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    Results 21 to 40 of 112
    1. #21
      Join Date
      Aug 2014
      Posts
      435
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by LT1C1500 View Post
      Your gaskets should be ok, I wouldn't sweat it.

      I've dealt with the same neighbor issues before, but I don't live in an HOA situation like I'm assuming you do.
      Nope. No HOA here. Even the cops are cool when they have to come out. They get it, but technically I'm in the wrong. But they never came out until the complaints started. They told me that if it runs under it's own power, and is plated and insured there's nothing they can do. But, yeah, if the complainant had spoken to me like an adult I'd have worked with them. Now...it's going to be ugly and loud for a while. lol

      Jay



    2. #22
      Join Date
      Aug 2014
      Posts
      435
      Country Flag: United States
      Got my oil pan and motor mounts tonight. Yay!

      Jay

    3. #23
      Join Date
      Aug 2014
      Posts
      435
      Country Flag: United States
      Trans crossmember came on Thursday (after some weirdness with tracking).

      OK. I picked up a 91+ Chrome Blazer grille at the junk yard last weekend for $25. Not sure I'll keep it, but I can use it for mock up anyway.



      Then I started off by trying to get the exhaust manifolds off the 6.0...and got 6 of 8. A couple of them I had to hammer smaller sockets on and they still didn't want to come off. I picked up a couple of 1/2 nuts that I'll probably weld on to the 2 remaining bolts and take them off that way. Fingers crossed.

      Then I went to unbolt the existing motor mounts and discovered something. The bolts just spun. Surprised they weren't captive nuts. I had to cut the bolts. Looks like I have to pull the front springs to go in through the bottom to bolt them in again. Yay.

      I pulled the front clip (by myself) and removed the engine compartment harness. I also pulled the heater box (engine compartment side) so I can clean some stuff up.



      More to come tomorrow...

      Jay

    4. #24
      Join Date
      Aug 2014
      Posts
      435
      Country Flag: United States
      I tried to post an update, and it deleted all my photo tags.

    5. #25
      Join Date
      Aug 2014
      Posts
      435
      Country Flag: United States
      OK, wanted to get the engine mounts in. So I cleaned up the motor mount pads with a flap disc and sprayed it with Krylon Maxx black satin. I let it dry so the area under the mounts would be protected. I'll clean and paint the rest of the frame later, but I had some things I needed to get done before that.










      After cutting the old motor mount bolts, I figured out the nuts weren't captive and I'd have to figure something out.
      I found a couple of old threads (1 on here) that basically said to drop the lower control arm and go in from underneath.
      That idea was more than I wanted to do....so this is how I did it (in about 45 minutes).

      I picked up some m10-1.25 Serrated Flange head bolts, M10 washers and M10-1.25 Flange nuts from Home Depot. (Grade 10.9) as well as a piece of 1/8" steel rod.

      I taped one of the bolts to the rod...actually more above the rod. I wrapped the tape around the head (but not so it went over the flange lip) and taped the crap out of it.



      And then fed it up from underneath. The top bolt hole on the passenger side went up through the spring pocket, but the rest had to go in from under the frame.









      Now I need to go weld some nuts on to the remaining exhaust manifold bolts and get them out. Once I get those off I need to clean the engine up some (its crusty as hell) before I start playing with getting it in place. I also want to test fit my headers to see if (where) I need to trim the trans ears for clearance.

      Not as much progress as I wanted. But Nothing ever goes as planned....

      Jay

    6. #26
      Join Date
      Aug 2016
      Posts
      33
      You got that right man. But you are making progress and that's all that matters

    7. #27
      Join Date
      Aug 2014
      Posts
      435
      Country Flag: United States
      Yeah, not as much as I'd like, but some. The weather wasn't really cooperating, since I had to work in the sun I was dying. So, I took some breaks...more than I wanted to, and then the Tigers vs. White Sox went into extra innings.

      I welded bolts onto the two remaining exhaust manifold bolts. One of them I had to do twice because the BOLT broke above my weld! But between welding a bolt on and using my 3 foot Snap-On breaker bar, I got them out without snapping them off in the head. So I was reasonably happy about that.

      Then 3 trips to Autozone and a trip to Harbor Freight later, I finally got the fan clutch off. The first Autozone kit I got as the big one and all the wrenches were way to big, took that back and got the small set that the internet said would work, but it was about 1/2 mm to big and would just round the corners of the nut off. So I took THAT one back...went and got a big crescent wrench from HF and got it off in about 5 minutes.

      I spent about a half an hour scraping all the loose scale and old loose paint and rust flakes off the engine block. I want to take the oil cooler lines off and then spray it down with engine cleaner and power wash it. I might shoot some paint on it just so it's clean. lol Probably next weekend.

      I've got a pretty busy week at work, so it probably won't happen til this weekend. Maybe I can figure out where to set my trans crossmember and pick up some 1/8" x 4" plate stock to make the mounts.

      I know there's a lot of opinions on setting pinion angle, but it seems quite a few people agree on +/- 3 degrees (Though I've seen as much as 10)
      So, do I take the angle off the slip yoke (say it's 5 degrees, for example) then see what the angle of the frame rail is (let's say -2 degrees) and subtract the frame rail angle from the slip yoke angle and that is my pinion angle at the transmission? I'll do some searching, but if that's close to what I need to know, that would be nice to know I have an idea how it works.

      I understand I'll probably have to adjust the pinion angle at the rear end later this way...but I don't want to work from the rear end I have now since I'll be changing to a different one later.

      Jay

    8. #28
      Join Date
      Aug 2014
      Posts
      435
      Country Flag: United States
      OK. I've been reading a bunch of threads regarding driveline angles. Now, I'm not going to run the stock 7.625 10 bolt that's in the truck now, but will move up to (probably) an 8.5 10 bolt with disc brakes. I assume I'll have to reorient the leave spring pads (if I stick with leafs) or go with a 3 link. A bunch of the articles say I should set my driveline angles with the frame set at ride height....

      I won't know my exact ride height for a while (dropped spindles/lowering springs/tall ball joints are the plan) or tire sizes either.

      Can I just set the frame to level (on jack stands/garage floor) set the engine/trans to 3 degrees down, and then compensate when I set up the rear end/suspension in the future?

      Trying to wrap my head around this stuff...

      Jay

    9. #29
      Join Date
      Aug 2014
      Posts
      435
      Country Flag: United States
      Also, I ordered my trans crossmember (96-98 Mustang) from LMR. I think something got crossed up with the tracking numbers:



      Consider that there is a 3 hr time difference between California and Michigan. So according to that, it got delivered, then got "arrival scanned" in Flint, MI 2 hrs later. lol

    10. #30
      Join Date
      Jul 2012
      Location
      Iowa
      Posts
      399
      Country Flag: United States
      Something that might be worth looking into is getting a 8.8 Ford explorer rear end. I can get one around here for $300 and they come in a few gear options with posi. One side is longer then the other, but you can cut that side down and use another axle from the other side and then the entire unit will bolt right in to an s10. Only draw back with that is then the entire rear end is 2" wider then stock or 1" wider per side. Just food for thought.
      Miles Boyer
      The car hobby is dangerous,if the speed doesn't kill you, the cost of parts will.
      91 V8 S10
      88 Cutlass Pro-Tour
      97 Chevy lifted Z-71
      96 Corvette

    11. #31
      Join Date
      Aug 2014
      Posts
      435
      Country Flag: United States
      Yeah, I'm aware of the Explorer swap. I was going to go with the 8.5" 10 bolt because a) same bolt pattern b) centered pumpkin and I plan to use Corvette wheels so I may actually want to use a ZR2 rear end, because a lot of people need spacers with the stock width rear end. With the ZR2 rear end it's 4" wider, so it shouldn't need spacers.

      Jay

    12. #32
      Join Date
      Aug 2014
      Posts
      435
      Country Flag: United States
      OK...more driveline angle questions...

      I've seen on some other threads that the carb mounting surface on many engines is typically angled so the carb is level when the engine/trans are at the appropriate angle. I'm going to run fuel injection (probably with a truck intake) but was wondering if the same thing applies to the valley cover on an LQ4?

      It might come down to putting a spacer between the transmission mount and the crossmember so that when I make my crossmember mount, I have both up and down (add or subtract spacers) adjustment.

      I got the welder set up last weekend (and used it to get the last 2 exhaust manifold bolts out) so I may play with it tomorrow if it doesn't rain.

      Jay

    13. #33
      Join Date
      Aug 2014
      Posts
      435
      Country Flag: United States
      Didn't get a lot done today, but I got the passenger seat mounts welded in. Got the holes I drilled in the floor filled back in. And cleaned the motor up some.











      Jay

    14. #34
      Join Date
      Aug 2014
      Posts
      435
      Country Flag: United States
      Wow. It's been almost a year since I've accomplished anything.

      Hoping to take a week off before the end of November, and get the engine/trans in the right end of the truck.

      Jay

    15. #35
      Join Date
      Sep 2011
      Location
      Southern Ontario
      Posts
      640
      Country Flag: Canada
      Keep at it. It took me a while but I got mine on the road.

    16. #36
      Join Date
      Aug 2014
      Posts
      435
      Country Flag: United States
      I used to keep telling myself "I'm not in a hurry." Now, I think I believe it. lol

      It will get on the road, no worries there, it's just going to take a while.
      If I can get the engine and trans bolted in the truck, I can work on the wiring harness over the winter (inside the house).
      Winter is my busy season, so hopefully I can pick up my radiator over the winter and get everything in the cab by spring.

      But I'm probably getting ahead of myself.

      Jay

    17. #37
      Join Date
      Mar 2017
      Posts
      9
      Where did you end up on the driveline angle stuff? I know it's important but I don't really know what I need to do with it on my build.

    18. #38
      Join Date
      Aug 2014
      Posts
      435
      Country Flag: United States
      I haven't touched it. I've been trying to get my car tuned for the double point MECA/IASCA (Car stereo sound quality) event this past weekend in Kentucky. Now that that's over, and it'll be a while before we have any more shows, I might be able to work on it for a few days before it gets cold. But we are losing people at work like crazy, so I don't even know if I'll be able to take my vacation time to do it.

      Jay

    19. #39
      Join Date
      Aug 2014
      Posts
      435
      Country Flag: United States
      My GF's brother has OI (Osteogenesis Imperfecta) and is wheel chair bound. His bones are very brittle and brake easy. (Like a hard cough, or shaking hands with the bouncer at the bar easy) About 2 weeks ago, he took a spill in his wheelchair and was in the hospital (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) for 2 weeks+ and just came home. My GF will need to be pretty much right by his side (She's his full time caregiver) for about the next 3 months.

      I've gotten extremely bored since they were in the hospital, so I started getting motivated to work on my truck again.

      So, I started by cleaning the garage so I had access to the important stuff (Engine hoist, welder, propane heater...also tablesaw and router table) and room to work.

      Before:

      IMG_20171115_122016403_HDR by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

      After:

      IMG_20171119_200413488 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

      Had to put it away before the neighbors call the cops again. But hope to pull it back out Wednesday (day off), get the engine out of the bed, oil pan swapped, oil pump girdle installed and engine/trans into the truck. Then I can work on the trans crossmember.

      Currently trying to decide how I want to do my wire tuck (think I have it figured out), watching videos about LS Harness standalone conversions (more to get ideas than how to wire things) and stuff. I'm feeling pretty motivated.

      I figure once I have the engine in the truck, I can figure out harness routing, and I can do the harness wiring and shave the truck intake in the house where it isn't less than 35 degrees.

      We'll see how it goes...

      Jay

      (In an effort to catch up, I'm cutting and pasting from another forum)

      OK, well, I didn't have Wednesday off because of Thanksgiving. So I pushed the S10 out into the driveway (suck it, neighbors!) took the engine out of the bed, and brought it into the garage.

      Removed the oil pan, windage tray and pickup and swapped them for the new ones I got in the kit from Current Performance. This engine is DEEEIRTAY. The inside was BLACK. There was some Cafe Au Lait colored sludge in the bottom of the pan. Looks like a bit of a coolant leak.

      My plan is to put it together, figure out all the fun things like wire routing, etc. Get it running (with open exhaust...suck it MORE, neighbors!) lol, then blow it back apart and pretty it up. When I get to that point I plan to rebuild the motor anyway.

      Here's my pile of parts so far:

      LH8 (Hot Rod/H3/Colorado) Oil pan kit, with windage tray, pickup, pan and dipstick...(Oh, my old dipstick tube broke off flush with the block when I tried to remove it, so I'll have to pull the pan again)

      My BRP Hot Rods oil pickup tube girdle (not shown)

      IMG_20171123_121832643 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

      and my Stiffler's Mustang trans crossmember that I'm going to try and use.

      IMG_20171123_121705797 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

      Dirty stock windage tray.

      IMG_20171123_165412121 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

      200k+ mile 6.0 that looks like it was submerged. lol

      IMG_20171123_145244287 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

      Stock oil pan.

      IMG_20171123_165401383 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

      New Oil pan and stuff on dirty engine. lol

      IMG_20171123_181148893 by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

      Now, one problem with buying things WAY in advance of actually using it, is you can lose stuff. Like I did.
      Like the Engine mount bolts. Of course.

      Anyone happen to know what size they are? I'm using Current Performance urethane mounts. I think my local Autozone carries them, just need to know what to get so I can put the engine in on Sunday (hopefully).

      I also had the engine slip on the chain today, so that prompted me to buy a lift plate, since it will have to come in and out a few times.

      Jay

    20. #40
      Join Date
      Aug 2012
      Location
      san diego
      Posts
      179
      Country Flag: United States
      Check out lt1swap.com for sime info on harnesses. Made my swap real easy. If you habe the manifold in the house you can use it to mock your harness around for layout.

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