***long winded post***


Well all...i've gotten myself into quite a job. As you all know, my clutch and other various things have come in..and I have since, started the installation. It is the first time that I started a job, this big, by myself. Usually at work, we double/triple team the car, and bang it out, cleanly, and quickly. Not this time. I do, have to thank a couple of friends for stoping by to lend a hand when needed. Sprayjunkie stopped by for a couple of hours for a couple of days and DRI-Z28 came by with some of the boys to help out for a few as well with the heavy stuff. So, to them, thanks for the time. Wavrdr also hooked me up with some various parts and insight. Again....thanks G's.

To you all. I started this job, on friday, around 4:30pm after a long work week, and even longer day. Regardless of brain strength,...thit was D day no matter what. I decided, to drop the entire driveline, instead of just dropping the trans and torque tube, etc etc. I did this for a couple of reasons. 1, I hate doing clutch installs on these cars,...and I knew I would mostly be working by myself on this..so that Idea came into effect. As well as I had various other things to do, like I had to replace my front cover on the block, due to an oil leak that had been driving me crazy, and causing a nasty mess in my garage, at friends houses...you name it. I did the racetronix fuel pump/harness, brake lines changes, DTE brace, RCI bellhousing blanket, which I would have had to remove the headers to get to anyways.

So,...I jumped in removing as many harnesses as I could. Wow. What a job this is. To do all these things, all at once. I have to admit, it's a little overwhelming at times. I mean, to keep track, of everything, parts/bolts, working in sequence with the parts you have....missing parts..wrong parts.....money here...money there...ahhhhh!!! Oh, not to mention the work that I have to do on OTHER cars I have to work on at the dealership. From noise complaints, to water leaks... blah blah. All that stuff piled together, then looking over, or walking through the area where my car is....seeing the body upstairs...and the rolling driveline underneath....well, it's a little nuts. Everyone that walked by, or drove by my stalls, all looked at me like I was a madman. Seeing the car in pieces,...they where all shocked. Several people couldn't help but laugh. I caught myslef doing the smae thing as well. A couple of ladies stopped by after hours to hang out for a random minute or two. You should have seen there faces. haha. Now they have a different respect for me I belive, after seeing it in pieces like that....and atleast acting like I know what I am doing.


Anyways.. I worked on the car until 9pm on friday night. It was a long day fo-sho. I made it an even later night when I hooked up with a fling, at a chill housparty. home at 4am. Back at work on my car saturday morning, 10 am. That sucked *****. I thought I was gonna die for sure. But...i'm a trooper when it comes to partying....after a gallon of water, and no loss of fluids..I was golden. The motor slid right out in the early after noon. I then commenced on pulling out the drivetrain assembly with the help of above mentioned friends.

Surprise's for jamie! Yup. So we pulled apart my bellhousing....and woudln't you know it?.,......my stock pressure plate assembly, actually one spring, had come completely apart, and began chewing up my bellhousing on the inside. CRAZY ****....I know. My guess,....the factory setup doesn't like 7000rpm powershifts.....or the multiple downshifts I put it through on my highways drives. Quite crazy...indeed. I have never seen or heard of a stock setup coming apart like this, ever. I guess it was a matter of time to have a SPEC clutch failure repeat. The thing about the spec, compairing the two failures, the stock vs the spec, the SPEC just blew apart, no warning, no nothing. The stock one that I almost blew completely apart, had only broken one spring, and gave me a very noticable vibration, that something was wrong, and I knew at that point, that I could no longer go WOT anymore. So, thanks to valeo for building a better assembly then a company that builds "race pieces".

So,...I replaced my old worn clutch setup, with the RAM VDS system. Dope setup. However, I had a few hiccups with this whole clutch deal. First off, I was told I needed an adjustable slave,...so I ordered that. Then, it's, I need an adjustable master. Ooooook. So, I finally get that. That was a not a big deal ordeal but, still, extra money spent,...that I didn't have but, had to come up with. Next, the friggin RCI blanket. It's universal so, it's a lil bulky. The one from exotic muscle is made for the car, and 180 bucks. Being short on mula, I called a few friends, wavrdr hooked me up through a friend with one for a hundred bucks. Sold. After folding this, trying that...we finally came up with an idea of how to make it fit, without resting on the headers. A mild mission it seems I know but, it did suck.

The front cover oil leak. That also kinda sucked. I couldn't find a socket on saturday night or sunday at work for my ARP crank bolt, so, I couldn't remove it till monday. That was a delay. Then, my traditional puller, won't work on the SLP setup so, I had to go to the hardware store, and get bolts to thread into the pulley, and then proceed to pull that bastard ***** of a thing out. Then, after removing my front cover, we noticed my timing chain didn't look very healthy so....now was as good a time as any to swap that. Good thing I have two heavy duty timing chains in my tool box,... easy fix. A good fix as well, since my old chain was I think my stock original one, and looking a little on the kinked side of it's life. It didn't move to well. Also, figured it would be a good time to install my home ported oil pump that I had in my toold box. Again, toque to spec, easy swap. motor, long story short, goes back together.

I noticed my driver side LG header had some scrathes on it, from hittng ****(coilovers). Anyways, where the header bolts to the bellhousing, at that little bracket, it had cracked. So, I busted out the welder, fixed it in 1 shot,...exhaust leak/header crack fixed. I'm no welder, not a clean welder anyways but...I was impressed with the speed on the repair, and the cleaness of it. I'd like a cooky, please.

DTE brace....which I took off my old vette, was still all together. Kind of a bitch to work with like this but...whatever. Had to looesn the heim joints,...and presto. Done. backlash here, backlash there. curse word here, curse word there... done.

RaceTronix fuel pump/harness...awesome easy setup. But, I screwed up, when I crushed one of the terminals for the sendunit/float. Couldn't find the proper terminal number in the 1000 or soo GM terminals that we have at work soo...that ruined my ten minute fuel pump swap. Next day, monday, fixed my terminal problem, ran the harness....done. Very cool kit. Very easy to install. Ofcourse, my car right now is empty so, i'd imagine a flux capacitor would be easy to install at this time as well.

Brake pads, done. Still have to do the lines but...that'll be last.

The cleaning...holy ****. My cars cradle was really dirty from the oil leak I had before, plus, the 108,000 miles on the clock. All the grime, really added up. Also, I had the CAGS solenoid leaking, so, that also caused alot of grit and grime on the trans and diff. Soo...after gallons and gallons of brake clean and high powered pressure...I can tell you, it's pretty clean. No grime, no grease. It could be cleaner but, I honestly don't have the time to clean it like that,....and this thing is purpose built for the street, not for show. So, that, in itself, was quite a project.

..and now, which leads me to well, now .....the body is about 2 feet away from having the front and rear cradle joined together again as a unit. I installed ALOT of the grounds, injector plugs,map, ect, etc etc already. It should, be bolted together in honestly a matter of minutes. Would have done it tonight but, it was already creaping up on 9pm, and I was again alone in the shop. Didn't want to rush so, I can wait till tomorrow for more then one pair of eyes and ears. I worked from 430 to 900pm on friday night(partied with ladies till 4 am), 10am to 8:30pm on saturday(chilled with previous night female till 3am) woke up on sunday.....rolled into the dealership at noon....worked till 4:30(I had to be out by 5)...monday 5pm till 9pm...tuesday from 5 pm till 9pm.

Long hours for me, for sure. My hands are sliced. Finger nails,...well, they ain't pretty(heavy line(heavy engine work) sucks *****, unless it's brand new). I have a few new scars.....which I am pleased about. And I gotta say....after ALL the delays, after all the waiting, after all the money....I'm running on fumes, but i'm not tired. I have the goal in sight,....which is no more then a couple of day away..and it's gonna be pretty.

I have from the monent I finish the car, till tuesday to break everything in. Cause...I got invited to a private track day at the local drag strip. Should be BADASS. Should be some cool *** cars. I can't wait... I wanna see what I can do on street tires....as well as some drag radials. Since it's private....only one lane will be open,...and I can't wait to get some good video/audio of my car.

Thanks for reading, those of you that are still awake. I do have pictures....and i'll have them uploaded into my pc tomorrow....and i'll relay them to the site.

Peace out everyone.

Jamie-

 

Im hoping to see you pull up at the house today with the car.....let me know if you need some extra hands tonite, I ain't got **** else to do.

Can't wait to see you stomp some exotics at Moroso next week!
Not to mention a certain special little blondie in a turbo'd Cobra...lol.

 

Damn J !!! You certainly did everything you can think of didn't ya. Glad to hear that you are almost done, and I am looking fwd to seeing the pics. Good luck at the private track race. You should lay down some good times I bet. Later bro.

 

Do you really need the adjustable master with the VDS clutch?

What master did you use?

-Jason

 

Sick!

I can't wait to see you laying the smack down on some cars! I on the other hand will just pull over and turn my car off......MR. "I'll spray the **** outta you!"

Leave a lasting impression, that's my motto!

 

Yo...thanks for trying but,..I was kicked outta the shop early tonight. Sucks. But, we did get the drivetrain back in the car soo..it worked out in a way. Tomorrow, i'm reserving time to work on my own car, regardless of weather or not I have regular work to do. I need to finish, and I need to break this thing in.

....can't wait to get some seat time in this thing.

 

Thanks man. I don't think I had much of a choice...other then do it this way. I have never ran THIS car at the track as of yet..so...we'll see how my times go. I'm not expecting LOW et's to be honest. I wanna get some passes in on the street tires...just to see what i'm dealing with in that trim setup. And, then i'd like to bolt on some radials. Either way, I don't have any SHAFT upgrades so,..I gotta be smart. I do have my hopes but....we'll see.

Hopefully I can get some good video footage for you.

 

No wheel hop sucka!

Give me a call when you get that thing fired!

 

Dude...I don't know anymore. According to RAM. According to multiple retailers, I NEED the adjustable master with the VDS. I used a RAM brand with a Z06 drilled 1/8th metal hose. New washer, and new pin.

$168.00

 

Someone deleted the LSx thread on the other board.....

Lame!

 

C'mon dawg. I'm not that bad. I have no problem with motor races but...some people just need to made an example out of. I have yet to race a car with me spraying. lol.

Lasting impressions are priceless. Even better when they have there girls in the car.

 

fooo shooo

 

Thats some gay ****.

 

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I'll kill someone over there.....you can post about whoopin a Lambo in a POS cobalt, yet we get deleted. That was one of the best threads ever. Maybe I'll do it again tomorrow....

I like the pics....almost seems like a different place in photos.

 

lol. Do it.

Yeah, your right about the shop, looking different. I think it's just because it's soo dirty, and there is **** EVERYWHERE. My floors have never been soo greasy. You can't even see the color. Thats what I get for blasting everything down with break cleaner. I was about as black as the floor everyday after working on it. It's been chaotic in that particular area..

Anyways...I need to thank trent...aka don king for the hookup on parts from D'agostino racing. He's gay yeah but, he hooked it up.

 

Sounds like it will be fun when it is done. I would be surprised if you drove the VDS clutch on the street. I hear they are not friendly.

 

Well..it's a street car bro...it's gotta work. I'll give you my honest opinion of it ASAP. I do, still have a torn ACL/MCL and micnicus or some weird **** in my knee. So,...that'll be alot of fun...i'm sure.


I'll let you know. I think it's gonna be smooth and easy if you ask me.

Scoggin dickie rants and raves baout this thingin there AD's.....saying how streetable it is.

 

Either way, I don't have any SHAFT upgrades so,..I gotta be smart. I do have my hopes but....we'll see.

Hopefully I can get some good video footage for you.[/QUOTE]

No cash for a built rearend?? Damn I wish your were close and could swap rears for the weekend with my car. You know I have a DTE stg III with all the goodies. I am not 100% sure it could handle everything you have to dish out, but it'll out do a stock rear for sure.

 

Jamie your a mad man, waiting for some track video