yeah, so far I tried pulling the fuse cradle thing out and see how I want to move them, but I dont like how they look stuffed down there, and I really don't like the fact that the bottom of the fuse bos is open to the elements, which can invite all kinds of electrical gremlins so, I think I'll leave the stock harness alone, but clean up the added harnesses for now. trying to see what can make the vacuum lines less everywhere too.

 

@JoshuaGrooms83

Thank you for your patronage. We think you'll be pleased with the SUM-8706R1 stage 2 turbo cam. It's one of our most popular cams. Great updates to the thread with plenty of pictures along the way. We'll follow along and look forward to future updates!

 

Awesome! Glad I can add the the forum! I usually take tons of pictures when I do something, incase some one wants a good angle at something

had to wait on some gasket spray and an newer style ls thermostat housing soni can finish buttoning up the too half.
While I'm waiting, I'm in the unfortunate process of unwrapping the old fiberglass wrap and rewrapping with titanium wrap, which isn't any easier lol

finally got my newer style thermostat and housing. learn something everyday lol

old pump. pretty sure the bearings are on their way out lol

the bird waiting for the coming excitment

old wrap coming off. pretty much falls apart. god i hate fiberglass

right where it belongs lol

one side seems to have been hotter than the other, or the wrap was just better on one than the other

was gonna swap the gt45 for 7875, but I need a bigger flange welded on the down pipe, so ill save it for when i build the lq4 thats hanging out in the garage.

 

And all wrapped up and ready for some heat induced turbo and cam excitement lol


all wrapped up. the last bit on the exhaust was still good so i left that, but everthing from the downpipe up needed to be replaced. if it wasnt covered in coolant it was falling apart anyway. if youre gonna wrap headers or turbo hot pipes, just g9 for the lavarock/titaniim stuff first. fiberglass just doesnt last.

not the dei brand, but same concept

 

some fresh TR6 gapped at .025

Preparing for the newer 241 heads to go on. ls9 gaskets copper sprayed and laid on the heads. chased all the threads one ladt time to make sure nothing found its way in there. put my exhausr pipe backnin place as well.

getting the head into position to hook up the grounds on the back of the drivers head.

Head stubs going in.

Thanks LS1tech lol

initial hand tight in sequence in preparation for the torqing. Thought i had a 1/2" to 3/8" adaptor for my torque wrench can use the 12point sockets, for the stud nuts, but unfortunately not the case. guess i gotta go get some 1/2" 10mm and 13mm 12point sockets or get a 3/8 torque wrench.

pretty close to buttoning up the engine. push rods and rockers are next. pac 1218 were already put on the heads before i installed them. the knock sensors and ls6 valley cover are relatively new compated to the stock ls1 block.

 

made some progress today that's for sure!


its beginning to resemble an engine again lol

rockers being prepped to go on

torqed to 22ftlbs. the rockers have the trunion bearing upgrade

rockers are all bolted down

manifolds gettig back in stuffed in.

manifolds all bolted back in. they dont look to bad with the dei wrap

waterpump , with some new hardware added. valve covers bolted back

new manifold gaskets. the old ones were pretty smushed. also had to pull my altenator bracket off the old waterpump

All new gaskets now

Prepped the manifold to go in. little hoses on the bolts to aid in slipping it under the cowl. I think I found a source of a vacuum leak on the back of manifold, an old cap was split. fixed that and zip stripped the sensor cuase it just doesn't seem very secure.

manifold possitioned and ready to be nolted down. power steering is just hanging out until i bolt in the turbo y pipe. still gotta tighten up the steering shaft as well

 

Sweeet, beast of a car!! Reading a all the details and looking through all the photos makes me anxious to hear it run lol

 

it's coming along. trying to get the fuel rails right and the new racetronic brfpr, but I need a 8an coupler that's still in the mail. these rails require a bit of shaving by the intake manifolds bolts.

Got the 80lbs DEKA injectors in there. gonna save the 120lbs SEP incase i need more fuel or decide to switch to e85.

I need this weather to knock it off though lol 94 out yesterday, and this morning was muggy as hell lol just want a cool day to work more consistently lol getting spoiled as I've gotten older

testing the fitment of 80lb injectors in the fuelrail. popped in pretty easy.

Deka 80lbs injectors.

trying to figure out which way to run this. probably gonna hang it on the fuel rail like before.

initial test fit. had to pull them back out and put the crossover on the back. i wanted to run the crossover in the front, but with the alternator on the passenger high side, and the feed line a bit too long on the front, had to run it in the back. had to move the trans tube a bit to fit it better. Had to slightly shave around the base where the bolts touched a bit.

the old aeromotive had 6an inlets. the new racetronic is an 8an inlet, which lets me remove the 4an and 6an adaptor off the old stock rail and use 8an from the get go.

 

today was a little slow. did some wire clean up, and finally got my 8an coupler in the mail.

was trying to see which way would be the best route for the fpr, looks like where it was before.

The turbo and ypipe kicked my butt today. one of the clamps failed on me so I might be stuck until I get a vband for it. but everything else is bolting right up

this little guy is what was holding up the fuel hookup lol running the FPR right off the driverside rail, like before, but this 8an coupler should be a bit more robust to hold it up, compared to the tiny 4an off the stock rail.

while i was in there, decided to straighten up the driver side wiring mess that had accumilated over the years of modes. between the fuel pressure sensor harness, turbo smart harness, 2step wires, racetronic double pump harness, and a meth trigger wire harness i made, it turned into a mess. here it is all cleaned up and ground and postive wires tucked and hidden better.

the battery postive wire is a bit annoying. trying to figure out how i want to clean that up, but i think im gonna wire loom it, and tuck it above the griffin radiator when i get to that point. notnsue if you can tell but i also began splitting up and better routing thw driver side harness as well. added some thermal tape too to areas that are alittle close to head. gonna put some loom on the reat of the sensor wires. that alternator wire is a bit rediculous with all that plug and tiny wire lol

turbos finally coming back into the engine bay... taking it out was a lot easier than putting it back in lol usong a jack to help stanlize it while i get it back into place with the merge pipe. vbands supplied with cxracing manifolds are straight hot garbage. they could have at least sold some clamps with longer threads to help catch and pull the flanges together 🤬

starting to almost look like an angine again.and even cleaned up some wiring. trying to use exsisting holes on the manifold to help minimize the abundance of vacuum lines that will be in there soon. fuel lines are all hooked up. not too shabby looking.

 

did a little preliminary tuning to prep for the idle and tune. booted up HPTUNER and started increasing some idle air flow, bumped up the injector data from 72 to 92 for the 80lbs injectors. I gotta dial in the fuel pressure for the new fpr, but im gonna have the fuel set at 58psi. also adjusted the fan speeds to help keep temps cool, especially for the new thermostat.

once I gwt the rest of the top end buttoned up, I'll down load the tune.

Some fan data

target idle speed... taken some direction from chopperdoc and goatrope

base running airflow

VE ajustments in the idle range to help get started.

injector flow changes to help the injectors. going from 60lbs to 80lbs.

 

well if it isn't one thing it's another...

waiting in 2.5" vband cause the one that came with the kit sucks.. and then while test fitting the girffin radiator see if i had room fornsome stuff, i nipped one of the rows with one of the bottom screws in the front bumper support. just enough to staet leaking 😮‍💨 so ill need a repair

I was trying to see if there's room to make the fans pullers, and there is, so now I can put the new washer/meth tank in place.

I think im gonna go the puller route for bettwr fan cooling. it will also let me run my trans cooler in a better spot, as well as put my little washer/meth tank near the stock washer tanks spot.

did some wire cleanup

a heat shield for the positive and ground wire

nice and tucked in now

so i did some plug wire work to prevent the cxracing headers from cooking the wires like before.

heres previous wires, although not entirely from the headers lol this was from a freak fire previously.

wire prepping

half way there

all done

started sticking the plug wires back in. as you can see, its abit tight in there.

driverside is a bit easier. gotta wait to fully bolt the merge pipe. gotta get a new 2.5" vband flange

cleaning up the coils

coils and plug wires all set. just wating on a new set of coil harnesses, and then i can plug them and the 2step back in.

working on the vacuum lines. even eliminated needing one of the sources off the manifold.

hiding the 2 step

prepping the wastegate and BOV references. running the wastegate under the throttlbody to thw turbosmart soleniod. running the bov off the throttlbody nipple thats always juat sitting there lol

finally found a spot for the catch cans. running one for the ls6 valley cover back to the manifold nipple behind the throttlebody. running the other catch can from the passenger valve cover and then back to the turbo inlet for a vacuum to draw out pressures. once i get everything nice and sorted, thw alternator will go back on

cleaned up a lot of the vacuum lines and wiring tucked a lot better.

 

One step forward to make two steps backward hits right in the feels. You moved forward though and got other things taken care of. It happens and you did the best thing, keep moving forward. Chalk it up as a learning experience and get the rad fixed when you can! Still a great update all things considered. We're following along for that sweet redemption once you get this running. That will make all those struggles disappear when you can enjoy the sweet sound of the engine

 

lol it sure is, and I'm glad I can contribute to the group!
I was looking up the warranty and it's past the one year make... and ifs my fault lol it's a brand new griffin rad too lol

 

the culprit lol


two tiny hole at the bottom. pinched them with needle nose plyers, brake cleaned, and air dried it for now and then dabbed some high heat JB weld and letting cure overnight.

this little bastard....

and fixed lol put a rubber air nozzle nipple on it to protect the radiator for round two. also laid that rubber mat down to help keep the rad from sliding around.

almost there!!! got the belt back on! also got some 3/8 fuel line hose to finish off the catch cans. think im gonna rewire my fans into pullers since i have rhe room now

 

Looking good man!

 

another day down.

after patching up the radiator, let it cure over night last night, looks pretty good. I'll have to pressure test it to make sure, but all I need is at least 20lbs and we can call it good.

got the coil harnesses in today as well.


so yeah, rhey got a little toasted from fire before. not enough to destroy them, but enough to be a possible issue.

this one took most of the damage

so some cleaned up replacments came in today. had to make sure i had the right wires in the right spot. the sheet provided was a little confusing at first, figured it out as the firing order.

not too bad looking, and matches the harness now

nice and tucked in

and done with that.

now to fighting this bad boy back onto the driver side manifold and merge pipe flange 😡

 

ok finally got the vband to go where it need to be. don't understand the need to put the clamp in such an awkward angle, especially for aftermarket manifolds, but i mean when the manifolds are all over the place like they are with these kits, i guess we can't complain too much lol

got my new washer/meth tank in, trans cooler is bolted in, rad is in, and fans are rewired for pulling.

dont mind the temp brackets, just there to hold it while i work. got some good clearance between the fan cage and turbo. got them held in place with those fan zips.

working from inside out, it coming along nicely.

 

So close!!
checking over my work, making sure I tighten everything down. coolant system is buttoned up and topped off.. Preston and a bottle of Waterwetter

engine oil is completely drained, and added 5 quarts of castrol GTX fuel synthetic, and a quart of royal purple fo rthe added zinc, 6 quarts total.

transmission has been deained and partially filled, cant really tell until it's running. dextron IV

powersteering also topped off. dextron IV

Meth tank takes about 2 quarts. boost juice. Meth pumpninstalled and line shave been rerouted. pump sits lower than tank now for easy priming and fully secured for easy access.

Turbo screen installed, nipple has been fitted for drawing a vacuum source on the valve cover. NRG screen with a brass fitting input into the side.

turbos fully clamped on the manifolds, downpipe, t4 outlet, and oil inlet and outlet tightened All pipes now wrapped with titanium wrap. turbo blanket nice a secured.

fuel system rails tight, inlet and outlet tightened, injectors snugged, wires clean and plugged in.

ignition... new tr6 plugs gapped at .025, new wires wrapped and plugged in. two clicks on the coil, need to double check the single click on the plugs from under the car to verify fully seated. new harness on the coils, coils cleaned off, and harness secured.

intake manifold is secure with new gaskets

transcooler is mounted in front of radiator
griffin rad fully secured
fans converted to pullers and spaced away from turbo.

More pictures and inital start up will follow very soon.


Meth tank and pump mounted to the front bumper support bar.

 

Awesome! Good idea on double-checking everything before going to fire back up for the first time! In the words of Happy Gilmore, "someone's getting closer"! Hopefully, you're an Adam Sandler fan and appreciate the tie-in. If not you'll have to look up where he says that quote in the movie

 

oh yeah, I always double check my work lol Kinda the work lead in me lol