Y87bird00

iTrader: (6)

I just wanted to share my recently completed (for the moment) car. I want to get as much feedback and suggestions on what is already done, and what possible mods I can do in the future to improve my car! Here it goes... I'm the owner of a 2000 Pontiac Firebird. This was a factory 3.8l v6, with the y87 package. At the age of 16, I was eager to make it one nice f body.

One of the first things I did, was fix the major body damages. The front bumper was COVERED in awful spidercracks. I sanded the bad spots down all the way to the plastic material, and had it re-sprayed. To this day it still looks perfect! I also had a new used rear bumper sprayed because of a big crack, and the side mirrors and headlight covers were sprayed.

This is how the car looked after I finished my part of the bodywork!

I also added a high rise spoiler

This is pretty much how the car still sits today.

I added drilled and slotted rotors and ceramic pads, and painted the calipers red for a nicer look behind the stock chrome 16"

For the audio, it has factory replacement sail speakers, a kenwood deck, and 2 12" kicker CVR's powered by a 2000 watt amp.

Y87bird00

iTrader: (6)

Now for the major motor swap. On my 17th birthday I scraped up enough money to purchase a 5.3l Lm7 off Craigslist. It was a complete motor with 100k miles.













It was pretty clean. I spent plenty of time cleaning everything that came off.



I put in an 02-04 ls6 cam









Nearly every gasket and seal was replaced with a gm part. Including valley cover grommets, oil restrictors, valve seals, and main seals. I added a ls2 timing set, a gm replacement oil pump, and ls7 lifters.




Here is the motor upside down with the timing set, and then the oil pump, trimmed down 5.3 windage tray, ls1 pickup.






The stock heads were milled .03 and cleaned up thoroughly. New ls6 valve springs and valve seals were installed.











Here is the motor painted, and all the covers reinstalled with new seals and gaskets.






New gm ls1 MLS head gaskets and ARP head bolts holt the heads on.







I added a ls6 intake manifold, with a stock polished ls1 throttle body, ls1 fuel rails and fast 36 lb injectors.










I hand polished the valve covers, water pump, thermostat housing and tensioner. It has 98-02 f body front accessories.






I drilled and tapped a hole in the block for the alternator bracket.








I've got a 2000 ls1 f body wiring harness and PCM for the motor. Also have ceramic coated pacesetter long tube headers. Here is the motor complete with vacuum and PCV lines, plugs, msd wires and truck coils.

Y87bird00

iTrader: (6)

Next up is the swap itself. It took three days in my driveway. Early morning to late at night each day with plenty of friends (which meant plenty of bs'ing) and plenty of breaks. The pictures are pretty self explanatory.










































Open long tube start up!!

I also changed out the fuel pump for a Delphi v8 pump. I originally put in a walbro 255 but kept blowing the intank hose because I stupidly didn't add a return line. Here are a few pics of that nonsense.













The motor runs great. The transmission I chose was a used 4l60e from a v8 fbody. And a used circle d 3500 converter. Both lasted a grand today of three days. The trans slipped in all gears and completely lost 3-4. The converter was sent off the be cleaned when it was discovered that it had absolutely no lock up left.

The guys up at North Texas Converter hooked me up with a new converter that stalls at 2800. And it's purple, so your argument is invalid.









I had a friend from another forum help me out with my 4l60e. SnIpEr should be on ls1tech too tho. He hooked me up with the good stuff. I will try my best with some of this stuff but transmissions are not my world. We did this whole build in two days, in my garage, with very little proper tools! Props to Stephen for getting it done! It's got a dual cage sprag, sonnax smart shell, high energy clutches and many cool parts... Lol. Enjoy some pics.

























































The car is runnin flawlessly now. I got it tuned at LSX power tuning here in college station. It dynoed 309.8 rwhp and 318.4 rwftlbs. The car is running a TSP y pipe into a high flow cat, and 3" pipe to a crappy flowmaster that the v6 ran. I hope to gain another 15-20 hp from a cutout or magnaflow.






Next on my list is suspension. I plan on:
Bilestein shocks and struts
Strano springs
UMI sfc's
Founders lca's and adj pan hard
Strut tower brace
Possible LCA relocation brackets
New poly swaybar endlinks and bushings (ws6 bars)

I added new moog front lower control arm bushings and balljoints during the swap already.

Let me know any questions y'all have and ill gladly answer them, also let me know and suggestions on upgrades!

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

I just finished installing a set of ws6 sway bars on my v6 with the poly bushings and endlinks, it's a WHOLE different car now compared to the 28/15 bars of the v6, totally night and day difference body roll was cut like in half, hell there is only a few curves where I can even notice it now but I suspect that will reduce further once i replace the stock front shocks.

I got mine from seller "firehawkjeff" on ebay, if you combine the front and rear into one purchase and email him before paying he can modify the invoice to combine the shipping costs and save you like 20 bucks in shipping (I got both 32mm front and 19mm rear shipped for 95 bucks).

Y87bird00

iTrader: (6)

Thanks! I'm watching a set of those on eBay right now.

Blackpanther99

iTrader: (8)

Came out awesome bro.

WarShrike

iTrader: (5)

Firehawkjeff rocks. I've gotten a lot of replacement parts from that seller on e-bay.

Looks like a good project, what shape was the V6 in before you ripped it all out?

Y87bird00

iTrader: (6)

It had 125,000 miles on it. Did the intake manifold gaskets twice. It leaked the rear main, and the trans was...eh old. Not really anything to justify an immediate motor swap. I made a good chunk of change after selling the 3.8 and 4l60e.

Nathan C

Hell of a job for a 17 year old!

M4N14C

iTrader: (3)

+1

At 19 I'm proud that I changed my own spark plugs

Damn I got a lot to learn...

'99REDTA

iTrader: (1)

aside from plugs you have almost the easiest engine to work on lol, just take it apart one of these weekends to see if you can get it back together lol

OP nice work, I have a magnaflow off my TA for sale if your interested

TechCam97

iTrader: (5)

Roll up your sleeves and get dirty, son! It's the only way to learn! I was lucky, my father was mechanically inclined when I was growing up and he always told me that if I broke something on one of my cars, I was responsible for fixing it. When I was 17 I broke an exhaust manifold bolt off in the head of my old 1993 Z28 when I was installing my headers. My dad just went and picked up a Haynes, tossed it in my lap and told me to get to wrenching. I had the top end apart on Saturday, he taught me to use an acetylene torch to heat the head and back the bolt out with vice grips, and then after a trip to the auto parts store I had it all back together again on Sunday night.

I've since progressed to doing everything from engine rebuilds to suspension work to electrical work, etc. Just read up a lot before you open it up and you'll be fine. If you hit a point that you don't understand or are frustrated with than just take a break and do some more reading or post a question.

To the OP: Fantastic job! I'm looking forward to more updates and pictures as your project progresses!

Racer383

[QUOTE=WarShrike;17725916]Firehawkjeff rocks. I've gotten a lot of replacement parts from that seller on e-bay.

QUOTE]

If I am not mistaken, Firehawkjeff used to have a place in south florida. I believe he has moved though. Great place, used to buy a ton of stuff from them.

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

[QUOTE=Racer383;17729072]can't speak to that, he operates out of Heflin, Alabama these days.

silverWS.6

iTrader: (1)

That's awesome man, mad props to you!! She looks real good and I bet its alot more fun now eh

Y87bird00

iTrader: (6)

Thanks everybody! She's alot of fun now, got a written warning a few minutes ago to prove it lol. I've got alot of work to do on the suspension. Needs new everything so ill be saving for that. I'm already dreaming up a way to get the next horsepower boost. I'm thinking nitrous.

Cajun ELESS-ONE

real nice work sir. wish i could do that at 17. put some spray on it and have even more fun.

y2k_ta

iTrader: (80)

Pretty cool! Nice job!

BluePhoenixLSX

Awesome build, car looks great!

Y87bird00

iTrader: (6)

Thanks everyone.