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Another month, another change in direction. With the motor back together I started focusing on the rest of the car, getting the Membrane in and picking up some Electric Life power windows to replace the Spal kit. The Spal kit worked well enough, but the rear crank bodies don't fit well with the Fesler sail panels. I happened on super cheap sets of new fronts and rears in separate listings on ebay, total was a couple hundred bucks, so figured what the hell. Hard to argue with that. I also test fit the carpet, it's been folded up for a while so I'm giving it some time to settle. Looks like it should be ok.
Getting the passenger side covered. Driver's side almost finished. This is the Essex or Sussex or something like that. Has some extra insulation on the bottom. Carpet should be plenty big once it settles a bit. Seems to cover the hump no problem. Several inches of excess on each side. Power window kits. Should be easy enough to set up some relay and keep my illuminated switches.
In other news I sold the T56 and am having a 6L80 built as we (figuratively) speak. My T56 was great, but there are several reasons for this change. I'm planning to pick up some work in Atlanta from time to time in the next year, and I don't plan on driving a stick on 85/285 ever again. My cam isn't crazy, but it is more of an auto trans cam if you want to avoid parking lot surging, I want the paddle shift with the display, and perhaps most of all I miss the cool classic horseshoe shifter. I'll put a T56 in my next project, but for now going auto just makes sense. Going with @psiconversion for the new harness since they've been cool to deal with so far. Computer and TEHCM/TCM/whatever are going back to mailordertuner for flashing. Clutch is for sale in the classifieds here if anyone is looking for one.
The 6l80 truck pan is pretty deep, but from reading a different thread here I found that the G8GT pan is a decent bit more shallow, so that's what I'm going with.
Since I picked up the @morrisclassic seatbelts I no longer need the BMW seats with them built in. They went fairly quickly on FB marketplace, and after losing out on more than one $1300+ sets of Recaros I found some seats on FB for $150 that turned out to be something call FloFits, apparently from an older Mustang. I'd never heard of them, but they are pretty cool and certainly a good candidate for getting recovered. I can definitely use the money saved elsewhere at this point.
The new seats, which until I got them sandy were in great shape. They have inflatable lumbar bladders and will apparently fit on Recaro brackets. Not bad for $150 4WD 6L80 that I used as a core, will hopefully be picking up 2WD version that is being built in the next few days. G8GT pan, which is that I'll need for max ground clearance. $33 on Amazon The same pan, with $30 filter included, for over $200. Searching LS1tech for 5 minutes saves ~$140.
Shiftworks make a kit that lets you use an original-style shifter with the 6L80. I already have that cable from when I ran their 200-R4 kit, so that saves $90 or so. These prices are stupid, but this is what the seats are.
At this point I need to pick up a torque converter (TSP suggests 3200-3600ish stall speed, and lucky for me a guy down here in FL is selling a Circle D that fits the bill. Will have Tampa Converters crack it open and clean it out before using it. From what I've been able to find, the 6l80 with a slip yoke is maybe 1/2 inch shorter than my old T56 so I'm hoping to be able to use my current driveshaft. If so that will be great. If not, well, then that will be less great. Either way, I have weekends off this month so am planning to make some decent progress. Once this stuff is up and running I'm calling it done and saving all future engine/trans swap nonsense like this for my next car. At some point it has to be done. Probably.
Had a busy day or two so will try to get up to speed before the next extended period of doing nothing kicks in.
I got my trans back, the builder threw in a slip yoke so that was cool. The converter went to Tampa Converter to be opened and cleaned, had a couple springs or something replaced and maybe a clutch disk, but they work fast and I got it back the next day. I ordered a 2015-2018 Silverado flex plate, it's one of a few vehicles that had both an LT motor and a 6L80e with a 3 bolt torque converter. Matched right up to the Circle D and getting the trans mated to the engine was exhausting but not terribly difficult. The trans cooler, ICT Billet AN6 adapter piece and the JRE dipstick (so no more fill-til-it-leaks-on you trash came in. All good things.
OPGI had a pretty solid sale so I bought a new console shifter and other stuff; it hasn't come yet but the Shiftworks kit did.
I ordered a new Powermaster 220 amp alternator; got this old POS instead. Classic Amazon. Lokar adjustable pedal. Shiftworks detent and dial kit, dial not pictured
After I mowed I figured I'd call it a day, but for whatever reason I just started working on things. It was super muggy today, but after a few sweaty hours I ended up with the motor and trans in the car. Not bad for a day I had written off from a productivity perspective.
Down the hatch The wiper motor was in the way, just had to loosen it and all was fine The black metal piece behind the fuel pump had to go, it simply was not compatible with trying to get the motor into the Holley mounts with the trans attached. If I had a lift I would've just done engine and trans separately and it would've been easy. But I don't. Yet. Car is raised on the GoJaks, but this is a rough idea of where the trans pan will be. Will be slightly (as in under 1/4 inch) higher relative to the frame when properly adjusted. Not bad overall. Finally. Looking down the old shifter hole. Even with the solid trans dipstick, it doesn't appear that any additional tunnel work will be needed. Next year when I get a Speedtech frame I'll get an entire new floor, so this tunnel just needs to fall into the "good enough" zone.
Now I'm waiting for the new harness from PSI and the computers to come back from MailOrderTuner and the engine stuff should be more or less done. Will test my old driveshaft for fit tomorrow and then pray to the gods of shipping that my shifter and etc comes soon so I can knock that out.
It's been about a month, most of that time wasted in terms of car work, but I had a few long days to work with and got a decent amount of small things done.
This will just be a cliff notes sort of post with things I might want to remember later.
The harness came in, but finding a place for it was a chore. Ultimately I decided to cut that firewall plate in half, seal it up and then run the harness through the larger piece. Doing this gets the computer and that part of the harness in the car, making it easier to route the wiring for the fuses, OBD port and pedal. The fuse box mounts perfectly on the bolts holding the carbon trim in the dash and the computer fits nicely in the kick panel hole (which I will coat with sound deadener).
Camaro intake is a less than perfect fit.
The Restomod air suitcase will end up covering a decent chunk of the shiny part. Computer fits fairly well in here, will just have to make a secure mount. Absent a better plan this seems like it will work. This gets the fuses and whatnot up out of the way and the OBD2 will reach the console. Shifter is roughly in place, trying to plan out what to do for a console. The accessories, radiator and fans in place. Not final mounts or intake tube, just getting things figured out.
The headers fit super close to the block, making them less than ideal for getting the sensor wiring in place.
The Janetty (sp) racing dipstick is ideal, and looks like it fits just right to be useful. I got the trans valve body and computer back in, turns out you need an external torx socket for it, 11 or 12 I think.
The trans cooler went in easily and the lines are routed and just need properly secured.
I was hoping to use a longer slip yoke like this one
in combination with the longer seal to allow me to reuse my old driveshaft. This would give me about 4 inches of engaged spline, which is probably fine, but a driveshaft shop will be my second stop (after the exhaust) after I get it running.
Got the updated AC controller. The longer seal in question. This pipe cover from Lowe's fits perfectly over the output shaft seal; a couple whacks with a rubber mallet sealed the deal.
Shiftworks stuff and trans cooler lines in place. New Billet Specialties steering wheel.
Blurry picture but you can see where the dipstick hangs.
Looking good. Small items add up, time wise. How much longer before ya fire this up?
Thanks, they sure do, getting under car, back up, then under, looking for this or that etc etc. If I had a nice clean shop with a lift it and/ or a helper it would be way easier. Maybe some day.
But I should have a relatively easy month at work next month, so I'm really hoping to get this knocked out over the next five weeks, at least in terms of having it running and driving. The interior will be a work in progress for quite a while. Unless it rains nonstop I expect to have a pretty productive weekend, going to try to get up early and knock things out.
A little bit, should get the wiring wrapped up tomorrow morning after work if all goes as planned.
I got some hood hinges from Ring Bros, but Jeg's sent me some that had been opened already. Debating getting replaced vs returning them and picking up some CVF hinges. Will probably flip a coin tomorrow.
After watching this video I also gave up on the fiberglass thing and decided to make a more sturdy console. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSjf...ul-9CibvQf900b
Right now I'm waiting on my adhesive and foam to get here, but so far I think it's going to turn out okay. The top will be a be a big smooth piece of carbon fiber, just waiting on the resin and material to get here, should be next week. The leather I picked up from Leatherhidestore.com . I also picked up new driver's side seat, but it's so narrow it wouldn't be the best thing to match for the passenger. Will likely get a Chrono Road and have the local shop recover it to match. Seat is a Sparco SPX and it's awesome (but not for people over 200lbs). This has re-destroyed my lanai, but I've decided to just stop cleaning it until the car is finished. At that point I'll epoxy the garage and redo the driveway, but that's neither here nor there.
The steering wheel half wrap and adapter came in, I got the steering wheel and shaft back in and used the Modo Innovations piece to mount the gas pedal. While messing with gas tank stuff I realized that I can move my rear end toward the front of the car about a 1/2 inch by adjusting my control arms, which should mean I can keep this driveshaft after all.
This last pic is just in case someone running LT is curious how the Speed Engineering driver side header fits - very tightly but good enough. Seems to clear the steering as well as it has to, but not a ton of room to spare. I just slapped some wrap on them, there wasn't really any room to wrap that third one. Will spray them with silicone before mounting them permanently.
A couple console update pics. Getting this right has taken quite a bit of time and effort; I can only imagine how much more it would take to get it perfect. I'm shooting for good enough at this point.
I have all the carbon pieces roughly finished, and once the cupholders and switch bezels get here I'll cut their holes and then give both pieces a dip in epoxy. The sides are ready to be wrapped in leather, but that can wait until a nicer, sunnier day.
Spend a little more time on wiring and the console today. I have everything for the console and shifter pretty much wired in and most of the LT harness solidified as well. Still waiting on cupholders and some bezels but I got the leather on and holes drilled for the USB ports for the rear passengers. I'll make a couple armrests and fill in the uncovered place when I mount the USB port for the head unit. It isn't perfect, but I think it turned out ok. Version 2 will be better, but that can wait a while.
I also went ahead and picked up the paddle shifter but I think I got the wrong harness on accident. No huge rush on this though, need to get the car running and driving without it first.
TSP El-C7 cam. Oil pressure is good, fuel pressure is good though sometimes it doesn't prime when I turn the key to "on".
I called PSI to get their thoughts and they suggested I make sure the trans is plugged in; I thought it was, and it fit like it was, but you have to sort of stretch the plug out before you insert it. Kind of a stupid design as if you don't do that first it will still go in right but it won't make any contact. Anyway, fixing that didn't change anything. It is likely I will have to buy a new TEHCM, but there is a place in Tampa that sells them and apparently a tuner that was a sponsor here who seems well-like on the Corvette forums, so hopefully this can be worked out fairly easily (still a huge pain in the ***). Waiting to hear back from mailordertuner before I do anything though.
I will also most likely need to modify my tunnel a tad, but I think I'll just cut a small hole out and then patch it rather than cut or raise the whole thing. Will be getting a new floor next year anyway. Once I do that I'll make sure things are centered and then get the exhaust done. These patch pieces are handy, but no matter what I do they leak. They'll get me to the shop so that's ok.
I got some more done on the console, it's not finished but it's finished enough to test fit. I got some billet cupholders that will work nicely, I'm just trying to figure out the power window situation. Looks like I will need to buy 8 relays and wire up a reverse polarity deal, using the current wiring as the triggers. This way I'll beef up the power to the motors while still retaining the use of all 7 illuminated window switches.
The SPX seat is nice, but the match would be too small for most of my guy friends, and given the cost it's not something I'd want to use on a daily basis doing gym/beach stuff. With that in mind I picked up some Mazdaspeed 3 seats and some GTO seats to try out. The mazda seats are nice and come pretty close to fitting the chevelle floor. The GTO seats match better and are already leather, so I'm going to use them. All the seats will be recovered, I'm just waiting on some houndstooth samples to get here to see if I want to do the centers with it or some recaro-like grey fabric.
The sound quality sucks because the exhaust leaks are apparently too much for my phone's mic to handle, but I was able to get it out of, and eventually back into, the garage under its own limited power. Fingers crossed these last few problems will be simple things. I also found a local body who will fix this dent and then primer the panel for $300 on his off time, so I think I'll do that. The plan is to wrap / rewrap the car a different color every few years anyway so spending $$$$ on paint isn't something I'm terribly interested in.
What are you doing with the Mazda seats? Those look really nice. ( look wise). I’d compare those to the group seats. I think the fro seats look too bulky up top where as the Mazda seats look like Recaros. Really slim.
The Mazda seats are actually a bit wider (at at least wider feeling) up top than the GTO seats, they have a lot more side padding that is kind of squared off. The driver's side was surprisingly close to fitting with its rails, with a couple simple mods it could've worked I think. The passenger seat rails could be taken off and replaced with sliders, but I never messed with it. I ended up selling them to a local guy who wanted to upgrade the mazda he just bought, so it all worked out in the end.
I ordered a sample of a few colors of houndstooth and think this is the direction I'm going to go. I printed out a few pages of the design to get a better idea of what it would look like. Kind of an homage to the car as it was back when I first purchased it.
After talking with PSI and the tuner, it seems I need a new TEHCM for the trans. Kind of a hassle, but not the end of the world. Once I get it I'm sending it to PSI to be paired with a PCM, the biggest drawback to this is having to get it retuned. PSI has been super helpful, so while this isn't ideal I'm just chalking it up to the LT learning curve. I should've made sure to get a newer trans to begin with. Another in a line of first-world problems. Rando fun fact- If you get an OBD reader and it says you are going 158mph while sitting in your garage that is apparently the default when your pcm and tcm aren't talking to each other.
I had a few minutes to mess with the seatbelt situation, and some good news bad news there. Bad news is the Morris seatbelts don't work with the Fesler interior panels. At all. The bottom piece hits the door and the sail panel areas cannot coexist either. Not dealbreakers, but still annoying.
Great updates man! I'm curious though, have you thought about ditching the stock stuff and running Terminator X? They have a system now that will work with Gen5 motors and VVT. Might be worth a look.
Looks cool man. I got a similar build that I did. The gen v swap is another animal when trying to get it all to communicate but it’s great once it all falls into place.
Great updates man! I'm curious though, have you thought about ditching the stock stuff and running Terminator X? They have a system now that will work with Gen5 motors and VVT. Might be worth a look.
I don't think it will run a 6L80 and/or allow paddle shift functionality, and I didn't want to buy the thousand dollar PCS control. I had the HP EFI before and it was ok, but I'm not really wanting to mess with yet another non-traditional thing on this build if you know what I mean. At this point I'm trying to minimize variables and stick with potentially simpler and more common stuff. Maybe once this car is done I'll look at the Terminator for my next project, but I'm kind of thinking of just doing stock L83 with new harness and throwing it in a C10. A way less ambitious build than the current one.
Originally Posted by Jimbo1367
Who built ur harness? Did they supply the ECM ? Prices on them?
thanks,
Jim
I got the harness from PSI. I did buy the computer from them just for the sake of simplicity, and I'm glad I did because they have been super helpful with getting this stuff figured out. I plan to buy my next harness from them as well and would recommend them.
Originally Posted by jasonz28camaro
Looks cool man. I got a similar build that I did. The gen v swap is another animal when trying to get it all to communicate but it’s great once it all falls into place.
Yeah it's kind of a pain, but if I had stayed T56 I would've been driving the car already. Maybe I should have, but daily driving a clutch kind of sucked. The matching and mating of parts sucks but at least I'll know how to make the process a lot simpler next time. Applying LS rules to LT builds doesn't always work out, but I suppose on some level that is half the fun. Once this is finished I'm not sure what I'll do with my time.
I've not done much with the car lately aside from work on the seat and console situation; the GTO seats will fit with their motors, with a bit of work, but the width is an issue because of the seatbelt retractors. I'm not sure how to fix this so I might end up getting some recaros after all. We'll see.
The computer and tehcm came back from PSI today so I'll get that stuff installed this weekend and try to get it running.
I added some USB ports and light strips inside the console which I think is progressing reasonably well. Still deciding on power window switches and the second cupholder, but for now it's useable and I'm tired of messing with it.
The standard height steering wheel adapter is way too long once the paddle shift is added to the stack so I have ordered a shorter one. The Billet Specialties button also does not fit, but I think it will if I dremel the spacer piece out a bit.
I'm hoping for good weather so I can knock some stuff out on Friday and Saturday.
If you use the paddle shifter to manually shift in drive, Does that change anything with the cousolse Shift? I take it you put that in drive and manually shift the paddles? What if you don’t want to manually shift with the paddles?
06-29-2020, 09:04 PM
