hey guys its been a while but i bought a boat and my wife and i have been spending our free time getting it ready for summer.

my tires came back today so i thought I'd post the pics of them. they were able to fix the damaged one and refinish all of them and they look new now

i also have a bunch of powder coat stuff that will be done by next week so I'll be posting pics of those as well.






more to come soon.

 

well got my powder coated parts today. they look pretty nice.

 

more new parts acquired i know eventually I'm going to have to start putting these parts on the car lol now that the radiator is here i can cut out the front, put the motor in and start mocking it all up.

i wanted a shorter rad so my piping would have plenty of room to come over the top with out doing a cowl hood. i also wanted a 3 core radiator to help with cooling so this one for 130$ through northern i thought was a good deal and went with it. its' 16x31x3. between the rad, tans cooler, and oil cooler I'm really hoping to keep heat down. anyway hopefully more to come this weekend.

 

well i had some time out in the garage today. any opinions on the fans in the pics for mounting? i'm thinking about boxing them in beneath the surface they are resting on in the pictures i think it would make it a little cleaner. so they are flush with the battery tray surface. that would also give me more room for the turbo piping going to the intercooler.

 

hey guys my header flanges came in today so i jumped on summit and ordered 1 7/8 header kits. i know its after the fact since i ordered them but does anyone have an opinion on the size of these for my set up.... to big to small etc. ?

i figured making my own will give me the freedom to locate the turbos where i want them verses the truck headers or premade headers. with moving the rad a little forward and down it will give me a little more room the turbos.

 

i spent most of the day in the garage today. was able to get a some stuff. i welded up the frame for the radiator/intercooler well some of it. this is just the start i still need to do the brackets and supports on the car and i have a few more things to add to the rad/cooler frame as well but you can get an idea of where i'm going with it. the intercooler will mount in front of the rad against the two vertical steel rods you see in the front.



in the pics the set up is higher then i'm going to have it i plan on lowering it about 2 more inches so i can have my intercooler exit come up over the rad to the intake.

 

well the radiator stuff is all done. its all removable. i still still need to clean up the welds drill/tap some holes here and there but its done.

next will be onto the fan mounts for the trans and oil coolers. its coming along slow but i'm happy with how its turning out.



and what fun would a project car be with out the help of a top mechanic and consultant at your side

 

Looking good!!!

Can't wait to see the end result. I wish I had the time to put into my car.

 

Thanks! Ya it I'm hoping it turns out nice

 

well i got the motor in(just for mock up before i paint engine bay and rebuild the motor) and to be honest... it sucked lol when pull this thing back out and reinstall I'm dropping the k-member. that was just to tight of a fit. probably didn't help that left the truck oil pan on either. anyway its in and i can start making my headers and laying things out. also added an x brace to that radiator/intercooler support. the support next to the stock box they had in there is night and day for strength and sturdiness. i'll try not to go picture happy but just to give you an idea how things look right now.





i gotta admit I'm really happy with the extra room this has given me by moving the rad forward a little.

 

now that looks good symmetrical, parallel and perpendicular.. sorry guys I'm a programmer in the metrology field so that stuff means a lot to me lol

now to make the headers... i was kinda holding the turbos in place today after i got the intercooler and everything bolted in.. doesn't look as easy as i thought it was going to be to place those turbos.. in suggestions ?

 

hey guys i wanted to work on the turbos but I'm waiting for a couple tools and parts to come in the mail. so today i continued on with the coolers. any input, hows it look? should i put in a new piece of steel to cover up the battery trays and hide them or keep the trays open. i have them both fitted and the mounts are welded in now so they are done until i pull the motor and do all the pretty stuff.

stupid question... what are those "oil catch cans" i see on ls motor for? do i need one whats there function? that's a little down the road as i haven't even started the motor build yet but just wanted to know so i could put it on my list if i need it.

thanks

 

Look'n like it's coming together... Should be pretty sweet.

 

thanks, its taking me a while and at times i find myself loosing motivation but i do like the way its turning out.

 

OK for my first try at headers... that was not fun. i THINK they came out OK. I'm going to have a friend weld them up who has a better welder then me... and can weld better lol i still have the other side to do but after 8 hours to do this side i think I'll wait till next weekend for the other side lol

 

well i got a little more done today. moving kinda slow the last two weekends. this header only took me about 3hrs this time

 

new part in the mail today 44mm wast gates woohoo .... i love new parts lol

 

http://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/bar/3100893102.html
=(

 

ya its a maybe. i thought id throw a feeler out there. i still work on this thing all the time and i cant see me getting a reasonable offer on it and i have no intentions of giving it way. i dont really have that much more to do either so i'm sure once i get this thing roaring it will be staying with me

 

looking good so far !

 

thanks freaky, i'm hoping to have the headers all welded up and turbo placement this weekend.

 

just quick update. headers are done and ready to go to weld. i pulled the collectors off to clean them up a bit more and spot weld on the piece that goes between the tubes.

my first set of ls turbo headers, 1 3/4 primaries to 3 1/2 collectors oh ya I'm the man ... in a very amateur way lolol

 

i want some

 

i was thinking about making some and trying to sell them to fund my build

any interest?

 

in the future yes. currently no, i dont even have my engine yet =(

 

Nice build going on. Looking great so far.

 

thanks, going slow but i'm liking the results.

 

damn this is going to turn out well!

 

thanks tpi. ya i'm hoping for some serious results.. if i can keep the motivation to finish it

 

well no pic update but i did get my tans cross member made up today. not sure I'll get to much approval with it but i might add a little more to it before i take some pics

 

i had the machine shop at my company notch my flanges so i could flush mount my piping this way i can port match my flange piping to my turbo housing. i plan on port/polishing my turbo housing and i hope this will just help the flow. now i need to figure out how to form the piping to fit the flange.... any advice would be great guys

 

well i ran out of steel to finish it up but i spent some time out in the garage tonight and this is what i have so far. in my mind it looks pretty cool ... but in my mind short pale and pudgy is what woman really want and I'm all that lolol and my wife would say "keep dreaming" lol please no comments on the bubble gum welds lol i know.. i know BUT this is the only time I'm ever going to get this involved in a build and i just cant justify buying an expensive welder so. i work with what i have. i need to finish up the torque arm mount and the drive shaft loop which i will do when i get some more stock. let me know how what ya think

 

kinda busy today working on the house but i was able to sneak a few minutes in the garage this evening.

 

Nice job so far, keep it up !!

 

WOW, all is this work is great, you are very talented & that car will be awesome!!!

 

thanks thats good motivation

 

if you need something welded and you don't feel confident in what you have you can ship it to me and ill do it for ya, any style you want and i don't charge unless its gonna take me days to do but if its just a few welds as long as you pay shipping ill do it for ya. i've had 6 years professional welding experience and I'm aws certified for pretty much anything you can think of.

i really like the build too man keep it up, and to those of you complaining about welds... look at your bmr parts from what i saw at car craft on there pride and joy parts i would throw out the door and melt em down, this is at least equal if not better

 

thanks for the offer and compilments. i'm going to be doing my own torque arm so maybe i'll get with ya in a few weeks.

thanks

 

well just in case anyone didn't know.... sanding an engine bay for paint.. not fun. not exactly interesting pics but its work getting done. hopefully ill be ready to paint by tonight.

 

well i wish i would have put the paint in my gun and sprayed it it went on so smooth on the underbody.. maybe by morning after it relaxes I'll feel a little better about it. it looks OK from a distance but up close .. bla. oh well its done and now time to move on.

 

little elbow grease, mineral spirits and some paint and things clean up nicely

 

i have a tedious question to ask. do you remember the size and length of the bolts holding the k member in? i cant for the life of me figure out where i put mine and digging through my bolts bucket is giving few results.

everything looks great painted though

 

hmm well i just painted mine and torqued them down but if i get a minute while i'm out there this weekend i'll unscrew them and measure them up for ya.

 

yay the fun part begins. comments, suggestions, opinions on the rebuild? the sky is the limit .... as long as its with in a budget of 4k lol that's what i have set aside for the rebuild of the motor. i already have my eye on a pair of rhs heads. basically because for the price of them new is about what it would cost to have mine reworked.. well from the quotes iv received so far

 

I have to give it to you this is comming along real nice. I have to ask though..Why no shielding gas man? Those welds are looking real slaggy. Your product could look so much nicer!

 

i agree, i just cant justify going out and buying a nicer welder when i never use them. i created more work for myself by having to clean these up but when i do you wont notice. it will come out ok

thanks

 

well i had to do some motivational work today. so i started putting some of it back together while im waiting for a tool to get here. also finished pulling the 5.3 apart... looked pretty clean. hopefully i can send out the motor this week. anyway this is what i did today.

 

ok springs suck beyond belief wow i can believe how hard it was to get these back in. anyway one more head ache out of the way.

 

Looking good man! Glad you came back to it!

 

thanks, ya its been hard keeping my motivation up for this i admit i'm running out of fuel but i know it will be worth it when its done. i'm trying