LS1 Swap

[Emulsifide]

Yep. Progress thread for the 4l80e swap is here:

http://www.mifbody.com/vbulletin/sho...ce-9-quot-Swap

[Gregs_gsxr]

any luck ?

[Emulsifide]

I found what I need!!

http://www.bmrsuspension.com/index.c...&productid=336

Now I just gotta put out the feelers for a 4l80e.

[ktl711]

Argh! Sorry to hear! Well, at least you do still have use of the car until you decide what direction to head in next.

[Emulsifide]

Alright, so here's the latest. As everyone knows, the car survived the Meet & Greet. The only problem is I'm having one hell of a 2-3 shift flare happening at WOT. After the flare, it takes FOREVER for the shift to engage, all the while bouncing off of the rev limiter. Yuck. I've solicited help on HPTuners' forum to see if I can tune the lag out, but it's not working. Here's the thread on that:

http://www.hptuners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34658

This unfortunately means that the trans has given up the ghost before I've even started! Not cool, but not completely surprising either considering the short block and trans have 103,000 miles on them.

I'm now faced with the task of finding a solution to the problem. So far, it's looking like I'm going 4l80e, but I'm not completely sure yet. Here's my thread on LS1tech.com inquiring about torque arm relocation with a 4l80e:

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/automa...ion-4l80e.html

Annoying and frustrating for sure. At least I can putz around with the car on Woodward and pretend to be fast one gear at a time. lol

[Emulsifide]

All done! The rear seal was super easy and the exhaust is now properly installed.

M&G, here I come!

[Emulsifide]

Thanks guys.

Crisis averted!!!!!! Larry's Welding Supply in Ferndale is down the street from me. They had the welding wire. The GM Parts Center on Hilton and Marshall in Ferndale had the rear seal.

The Camaro should be back up and running tonight!!

[bri2203]

airgas

25455 dequindre rd
madison heights, mi 48071-4212
(248) 546-3336

[Emulsifide]

That helps TREMENDOUSLY!!! Thanks!!!

[WMCCjames]

ARRRRGGGGHHH!!!!

Last minute pre-M&G frustration!!!!!

I just got done welding 90% of my exhaust together. I didn't go the fully 100% because I ran out of welding wire!!! I need to nab a spool of T304 or T308 stainless .030" (other sizes work too, but this is what I prefer) tomorrow. No clue who the hell stocks that on-hand locally (I usually order my welding supplies online). On top of that, my damn trans rear seal is leaking and there's fluid slung all over the trans tunnel and the top of the true duals!! I'll be calling dealers in a couple hours to see if I can source the seal prior to the M&G. If not, I'll probably be riding along with a friend coming from a northern caravan.

I have bought stainless mig wire at Harbor freight (believe it or not) and Tractor Supply...hope that helps.

[WMCCjames]

ARRRRGGGGHHH!!!!

Last minute pre-M&G frustration!!!!!

I just got done welding 90% of my exhaust together. I didn't go the fully 100% because I ran out of welding wire!!! I need to nab a spool of T304 or T308 stainless .030" (other sizes work too, but this is what I prefer) tomorrow. No clue who the hell stocks that on-hand locally (I usually order my welding supplies online). On top of that, my damn trans rear seal is leaking and there's fluid slung all over the trans tunnel and the top of the true duals!! I'll be calling dealers in a couple hours to see if I can source the seal prior to the M&G. If not, I'll probably be riding along with a friend coming from a northern caravan.

I have bought stainless mig wire at Harbor freight (believe it or not) and Tractor Supply...hope that helps.

[Emulsifide]

ARRRRGGGGHHH!!!!

Last minute pre-M&G frustration!!!!!

I just got done welding 90% of my exhaust together. I didn't go the fully 100% because I ran out of welding wire!!! I need to nab a spool of T304 or T308 stainless .030" (other sizes work too, but this is what I prefer) tomorrow. No clue who the hell stocks that on-hand locally (I usually order my welding supplies online). On top of that, my damn trans rear seal is leaking and there's fluid slung all over the trans tunnel and the top of the true duals!! I'll be calling dealers in a couple hours to see if I can source the seal prior to the M&G. If not, I'll probably be riding along with a friend coming from a northern caravan.

[Emulsifide]

Update:

Yesterday was the J-BOM BBQ at Hines Drive Park (20 miles away from Ferndale). I decided to take the trip out slow and avoid using the freeways since I'm still not completely confident in the car. The way out was ok, but I've been noticing hesitation at partial throttle. The car is also backfiring at idle, but I think this is because the exhaust isn't completely sealed off and absent of any leaks. Regardless, I will be pulling the plugs tomorrow and having a look. I've still got stockers in the heads (AC Delco 41-952) and will be swapping them out for NGK TR5s.

Like I said, as I was driving to the BBQ, things were looking pretty good...until I took the very last turn before the park. Rounding the turn, my driver's side muffler pipe decided it didn't want to keep partying and promptly popped off! I dragged it in the hanger all the way to the parking area for the BBQ. Definitely one hell of a way to make an entrance! This marks the second time I've used band clamps on a car and the second time that they've fallen off. I even torqued the hell out of them using my impact wrench. Moral of the story:

Band clamps = uber suck ass

I have a 3" stainless steel v-band clamp sitting on the shelf waiting to be thrown on the downpipe of my Volvo S60R, but I'm going to order a second one tomorrow and use both of them to attach the exhaust to the headers. The entire system from there back will be welded together permanently so this won't ever happen again. I'm lucky the pipe didn't get lodged in a crack and push up against the underbody of the car.

So yeah, the plan for the rest of the week is to figure out the hesitation problem and weld up the exhaust in time for the M&G.

[Emulsifide]

Update:

I FINALLY got to do some tuning today thanks to minimal rainfall. I started out with tuning the VE table since pumping efficiency has definitely changed due to the camshaft and overall higher compression from the heads. I've got everything below 4000rpm pretty solid (within 1%-3% of stoich), so I pumped up the upper half by another 20% and did no less than 5 WOT runs with adjustments between each one. Even without touching timing, I'm really digging how strong its pulling!

I have some work to do with the transmission, as the top of 2nd bounced off of the rev limiter. That's ok. I'll get there soon enough.

The good news is, I have the tune dialed in enough for the car to make it to the J-BOM BBQ tomorrow!!! Also, I have an 8am appointment to get a new windshield! Things are falling into place!

[Emulsifide]

Thanks for the comments guys.

If I were you I would do a lot of reasearch on going to e85. Last bad thing was it deteriates your gaskets in the engine. There is a lot of talk about eliminating e85 as its not been an advantage to save oil since you get worst gas mileage with it.

I've done quite a bit of research on the topic. I've messed with Methanol injection on my old Cavalier (when it was supercharged) which has similar corrosion properties to E85. Here's an SAE paper on a 99 Silverado that was converted to being a corn burner:

http://www.engr.unl.edu/~ethanol/unl-sae2.pdf

Fuel lines were either upgraded to Teflon or stainless steel. The fuel rails were anodized on the inside to prevent corrosion, which is only 2 mils over a period of 1 year. I decided to use stock steel lines for the moment, but have stainless steel hard line, anodized Earls fittings, stainless Teflon braided hose, and a rather large collection of GM sized Viton o-rings waiting on the sidelines. I haven't made a decision on fuel rails yet. Given the low rate of corrosion, I'm not worried about going through a season's worth of E85 just to get started.