cam

iTrader: (9)

^ Werd. Im going through a serious HP jones at the moment. Rumble, take er easy brother, get your **** together and get working. Usually it only takes a day or two of effort to shake of that "I dont feel like it" crap. Once through it? Stay in the zone and get er done

five7kid

You're overdue for things to start going right for you.

zeake

iTrader: (5)

No doubt.

Good luck with the healing.

cam

iTrader: (9)

Sounds like Rumble your also overdo for the "barn building" crowd to show up and bang this one out in a weekend. Id gladly go help if it wasn't a few thousand miles away

V8Rumble

iTrader: (9)

V8Rumble

iTrader: (9)

OK, so who's SHOCKED to see me knocking the dust off of this thread??? (Well, besides me...?)

Well, the wrist is largely healed, so I figured I'd add an update real quick - I called around the metro area & got a couple of recommendations for machine shops in the local area that (at least in theory) can do a good job with aluminum LS engines. Called & spoke to one guy who agreed to swing by my house & take a look at the threads in the crankshaft.

Long story short, that's the machine shop that I decided to go with, they're going to see if they can fix the existing crankshaft - if they're NOT able to, then I'm probably just going to drop the money on a new forged rotating assembly, bump it up do a 416 or so. THAT way, when I decide to spend the money on the turbocharger, I'll just need to address the "external" stuff like fuel pump, injectors, tune, etc. & the guts of the engine will already be 'good to GO'.

Finally, I'd like to say 'THANK YOU' for the kind words, guys. Apparently I was due for something to start going right, because last August, I got the job that I've wanted for a LONG time - and even though everyone in my group is doing an INSANE amount of work right now, I really love what I'm doing. (The fact that I'm making a lot more than I ever have before is just a really nice bonus!)

NOW if I could just work less than 60 - 70 hours/week...

cam

iTrader: (9)

Congrats on the job, making dough is always nice and its doubly nice when you enjoy what your doing to earn it. Good to hear as well that you havent given up on this build

Pocket

iTrader: (22)

Thats the way it works when you're blazing your own trail. Never stripped out a crank bolt, but have had them shear off and had to repair one that some goober than a wrong bolt up in. They're M11, think the pitch was 1.5, but cant remember exactly. Helicoil it and rock on. Little stuff like that is annoying for sure, but nothing to loose sleep over

FWIW, I have the same scattershield and ground down the offending areas to clear the headers. To me, the scattershield is to protect my feet, not retain certification for some event. The minor mods do not diminish this ability. Standard fare when dealing with 3rd gens it seems

Wait until you see the conversion mounts are way crooked, the SSW headers you paid through the nose for hang low on the right and you've got to chop up a brand new K-member to fit the engine it was designed for. A good time was had by all...

V8Rumble

iTrader: (9)

Thanks cam, I appreciate it. And no, I haven't given up on it, just needed some time away from it - although it's WELL & TRULY time to get this beeyotch back on the road again!

I think that part of the problem has been that my "scope" had gotten too large with the project - not only have I been swapping the engine/transmission (add in the fuel/ECM/electrical changes that are required), + auto to manual conversion, but I've also added to it by installing the new weight-jack system, the upgraded front brakes, & then replacing a whole bunch of "little bits" like wheel bearings, ball joints, steering rag joint, etc, etc... SMALL FREAKIN' WONDER that it became overwhelming! It's almost like I left the dash, the headlights & the window motors alone, & decided to go through the entire rest of the car! (Even having said that, I still want to have the front suspension rebuilt, just so that I feel that I can depend on it during the high-speed events I hope to do - but I'm not even going to TOUCH any of that until the car's on the road again!)

Yeah, I was just a WEE BIT fed up when I wrote that...

OUCH. You win, those are WAY worse than dealing with a tweaked crank... And I completely agree with you on the scattershield, but thankfully I was able to sell the original one I had & buy another one that doesn't present me with that problem, so that's at least ONE thing that I no longer have to deal with...

The guy from the machine shop said that it "would probably be about two weeks" before they had it done, & that was last week, so I figure I'll give 'em a call around Tuesday/Wednesday, just to get a quick status, make sure they haven't forgotten about me...

If I do end up having to replace the crank, I'm tentatively thinking about going with a Scat, K1 or Lunati replacement with maybe SRP/JE or Wiseco pistons. Not sure about which rods, need to do a bit more reading there...

OK, time to get the garage cleaned out again so that I can get some work done...

cam

iTrader: (9)

The snowball effect can be overwhelming at times. I fixate on the things that absolutely MUST be done and do all of those first. Then when its up and running? I'll see to the other things along the way. Unless its unsafe that is, those things need to be addressed from the get go. But the "might as well" type things I leave to the very end.

For instance the first year I had my 87 out? I drove all summer with no interior. Not one single $#%& given either, and I was happy as a clam in sand lemme tell ya

Pocket

iTrader: (22)

Hopefully they're just swamped and not expecting a simple drill/tap job to take two weeks. With the engine sitting in front of them it shuoldnt take more than an hour including a pepsi break

Snowball effect is putting it lightly. With my Techco build, absolutely nothing fit properly and had to be completely redesigned, which threw everything else off. Eventually you get sick of modifying and fabricating absolutely everything and want something to bolt up, even if its trivial

V8Rumble

iTrader: (9)

Going to try to post a little bit more later tonight (been working 10-12+ hour days the last couple weeks, so I may or may NOT be able to), but wanted to post a real quick update - I just called the machine shop, & they're done with my engine!

Good thing too, because the longer it was out, the more I was leaning toward saying "Screw it!" & throwing in the new, forged bottom end!!

EDIT: OK, I'm a happy camper now, my engine's back in the garage, the machine shop picked it up and delivered it back to me when done, and BONUS - the shop owner (who brought it back) looked like Roy Orbison's younger, skinnier brother...

five7kid

V8Rumble

iTrader: (9)

OK, I've been thinking about a couple of things, & I've decided to post them up here to get others' opinions before I spend any money.

Since it now appears that I won't need to spend the money on the rotating assembly, I've taken a look at what else I'll need (or should have) to complete the swap, & to make it reliable once it's on the road. Here are the questions that I have right now:

From what I read about 18 months ago (back before I got thoroughly fed up with this project), the Tick clutch master cylinder was the way to go if you wanted to do any quick shifting with a T56. Is that still the case, or has something else come along that's better?? (In case it affects anyone's suggestions, I'm a lot more interested in road-course track days & open-road events, because drag racing seems relatively uninteresting by comparison.)

I'm also giving serious thought to replacing the fuel tank with a new replacement unit. I never even dreamed that my swap project would take so long, & the original tank has been sitting for years with the same fuel in it - yes, I did throw a bit of Sta-Bil in it quite a while back, but I don't know that I'd trust this fuel (after all this time) in my new L92. My current thought is to drop the original gas tank, replace it with a brand-new one, & add the fuel in the original tank about a gallon or so at a time to the tank of my DD (when my DD's fuel tank is nearly full, so that the old gas will -hopefully- have minimal impact). Does that seem like a reasonable course of action??

Of course that means that I'd probably want to replace the brand-new Walbro (255?) fuel pump that's been sitting in that same fuel for a while. If I do that, I've been thinking about upgrading to a larger pump (a 340? can't remember the numbers this morning, must be bad coffee...) and I find myself wondering if a pump that flows more GPM might have an adverse effect on the Corvette filter/regulator. I guess that this is a two-part question - should I replace the existing Walbro pump, & if so, will the higher-volume pump work well with the Corvette filter/regulator??

Finally, I've NEVER liked (or especially trusted) the stock 'plastic-end-tank-equipped' radiators on these cars, so I'm all but certain that I'm going to upgrade the radiator. I've done a little bit of reading on the subject, & it seems that I could go with a lower-end replacement ('Champion' brand?) that seems to be pretty hit-or miss in terms of quality, but it's only about $250-$300. OR, at the other extreme, there's the Be-Cool product line, which works GREAT - but leaves a lasting mark on your wallet. The question I have here is, 'Can anyone suggest a well-made, reasonably-priced radiator (pref. copper-brass or aluminum, 2-core is fine) that fits my car & will last for several years???' I'm hoping to only have to spend around $400, but I'd go up a little bit from that if I had to.

(Yeah, I know that this stuff isn't as exciting or "fun" as a forged rotating assembly, new ported heads, or a turbocharger, but it's also not a whole lot of fun sitting by the side of the road with steam rising around the hood, or waiting for a tow truck because your mixture went lean & hurt the engine...)

Thanks guys.

cam

iTrader: (9)

Shouldnt be any need to replace the tank. Ive had cars sit a lot longer than that and never replaced the tank without issue. Id drain the fuel for sure and leave dry and when ready add fresh and try it out. Adding more to dos to your already long list right now seems kind of wasted energy. Theres bigger fish to fry right now, not to mention tank swaps on a third gen are a pita. Id also advance the tech to a fourth gen plastic tank if the time comes to swap it out. Much better set up

I wouldnt worry about the rad either, just about every vehicle on the road these days has one of the plastic tank rads in it and failures are a lot less common than back in the copper days. Plus the stock third gen rad is overkill for LS cooling as it is. Again another to do that can be avoided.

Why fix what isnt broken?

stereojnky

iTrader: (19)

What he said.

V8Rumble

iTrader: (9)

THAT'S a fact. I think about everything that needs to be done in order to get the car on the road by next summer (looking at the entire/big picture), & it's enough to just completely deflate any momentum or motivation that I have. Which is why the next little bit you typed out was so perfectly appropriate:

Congratulations man, that's going to be the new perspective that I use when looking at this project. Going to break it all down into sections (mechanical, fuel, electrical, chassis/steering, etc.), & then break those sections down into subsections/tasks that can be done in a day or a weekend. Best (only?) way to "eat the elephant"...

Heh - that's awesome, & I don't blame ya a d@mn bit!!

Man, you've SURE got that right!! That's a big part of what had me so fed up when I "put it away" a few months ago. (Of course the surgery had something to do with that too...)

After you'd typed that out, I remembered that I'd read of other, "barn find" cars that had been treated the same way, & did fine (at least for a while). I was just thinking that the gas would've maybe lost some volatility and/or possibly gummed up the fuel pump that's in there now. I guess I'll see how it works when I'm ready to fire it up.

I guess the next step in that process is to buy 2 or 3 five-gallon gas cans that I can use to store the old fuel in...

Ahhh, I'd forgotten about that swap, thanks cam.

Hmmm, OK. Hadn't ever thought about it, but yeah, you actually don't hear about radiator failures very often any more... Cool, that's a bit of money that I can divert to another part of the project that needs it more!

Huh. I hadn't heard that. OK, maybe I'll just make a lateral move to a stock-replacement radiator then - rather than 'dink around' with the bent fins & aged solder/adhesive connections on my original one, I'll start with one that's in 'known good' condition (or at least one that should be in 'known good' condition).


Thanks guys, I appreciate your feedback - nothing like being able to bounce something off of someone else who can point out considerations that you hadn't thought about!

TEDSgrad

I used a Champion - worked out fine. Only because the plastic side tank cracked.

I agree with the, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Get it on the road, and start enjoying it!

I have a LS2 takeout (34k miles), and very knowledgeable people said with those low miles don't go into it. Do the swap, enjoy, iron out the kinks and then think h/c/i. I wanted to do everything up front and once, but I'm glad I listened to them.

Pocket

iTrader: (22)

See if the old pump works to pump out the old gas into a few cans like you suggested. If its dead, find an old inline pump and suck it dry through the return line. Diesel lift pump and big lawn mowers are throw away cheap pumps and good to have around

If replace the pump even if it works. When the tank is out look and see how corroded everything is. If its pretty clean, reuse it. Rust bucket needs to be replaced. If the tank was mostly full, it should be ok, even for long term storage with bad gas. Do NOT run the new engine with bad gas, even diluted with good gas. Also, replace the filter

The 3rd gen V8 (and 90-92 V6) radiator is thicker than 4th gen LT1/LS1 radiators. I cooled a blown 5.3 with the stock rad and a single fan no problem. Also, Im still using my original radiator, multiple swaps in, lots of installs/removals

There you go. If yours is busted, why not grab a $20 good used one if the budget is such a concern

V8Rumble

iTrader: (9)

Thanks guys, I genuinely appreciate the feedback.

And since no one's commented on the clutch master cylinder, I'm guessing that the Tick unit is the consensus "best option"???