Meissen's LT1 Build-up Thread

[meissen]

Well, I can certainly say that I have a whole new found respect for people who choose to not drive their vehicles in the winter. The rust spots that I keep finding are really getting me down. The wheel wells both have nice size holes in them and the more I prodded around the EVAP canister the more chunks of rust fell to the ground. My dad finally said, "You know, at this point I think you better stop touching it and just paint over it." Pretty depressing.

Here's pics of the bubbles that formed - we're thinking either it's rust bubbles or could it be that when I had a dent pulled out between the door jam and the gas door that they repainted/blended the paint and the bubbles are a reaction? I'm just damned surprised on how fast these popped up - I know every square inch of my car's exterior and I swear these bubbles were not there during the last waxing in the fall.




Rear end finally out!



My freshly POR-15'ed wheel well - and sad pictures of the hole.






Relatively clean undercarriage above where the rear end sits - pretty amazing it's so rust free considering how nasty-rusty the rear end was:




Rusty Rear End:




Rust all over the floor from working on the rear end:





Engine with valve cover off:




Lots of freaking shit in the garage!!!!!!!

[s.reef]

sucks about the rust hole brian

[meissen]

Yeah.. I mean it's not a big deal but at the same time it's not fun realizing the damage I did to the car driving it through all those winters. Also, I think what bugs me the most is that now I know it's all there and I'm always going to be worried that the rust is getting worse and spreading.

[Derek]

Yeah.. I mean it's not a big deal but at the same time it's not fun realizing the damage I did to the car driving it through all those winters. Also, I think what bugs me the most is that now I know it's all there and I'm always going to be worried that the rust is getting worse and spreading.

yea rust is horrible, can't ever seem to stop it once one part of the car gets some rust. I'm just happy I got this new car from GA where they don't have winters like up here, My old car must have been a time bomb because I drove it one winter and it MAY have been driven in other winters before as well.

The rear end on that car was horrible as well, when we took the sway bar off the end links literally crumbled into a heap on the lift, its amazing stuff that rusty even holds half the time lol

[JoeliusZ28]

yea, im also glad I have a southern car.

but i know exactly how you feel - I am CONSTANTLY fighting rust on my truck and although I am keeping it at bay, it is a full time job. But i like having a truck that looks nice and new, if i didnt take care of it it would probably have rust on the bottom of the doors, and the rear bumper would be shot for sure had i not taken it off and painted the inside.

[Kwazrollinz28]

Brian i have that same exact hole in my wheel well all i did was cleaned it up and bondo'd it and painted over it, now my passenger side is like that hahahaha, hey its a michigan car but Hell We'll all get our cars nice one day.

[DETROITMUSCLE]

Looks like a good thing you are removing the valvecovers again, a couple of those rocker arms are on a bit on an angle. Make sure you try and hold them centered on the valve when you retorque them again because you can dmage them if they are way off like that.

[meissen]

I'm pretty sure they're on an angle because my dad and I were trying to see if we could squeeze a socket in there to loosen the head bolts. But, that brings up a good discussion point:

Even though Joel's diagram shows 1995 are NOT TTY, we're going to be removing the roller rockers and redoing the head bolts with the ARP bolts because we torqued the bolts down using TTY specs. Frustrating because now we'll have to redo the valve lash all over again, but we can't get the socket wrench in there with the rockers in the way.

[BP_Z28]

no one likes set backs

[Phantom409]

Ya, you need to remove the rockers to do head bolts and then redo the rocker arms.

[meissen]

Damn I hate the nickel and dime stage!

Power Steering Reservoir and Throttle Cable through Merollis thanks to Angie - $65
Ordered new emergency brake cables on eBay - $60

Went to Murrays and bought 7 quarts of NON-SYNTHETIC oil, two gallons of coolant, a bottle of power steering fluid, two Grade 8 bolts, nuts, and locking washers for the lower control arms, plastic fasteners for the fender liner, U-joint, power steering pressure hose, power steering return hose, ...and I think that's it. $175

Spark wires (I don't know if I got plugs with them... I foolishly never even mentioned the plugs to him) from a guy on LS1Tech that custom makes the plug wires to the correct length that I wanted - OTVC set plus an additional 4" per wire to accommodate the Canton valve covers. $108

[Boost Addict]

You're going to adjust the valves while the car is running, arn't you?

[kammi10]

i was just going to ask that... u need to actually set the vavles when the car is running not when its just sitting there.. and yes it will get a little messy

[meissen]

You're going to adjust the valves while the car is running, arn't you?

i was just going to ask that... u need to actually set the vavles when the car is running not when its just sitting there.. and yes it will get a little messy

That goes against pretty much everything I've read online about valvelash adjustment? It's a hydraulic cam with poly locks. Hand tightening the roller rocker down until the nut bottoms out and you're at zero lash. Adjust for preload and tada you're done with the initial adjustment. Let it run for awhile and then readjust accordingly.

[sman]

Brian, if your doing head bolts that means your re torquing the head correct? Which means the head gasket is being uncompressed. Therefore you need new head gaskets as well. Nows a good time for those gaskets you and joel talked about, impala gaskets or something?

O, and the nickel and dime stage BLOWS! I think im finally about done with that. I seriously have to have a good 500 in little shit like that, probably more.