1996 Camaro Z28 LT1 Project

[alone_and_insane]

Yeah, I'm kind of worried about doing that with stock housings. Are there any decent options for either a) brighter or LED sealed beams, or b) sealed beam conversions?

[nascarnate326]

All I did is take the stock bulb out and put in a HID bulb from eBay. Not what you are supposed to do but I never got flashed or had any issues. The cheap bulbs burn out faster but what I do is buy two sets at a time so if one burns out I have a replacement.

[DanDalessandro]

I had Angel eyes in my car for a few months. Worked great, no problems. The only thing I didn't like was that there was an opening behind the lights. You could ignore the opening, or fab up something to put behind it. Here's a pic of them. Took about 30 min to install
uploadfromtaptalk1424813961157.jpg

[alone_and_insane]

Yeah, I've seen those angel eyes before, but personally I can't stand the round light in a square hole look

[hoogiesngrinderz]

Don't they sell HID bulbs with shields?

[DanDalessandro]

Site sponsor Eurolamps sells HID kits for $80 I think? If someone finds some, I need em because I think my lights are burnt out..

[alone_and_insane]

So I've got a question about piston rings. I got a set of Sealed Power rings from Summit, and they don't quite look the same as the ones currently on the pistons. As you can see, the new ones sort of have an up and down wave to them, whereas the other ones have kind of an in and out wave. Does it really make a difference, or is it basically two different ways of accomplishing the same thing with the same effectiveness?

[hoogiesngrinderz]

Just a different style of expander. I don't see an issue with reusing old ones as long as the oil control rings are the same.

[alone_and_insane]

So I just heard back from the machine shop, they said the valve guides on my heads are totally worn out. A complete valve job and the necessary repair work would cost upward of $900...looks like I need to start looking at another set of heads. SMH.....

[alone_and_insane]

Dropped off the heads at Livernois to be repaired/rebuilt today. I also dropped off the old rods/pistons to have the new pistons fitted. I should get everything back in a couple weeks.

[alone_and_insane]

So in case you didn't see in the Chit Chat thread, I went full crazy today:



Full tubular BMR front suspension with QA1 adjustable coilovers, all for $700. I think I got a heck of a deal, considering all that stuff together is more than twice that much new, and considering how difficult that stuff is to find for a reasonable price otherwise. It's all in very, very good condition, just needs to be cleaned up a bit to look pristine.

I also did some more work putting the engine together tonight. I don't remember if I said it here already, but I installed the two new pistons a few weeks ago, so it's now a V8 again! We got started putting the heads on finally. Here's a look at how they came back from Livernois:



They seriously look pretty much brand friggin new. Got one on:



and I discovered that head gaskets don't come in sets so I've got another one ordered

[alone_and_insane]

Buying car parts is so much easier than actually working on the car Purchased a set of weld-in SFCs today. Also looking at torque arms. I've got a lead on a brand new non-adjustable BMR full-length torque arm for $200 shipped. Regular price is $239 plus shipping. My question is, should I hold out for an adjustable one and/or a chassis mount one? My inclination is to say that going super fancy isn't worth it for this build (coming from the guy who just got full tubular front suspension )

[alone_and_insane]

Lots of progress this weekend! My parents were in town, so my dad and I spent a lot of time working on the engine. I'd say the only things left are installing the power steering pump (still attached to the steering rack) and some vacuum connections.



Next will be ordering a new rack and pinion, swapping the Bilsteins into the new front suspension (/removing the QA1s so I can sell them), installing the spindles, then it will be time to put the engine and the k-member together and get this thing together!

[alone_and_insane]

More progress, at last! Got the motor down on the k-member, trans is bolted up...just about ready to go in



The next thing I wanted to do before putting the engine back in was the fuel line relocation. I bought one of those stainless fuel line relocation kits in the group buy from EAA Engineering a while back. I was sort of looking at it and figuring out how to go about doing it, but it appears that the fittings are the wrong size. Do all LT1s have the two different size fuel lines? The kit only came with one size fitting, it doesn't fit at all on the bigger line.

[alone_and_insane]

I had quite the productive weekend!

Did some painting in the engine bay:





And finally, on Sunday afternoon I got the engine back in!





The ambitious plan is to get this thing back on the road in time to take it to my friend's wedding in Wisconsin, which is on June 11th. Now that the engine's in, I can really get cranking on getting everything connected and whatnot, especially now that I have a good heater setup in my garage.