[Project] My LS1 Reincarnation Thread

[LS1Formulation]

Well, I figured since I've gathered nearly all the parts for my rebuild, I should start a build thread. I call it my LS1 reincarnation, since my other one died and went to heaven, lol. I am short on pics so far, but I made a start on the beautification process today and got a pic. I decided to paint my block, valve covers, oil pan, and front cover Pontiac blue to pay homage to the great Pontiac engines of the 60's and 70's. That, and the bare alumimum look just doesn't do it for me unless it's aluminum heads. So far, I only got the valve covers done because my engine is down in Charlotte at a friends place because he has more equipment and tools to do a rebuild there. Here's a pic:



I'll post more pics as time goes on, including some of my fully CNC ported heads and flow data once I get them flowed

[97rs4life]

cool idea with the paint scheme. Different than most engines that you will see

[LSxDreamer]

Agreed on the color!

[Darren]

Sweet keep us posted and more pics!

[MP81]

I think it's a very cool idea to paint it Pontiac blue!

[DETROITMUSCLE]

I'm not diggin that blue, its gonna look way out of place with the NBM.

[Phantom409]

I like that color

Nice!

[78mali350]

very cool idea with the engine paint

[LS1Formulation]

My dumb ass forgot my camera on Weds, so I was unable to snap any pics of my shortblock going together, but I'll be going back this next weds and hopefully I can get some shots of it. I took some with my friends camera, but his internet is out, so I don't have any of them. For now here's a shot of my new motor mounts. My old ones were so shot that the rubber fell out of them when we drilled the rivets out, so getting some poly mounts was the order of the day. Amazingly enough, one of the only parts on my car that was rusty were the motor mounts, so I sandblasted them, primed them and added a couple coats of gloss black to make them look nice, even though no one will see them when they're in the car, lol:

[9T8W66]

I like the idea of paying homage to the Pontiacs of the past I was thinking of doing the same thing.

[s.reef]

Cool idea!

[LS1Formulation]

Major progress today! Got the cam degreed in, the shortblock assembled and painted, and because of what we found for clearance on the intake side with my new cam, the pistons all notched for clearance. Only had .055 clearance, so to be safe we cut about a .060 notch in the piston. Now I'm good to go! The best part is, I notched my pistons for FREE. Screw renting a tool for $200. My idea worked just as well and I can't believe more people haven't used it. I'm going to post a separate thread with pics on what we did. For now, here's some eye candy. I think it came out well. The heads were just set on the block for the purpose of pics:

[MP81]

Man - that block looks really cool painted up in the old Pontiac Blue.

Going to do the heads too, or no?

[LS1Formulation]

Nah, I like those to look aluminum... the only other things I am painting blue are my thermostat water outlet and my fuel rails. Otherwise it'll be WAY too much.

[MP81]

Yeah - I understand what you're saying. When it's in the car, I think it will look good with the bare aluminum.

Just looks weird with the whole engine sitting out.

Keep up the good work!!!