Don't forget to check crankshaft endplay. You can torque the mains and lightly tap the crank back an forth with a rubber mallet....then measure with feeler guages. Ive read way too many "loss of oil pressure" stories after the thrust bearing ate itself to death and sent the bearing shrapnel throughout the engine. Most consider .002" the bare minimum but I like to shoot for .005"-.007". You can lightly sand the thrust surface of the bearing shells on a flat counter top or steel plate in order to acheive the desired clearance.

 

Good point, I did check and looking over my notes I came up with between .0025 and .003 for crankshaft endplay.

Piston rings came in today. I'll start working on checking the end gaps per cylinder and move on towards shortblock assembly shortly there after.

 

watching with interest, espically in the block. Are you going to get the rotating assembly balanced?

 

Rotating Assembly has been balanced by a local shop. According to him it was minimal balancing needed. The pistons were very minimal the crank itself was nearly spot on only requiring a little work. I'm actually taking a break for the moment been out in the garage filing piston rings to each cylinder. After some research and talking with Mahle they recommended going a little wider for a stroker LS. It's normally .004 for each inch of cylinder bore. So a 4.03 times .004 would net = 0.0162 for piston gap. The say to go a bit wider on performance motors and do .005. So 4.03 X .005 nets me .02015.

That's for the top compression ring. For the second ring they recommend going wider and gave me a lot of info into why. I won't bore anyone with all the technical but if your looking for an interesting read check out the tech article here : http://underthehood.mahleclevite.com/?p=121

So for the second rings I'm going .024 on gap on account of the advice given. As always, follow the manufacture of the rings recommendations first.

I'll get some pics up in a bit when I have time. Shortblock will be wrapped up here today. I've ordered a ls6 ported oil pump from HRI and a double timing gear. I had ordered a JP unit from HRI but the owner got with me right away and apologized that he had none in stock. He offered to try and get a set drop shipped from the factory or upgrade to a comp cam unit for a few dollars more (which is still well under the normal pricing of a comp cam timing set) and I was happy to upgrade.

So just for everyone, HRI is a heck of a company and after having gotten jibbed and flat out ignored by some other companies I won't mention (due to not being sponsers), I am proud to recommend both HRI and ATK who have been terrific.

 

Well as promised.....though a bit late.....Here are some pics.

Shortblock is assembled at this point.






Now I need to get my cam ordered and move on from there. Martin Tick Performance I've sent you a few emails to clarify and some things on the cam you spec'd and wanted to go ahead with ordering from you but haven't heard back.

 

Looks good! Glad to see its coming together.

 

Cam came in today. I can get started working on assembling the rest of the motor now.
I need to get with Martin@Tick to clarify a few details about the cam's installation and sent him an email. Hopefully he can get back to me and I can do some work tomorrow.

Here's a pic of the cam as it arrived.


Cam is a 237/252 .622/.596 115lsa Should be a strong running cam.

Props to Martin, highly recommend him for spec'ing a cam.

 

Needs to be installed on a 110ICL James as I did not have any advance ground into your cam.

Since you only have 2 degree increments you have two choices.

If you want a longer flatter torque curve with more power off idle to 4000rpm then install it on a 109. If you want more of a kick in the pants at 3500-4000rpm with more peak torque and peak hp install the cam on a 111.

Honestly we're talking about maybe a 5-10 swing in numbers, not enough to really even be felt. Power band would change slightly though.

 

Thanks Martin! I went with the middle ground and installed straight up. I'll adjust if I decide to advance or retard based on initial reaction. But the middle ground sounds best for me.

I got excited and started putting everything together.
Did get a chance to take many pictures while I installed and degreed the cam.
Double Roller timing set has been installed. I had to shim the oil pump to clear the chain more so then what was supplied. Not much just a standard washer to clear it. Otherwise it was rubbing along the back of the oil pump and digging into metal. I attempted to grind lightly on the pump casing to make it fit but the amount needed to remove I wasn't comfortable with doing so I elected to shim the spacers instead.

Now I have plenty of clearance between the chains and the pump body.
I was initially worried that shimming the pup out any more would only further the potential issue of the timing cover but it turns out that Fel-pro is up on their game.

Gasket set TCS 45993 from Fel-pro includes the cover gasket, the water pump gasket, new oil pump o rings (didn't need those), and a new front cover seal. The gasket seal for the cover is thick. Copper, rubber, it has some thickness to it as I'll show in the pics bellow. It's as if Fel-pro made it with double roller timers in mind.



The copper color is the seal the part that sits out. It has rubber guide holes for the bolts to hold them in place as you install as means of keeping the seal lined up.
Once installed and test fitted I found the timing cover only had one small clearance issue and that was at the pumps inlet housing area. I little grinding on that one spot and the cover fits snug with no issues. I think if I didn't have to shim the oil pump with the spacers the cover would of gone on with no grinding on that one part at all.

Here is a pic of the cover from the front.



And finally a pic of the pickup tube installed.


Word of note the instructions on the timing kit states you must use the fel pro oil pan gasket I assume this is due to the thickness of the seal pushing the cover out a bit. I imagine the oil pan gasket takes this into account.

I need to run to the store in the morning and get some spacers for the windage tray install so it clears the long stroke of the crank. After that I can install the oil pan and begin work on setting up the top end. Figuring out what pushrods lengths to get and after that the engine will be buttoned up and ready to go.

 

The cam needs to be advanced. IMO.

Either degreed to a 109 or a 111 intake center line.

It will be low on torque straight up.

 

Thanks for the email clearing up the confusion Martin.
My bad, shows how much I know about cam's. >_>
I was under the impression straight up went off ICL not LSA. Tis were my confusion began. After talking with Martin I got it setup now with 4 degrees advance putting me at 111 icl. I'll have a cam degree wheel in a few days to setup and check that it is matched up correctly with the timing set.

Thanks again Martin for looking out for me and giving me a heads up. That would of been a serious issue had it not been caught. I'd be scratching my head wondering why the car made no power till who knows how high and rpm. :p

 

What did your piston to wall end up at ? Just curious with the block being machined first.

 

Piston to Wall clearance with 2618 forged pistons ended up at .003 to .0035.

I've checked the cam with a degree wheel. With 4 degree's advance on the timing set the cam fell right between 111 and 110 icl. Right on the money. Thanks again to Martin for spec'ing as well as the great customer service and support after the sale. Highly recommend him.

Oil pan is on.

 

great progress! pictures look really good

 

Well I mounted up the driver side head after putting in the lifters and head gasket. Torqued the Head studs to 65ft lbs. Did a Pushrod check.

After doing the math I came out with 7.450.
Went ahead and purchased a set of comp magnum 3/8 7.450 pushrods.
Only thing left at this point is to mount the other head and tq it down. Once the pushrods arrive I can assemble them.
Only thing after that is getting a harmonic balancer.
I was tempted to do a ASP balancer but after a lot of reading I'm just going to bite the bullet and get a ATI. Better safe (and a little more broke), then sorry.

At that point the engine will be complete. Everything else will be transferred from the LS1 in the Camaro. I'll have to mount the Alternator bracket and mark for the accessory drive so that I can drill and tap the block for the bolt as Lq engines do not have this bolt pre drilled from the factory.

I do have a question perhaps you all can chime in on.
For the intake I have an LS3, I was planning on a 92mm throttle body but would it be more beneficial to go to a 102mm throttle body?
What would be the pro's and con's to this?

 

Well I mounted up the driver side head after putting in the lifters and head gasket. Torqued the Head studs to 65ft lbs. Did a Pushrod check.

After doing the math I came out with 7.450.
Went ahead and purchased a set of comp magnum 3/8 7.450 pushrods.
Only thing left at this point is to mount the other head and tq it down. Once the pushrods arrive I can assemble them.
Only thing after that is getting a harmonic balancer.
I was tempted to do a ASP balancer but after a lot of reading I'm just going to bite the bullet and get a ATI. Better safe (and a little more broke), then sorry.

At that point the engine will be complete. Everything else will be transferred from the LS1 in the Camaro. I'll have to mount the Alternator bracket and mark for the accessory drive so that I can drill and tap the block for the bolt as Lq engines do not have this bolt pre drilled from the factory.

I do have a question perhaps you all can chime in on.
For the intake I have an LS3, I was planning on a 92mm throttle body but would it be more beneficial to go to a 102mm throttle body?
What would be the pro's and con's to this?

 

We've always had great luck with timing events being correct on the Comp cams we order.

Good to see that is still holding true.

Thanks for the kind words.

 

Alright well my pushrods came into today. I went ahead and soaked them for a bit in some oil and proceeded to install them. The heads had already been mounted and tq'd down.

3/8 Magnum pushrods from Comp Cam 7.450 length.


Heads on engine. Tq'd the headstuds to 65ft lbs. No issues.


Installed the pushrods then places the rockers and pedestal in. Began threading the bolts in starting from center and working outwards until the pedestal was snug. Then proceeded to line up the rocker arm, pushrood, and valve stem and began to tq the bolt down. Went to 22ft lbs.


Valve covers on and everything bolted down. Not to bad looking.






Harmonic balancer will arrive in a few days. Once that's mounted the engine will be ready for transplanting. I have a few things I'll need to get and other things to swap over from the old engine. It'll be a few weeks till I get around to doing the swap at the least.

 

She's looking good, the light is shining at the end of the tunnel

 

Well I had a chance to get my car on a dyno with the ls1. A baseline to see before for when I swap the motor.

CFT - Central Florida Turbo out of Orlando had me on a mustang dyno.
Results were 369.3hp at 6584 and 380.4tq at 5106

Whatever cam was put in prior to my owning the vehicle is way big. Next car it goes into I'm advancing the cam 2 degree's for sure.