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Chevette LS1 Swap, overheating

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Old Jun 21, 2016 | 08:22 PM
  #21  
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I bet that thing is a beast when running... good luck on your venture
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Old Jun 21, 2016 | 08:31 PM
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Thanks! I drove it a little and its like driving on ice haha. I'm pretty anxious to get it running right.
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Old Jun 21, 2016 | 10:52 PM
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Have you confirmed that the water pump is working?

#7 is completely washed out from the head gasket leak.
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Old Jun 22, 2016 | 07:01 AM
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Hopefully that isn't a crack. Bob
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Old Jun 22, 2016 | 07:22 AM
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LS1-450 - I have not, it had so much coolant in the oil I didn't want to run it until the known problems were fixed. Exactly, the combustion chamber was steam cleaned so that is the suspect although I haven't found anything yet


Bob- I thought that at first but it actually seems like a ridge from a possible piston or ring failure or other issue explaining the new piston. The cylinder walls don't look that great. I'm going to bring it to BDC and inspect for any cracks. At 7' o clock position on the block next to the liner, it almost looked like a crack but I think its just on the surface.
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Old Jun 22, 2016 | 09:27 AM
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Originally Posted by elliss12
LS1-450 - I have not, it had so much coolant in the oil I didn't want to run it until the known problems were fixed. Exactly, the combustion chamber was steam cleaned so that is the suspect although I haven't found anything yet


Bob- I thought that at first but it actually seems like a ridge from a possible piston or ring failure or other issue explaining the new piston. The cylinder walls don't look that great. I'm going to bring it to BDC and inspect for any cracks. At 7' o clock position on the block next to the liner, it almost looked like a crack but I think its just on the surface.

Hopefully a scratch is all it is, keep your fingers crossed. Bob
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Old Jun 22, 2016 | 03:06 PM
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Hoping for the best! I'll check it out more thorough after work today.
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Old Jun 22, 2016 | 04:31 PM
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I would go ahead the have the heads milled before putting them back on. I had coolant leaking out my exhaust. I'm guessing head gasket, possibly due to the time it overheated when the alternator belt broke. Heads measured flat to < 3 thousands, but went ahead and had them resurfaced before reinstalling.

Might be cheaper to do it right the first time.
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Old Jun 22, 2016 | 05:20 PM
  #29  
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Well I found out whats going on.... Cracked block and liner. This thing is toast. I didnt notice it last night because it was getting dark. I'm going to hopefully find an ls1 shortblock to swap in, I dont want an iron block unless I have to.

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Old Jun 22, 2016 | 05:35 PM
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Well that sucks. I have one & we're not that far away. Send me a PM if interested.
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Old Jun 22, 2016 | 08:59 PM
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Why not rear mount the radiator?
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Old Jun 23, 2016 | 10:07 AM
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Well, I have a couple leads on some ls1 shortblocks in the ~$500 range. Hopefully I will be able to pick something up this weekend. The t5 grinds so maybe this will be a good time to pull the engine/trans and do synchros.


Highliner- Interesting idea, I've seen it done on trucks. Not sure how it would be done on this application though.
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Old Jun 23, 2016 | 11:39 AM
  #33  
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Well that sucks, good luck with the rebuild.
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Old Jun 23, 2016 | 12:32 PM
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In a car that lightweight, I'd try to stay with an aluminum block too. Bob
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Old Jun 24, 2016 | 09:22 AM
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Thanks, I plan to have it running/driving in a couple weeks with a healthier trans.


I cant find much info but I believe the LS1 might be lighter or roughly the same as the stock iron 4 cyl that came out. I can use all the lightweight I can get until I can find a solution to get some bigger brakes.
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Old Jun 24, 2016 | 09:38 AM
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FWIW I weighed the 5.0L Ford that came out of my Volvo 242 and the LS3 that's going in. Both configured the same - no flywheel, no accessories except water pump and balancer, all fuel injection and ignition components in place. The thin wall cast iron Ford with aluminum heads and long runner efi intake weighed 411 lbs. The LS3 (Corvette C6) weighed 393 lbs. Having pulled a bunch of them over the decades, I doubt seriously that your cast iron block 4 cylinder weighed that much ---- nevertheless, adding lightness only works......every time.
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Old Jun 24, 2016 | 12:10 PM
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Whoops youre right, I was looking at the wrong size. 300lbs is stock engine, ls1 is 385-400lbs from what ive read. Some of those 4cyl engines will surprise you, ford 2.3t was 450lbs!
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Old Jun 24, 2016 | 01:23 PM
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Well - I'll say this about a 450 lb 2.3 L 4 banger - there's of data on the web that gets passed around as fact. I began to realize if you don't weigh it yourself and compare apples to apples (w/accessories? Without? With some? Manifolds? Cast iron or steel? Flywheel/flexplate/nothing? Boosted? Turbo or super? Intercooled? Etc, etc) then you probably don't really know what you've got.
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Old Jun 26, 2016 | 06:03 PM
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Rear mount radiator.

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Old Jun 30, 2016 | 10:15 AM
  #40  
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Kind of a cool idea, seems like a hard solution to an easy problem though in my opinion.


I picked up a LS1 short block over the weekend, 100k miles on it from a 2000 camaro. It appears to be in very clean useable shape. Plan is to just swap cam, heads, everything else over to it. I will start a build thread once I get some good progress done. Might even have it running in a few days if I'm feeling ambitious! Thanks everyone for the help!
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