BanditDave

iTrader: (11)

Hey Guys,

Been a few months since selling my '69 Cutlass project so figured I would highlight my current long-term '84 Cutlass project.

FINALLY getting my crap together and doing a little simplifying in my life. Back in July I leased myself a '13 CTS-V and while it was absolutely amazing...I was just freaking out about every little thing...it stopped being fun for me because I love to drive stuff and drive it hard. Also because it was rather pricy for me, it precluded me from doing what I really love...build cars.

So, I decided to do a little "life-simplification". Sold my '69 Cutlass project, got rid of the V and got rid of my old truck and got brand new '12 Silverado 5.3L Z71:



I absolutely love this thing. Great economy for a daily (compared to the V...haha) and has plenty of power to tow what I need it to.

Now that my garage is ridiculously empty...but still a mess because I haven't wanted to go in there...I decided to finally pop back in and get my *** in gear on a project that sat for over 6 years...funny another as long as I have known my wife (absolutely no coincidence there........)

Anyhow, here she is...a longtime love of my life, what I am calling Simplicity:





Here is how she currently sits...disgraceful:



BUT...she will live again...very soon! Here's the list:

- Junkyard 5.3L ~120K on the clock - going to ARP the easy stuff and use LS9 head gaskets
- Right now I am sticking with manual steering so I will need to come up with an aftermarket Alternator-only bracket
- Custom Tick Cam...Martin from Tick is a good dude!
- Edelbrock Super Victor Manifold (too good a deal to pass up)
- S400SX4-75mm Standard BW 96mm Turbine
- rebuilt 4l80e with Transgo HD2 kit
- definitely going with the Denmah-esque "triple billet lock-up ****" for a converter because I don't want that shitting the bed.
- Still working on rear gear...right now I have a built GN rear that was set up for an NA car. Currently 3.73s. Not sure I will stay with them or drop to 3.23/3.42s
- Cell and monsterous Fuel Lab pump PWM controlled.

Here's some pics of the 2004 5.3L:







Trans was picked up a few months ago locally - rebuilt 4L80e...she'll get a bad *** converter and a Transgo HD2 kit.

BanditDave

iTrader: (11)

Here's another update:

OK...been a long while but finally have an update!!! Started tearing through my house and garage doing a lot of cleaning (there's a dumpster sitting outside that is evidence to that) and now that I have finally turned the corner with that crap I can focus on what's important!

Speaking of important...I found out I am going to be a Dad a few weeks back and I couldn't be more excited to be honest!!! While this will slow down the build for sure, it will not stop it at all...my amazing wife won't let me.

Anyhow, on to the build!!!

Started collecting a LOT of parts over the last few weeks and basically have what I need to finish the engine once I pull the heads and get a valve job done. Still need injectors and purchased the rockers yesterday so another thing off the list.

Here's the 5.3L on the stand sans intake...doesn't look horrendous.





Box O'goodies that were stripped from the engine...not sure if I am going to try and reuse the coils or not.



4L80e getting the HD2 trans-go:



Vette Accessory Drive (C6):



Fuel Lab 1500 HP Fuel Pump



LS2 front cover and conversion parts



Way too expensive LS9 Head Gaskets adn ARP Head Bolts



LS9 Cam (This is getting replaced by a custom Tick Cam)



CTS-V Pan and Pickup...



Car Shop Mtg plates:



Brain Tooley Springs...highly recommend, ridiculously fast shipping.



LS6 Valley Cover



Super Victor, 95-deg Elbow...not shown is the Eddy fuel rails







And finally...garage over-flowing with toys!!!

BanditDave

iTrader: (11)

Here's the latest update from last week:

Little update for today...more to come this weekend. Got the heads back from my machine shop...great price and great service. This was just a simple clean up, valve job and Tooley spring package upgrade.











And ordered up a Tick Performance Stage 2 Turbo Cam today for the 5.3L!

http://www.tickperformance.com/tick-...1-ls6-engines/

I will actually be getting something slightly different than above as Martin from Tick contacted me after I placed my order and wanted to try something a little different in my rig.

More to come!

Dave

BanditDave

iTrader: (11)

Took the oil pan over to get a couple 10AN bungs welded on so that I can have some options and block off the other unused port....or go to twins some day.

Anyway, should have pics of that on Saturday.

Right now I am waiting on the damn countersunk cam retainer bolts. Didn't realize that what I ordered from Summit was the new version that has different hardware. Oh well...hopefully it will be here tomorrow. In the mean time I getting my intercooler system spec'd up. I am going with a Frozen Boost set-up with twin fans and a 90-deg A2W intercooler. I am adding the ice tank as well to make sure I am always in prime condition. I will be upgrading everything from their standard kit to make sure I get the best possible fit in my car. Yes this is much more race car than street car, but I will be engine dynoing the motor and one of the tunes will be LOW boost so and intercooler would not be needed. I'll call it the parade tune.



This is the actual A2W intercooler I am going with:



Reservoir for my ice bags...gotta stay cool in the lanes when its 1000-deg out!



Also upgrading the pump...



Should have completed engine pics for this weekend! Stay tuned, cam will be installed!

BanditDave

iTrader: (11)

OK....now we're cooking with grease. Got a lot done on the engine reassembly today. Will wrap up few more things tomorrow and stab the engine and trans case into the car for turbo mock up.

I first stripped down the bock again because I hated the way the aluminum paint looked. I used cast iron with clear over top of it. I think it is MUCH better.





Bottom end looks good...I am really surprised for 120000 miles...rings should be ripe for boost.



It's camming time!!! Tick camming time to be specific!





Installed!



Now on to the timing gear, chain, oil pump, pickup, Pan and Front Cover. I also added a BRP Hotrods oil pickup girdle (a cheap piece of mind investment IMO).

BanditDave

iTrader: (11)

Let's get those heads on....finally!!! Lifters and trays installed and LS9 head gaskets waiting to be squashed...



A few ARP bolts and lube later....





LS6 Valley Cover laid on top



Edelbrock Super Victor intake and 95-degree elbow







Tomorrow will be Pushrods, rockers, valve covers, final placement of Valley Cover and Super Victor.

Stay tuned...time for bed...

BanditDave

iTrader: (11)

Ok sorry about the delay...work has been a bear lately. I am honestly glad about that. I would rather have too much and not enough.

Only had a couple hours to work tonight so this update will be brief.

Finished assembling what I could on the engine. That includes installing the pushrods, rockers, valley cover and intake. I then followed that up with soaking my nasty azz valve covers in three scoops of Tide with hot water...after pre-soaking them with Simple Green (I love that shyt). This was a little trick from my modeling days that I still use when I need to take paint off of plastic model train bodies. Strong enough for toys, but pH balanced for valve covers...lol

Anyhow, on to the pics!











After a little scrubbin' and tough lovin'...I let it soak then used a white wall brush (worked GREAT!!!)



Drying from a nice coat of Wrinkle Black...



Hopefully tomorrow the trans will be hanging from the back and this pig will be in the engine bay. Here's to hoping!!

BanditDave

iTrader: (11)

Small update...making progress slowly but surely.

Finished up the valve covers with wrinkle paint and am not thrilled how they turned out but it was user error, not the paint. I will probably slap another coat on them for uniformity purposes.



Got the glide thrown together for mockup and dropped in the car. Putting the mounts on the engine tomorrow and hooking it to the tranny to get the frame pads properly located.



Also for ***** and giggles I picked up the tires this weekend. I was doing a quick once over of the old cage when I was pulling the trans and it is not up to my current standards and abilities so I will be cutting it out this weekend and a 7.50s legal cage (or at least the foundation for such a set-up) will take its place. I figure I will at least get the 10 point cage in place so I am good to 8.50s. I am narrowing the rear frame rails and adding some tubing for a 25.3 chassis in the future. Something like this:



Anyway, here's the meats...





More to come tomorrow folks...trying to convince my wife I need a Holley HP EFI...lol

BanditDave

iTrader: (11)

Well, she's in the engine bay, but for some reason it's sitting crooked in there and for the exact reasons I do not gamble, I picked the wrong height mounts...too short. Not the end of the world...also a few interferences here and there. Just the standard annoying crap...

On a side note, I did make two big purchases today...should see them both some time next week - Fuel Injector Clinic injectors and a BW S400SX4-75mm turbo...she's slowly coming together!!!







More to come!

Dave

BanditDave

iTrader: (11)

That brings us up to today...looks like I'm going to miss out on a great deal on a Holley HP EFI...fortunately/unfortunately my turbo and injectors were available a lot sooner than I thought so that just killed my money.

There'll be more opportunities I guess! Haha.

RacerXLs1

iTrader: (14)

Looks good so far! Your going with the glide now over the 4l80e? Car should move pretty good!

BanditDave

iTrader: (11)

Yessir, sticking with the glide. It will be built to handle 1800 HP by ATI Performance Products...and for the type of limited street driving I want to do - parades, local shows, Atco/Etown Raceway, I like the simplicity and flat out beastliness of it. Its also cheaper than an allout 80e and weighs substantially less with less rotating mass...all good things in my book.

I will play with gearing, etc...once I get her out to the track. I plan to get the engine mount/trans mount situation fixed near term then will be building the hot side, followed by the cold side. Some time in the next few months I will have the engine ready for the engine dyno. Once that is complete then I will be sending the trans off to be completed by ATI and have them spec me up a converter based off my dyno sheet so we are positioned for the best possible outcome off the bat.

Should have some more updates this weekend. Stay tuned!

BanditDave

iTrader: (11)

Injectors showed up yesterday! Thanks Fuel Injector Clinic!!!

BanditDave

iTrader: (11)

Oh.....boy....







Fixed the twisting issue for the engine....trans doesn't line up with mount hole but my guess is because the BOP tranny was offset from the start. More measurements to come there.



Vette manifolds fit very well...thinking about how I will make them work. Might use a truck on the drivers side but that will make plug wires odd unless I firewall them all...lots to chew on. Taking my time...

BanditDave

iTrader: (11)

Here's a little update today...

First off I will start my post with a little rant. When I ship stuff I make sure that it is packed properly, meaning if it has a bunch of openings like the water pump I received today...then I either tape off all the holes or bag the damn thing before I pour 5 gallons of packing peanuts in the box with it. Makes it really easy to get them all out of the pump when you cna hear them crunching away as you spin it. Also, I like to clean off the old gaskets before sending something...feel like that is a common courtesy. That being said, here's he water pump I received today. For what I paid for it, I should have just gotten a new one...stupid me.







Now that that's out of my system I can continue on with the update...

I got a nice set of adapters from Dirty Dingo that allows the Fbody water pump with the truck accessory drive. It incorporates a vent tap in it for the steam vent.









Cleaned up balancer:



Here's a little project I wanted to do. Since I am not using power steering on my car (primarily a drag car with skinnies) I wanted to modify the truck PS bracket to give me maximum crossover pipe clearance. Here's the standard truck alt/PS bracket:



Initial trimming:



Ground and cleaned up to make it look a bit more purpose built:



Primed:



Aluminum painted with clear:



Mounted:





Just for ***** and giggles I slapped on the elbow and put on the tensioner. Balancer also installed:





Accessory drive will be something like this (pic courtesy of BMF_Racing):

BanditDave

iTrader: (11)

Also started eyeballing where the crossover piping will go. I have to figure out a good way to mount the turbo...the S400SX4-75 is one heavy SOB!!!

As far as the driver's side crossover...pretty straightforward. Comes off the manifold, down under the Alt bracket in front of the balancer:





Passenger side is a little more elaborate. Comes off the manifold makes a U-turn down and s-turns back up to join with the driver's crossover. Will be ordering up tubing tomorrow.







That's it for now...jacked up my back a little today so I am hitting the sack early. More to come tomorrow!