James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

I've shared bits and pieces of my project in various threads, but I neglected to start a build thread on any of the national boards.
So here is a summary of what has happened.
I hope that some of you find it useful or entertaining.

It has been a long road but I think I'm finally getting close to being able to race again.

Please feel free to share comments and questions, but keep I would appreciate it if those wishing
to start flame wars, troll or otherwise complain about my choices or vendor selection ( you know who you are ) please keep it in PMs.

I make no apologies or excuses for the time lines or the parts I've chosen.
It is what it is. This is the reality of managing a custom build while balancing a job, family and real life obligations.
I am not a mechanic, I have no training in the field, I design computer networks for a living. This is an account of me learning as I went along.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/229715...irehawk/page-6

Block Bored +.030" ------------- Mike @ K&M Performance (08/18/2008)
Zero-Decked--------------------- Mike @ K&M Performance (08/18/2008)
Half-filled block -------------- Mike @ K&M Performance (08/18/2008)
4-bolt splayed mains------------ Mike @ K&M Performance (08/18/2008)
ARP Main Studs------------------ Mike @ K&M Performance (08/18/2008)
ARP Outer Main Bolt Set -------- SummitRacing (09/08/2008)

Eagle 4340 3.75" Undercut------- Bret Bauer @ Bauer Racing (08/05/2008)
Eagle 6.00" Rods with ARP2000--- Bret Bauer @ Bauer Racing (08/05/2008)
Wiseco -13cc Pistons + .030"---- Bret Bauer @ Bauer Racing (08/05/2008)
Wiseco matched rings------------ Bret Bauer @ Bauer Racing (08/05/2008)

Clevite77 H-series bearings----- Mike @ K&M Performance (08/18/2008)
Internally Balanced------------- Mike @ K&M Performance (08/18/2008)
Custom Billet Cam -------------- Lloyd @ Elliott's Portworks

Assembly------------------------ Mike @ K&M Performance (09/05/2008)


LE-Ported Dart Pro Heads-------- Lloyd @ Elliott's Portworks (08/15/2008)
- Manley 2.055/1.60 Valves
- Patriot Gold Extreme Springs
- Ti Retainers, locks and locators
- Custom Valve Job
- Milled to 56cc


Additional Porting for Manifold- Lloyd @ Elliott's Portworks (08/15/2008)

Canton 15-242t Oil Pan---------- Private Sale (08/01/2008)
Canton 20-013 Pickup------------ Car Shop Inc (08/06/2008)
ARP Head Studs------------------ Jegs (08/29/2008)
ARP Pro Series Rocker Studs 7/16 Jegs (08/29/2008)

Intake manifold gasket set------ Advance Auto Parts (08/29/2008)
58mm TB gasket------------------ SummitRacing (08/29/2008)
Lower gasket set --------------- SummitRacing (08/29/2008)
Valve cover gaskets------------- SummitRacing (08/29/2008)
.029" GM Head Gaskets ---------- Mike @ K&M Performance (08/29/2008)
TCI SFI Flexplate--------------- Mike @ K&M Performance (08/29/2008)
Comp Hi Tech 7.500" Pushrods --- Summit Racing (3/18/2009)
ATI Super Damper---------------- ATI (03/01/2009)
Lunati Timing Set--------------- SummitRacing (08/06/2008)
Injectors 42# Flow Matched------ Racetronix (08/06/2008)

Felpro 1405 Exhaust Gaskets----- SummitRacing (09/08/2008)
Stage8 Locking Bolts------------ SummitRacing (09/08/2008)

2x Hooker Aerochamber 3in/out -- Jegs (09/29/2008)
Bulk 3" Mandrel Exhaust Bends -- Jegs (09/15/2008)
Universal 3" X-Pipe Kit -------- Jegs (09/15/2008)
UMI PHB Relocation Support ----- UMI (09/29/2008)
Pirate 6-pt Chrome Moly Rollbar- (02/21/2009)
RCI Camlock 5pt Harness -------- (05/19/2009)
Wolfe Crotch Strap Bracket ----- (08/13/2009)


ATI Torque Converter ----------- (03/01/2009)
Strange S-60 ------------------- (05/21/2009?)

Racetronix 255LPH Kit ---------- Racetronix (10/31/2008)

Custom Exhaust Work ------------ (04/04/2009)
Base Mailorder Tune------------- Ed Wright @ Fastchip.com (10/07/2008) [OLD CAM / 93 ECM]
Dyno Tune----------------------- Ed Wright @ Fastchip.com (1/30/2009) [OLD CAM / 93 ECM]

24x LT1 Conversion Package ------- Mike @ EFI Connection (02/17/2011)
Ignition Coil Bracket Assemblies - Mike @ EFI Connection (02/17/2011)
Used 95 LT1 Timing cover --------- Private Sale (01/28/2011)
Used LS1 PCM - GM# 12200411 ------ Mike @ EFI Connection (01/24/2011)
Custom Engine Harness 93-97 ------ Mike @ EFI Connection (01/24/2011)

New LT1 Timing Set --------------- Local Parts Store (03/04/2011) [NEW CAM / 02 ECM]
New LT1 Timing Gasket Set--------- Local Parts Store (03/04/2011) [NEW CAM / 02 ECM]

New LS1 knock sensor ------------- Private Sale (03/05/2011) [NEW CAM / 02 ECM]


Custom Spark Plug Wires ---------- C&C Performance (03/28/2011) [NEW CAM / 02 ECM]

Startup Tune --------------------- Ed Wright (Fastchip) (03/17/2011) [NEW CAM / 02 ECM]

Dyno Tune ------------------------ TBD [NEW CAM / 02 ECM]

Built 4L60e ---------------------- Performabuilt (04/10/2011) [NEW CAM / 02 ECM]

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

Aug 15, 2008

Following an absolute failure in my 355 project
https://ls1tech.com/forums/lt1-lt4-m...ime-money.html
I decided to build myself a 383.

I'm using my original block (only has 60K on it) and boring it + .030" and zero-decking it.
We'll be using 4-bolt splayed mains and ARP bolts.
I picked up a forged 4340 crank, 6" H-beam rods and -13cc pistons.
Bret Bauer had a custom cam ground for me (slightly more aggressive than an LE3)



** Editor's note: I later replaced that cam with a custom grind from Lloyd; Bret's was too gnarly for my computer.

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

Aug 18, 2008

Pistons arrived today, I'll stop by the shop tomorrow and have the bores finalized.
I got a call today confirming that the block looks good and the +.030" will work. Yippee!

ProTru is actually a Wiseco brand.
The brand name and logo look kind of cheesy, but these provided the optimal chamber shape to
compliment these heads and the milling I will have done to them.
At least that is the advice I got from Lloyd and Bret.

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

Aug 26, 2008

Got a call from the shop yesterday, the L19 bolts are pretty big and
clearancing causes them to break into the water jacket.
I went ahead and just half-filled the block. I mean at this point,
why leave anything that can break? LOL

So with the rotating assembly rated to 1500hp and the block now set up for 1100hp.
I think I'll be safe

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

Sep 15, 2008

Originally, I was going to keep my LE2 heads but I decided to have Lloyd port me a set of Dart Pro1 heads instead.


Got the flow bench numbers back today.

Looks like Lloyd took care of me.
He took them to 219/304cfm, which works out well.
Actually, at .500" flow is 198/280 and at .600 it's 212/299.
That's about 12% more flow than my old heads with room to grow if I ever decide to go S/R.
Head intake volume came in at 211cc



The cam I'm running is high 23x/24x .610 on a very low 10x LSA.
Should peak just below 6500RPM

I'm thinking about 460 to the wheels though the 4000 stall. (VS the ~390 with the old setup)
That should put me in the low 11's. That's based on what I've seen in the dyno sim
and reinforced by what I saw with Tony Shepard's old H/R setup do with 190cc heads.

Add the higher shift points (IE: better use of available HP) and I just might squeak into the 10s with a little work.
Actually, with the old setup, I was dropping down into the 275rwhp range when I shifted.
Now, I'll never drop below 350.

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

Sep 17, 2008

Heads showed up today









Also, I decided to build dual 3" exhaust with Hooker Aerochamber mufflers (I love the sound and performance)
We'll use all mandrel-bent pipe, over the axle (UMI PHB relo kit) and exit at the rear.
Going to keep my JetHot 1-3/4" LTs for now. Might upgrade to stepped 1-7/8 later.

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

Oct 08, 2008

Crappy Cell Phone pics from the other day. Didn't have my camera with me.
Motor is now pretty much complete. Just have to do a little fabrication
to the oil pan to accommodate the headers and not lose my oil level sensor.
(Yeah, go ahead and call me a ***** ... I like my idiot lights to work)

Heads are on, ended up using 7.500" pushrods, which I thought was extremely long for an LT1
but after triple-checking it, we went ahead and ordered them.

We'll prime the pump and finish buttoning up the details next week.
Then it's time to start working on the install.
Ed Wright finished up the base tune for me yesterday; I should have that by tomorrow.

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

Oct 14, 2008

Got the pan back today, the fabricator charged me $100 to move the
bung and he didn't even clean up the welds or reassemble the windage
tray when he was done. Otherwise, he did pretty good work.
My fault for not asking for an estimate up front I guess.
In retrospect, I should have just taken it to my muffler guy and had it
done for 1/4 the price.

Was it worth it for peace of mind and knowing I have a working oil sensor?
I suppose so....



The shop looked like a scene out of SAW IV
Little old man inside working on vintage hotrods wearing a dress shirt and slacks.
The shop is off on a dead end road in behind some warehouses.
There's a good 40-60ft gap between where the road ends and the building.
I guess I'm fortunate I wasn't raped and murdered or something



So anyhow, the machine shop has all of my parts now and they're in a much nicer location.
Hopefully I can pick it up before the end of the week.

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

Oct 23, 2008

Motor is now home, complete and ready for installation. (just need to add valve covers when they show up tomorrow)

Didn't get pulled over by the cops this time either.
When I left K&M, I looked up at the sky and realized it was dark, raining and I was leaving Raytown,
this is what got me into trouble last time around. I decided to take 470 instead of 435 ... just in case.
I also avoided driving across anyone else's property, just in case.

** Editor's note, see attached for details related to being pulled over. It's a great story.

Only problem I ran into was that I severely underestimated the weight of aluminum.
I can lift a short block by myself, but the complete engine was way too big for me.
I had to enlist the help of a few friends to get it out of the van and into the garage safely.
I really do need to invest in a beer fridge for situations like this.

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

Oct 24, 2008

The final ingredients have finally arrived....mouhahhahahahahhahahha



The stock VCs wouldn't clear my rockers, I went with Canton's because they were taller and had provisions for my alt.






Nov 02, 2008
Old engine is out (thanks to Melvin for helping me on this one)








New engine is in.


I LOVE having this tubular Kmember! It makes getting to stuff SO much easier.
Pulling the starter works well too to get at the back stuff.
Two freakin bolts.... no hassle. I love this Kmember

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

Nov 22, 2008

Car was fully assembled and ready to test fire today.
Around 5pm, I turned the key, spewing oil all over the place.
Oil pressure sensor hole was not capped (used for 94-97 only, 93s have one lower on the block)
Fixed that, moved on.

Fired again, flames shoot out the TB.
Looks like a fried opti...



Replaced it with an MSD cap and rotor

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

Nov 25, 2008

Good news: Opti is installed; car fired right up and sounds awesome.

Bad news: Return line on tranny cooler is spewing ATF all over my headers.
I think the line is cracked from being bent so much while removing and installing.
The leak it right up where the line goes into the tranny, I can get a 13mm wrench on it
but tightening the fitting did not fix the problem.

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

Nov 26, 2008

Fixed the tranny fluid leak, once I found the right angle, I was able to get it off without too much blood loss.
I put a new piece of hard line in there and used a compression fitting to tie it to the old line.

Fired it up, no leaks ... yay me

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

Jan 31, 2009

Visited Ed Wright today.
You'd think Melvin would have learned that doom follows me everywhere LOL
It was nice to have someone to talk to on the long trip and as it turns out,
quite nice to have an extra set of hands and eyes.

We arrived around 8:15am.
I decided to use the back parking lot to turn around so I could go get gas for the firebird.
yeah.... not the smartest move of the day. Got the truck stuck in the ice.
Had to grab a bag of oil dry to get traction and get out.

Then, the car wouldn't start ... lose ground ... easy fix.

Then, I noticed that no matter which gear I select, I am in D (or as I later found out ... in 1st)
A quick investigation identified a broken shifter cable as the issue.
We found a replacement; it fit ... once we fabbed up a little temporary adapter.

The car now has a proper tune, idles nicely and we were able to make a
few pulls on the dyno.
My heart sunk when I saw back to back passes at ~300rwhp



Then, just to humor me, Ed set the converter to lock up at 45mph.
461rwhp @ 6000rpm ... about that time, the fluidampr decided to come loose and give us a spark show.
Turns out it DOES need a bolt and washer after all... Imagine that. *sigh*

There's more in it ... we'll do some follow up work once I have
the true duals on and sort out this 33% slip deal.





Took it home and parked it for the night



I didn't get a copy of the dyno from Ed, but the graph looks something like this.


^ Old LE2/LE1HL 350 VS new 383

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

Feb 22, 2009

Rollbar is in Collin did an amazing job (as always)
Total weight was 39.2lbs (VS the 67lbs MS one I decided against using) ... so it was worth the investment.
Those removable/swing out bars are awesome, I can get in and out
without unpinning them, but I wouldn't want to deal with that for DDing.
The bars fit neatly in the trunk, next to the Ttop holders.
I ordered the swing out components from chassisworks, they're extremely well-designed.

I put most of the interior back in today and trimmed the carpet.
I'll go back and do some clean-up work later around the holes so it looks neater.






















Alignment is done as well ... the shop didn't seem to like my tubular Kmember,
they said it was too adjustable and made life difficult. I paid a little extra for the man
hours but they did a good job so I can't complain. The shop's owner was cool about it too.

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

Mar 24, 2009

Bent a pushrod on my way to get the duals fabbed up.
When I removed the valve cover I found that the rockers were being held on my only 3 threads.
I guess that makes sense since my pushrods and valves are longer, but I really with the builder had mentioned that to me.

7.500" push rods do in fact produce optimal sweep pattern; but they leave very little
at the top of the stud for the rocker nut. This is why it popped off on me
after I readjusted to 1/16 past zero.
Time for longer studs.

[BTW: Thanks for the tow home 1SloHoe, I appreciate it]





Mar 30, 2009
Ok, I did a leak-down test and I am only losing 3%
So I'm relatively confident that my valves are ok.

Then I installed my new pushrods and a set of 2.1" x 7/16" ARP studs


Stock-length 1.7" stud vs new 2.1"

The duals are completely fabbed up now.
3" all the way to the bumper. Hooker Aerochamber mufflers.
We mounted the driver's side muffler in the stock location and the
passenger side under the frame rail (a little BFH work was required)
It looks awesome and sounds great ... a little louder than expected though.

Total materials used
- 1 Jegs X-pipe kit (one 45* left over)
- 4 Jegs 3" Mandrel Us
- 2 Hooker Aerochamber 3" in/out mufflers
- 10" of additional 3" strait pipe.
- 4 Jegs 3" Band clamps for eas(ier) removal (2 at collectors, 2 just before the axle)























Had it running nice for a while, then it died.
Checked spark ... good
Checked fuel pressure.... nothing but air.
Figured the fuel pump wire from the alt was melted on the exhaust ... which it was.
Fixed it ... still nothing but air.
Pulled the pump trap door, pulled the pump out .... *&@#*(@&#*(#&*(@#
Turns out my fuel gauge is off a little .....
Added 5gal and it worked perfectly

I took it down the road to the gas station today to top it off.
Felt good ... some guy stopped me at the pump to ask
"what the hell do you have in that thing?"

** Editor's note: this comment had to be shared;

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

Apr 17, 2009

Installed my new ATI 4000 stall.
Everything is perfect except the rear end.
Looks like it's toast. One wheel peel and vibration above 45mph.
I guess I broke it on the dyno because it worked fine before that ...
although the last time I did a burnout was before we did the 355

Oh well ... S60 will be here in a few weeks.

Car sounds good, wife approves and she smokes the tires without effort.
I like

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

May 19, 2009

S60 arrived yesterday evening.
Looks sexy







May 21, 2009
S60 is installed. Went in without a problem. Took less than an hour including swapping the race brakes.
The CM driveshaft fit perfectly too.

My 5pt harness arrived as well. My daughter seems to like it.


I also ordered a submarine belt mount from Wolfe.

** Editor's note: at this point, my cardomain page had gone from 3000 to over 17000 hits over the course of the project.
The build thread on the local board was at 7300. I guess people are interested in what I am doing.

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

Aug 09, 2009

Fuel line sprung a leak under the hood.
I replaced all of the under hood lines with known good ones from another 93.
I'm going to hold off on braided until I decide how I want to plumb my new fuel system.


Aug 20, 2009 The car had been suffering from charging problems ever since we put the 355 in.
I've seen this before and always blamed the alt support bracket that runs over the manifold (which doesn't fit with my VCs)
I finally resolved the issue by running a ground strap from the alt bracket to the ground stud.

Took the car for a nice long run today, around Raymore, down 71, across 150, up 291 to 71 and back.
Good mix of city and highway driving and a few stops along the way.
She fired up just fine in the driveway (two test starts after repairing tranny lines, wires and hose)
then again at QT where we stopped for a drink.
She's running great at all RPM and speeds, even broke the wheels free from a 40mph roll.
The cruising-speed-shaking is being absorbed by the rubber motor mounts for the most
part, but it's still noticeable on deceleration and light throttle around 55mph.
Not so much above 65 and not at all below 50.

James Montigny

iTrader: (13)

Aug 27, 2009

Alright, this is as smooth as it's going to can get. That last rev is to 7k.


Yeah, it's dirty... I'll work on pretty later.



Something making a metallic rattle sound under the car, normally I'd think heat-shield but
most of mine have been removed LOL
I wonder if it's something inside the AC clutch. I'll have to pull the belt and see if it goes away.

Tried filling the AC system yesterday, it holds but the compressor won't fire up even though it's getting power.
(Raise your hand if you didn't see that coming)
Oh well, won't need it for another 8-10 months anyhow.

Also found the problem with my cooling system wanting to spit coolant out
the overflow every time I take it for a long trip. The radiator cap only held 5lbs (rated to 18).
I replaced it with a new one, we'll see how that works.