longest task today was scraping that stuff off the water pump. As another side note, this uses two LT style gaskets to mate the spacer to the block and two more LS style to make the spacer to the pump. I forgot to order the LS ones, so this is where today came to a close.
I gave my old starter to the guy who bought my LS so needed to pick up a new one; originally I bought a Powermaster from Amazon warehouse but like half the stuff from there it was a dud. The plan to use it was a non-starter, pun intended. Not only was the solenoid broken but it was a completely different mount. Sucks, but not a huge deal. Sent it back and ordered a stock Delco ($34, one of the random right place/right time amazon price fluctuations, figured it can sit on the shelf) and an MSD 5096. I have no experience with MSD products outside of a distributor back in the day, but this seems to get good reviews. Even with a heat shield I was getting some pretty decent heat soak on occassion with my old setup, hopefully this will be better. It's a beast for sure. Pretty, too.
And now it's back to watching the calendar and waiting for Summit boxes to show up.
My Quarter Master tool came in so I thought I'd try and get the clutch on today, but I hit a snag that has me sort of stumped.
This is a stock LT1 clutch from a Camaro, but the flywheel hole isn't big enough to let the input shaft through. The alignment tool doesn't fit either of course, and the clutch disk is a really, really tight fit but it does go on. To get the clutch fully in place (flywheel issue aside) would be tough job. I ran an LS7 clutch with zero issues before, so I'm not sure what is going on.
Flywheel is GM part 24255997, for 2016 Camaro, input shaft is just normal T56 input shaft.
Not really sure what to make of it, do newer transmissions have smaller input shafts? Could I get a cylinder honer and just open this hole up a bit? Doing so wouldn't solve the issue with the disc being basically immobilized on the shaft though. I suppose I'll just go ahead and get the Monster after all. Looks like I gambled and lost (a bit, got this fairly cheap) but maybe it'll save someone else some trouble. No clue why those pictures uploaded so big. Anyway, back to waiting on parts I guess...
If anyone needs a 4000 mile stock LT1 clutch let me know. Pretty greasy in the pics but should clean up ok. $100 takes it if you're near Tampa
Bit the bullet and tried to order a Monster today, the LT1-S but with an 8 bolt flywheel mentioned a few posts ago, only for the owner to say that none of his staff would have ever suggested such a thing. Rather than argue with him about a conversation he says didn't happen (a conversation my phone recorded) I just decided to buy a McLeod RST. Went through Complete Street who had the best prices and was quick to respond to texts.
Opted for the El-C7 cam w/ 10% fuel lobe.
Instead of messing with a DoD kit for several hundred bucks I picked up some GM lifters on ebay and will get gaskets from rock auto. What I need to find now is the DoD plugs, which in the kits look like set screws requiring use of a tap (and potentially making shavings). Rivets or blind plugs seem like a better idea, and it looks like Lingenfelter makes aka rebrands a tool for this. I'd bet $20 that there is a non-Lingenfelter version of this selling for <$15, but I'm not sure what it is called to search for it. Looks like Avseal makes the plugs but I can't find the tool. Worst-case scenario I suppose I could buy the LPE version then sell it and the leftover plugs to recover some of the cost. Either way, I'm not sure if I want to keep the cam on the shelf for now and get everything running or go ahead and swap it in. I'm thinking get it up and running just to keep the number of things to go wrong to a minimum. https://www.lingenfelter.com/product/L950105305.html http://www.avdel-global.com/fileadmi...lyer_EN_UK.pdf
Probably right. I went ahead and ordered the DoD delete stuff. I have some of it on hand (lifters, bolts, etc) for whatever reason. The only oddball things were the plugs and this thing GM OEM VVT Variable Valve Timing-Control Valve Solenoid 12681018. Even using coupons and ebay bucks piecing it together wasn't going to be any cheaper than ordering the TSP kit from CSP. A lot of time wasted ordering all the random things but I didn't want to end up with any more duplicates of random parts.
Sometime this week I'll get the pcm sent out to be tuned by the guy who does all the stuff for TSP.
According to my Summit order update it doesn't look like I'll be getting this wrapped up any sooner than Aug 16, as the head gaskets (of all things) won't be in stock until then. On the bright side it buys me time to get my computer sent out to be tuned for the cam. After that I think *think* I will be done spending money and will be able to start selling some things like the Quartermaster, fuel line tool, and various other things.
Speaking of things to sell, I had to hit $200 to use the $20 off code at Summit so I picked up a cam handle. Not a necessity, but from what I recall LS cams had a few hole I could run bolts into but the LT just has the one large hole and I don't have any bolts that big. If I can sell it for $20 later it'll be worth it, the last thing I want to do go fumbling a lubed up cam and knock out a bearing. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/icb-551556-gen5
The cam itself isn't here yet, not sure when it will be. Complete Street Performance guy texted a few days ago saying TSP didn't offer it with a 10% fuel lobe, despite it being an option on their website. I called TSP, and sure enough they only routinely make it with the 32% which would require the use of a lash cap, which I did not want to mess with. After my previous talks with TSP I was set on this cam, partly because they said it was the result of what they had learned from their other VVT LT cams and partly because the specs make me think it will have a better lope at idle than the others and that's what I'm shooting for. Anyway, being the nice guys they are TSP said they'd make me one with the smaller fuel lobe and it won't matter at all as long as I'm not using E85, which I'm not. Here are the specs of the various cams and the only idle video I can find so far. Going to be pretty nasty.
Something I won't sell came today, a proper clutch and flywheel. It's almost a shame to have to hide this inside a bell housing, it's so mechanically pretty. As a bonus, it looks like the input shaft will actually fit through it the way it is supposed to. Pretty neat.
Not sure if I posted it before but here is the rando bolt that comes with DoD kits, in case you wanted to piece your own together. Just confirming the part number since I had read others in other places. This and the plugs from Texas Speed (ordered from them just to make sure I got the right bolt) were $75 shipped. Not extortion, but not the cheapest either. At this point I'm willing to pay a few bucks extra for peace of mind so whatever.
If anybody wants these LSSimple things let me know. No clue where the bolts are, and those gaskets were trash, but that would be easy stuff to replace (and you should use legit gaskets anyway, even if buying new). I was using an LS3 water pump with truck accessories with these. $30 shipped. https://www.lssimple.net/click-her-t...ee-shipping-us
05-25-2019, 06:14 PM
