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It's been awhile since I've posted on here. Mainly because I hit a road block in my build. Earlier this summer I ordered my seats for my vehicle. I ordered Corbeau seats with A-Body double slide lock seat tracks with an inch removed so the seat is lower. A week or so after I ordered them the distributor said that the seats are ready to be picked up but the seat tracks are not ready yet and they wont be for another 4-6 weeks. I picked up my seats and made a custom seat bracket until I could get the ones I ordered. I decided to get the U-Build-It by Airaid. I bought a Spectre inline air filter and couplers. Cut a hole in my radiator core support so it gets fresh air. Still needed to get my exhaust done but I wasn't going to be able to get to my cousin's to use his hoist and have him help me fab up a better trans crossmember bracket. I ended up buying the G-Force cross member. I hugs to the floor tight and it was a little hard to get the trans mount in. I was able to modify my exhaust with a few new straight pipes and rearranging the order they go in. Finished my exhaust and got the engine started and ran it for a short time. After letting it sit, I found the back of my water pump leaking. Removed the pump and cleaned the corrosion from the rear cover. New gasket and new t-stat housing. I had a day off and wanted to look over my car and take it for a test drive to take it to Car Craft Summer Nationals. Started up the car and went to put it in gear...nothing. The engine RPMs drop but it has no gears. Pulled the trans and air checked the input housing and it checked out fine. Swapped my old torque converter in and still nothing. Pulled the trans and its been out for the past 3 weeks. Finally brought it in to work to tear into it to see if I can see what's wrong. We're thinking the possible culprits could be the pump is wrong or the case by the pump is possibly cracked causing poor pressure. I have fluid movement but it must not be building enough pressure. I also put a bolt in my steering bump stop so my tie rod won't hit my oil pan. When I had it running I also noticed a small oil leak on the rear of my pan. Not sure what I should do about that now. It's a fighting battle with this car.
My buddy at work might have figured out why my trans doesn't work. TCI gave me the wrong torque converter. The Corvette 4l60e has a longer input shaft with a sealing ring towards the end. That seal is supposed to seal in the torque converter for the converter clutches. The converter they gave me has a wide opening in the bottom of the converter. The converter that came with the trans when I bought it is the same way. I'm going to double check this theory tomorrow and I'll update when I figure this out.
Called TCI and they confirmed I got the wrong torque converter. They are sending UPS on Friday to pick up the converter and once they receive the old one, they'll send out the correct one. This whole situation sucks. I guess I learned more about the transmission and how to remove it in the garage with two floor jacks.
It's been a long time since I've posted but I finally get the car to move. Last time I posted I was having issues with my torque converter. The Corvette input shaft is thinner towards the end and wouldn't seal inside with the camaro/truck converter.
TCI swapped that converter to the Corvette converter. The next issue was that the Corvette converter is thinner than the truck converter. It wouldn't bolt up to the flexplate.
Emailed TCI back and forth. Finally decided to steal the input shaft from a core Silverado trans that we had at work.
My coworker helped install a Sonnax input housing reinforcement kit(77733-51K) and Swapped my new clutches over. Went to install the trans and saw the engine rear crank seal leaking so I replaced it. Got the car running and filled up with trans fluid.
The car would stall out sometimes when coasting or coming to a stop. I think I need to get it properly tuned. When I start the car up it sounds like a racecar. I don't really like that exhaust sort of pops like a truck when you really get on it. Another thing I noticed when I was under the car was that my exhaust is like 2 inches above my axle vent and I'm afraid if I go over big bumps it will hit. I can't adjust the exhaust too much because when I installed the exhaust, I had to mount the X pipe far back to allow it to clear the driveshaft when I raise the vehicle up. My mufflers hang below my diff. Luckily the car sits high up. Not sure what I can do unless I get stiffer suspension so the exhaust rear end won't hang so low when I raise up the car.
Geez, it's been way too long since I've done an update on the CutLS. I'm happy to say that "it's almost finished"...said no car builder ever. HAHA I have made progress on it this spring/summer, though. Something that has always bothered and confused me was why my glove-box latch would always spin and it was hard to get it to open the glove-box. I finally decided to remove the glove-box and figure out what was wrong. I found the **** would spin on the cylinder causing it to not properly grip and open up. A little epoxy and its all fixed and it opens up just like it's supposed too.
Thinking about when I start to be able to drive my car frequently, I finally decided that I would install trans cooler lines to my radiator instead of just using the external cooler I have. A few fittings and some more hose and it was installed and ready to stay cool.
I finally decided it was time to change up my rear end since it was old 2.73 gears. My initial research was mainly calling the manufacturer to get part numbers so I could shop around. Big Mistake. I wanted to get a Detroit TrueTrac differential so I called them up to find out which one I needed. I told them I had a 1972 Cutlass and they told me I have a "O" type axle and they don't make one for it and that there aren't many people that make or have Posi's for them either and the guy gave me a number of a local shop that could build me a custom differential carrier. This kind of bummed me out and put a slow down on pursuing my rear end change. I started to think about just swapping a Chevelle rear end assembly, but doing some searching I found that they aren't that cheap and I would still want to rebuild them how I wanted and it would be more money out of my pocket. I decided to turn to classicoldsmobile and get there feedback on what to do. I showed them my pictures of my differential and they assured me that I have a 8.5" Corporate rear end and not an "O" Type axle. This was such a relief. It probably was the next day I called up Summit and ordered my Detroit Truetrac and Motive Gear Ring & Pinion and a bearing kit. Ordered a shim kit from a guy on classicoldsmobile who has a Diff shop and got to installing my new rear end.
Once I have the rear end finished, I really didn't want to install my old cover on it the way it was. I thought about painting it but I decided to order a new cover from Summit that has a drain and fill plugs on it, plus it has bearing cap supports on it and allowed for a little more fluid. It turned added a nice touch to it and it was really easy to install.
Now to my latest upgrade, new(er) exhaust. Right as I started to install my Magnaflow kit, I knew I was going to regret it. I decided to buy the kit after hearing a fellow LS1Tech members exhaust from a dyno video and thought it sounded good. My thought was that since I went with 3" collectors on my headers, that I would just stick to having 3" exhaust. I bought this kit and that's just was it was, a kit. I had bought a lot of clamps and I had to cut and move the exhaust components around from where they tell you to put them because they would not fit where they said they would do to my unique build. With the car on jack stands during my installation, I found that I would have to have my X-Pipe mounted far back do to the style of my trans cross-member. The problem with that, was that I would need to hang my exhaust low so when I would raise my car up on a hoist, the exhaust wouldn't hit my drive-shaft. My mufflers actually hung lower than my differential. That led to my over axle pipes to hang low and the exhaust tip end did actually pop off while driving due to the rear end hitting the exhaust. I started a new job last November and I had been telling my manager about my car and he kept wondering when I was going to get it finished but my excuse was always that I needed to get exhaust and a tune. He finally suggested I visit a local aftermarket shop and see what they can do. They suggested this Heartthrob exhaust system that I've never heard about but is actually made here in Minnesota. The guy let me hear his truck and I decided to give it a try. I borrowed a trailer from my cousin's friend and dropped off my car to them. I decided to go with a standard 2.5" exhaust but had them install an H-Pipe in the system. It turned out pretty great. It sounds good and doesn't pop like my other exhaust, manly because this one is actually baffled unlike the other mufflers I had.
Another thing off my to-do list was to get my A/C charged while I had my car up at work. I charged it up at work but the compressor would not cycle. I thought I had everything wired up properly but I decided to recheck it once I got home. I found the relay was not working but had power. I decided to recheck my wiring to my Trinary switch on my receiver/drier. I realized that I got confused with it and had the wires swapped. That's what happens when you try to follow two wiring diagrams and they don't keep the wiring on the Trinary switch the same as on a Binary. Swapped my wires around and the fan and the compressor now cycles and I have cold air coming from the vents. Now to get it tuned which I really need. I'm not sure if it's due to the company I had initially tune my vehicle to a Corvette style programming and/or from me upgrading my rear-end, but the transmission is not happy. The computer thinks I'm going 120 MPH when I'm going 35 MPH and does not want to downshift properly because it thinks I'm going really fast. There is also a type of shutter at times when going 15 MPH, which the guys at work said is probably the torque converter clutch fully applying because it thinks I'm going over 60 MPH. My thought is is that they set and output speed sensor for a Corvette instead of a truck or Camaro that has the speed sensor on a tail housing like in my car. The car also wants to stall out sometimes mainly because it is running really lean which is another reason I need to get it dyno tuned. The place I would like to bring it to is scheduling out into August so I'm trying to find other close spots but I'm not having any luck. I think I might just have to bite the bullet and wait it out until August.
Update: I started to write this last week but I have received this video from my buddy, but I loaded up the CutLS and took it to get dyno tuned at DB Performance in Rogers, MN. Not too long into the tune, the guy noticed the O2 sensors weren't reading properly and thought they were either bad or the wires were switched. We ended up swapping the harness from the left to the right and he said that fixed it. He spent close to the full 4 hours on the dyno, throwing programs at it. The majority of the dyno runs once he got evening figured out were around 290hp. He tweaked it a bit more and got a good final run of 306.9HP and 324TQ. I asked if he figured out the transmission sensor issue and he said he just kept throwing numbers at it until he worked out. Going out for a test drive with him to make sure the transmission shifted properly brought a smile to my face. We pull up to a stop sign and there's a long straight away and he said punch it. It was hard to keep traction for the first 60 feet. I've driven it a few times since I've gotten it tuned and it runs well. I may have to go back to the tuner to get a few things figured out. I have a P1870 and a P0480 that keep coming back. The 1-2 shift is hard at low throttle. Hard enough to chirp the tires taking off slow from a stop in traffic. The fan code is because my Vintage Air A/C relay is tapped into the fan wiring so it doesn't know why the fan is running when it didn't command it. Other than that, I'm happy with it so far.
I just got back from O'Reilly looking for an upper radiator hose. I took a picture of my setup now and did measurements and went in with that. I found one that's basically perfect. It's a Master Pro 20795 hose. It has basically the perfect bend. It wants to flex one way is just slightly but not much. Now I just need to put my new clamps on and fill it back up.
It's been way to long since I've updated my build. A lot has happened since then. Installed
Hotchkis control arms in the rear and Summit tubular control arms up front, with Eibach lowering Springs and shocks. Bought Cragar Soft 8 rims with Nitto NT555 tires. I swapped my rear brake lights to LED bulbs and installed some cheap HID headlamps. Replaced the steering wheel that came in it when I bought it with a Black suede Grant steering wheel.
In Brainerd, MN, every year for the past few years, they have an event held at Brainerd International Raceway called Powercruise that is put on by the guys from Australia. I've ran my car there the past 2 years. This past year at Powercruise, I realized I needed better brakes, so I found a C5 front brake conversion kit on Summit Racing. I got them done late last fall so I never got to test them.
I have been having a P1518 dtc that happens occasionally and I need to clear it to start up the vehicle. Still trying to figure that out.
This year, I purchased some QTP Screamer Mufflers that have the cutout built in. They just arrived and I'm just waiting for a nice day to start installing them.
Hey CutLS, I've been over on protouring.com for a while and missed this update. I love the rims and the final look of the car, I've always kinda wished I got that body style instead of the 69. Brainerd looks like a real fun course, how'd the new brakes do? Btw, that side view speed shot on track is so awseome.
The brakes seemed to work better. I still have a proportioning/air issue even after power bleeding the system. I think its from the line lock system I have and the wrong size line diameter. It gives me a softer/click in my brakes when applying. Yeah the shots of the car I was lucky enough to find. My exhaust cutouts worked pretty good as well and sounded nice when doing open throttle pulls down the straights.
It has been awhile since my last update. Not too much has been done. I'm more updating parts that've installed in the past. To start off where I last updated, I installed my Cutout mufflers. They sound a lot better than the mufflers I had previously and make a difference in power when open.
I had one of my copper brake lines break that went to my master cylinder to my Line lock while driving to a car show/cruise. Ended up going home and changing things up. I had issues with my brakes for awhile. I think it was because of my line lock causing different flow since I had it installed between the master and proportioning valve. In the end, I ended up replacing my master cylinder, proportioning valve and relocating my line lock. I no longer have the brake pedal click or brake fluid light on and the line lock works better.
I also had issues with starting again. I would occasionally set a pedal code when it had extended crank. Ended up finding out my fuel pump was going out and the check valve was also not holding pressure. The pump also was screaming but I didn't think anything of it. I ended up replacing the fuel pump, getting rid of the corvette filter/regulator and installing an adjustable fuel pressure regulator with a return line (which is what I was trying to avoid).
I found out my front windshield seal was leaking and was going to just put seam sealer over the old seal. Ended up cracking the glass putting in new retainers, so I had the windshield replaced. Took the car out to get some tuning logs while up north. Didn't realize one of the roads I was driving on turned into a dirt road going through 14 miles of state land. Car got really dusty. Went through a car wash that had under carriage wash to try and get it pretty clean so I didn't have to hand wash it. I know the side windows don't seal well were they meet but I didn't realize how bad the rear glass seal was. Had soapy water coming in, so I had to dry it out for a week before taking it to the track. Ended up getting the rear glass replaced as well because my insurance company wouldn't pay for it to be resealed since nothing was wrong with the glass and the glass company didn't want to remove it unless they had a new glass on hand, which they didn't, so I got one from a local dealer. No more rear defrost but I only used it once.
I took my car to the drag strip for the very first time a a free event that the Minnesota Street Rod Association puts on for their members. First run was 13.713 @ 102.66 MPH and my best was the first run the next morning at 13.515 @ 104.34 MPH.
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Last year, I ended up deciding to flush my transmission fluid since for some reason my fluid temps would get to 235 at the cooler, even though I had a cooler and fan. Found a little material in the pan, which later in August, I found out was most likely from the torque converter that started to Shudder after leaving Powercruise at BIR. I'm going to replace the cooler with a stacked style instead of the free flowing tube style when I do my converter and install a dipstick tube.
My radiator also started to leak a little fluid, so I decided to replace it with a replacement one that I had under my stairs for years. Put that new one in and it leaked coolant right away from around the seal for the oil cooler. I ended up having a buddies dad use my old radiator for parts to remove the oil cooler and seal the radiator back up.
The engine is starting to get a cold start tick/knock that is kind of concerning but I really can't rebuild it this year. Its hard to pinpoint to sound since the car is kind of loud but I thought it might be more of a piston slap, rather than lifter tick. I can't find any exhaust manifold leaks since I have them pretty well sealed.
Cosmetically, I removed my grille and painted the inserts to make it look better. I bought a dash pad but I've only really hooked it on and haven't glued it yet. Definitely looks better and cuts down on the glare I was getting in the sun. I installed a new Radio that has a back up camera and Android Auto. Its pretty nice to be able to see the directions now on there and listen to music from my phone. The head unit is removable and adjustable as well. I'm happy with it.
Another issue that happened that will get fixed when I do my torque converter, is my weld on one of my mufflers broke. I was going for my last time out on the track at Powercruise, and was taking a person or a ride that wanted to go out. Didn't even make it half way around when we started hearing something that sounded like it was dragging or slapping against my exhaust. I pull off and look under the vehicle and the front of my muffler is split at the weld and its flapping and making a tinging sound. My cousins' husband ended up bringing me into town to get some mechanics wire and I wrapped around it a bunch to hold it down so I could drive the 2 hours home.
09-13-2013, 09:26 PM
I have made progress on it this spring/summer, though. Something that has always bothered and confused me was why my glove-box latch would always spin and it was hard to get it to open the glove-box. I finally decided to remove the glove-box and figure out what was wrong. I found the **** would spin on the cylinder causing it to not properly grip and open up. A little epoxy and its all fixed and it opens up just like it's supposed too. 
http://vid65.photobucket.com/albums/...626_203033.mp4
