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today has been a very productive day! DEI sprayed and wrapped all hot pipes, installed and wired new pusher fans, and finally got the new alternator belt to fit right. it was TIGHT! but some stretching helped. I'm wondering if the cold weather was not helping before. plus the truck alternator isnt quite as good a fit as some of these companies lead on to be. Also routed some of the major harnesses into position and started figuring out how to run cold piping. Man these couples are tight too. 12 inch fans being installed as pushers. and wired into the stock harness. didnt make it completely permanent since im not sure which way they are turning until i run it from the car. both fans run on 12 volt directly though in either direction. coating done and drying in the sun. still trying to figure out where to put this guy. B&M 11" x7" trans cooler. CBR alternator relocation bracket and belt. man is it tight with a truck alternator. but its on there. now for wiring. initial coat before wrappings All wrapped up. much easier to wrap when no on the car lol and a whole lot easier when its not the entire exhaust lol fans fully installed and ready to go. lots of room for later. I think i have a lot of room for a turbo now... at least enough for what i have lol a griffin will be in my future eventually but for now, this will do. Im a bit concerned with the trans lines though. they are a bit in the way and what idiot engineer decided to run it in front of the engine before routing it back over to the side it came from?! im looking into running the stand alone cooler with 6an lines but id have to get another cooler with 6an threads, as this one has barbs.
Last edited by JoshuaGrooms83; Apr 1, 2019 at 08:17 PM.
Another productive day. Almost got the merge pipe into place but the v bands were kicking my *** by the end of the night. still gotta pull the passenger side back out and wrap it though. got a little too ahead of my self when I first got them lol but that sides much easier than the drivers. CBR power steering lines came in today. replaces and reroutes the stock power steering lines from soft rubber ones to braided steel ones closer to the engine and away fron hot piping. After its all said and done. was a lot easier than it looks and the directions provided were rediculously easy. Made up my drain line, which i think is a bit too long but ill have to wait and see when the turbos in positions. feed lines on the engine. installed feed and drain plates, .060 restrictor built in to the feed flange. clocked the hot side a bit into relative position as well. need my 3.5" vband im waiting for to mount the exhuast to the turbo since cx stuff came with a 3". driver side manifold in position. this one was a bit of a pain i the *** to position than the passenger side, but easier to bolt in, go figure huh? took me a minute to figure which side to feed it into. For future reference, at least with a umi road race kmemeber, position from the front and some twisting is required to get it up and into position. doing this with the gasket is a bit tricky too, so be patient.
today made some progress. I started on cold piping but I need a tad more room up top so i started notching out the rad support about an inch to clear the fan a bit and make room for the map sensor. getting ready to mount the intercooler. its a but thinker than the emusa i had before. trying see where it will fit better a little thicker using some old stuff to hook it up. had to dig up the old maf sensor so i can hook up the cold piping. and since the maf has an iat sensor i dont have to cut a hole in any piping.
Last edited by JoshuaGrooms83; Nov 27, 2019 at 03:06 PM.
trimmed and ready to stand up the stocker for now. most made some extra room for the fans to stand up better. not much really had to be trimmed. most of the support is still there. merge pipe and turbo installed but unfortunately will have to take it back off. Found that the down pipe needs to be sitting where it belongs before i mount the manifold 🤬 some what pissed at that. the merge pipe was a pita as well with the new vband clamps. they do not leave alot of room to clamp down on initially. hopefully it wont be as hard next time. new intercooler mounted into place. much more intercooler inplace. not sure if i will trim it or leave it as is. still have to see hiw it fits with the nose back on.
got some more done today. have some other stuff I need to do but over all a good day. Need to get spark plug wires that have a 90 degree connection. I tried to use the msd wifes but the transition is too tight.
gt45 turbo all snug in its new place. gotta put the blanket on it. oil feed and drain are hooked up. still gotta tighten the bolts after i do some final clocking. also got the wategate in as well. have to see which way to orientate the dump tube but its coming allong got the cold pipes inplace to make sure everything is lining up. not too bad but i think i need to clock the turbo just a hair. got the passenger side manifold back in after coating and wrapping. was actually a little faster this time. so this is the only real hold up, other than the passenger side o2 bung that i have to have relocated. the cxracing down piping is made for 3" outlet turbines, like my t76 on3, but the gt45 had a 3.5" turbine outlet, so this flange you see me holding is going to have to be welded into this elbow so it can be connected to the rest of the exhaust. i thought of maybe dumping it straight down, but the cold piping and wastegate are in the way.
well while I wait to get my angled Taylor plugs, I got curious about my on3 turbo. so I separated it to see what the bearings look like.
My new taylor wires with 45 degree angles, and a heat sleeve for good measure. should be good now so here we have damaged fins from prolonged oil exposure leaking through the seals. the inlet side was ok. didnt have much oil on it so most of the oil was coming out the exhaust, but still... seals are gone lol
today was a productive day! nearly ready to button up the nose new catch can installed wires are all installed all cold piping has been positioned and clamped into place air filter in, valve cover vacuum provided, turbo blanket on, BOV and vacuum sourced, and wastegate referenced to manifold i know its a mess but the maf is in, and all electronic sensors plughed back in. for now the mafs plugged in, but its still tuned to SD. still gotta plumb in methanol but for now, juat trying to gwt it up and running. wastegate waiting to exhale lol waiting on an angled extention to see if it will clear the steering bellow. if not, looks like ill have to have a bung moved. gonna get a block off plate for that. theyre cheap. next will be to finish up the fuel regulator and return line
well its alive!! pictures and video will follow. Removed the rear scavenger pump and wiring harness. had to be delicate as I wire it into the trigger wire for the stock fuel pump so that it would prime before I started it. removed the rear cross over pipe. other than the long pipe in the rocker, which I need to jack up the axle to slide it out in a complete pipe.
i am completely rear mount free.
after checking some battery connections and hooking the starter back in, I'm running!!! sounds good and alot quite actually then I though it would be, but that's at idle so that's good. I still need a cat back to complete it, but for now dumping under the car. still need to remove the original exhaust and orientate the o2 sensors on the passenger side of I cant get a 90 degree o2 extension to fit in there. need to hook up the wideband as well.
preliminary run was to check for leaks, checking new alternator route, checking vacuum lines, and getting some oil in the turbo.
next I have some other stuff to take care of.
O2 sensors back into position
mount oil catch can properly
engine oil change
rear diff oil change and a rear diff cover upgrade
fuel filter change
LED lights all around and new flasher
put the bumper back on
finish bolting the new seats in
plumb manual boost controller
plumb return line into tank, block off fuel tee
Retune for new setup
hating waiting for parts, especially little ones that hold up all progress..
so instead some some other stuff lol
Installed an AC delete block on the firewall that took all of a minute. with the rear mount gone, I could actually install this rear end over now.
Hawks rear end girdle cover not too bad for some 20 year old gears all buttoned up. wish this came with cap srews over allens, but it does look good.
Last edited by JoshuaGrooms83; Jun 3, 2019 at 06:45 PM.
still hesitant on what I want to do with the exhaust
on one hand I'm thinking SLPII or just dump out under the car and call it a day.
Meanwhile, waiting for the C5 fuel filter regulator conversion from ws6store. figure I'll try this out before I set it up for bigger power later.
still have the bumper off as I'm doing some LED conversion of the lights. and had to trim the fog light housing to fit it better on the larger intercooler
it's so close I can taste it, just need to have some down time to get the exhaust sorted out and get the bumper back on and wheels back on and get it back on the ground
I'm at a point where I'm thinking of just getting my own MIG welder and just do it myself. still gotta move a o2 bung and get the wide band back in place.
LOL If I had another car, I might consider keeping the rear mount I did. It was a solid kit that did all the right things and cut out all the limitations, within reason of course lol
Really on the fence whether to do heads and cam, or run this set up j have right now. I need a bit of welding on the exhaust for 02 sensors, and I still need to install the c5 fuel filter/regulator. I also want to get my 6an lines on the trans cooler too.
I just bought a summit pro Stage 2 cam and 7.40 tsp push rods. I'll measure but figured I'd get them now, and send them back if I need a different size, although I doubt it.
The 317 heads are bone stock, which I'm gonna change the springs fr the new cam, and the ls9 gaskets are waiting to go.
I really want to do the heads and cam, but I'd hate to have a boat anchor in my garage for another 6 months cause of work and winter laziness lol Virgina doesnt get to bad, but this summer i just had no ambition to get it the garage in this humid heat. To have more time on my hands lol I mean, I already have the bumper off
After doing some searching, gonna slap the rest of this build together, get some driving out of it before winter sets in. During that time I'll look for more fuel support mods. got a Walbro 450 coming in the mail to switch out the racetronic 255, and I'm hunting for some 80lbs injectors. Instead of the c5 fuel filter/regulator switch, I'll just put a new filter in and use the Aeromotive Boost referenced FPR I have already plumbed into it. I just have to connect it I the back to have it true return and block off the tee. And sense I'll have the pump out anyway for the new pump, I'll pop out the stock fuel pressure regulator which I think was starting to go out on me before I parked my car, boost seemed to have been dropping off after a certain rpm and not going anywhere, almost like stalling but still running.
On a side note, why is it so hard to find someone to weld a flange on a pipe. I swear it's like no one in the Fredericksburg area is willing or is too scared to run about 8 inches of stainless bead. Gonna see if a shop on the other side of town can. Even a Mineki wouldn't do it, and I even said it doesnt have to be perfect, just make sure not to warp the flange. it's just the down pipe, not even a charge pipe.
Cam came in the mail today though so there we go lol
Finally!! Welded lol Finay have the 3.5" flange welded on. Man is it hard to find a welder that welds stainless in Fredericksburg 🤬 Not too shabby. Didnt have to be perfect. just needed to be done right. Fortunately dont have to worry about boost least on this side of the pipe lol much less piping in a front mount lol
Why did the rear mount stop you from putting on the TA girdle? Pretty sure I don't have to disconnect a single coupler to change the girdle on my rear mount.
With the rear mount, and how I had I had mine run, installing a girdle was just not accessible. I also had a much bigger turbo than the typical rear mount. I managed to really tuck my turbo really up there too. but now that's not a problem lol 😁
Stock 317 heads and a valve spring tools Nothing reallly too it although its a multi piece tool, its actually really simple and easy to use Rockers came out pretty easy. i am curious about the crack in the middle of the bar that holds the rockers. bearings seem alright. ill probably look into truion upgrade later valves seem to be alright. some cleaning is in order for the heads first set went in good. dont tighten it all the way down of the keepers might bind on the valves ends. All done. between some interruptings, only took me about 30 minutes for one head. probably only take 15 or 20 on the next. 317 stock springs vs pac 1218 Might need to clean these up a biy lol
cleaned up one head a bit, and I stalled all the pac 1218s on the 317 heads now. got some stock 317 springs laying around now lol
ordered some Delphi LS7 lifters, and new cups, and a new dip stick tube since I do t particularly like the lokar one I got. sits too low by the manifold. my stock one got beat up when I did my LTH a long time ago and part of the tube broke. still need to get a cam tool....
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