well, big day tomorrow, im finally installing my heads and cam...im gonna do it at our hobby shop here on base so ill have access to a lift and some air tools (if neccesary) ill be installing the heads/cam that are in my sig, as well as "ls6" ported oil pump, rollmaster timing chain, poly motor mount, and ill be swapping my QTP catted Y out for a Mufflex ORY...couple quick questions i had right fast im still wondering about....

1. any need to take off the A/C condinsor, and other A/C stuff?
2. is it better to do the TB drill mod or just adjust the setscrew to help with idle untill i can get a tune? (searched both questions with mixed answers)

ill be sure to take some good pictures of the install tomorrow and get a 1st startup vid...i been wanting to do this for awhile so im pretty excited!! and alil nervous

wish me luck!

Jon

 

1.take all of the crap out of the front of the car.
2. Mess with the set screw.

3. www.ls1howto.com is your best friend

 

Have you done it before? If not I dunno if you'll get it done in one day! That's a lot of work. Hopefully you have a couple buddy's you can offer some beer to help you out. It's not easy doing some of the things alone. Especially valve springs, the crank bolt, getting the radiator in and out and putting the damn headers back on! Not to mention tightening the heads down. With air tools and some friends that are good with their hands, you could probably get it done in a day.

As for the AC, take it off, who needs it anyway! The condenser will get in the way of the cam and I wouldnt drill the TB, you shouldn't need to. I didnt even need to.

Good luck man and let us know how it went!

 

You are very possibly looking at more than a days work. You should be able to get away without drilling the throttle body, most tuners seem to prefer that you don't do that. If it has a hard time idling after a little bit of time do an idle relearn.

 

ya i have the ls1howto write up printed out and in a binder for my use tomorrow

 

it is my first install, but i have a buddy with me that grew up building hotrods with his dad, and i have seen some of the cars they have built and im very confident in his knowledge and work...so he will be a big help....ill keep you guys posted, if it takes more then 1 day, ill let you know the progress we made tomorrow night...

Jon

 

alright, looks like i wont be drilling the TB...i just wanted to make sure though, thanks guys

Jon

 

Unless you want refirgerent everywhere and to save from having your AC recharged, I'd leave the condenser in the car, and just carefully tilt it out of the way when removing the stock cam and putting the new cam in. Keep as little stress on the AC lines as possible.

 

R134a is a gas. Only fluid is the oil for the pump. just sob it up with a rag when loosening it. It cost about 20 bucks for a recharge kit at kragen, and its reuseable.

Its up to you if you want to take it out or not. It makes it easier. I took mine out along withthe pump and never put it back in.

 

i jsut did heads and cam on my car about 3 weeks ago, it went really smooth and all was well. heres my advice and a few tips. oh yeah, i thought id get it done in a weekend, i have a garage with all the tools and stuff, and 4 friends with f-bodies that all know a lot about cars, and it took me 3 weeks on and off. id say about 40 hours+, but i painted the intake, water pump, tb, maf ends and so on (only took like 2 hours to paint). if i were you, id at least get paint the intake, wp, fuel rails, valve covers and crap just to make it nice. whats 400hp if it looksl ike crap? this will be at least a 2 day thing, so try and get the cam out on day one, paint that night, assemble the next day. or not.

some things to remember...

1. get a box of nice big zip lock zipper bags and a nice pen. label all the bags and put labels on the bags so you know where they came from.

2. make sure you have the fuel rail disconnect tool (3/8)

3. get plenty of rags and a fender cover would be nice as well.

4. dont forget to soak your lifters and pushrods in fresh oil. i ended up using a nice bread baking pan, it was the perfect size. i ended up needing 2 extra quarts on top of the fresh oil change.

5. get some good loc-tite ($20), and thread sealer for the rocker bolts.
also get a couple cans of degreaser and i used acetone to prep my surefaces. it worked good and i didnt really have anything else.

6. make sure you have both 3/8 and 1/2 drive torque wrrenches (good ones)

7. make sure your timing chain is on the correctly. i tripple quadroople checked it. this way you know its done right.

use regualr oil for the first 500 miles and then switch to synthetic. im just around 400 miles on my new combo and im changing to mobil 1 today.
other than this, follow the ls1how too instruction and you should be fine. make sure you have all the stuff he has listed there before you start, it sucks having to go to the store a lot. oh yeah, make sure you have a big breaker bar too, i have one thats like 2.5 feet long, and it made short work of even the rusty exhaust bolts. make sure you have a new front sseal and water pump gaskets. and when you pound out the old front seal, that back of mine was metal, so it kinda looks like your messing up the cover, but its just the seal. i just took my time, and did a lot of it myself, cause i wanted piece of mind. you shouldnt have any problems, and congrats on the setup. its all worth it when you hear that funker start up for the first time. one more thing, if i were you, id take everry harness off yourselff, and be very very careful. i broke the low oil harness on the pan and one wire pulled out of the map sensor way in back. luckily the dealer had the low oil one and i was able to fix the map one myself. they arent easy to fix, so be careful!!! and a flat razor blade works good to clean the gaskets off, the plastic ice scraper worked for ****. anyway, hope you enjoy and dont forget to heat cycle those springs.

Scott

 

leave the a/c on, swing the drivers side up, and the cam comes right out. this is a two person job, and be careful, the stock cam cut the **** outta me.

 

sorry for all the replies bro, but the bags are labeled for the bolts, it worked out nice for me. and maybe have one of youre friends paint that stuff while youre goin to town on that beyotch...

 

cool, thanks guys, i start at 0900 today!

 

Well when you open up an A/C system with 70-80 psi of pressure, it's not all going to boil at once, so you will get liquid R134a out of the system, possibly causing forstbite or burning of the skin. Plus, when you open the A/C system for an extended period of time, the desicant in the accumulator will need to be replaced.....and I doubt the A/C recharge 'kit' will come with more PAG oil to put back into the system.

Unless you want to remove the A/C permanently or risk getting burnt by the R134a, I would not even mess with the A/C system unless you have an A/C machine. Just my 02...

 

Also, you want to let the freon out real slow so you don't lose the oil.

I've spent some time in those base hobby shops . . . we have one here at Hill. If you don't get done in one day, they have an impound area you can put the car in.

 

I've done this numerous times. Never had a problem. After I recharged it, the A/C was actually colder then it was when it came from the factory. If you're not an idiot you won't get any frostbite anything. And as for the kit, they DO sell it with and oil / R134 mixture that works perfectly fine. It even has a pressure guage. Don't knock it til' you've tried it, it's a hell of a lot cheaper then paying 80 bucks to get it charged. Once you have the kit, refill cans are only about 10 bucks.

Reguardless, either way will work.

 

i just ended up going to a auto a/c place and they took it out for free and will put it back in for $24.00 bucks...easier and cleaner...thanks

Jon

 

well we got all the top end off except for the heads, and we got the pulley off as well...we got a late start..didnt start till around 3:30pm, and finished like a hour ago...tomorrow i think we should be able to button it all up, if everything falls in place like i hope it will...

ill post a picture when i get back, i have to get some food!

Jon

 

24 bucks is a hell of a deal!!

I still think you're lookin at more then a days work. You're lookin at probably close to three hours just cleaning the deck and bolt holes. It will cut the time in half if your buddy helps.

Just a tip. When you go to take the heads out, take the top bolts out and just loosen the last 10 eough so you can lift the head enough to drain the coolant, but it cant really get into the bolt holes, this will save some cleaning time. Also, ls1howto says to use a razor to clean the deck, but i had better luck with a nice plastic scraper. For the tough areas I got some really fine grit sand paper. Some people dont recommend this, but I had good luck with it, just make sure you dont dig too deep. stuff some rags in the chambers / lifter holes so when you go to clean you dont fill them full of gunk, its gonna get messy, there's no way around it. Hopefully you have some compressed air to help you blow stuff out.

 

ya, we have access to compressed air...it shouldnt take too long, were getting up @ 7am to get started...ill let you know how it goes tomorrow night...

Jon