chandler said:Mmm, that dodge.... And the corvette is cool as well.
LOL.. I swear, the Dodge gets more attention than the Vette, at least out in the sticks. I get offers to buy it every time it goes somewhere.
chandler said:Mmm, that dodge.... And the corvette is cool as well.
LOL.. I swear, the Dodge gets more attention than the Vette, at least out in the sticks. I get offers to buy it every time it goes somewhere.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step blah blah something something..
The Vette is back in its natural habitat, on the lift with the wheels off. Hope to make regular progress now.
Progress? I suppose...
The entire drivetrain and suspension is down on two carts. I figured out the last time around that this is by far the easiest way to drop the engine. You can leave the entire wiring harness and all accessories, the supercharger, intake, etc. on it. Remove the radiator, the headers, pull the oil/coolant/AC/brake lines. Then you have to disconnect about 5 connectors on the harness at the ECU and body harness below the fuse box, pull one connector from the bottom of the fuse box, a few random things (like e-brake cables and some random grounds that I always find after it's halfway in the air) and it all drops out the bottom.
Any update on the build? I wish someone would make the powersteering setup for the ls9. Pretty insane no one has stepped up.
In reply to ALTRDTA :
Sorry, just saw this.. if this forum has notifications for new posts on a thread, I apparently don't have 'em on. :-)
The car started again today. Of course it has at least 3 new issues to fix before it can stay running for any length of time. The most serious issue is shown here: I put new Hinson motor mounts on when I had the drivetrain out, and they are 3/8" shorter than stock. Now the crank pulley and supercharger belt are rubbing on the crossmember. I'm going to put some 3/8" pucks under them to get them back up to stock height and hopefully resolve this. Then I need to fix about the 5th fuel leak, and find a way to connect the oil pressure sensor I forgot to plug in, which is buried behind the blower, and...
Anyway, progress. I've done a fair amount of work on the car, I'll try to put more detail later. It has a giant water tank, pump and plumbing for the intercoolers now; that's what all of the hoses on top up front are for. I'd like to make some custom manifolds to neaten this up, something like the stock ZR1 casting that combines the inlets/outlets but bigger. I went back to an air cooled oil cooler and ditched the ZR1 water cooled one. Remade the power steering hard line to get it out of the way of #1 plug. Reloomed some of the harness and put more heat protection on it. Wired a box with switches for the water and fuel pumps so I can run them with the car off. The flex fuel sensor is in and wired, etc. etc.
I smelled burning rubber... and not in a good way
Grinding away on the crossmember
In the process of wiring the pump controllers and switches. I started putting this stuff on the hatch floor and decided screw that, I'm gonna put it all in a box with Deutsch connectors and labels so I don't have to connect and troubleshoot it all while crawling around in the hatch.
Still needs wire loom and grommets.
New oil cooler mount
Installed -- I cut the ends off of the factory Z06 oil cooler lines, brazed AN fittings on them, and used short lengths of AN hose to the cooler. I think if I had this to do over I'd bend some hard lines from the cooler inboard, cut the factory hard lines where they transition to hose, and get a local hydraulic shop to connect them with new hose. Would've been simpler.
Fired the DIYZR1 up again today. 80 lbs of oil pressure cold, nothing blew up or caught on fire, at least immediately.
Made some 3/8" spacers and put them under the motor mounts, now the balancer and blower belt clear the cradle. Last fuel leak was a E36 M3ty Amazon -8AN to -10 ORB fitting, so I bought some more and changed it, no leaks now. The last issue noted from firing it a week or so ago was that I hadn't plugged the oil pressure sensor in. Doh! Let me tell you, it is impossible to reach that thing with human arms, anyway. You can't take the supercharger lid off with the motor in the car either, the cowl lip blocks the bolts in back.
OK, we're down to hackery...
Screw you GM, I have an angle grinder!
There it is...
The cowl/wiper piece covers up the cut piece. I'm not losing any sleep.
If that blower were shaped differently, I learned a way to easily get at the back of the engine from a Magnusson supercharger install booklet. It's a similar setup where the upper lid attaches with bolts buried under the cowl, but it seems like that supercharger setup is smaller than what you are working with.
Unbolt the front subframe bolts and then thread them back in a couple turns. The leaf spring will hold the crossmember up, so then you wedge the crossmember away from the frame with chunks of wood. Now you can snake a hand back there, maybe.
You only get an inch or two but that can be the difference between access or not.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
That's a good tip! I actually had the cradle loose and lowered, and I tried getting back there then, to no avail. That's how I got spacers under the motor mounts; I dropped the cradle, took the nuts off the engine mounts, and lifted the engine up to give myself a gap to slide them in. The cradle doesn't come down a lot unless you take the upper A arms loose from the frame. If I'd done that maybe I'd have been able to get in there.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:If that blower were shaped differently, I learned a way to easily get at the back of the engine from a Magnusson supercharger install booklet. It's a similar setup where the upper lid attaches with bolts buried under the cowl, but it seems like that supercharger setup is smaller than what you are working with.
Unbolt the front subframe bolts and then thread them back in a couple turns. The leaf spring will hold the crossmember up, so then you wedge the crossmember away from the frame with chunks of wood. Now you can snake a hand back there, maybe.
You only get an inch or two but that can be the difference between access or not.
I did something similar on my supercharged jag; Swapped the subframe bolts with all thread/nuts and just lowered the whole thing a few inches. Kept everything lined up and smooth.
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