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Just curious, what would you charge to powder coat a oil pan?
Hey, The simple answer is $40 for a new pan in 1 color, the more accurate answer is it depends on the complexity of design you'd like. I sent you a PM with some details.
Last edited by themealonwheels; 08-14-2018 at 07:38 AM.
10 working days remain until Cruisin the Coast. Huge steps forward and a big step back... a lot of the little things were taken care of, venting the rear axle and the fuel tank, mocked up a Mike Norris catch can prior to powder, tightening brake fittings and adding fluid, no brake line leaks! I put some OEM wire loom clips in the engine bay to guide the harness around the engine and exhaust, and secured the fuel lines to the frame. In addition, I wasted an hour trying to get some nice LED headlights to fit the buckets. I severely hacked up the buckets and they still won't fit, making me 0 for 2. I refuse to do those alien looking LED headlights, so I think for now I'm done messing with them. Halogens for now.
Also, the bumpers are on. They fit poorly to say the least, but I think I can get used to it for now... only need to be on to cruise! I had a trans jack under them as I adjusted, and I must have loosened and tightened every bolt 3 times. I think I just need to lower the tail lights.
Psychosid came over and welded up some items that had to happen before the motor went back in. Specifically, he welded the floor brace under the drivers floor patch, the notch we made in the engine crossmember for the low mount A/C we can't run, and around 30 holes in the engine bay. I should mention, the holes in the engine bay was more for weather than for beauty. I say this, because Sid kept telling me to bondo, sand, smooth, etc. While I didn't leave any egregious bumps, I didn't go to show car finish because if this car ever gets there, that'll involve a motor removal to get rid of the black in the engine bay anyway. So for now, I'm very pleased!
So the engine bay was nice and ready for engine and I decided no time like the present. Everything was going smoothly, even dropping it in myself, until... I had the elevation and angle, but the motor needed to come to the DS 3/4". It moved refreshingly smoothly, but wouldn't go that 3/4". Then I heard it, metal on metal. I went under with a pry bar to discover the power steering banjo fitting hits the new Holley oil pan. Hello darkness, my old friend... after pulling the motor and reinstalling the stands, I sat and thought for a while. I called up my local machine shop, they say they need to look at it, knowing cast aluminum isn't the easiest to work with. Good thing it's a new, clean pan. I'll be pulling it off today and bringing it over tomorrow.
Yesterday was powder day. Not normally a Monday thing, but I wanted to get the pan off and out to a machine shop ASAP for mod. Meanwhile, I PC'd the dash emblem and a new MN catch can.
And here's the pan with a mark for what needs to be eliminated. Also shown, the GM Muscle car pan with no hump. I mean, really Holley, what were you thinking? Seriously? Why? That doesn't add to the sump and I can't imagine it's structural. Why?
Quick little update, rear seat covers and remaining material showed up last week. My parents are coming in Tuesday to do the upholstery, so I got a set of arm rests, mounting brackets and hardware, hopefully everything we'd need. I installed the ignition switch and some other dash stuff, including factory radio and clock delete plates.
Also, I test fit the radiator and core support, plus installed a few more HVAC items to kill some time. The big thing is I'm waiting on the machine shop for the oil pan mod. They know of the deadlines and are sympathetic.
Holley actually responded to me about the bulge. They said it added oil capacity, but not enough to justify carrying it through the 302-2 and 302-3 pan designs. So, the tech said he expressed no concern over the lost capacity by welding it flat.
Alright, that was a productive week. My parents came in and made the upholstery, I need to install it. It was so humid, rained every day. We did one cover in a spare bedroom to get a feel of it, the rest will need to happen outside. Meanwhile, the machine shop finished the pan and it's wonderful! The day after we picked it up, we put it on the motor and put the motor in. Then the trans. Then the valley cover, intake, made connections, etc. It really got going, the pictures show the work.
I ended the day yesterday with a couple new challenges. The trans dip tube fit tight to the motor, but it is firmly holding my wiring harness in a place I don't need it to be. It also forced me to redo the two fuel lines at the rails. The intake will be pretty short and abrupt if I choose to keep 4" piping, which I do. The upper radiator hose they directed me to get was short by 5+ inches, but it looks like a pretty basic shape. I need to put a bulkhead in the intake tract somewhere to get fresh air to the crank case. The lower splash guards after the radiator are so mangled, I don't think I can get them in there. I'll probably just leave them out. While bleeding the brakes, I couldn't seem to get the DS front line from leaking, so I may have to do another brake line LOL! The car keeps getting lower and lower in the front as I add stuff, I think I may need to crank the coil overs up to get it on and off the lift after this weekend. And GM, what were you thinking when making dash switches mount by fine thread nuts?!? I think I ruined a new light switch, so I ordered another with the Danchuk Labor Day sale. Otherwise, it just needs some sweat equity.
4 "working" days until Cruisin the Coast. If it comes down to it, I may slip in some work week evenings to get it done, kind of like how I do for powder coating now. Saturday was connecting a lot of little things, like wiring the fans, connecting sensors, installing the steering linkage, etc. so no pictures. I went to add fuel and discovered the previous owner had replaced the stock piece with a "vented" cap... a spray paint cap. Nice, thanks. I added 5 gallons anyway and moved on. Remaining items until the first start: fab an intake (waiting on a shorter filter), install the exhaust (will likely require some cutting and welding), add coolant, prime the oil system and do a pre-start check. Prestart check involves setting up stuff for the first time, like gauges, charging the cap, flowing through the fuel lines and cycling the hydroboost.
Yesterday, my wife helped with upholstery. The center console is done except for wiring, the rear door cards are done except for arm rests, and the front door cards are in "phase 1" where the upholstery is wrapped top and bottom. That's not necessary for first start, just something we want done for CTC that can happen in evenings when it's not raining.
3 working days remain. I fab'd an intake and upper radiator hose, added more fuel to the tank, programmed the Gauges, ran fuel through the lines, set the regulator, hooked up the positive and negative, then cranked. Horrible sound from the starter, but it turned. Saw 500rpm on cranking, and eventually saw 30psi oil pressure. Never caught.
Only 6 and 8 got hot, and only at the beginning. We tried cranking for a while, that optima did its best to keep up and never died, but the starter got freaking hot. We pulled the trans inspection cover and saw the starter turning, looked like it was wobbling. I've ordered a starter.
Of more concern is that we no longer get heat in the primaries by cranking. We get Spark, confirmed with arching in all coils. Grounds? 2 from the block to the frame, 3 from the frame to the body, 1 from the body to the motor, both psi conversion harness grounds at the head on driver side. All verified. Plus, why would it preferentially Spark and not pulse injectors...
So tomorrow, I'm going to get some interior stuff done. Starter and 8 injectors ordered. Hope that does it...
Also, powder coated window garnishes and some side trim Thursday. Beautiful, gunmetal pearl strikes again! Pics monday.
As promised, Saturday was mostly focused on getting interior pieces in. Installed a seat and set the arm rest location on the panels, riveted in the brackets and installed the panels. They use nails clipped to the exterior of the door card under the upholstery. I had located the nails on a previous visit by mocking the panels on the door, but virtually every one was off. Seems the cars were cut wide from the manufacturer, a real pain since they're under the upholstery. So I ended up drilling small holes for each nail, 13 on each card. Even still, I ended up cutting a few off and relying on others. I didn't get a warm and fuzzy feeling, but they're on. Maybe later I'll step back and feel good about them.
Also, the exhaust on and intake made. I later put the clean PCV connection in the elbow after the MAF. And a cool little way to extend a short radiator hose, I like it! Going to grab the rear seat components one day after work this week and bring them home, so I can put the seat together.
So, the good news is I don't think I need my new LS3 injectors, maybe I can recoup some of that money. The bad news is the new ACDELCO LS3 starter didn't eliminate the awful noise from what sounded like the starter... guess not. And worse, I've now discovered I'm not getting injector pulse. Great. I checked the grounds on the back of the head, seem ok. A friend said there was a puff from the back of that head on one attempt, so I thought maybe a ground fried. I have the strap from the firewall to the motor there, so he checked that, said it's good. I don't know now. I'll throw up a hail mary and send a 2GA from the battery directly to the block sometime this week, but I'm not expecting a miracle. Looks like it won't make CTC. I'll keep working on it, but electrical issues... what's a multimeter, anyway?
2GA from battery to stud on frame
Strap from frame stud to body
Strap from body to frame under DS seat
Strap from body to frame at DS front corner
Strap from motor on DS to crossmember
Strap from motor on PS to crossmember
Strap from DS head to firewall
2 x ground wires from PSI harness to DS head
Under dash grounds to firewall
I've spoken with Circle D, PSI and LSX Power Tuning this AM. So far, I've gathered that I can try an .060 shim on the starter (didn't see that coming) and VATS is suspect. There are apparently more than a couple spots to disable VATS, but so far, LSX Power Tuning has only mentioned the two switches in the general page. I will pull the calibration this Saturday to send to PSI and LSX Power Tuning for review.
2GA from battery to stud on frame
Strap from frame stud to body
Strap from body to frame under DS seat
Strap from body to frame at DS front corner
Strap from motor on DS to crossmember
Strap from motor on PS to crossmember
Strap from DS head to firewall
2 x ground wires from PSI harness to DS head
Under dash grounds to firewall
I've spoken with Circle D, PSI and LSX Power Tuning this AM. So far, I've gathered that I can try an .060 shim on the starter (didn't see that coming) and VATS is suspect. There are apparently more than a couple spots to disable VATS, but so far, LSX Power Tuning has only mentioned the two switches in the general page. I will pull the calibration this Saturday to send to PSI and LSX Power Tuning for review.
On a E38 ECM there is no security like older ecm's in order to bypass VATS there are (2) separate VATS Patches that must be set to Disabled and then you must do a WRITE ENTIRE if using HP Tuners. EFI Live uses similar process, but same idea for all E38's. .
Friday, I powder coated more trim. Took all evening after work, lots of cleaning and prep, and it takes a while for our big oven to get up to temp. Nonetheless, came out pretty nice! That was all the trim that was already off the car. There's plenty more to do, stuff that I haven't removed yet, but this is a good chunk of it. Problem is I'm near out of clear... started with 5lbs! Running low on gunmetal pearl as well, but I should have enough for the rest of the trim on that color.
Saturday, I brought the laptop over to read the car. Still no start, so I pulled the calibration. Read fine, but while I was there, I thought, why not check and see if we have any MILs? Lo and behold, one saved code: P0633. I won't ruin the surprise for you, but pretty sure that's what's stopping us. Go look it up if you're really curious. The car had it set to no light. Should have been set to no error. My supervisor was not pleased.
So I worked with a little more confidence for the rest of the day. The center console is in, as well as the HVAC that would be tough to get in if the console was in place. CTC is this coming Sunday. I had made peace with not making the goal, but now knowing it's one dumb code in my way (hopefully), I'm trying not to get my hopes up. It's hard, though.
... But alas, the tuner did not sympathize and decided standard shipping would be sufficient. The PCM will arrive today, CTC started yesterday. I'll collect the PCM today after work and bring it to the shop tomorrow, giving it a try after work Tuesday. I may still make some of the events. In preparation, I'm putting together the rear seats. Here's the lower portion, geez those covers are tight on there! Of course that's a good thing, they'll stretch over time. In fact, since installing this cover Thursday after work, the cover has settled nicely into the curves of the springs. The upper part of the seat is ready for spring install, with all new hardware and powder coated seat internals.
Also, the door handles and window cranks will be replaced with Billet Specialties parts. Why? Well, they advertised the window crank at 0.5" shorter than factory. That matters when the window crank touches the arm rest on the rear seat... that's my fault, thought I got it, but the arm rests angle upward. Turns out that 0.5" shorter measurement was false, they're the same length as stock. But I got them already, so...
I haven't stopped on the car. Items not pictured include install of the last of the body mounts, install of dash and windshield trim, the gas door, momentary switch install for the Dakota Digital gauges, replaced the starter (again) with a .060" shim to try and get rid of the awful noise, powdered and installed door lock *****, etc. After this week (CTC), I'll take a short break to throw headers on my SS and swap the Brembos for the pearl white ones I did almost a half a year ago now. When I return, HVAC, trim, and hopefully break in.
08-20-2018, 07:15 AM
