Last night I went out to dinner with friends so I didnt work on it very long. I got the water pump off, and tried to get the crank bolt off. That thing is TIGHT. I'm going to try again tonight with 6 point impact socket i bought at sears today.

Eric

 

That impact wrench should take it off. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" /> . I have this post to look forward to everyday <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" /> . Thanks again.

 

I took it off tonight with a 6 point 24mm deep impact socket. I put this on my 24" breaker bar and put my floor jack's handle on it. From the top of the car, I pulled from the drivers side to the passenger side, and it loosened right up. Took maybe 3 turns with the breaker bar and it was only finger tight.

Thank Visceral for at that tip. <img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/gr_cheers.gif" />

I used a craftsman 9-46906 3 jaw pulley on the crank pulley. I cut a piece off of my 16mm threaded rod and put a nut on the end threaded half way so it would keep the tool from slipping off. This way I could thread the rod to the bottom of the hole in the crankshaft, so I wasnt putting all the stress on the threads by using the stock bolt.

I put the three jaw pulley on as shown in jmX's f-body cam install howto, but pushed on my homemade tool instead of the stock bolt. I can post a photo of this if you want, it might be hard to picture.

I thank my brother Jason for that idea.

I decided not to pull the timing cover yet, because my chain hasnt come in. Instead I took off the coil's and one of the valve covers. I wanted to verify that my valvespring compressor would work. I took one rocker arm bolt out, I might try to make my Moroso stud mount compressor work on the LS1.

Those valve cover bolts are tight when you only have a socket for them in 1/4" drive <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" /> I'll buy a bigger 8mm socket tomorrow.

Thats about it for tonight. I think tomorrow I'll either swap springs, or put in the cam, chain and oil pump.

I'm glad you like my daily update. I've done a weekend cam swap before, but I'm really happy just working a couple hours a night. It gives me time to run around the next day to buy any additional tools/supplies I might need.

I think I'll be able to get it all back together over the weekend, it seems like its always quicker to put it back together than it was to take it apart.

Eric

 

This kicks ***, ERIC! I'd love to see a picture of that threaded rod tool. We should compile notes and take lots of pictures and create one monstrous and VERY thorough cam install page <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" /> . I may be removing my heads so I could add that too <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" />

 

Again, I worked about an hour tonight. I removed an inspected all rocker arms and pushrods. I also removed the timing cover, which was pretty easy.

Tomorrow I'll remove the spark plugs and then work on springs and cam.

Eric

<small>[ April 06, 2002, 01:35 AM: Message edited by: 66ImpalaLT1 ]</small>

 

Good news. I love the progress!

 

Today I removed the oil pump, timing gears, camshaft, and installed:

MTI T1 Cam (ground by Comp)
Cloyes Hex-Adjust timing gears
JWIS Kettin timing chain
LS6 oil pump (stock pressure, not ported)
MTI/ASP underdrive pulley

I also R&R'ed all the springs on the drivers side head. There was only one trick involved with this, I loosened the fuel rails and pulled out the drivers side injectors so I had room for the spring compressor under the braided flex fuel line. I could have disconnected this but I didnt want to spray fuel.

Today was a good day.

Eric

 

How hard was the oil pump ot install? Did you have to loosen the oil pan and lower it a bit?

 

Have you noticed that there are two holes next to the inlet port on the oil pump?

F-Bodys use the lower hole that is below the pan rail, and C5's use the upper hole. In other words, no, I did not have to lower the oil pan at all. There was plenty of room to remove the bolt without dropping it.

Eric

 

So just dot-to-dot then? What spring compressor did you use and did you use the telescopic magnets to hold the lifters up? How many miles are on your lifters?

 

I used a compressor from KD tools. I did not use anything to hold my lifters up and I have 26k miles on my car.

Eric

 

What is the model # for the KD compressor?

 

Cool. I'm glad we don't have to drop our oil pan any <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" /> . Makes things much easier. Did you degree in your cam? You're about done!

 

No, I didnt degree it. I asked Jayson at MTI and he said dont worry about it.

Eric

 

K-D 2078 Its a screw type.

Today I finished the valve springs, installed the new MTI pushrods, rocker arms, valve covers, sparks plugs, coil packs and water pump.

After I clean out the nasty AC condensor some more I'll reinstall and hopefully start the car.

Eric

 

Good info about the oil pump. I'll add that to the instructions. <img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/gr_cheers.gif" />

My headbolts/gaskets are on the way so I'll be doing all this stuff real soon now.

 

Eric, did you get any PCM reprogramming?

 

No, I'm going to order LS1 Edit soon.

Eric

 

Cool. I've got all my gaskets in now. Just gotta set up a time to do it all <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" />

Oh, for the steering wheel, how did you lock it so the steering sensor doesn't get out of whack?

 

I still have the column lock. <img border="0" alt="[devil]" title="" src="graemlins/gr_devil.gif" />