KiLLJ0Y

iTrader: (1)

update:

the trans is back in the car. I had to do it alone since my friend never came over. I made a little "anti-roll" platform out of wood so when i had it on the jack it would be stable. Went in pretty easily until trying to get on the pins, took me an hour,

also stripped the crappy silver paint from the headers with aircraft stripper, then gave them a few coats of 2000* flat black header paint.

KiLLJ0Y

iTrader: (1)

pics

clutch in, bellhousing on.. getting ready for the trans


these are the headers.. the right side is how they started out, crappy silver paint
the left is the header stripped of paint, bare metal.. soon to be painted in 2000* black header paint




Update:

last night i got the trans in, slave mounted, headers painted. Going to work on installing headers today, as well as mocking up the Y pipe, waiting on my spun cats to come in. Already got the Flowmaster Y.

1989GTATransAm

iTrader: (3)

Looking good.

Dyno Don

iTrader: (7)

Is it going to be done in time to get down here for the race?
It sure is looking good.

KiLLJ0Y

iTrader: (1)

it all depends on if Pocket has finished my harness in time.. doesnt look like it but i'll bring it down when its done anyway.. and of course i'll stop by the shop Don

KiLLJ0Y

iTrader: (1)

couple of updates:

Got the fuel lines made, and installed.
Same shop did the power steering line (high pressure side)
Picked up a Brand new stainless Borla Pro XS muffler, Camaro fitment, for a steal at my local muffler shop, this is is the one summitracing.com sells for $273

he has 2 more, if anyone is interested, i can get them.

the power steering line, it originally had 4 extra bends in the hardline, making it about 4" too short to reach the PS box.. it also got in the way of the frame rail on the passenger side, what i had them do, was install a compression fitting, with a swivel, and use only 1 bend, ran it under the front of the engine over to the box. worked awesome.





the muffler, Borla Pro XS, Camaro fitment, 3" in/ 2.5" dual out


this is a picture of the 3" inlet, you can see it splits the exhaust right when it enters in, the the long side(right) goes to the driver side and the short(left) comes back around to the passenger side.


same picture, no flash, you can see daylight on the other end, its a perforated core like the Magnaflow's pretty straight through system, no baffles


this shot is the passenger side exit,(the short side left from the pic above)



this is looking through the driver side exit

KiLLJ0Y

iTrader: (1)

some new shots of the engine, and hedman headers.

passenger side


engine, minus the header



Engine with driver header, had to pull the damn steering shaft to get it in.

KiLLJ0Y

iTrader: (1)

Small update:

found out my water pump is shot, have a new GM one coming, should be here this week. Found out because the metal 90* elbows were moving, then one popped out.

Also go all the exhaust cut off, and removed. I have all the new piping ready. Just waiting on the friend to bring over the welder.. pics to come

Also waiting on the finished harness, should be here this week... excited!

1989GTATransAm

iTrader: (3)

Sounds good. Progress is being made.

KiLLJ0Y

iTrader: (1)

UPDATE:

lots of little things completed.

so the wiring harness should be here on thursday the 8th..

I have since completed the following:
heater hose locations
Swapped in new water pump
cut off and removed entire exhaust system, it was a dynomax 2.5" crush bent
filled trans with fluid
mounted shifter
made the catch can
put on the serpentine belt
mounted the brass T and put back in the oil temp and oil pressure sending units for autometer gauges
vacuum lines done
opti-spark vacuum lines made


things left before complete:
installl wiring harness
install PCM
install air intake and filter
fill with oil
fill with coolant
wiring for battery, alt, starter and engine grounds

and last but not least, fab up the Y pipe and exhaust system

TPI TERR

iTrader: (9)

I used to have have that same muffler On my car.sounded really good it was kinda sleeper/subtle status lol

KiLLJ0Y

iTrader: (1)

Well thats good to know!

Update: engine harness is back from pocket, came in about 4pm but i had to be at woek at 6 so i havent installed it yet. Ill probably get to it this weekend. I will take pictures of it.

KiLLJ0Y

iTrader: (1)

havent been able to work on the car until today... got the harness in the car, as well as the Founders Performance strut mounts...

I did start to fill the car with coolant, then it leaked.. big time, turns out the LT1 used radiator i got, had a crank in the driver side tank. Picked up a new radiator and got it in.. filled it with coolant.

i still need to get the exhaust done, friends and I are trailering it down to the shop tomorrow to make the whole exhaust, from headers back.

I also still need to install the positive battery cables from the battery to the starter, and the negative cables. I also filled the power steering with fluid, and need to put in the oil... thats pretty much it.. i hope i dont have any major issues like valves needing adjusting or Opti problems.

Anyway, should be cranking it over tomorrow if we finish the exhaust.

KiLLJ0Y

iTrader: (1)

forgot to order 2 extra 90* elbow's, had to leave the exhaust till tomorrow..

KiLLJ0Y

iTrader: (1)

ok the fab work on the exhaust is done, just need to take it all off and finish the welding. I WILL be starting it up tomorrow, then the long @$$ 500 mile break in period begins for the clutch and cam...might take a road trip to CA, thats a nice 650 miles..

anyway, pics will be up tomorrow..

1989GTATransAm

iTrader: (3)

"might take a road trip to CA, thats a nice 650 miles.."

Bring her by Don's shop for a looks see.

KiLLJ0Y

iTrader: (1)

Final news.. and update!!!

SHE LIVES!! finally finished all the exhaust work late last night around 11... got the last remaining wiring done (need new battery terminals) but she fired on the 1st crank and purred... im pleasantly surprised to say the least..

there is some valve tick, which i expected... and i need to adjust the clutch because its like "on or off".. i took it around the block for a slow drive, man this thing just wants to GO.. lots of power.. exhaust came out great. see pics below.


here are some pics of the exhaust before it was all welded up and painted, its just tacked in these pics

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Glad you got it running and driving, feels good dont it! My clutch is kinda on and off too, but I am running a Stage 2 kevlar clutch which is pretty grabby. Looks like you got better meat on rideso I am sure it hooks better than mine, my LT1 with 4.10 gears make short work on my old tires.

1989GTATransAm

iTrader: (3)

She's alive.

KiLLJ0Y

iTrader: (1)

Ok gentlemen.. here is another update.. i decided to go with Bob Bailey's LTCC conversion, here are some pics..


These are the LS1 coil ends from Taylor, come in a pack of 8


Making my own wires, im using Taylor Spiro-Pro #73251 in red.
and LS1 boot ends Taylor # 46069
Taylor wire crimpers, 43390


I got a tip from one of my friends.. when assembling wires. They are a bee-atch to push into the plug ends with no lube, plus you dont want greasy wires. I was told to use Brake Kleen to lube them... it cleans the wires and terminals and dries clean. Good tip.

Here are some finished ones


Left over wire.. lots of it..


this is the LTCC box mounted on the driver side fender well.. i also used small little rubber O rings under the mounting points to help stave off vibration, some the the box can not have.


Here is how i mounted the coils, without using expensive $200 coil relocation kits.. or other expensive mounts.. mounted them right to the valve covers! NO modifications needed.


Close up


Engine shot.. only 1 side is done...

Carlos773

iTrader: (3)

So whats the benefit of this? I just bought a brand new GM Opti and called it a day. Would like to know if this is something to look into.

cprmn14

iTrader: (3)

It would only take you a few minutes of looking to find out alot of people have trouble keeping their optispark in working order. Between condensation and leaking waterpumps, alot of people have trouble keeping their opti's operational. But some people have went over 100K on their stock one.

Its really a hit or miss IMO

KiLLJ0Y

iTrader: (1)

opti-'s have a few issues.. #1 the condensation issue... #2 the rotor flying apart if you go over 6k RPM's.. #3 Ozone buildup (hence the newer vented opti's.

What this does.. is takes out the electricity or spark from the opti.. and turns the opti basically into just a cam optical sensor. Removing the charge or electricity from the opti eliminates the build up of Ozone in the opti as well, which causes failures of the sensor.

lastly.. you can now take the LT1 past the 6k rpm mark without worrying about the rotor..

You use the coil per cylinder conversion for a more accurate timing spark delivery..

Win win win..

Carlos773

iTrader: (3)

So from what I see the Bailey setup is plug and play. I might be looking into this for peace of mind.

KiLLJ0Y

iTrader: (1)

yeah there are only 2 wires to splice.. and thats it

New2Chevy

iTrader: (11)

So you splice it into power and into the EST wire on the LT1 harness, and that's it?

Am I right?

Just wondering. I got the LTCC kit from Full Throttle Speed because it seemed Bailey didn't offer it anymore.

Probably $400 for the thing, no matter where you get it. But well worth it probably not having to worry about spark ever again.

KiLLJ0Y

iTrader: (1)

Just a little update, I had to repaint the car do to massive peel, which was from a real crappy paint job by previous owner. So i stripped it down, took all the interior out, bumpers off, gfx off, all weather stripping replaced, new emblems

paint is satin black..


then i got a great deal on brand new Koni's.. and Hawks Stainless Steel braided front brake lines.. just put them both on today

keeslinger31

dang looks good Having fun with the lt1?

KiLLJ0Y

iTrader: (1)

yeah its fantastic.. looks like you and i have the same set up.. my cam is the XR270HR which is almost like the hot cam but on *110 and hair more lift..

have you dyno'd your car yet?

keeslinger31

Ya I was going to go with a 503 but found a killer deal on ls1lt1 that I couldn't pass up. So that's what I got. Better than stock I suppose has a nice thump to it.

No haven't dyno'd yet but it was fast in stock lt1 form in this little thirdgen.
So with portwork and a small cam i'm assuming 300-350rwhp maybe more

Iv'e been workimg out some bugs with my IAC I think its bad won't keep an idle one day then the next its perfect

Strick1

Now it's been well over a year, how is your project doing? I'm currently doing a LT1 into an 83 Camaro. Thank you for providing all the information and pictures. Mine will be a little different from yours as I'm keeping the A/C and using the front accessary set up from a C4 Corvette, you don't have to notch the K-member. I'll have to contact "pocket" to see about the harness merge.
Thanks again for your sharing all the info.