I have no experience, but everything seems straight forward. I read Derty's, MBASKETT's, Brain Grimal's, JMX's, and Raughammer's install methods and I THINK I can do it myself. I will be getting help from two other friends that have no experience, also. I don't have the money to pay for the install. So it's either this or wait until I save up some money.

<small>[ July 05, 2002, 03:41 PM: Message edited by: DravenMyers ]</small>

 

Yes. I would leave the friends out of it though. I did mine by myself, including a shorty header install at the same time and I had no real experience. If you didn't take it off, it's difficult to know how to put it on some times. An awful lot of the fubar installs on this board seem to involve "friend was helping". <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" />

 

Do it yourself!!! And only have friends help out when you need it. I'm damn proud that I did my entire install on my own with very limited help, holding headers and jostling the radiator around and sliding the cam out. Otherwise I think I would have killed my one best friend. I certainly wouldn't have minded if my other friend stuck around, but in retrospect it was rather easy.

There is a huge intimidation factor there. When the LS1 stares back at you it's pretty scary. All sorts of wires, tight spaces, etc. However, when I got into mine and got the coilpacks off, the intake and the headers, it was a walk in the park.

A couple tips for you, make sure you understand what unit of measure you're dealing with when torquing down bolts. The lifter retainer bolts are torqued INCH POUNDS not FOOT POUNDS. I did find that part out in time, but my mind had me cranking the torque wrench way higher than I needed to before I realized it.

Make sure you have all your gaskets and bolts. Many of the bolts are one time use only bolts. Buy a set of regular and stubby gear wrenches. I got mine from Sears for like 50 a set. Saved my sanity.

Take your time, label everything and be patient. Also buy a lot of bandaids and some antiseptics. You'll cut yourself up a little bit with tiny little scratches and torn knuckles.

I know there's a lot to think about, I know that I had a lot going through my mind this week! But when I turned the key the first time today and everything fired right up I knew everything is well worth it. Then you can sit in your driveway and listen to the lope in your exhaust for a while, like I did a couple hours ago!!

I have all of my pictures for the install posted now, but I still have to fill in all the details. However, the JMX method is what I used, so don't expect much more from my method. nothing magical about it actually. I'm just going to ellaborate on a few things that I found while doing mine.

<small>[ July 06, 2002, 12:08 AM: Message edited by: derty ]</small>

 

i say do it yourself and have fun learning to do something on your own. i didnt do the install on my car but when two of my lifters went out and i broke two valve springs me and my dad pulled everything off ourselves in front of the garage. He knows some stuff but we never had dealt with opening up an ls1. its really quite simple and you'll be proud at the end to be able to say that you did it yourself. im pretty new to the forum but ive read some of those other guys install procedures and i wish i would have read those when working on my car it would have saved me some major headaches <img border="0" title="" alt="[Mad]" src="gr_images/icons/mad.gif" /> . it is as simple as it seems though very straight forward. have fun man you know you can always ask fellow members and we'll help you out or they will ill just try <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" /> later and good luck

 

Thank's for all the tips and feedback guys, I really appreciate it. I guess, I will be doing it after all. I just hope everything goes well. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="gr_stretch.gif" />

 

Can you post some links to Derty's, Grimal's, and JMX's please. But yeah, go for it.

 

DIY. That's half the fun of owning a fast car. It's easy to be intimidated by the complexity of modern engine bays. Once you dive in, however, you quickly focus on the immediate task at hand and you become absorbed. Just like a surgeon in the OR. Friends are good for heavy lifting and such, otherwise they can be a distraction and persuade you to do the wrong things. Don't let anyone with less knowledge or experience than you have touch your engine. If they break something or otherwise screw it up, it can harm the friendship more than excluding them from the job. Confidence up. Read up. Dive in and do the job.

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by WhynotSS:
<strong>Can you post some links to Derty's, Grimal's, and JMX's please. But yeah, go for it.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Derty
Brain Grimal
JMX

 

I think it's a good idea to do it yourself. I do all my own work.

However, I also have 4 cars to drive (plus the wife's minivan), so if a car is down for a few months, it's no big deal. If you don't have a second car to drive, you might think about picking up a beater car to drive, or reconsider doing it yourself. Just in case 'the worst' happens... There's always the remote possibility of spinning a bearing because of debris, cracking a block due to coolant in the head bolt holes, etc. It's the gamble we play. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" />

It took me 10 months to do the h/c header install on my '94Z. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" /> Long story. Shortblock stayed in the car, tho. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" />

-Andrew

 

I agree, do it yourself. I did, and am glad I did. It has given me the confidence to do anything on the car. Just take your time and if you get to a point where you dont know what to do, stop, and get help from Helms, or someone on the board. I used the JMX, and John's site. Good luck.

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by 1 BAD BIRD:
<strong>OK here is a question...I too am thinking of doing a h/c install myself. I have an A4 and will NEED tuning? How do you guys get it to be tuned?
thanks
bob</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Another vote for do it yourself. A day into it, and you will see it really isn't that bad.

Anyhoo, regarding the turning. You have three options:
1) Take it to a shop that will do the tune for you
2) Mail order tune (Ship the PCM out to superchips, Mr. Ed etc...)
3) Purchase LS1 Edit and do the tune yourself

Having a local shop (make sure they use ls1 edit or equivilant. Don't fall for the HPP3 "tune" crap) I think is the best way to do it. They will have a dyno handy and know how to get the most out of your new setup.
Mail Order Tune. If you don't have a local shop to do it, and are scared of LS1 edit (which I doubt many will blame you) then you will have to mail out your PCM. Talk to the shop that you bought your H/C from, and they usually have a preferred place that they like to send their PCM's for tuning their packages.
LS1 Edit. Congratulations, you will now be able to tune your LS1 yourself...... provided you have a 200 IQ. Kidding, but if you get LS1 Edit understand that it is slow going for the first month or so.

Good Luck <img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/gr_cheers.gif" />

 

I just recently installed Heads, Cam, Comp Cams timing chain, LS6 intake, and ASP UD pulley. I would say go for it. The install wasnt bad at all just very time consuming. A set of gear wrenches would help in a few spots.
Phillip

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by phil97svt:
<strong>I just recently installed Heads, Cam, Comp Cams timing chain, LS6 intake, and ASP UD pulley. I would say go for it. The install wasnt bad at all just very time consuming. A set of gear wrenches would help in a few spots.
Phillip</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hey, I used to live in Waldorf. Many a good street race to be found there. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" />

 

I would highly recommend taking your car to a professional tuner. We just did mine on Monday, and a simple mail order configuration would not have even come close to what we nailed down on the dyno with LS1 edit. Sending your computer out with out verifying changes could cause you some issues. In my case even the best tuning on the PCM wouldn't have even come close to fixing the A/F.

You'll need this especially if you are looking at a Stage 2 setup. So far I'm extremely pleased with the results that I got with my ARE setup and the tuning that they put together for me yesterday. Just my $.02 worth.

 

OK here is a question...I too am thinking of doing a h/c install myself. I have an A4 and will NEED tuning? How do you guys get it to be tuned?
thanks
bob