01badz28

iTrader: (5)

Best i could tell it was part of the oil fill tube on the passenger side valve cover.

Mine has been stripped down to the short block because I'm having LS3 hollow intake valves installed. It would have been noticed when the valve covers were removed to change out the springs. (I'm not retaining the VVT system).

van454

iTrader: (1)

Any progress to your car? Have you found another job yet mate?

V8Rumble

iTrader: (9)

Van (and anyone else who's been following this build), I really apologize for the delay. About the time that the lay-off occurred, I found a bit of malware on my primary home system & immediately disconnected it from the 'net, just to be on the safe side. Fortunately, there's no indication that any of my other machines were affected, so I believe that most of my other network safeguards prevailed & it wasn't able to "phone home". (But obviously I'm still keeping a wary eye on everything...) It took a little while before I felt like completely nuking the machine & rebuilding it, so I was off-net for a little bit.

To answer your questions, no, I haven't found a new job yet, although I've had about 4 telephone interviews in the last 10 days or so, which (in this climate) I'm finding somewhat encouraging. Thanks for asking.

And I have indeed been making a bit of progress on the car, in fact the engine compartment (& a few other pieces!) should be painted either tomorrow or Saturday, & I'll post pics quite shortly thereafter.

Again, thanks. God willing there won't be any more extended delays...

van454

iTrader: (1)

Good to hear that things are still coming along with the car, hopefully you get a job soon so that you will have a little more disposable cash to spend on it.

V8Rumble

iTrader: (9)

Thanks Van, I appreciate it. I had a phone interview on Friday which has led to an interview downtown later this week, so things could certainly be worse. Anyway, on to the car stuff! (Sorry this got so long, I guess I'm doing a little bit of catching up...)

Yesterday marked the second time that someone has told me that they'll help me with paint & then flaked out on me. I had already gotten a fairly complete HVLP setup for Christmas, & was all ready to do it myself, but one of my neighbors works at a body shop & told me that he'd do it. I figured he'd do a better job than I would, since he would know a lot of the techniques, tips & tricks to make it come out right the first time. (Plus, he said that he'd mix up the paint at work & bring some extra primer/sealer to use.) I'll probably just say "screw it" & paint it myself I guess...

That's not to say that nothing's been happening with the car... THIS, ladies & germs, is what's frequently referred to as "mission creep", aka "while I'm here" disorder:

One of the things that I'd bought for this project is another quart of Chassis Saver paint, for use over rust. The plan was to remove all of the rust possible from the battery tray, where the SFCs are welded on, & a few other little areas, & then cover those areas with this paint. While I was under the car looking for any bit of rust that I could find, I noticed that there was a fair amount of aggressive-looking rust on the rearend, mostly on the center section (or "pumpkin"). I started to try to remove it with a wire brush on my drill, it didn't take too long to see that that wasn't going to be quick or easy to get to most of it. So I decided to drop the rearend. By myself. (NOT my most-brilliant moment...)

I had the center section supported by a large hydraulic jack, I'm wrestling with the last shock bolt, finally get it free, & what happens?? Yep - the rearend rotates forward, since the weight isn't distributed evenly. I reached out, caught it & held it, & started looking around for something to brace it with. Sucker was heavier than I'd remembered them being, my arm was telling me that it wasn't going to hold it forever, when I found a prybar that I could just reach & wedged it in. Lowered it down & started the rust removal. Here's the first picture, after a couple of hours of work with the wire brush attachment:


About that time, a buddy of mine came over, checked out what I'd done, helped me carry it outside, & asked one simple -but annoying- question - "Why aren't you using the sandblaster?" I had completely forgotten that he'd brought his sandblaster over here a few weeks earlier...

Obviously, things went just a little bit more quickly thereafter. Here we have one good ol' Aussie 9-bolt, pretty much "in the buff":


Not having used one before, it was gratifying to see how quickly & easily it removed paint & rust from the rearend. NOT so gratifying was the discovery that it's also really good at getting sand in your ears, your socks, & other places where you would've sworn should've been safe from flying sand... Even with that, it was a BIG time-saver.

I wasn't able to work on it again for another day or two, but when I got back to it, I was able to put the good paint on it, & here's how it looked at the end of the night:


It's actually more glossy than I'd expected - when I'd painted the K-frame at the front of the car, that came out with a much more flat, subdued finish. (Not that I actually care either way, the protective qualities were the reason that I applied it...) I also applied that paint to the battery tray, the hole that I expanded for the intake tract, & the small holes that I cut in the firewall for the clutch master cylinder.

BIG thanks to my local F-bud Mike (DV8) who came over today & helped me bolt the rearend back into the car.

I'm still a fair bit annoyed that I still don't have the engine bay (& the other stuff) painted, but this is (more or less) a step in the right direction, albeit one that wasn't in the original plan. And for all I know, the body shop guy could've had some sudden issue come up, I'll wait until I talk with him before making a final judgment. (Biggest frustration is that we had beautiful weather here -in the mid-to-upper sixties!- last week, & it feels like we lost a really good "window" to get that done...)

One quick, & pretty much gratuitous note - this here is "shop cat":


As far as I can tell, she's a stray, but she's totally unimpressed by power tools - and the first time my compressor kicked on (NOT quiet), she just paused, watched it for a minute or so, & then continued on with what she was doing... Given how some cats can startle easily, I thought that it was pretty cool. She's kind of a puff-ball with a friendly personality, I'm thinking of calling her Tribble... (There's a story behind her, but this has gotten long enough already.)

So, I apologize that I don't have really pretty engine bay pics to show, but hopefully real soon. I have been able to get virtually all of the prep done under the hood, & just about everything else that I'm wanting to get painted is ready to go as well. And once that's done, I can make some real progress with getting everything bolted back together...

Will try for more updates soon.

V8Rumble

iTrader: (9)

I forgot to mention that I've set myself a deadline for getting the car on the road - and as of right now, I have just over 79 days & 14 hours before it gets here.

(This way, if it gets done by then I'll be able to put 500 "break-in miles" on the clutch, & still have all summer to enjoy the car.)

More ASAP.

t_raven

iTrader: (12)

I thought I had subscribed to this already. I like the 3rd gen swaps on here. I've got a black 89 gta with a rod knock. And I happen to have an ls1/t56 sitting on the floor. I'll probably thow it in the 89 depending on what I decide to do with my 67. I originally bought the ls1 for the 67 but now I'm wanting to build a big inch pontiac for it.

There's a few pics of my cars here
https://ls1tech.com/forums/introduct...ng-myself.html

V8Rumble

iTrader: (9)

Hmmm... An Ls1/T56 GTA (a nicely-balanced handling car w/ good power) & a 505 cubic-inch '67 'bird (the 1/4-mile brawler)... Sounds like the best of both worlds to me!!

And just on the off-chance that you haven't seen it, there's a LOT of good swap info (for the GTA) right here.

Nice cars, your '67 looks mean...

t_raven

iTrader: (12)

Yeah I browse thirdgen.org once in a while too. I've read all the major swap threads over there. I liked ghettocruiser's black one before it was wrecked, but his blue one is looking pretty good. Do you have a thread over there too? Maybe that is where I subcribed, or maybe it was just a different car I'm thinking of.

I've been keeping an eye out for swap parts for my GTA. I've got pedals and 5 speed top for the console. There were some hawks swap headers and mounts on racingjunk.com pretty cheap but the guy never emailed me back about them.

subtlez28

iTrader: (15)

V8RUMBLE, did you see the latest issue of GM High Tech?
499hp L92 w/ VVT with a Comp Cam.

V8Rumble

iTrader: (9)

Yeah, I'm really appreciative of ghettocruiser's most-recent swap thread, it's really helpful to see how someone else has done the same things... And his (new) blue car is just about too cherry to drive...

And yeah, I remember seeing that ad on racingjunk & thinking "Man, someone's gonna get a good deal on that!!" If I'd had the money, I would've been really tempted...

Finally, yeah, I did create a swap thread on TGO, I just haven't had the time to update it as much as I'd like to...

No, I hadn't seen that, since the main store I go to doesn't seem to carry GMHTP. But I can believe that, since there are people here that are making some sick power w/ just the heads - and when you keep the VVT, it seems like you can bump the power everywhere in the RPM range, not just at the lower end/in the middle/or 'up top' like before...!

According to a recent Chevy High Performance I read, Billy Godbold of Comp Cams is pretty stoked about it too:

The only down-side for me at this point is that swapping the cam for one of their new ones is a bit $pendy for me, at least for now...

Hopefully soon though...

van454

iTrader: (1)

Good to see a bit of progress mate, good luck with the job too

V8Rumble

iTrader: (9)

Thanks Van, with any luck I'll have new info on both fronts pretty soon...

Just looked to see if it was online, & sure enough, it is...

Geez, I can't wait to start modding this bad boy...! Match one of those cams up w/ a pair of CNC'd heads with lighter valves...

(I also like the little 'dig' that they get in at FAST for not having an intake manifold for the L92 heads - you think that maybe they were a little frustrated at being so close to 500, & just not getting the last little bit of air?)

Good article J, thanks!

subtlez28

iTrader: (15)

Also kinda interesting that they said the truck manifold had a performance advantage. Too bad it is so tall, and hard to package in a car. I wonder if it will fit under my buick's hood.

V8Rumble

iTrader: (9)

It's certainly worth a try...

And just as a quick update, she's getting paint as I type this!!!

luckyhenriksen

iTrader: (1)

Sweet, I love the GTA's

luckyhenriksen

iTrader: (1)

And can't wait to see new paint

slammer454

+1, can't wait to see it when it's out of the booth.

V8Rumble

iTrader: (9)

Crap, there's a problem with the paint that I didn't anticipate...








It looks too freakin' good, when I lift the hood it's going to make the rest of the car look bad!!!

luckyhenriksen

iTrader: (1)

Haha that IS a problem! Primer the outside and go for the rat rod look