Nismo Kid

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Sprayed Eastwood's 2k Underhood Black Aerosol

Nismo Kid

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After the paint fully cured I Prepped off the engine bay. Minus the transmission tunnel & the frame rails up to where the engine crossmember go. Then coated the wheel wells, frame rails, & transmission tunnel with 3m professional rubber undercoating.




[URL=http://s114.photobucket.com/user/landeo_87/media/Turbo%20LSX%20Z31%20build%2026/20160430_163730.jpg.html]

Nismo Kid

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Nismo Kid

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I'm pleased with how it came it. I chose not to wet sand the paint. Mainly because my car isn't a show car. I personally believe it went on pretty smooth. I also think the rubber under coating came pretty nice too. As for the temporary spray booth I was highly satisfied. It captured 100% of the over spray & about 90% of the fumes. If I was to do it again I'd add paint pocket air filters between the cloth & Activated charcoal air filters. That way it gets rid of all the fumes. Another change that made is the engine I'm using. In the beginning I had planned to use my early LS1 with a set of 243s. But that was all changed when I acquired a complete Gen 3 4.8 with ls1 intake for 50$! I purchased from a friend of a friend. My 50$ 4.8 has 165k on the clock and has had nitrous ran though it a majority of its life. The previous owner went to a larger cubes on his build. Here's how it looked when I 1st purchased it.

Nismo Kid

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I tore it down & inspected immediately. This little 4.8 was pretty damn dirty on the outside. But it was rock solid inside.

Nismo Kid

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So I cleaned it up & painted the block.

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Dropped the heads of at the machine shop it have them cleaned & resurfaced. Also had the valve covers, oil pan, & timing cover media blasted. I also replaced the cam bearings. While I was doing this I figured "Why not step my engine bay game up?". I chose to shave the stand offs & weld -10an fittings on my valve covers.

Cylinder Heads Before






Cylinder Heads After

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Timing Cover Before


Timing Cover After


Oil Pan Before




Valve Covers Before


Valve Covers After

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Here's some pics of the valve cover stand off shaving process

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Old Cam Bearings





New Cam Bearings


Then had my engine crossmember, valve covers, timing cover, oil pan, & a few other things powder coated.

Nismo Kid

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Purchased all these goodies for the 4.8
LJMS Stage 1 4.8 Turbo Cam
BTR 660 Dual Valve Springs with Titanium Retainers
Comp 7.400 Hardened Push Rods
Straub Technologies Trunnion Kit
ARP Head Studs
ARP Stainless Steel Valve Cover Bolts
ARP Stainless Steel Water Pump Bolts
ARP Stainless Steel Intake Manifold Bolts
ARP Stainless Steel Oil Pan Bolts
ARP Stainless Steel Timing Cover Bolts
ARP Balancer Bolt
ARP Camshaft Bolts
Summit 25% Underdrive Balancer
Improved Racing Oil Pan Baffle
Meling 10295 High Oil Pressure Pump
Hinson Racing C7R Timing Chain
Billet EGR block Off Plate
LS7 Lifters
New Lifter Trays
GM Performance 12498544 Head Gasket
Dorman Drain Plug 65221(Deletes oil level sensor)
New GM 12589016 Camshaft Retainer
New Oil & Coolant Plugs
New Cylinder Head Dowels
Dorman 635-518 Rear Main Seal Cover Set
New Gaskets for the entire engine
MS3 Gold Box
Siemens Deka 80 LB/HR Fuel Injectors
3 Bar Map sensor
Fast Fuel Rails(Scored these for 50$)
12.9 grade Rocker Arm Bolts

Nismo Kid

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Now that I have my assortment of parts it was time for assembly.

1st I cleaned & began to lap all the valves. After lapping a few I found a couple pits on the seat of the valve. So I decided to get valve job.





After that I installed the valves & Premium BTR 660 valve spring kit. Then set the cylinder heads off to the side.

Nismo Kid

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Next up was installing my Straub Technologies Trunnion kit into my factory rocker arms. Thanks to the summit racing tool it was a breeze. I also set those to the side.

Nismo Kid

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I grabbed my 4.8 cleaned all the bolt holes in the block. Then replaced all the oil & coolant plugs. After all that I proceeded installing the LJMS Stage 1 cam followed by a new camshaft retainer.

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C7R Timing Chain vs the OEM



C7R timing chain installed



Degreed the cam


Tossed in the LS7 lifters & trays.

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Installed cylinder head dowels. Lightly lubed the threaded sections of the ARP Head Stud with ARP lube. Then threaded them into the block hand tight.


After that I coated my head gaskets with copper spray & slid them over the studs.



Carefully lowered the cylinder heads down over the head studs.


After that I lightly applied ARP lube to the washer & threads of the nuts. Then I installed the washers & threaded the nuts down hand tight. Following GM's recommended torque sequence I tightened the 7/16" nuts in 3 equal steps to 80 ft lbs. The 5/16" nuts were torqued to 25 ft lbs.



Continuing on I tossed in my pushrods & set the rockers in their respected places. With the engine in the number one firing position, I tightened exhaust valve rocker arm bolts 1, 2, 7, and 8 to 22 ft lbs. Then I tightened intake valve rocker arm bolts 1, 3, 4, and 5 to 22 ft lbs.
I rotated the crankshaft 360° & tightened exhaust valve rocker arm bolts 3, 4, 5, and 6 to 22 ft lbs. Last but not least I tightened intake valve rocker arm bolts 2, 6, 7, and 8 to 22 ft lbs.

Nismo Kid

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After a few rotations I double checked all the rocker arm bolts with my torque wrench. Now that made sure I had no binding issues it was time to install my valve covers & Meling oil pump. I installed the Meling oil pump following their directions. Using 3 .0025 feeler gauges equally spaced between each rotor. Plus 3 more equally spaced .0025 feeler gauges between the largest rotor & pump casing. Then torqued the pump bolts to 18 ft lbs. Then secured pump cover using supplied bolts with a bit Loctite 242.