What's up techies! Well, it's been about three months since my cam install and I've had the smallest oil leak just soaking my entire K member and bottom end. I narrowed the leak down to my oil pan. Seems I may have fouled the gasket while installing my oil pump and timing chain. I realized I would have to drop my K member to replace the gasket so I said, **** it, while I'm here I'll do rod bolts and prothane motor mounts too. Also, when I bought the car it seems a battery had exploded in it and the under hood paint was fucked. I figured I'd do something about that too while the motor was lowered so here's some pictures of the before and the steady progress.

 

I made sure to burnish the rod bolts correctly to ARP specs for proper rod bolt stretch. Apply assembly lube on the threads and hat then tq. to 40ft/lbs, loosen, torque, loosen, then torque a final time to 40.





The rust was pretty bad so I coated all rust spots with POR-15. I also filled in all the holes where I did my wire mod, relocated the factory grounds, then primed and painted. The underhood paint has always annoyed this **** out of me. I like to show off my bolt ons here and there but hate when people notice my paint. I know it's not perfect but it's leaps and bounds ahead of what it was.

 

Good job...I'm in the process of doing some restoration myself, except in the back of the car. Stuff like this takes a LONG time to do, but the results are well worth it. Yours came out great.

 

Very nice!! Looks like you take alot pride in your car cuz it turned out great.

On another note my stock battery leaked and its all nasty bellow the tray.

 

Well done.

 

Looks good...my stock battery leaked everywhere also...I haven't had the "will" to get under the car and fix it...yet.
JC

 

Is there a recall or something for these crap delco batteries. I'd bet more than half the peeps on ls1tech had problems with them.

 

I'm glad I replaced my battery before it did that...I have heard way too many stories about that happening.

I also noticed that your power steering pump looks like it is on its way out...mine was leaking just like that, and I just went ahead and replaced it with a Turn One pump. No leaks for me

 

I have no idea. The stock batteries are garbage though. All of that happened before I bought the car. Wish I could have swapped out to a gel cell sooner.

As far as my PS pump, I haven't had any issues w/ steering or anything, works just fine, just gets a little dirty from time to time.

 

ya my stocker ate part of the metal bellow it, gonna fix it soon... so what did i do bought another stocker cause i was stupid and didnt realize thats what had happened.... It also took out my driver seat during my heads and cam swap these ac delco batteries are crap

 

that looks great.

 

awsome job!!!

 

looks great u did a nice job
how do you lower the k member with out droping the motor ? or did you just raise the motor up a little bit ?

a battery busted in my car and the caused the metal under it to rust so i had to sand it all down then paint i put some off that rubberized stuff that they us in truck beds there to protect it in the future if it were to happen again

 

Looks way better, nice work.

 

Thank everyone, I've been receiving a few PMs on painting so I'll go over it: BTW, this is not a one afternoon job, so if your car is a DD I wouldn't try this unless you have a back up ride. As with everything that goes with painting, IT'S ALL IN THE PREP WORK! That being said, move as much **** out of the way as possible. If I was just painting I don't think I would have lowered the K member, some things you can work around. It was just a good opportunity to paint with the engine lowered down in the engine bay a little (~6 in.) I started by removing everything that could be moved: Battery, Surge tank, PCM, Lid & MAF, Master cyl, slave cyl, Relay panels, Headlight brackets and AC Canister & Bracket. Next it's time to prep your surfaces. I removed all paint that I even thought might have some rust under it with a sander. If you have rust issues from battery acid, now is the time to deal with it! There is a product out there called POR-15 that can be painted over rust that will prevent it from ever coming back. Take care of any cancer now or you'll be doing this again later. I also recommend you do the !wire mod before attempting this. It'll be easier when you paint, and look a ton better in the end. Also, relocate your grounds to less conspicuous place but be sure it's a good gnd. In the same way you do the '!wire mod' you can also relocate your hood latch cable on the driver's side. Next I sanded all the holes I was going to fill to bare metal and filled with metal filler/JB Weld. Once that hardened I sanded the surfaces flat and came back with finishing body filler. Again, it's all in the details, you may have to repeat the process several times to get everything flat but it will be worth it in the end. Next, use painters tape to cover and conceal anything you don't want painted, I used a trash bag to cover the motor. For hard to tape wires and lines like the AC I used aluminium foil and it worked very well. Here it goes, now I may get flamed for this but oh well, I've seen it done before and my results also speak for themselves. I used duplicolor paint and primer, yes, the cans at auto zone for $6 each. I sprayed primer, let it dry, corrected any imperfections and sanded w/ 400. Primered again to be sure it was ready for paint and sanded w/ 600. Then I painted, let dry for a day, wiped off any dust and cleared. I waited another week to be sure everything was completely dry, then I used some meguiars cleaner wax and buffed the **** out of it. Even in the sun, I can't tell the difference between the colors. I hope I covered everything, need anymore info just ask! I know a true professional would have dropped the engine and used an HVLP gun in a spray booth, cleared it and then charged me $600. For EVERYTHING: Rod bolts, Gasket set, Prothane motor&tranny mounts, and paint. Then entire project costed me ~$200 and some free time doing what I enjoy with the help of some friends and a few beers.

 

Motor is attached to the K member by the motor mounts and to the Tranny&trans mount. I removed the motor mount bolts, supported the bell housing and trans with another jack while I removed the six K member bolts and lowered that down so I could take off the motor mount clam shells. Then lowered the motor down as far as the brake lines would allow.

 

Nice job!

 

gee where oh where have I seen you before?

You should have told me yall were doin that **** I could have halped, I know allllll about taking them rod bolts out and motor mounts.

 

I dont know if I missed it, but where did you get the supplies to paint under your hood?

 

He used rattle cans. Nice work man. I did the CETA mod with spray paint and my coil packs and they are holding up excellent.