cal30_sniper

iTrader: (16)

Hello all, and welcome to my thread. I'm a bit late in coming to this, and there's a lot of stuff that's already been done, but I thought I would start posting stuff up as I'm getting into some of the more tricky build up areas of these cars, and I know that I'm trying things that are hard to find information about here on the board. I hope you find it useful, and feel free to ask any questions you have about what I've done.

A bit about myself, I'm a 2/C Midshipman at the Naval Academy who is majoring in Mechanical Engineering. I'm also a member of our FSAE team, which handbuilds a formula style car each year for competition in Detroit as a Capstone engineering project. I work on the car just about every weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, which also happens to be the only time the Auto Hobby Shop on base is open. I've been working on cars since I was a child, and I learned most of what I know from my dad, who is one heck of a mechanic. My sig below lists some of the cars I've had before, many of which I rebuilt in one form or another.

Now, about the car. It's an '87 Formula WS6 that I bought from a guy down in North Carolina last October. It had a great body, and an impressive options list. It needed some work, a lot of it in fact, but just about everything it really needed was present on my '87 T/A that I wrecked in September. Since then, you'd say that I've completed Stage I of the project, which consisted mainly of swapping stuff over from the wrecked T/A, lots of tuning and getting it running right, and some basic bolt-on modifications for handling and performance. Here's a quick shakedown of what's been done so far:

-Headman Shorty Headers (swapped)
-Edelbrock Cat-Back Exhaust w/ custom y-pipe (swapped)
-176 degree fan switch with 160 degree thermostat (swapped)
-high-volume aluminum water pump
-8mm Accel plug wires (swapped)
-Petronix Distributor curve kit, all in by 2300 rpm
-Rebuilt non Computer Controlled Quadrajet carb
-14x3" air cleaner
-UMI Performance Wonder Bar
-UMI Performance Panhard Bar (swapped)
-UMI Performance Lower Control Arms
-JEGS HEI Distributor and Coil
-Bosch Platinum Spark Plugs (swapped)
-Fresh TH700R4 transmission w/ shift kit, and B&M Torque Converter lock-up (swapped)
-Transmission Cooler (swapped)
-4th Gen Camaro SS Aluminum Driveshaft
-BMW M-Sport 760iL rims: 18x8" front/18x9.5" rear
-Continental DWS Z-rated tires: 245/40/18 front and 275/40/18 rear
-KYB rear shocks (swapped)
-Polyurethane sway bar bushings (swapped)
-140 mph Gauge Cluster (swapped)
-4th Gen Firebird Seats (swapped)
-Tilt Steering Column w/ Cruise Control (swapped)
-new headliner and rebuilt door latches
-all the other fluids, belts, etc changed

Where am I going with the car? Well, that's a good question. My goal is to couple my education as an engineer, my love of automobiles (Pontiacs in particular), and a lot of mechanical ability to create an automobile that is on par with a newer Corvette in power and handling for much less $$$ than one of those would cost. I may not get there for a while, but that's the goal. I chose the 3rd gen Firebird because 1) I already had one 2) I understand it because they're simple 3) it's light 4) it's an excellent platform to work with from a handling standpoint. I wanted a carburetor because I love the idea of handling your own engine rather than farming it out to a computer. I chose the manual trans because I'm a driver not a wheel turning robot. I chose to do the work myself, because I love it, and I want to have something I can say I built myself, down to the last nut and bolt. It's a challenge, but I'm up for it.

Now, here's a few pictures of what I had to work with, and what I've done so far. Some of it isn't pictured yet, and that's really because I get to working so fast for so long that I either don't photo it, or it's already dirty by the time I get around to taking a picture. Again, if there's something you need to see, just ask.

Picking up the new ride:


After getting it home:

cal30_sniper

iTrader: (16)

Here's some interior shots after the seats and console swap, and cleaning stuff up. I don't have the headliner in, the dash swapped, or the CD player in yet in these pictures. One of these days I'll actually get around to taking some pictures now after I rebuilt the door panels, swapped the dash and steering column, and got everything straightened away.



Here's a shot under the bonnet, after I got everything cleaned up, the carb swapped over, the headers installed, etc. etc.


And finally, here's some exterior shot's before I took her in to get torn down for Stage II:

cal30_sniper

iTrader: (16)

Now, you may find yourself asking, what exactly is Stage II? Well, luckily I'm still here to tell you.

First, some benchmarks:
29 highway mpg at 70 mph cruise
0-60 somewhere slightly under 6 seconds

Now, what's planned:
-C5 Corvette HD disc brakes front
-LT1 PBR disc brakes rear (swap from rear drums)
-Braided Stainless Steel Brake Lines front and rear
-Koni Yellow Front Struts
-Polygraphite front end bushings
-UMI Tie-rod links
-New tie-rods and ball joints
-3.73 positraction rear, new gears, bearings, seals, etc on the wrecked T/A's rear-end.
-TA Performance Rear Diff Girdle
-T56 transmission swap
-Pro 5.0 Short Throw Shifter
-Corvette 113 aluminum D-port L98 heads
-Comp Cams XR258 HR-12 cam
-Weiand Street Warrior intake
-Aluminum Carb heat shield
-the list goes on...

Here's some of the many parts:


So, where am I at right now? Well...

Last weekend:
-pulled transmission, lines, and cooler
-removed hoses, pumps, fluids, ignition system, carburetor, etc from engine.

Here's the trans out:


a reference photo before I broke down the engine:


This weekend:
Friday
-pulled the engine
-pulled off everything down to the short-block
-cleaned the heck out of the block, degreased and gasoline brushed everything
-cleaned off the head-gasket surfaces
-masked and painted the block

The hole:


The short-block all cleaned up:

cal30_sniper

iTrader: (16)

A shot from the front:


The original block alright (VIN on the front pad matches):


Masked and painted:


Another:


I wish that I could have done the painting after I got the through working inside the engine, but alas, Friday night was my only chance due to the hours of the shop and inclement weather. I had to get to bed early anyways, we had a PRT at 0630 on Saturday morning.

cal30_sniper

iTrader: (16)

So, after dominating the PRT on Saturday (it was 30 some odd degrees when we ran), and driving out to my sponsor's house to pick up the heads and cam (great guy, more on him later), I picked up my little brother from the academy and got to work.

First off was pulling out the oil pan, old cam, lifters, and timing chain.



In went a slightly used Comp Cams XR258-HR12 with new LS7 lifters and a JEGS double-roller timing chain with new seals for the cover:


Next in was the new oil pump, shaft, pickup, and rear main seal (that's my bro cleaning up the oil pan in the background):


After that, a new oil pan gasket was installed, and I flipped 'er back over to start working on the top. We cleaned all the leaked water out of the piston bores, then ran an oil soaked rag around them to keep the rust at bay until I can get it started up.

Here's the first cylinder head mounted to test fit:


Me torquing down the new ARP studs:


After I got the heads on, I put in the lifters, which had been soaking in a quart of new motor oil all day. On next was a slightly used set of GM Performance rocker arms, nuts, and ***** off a ZZ4 crate motor. I mounted the heads before I took off the guide-plates, but since I have self aligning rocker arms, I removed the guide plates before I set the lash. As far as setting the lash, I turned the engine over once, doing each cylinder in it's firing order. As the exhaust and intake valves were both seated (compression stroke, exhaust valve closes first, then intake valve), I tightened the rocker arm nut until the point where resistance could be felt when spinning the push-rod (stopping as soon as there was no more slack to move the push-rod up and down vertically). Then I gave it one more half turn on the nut to set the preload.

Here's the whole assembly with the lash set for each cylinder:

cal30_sniper

iTrader: (16)

And one more, with me trying to get out of the way before the picture got taken:




That was about it for Saturday. We threw on the old intake and valve-covers to keep out the dust, cleaned up our mess (some-what), and then headed out. My bro had to go back to the hall to do some studying, and I headed out to my sponsors house for dinner and a lot of Guinness.

Well, I say we were done, but really, that's not entirely the case. During the day while I'd been working on the motor, my brother and two friends had helped me out by cleaning off all the brackets, sanding down the headers (which were really rusty after three different in-car installations scraping the paint off), and a lot of other pieces. By that time, it was too cold to paint, so I took them all to my sponsors basement and painted them down there. The intake got a clear-coat (the cylinder heads had gotten one that morning), the brackets, dipstick, and etc. were painted gloss-black, and the headers were coated with VHT aluminum. After dinner, we threw the headers into his industrial sized oven to bake as per the directions. Coupled with the beer, this resulted in a few ouches and hot-spots, but all turned out well.

Sunday rolled around, and I got to the shop about noon. I wish I had pictures from today, because the engine really came together, but alas, the camera had been left in the room. I'll post some up next Friday before I get started so y'all can get an idea of the progression. Here's a short summary of what happened:

-Headers mounted and torqued down w/ new copper header gaskets
-intake mocked up for fit, lined up perfectly
-new spark plugs installed: see notes below
-brackets, pumps, and pulleys mocked up to test fit: see notes below
-a few other odds and ends painted and clear coated (one of my classmates came over about 1 o'clock and helped me out a lot to clean stuff)
-cleaned up the significant mess
-pulled the console out, removed the shifter, and removed the torque-converter lock-up assembly (going into my suburban soon)
-pulled a few things out from under the dash so I could get to the brake pedals next weekend
-some other odds and ends

As far as plans for next week, here goes:

-mount 4th gen pedals for clutch
-cut holes for and mount clutch hydraulics
-install the new chrome valve-covers and gaskets
-get the engine back in
-mock-up the trans so I can cut the shifter hole out
-install the flywheel and pressure plate
-install the bellhousing, trans, and shifter
-install the driveshaft, torque-arm, etc
-start putting all the accessories and exhaust back on so we can make the wheels go round

Stay tuned.

-Levi

NOTES:

here are some things that I've run into mis-information or vagueness about in other threads on the board. I'm including it to help out other members going my route:

a) Heads and fitment
-The 113 heads are a direct bolt on
-They do not have a heat-crossover for the manifold
-They ARE the earlier (pre-87 style) intake bolt pattern, post-87 intakes will not fit without mods
-The "extra-hole" that needs to be drilled and tapped on the passenger side head pad is only for EGR. If you're like me and it's already been taken off, your heads don't have to be modified in any way, because the hole isn't used
-some factory 113 heads came with D-Port exhaust, example: mine
-You WILL need new spark plugs if doing this swap. The cast-iron head uses a spark plug that has a much shorter snout extending into the combustion chamber. This plug in an aluminum head will not actually protrude all the way through the heads into the combustion chamber. Believe me, I tried. The Aluminum heads also require a gasketed spark plug, which the original style are not.
-Be sure to torque all the bolts to spec for aluminum heads. Original torque specs for the cast-iron heads (intake bolts, exhaust, accessories) may cause problems with the threads in the aluminum heads.

maks10

Some nice work man...wish I had the same capabilities...maybe one day...admire your project man good luck

cal30_sniper

iTrader: (16)

Thanks for the comments! As promised, here's the next installment.

The pedals went in today, and I have to say, it was one of the more frustrating automotive jobs that I have accomplished. Right up there with installing headers with the engine still in the car. Alas, it was a very pleasing sight indeed to see that third pedal sitting right at the end of the night.

The first step was disconnecting the brake master cylinder from the booster. I just moved it out of the way, allowing the lines to hold it up. Make sure the little pin that is inside the booster doesn't fall out and get lost, now is a good time to take it out and bag it for later.

Here's a shot of the master cylinder loose. The space right below is where the clutch is going in:




Once that's out, it was a pretty simple matter to take the automatic pedals out. Don't sit there and fight with the brake pedal, just take the bolt out at the hinge and get it out of the way. Then you can easily reach all four nuts that hold the master cylinder on. Out in 15 minutes. After that, I used the old pedals as a template to enlarge the four holes where the master cylinder studs go through, and cut off the gas pedal from the 4th gen pedals. After the mods were done, I slid the pedals back in and test fit them, they went in like a glove.

Here they are in the first time:


After they were good and snugged down, I used the holes in the clutch pedal and master cylinder bracket to guide the drill bit through the firewall. Worked like a charm. Then I drilled a large hole through the center hole and used a carbide bit grinder to take it out to the required size. It ended up a little too large on the top passenger side, but is anyone ever really going to look down there? Sealed it up with a little gasket sealer and moved on.

Here's the two holes drilled, before I cut out the center:


Here comes the hard part. Once the hole is cut to your satisfaction, it all has to mount up, and it doesn't just happen all at once. I had to take the pedals back out to hog out the top hole that goes into the dash vertically above the brake pedal hinge (the 4th gen placement is slightly different than the 3rd gen). When I put it back in, I thought I'd be smart by tightening down the clutch master cylinder and piston assembly by it's two bolts, and then putting in the brake master cylinder so I wouldn't have to fight it. Wrong. It doesn't work that way. Once you have the clutch master cylinder bolted up, the pedals sit skewed, and it's impossible to get the brake booster studs back through the firewall, because the holes are covered up by the offset pedals. The correct sequence is to put the clutch master cylinder through the firewall, but don't bolt it up yet. Then put the brake booster studs through the firewall, about halfway to full seat, and mount the pedals on them. At this point, now you can put the nuts back on the bolts that are holding the clutch master cylinder to the firewall (I didn't buy the factory GM U-bolt, I just used two ordinary bolts, washers, and nuts). Tighten everything down, and put in the top bolt again. All you lack now is hooking up the rods for the two pedals.

Here's the shot of them all hooked up. Then there was three:


And last but not least, I scrubbed the frame and crossmember free of grime and grease, and finished hitting it with the POR-15. I plan on hitting the firewall with a pressure-washer tomorrow and touching it up with the rattle can. Pictures to follow at the end of the weekend.

cal30_sniper

iTrader: (16)

And, as promised, here's a few shots of the engine getting ready to go back in. Should be finding it's way back between the fenders tomorrow.









Enjoy, and stay tuned.

-Levi

t_raven

Nice project. Looking forward to seeing more.

thomas1976

Nice! Made me wonder what piston to head ditance you ended up with.

jj74sd455

looks great,just one thing though,all black tas look awesome with black wheels.i loved the first pic with the black face ta wheels,love an all black bird

cal30_sniper

iTrader: (16)

The black face wheels? No way would I ever go back. To each his own I guess, but the Torq Thrusts that I had on there looked ten times better than the black formula wheels, and the Bimmer wheels made an even bigger improvement...

Here we go with the rest of this weekends update...

Saturday morning I cleaned up my mess from Friday night, pressure washed the engine bay, scrubbed off the grime that didn't get, and sprayed the firewall where I'd scratched up the paint getting the engine out last time. After chasing down the broken oil pressure fitting at Auto Zone (only to find out the one I bought wouldn't fit either), I was ready to put the engine in about eleven in the morning.

It wasn't easy.

Took about an hour with the cherry picker and two people wrassling it in to get it in its spot in the engine bay. Then I realized that I'd forgotten to feed the clutch slave cylinder and lines down below, so I had to lift the engine back up enough to get that by. Then, when we got ready to lower the engine in again, it just wouldn't sit straight on the motor mounts. I fought with this for a while too, and just couldn't get it straight. The solution was to come underneath with another jack from the oil pan, and it settled down onto the mounts. All in all, it would have been a lot easier without the headers on, but then again, putting the headers on in the car would have been a nightmare as usual, so it was worth the effort.

Here's the engine right after I got it in:




I laid the intake and valve covers back on to keep dirt and stuff out of the engine, and stuck the two motor mount bolts back in. I thought that this would hold the engine straight enough that I could lower the jack. Wrong. I almost broke the oil pressure sender again from it slipping back on the firewall, but I caught it in time. A little thinking, and I came up with the idea to put a small length of 2x4 between the heads and firewall to keep it level until I could get it up on the lift. Worked like a charm.

Here it is all mocked up:




Then came the big news for the day, T56. My friends roommate who had been helping me put the pedals in on Friday showed back up about 15 minutes after I got the engine in (good timing eh?) Apparently he had been hooked by the project, and wanted some more, so I got him to work pulling the bellhousing, shifter, and slave cylinder off the T56. I went back to school to pick up my little brother and another of my friends who is a fellow Mechanical Engineer. We grabbed lunch, and were back to roll the old bird up onto the lift about 1 o'clock.

The flywheel installation was a snap. I used a new NAPA flywheel, and scrubbed it with gasoline to remove the rust preventative coating. The hardest part about it was keeping the engine from turning over while the bolts were torqued down. I picked up new NAPA flywheel bolts as well, as the original flexplate bolts for the automatic just weren't long enough.

Then came the clutch, pressure plate, and release bearing. Sadly enough, I've never done a clutch, nor messed with a manual transmission at all, so it was a little rough at first. I sat about 20 minutes looking through the instructions trying to figure out what order everything went in. Finally, I realized that the diagram was on the top of the box the silly thing came out of, and we got to moving again. The pilot bearing took some real hammering to get in, but it finally went in flush. Next up was putting in the alignment tool, sliding on the clutch and pressure plate, and torquing it down. Once they were all torqued down, the tool slid right out, implying everything was aligned. With the original pressure plate bolts discontinued by GM, they're getting really hard to find. I used a Grade 9 shouldered bolt from Fastenal. Worked like a charm.

Putting in the transmission made everything else look easy. It was, to say the least, frustrating. Even with a lift and 3 trans jacks, it just wouldn't seem to line up. To make a long story short, the trans jack was flat, and the bottom of the T56 is nowhere near flat. After it almost fell off the first time, we decided to just manhandle it in. We used one jack to hold the tail shaft, then two other guys to guide in the front while a third guy rotated the driveshaft to line up the splines. Once it was in, it seated to withing about 1/4" of the bellhousing. After that, it was easy enough to thread all the bolts in and pull it the rest of the way on. All told, took about two hours from flywheel to final bellhousing bolt and sliding in the clutch fork.

My my how nice it looks...

Awesome-X

Wow its definitely coming along. What kinda rims are on it? I love em.

cal30_sniper

iTrader: (16)

The men with the skills, my helpers surveying the prize.




After the trans itself was actually attached to the engine, we ran into the only real problem of the swap so far. I'd already removed the shifter and covered the hole with duck tape. My plan was to bolt up the crossmember and the use a punch to dimple the floorboard for the cutout spot. I bought a Skulte crossmember off of eBay for the swap, and I installed this next. After running the trans up to where the crossmember should have bolted on, I found that it didn't line up with the bolt holes, and the trans still needed to go up more to get the crossmember to hit the frame. Apparently the shifter housing sticks through the floorboard. This was news to me, I always assumed it was just the shifter. I finally got the crossmember attached to the frame via one bolt so I could get it down off the lift, but after eyeballing it again, I decided I really didn't like the looks of that. What I did notice however, was that the transmission mount bushing could be reversed to move the crossmember forward a bit on the frame. I did this, and was finally able to get a bolt in on both sides of the crossmember and get the car down off the lift. I used a large standard screwdriver and a hand sledge to dimple the transmission tunnel at all four corners of the shift housing, and brought it down off the lift.

The shifter hole itself was easy. I cut off the automatic shifter bracket with a carbide cutoff wheel on an air tool attachment. Then I drilled four large holes just outside of each of my dimpled corners. Finally, I used the cutoff wheel to connect the dots. All in all, it took maybe thirty minutes, and came out very clean. Installing the shifter from inside the car was very easy, and suddenly I found myself shifting gears!




With the hole cut out for the shifter, the transmission finally had enough space to move up, and the crossmember bolted right up to the frame. By this time, 5 o'clock and the close of shop was rapidly closing. We called Saturday a success, and cleaned up the mess.

Today was very productive, although I didn't get quite as far as I would have liked to. I started off by installing the Pro 5.0 Shifter, transmission temperature sending unit (Auto Meter gauge pod going in soon), and filling up the trans fluid. The Pro 5.0 had a bit wider base than the factory unit, so I had to open my hole a little wider to the passenger side. I cleaned up the edges, and painted the hole black to keep the rust away. Here's a shot of the new shifter installed:




With that much out of the way, I moved outside the car, and ran the wiring harness everywhere it needed to go again. I tried to hook up the starter, only to find that the factory starter is not the same as the LT1 starter! Everywhere that I've read said that my same starter could be used with the T56 as well, but there was no way it was even close to fitting inside the bellhousing of the new trans. Looks like I'm getting a new mini-starter after all...

After the wiring was run, I installed the intake gaskets, torqued down the intake, and installed the valve covers and gaskets. Next in was the distributor. I set the engine at 14 degrees BTDC, and lined the number one wire exactly with the distributor rotor. That's where I had it timed before, and this should get me really, really close to the same place. I finished up the day by installing the fan, water pump, alternator brackets, power steering pump, and AC compressor. I still have a few bolts to tighten up on the brackets and I have to get the belts on, but it's really close to running. I also got the fuel pump on, allthough I still have to run the hard-line from the pump to the carburetor.

Here's the progress as of tonight:




We're getting real close to ignition here boys, I'll get the starter ordered this week, and hopefully Friday I'll be able to hook it up, fill up the fluids, and fire 'er off. We shall see.

Stay tuned,

-Levi

cal30_sniper

iTrader: (16)

Well, It's been a long time since my last update, and a lot has been done in the meantime. I apologize for the downtime, a combination of Spring Break, a dead camera battery, and twelve week exams really curtailed my picture taking and posting abilities.

In order to make a long story short, I'll run down the basics of the last few weeks:

Friday the 12th - I got the engine finished up with all the accessories put on. I was all ready to fire 'er up, and lo and behold, the starter wasn't working. I didn't have the time to play with it, as I had a flight to catch early the next morning, so that's how it sat.

Sunday the 21st - Back from Spring break and finally got the car fired up. I'm still not certain what exactly is wrong with the starter position on the ignition switch, but I got the car to fire up by applying power to the large diameter purple wire that comes off of the automatic shifter electrical connector.

She fired right off after I got fuel pumped up to the carb, and ran pretty good for the first two minutes or so. The timing was fairly close, and the carb tuning was still right on. However, about two minutes into the run the valvetrain started to clatter, and it only grew worse from there. I shut it down and pulled off the valvecovers to see what was going on. Here I found that one of the rocker arm nuts had loosened to the point of falling off the pushrod. Several of the other arms were very, very loose. I re-adjusted these and then started the engine up with the valvecovers off. Sure enough, about 30 seconds into the run, the clatter started again, and I was able to visually confirm that the rocker arm nuts were slowly backing off on several of the studs.

The final problem for the day involved the fact that finding any gear with the engine running was not a possibility. It appeared that the clutch fork was not engaging, which in reality, is exactly what was happening. Alas, I left them as problems for another day and headed off to another week of school.

This weekend is when things really came together. Friday night I pulled the valvecovers back off and replaced the factory rocker arm nuts with a set of CompCams poly-lock nuts. These have a small hex screw set into the center in order to firmly lock the nuts in place once the pre-load has been set. I used the same process as before to set the pre-load, and it worked like a charm. By the end of the night, I had the engine tuned and running smoothly.

I started off Saturday trying to figure out what was wrong with the clutch fork, and spent all morning getting it straightened out. Apparently there is a metal block that the clutch fork pivots on, and is held on by a metal spring clip. The ends of the spring clip have to be pried upwards in order to clear the block, and this required backing the transmission off again about an inch to get a screwdriver inside. Of course, this meant that I had to remove the torque arm, exhaust, motor mount bolts, and trans crossmember to get at the top transmission casing bolts. It was a pain, and as always, no job is fun to do twice, but it fixed the problem and I finally had gears to grab.

I'd had all the anticipation I could take at this point, and we'll just say that lunch break turned into the perfect chance to make a nice blast down US 50 East with no hood or exhaust. I'm not sure everyone else on the road appreciated having their ear drums rattled, but I sure was having fun.

Back to the shop, I got the hood on, the aircleaner set up (I had to switch to a shorter 2" tall element in order to clear the hood), and the bare essentials back into the interior. By now, it was closing time at the shop, and I had a trip to D.C. to make. I thought about taking the old suburban, but I decided what the heck, what better place to break in a new clutch than 5 pm D.C. traffic? Two friends piled in, and we headed off to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the big UFC fights.

Here's a couple of shots of the engine bay at the end of the day:



Things went well for the first ten miles or so, and then we started having a problem. I watched the temp gauge steadily climb past 200, then on past 220. By 230, I was hunting a hole, and pulled off the next exit. I checked the coolant and made sure the thermostat was opening, fan was running, etc, and it all checked out. By the time I got back into the car after this, the engine had cooled back down to 180 just by idling. Seeing as how it had cooled off, I tried another five miles ago, and the same thing happened again. By this time, I was frustrated. We pulled off into a small parking lot, and I decided on the off chance that it might make a difference to put the front spoiler back on (I had pulled it off to get the trans cooler lines out and hadn't had time to put it back on yet). Luckily the air dam was in the back, and I was able to scrounge up the necessary bolts from my various tool bags to get it back on.

Who would have imagined such a small thing could make such a big difference? Not me. After putting the air dam back on, the car ran 180 degrees for the rest of the night, even cruising in 6th gear doing about 1600 rpms at 70.

Can I say that it runs great?

I was amazingly surprised at how well this combo came together. I was figuring for it to be a dog with the 2.73 gears coupled to the not-so-steep gears of the T56. In reality, it pulls pretty good, and outstrips even the really steep first gear of the old TH700 in acceleration. By the time you hit second gear, all comparisons are left in the dust between new and old. Where the old motor began to fall on its face, this sucker just keeps on rolling. I honestly haven't gotten all the way in it yet because I'm still breaking the clutch in, but what I've seen is enough to convince me that this combo is ideal for a street driven performance 305.

As far as some basic specs and information to get the feel for the set-up:
-19 inches of vacuum at idle
-just enough of a burble to let you know there is a cam there without hurting the idle quality very much
-a good deal louder than the old set-up. not really sure why this is, but I'm betting the cam has a lot to do with it. It quicly turns heads at stop-lights, and strangely enough, nobody wants to race anymore?
-averaging 37-38 mpg on the freeway right now
-as for 0-60 or top speed I didn't get on it hard enough due to the new clutch to determine the former, nor will i ever be able to find out the latter until I get it on a race track. Just pushing into 5th gear, not even enough to pop open the secondaries was good to slide right past 100, and it was still moving up just as fast as when I left 70. I'm not a betting man, but I'd be willing to bet this set-up is at least good for a buck and a half, most likely more.
-the best way I can describe it is SMOOTH. There's still plenty of torque at idle, easily enough for a 2nd gear start, and you can really feel the power band snap in off-idle, I'd say around 1200-1400 rpm. It pulls for as long as I wanted to stay in it, we'll see later on after the clutch is broken in just how long the power-band stays around.
-I am very impressed with the clutch. The NAPA brand clutch kit and flywheel appeared to be very good quality, and it's been smooth from the start. None of the break in problems of the Spec or other clutches. I haven't had any chatter, and only the slightest bit of surge is noticeable on occasion at launch.
-Engagement is the same as every other manual car I've ever driven. I don't know about others who have complained about a high engagement point, but mine starts smoothly coming in 1/3 or so of the way from the floor and comes out evenly from there to full engagement at the top. Full disengagement is right near or at the floor, and reverse was really hard to get into for the first 50 miles or so. I'm finding that the more I drive the easier this becomes, and now all that is required to get into reverse is to floor the clutch pedal and it clicks right in.
-speaking of clicks, the Pro 5.0 shifter is amazing. Very, very positive, as fast as you could want, and beefy/long enough to feel like you're actually driving a manual transmission. I don't know about you guys, but I'm not into that whole joystick easy feeling of some of the new short shifters. This one is the perfect blend between firm and positive, and short and quick.

Anyways, it seems that I've gotten a bit ahead of myself. I forgot about Sunday, which mainly consisted of wiring the Dakota Digital SGI-5C speed converter box, getting the rest of the interior back in, and cleaning up the mess 3 months of work can wreak on a car. As far as sealing up the floor pan, the 4th gen shift boot was easily bent to fit the contour of the floor, and a bit of sealant shut it off for good. I used the factory automatic shift cable grommet to seal the wires coming up for the speedometer and reverse light wiring. The connectors themselves for the T56 came off of flea-bay, and worked like a charm.

The converter was easy enough to wire up, and I used instructions from the stickied T56 swap thread. The only difference between my wiring and his was that I had to swap the positions of the pink and black wires running from the converter box to the speedometer. Who knows why, but as soon as I swapped them, it started working correctly. I set the speedometer using a stopwatch and the milepost markers on I-95 between Baltimore and Washington. I couldn't use my GPS as the cigarette lighter hookup was in the shifter plate which would block access to the converter box when installed. I placed the converter just below the ash tray inside the console.

Anyways, here's a couple of shots of the interior all put back together. You can also see the results of the dash swap in this picture. That's the correct automatic steering column, 140 mph speedometer, as well as the dashpad and all the other really nice stuff from the wrecked car. I still lack the upper shift plate for a manual trans, as well as the upper shift boot, but this set-up will work for the time being. Please disregard the bike in the back seat, I have to park it three miles from where I live, and I get tired of the run.

cal30_sniper

iTrader: (16)

And, Sunday afternoon, after a lot of putting back together, cleaning, and squaring away, I decided to take it to the car wash and get it cleaned up good before I put it away for the rest of the week. There's a place up in Severna Park that does a real good underbody wash and wax, and it's only $13 bucks with the military discount, so I ran it up there.

You should have seen the look on the face of the guy at the car wash that got to drive it in. He looked like a kid in a candy store. They pulled it out to do the final dry off and polish, and I think every single guy working there was grabbing a towel to go get a piece of the action, haha. There was a regular congregation out there for a while.

On the way back, I stopped by the Naval Yard to take a few pics out by the bay. The setting was just so right, I couldn't resist.





And this one, it was just too good to cut down in size. Might make a good desktop for somebody. That's the Naval Academy across the river, and the ships in the background are our Yard Patrol craft.


And here's the mouth of the Severn as it dumps into the Chesapeake Bay:


Anyways, now it's back to the twelve weeks grind. I think I'm going to take Easter Weekend off and just enjoy driving around, but the week after that I should be back to start the front brake swap.

Stay tuned.

-Levi

BigBadGTA

Dude you did a great job on that car, it looks amazing. I'm sure its pretty quick now with that motor in it too. Ever consider a wrap around spoiler to finish off the T/A look? I think it would look awesome on your ride.

cal30_sniper

iTrader: (16)

See, I had a wrap-around spoiler on my '87 T/A that I wrecked, and I just wasn't a big fan. First off, it was a lot heavier, and made living with the hatch struts a nightmare sometimes. From a visual standpoint, I always thought the wrap-around looked out of place on our cars, a little too 4th genish perhaps. I don't really know why, but I've always wanted the smaller spoiler like I've got. Some cars it doesn't look very good on, but I love the way it fits with mine. Just enough of a spoiler to be there without being obtrusive.

On another note, I really like your GTA. That thing is nice, I'd love to have bodywork that straight. Definitely a keeper.

-Levi

goalieforlife

iTrader: (4)

i would rather the base spoiler as well

Awesome-X

Man thats a nice car and a very nice build. Even with a 305 So did that T56 use the stock driveshaft and stuff? I found one around here thats pretty cheap and I'm thinking about mating it up with my 355.

FlippindaBird

iTrader: (10)

awesome man! looks great love the spoiler(its the same as mine lol) how is the gas mileage with the 3.73s? did it change at all?? do you experience any heat soak problems with the open element air cleaner? when i took my dual snorkel off and put the open on(edelbrock proflo1000 freebie from a friend) it had obvious heat soak when i closed the hood, had to ride around with the front hood adjusters all the way up and the hood not latched, but maybe yours stays cool because of the T/A style hood? does that hood get air from outside from those vents? i always thought they werent functional like the iroc/Z28 louvers