VVT-equipped L92 into my '89 Trans Am GTA (with pics)
#41
and yes do take your time building it because you know what the say.
the best things come to those who wait. lol like the heinz commercial.
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Originally Posted by nycblazer
how much did you pay for this bell housing and where ive been looking for one for my t56 viper spec tranny. and if possible the part number for it thanks a lot.
Originally Posted by nycblazer
and yes do take your time building it because you know what the say. the best things come to those who wait.
Ah well, one day...
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Not downing my L03, I actually like it. And I see countless trucks that have the same engine, LOL. I get complements all the time on how good it sounds (no CAT with flowmaster 40 series).
I just think its killer that you chose to do this in a 3rd Gen. Your one of the few really keeping them truly alive. Hope you get more time. Good luck.
I just think its killer that you chose to do this in a 3rd Gen. Your one of the few really keeping them truly alive. Hope you get more time. Good luck.
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Progress - of a sort...
Had to post this pic -
It's my latest "score" from the local classifieds. I got it from a retired fella who was moving into a smaller place - he told me that he used it once, & planned on using it again (he's an old Mopar guy ) but never got around to it. (I'd been trying to work something out so that I could share one w/ a local F-bud, but with both of us working on winter projects, I could see that being a real hassle - so getting my own saves a lot of grief.)
I picked it up For $100 (incl. the load-leveler at the bottom of the pic), the one other nice find like that that I've gotten recently is a 3hp 10" Skil miter saw - looks like it's a good 30-40 yrs old, with a heavy metal table. Paid $25 for that (works great), & got it so that I could build my own exhaust...
Other than that, I've been finishing up a minor little "sub-project" related to the engine swap (should be able to have pics of that up soon), & cleaning some of the used parts I've gotten - exciting stuff. But even though it doesn't look like anything's happening here, I'm getting some of the "small stupid stuff" taken care of so that I can (hopefully!) make some real progress here soon...
Thanks for the interest guys.
It's my latest "score" from the local classifieds. I got it from a retired fella who was moving into a smaller place - he told me that he used it once, & planned on using it again (he's an old Mopar guy ) but never got around to it. (I'd been trying to work something out so that I could share one w/ a local F-bud, but with both of us working on winter projects, I could see that being a real hassle - so getting my own saves a lot of grief.)
I picked it up For $100 (incl. the load-leveler at the bottom of the pic), the one other nice find like that that I've gotten recently is a 3hp 10" Skil miter saw - looks like it's a good 30-40 yrs old, with a heavy metal table. Paid $25 for that (works great), & got it so that I could build my own exhaust...
Other than that, I've been finishing up a minor little "sub-project" related to the engine swap (should be able to have pics of that up soon), & cleaning some of the used parts I've gotten - exciting stuff. But even though it doesn't look like anything's happening here, I'm getting some of the "small stupid stuff" taken care of so that I can (hopefully!) make some real progress here soon...
Thanks for the interest guys.
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Holy mackerel, someone woke my thread up! (First off, I've gotta say "thanks for the interest in it"!)
van454 - you've already posted a bit about your car, haven't you?? (It seems like I remember something about it, but if you wanted to post another pic or two, I wouldn't complain...) If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask away!
Thanks again for the interest guys.
van454 - you've already posted a bit about your car, haven't you?? (It seems like I remember something about it, but if you wanted to post another pic or two, I wouldn't complain...) If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask away!
Thanks again for the interest guys.
As for questions, I'm not too sure where to start atm, I guess when I get an engine and trans I will see what questions I need to ask. I'm glad to have someone to ask though, so thanks, like I said, info is hard to get on these cars here.
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Thanks guys, I like the T-top, but the metalic maroon that these came in is very nice, I'd really like black though. White was my second choice, but there aren't enough of thses cars over here for me to be too picky aout things like color.
Sorry for the hijack lol
Sorry for the hijack lol
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Heh - my thread's becoming a "gallery" of thirdgen Pontiac swaps!!
OK, I figure it's time for an update, so here's some of what I've been working on.
FIRST, I've always had a problem with traction with this car - I could kind of understand that with the Tuned-Port 350, but even after I swapped the TPI intake for a StealthRam (& theoretically lost about 40 lb/ft down low), I'd still boil the tires off the line - even at my altitude!!
Obviously, this state of affairs couldn't be allowed to continue (ESPECIALLY with the new, more-powerful engine!), so I made a call to UMI for a pair of their LCA relocation brackets:
All I can say to anyone who's considering them is - "Buy them!" They fit absolutely PERFECTLY (I mean within a millimeter!), they're considerably more solid than the factory mounting location, & if even half of what I've read is true, then my traction issues are going to be severely reduced.
OK, I figure it's time for an update, so here's some of what I've been working on.
FIRST, I've always had a problem with traction with this car - I could kind of understand that with the Tuned-Port 350, but even after I swapped the TPI intake for a StealthRam (& theoretically lost about 40 lb/ft down low), I'd still boil the tires off the line - even at my altitude!!
Obviously, this state of affairs couldn't be allowed to continue (ESPECIALLY with the new, more-powerful engine!), so I made a call to UMI for a pair of their LCA relocation brackets:
All I can say to anyone who's considering them is - "Buy them!" They fit absolutely PERFECTLY (I mean within a millimeter!), they're considerably more solid than the factory mounting location, & if even half of what I've read is true, then my traction issues are going to be severely reduced.
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Ah hell, since I'm wondering, I might as well post & ask -
Here is the other part of what I've been working on:
No sense adding a bunch of power, & not addressing the "whoa" side of the equation, right?? This is the "Track Pro" kit from Baer brakes - it steps me up from the stock 10.5" or so to 13" rotors, but still fits under my gold GTA rims (yes, I've already checked/confirmed).
I'm thinking of painting the calipers, but so far, the only high-temp reds that I've found are all within a whisker of Ferrari red (which I think would look wrong with the deeper "Flame Red metallic" of the body). The other thought I've had is to leave them "as is" - but they were really kind of dingy when I got 'em, I had to hit the calipers with a 3M abrasive pad on my drill to bring out the "sort of" shine that you see above.
What do you guys think - Bright red with gold logo, or leave 'em "as is"??? (As a reminder, HERE is what my car looks like...)
(There's also a place in town that custom-mixes auto paint, but I don't yet know if they can do that with high-temp paint, like what's needed for brake calipers...)
Thanks guys.
Here is the other part of what I've been working on:
No sense adding a bunch of power, & not addressing the "whoa" side of the equation, right?? This is the "Track Pro" kit from Baer brakes - it steps me up from the stock 10.5" or so to 13" rotors, but still fits under my gold GTA rims (yes, I've already checked/confirmed).
I'm thinking of painting the calipers, but so far, the only high-temp reds that I've found are all within a whisker of Ferrari red (which I think would look wrong with the deeper "Flame Red metallic" of the body). The other thought I've had is to leave them "as is" - but they were really kind of dingy when I got 'em, I had to hit the calipers with a 3M abrasive pad on my drill to bring out the "sort of" shine that you see above.
What do you guys think - Bright red with gold logo, or leave 'em "as is"??? (As a reminder, HERE is what my car looks like...)
(There's also a place in town that custom-mixes auto paint, but I don't yet know if they can do that with high-temp paint, like what's needed for brake calipers...)
Thanks guys.
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Doesn't VHT make caliper paint in different colors?
I would go black. Stealth is the way to go.
I wish the original owner of my Z28 hadn't painted mine blue...
Though it does match the 3M painters tape I use to number my car at races.
I would go black. Stealth is the way to go.
I wish the original owner of my Z28 hadn't painted mine blue...
Though it does match the 3M painters tape I use to number my car at races.
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Originally Posted by subtlez28
Doesn't VHT make caliper paint in different colors?
Originally Posted by subtlez28
I would go black. Stealth is the way to go.
I wish the original owner of my Z28 hadn't painted mine blue...
Though it does match the 3M painters tape I use to number my car at races.
I wish the original owner of my Z28 hadn't painted mine blue...
Though it does match the 3M painters tape I use to number my car at races.
I would consider black (& actually, that probably wouldn't be too bad), but given the "mesh" pattern of the wheels I have, the calipers are going to be reasonably well hidden anyway, so it's going to be fairly subtle unless you're going down the highway beside me & happen to look that way.
I just had it stuck in my head (when I bought the brakes) that I'd be able to carry the paint scheme over to the calipers as well. Not a big deal I guess, the car's going to drive the same either way...
Thanks Shawn, I'm going to be thinking about black now...
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Nice, I think they would look good black too. I'm adding C5 brakes to mine and I'm going red, but my wheels are way more open the stock wheels. How is the swap itself coming along?
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Have you thought about just having the calipers powdercoated?
Disassemble the calipers, 'coat them and rebuild them while you're at it.
I'd do as close as you can get to the flame red metallic and then do black logo. Gold logo could work as well.
Disassemble the calipers, 'coat them and rebuild them while you're at it.
I'd do as close as you can get to the flame red metallic and then do black logo. Gold logo could work as well.
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Thanks guys, I might spray-paint one of 'em black & hold it behind a wheel to see what it looks like...
As far as the swap goes, well, it's going pretty slowly at the moment - I've been wanting to paint under the hood before I start re-assembling everything, & the paint that I had made-to-match came out looking pretty crappy (it really doesn't look that "cherry red" in person) - but I'm guessing that a large part of that was because I paid a little extra to have it put into rattle-cans. (And, given the way that JohnnyBravo's and Ghettocruiser's projects turned out, I can't exactly "drop the ball" in that department now, can I?) So lately I've been sanding & scuffing in preparation for doing it all over again.
I've had local guys that have said that they'd help do things, incl. one with an HVLP gun, but it seems that the schedules never worked out (or something...) so I've said "screw it" & now I'm just planning on buying or renting my own tool(s) whenever I need something. (My wife's hinted that she's gotten me a half-decent HVLP setup for Christmas, probably so I don't buy some cheap piece of crap off of craigslist!)
That's going to have to be pretty rare for the foreseeable future though, since I got confirmation yesterday that my job's been sent over to India, & ends on the day after Christmas (THANKS IBM...) I still have a number of things I can do to make progress on the swap, but I'll need to take the time to find another job also.
I'll try & keep this thread updated.
As far as the swap goes, well, it's going pretty slowly at the moment - I've been wanting to paint under the hood before I start re-assembling everything, & the paint that I had made-to-match came out looking pretty crappy (it really doesn't look that "cherry red" in person) - but I'm guessing that a large part of that was because I paid a little extra to have it put into rattle-cans. (And, given the way that JohnnyBravo's and Ghettocruiser's projects turned out, I can't exactly "drop the ball" in that department now, can I?) So lately I've been sanding & scuffing in preparation for doing it all over again.
I've had local guys that have said that they'd help do things, incl. one with an HVLP gun, but it seems that the schedules never worked out (or something...) so I've said "screw it" & now I'm just planning on buying or renting my own tool(s) whenever I need something. (My wife's hinted that she's gotten me a half-decent HVLP setup for Christmas, probably so I don't buy some cheap piece of crap off of craigslist!)
That's going to have to be pretty rare for the foreseeable future though, since I got confirmation yesterday that my job's been sent over to India, & ends on the day after Christmas (THANKS IBM...) I still have a number of things I can do to make progress on the swap, but I'll need to take the time to find another job also.
I'll try & keep this thread updated.
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Originally Posted by subtlez28
Sorry to hear about the job TK!
But those Indian call centers have always been super helpful for me...
But those Indian call centers have always been super helpful for me...
Anyway, enough of that! I might've gotten a little carried away with the car yesterday - instead of just a quick little "rattle-can refresh" under the hood (which, to be honest, was the original plan), I said screw it & removed a good bit of the stock stuff that was still under there, & sanded virtually all of the previous paint coat off. In addition, I grabbed my angle grinder (that still has the cutting disk in it) & ground away any little hint of anything that resembled a sharp or rough edge that could cut your hand. I even smoothed down some of the high "bumps" that appeared to have been created from the spot-weld process (not TOO much though)...
Once done with that, I hit all of the spots that were ground down with primer - so you can imagine how "beautiful" the underhood area is now...
Happy Thanksgiving, all.
More soon (I hope)...
Last edited by V8Rumble; 11-26-2008 at 10:15 PM.
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I realized that I hadn't documented one of the more... "interesting" things that I've found so far in this thread, so here goes -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I got a bit of a surprise when I first got the pan off - can you see it in this picture?? I think that robots on assembly lines can be a good thing, but they're sure as hell not perfect... (I also wanted to see if I could capture the "windows" in the block that are new to the Gen-IV series. Not sure that I accomplished that...)
Take a minute or two, don't "cheat" & look at this picture too soon...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I got a bit of a surprise when I first got the pan off - can you see it in this picture?? I think that robots on assembly lines can be a good thing, but they're sure as hell not perfect... (I also wanted to see if I could capture the "windows" in the block that are new to the Gen-IV series. Not sure that I accomplished that...)
Take a minute or two, don't "cheat" & look at this picture too soon...
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Originally Posted by 01badz28
Ha ha - I've got one of the derailed engines also (its replacing my blown LS1) and there was a very large chunk of plastic from the oil tube in the passenger side cylinder head.
And what do you mean by "oil tube"??? Thanks.