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Tech / General EngineIs your car making a strange sound or won't start? Thinking of adding power with a new combination? Need other technical information or engine specific advice? Don't see another board for your problem? Post it here!
Nothing overly exciting. Replaced the battery, fuel pump, fuel filter and started the car and moved it out of the garage for the first time in 5 years.
pulled an L98 engine and 700R4 trans MYSELF ,carried two fullsize couches out the back door and around the complex to the trash MYSELF,not bad for an old boy
today I got a 3.23 posi rear end. its from a 90k mile car. the gears look great. we tested the posi with a torque wrench and it worked well, it needs new wheel studs. I will freshen it up over the next couple of weeks and get it ready to go in.
Good choice on gear ratio, you should be happy with the results. A gear change will give you a real feel upgrade.
I got my third gen dirty yesterday, well dirty in my book! I drove it to friends out west to watch some football. he lives on a dirt road so now I will be washing it. It needed it anyway. When I was leaving I could not help but to snap this pic. She just looked so good sitting in the tall grass under the tree.
tavarish bought this scca championship winning z28(obviously 1le and fully scca race prepped) for $1500.why does this make me extremely angry?
why cant i find former championship race cars for a little over a grand? why are my fists clenching and i have a yearning to head butt something?
Installed a double DIN head unit. Alpine ILX-W650 -- mechless, short chassis, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, front and rear camera support. The only thing I don't like is the lack of a **** for volume, but being capacitive touch and with a dedicated mute button, it's not too bad. Just gotta get used to it. I like that it doesn't seem to have any sound effect "gimmicks." Just a nice 9 band parametric equalizer (which lets you move the center of each of the 9 bands and adjust their q-factors), time correction capability, and high/low pass filters. Also doesn't stick out like a sore thumb like 90% of single DIN head units. Haven't received the back up camera yet though.
It wasn't today, but a few days ago I finally addressed the hatch pull down that stopped working (it was in the down position).
I poked at the switch tab and it instantly stared to work, but was laboring and sluggish. I removed the assembly, separated the main parts, found the factory grease a hard, sticky, waxy mess. Cleaned the gearbox and motor, re-assembled and re-installed it.
Lubrication used? Lubriplate DS-ES for the motor bushings, Lubriplate SFL-0 in the gearbox. Lubriplate No. 105 will work in the gearbox as well. No plastic compatibility issues.
have it up on jack stands looking for a massive coolant leak. think its the pass side freeze plug near the motor mount.
EDIT- confirmed its the passenger side freeze plug right over the motor mount. guess im going to order the plugs and plan to replace next weekend. ive never done this but my understanding is that you can remove the passenger side motor mount ,transmission mount, and loosen the driver side motor mount. then put a jack under the oil pan and give it a few pumps and the motor will go up and over towards the driver side allowing you to remove and replace the freeze plugs. im going to do both on that side while im in there. seems foolish not to.
i currently and recently have a noise i cant completely figure out that
just started within the last 10 miles ive driven (not aggressive driving or speeds over 40 mph) so i:
1)swapped out driveshafts,put a new aluminum shaft in(noise still there)
2)filled t5 trans,it took a quart and a half(noise still there)
3)filled the rear end,took almost nothing and was still full(noise still there)
4)swapped out rear rims thinking it might be interference or warped rim etc(noise still there)
the noise happens in gear(all gears pretty much,even 4th)and gets louder the faster you go in each gear
and goes away or gets much quieter when clutch is in.is it the rear end? is it the trans,is it wheel bearings,wtf???
thanks,they are the absolute best deal for a decent priced "fun car" ,good handling that can easily be made "excellent"
decent power(not really) that can easily be made "way too powerful" and they look awesome and parts are still fairly
easy and not stupidly expensive like anything pre 1972.i had a 72 chevelle and a single fender was $1200,in comparison
i bought a certified low end camaro and drove it for 3-4 years for the same price as a fender.i love old cars,they are just
too prohibitively expensive to fix ,maintain and restore.
that looks slick(and expensive)beatiful craftsmanship!!!
I don't know if you were posting this in response to me or just in general
if you know what works and is the same between a 9 bolt disc brake rear
and a 10 bolt disc brake rear i would be ecstatic.my 10 bolt is dying.
im kind of TRYING TO BE doing this on the cheap right now with what i have(budgetless)
i have a 9 bolt in a parts car(disc brake- 3:27 gear iron moraine calipers 1988 gta)
i have a 10 bolt in my t/a(disc brake-swapped unknown origin 3.08 posi -1986 t/a)
can i just pull my 10 bolt and install the 9 bolt keeping all the lines on the 9 bolt and e-brake cables etc?
this is what im trying to determine,if i can yank the 10 bolt and put in the 9 bolt,i have everything from the
e-brake handle to the cables to the lines etc on the 9-bolt still.just trying to figure out and plan the swap
without downtime and parts buying (for now)
Last edited by 1986BANDIT; 09-28-2019 at 05:37 PM.
i actually posted what i did here on this old thead https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/brak...ml#post6332384
mines and 88 with a 4th gen rear out of a 2000 Camaro. And you look like your going 3rd gen to 3rd gen so everything should drop into place when i did my 4th gen swap the only issues i ran into were seized brake lines and seized calipers and the parking brake hence the pictures above.
have it up on jack stands looking for a massive coolant leak. think its the pass side freeze plug near the motor mount.
EDIT- confirmed its the passenger side freeze plug right over the motor mount. guess im going to order the plugs and plan to replace next weekend. ive never done this but my understanding is that you can remove the passenger side motor mount ,transmission mount, and loosen the driver side motor mount. then put a jack under the oil pan and give it a few pumps and the motor will go up and over towards the driver side allowing you to remove and replace the freeze plugs. im going to do both on that side while im in there. seems foolish not to.
Eesh. I changed the motor mounts one time without removing the engine and it was a bastard to work in that area. While I don't doubt that you can get the old core plug out, I'm not sure about driving in a new one with the crossmember in the way. In my experience, it takes a few straight, solid blows with a hammer and socket to get them in. You may need a contingency plan if you can't drive in a new one, like one of those rubber expanding ones if it'll fit behind the mount. I would go with brass (and get extras since you may need to experiment with how to get it in) to give yourself the best chance of getting them in. I could see steel ones being a bit harder to get in, but I've only really used brass ones so I can't say for sure.
Wonder if you can use the weight of the engine to press/hammer it in
May want to consider one of these to hold the engine up: https://www.harborfreight.com/1000-l...bar-96524.html Just make sure to throw a 2x4 or 4x4 between the oil pan and crossmember or ground so you don't lose a hand if something fails.
Originally Posted by 1986BANDIT
i currently and recently have a noise i cant completely figure out that
just started within the last 10 miles ive driven (not aggressive driving or speeds over 40 mph) so i:
1)swapped out driveshafts,put a new aluminum shaft in(noise still there)
2)filled t5 trans,it took a quart and a half(noise still there)
3)filled the rear end,took almost nothing and was still full(noise still there)
4)swapped out rear rims thinking it might be interference or warped rim etc(noise still there)
the noise happens in gear(all gears pretty much,even 4th)and gets louder the faster you go in each gear
and goes away or gets much quieter when clutch is in.is it the rear end? is it the trans,is it wheel bearings,wtf???
It sounds like you're saying that the noise is tied to engine RPM? Or do you mean it just keeps getting louder as you go faster through all the gears? Does it do it when you rev it standing still in neutral (with the clutch pedal up)? Can you describe the noise and where it sound like it's coming from -- front, rear, middle, etc.
You say it goes away when you push the clutch in, that usually points to something throwout bearing or clutch related.
got mine onto a dyno...somewhat disappointing results but a decent baseline. No tune in it yet, so it's a start...that and they didn't seem like they knew what they were doing as they heat soaked the car, then made pulls in 3rd as opposed to 4th.
I agree its going to be close. im hoping to move the motor up as far as I can and will figure it out from there. worse case I will use one of the rubber temporary plugs and pull the motor completely in a few weeks.
i took off my diff cover(10 bolt) to see what this IRRITATING ****ING NOISE IS....there is a complete tooth missing from my absolute turtle geared (2:92) 10 bolt,A COMPLETE FRIGGING TOOTH.no burn outs,no racing,no clutch dumping etc....
the doors on my car were rotted and in poor shape. the hinges were absolutely destroyed so earlier this week i picked up a good set of doors (with custom door skin speakers added that look factory) as well as new fenders and ground effects.
i bought the hinge rebuild kits from top down solutions and put them on the new doors and then put the drivers door on. what a pain it was to get the door aligned and bolted down. the good news is the door has zero play and opens and closes like butter. i never thought it was possible for thirdgen doors to close that smooth.
pulled a 9 bolt 3:27 posi rear out of a parts car today,buttoned back up my 10 bolt after finding craptacular 2:92 gearset
in it with a broken tooth.ill throw the 9 bolt in the spring after a refresh,possible rebuild and paint with my new umi
torque arm,sfc's and new umi cross-member with the independent mount to get the torque arm off the end of my trans.
if the doors are rotten what does the rest of the car look like? ive got a gta shell i would almost give away (c note or two maybe) but im in Canada
floor pans were rotten but i’ve already cut out and replaced those a couple years ago, the doors were the last remaining rotted pieces on the car. i do however wish the car was a GTA lol
shame you cant take a trip to Ontario,Ive got a GTA with ownership(engine,trans,rearend,nose,fenders,WIRING,interior are gone)
has repairable rust underneath but is surprisingly decent......
started the daunting task of replacing the freeze plug under the passenger side motor mount. didn't realize until it happened but you have to drop the control arm to get the lower mount off. could see the bolts but couldn't get a wrench on them. so exhaust, fluids, control arm, springs, motor mounts and you are there. knocked the old one out. it wasn't as easy to get to pop out as the videos make it look but it cam out the new one was much harder to get it. finally got it basically seated and it still leaked. seated it more. still leaked. got one of the new plugs from the bad and compared it to the one I pulled and the new ones have a taller wall and a shoulder that the o.e didn't have. took it back to the parts store to see if they had given me the incorrect freeze plugs. they were closing but nice enough to open the door and let me ask them the question. they let me in and tried to look it up in their computer but they had already done the end of day reports and it turned off the catalogs. so will have to go back tomorrow to see what the deal is with the freeze plugs. hope that's the issue and I can get the correct one in and star putting it back together. this is a total pita. no wonder the shop wanted $900
side note- the 305 tbi motor is pretty loud without the exhaust hooked up but doesn't have a very good sound.
while I was in the garage I polished the wheels. I never really liked the wheels. they are stained and have a lot of surface rust. I was surprised at how well that came out. I don't think they look brand new but they look close to brand new. will do the rears once i have put the car back together.
started the daunting task of replacing the freeze plug under the passenger side motor mount. didn't realize until it happened but you have to drop the control arm to get the lower mount off. could see the bolts but couldn't get a wrench on them. so exhaust, fluids, control arm, springs, motor mounts and you are there. knocked the old one out. it wasn't as easy to get to pop out as the videos make it look but it cam out the new one was much harder to get it. finally got it basically seated and it still leaked. seated it more. still leaked. got one of the new plugs from the bad and compared it to the one I pulled and the new ones have a taller wall and a shoulder that the o.e didn't have. took it back to the parts store to see if they had given me the incorrect freeze plugs. they were closing but nice enough to open the door and let me ask them the question. they let me in and tried to look it up in their computer but they had already done the end of day reports and it turned off the catalogs. so will have to go back tomorrow to see what the deal is with the freeze plugs. hope that's the issue and I can get the correct one in and star putting it back together. this is a total pita. no wonder the shop wanted $900
side note- the 305 tbi motor is pretty loud without the exhaust hooked up but doesn't have a very good sound.
Did you install that plug dry? It needs to be coated with a sealer.
Very nice! Surprised you found front Bilsteins. Curious what you think about the springs once you drive it some, I keep thinking about getting a set but my car already just scrapes now and then as it is.
this is available local to me rolling for $2500 obo,setup for ls and t56 set back 12".is it crazy that i seriously want this.most of the high end goodies would be taken out like the built ls1,the t56,the ford 9" and the 3-$4000 rims and tires.look up victor scmitt to view the car,im sure there's videos(in canada)
passenger side motor mount freeze plug installed and leak free. have everything back together. ran into 2 problems one small and one large. the small- the threads on the caste nut for the inner tierod were boogered up and I need a new one. im not sure the size/thread pitch and google isn't being friendly. large problem- while running the motor before reassembly to make sure there wasn't any leaking in the new freeze plug I still had a leak but it wasn't the new freeze plug it was the opposite motor mount freeze plug! im going to have to do this all over again in a few weeks. totally pissed. I looked at all the freeze plugs I could see and it could use a whole new set. its almost like this car is 28 years old or something. to do this right I need to remove the motor so I can do them all at once.im going to get this together as well as I can to keep the car running and start prepping for a replacement motor. im going to try and get this motor though the winter and install in the spring. that will give me time to get the new motor prepped.
Very nice! Surprised you found front Bilsteins. Curious what you think about the springs once you drive it some, I keep thinking about getting a set but my car already just scrapes now and then as it is.
I went from new Moog OEM and KYBs. The difference is such a better ride- sporty and solid instead of soft. I found the Bilsteins just by luck here in the "For Sale" forum. The car is lower but not a crazy amount so. Still totally streetable.
passenger side motor mount freeze plug installed and leak free. have everything back together. ran into 2 problems one small and one large. the small- the threads on the caste nut for the inner tierod were boogered up and I need a new one. im not sure the size/thread pitch and google isn't being friendly. large problem- while running the motor before reassembly to make sure there wasn't any leaking in the new freeze plug I still had a leak but it wasn't the new freeze plug it was the opposite motor mount freeze plug! im going to have to do this all over again in a few weeks. totally pissed. I looked at all the freeze plugs I could see and it could use a whole new set. its almost like this car is 28 years old or something. to do this right I need to remove the motor so I can do them all at once.im going to get this together as well as I can to keep the car running and start prepping for a replacement motor. im going to try and get this motor though the winter and install in the spring. that will give me time to get the new motor prepped.
So you replaced 1 motor mount freeze plug and you find the other one leaking as a reward. I can take a lot of crap, but I think that would put me over the edge. Now I have that rap song stuck in my head -
have you been poking around or has the car ever been stored with water in it instead of antifreeze?
ive had coolant in it until recently. its been leaking so bad I had to switch to water. however from the looks of the freeze plugs and all the rust in the block im guessing the last 3 owners only ran water.
So you replaced 1 motor mount freeze plug and you find the other one leaking as a reward. I can take a lot of crap, but I think that would put me over the edge. Now I have that rap song stuck in my head -
I was pretty pissed. I have a temper but im also a glass half full kind of guy. so once I was done being pissed I said " at least I know exactly how to do it now". my cousin helped me out on this project and we are deciding if we want to replace the one like we did this or pull the motor. pulling a motor is a lot of work but it would allow me to get them all replaced. so im back and forth on it.
if you can pull the motor you can buy a complete set of the freeze plugs and do them all at the right
angle of insertion and address any possible gasket leaks,maybe do your timing chain
while its out and refresh what you can so it will live a longer life.
guess it depends on time and budget and if this is your daily
if you can pull the motor you can buy a complete set of the freeze plugs and do them all at the right
angle of insertion and address any possible gasket leaks,maybe do your timing chain
while its out and refresh what you can so it will live a longer life.
guess it depends on time and budget and if this is your daily
yeah do the oil pan gasket, motor mounts, and all the pain in the *** stuff while it’s out.
Plus there's two more core plugs behind the flywheel/flexplate. I know I'd really want to replace all of them at this point if I were you... but I'd probably end up just fixing the leaking ones and hoping for the best unless there are more than just those two leaking.
if you can pull the motor you can buy a complete set of the freeze plugs and do them all at the right
angle of insertion and address any possible gasket leaks,maybe do your timing chain
while its out and refresh what you can so it will live a longer life.
guess it depends on time and budget and if this is your daily
exactly what I was thinking. all of the plugs, reseal the motor all at once.
Just get a set from Summit or something. Same set fits all SBC motors since around 1959.
Their actual purpose has nothing to do with freezing... it's actually to let the sand out at the completion of the casting process.
Originally Posted by OrangeBird
Yep , even though they may pop out when a lack of antifreeze in the coolant allows it to freeze , by the time they do pop out the block is plenty trashed . Folks seem to have a notion that the "freeze plugs" will pop out first and save a frozen engine , but anytime I've ever seen an engine suffer freezing to the point that the plugs popped out the cracks were all through pretty much every part of the block's coolant passages , in places where no "freeze plug" would or could have saved anything .
Originally Posted by sofakingdom
Well, brass is better for a number of reasons, but steel is still perfectly OK even if not "the best". Even though brass is softer. The fact that brass doesn't rust, which is the way steel ones invariably fail, is golden.
I prefer to use some sort of hardening sealer on those rather than RTV, like the purple stuff in a can from Permatex/Loctite... sand both the hole and the plug in the circumferential direction, put a little both on the bore surface and on the plug, tap the plug in with a large socket that fits inside the plug fairly closely (be careful though, that it doesn't fit SO tight that when the plug is crushed inward by being driven in, that you can't get the socket back out of it), drive it in below the start of the hole (about 1/16" farther than those were in the photo), wipe around the outside with a finger to make sure there's a bead of sealer completely sealing the edge of the plug where it meets the hole.
Hi Evilokc , here are a few posts from a different conversation about the "freeze" plugs . The biggest reason I posted them here was to relay Sofa's info about using the brass block plugs so you'll never have to worry about them rusting out again . Like Sofa , anytime I'm forced to replace the block plugs I use brass because I hate like Hell doing the same repair twice
Noticed a few bulbs in the center stop light were out. Being the lazy type and not wanting to venture out on this particular day, I found the bag of 12v, 5mm red LED's I had on the shelf, trimmed the leads and installed them.
These LED's have built-in current limiting resistors so there's no runaway current going through the harness. Hopefully, someday I'll locate a bench top variable power supply at a garage sale.
Hi Evilokc , here are a few posts from a different conversation about the "freeze" plugs . The biggest reason I posted them here was to relay Sofa's info about using the brass block plugs so you'll never have to worry about them rusting out again . Like Sofa , anytime I'm forced to replace the block plugs I use brass because I hate like Hell doing the same repair twice
I bought a complete set of brass plugs for the motor. ive always heard that brass is superior for its ability to not rust.
I put the new rust free passenger door on today with the hinge rebuild kit from top down solutions. I noticed that the rocker effect was pushed into the bottom of the door from the previous owners jacking the car up by the pinchweld/body of the car. i always knew it was kind of mangled from that but never really noticed it was THAT bad, always just figured the door would stop rubbing once i changed the hinges. i removed the ground effect and bent the plate thing down and the door closes using one finger now. also lubed up the latch assembly and got the power locks working. I will be doing window motors and door weatherstripping very soon. i’ve been putting off working on the body for years so it feels great to finally start tackling the big stuff. i picked up new fenders that will be going on next.
09-08-2019, 07:49 PM
I can take a lot of crap, but I think that would put me over the edge. 
Now I have that rap song stuck in my head -
Yep , even though they may pop out when a lack of antifreeze in the coolant allows it to freeze , by the time they do pop out the block is plenty trashed . Folks seem to have a notion that the "freeze plugs" will pop out first and save a frozen engine , but anytime I've ever seen an engine suffer freezing to the point that the plugs popped out the cracks were all through pretty much every part of the block's coolant passages , in places where no "freeze plug" would or could have saved anything .