<Project> 1998 Trans Am Upgrades

[Schuby87]

Ready to go back in tomorrow!

[meissen]

Looks good!

[Schuby87]

I got the swap finished up today! If I had to do it again, I would find a helper for putting the rear end back in to place. Centering the rear end and rotating it back and forth to get the torque arm lined up was a bit tough with one person. I replaced all the bushings with Moog bushings and the suspension feels a lot tighter. The two black marks in front of my house tell me the limited slip is working!

[meissen]

Hahaha awesome dude - happy to hear it's working out for ya!

[Schuby87]

Shitty update - after going on an easy cruise, the car was idling in the street as I was helping a friend unload some stuff out of the hatch and in to his garage. Walking up to the car it smelled like something was hot/burning. I drove down the street and as I came to a stop a big burnt oil exhaust cloud caught up to me. Shit. I drove it another block and pulled in to the garage. I grabbed a screw driver and put it up to the valve cover and didn't hear anything abnormal. Today I pulled the valve covers hoping to see if I could see anything abnormal. Rockers/springs/pushrods look fine but I can't see the valve seals to see if one is pulled off. So I did the next easiest thing, pulled the plugs on the drivers side. The first 3 look fine but the 4th was oily and wet...



The compression check on that cylinder was 190 psi where the others were around 210. So I'm thinking the next step is going to be to pull the rockers and the spring on that cylinder so check the valve seal. Any thoughts on this? Am I headed in the right direction?

[Boost Addict]

Does it smoke at start up? Valve seal oil burning usually occurs at start up from the oil running down the valve and into the cylinder.

[Schuby87]

It didn't smoke at start up previously but I haven't started it since that night.

Since the compression check came back ok, what else besides valve seals would cause oil to be in the cylinder? Head gasket?

[meissen]

for ya - I would thought head gasket would mean coolant too but I'm not familiar with LS blocks.

[Schuby87]

for ya - I would thought head gasket would mean coolant too but I'm not familiar with LS blocks.

Yeah I think the same thing - just reaching for ideas. The oil and coolant both look good, no contamination.

I pulled the plugs and the passenger side and they all look good. Compression check was good on those cylinders too.

Looks like I'm going to have to check out the cylinder that had the oily plug. Next step will be to pull the rockers and spring.

[JoeliusZ28]

It didn't smoke at start up previously but I haven't started it since that night.

Since the compression check came back ok, what else besides valve seals would cause oil to be in the cylinder? Head gasket?

Worn piston rings can cause burning oil and reduced compression. Seems unlikely that it would happen all at once to one cylinder though, id be checking valves first.

[Schuby87]

&lt;Project&gt; 1998 Trans Am Upgrades

I finally got this fiasco figured out. I pulled all the valve springs to check out the valve seats (which was a real pain using Tim's tool with the heads installed) but they all looked and felt fine. So I was going to bite the bullet and pull the heads but when I started pulling the intake off I noticed a puddle of oil in the throttle body. From there I started pulling everything PCV related off. The catch can was full of oil! To the point of it not even sloshing when I shook it. Upon further inspection, I had the inline PCV valve installed the wrong way. So it was staying open at idle with high manifold vacuum and sucking oil in to the catch can. Which would make sense since this first occurred at a drive away from an extended idle.

I cleaned the intake, installed the PCV system properly, and took it for a drive to get all the remaining oil out of the intake. Afterwards it was idling a little rough and chugging so I changed the plugs which were not surprisingly nasty. I just got back from a drive with the new plugs and everything looks, smells, and feels good! Just in time to pack up the garage too.

[meissen]

Happy to hear that's all it was!!!

[DETROITMUSCLE]

I did the exact same thing, but I didn't drive mine enough to fill the catch can, sure did screw up the idle something fierce.

[Schuby87]

I took a road trip down to Dayton, OH this weekend to pick up the main parts required for a T56 swap. I still need to pick out a clutch and find a few small parts.



Facebook reminded me that I bought the car 8 years ago today. Lots of changes since then.

[JoeliusZ28]

Had no idea you had plans of doing that, but thats awesome!