'93 Formula "Sleeper"

[OIF1VET]

My suggestion would be to Not install the taylor otvc wires. Not necessary and my taylor wires conducted energy just about everywhere but the spark plug.

I, also, ran Taylor wires. JUNK...

[JoeliusZ28]

I have three sets of aftermarket wires, all of the "performance" variety, I'll take a look at what I have. If the Taylor's are as bad as you say, I'll have to see what else I have.

Why do you need performance wires? Get yourself a fresh set of ac Delcos. They may be hard to come by nowadays but they are the best by far. Even for performance. Do you have headers? If longtubes, you don't even need mounting looms.... Just route and zip tie them to the motor mounts. That's how mine have been for 10k miles and the install took 15 minutes. Keep the simple things simple.

[93formulalt1]

Why do you need performance wires? Get yourself a fresh set of ac Delcos. They may be hard to come by nowadays but they are the best by far. Even for performance. Do you have headers? If longtubes, you don't even need mounting looms.... Just route and zip tie them to the motor mounts. That's how mine have been for 10k miles and the install took 15 minutes. Keep the simple things simple.

I do have headers. Probably just going to use one of the sets I have, no point in buying another set when I have three sets that are in like new condition. I was going to use the wire looms to clean things up a bit, they actually look really nice routed that way on the valve covers I have. As long as the MSD wires are better than the Taylor's, I'll be in good shape.

[93formulalt1]

Installed the UMI torque arm, definitely made a noticeable difference. Slightly more vibration than before, but I'm not complaining.

Next up is replacing the heads, I'll be ordering some parts on Friday after I get paid, most likely lifters, valve springs, valve stem seals, and new head bolts. I'm going to drive the car to work today, and if it makes it, I'll be bringing it to Baker's on Sunday. If it gives me any trouble, I'll have to bring the Malibu again.

I just wish I had the cash to get the parts ordered now for overnight delivery, then take tomorrow off work to get the heads swapped.

[93formulalt1]

Getting several paychecks over the next several days. . . One came last night, two more on Tuesday. After I make my car payment and pay the utility bills next week, I'll place the order for lifters, valve springs/locks/retainers, and valve seals. Once all that is here, I'll get the heads thrown together w/ the 1.6RR's, take it over to a buddies house, and we'll get the heads swapped over. New gaskets, fix the exhaust leak, and replace the O2 sensor that got chewed up (again) by some critter while my car was parked, and it should be back to 100% mechanically. Then I can get started on the rust repair.

I'm still planning to take the car to to body shop for the rust repair, but I will be doing the prep and paint work myself. Not sure when I'll get that done, but I'm hoping that selling off all of my spare parts will help with costs. I noticed some surface rust on the bottom of the floor pans when I was under the car installing the torque arm, so I'll be pulling the carpet and seats to check the inside. I'm lucky this car is a hardtop, because if it weren't, my floor pans would be GONE.

Im going to go with some honeycomb style tails that will be receiving the Akodo treatment and a light coat of tint, and Mike will probably also be working on a similar project for my corner lights as well. For appearance, I'm going to stick with the 98+ stock "twisted spoke" bird wheels I have already, with new tires. Maybe later on down the line I'll find the silver WS6 wheels I want, but until then, I'm sticking with what I have.


Ill share pictures of the progress as it happens, the car has been driven very little lately, I've been swamped with work for the past several weeks, so wrench time is very hard to find.

Im taking a day or two off for the head swap though, so maybe I can use that time to get some more wrenching done. Who knows what'll happen, I dont plan that far in advance anymore. Haha

[93formulalt1]

Installed ANOTHER new O2 sensor, the car idled smoothly for about 10 minutes, then for some reason, it started idling rough again. I'm thinking the wire may have broken again, when I tried disconnecting the wire for the sensor from the harness, the pigtail on the harness pulled right off the wire. I wound up having to connect the new sensor directly to the wire, which was not how I wanted to go about it.

I also pulled the passenger side header and replaced the header gasket. The spark plug threads are shot for at least one plug on each head. I'll be pulling the heads and intake on Tuesday, and assuming my paychecks arrive on time, I'll be getting the parts ordered by Wednesday. I may even go all-out and have everything sent overnight or 2nd day, so I can take one more day off to put the car back together.

After the heads are done, Ben and I will be pulling all of the stock suspension off the front of the 'bird in favor of the tubular pieces. After everything's swapped, it's going to Brighton for an alignment (can't find anyone locally who can align a fully-adjustable suspension setup w/ heim joints). I will be taking it to the body shop in the coming weeks as well, to get an estimate for all of the rust repair that is needed, and likely to quote new quarter panels as well. The floor pans will be fine with a few small patch panels, but I think the quarter panels would be easier to replace than it would be to repair them.

At the rate things are going, I'm hoping to have the engine repairs and suspension replacement done in under a month. I would like to be able to drive it after all the work is done at least once before I send it to the body shop this winter.



On a side note, I'm still looking for a set of silver painted 17" WS6 wheels, if anyone knows where I could score a decent deal on a set, PLEASE let me know!

[93formulalt1]

I am getting ready to order the parts I need to get this project rolling, and I need to know what pushrod length checker I need, I see a bunch that range in sizes, I just need to know about what size I need.

[93formulalt1]

Ordered most of the parts I need last night, including LT4 valve springs, locks, and retainers (all GM parts), lifters, LT4 knock module (someone on another site said it was cheap insurance), and viton valve stem seals. Should be here soon enough. Once everything is here, I'll gather my parts and take the whole project to a friend's house to get everything installed, including new plugs and wires.

Last night, I replaced two tail lamp sockets to repair an issue I was having with the right side turn signals (sockets rusted out, bulbs didn't work if headlights were on), re-attached my rear view mirror, and repaired a loose connection on my right side headlight.

It was a little more expensive than I thought it would be (I've already spent about $500 on parts since I got the car running again), but in the end, everything will be worth it. Going to run the stock pushrods for now, since I didn't order the pushrod length checker with this batch of parts, but from what I've read, the length should only be off by about .050", so I should be alright until I can order the length checker and get the right length pushrods.

I remembered I still have a Detroit Locker sitting on my workbench awaiting install, so after the engine is back to 100%, I'll order some gears and have everything installed. Should wake up the car quite a bit.

[93formulalt1]

Wow. . . No responses from anyone but me in over 2 weeks. . . I guess I'm more boring than I thought I was! haha

Most of the parts I ordered have been shipped and should be here by Thursday, with the exception of the valve spring locks, as they weren't an in-stock item, they will be drop-shipped from GM, so I'm thinking maybe Monday I'll have everything gathered and ready to start swapping parts.

I'm going to flush the coolant system and change the fluids next week as well. New tires will be the next big purchase, although I would like to find the silver WS6 wheels I want before I buy a set of new tires for my 16" stock wheels. . .

[93formulalt1]

After getting the O2 sensors wired back up, I seem to be having some idling issues. Car idles rough, but accelerates fine. I used a heavier gauge wire on the left O2 sensor, could that cause the issue?

[93formulalt1]

Everything but the valve spring locks arrived today, the locks are backordered until 8/23, so I'm going to cancel the order for them and see if I can find them elsewhere. Unless I can use the locks that are on the heads currently, which is something I was wondering about. Either way, the parts are GM parts, so I should logically be able to order them at the local dealership and have them in hand the next day.

Either way, once I get the last piece of the puzzle, it's all going to come together.

[OIF1VET]

I've been following along.. Just been to lazy to post..

[Formul8d]

I've been following along.. Just been to lazy to post..

Agreed!! Plus all the internal engine stuff is over my head. I've only done external engine mods. Bolt ons, turboes, superchargers. Still soaking all the information in about internal engine modifications.

Sent from my Pantech Breakout using Tapatalk

[s.reef]

Do 5th gen camaro wheels work? I have a set if 18" black steelies that would look sweet

[93formulalt1]

Do 5th gen camaro wheels work? I have a set if 18" black steelies that would look sweet

Price? Tires? They are taller overall by several inches, so I would have to go with stock springs or lower profile tires. The lug pattern is .65mm off as well, so I would need to drill out the hub, but I would be willing to give it a shot... PM me with details if you are serious about selling.