'72 Nova LQ4/ Richmond 5 speed
05-25-2010, 11:37 AM
#22
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It has been awhile since I posted. I ran into numerous issues with the suspension install and had to fight through those issues. I finally got it almost all sorted out.
I have ditched the drop spindles and I am just waiting on the taller upper ball joints to allow me to run the stock spindles with the same control arms. I will achieve my ride height by cutting the springs and avoid the steering arms running into my sidewall or edge of the wheel.
I ended up with a Speartech PCM and harness. They are great to deal with and are willing to answer questions that seem silly or stupid without batting an eye.
The Kwik Performance brackets are nice. They mount the alternator and power steering pump in good alignment with the truck water pump and pulleys and were easy to bolt on. It runs a stock truck belt tensioner and they even tell you a starting point for belt length. The angle is all messed up in the one picture but there is plenty of room between the power steering pump and the upper control arm.
The fans were easy enough to wire but I grounded it to the frame rather than back to the ground wires in the PCM and it gave me some headaches and blew a lot of fuses before I figured it out.
I finally got it all figured out and it jumped to life right away. I still don't have all my elbows to complete my cold air intake but they should be here later this week.
I have ditched the drop spindles and I am just waiting on the taller upper ball joints to allow me to run the stock spindles with the same control arms. I will achieve my ride height by cutting the springs and avoid the steering arms running into my sidewall or edge of the wheel.
I ended up with a Speartech PCM and harness. They are great to deal with and are willing to answer questions that seem silly or stupid without batting an eye.
The Kwik Performance brackets are nice. They mount the alternator and power steering pump in good alignment with the truck water pump and pulleys and were easy to bolt on. It runs a stock truck belt tensioner and they even tell you a starting point for belt length. The angle is all messed up in the one picture but there is plenty of room between the power steering pump and the upper control arm.
The fans were easy enough to wire but I grounded it to the frame rather than back to the ground wires in the PCM and it gave me some headaches and blew a lot of fuses before I figured it out.
I finally got it all figured out and it jumped to life right away. I still don't have all my elbows to complete my cold air intake but they should be here later this week.
05-26-2010, 08:48 AM
#23
I have ditched the drop spindles and I am just waiting on the taller upper ball joints to allow me to run the stock spindles with the same control arms. I will achieve my ride height by cutting the springs and avoid the steering arms running into my sidewall or edge of the wheel.
05-28-2010, 07:57 AM
#25
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I have no idea what the motor is out of. I picked it up at a swap meet for I think $25. It only works on high speed and the wipers stop where ever you turn it off. I will probably replace it eventually but the car is driven in the rain so infrequently that it is really not a big issue.
06-02-2010, 02:54 PM
#26
Thanks for the writeup! Your swap looks very clean - nice work.
How did you end up with a drive-by-cable setup? Did you do some swapping or did that LQ4 have it already?
Why did you use the Kwik Performance brackets instead of the stock stuff? It certainly looks cleaner, but were there other reasons?
How did you end up with a drive-by-cable setup? Did you do some swapping or did that LQ4 have it already?
Why did you use the Kwik Performance brackets instead of the stock stuff? It certainly looks cleaner, but were there other reasons?
06-06-2010, 03:41 PM
#28
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-TheBandit-
When I got the intake manifold it was a take off from a Joe Gibbs conversion. It was a drive by wire. I wanted to make it simple and go back to drive by cable. I didn't have the computer or wiring harness yet so I specified the drive by cable when I ordered it from Speartech. The manifold has all the bosses for the cable bracket but 2 of the three didn't have threaded inserts. I cut off some of the other bosses on the manifold I wasn't using and split the plastic to get the threaded insert out. I pounded those into the existing bosses for the bracket and was able to mount the cable bracket.
The throttle body I got off ebay and it was from a 2004 or 2005 van. It is drive by cable but does not have the vacuum port the earlier throttle bodies have. The newer manifolds have the vacuum port on the manifold rather than on the throttle body. This gave me one less vacuum port to plug. The throttle cable is a Lokar unit and I cut it to fit. It mounted to the factory gas peddle with the standard plastic clip. When it is floored it is exactly at 90 degrees.
I went with the Kwik Performance because I didn't have the stock brackets. I got the motor as a factory take out and they reused everything they could. None of the local yards would sell me brackets and I didn't want to shell out more for my accessory drive than I did for my long block. The Kwik Performance are also adaptable if I ever want to change to a LS1 water pump and crank pulley. The only difference is the depth of the spacers between the block and the brackets.
Turbomike88
The whole set up is for the street.
I got the car on its feet and rolling Wednesday afternoon. I had it aligned on Thursday morning and got the exhaust finished Friday morning.
I put 180 miles on it Friday as a test run and Saturday morning I headed to Iowa for the opening of the 2010 Power Tour. I put 600 miles on the car on Saturday. It runs and drives great. At 75 mph I was turning about 2800 rpms and got around 19-20 mpg.
I am disappointed with the Power Steering pump from Unisteer. It whines constantly. I have bleed the system numerous times and I think I have the air removed. It doesn't squeal but whines like a gear drive. It is almost louder than the exhaust. I will attempt to bleed the system again and see what happens. I have called Unisteer and they said it is an air issue. I have also talked to at least 3 other people that removed their Unisteer pumps for the exact same reason. All 3 were able to bleed a stock pump and are now noise free.
When I got the intake manifold it was a take off from a Joe Gibbs conversion. It was a drive by wire. I wanted to make it simple and go back to drive by cable. I didn't have the computer or wiring harness yet so I specified the drive by cable when I ordered it from Speartech. The manifold has all the bosses for the cable bracket but 2 of the three didn't have threaded inserts. I cut off some of the other bosses on the manifold I wasn't using and split the plastic to get the threaded insert out. I pounded those into the existing bosses for the bracket and was able to mount the cable bracket.
The throttle body I got off ebay and it was from a 2004 or 2005 van. It is drive by cable but does not have the vacuum port the earlier throttle bodies have. The newer manifolds have the vacuum port on the manifold rather than on the throttle body. This gave me one less vacuum port to plug. The throttle cable is a Lokar unit and I cut it to fit. It mounted to the factory gas peddle with the standard plastic clip. When it is floored it is exactly at 90 degrees.
I went with the Kwik Performance because I didn't have the stock brackets. I got the motor as a factory take out and they reused everything they could. None of the local yards would sell me brackets and I didn't want to shell out more for my accessory drive than I did for my long block. The Kwik Performance are also adaptable if I ever want to change to a LS1 water pump and crank pulley. The only difference is the depth of the spacers between the block and the brackets.
Turbomike88
The whole set up is for the street.
I got the car on its feet and rolling Wednesday afternoon. I had it aligned on Thursday morning and got the exhaust finished Friday morning.
I put 180 miles on it Friday as a test run and Saturday morning I headed to Iowa for the opening of the 2010 Power Tour. I put 600 miles on the car on Saturday. It runs and drives great. At 75 mph I was turning about 2800 rpms and got around 19-20 mpg.
I am disappointed with the Power Steering pump from Unisteer. It whines constantly. I have bleed the system numerous times and I think I have the air removed. It doesn't squeal but whines like a gear drive. It is almost louder than the exhaust. I will attempt to bleed the system again and see what happens. I have called Unisteer and they said it is an air issue. I have also talked to at least 3 other people that removed their Unisteer pumps for the exact same reason. All 3 were able to bleed a stock pump and are now noise free.
06-08-2010, 12:21 AM
#29
mike thank you for all the added info. I really appreciate the detailed response. Regarding the pedal, did you start with a rod-linkage type V8 pedal assembly or did you have a V6 cable pedal?
Did you maintain any sort of swap components or cost lists? If so, would you mind sharing it?
Congratulations on making the Power Tour! That is a huge milestone and it's one of my goals for an LSX swap. What did you think of the trip?
I had a friend do a rack & pinion power steering conversion recently and his pump also whined like a banchee. All the bleeding in the world didn't seem to help. I told him to park it on a side hill and cycle the steering lock-to-lock many times, then repark the car in the opposite direction and repeat. This eventually got the air out of the system and it quit making noise. Maybe something along these lines would also work for you.
Where is the reservoir for that power steering pump? I couldn't see it in the pictures. Is it hidden under the alternator or remotely mounted? Is it at the highest point in the system?
Did you maintain any sort of swap components or cost lists? If so, would you mind sharing it?
Congratulations on making the Power Tour! That is a huge milestone and it's one of my goals for an LSX swap. What did you think of the trip?
I had a friend do a rack & pinion power steering conversion recently and his pump also whined like a banchee. All the bleeding in the world didn't seem to help. I told him to park it on a side hill and cycle the steering lock-to-lock many times, then repark the car in the opposite direction and repeat. This eventually got the air out of the system and it quit making noise. Maybe something along these lines would also work for you.
Where is the reservoir for that power steering pump? I couldn't see it in the pictures. Is it hidden under the alternator or remotely mounted? Is it at the highest point in the system?
06-08-2010, 08:30 AM
#30
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Mine was an original 350 (I bought it with the 2 barrel 350 with a TH350) car but had cable linkage from the factory.
I didn't keep a combined list of all the parts but I might be able to put one together. Give me a couple days.
The Power Tour is awesome. I only made the 1st day this year. Last year I went 4 days in my brothers '77 Impala with a ZZ4 and T56. It is a blast to cruise from town to town in a pack of great cars rather than the crap you usually roll with.
It has been raining like mad that last couple days so no chance to try and bleed the air out of the pump. I will try your suggestion about the side hill.
The reservoir is remote mounted next to the radiator on the drivers side. It is right about where the emissions canister was. It is the highest point in the system.
Thanks for the suggestions.
I didn't keep a combined list of all the parts but I might be able to put one together. Give me a couple days.
The Power Tour is awesome. I only made the 1st day this year. Last year I went 4 days in my brothers '77 Impala with a ZZ4 and T56. It is a blast to cruise from town to town in a pack of great cars rather than the crap you usually roll with.
It has been raining like mad that last couple days so no chance to try and bleed the air out of the pump. I will try your suggestion about the side hill.
The reservoir is remote mounted next to the radiator on the drivers side. It is right about where the emissions canister was. It is the highest point in the system.
Thanks for the suggestions.
10-31-2010, 05:59 PM
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Serpentine Pulley 
11-01-2010, 08:54 AM
#32
11-01-2010, 08:56 AM
#33
mikem77
I am not a big Nova fan, but I like yours. Nice build. How hard were the DSE deep tubs to install?
thanks,
Jim
I am not a big Nova fan, but I like yours. Nice build. How hard were the DSE deep tubs to install?
thanks,
Jim
11-01-2010, 10:24 AM
#35
LOL
11-04-2010, 07:34 PM
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11-05-2010, 08:38 AM
#39
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