MTBSully's First Restomod: 1969 Camaro LS Build

[MTBSully]

Sealed up the longblock as best I could then degreased/power washed it.





Then got it stripped down to a shortblock. Cleaned the block deck with a razor blade and brake cleaner, and a few light passes on a sanding block with soap and water a 320 grit. Then I taped the whole thing up for paint.



Was thinking about going with a crazy color, but I find that once most LS motors are fully dressed you can't see the block anyways, so im just going to be painting it "aluminum" color. Still havent decided on a color theme for this car, but i'm leaning towards a metallic blue for some engine components and possibly the brake calipers. I always end up painting stuff blue but it just looks so good lol. Heres the forged LS in my 2008 corvette with a "Sonic Blue" (Ford Color) intake manifold.



Between metallic blue and a metallic orange with this car, but i'm really leaning towards the blue!

[syborg tt]

Sealed up the longblock as best I could then degreased/power washed it.



Then got it stripped down to a shortblock. Cleaned the block deck with a razor blade and brake cleaner, and a few light passes on a sanding block with soap and water a 320 grit. Then I taped the whole thing up for paint.



Was thinking about going with a crazy color, but I find that once most LS motors are fully dressed you can't see the block anyways, so im just going to be painting it "aluminum" color. Still havent decided on a color theme for this car, but i'm leaning towards a metallic blue for some engine components and possibly the brake calipers. I always end up painting stuff blue but it just looks so good lol. Heres the forged LS in my 2008 corvette with a "Sonic Blue" (Ford Color) intake manifold.



Between metallic blue and a metallic orange with this car, but i'm really leaning towards the blue!

That looks really nice

[Sinnister69]

It is but idt its farr off from stock
Go with a midmount you wont be dissapointed

[MTBSully]

Just ordered all my cam and engine "refresh" stuff. BTR stage 4 cam and supporting valvetrain. Need to pull the trigger on some headers today or tomorrow and i'm leaning towards speed engineering at the moment. For the price, I could always modify to fit if I have to.

[Sinnister69]

I had a speedtech stage 3 cam make sure u have good valve to piston clearance

[jaybee]

That's a great color. It reminds me of Ford Corporate Blue used 19661973 but with the depth and quality of a top coat.

[MTBSully]

Next video is up:




Longblock parts piling up


Block taped off for primer and paint


Fresh coat of "aluminum"


Stock cam, timing components and oil pump are out, BTR stage 4 going in


New cam in along with new timing chain, ARP cam bolts, cam retainer plate and cam gear.


Took advantage of the beautiful weather yesterday and went to town cleaning engine parts with the power washer and degreaser. Heads came out great. Also painted a lot of my accessories. Ready to get the longblock together.


Forgot to grab a pic but also got the holley 302-2 pan all mocked up, windage tray modified and installed and sealed up with a new WIX filter. Tonight i'll be popping the new LS7 lifters and trays into the shortblock.

Hoping to finish up the longblock in the next day or so, and may get to work test fitting the engine in the bay. Would like to mark out where i'll need to notch the subframe and get to work on that as well.

[MTBSully]

Freshly painted accessories and valley cover.



Shortblock finished up. New LS7 lifters and trays in. Valley cover painted and installed with new gaskets.



Hoping to finish up the heads tonight including new BTR platinum valve springs and seals. Pop those on with new GM LS3 head gaskets and GM bolts and we should have a completed longblock.

I'd also like to test fit the motor to figure out a plan for AC. I am thinking the OEM alternator and bracket may be too big to fit down low, even with notching the subframe which I plan to do. I'd like to get my AC bracket and alternator bracket on order if I end up needing them.

[ryeguy2006a]

Looks great man! Keep up the progress.

Not trying to make more work for you, but do you ever plan to add boost? If you do, I'd suggest pulling out the pistons and gapping the rings now and using a set of LS9 head gaskets. That's what I did for my L92 and LSA. Opening up the rings slightly won't hurt the performance by any measurable amount, but gives you a greater tuning window when you add boost and timing. Word around the internet is that the rod bolts are TTA, not TTY and can be re-torqued 3 times before they should be replaced. I opted to just get a brand new set of GM rod bolts and called it a day. Will save you lots of effort down the road if you do it while you are at this stage.

If no boost is in your future, proceed as you were and forget I said anything. haha

[MTBSully]

Looks great man! Keep up the progress.

Not trying to make more work for you, but do you ever plan to add boost? If you do, I'd suggest pulling out the pistons and gapping the rings now and using a set of LS9 head gaskets. That's what I did for my L92 and LSA. Opening up the rings slightly won't hurt the performance by any measurable amount, but gives you a greater tuning window when you add boost and timing. Word around the internet is that the rod bolts are TTA, not TTY and can be re-torqued 3 times before they should be replaced. I opted to just get a brand new set of GM rod bolts and called it a day. Will save you lots of effort down the road if you do it while you are at this stage.

If no boost is in your future, proceed as you were and forget I said anything. haha

Thanks!

Boost is a possibility down the road, but If i went that route i'd scrap the LS3 all together and use the LC9 5.3 aluminum short block I have in my shed. The 5-7K i could probably get for a cammed/refreshed LS3 would go a long way in building a stout 5.3 that could probably handle 1200-1500HP. Thats basically the motor in my vette!

[MTBSully]

BTR .660 platinum spring kit and new valve seals installed, Titanium retainers.



Once the heads were dont i gave the mating surfaces a final wipedown, slapped on the head gaskets and bolted them down with OEM style TTY head bolts in 3 passes. Shortblock --> longblock. Even gave thefront of the heads a quick polish for ****s and giggles.


Hoping to drop it in and do some test fitment tonight. My speed engineering headers showed up as well so i can bolt those up and check fitment.

[ryeguy2006a]

Very curious about the fitment of the speed engineering headers. I was eyeing those too. Did you go with 1 7/8" version?

[MTBSully]

Yes I went with the 1 7/8" primaries.

Bolted them up last night just to see how they look. Slapped the intake and valve covers on just to see, ever though the intake is going to be painted and i'll be going with aftermarket valve covers, looks pretty good!

[MTBSully]

Shes in. Slid right in with the holley mounts. Passengers header slides right in. Drivers side i think i should have put on while the motor was in the air. I'll mess with it more later. Just wanted to see where I was at with clearance for alternator and accessories.



Going to order up an ICT billet alternator bracket since the 2010 camaro one is nowhere close to fitting. Same thing with AC bracket, going with dirty dingo and probably mini sanden compressor. Time to start cutting and welding

[Gmc427]

Shes in. Slid right in with the holley mounts. Passengers head slides right in. Drivers side i think i should have put on while the motor was in the air. I'll mess with it more later. Just wanted to see where I was at with clearance for alternator and accessories.



Going to order up an ICT billet alternator bracket since the 2010 camaro one is nowhere close to fitting. Same thing with AC bracket, going with dirty dingo and probably mini sanden compressor. Time to start cutting and welding

car has stock sub ,earlier pic has aftermarket?

[andrewb70]

Good looking build and nice attention to details. Let me know if I can be of service with the Holley EFI tuning.

Andrew

[MTBSully]

car has stock sub ,earlier pic has aftermarket?

Stock subframe. ridetech tubular control arms and swaybar.

Good looking build and nice attention to details. Let me know if I can be of service with the Holley EFI tuning.

Andrew

Thanks!

[ryeguy2006a]

That's great man! What accessories will you be using? If you use anything tighter to the block than truck/L99 accessories, you'll need to notch the frame. Right now I'm running the CTS-V which run at the Corvette depth and even with my large notch, I had to get very creative to get my low mount alternator to work right. I haven't been able to find a good option for a low mounted AC compressor that will not interfere with the Holley engine mounts without either modifying the mounts or running the AC at the main accessory depth.

How low to the headers hang? Can you please post up some pictures? If these will fit with relatively little modifications, I'm going to pick up a set for my car. Everything I could see based on measurements the company provided and that I could take shows that they will tuck up nicely.

PM on the way.

[MTBSully]

That's great man! What accessories will you be using? If you use anything tighter to the block than truck/L99 accessories, you'll need to notch the frame. Right now I'm running the CTS-V which run at the Corvette depth and even with my large notch, I had to get very creative to get my low mount alternator to work right. I haven't been able to find a good option for a low mounted AC compressor that will not interfere with the Holley engine mounts without either modifying the mounts or running the AC at the main accessory depth.

How low to the headers hang? Can you please post up some pictures? If these will fit with relatively little modifications, I'm going to pick up a set for my car. Everything I could see based on measurements the company provided and that I could take shows that they will tuck up nicely.

PM on the way.

Using the stock 2010 camaro accessory spacing which I beleive is the same as the truck/L99 spacing. ICT billet alternator bracket and 105 Amp alternator will be here tomorrow so I can test fit those. AC bracket shortly after that. I'll try to get some pictures of the headers all mounted up shortly.

[MTBSully]

New video is up!



Waiting on those accessory brackets which should be here today, so in the meantime I got going on the fuel system. Tanks Inc 1969 tank with notched corners. Just in case I decide to do mini-tubs and big tires in the future (probably). FiTech fuel pump module with 340lph pump, new sending unit, and a summit fuel pump relay kit. Just waiting on one 6AN fitting and I can make some fuel lines up to the firewall.