five7kid

iTrader: (14)

How do you get that oil fill extension out of the valve cover???

I've twisted, pulled, pried, still in there.

one92rs

iTrader: (5)

i thought there was a tab underneath that could be manipulated with a screw driver. or just break it.

Stevo

iTrader: (45)

Good question...i chipped mine trying to pry it out so i decided i best leave it alone

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

I twisted really hard, heard a sickening crack and it came right out

There was beer involved, so I cant get very specific about it

one92rs

iTrader: (5)

funny how beer makes it all easier.

motenkjr

iTrader: (1)

LOL...you beat me to it.

dynodanmanda79

iTrader: (1)

I just twisted mine toward the firewall REALLY hard, I heard a snap and it came right off

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

The wonders of the internet. . .

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

After about 50 miles on the swap, VATS has decided it doesnt like it anymore. Out it goes!

It wouldnt be a 3rd gen if duct tap wasnt involved somehow

BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

That's odd that VATS would just randomly decide to show it's ugly face after driving it for 50 miles.

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

Exactly

Im glad it decided to be grumpy in my driveway instead of somewhere far from home

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

Turns out VATS was fine, its the starter solenoid that pooped out. I bridged the starter relay AND trans switch and still got nothing from the key. For some reason the security light came on so I assumed VATS

Glad I hadnt sold the GTO starter yet. It didnt clear the MAC headers, but its got plenty of room under the manifolds

I forgot to torque the oil sender down just like BlueZee28 and started flipping out about a wet oil pan. Glad thats a simple fix, Im just not thrilled about removing the intake AGAIN to have access to the fitting

pony exp.305

Excellent inform...I need get some idea or inform about installing 5.3L motor onn my 91RS this summer...

cam-

Hahaha thats my favorite post of this year!!!


And the rebuttal is worth a laugh too!

BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

You dont have to remove the intake, they make a special socket for those oil sending units and with it being a 3rd gen there's enough room behind the motor and cowl to get to it without removing the intake.

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

Bad news today

On the trip to the tuner oil pressure slowly started dropping. On the way back it hit zero but no sounds. I assumed a faulty sender because any oil problems Ive ever seen were good pressure to low pressure and immediate bad noises

Once home I pulled the sender and spun the engine over a few revs just to make sure. No oil came out of the hole

A few google searches showed its a common problem on truck engines where the oil pump bypass plunger gets stuck in the open bypass position

Hopefully a new pump will solve it. Otherwise its a LKQ engine with a warranty and sell off the remains of this one piece by piece

In other news, tuning went well. High idle ended up being a bad IAC. Trans was reset to my driving preferences and it was major fast and super smooth. I like it

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

New oil pump fixed the pressure problem, but the sewing machine sound is still very prominent. Ill readjust the valvetrain tomorrow and dump in some Lucas. Nothing else I can do besides run it till it blows

On a side note, the pan MUST be lowered to get the pickup tube bolt out. Unfortunately the 3rd gen K-member is closer to the engine than in a 4th gen so the space to do so is VERY tight. There will be words on the oil pan bolts. One on the pass side is dead center above the K-member. Good luck with that one

Beyond that, it wasnt too difficult, just time consuming. I wasnt too thrilled about pulling/installing the balancer all over again, but it worked out

cam-

Painful man sorry to hear. You know for the 75 bucks they cost we should write up in the sticky that being that third gen LSX swaps are soooooo hard to work on in the car.. Put a brand new oil pump in for each swap. Then you can be sure and worry freee. Plus the oversize o-ring issue is a big plus for older engines still running the stock oil pump pick up o ring. A lot of guys claim this gets id of their ticking noises.

You know the ticking is an o-ring related related problem if the ticking is related to one cyl ( #7 iirc ) but the oil pressure is okay. Search it out over at tech its there somewhere. Big thread

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

I put a new O ring in with the pump, I also put a new one on with the pan swap. I was very careful not to pinch it both times too. I highly doubt the ring is the issue. Noise is present on both banks, stronger on the pass side. Before i refired the engine, I pulled the valve covers to dump some fresh oil across the rockers and attempt to minimize the effects of an imminent dry start. While I was there I wiggled each rocker, some were tight, some were very loose. I assumed the lifters were deflated. Ill adjust them tomorrow and see if it helps

I broke my own rule for skipping out on the oil pump for this engine and am paying the price. Such is life. Hopefully more people will not make my mistake

96LT4c4

Its not piston slap is it? I know there are a few years were the LS motors had piston slap prroblems.

nobreaks254

Not sure if you know or not, but there is no adjusting a LS valvetrain. You just torque the rockers to 22 ft lbs when the valve is closed.

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

Learn something new every day

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

I retorqued the rockers. Half were finger tight and one was backed off all the way touching the valve cover

Most of the noise was the rockers flopping around and one banging on the valve cover

I rolled the pushrods against each other and they all appeared strait. No excessive wear or damage on the rockers that I could see

The valvetrain quieted down to like it was to begin with. Oddly enough the PCV is the loudest part now. Chattering away. There was a film of oil on the head ports when I had the intake off so Ill likely be investing in a catch can of some sort

All is well and I feel safe to put it back to DD duty, Ill still be setting aside some funds for a spare engine though, use it or not. Swapping a swap will be a small job compared to what Ive already done

Zoom zoom

kthxbai

iTrader: (5)

glad to hear it. nice work all around Jon.

ZONES89RS

iTrader: (2)

Welp, might be looking into a new oil pump before i put it together....LOL.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

I had planned on an upgraded pump for the stroked LQ4 that will be going in the '57. I've seen a bunch of stuff about "ported" oil pumps, but didn't see it as necessary on a stock LS1.

The LS1/4L60E that will go into Berlinetta #1 (eventually) will probably get upgraded heads and cam, so I just might look for an oil pump for it. Also has more miles than the LS1/T56 going into Berlinetta #2, and doesn't appear to have been as well maintained, so I'm more motivated to do something about it.

(I was wondering what you were talking about when you said you were going to adjust the valves. Thought perhaps you had converted to adjustable, but that didn't sound right. Had you disassembled that part of the engine?)

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

I guess 'adjust' was the wrong term for it. I loosened the bolts and retorqued them to specs. I was suspect of them because so many would wiggle by hand

Before the oil pump, the deepest into the engine I went was replacing the pan, windage tray, pickup and valve covers. No internal or external mods were done. The only non stock parts are the intake tract and after manifold exhaust

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

If you didn't mess with the rockers, it's pretty weird that they were loose. Wonder if that's why you got the engine so cheap. . .

(BTW, I decided to keep the oil fill erection on the valve cover. Figured it will be easier to hit a straight up & down hole or put in a funnel when adding oil than it would be trying to hit the angled hole or hold a funnel in the cover. I need all the advantages I can get when it comes to things like that.)

one92rs

iTrader: (5)

you did just torque all the rocker arms to 22ftbls correct. there is no adjustment whatsoever. if it has a stock cam it will be perty quiet. if it is a better cam and springs there will be a tiny bit of the sewing machine noise. thats been my experience with all my ls cam swaps and all others i have heard.

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

I googled for 2 hours last night and the magic number was 24lb/ft so I went with that. There was no mention of finding TDC for any cyls in any of the searches so I torqued them wherever they sat at and rotated the engine over a few times and checked tq again. All good

I changed the oil when I did the pump to cut down on mess and remove any possible shaving from the system. Neither oil fill had any trouble what so ever with no filler neck. I didnt spill a drop. 10x easier to fill the LSx engine than the LO3. Thats using one single qt and the 5 qt jug

Im pretty sure it was cheap because it was so nasty the guy couldnt sell it as a good one. When I came to pick it up (sight unseen) I didnt even recognise it. It was that greasy. 3 cans of degreaser and a pressure washer cleaned things up quite a bit. Im not sure where all the mess came from because the engine hasnt leaked a drop, although Ive swapped the pan, valve cover and intake gaskets. Not much left of the original oil seals

one92rs

iTrader: (5)

24 is good. i use to torque mine to that. it was a 5.3. especially since it had 26918 comp springs and a 226-228-581-588-114+4 cam.

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

Sounds like an aggressive cam for a 5.3

Bet it was fun

one92rs

iTrader: (5)

check this site out
http://www.ls1howto.com/index.php?category=1

http://www.ls1howto.com/

it was nice. a pita to tune. was a good cam off the gas. but man o man i was a great cam for on the gas. that cam was set up for a forced induction engine.

BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

24# is what I torqued mine to, and that's straight out of the instruction manual from Scorpion (manufacturer of my aftermarket rockers). My valvetrain is a little noisy, just a faint sewing machine noise. It's not really that loud, just annoying if you catch the sound of it, my tuner said mine aren't nearly as loud as other big cam cars. And that was the first time I had ever installed rockers before.

I must say, after installing mine, I watched a friend install his rockers on his LT1, and that did NOT look fun, having to adjust all the valve lash and such. What a pain in the butt.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Mine ticks all over the place. Part of it is injector noise, part of it is the stronger springs...but its all made worse by the stainless headers. Those things echo the valvetrain noise pretty good. It almost sounds like an exhaust leak sometimes. But I dont have any as far as I can tell.

Sounds like you are ironing out those ever so fun gremlins! Its worth it..dont worry. Once I got rid of my gremlins, my car has been one of the most reliable autos ive owned.

J.

ZONES89RS

iTrader: (2)

Well, i found that shimming the spring in the oil pump is about .020 from a friends that deals with these things regularly(Nemess), i used a washer that was about .040, shaved it down to about .020 and placed it under the spring in the pump.

I rounded the TQ on my rockers to 25 FTLBS, i had plenty of PTV clearance with my Trex cam, way more than i thought i would.

mmadden55

Good thread.

cam-

Some red hight heat lock tight under the bolts that hold the rockers in was a tip I found somewhere when i was doing mine so I did it. just peeled the roackers off before selling the engine and I have to say it worked well. They were frozen in pretty good I was surprised how well it worked actually. Not saying you should take yours off AGAIN and re-do them it doesnt seem to be a common issues having the bolts back out lock tight or not BUT I figured I'd mention for the sake of spreading a tip that may benefit. If your ever in there again Id do it.


Indeed Im with ya all the way on that one. The duals seem to be the biggest difference though as I have run the 918's briefly on my engine with the same cam and it was much quieter although not "silent" by any means.

No pain no gain right? hahaha whats a little tick amongst the thrill of melting tires off safely at 7000 GLORIOUS RPM hehehe

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

Maybe one day Ill build the engine to support that kind of RPMs, but for now Ill have to roll under 6,000 from the stock rod bolts and barely capable stock springs

Intake connectors finally arrived. Not too bad, they sent blue instead of black like Id ordered. Oh well, atleast they got the clamp size correct. I dug up the digital cruise module to install. Somehow it got smashed so Ill have to source another from a JY. I cant decide on a good location for it that looks good. So far my two favs are above the heater box and along the frame rail

I commute 150 miles each day to school. Cruise is a must have

The front suspension has finally settled in as much as I think itll go down and its still pretty high. Anyone know a rough estimate how much drop per coil cut off from the front springs?

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

I gotta get my cruise installed too. I had it installed in both cars, but never wired it up. I put mine on the driver's side, sort of right next to the radiator. Ran the long cable up the chassis rail, looped it up and around the brake booster, then around and back up to the TB. Didnt look too bad...the cable is a mile long.

I can get a picture of where I mounted it if you need it..tho, youre pretty on top of things so you'll probably be ok.

J.

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

I took one look at the Fbody cruise cable and axed that idea. My module and cable shell are from a 98 Cadillac. The internal cable is from a 90something truck and an Advance auto throttle stop to hold it

Its only about 3 feet long, plenty to work with

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Haha yeah I had no idea how long that cable was going to be...so I ordered it and used it. Sorta worked out good though because since I was able to route it around and have it sneak up from behind the motor, it was able to hide under my coil covers. Its on my list of things to hook up whenever I get time. Although at this rate, I might never have cruise control haha.

J.

Klortho

The sewing machine noise, I have it in my bone stock '98 motor after it warms up, until then I get to hear the piston slap.

A local guy had a 2000 SS that sounded horrible, but with aluminum heads, and aluminum block, you hear every little tick in the engine.

3rd gen Will

iTrader: (8)

Tach signal for LSx based engines is a 4 pulse for what ever reason not an 8. I went through 2 pill style rpm switches and tons of time checking wiring before I got an adjustable one that had an RPM indicator on it and realized what the deal was.

Awesome swap!! A buddy of mine has a 5.3/t56 has an ls6 intake/cam/tune. runs high 12's. So your car should haul the mail nicely!

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

Took the tuner about 90 seconds to fix the tach. From reading tech its a simple value change of 4 cyl mode to 8 cyl mode

It definitely hauls compared to the LO3

t/adreams

iTrader: (1)

How do you like the 2.73's with the swap? Plans to step up, or are you goin gto keep them for the 150mile commute/gas mileage?

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

Its pretty powerful with them. Ill swap in the 3.23 posi disk axle from my GTA once I get it servicable, but for now the open drum axle stays

I havent put enough miles on it to get a good feel for mileage, but so far the $30 I put in it last week is still there. Its a significant improvement over the SBC (wasnt bad in itself either, 28mpg for an old V8)

Yahtzee

Awesome thread. Quick question for you Pocket, I thought the coolant steam hose was supposed to be mounted above the highest point in the system? Yours being mounted down low on the heater hose cause you any problems yet? Also, what coolant are you using?

Pocket

iTrader: (24)

I read that too. The engine runs dead on 195, so I dont think its a problem

I used two gallons of the old style green antifreeze and the rest with water. Ive replaced too many 3.1/3.4 intake gaskets that were eaten up by the orange stuff to ever use it in another car

Yahtzee

hmm good to know. Thanks and VID!!!!