Time for another refresh... rebuilding Blue Steel part 3
08-19-2014, 12:19 PM
#1
Time for another refresh... rebuilding Blue Steel part 3 We'll after a long year of putting her up on the backburner and enjoying the fruits of stockish C5 Corvette ownership the bug finally bit me and I'm back to work on the T/A. Big changes coming but I wanted to start a build thread to track my progress.
So on to the plan. Things have changed big time. I sold the Clayton Racing 383 (for those of you who know or have followed my past build with this car). I have a few pieces left but moving it on the daily. I got tired of the constant fight that is an LT1 and miss being able to enjoy the car. I'm hopping on the Junkyard 5.3 LS bandwagon this time around. Although the years of work and time I poured into the LT was bitter sweet to throw in the towel on, I couldn't be happier with the prospect of a fresh new setup in the car.
So its a pretty simple plan for right now. I'm in the process of gathering the things I need to swap to an LS platform. I purchased an 01 5.3 out of a Silverado with 130k miles on it. Its getting some pretty basic upgrades (head studs, ls9 gaskets, ls6 cam, pac1218 springs) and I plan on fabbing my own turbo kit once I get everything in and running N/A. I'll say now I have every intention of pushing this motor until it breaks.... more an experiment than a permanent solution. Once its done and in the car I'll be starting on something a little more sturdy on the engine stand for when the inevitable happens.
Visually however I'm continuing with my clean shaved look and going to continue my clean up of the engine bay. No A/C this time around, maybe later down the road but for now I have the c5 for the unbearably hot days.
Visual plans for the build will include some powder coated goodies and some very tasteful mods under the hood. All stuff that can be reused when the 5.3 cracks in half. I'll be picking up the 5.3 tomorrow and starting the clean up and work too it thursday. Stay tuned for big picture updates if your interested to follow along.
Hopefully once its up and running, this winter it will get some fresh paint fromt he fenders foward (setting has been hard on her) and maybe another small interior refresh.
Heres a few oldies but goodies for those that dont know the car. Time to breath some life back into the old girl. Hope you'll follow me along for the ride.
where she currently resides:
So on to the plan. Things have changed big time. I sold the Clayton Racing 383 (for those of you who know or have followed my past build with this car). I have a few pieces left but moving it on the daily. I got tired of the constant fight that is an LT1 and miss being able to enjoy the car. I'm hopping on the Junkyard 5.3 LS bandwagon this time around. Although the years of work and time I poured into the LT was bitter sweet to throw in the towel on, I couldn't be happier with the prospect of a fresh new setup in the car.
So its a pretty simple plan for right now. I'm in the process of gathering the things I need to swap to an LS platform. I purchased an 01 5.3 out of a Silverado with 130k miles on it. Its getting some pretty basic upgrades (head studs, ls9 gaskets, ls6 cam, pac1218 springs) and I plan on fabbing my own turbo kit once I get everything in and running N/A. I'll say now I have every intention of pushing this motor until it breaks.... more an experiment than a permanent solution. Once its done and in the car I'll be starting on something a little more sturdy on the engine stand for when the inevitable happens.
Visually however I'm continuing with my clean shaved look and going to continue my clean up of the engine bay. No A/C this time around, maybe later down the road but for now I have the c5 for the unbearably hot days.
Visual plans for the build will include some powder coated goodies and some very tasteful mods under the hood. All stuff that can be reused when the 5.3 cracks in half. I'll be picking up the 5.3 tomorrow and starting the clean up and work too it thursday. Stay tuned for big picture updates if your interested to follow along.
Hopefully once its up and running, this winter it will get some fresh paint fromt he fenders foward (setting has been hard on her) and maybe another small interior refresh.
Heres a few oldies but goodies for those that dont know the car. Time to breath some life back into the old girl. Hope you'll follow me along for the ride.
where she currently resides:
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08-27-2014, 03:50 PM
#10
TECH Fanatic
That car looks amazing for 163k miles. Keep up the good work!
09-02-2014, 06:37 AM
#12
Some updates. Mainly I've been sitting around waiting on the cam to get here and its had me at a stand still on the motor. Was able to test fit my FAST rails to see how they fit... not well apparently because I have the wrong brackets, but im working on a solution. I picked up a doner car this weekend though at an excellent price and I'm about to strip what I need this weekend and part out the rest. Its an 02 z28 that had a catastrophic rod failure and the motors toast. Ill be taking the wiring, the trans, the driveshaft, the crossmember, and a few other odds and ends out of this thing to get everything else Im missing. It also has an LS6 Intake so looks like ill be painting another one next week. Hopefully by Saturday night I should have some big progress to show. I hate to hack the poor old z up but everything on its going to a good home so hopefully it will bring some life back to a couple projects and not just mine.
Eventually I plan on starting with a 6.2 Block and doing a forged rotating assembly but for now funds are tight and this should get alot more smiles per dollar.
09-18-2014, 05:36 AM
#15
Well been chipping away at a little every evening. So much left to do before I can get the motor in the car. Im looking at mid October for having it up and running n/a. I managed to get the engine bay stripped and in primer yesterday evening. I had recently tried to use POR 15 Rust inhibitor on it but it made a bigger mess than it helped. I ordered some of there stripper and spend the evening cleaning it up and getting it ready to respray with paint. That should be tonights project.
The red sled is now almost fully dismantled. I have parts laying ever which way and ill admit its starting to get a bit obnoxious. I have almost everything I need now short a few pieces. Ended up going with a 4l80e Trans so I had to order all the pieces to convert it.
Valve covers are away getting powder coated at the moment. Prepping the ls6 intake for paint here in the next few days. Still need to repin the harness and get the accessories cleaned up and ready to go. I would think this time in 2 weeks I should have her in the garage starting to turn wrenches on it all.
Heres a few pics of some of the progress.
The red sled is now almost fully dismantled. I have parts laying ever which way and ill admit its starting to get a bit obnoxious. I have almost everything I need now short a few pieces. Ended up going with a 4l80e Trans so I had to order all the pieces to convert it.
Valve covers are away getting powder coated at the moment. Prepping the ls6 intake for paint here in the next few days. Still need to repin the harness and get the accessories cleaned up and ready to go. I would think this time in 2 weeks I should have her in the garage starting to turn wrenches on it all.
Heres a few pics of some of the progress.
