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I'm a late model GM guy, specifically anything LS powered. I have had all kinds of LS powered cars over the last 15ish years and have been accumulating parts and knowledge over that time. I'm far from an expert, but wanted to do a swap in something old.
I was inspired by Vice Grip Garage (Youtuber who does revivals) last year to find a big body GM sedan. The oldest car I've ever owned to date was an '87 Cutlass with a 455 swap, so I was excited to find a mostly-solid '75 98 close to home, hiding in a barn for who knows how long. It was last inspected in 2009, no battery, rotted off exhaust, cracked header panel, missing some trim, cracked tail light/missing bezel, and tweaked rear bumper. Also all 4 tires were different and some were even bias ply lol. The top is rough and I can clearly see there are some spots on the roof that are rusted. With a battery, it started on old gas and idled rough. I did a quick peak of the underside, looking for holes in the floor or rotten sections of the frame. It all looked pretty good. Interior had some sun fade but overall not bad. It had that musty basement smell and some old mold, but the seller had a few large bags of desiccant inside to keep it dry. No water damage or anything.
The car had around 109k at the time of purchase. 455, th400 (I guess it's considered a th375 but whatever - maybe someone can chime in and fact check), "12 bolt" Olds rear with a 8.5" carrier and *I think* 2.56s, but dont quote me on the gear ratio as I did not verify. But explains why the engine barely breathes at 60mph.
Anyway, the car came out of the barn and driven up on my buddy's trailer. To my surprise, it fit haha. When I saw the car on the trailer, I immediately fell in love with it.
Loaded up on the trailer Another view showing how massive this unit is.
I got the car home and unloaded, to my surprise it was idling a bit better but still needed some TLC. The next morning, I putted it around my house/shop and aside from the ghastly interior smell, it seemed like a solid car. Time to buy some parts!
I also found that the driver side front power window did not work and there was a parasitic draw. Looking at the car overnight, I found one interior light stayed on but later found there is still a draw somewhere.
I was using a borrowed Napa battery from my Trans Am so went out and picked up a rather large and overkill Deka at the local parts store. I found the cheapest whitewalls I could find on ebay. $320 shipped for a set of Nexen 235/75/15s.
Here was my parts list:
- Deka battery
- Tires
- (8) NGK 4536 plugs
- UMP tune up kit - cap, rotor, wires
- AC Delco fuel filter
- cheapo inline fuel filter
- Wix air filter
- Mahle air cleaner gasket
- assorted glass fuses
- ebay passenger tail light lens
- ebay driver side power window motor (didn't even troubleshoot it up to this point, just went on a whim)
- Motorad thermostat/housing/filter
- Dayco upper/lower rad hoses
- reel of hose for the heater core
- Wix 51258 oil filter
- I had some Rotella oil on the shelf that I ended up using
- Felpro rubber valve cover gaskets
- Trico 18" wipers
- Wix TH400 filter kit - although the trans didn't have a filter...
- Napa trans fluid I had on the shelf
- Dayco serpentine belts - PS 15450, Alt 15585, AC 15645
- parts store diff fluid
I did not yet flush the coolant and install the rad hoses, but everything else went on. Well, except the diff fluid. I snapped off 3 bolts off the rear cover and called it forever fluid until it's time to break out the torch and do some extraction. Also kind of weird that the rebuilt trans didn't have a filter to replace. Maybe someone can enlighten me on this.
The next bunch of pics were in between installing stuff. I had to take pictures for my insurance company. $80/year to insurance this rocket haha.
First items that showed up Picture sent to insurance lol Picture sent to insurance lol Picture sent to insurance lol Picture sent to insurance lol Picture sent to insurance lol Picture sent to insurance lol
While the car was on my lift, I lathered up the underside with Fluid Film Black. At the time, my part time auto detail and undercoating businesses were going strong (I had closed shop a few months after due to changing jobs and wanting more time at home being a Dad). PA winters are harsh and this old girl has been around a long time. I'd like to keep it around for a while longer.
This right here is the passenger flood and the worst part on the underside. It is soft and will eventually need fixed.
Next up was a bath. This car was disgusting. Cat prints, bird bombs, dust, could barely see through the glass, NASTY carpet. I did my usual wash process - started with a sudsy foam prewash to help loosen up any dirt, plus it looks cool haha. I then followed with a 2-bucket hand wash. A quick rinse showed this car cleaned up pretty well! For the interior, I did a thorough vacuum, cleaned door jams and plastics, steam cleaned any sign of old mold, specifically in the back seat area. Then ran an ozone machine in the car for 24 hours to help remove any additional smell.
I know, old tires are still on the car in these pics.... hang in there.
This post is just a picture and video dump. Sorry, things may be a little out of order but I'll do my best to keep the timeline consistent. Also, I failed to take some pictures throughout the process.
I was talking for a week or two with a custom console guy in one of the Facebook groups. I sent these two pics to him. Do yourself a favor and never deal with those clowns. It's a great way to lose money. The console shown in the pics was just some little POS I had laying around. The floor mats were from a car I detailed years ago and happen to match nicely.
If you know what this is, you know exactly what I am doing! I tore the switches down to determine what was going on with the driver side window. That plastic piece that all of the terminals go into was scorched and the static plastic sheet was destroyed, causing major arcing under the switches. I suspect the window motor was running all the time and eventually burned out. I determined the motor was indeed dead, fixed a few wires and put a bead of solder on all of them and repacked everything. Unfortunately, the pot metal or whatever the switches are made out of didn't have enough strength to secure the switches to the wiring and it comes apart pretty regularly. I have scoured ebay for a used switch but they're expensive for what they are. I will eventually buy something or figure out how to secure it better. Electrical tape did not do the trick. But the window works!
My Roadkillesque to-do list.
For some reason, the car wasn't blowing heat. This little gem was unplugged so I snapped a picture of it. Also, the blower motor is OBNOXIOUS haha. It runs all the time at a low speed and is super noisy. It is on my list to replace. Heat works great, by the way. I disconnected the AC as it didn't work, but a vintage air setup down the road would be nice.
Baby seat fits! My kid loves this car, he had some of his best naps in it. Sadly the seat is too small for him now, but I plan to put a new seat in there for him.
We just had some snow and I woke up the car to finally mount/balance my new tires and see if we can pull out the rear bumper since the driver side must have taken an impact.
Next up was the exhaust. When I got the car, the exhaust was rotted off just below flange with the spring bolts, fortunately. It sounded like a dump truck so something had to be done. More parts to order!
Parts list:
- Ebay $50 muffler "Max Flow" - recommended by a friend who runs these on a bunch of cars. It reminds me of a magnaflow.
- 2x Walker exhaust hangers PN 36272 (only ended up using one)
- 2x Walker 2.5" 38" sections PN 54129
- also had some odds and ends like clamps and stuff on the shelf
This video is a teaser before the welder was hooked up and tail pipe installed. The muffler and piping was mocked up to see if routing would be an issue.
The winter months of 2022 finally passed and the car was ready for the street. I took it to a local Cars and Coffee.
It was overcast, but still rocking that brown on brown on brown This car can do a rolling one wheel burnout forever yep Probably 20mph hahaha Annnd the getaway
So many of you will not like this. In fact, you'll probably hate it. But, I am a technology guy and even work in IT. I love modern tech in old cars. When I got the car, ONE speaker worked and it was a tweeter in the dash that appeared to have been replaced at one time (due to the chrome-colored cone on it). The AM/FM/8 Track is neat but I'm going to be real with you - only old people listen to terrestrial radio anymore. All joking aside, I need bluetooth, nav, Android Auto, and I figured if it's getting a stereo - might as well install a backup camera! Also, I was misled on the stereo model. Everywhere said it supports Android Auto but sadly it does not. It does, however, charge my phone and allow bluetooth. So I'll take it. Also, I installed new speakers from Skar Audio
Parts List:
- Jensen CMR2720 7" Double DIN
- had a leftover generic install kit from getting screwed on a custom console. PN VWK1017
- Skar Audio RPX69 6x9's for the rear deck, mounted in the stock location (did not cut the rear deck, but eventually will)
- Skar Audio FSX65 6.5's for the front, mounted under the dash currently with zip ties temporarily
- "Bingfu" hidden antenna to replace the non-working power antenna. It hides under the interior plastics in the pillar and hooks up to the stereo like a factory antenna.
My thought for the stereo mounting was to have it in the ash tray. I popped out the ash tray, which of course has a cigarette lighter that doesn't work. No power off the wire for some reason so I'll trace that down eventually. Anyway, I removed the HVAC pipe that sends air to the driver crotch vent. Since the car has no AC, no big deal.
At least my dogs are supportive. Dogs helping with the audio install
Everything worked great and looked nice until I sat in the car and couldn't see the screen! Whoops. That's what I get for installing everything while the car was on the lift. Total dumbass moment. So I needed a better solution. I took some leftover pieces of metal from old projects, bent a section in the vice and sprayed it black. I took another section and gave the two pieces matching drilled hole locations. The unpainted piece mounted under the dash, the painted piece is fastened to it. I gave it the tow strap test and confirmed it's not going anywhere.
Custom bracket mounted Stereo installed - view from the driver seat Verifying backup camera works While it was on the lift, I snapped a photo of the exhaust since I forgot to do that during the installation.
I'll confess, in the last past, last pic, I said about snapping a photo of the exhaust. In actuality, I was snapping a photo of the tail shaft to see if it's a long or short tail. I'm assembling parts to turn this old girl into something awesome. At least, awesome to me. There's going to be some more hate about my next sentence and that's fine. I'm going to LS swap the Oldsmobile 98 that came factory with a 455. There it is, I'm sorry. Chew on it for a minute and keep reading.
Why? For a few reasons.
- I can go anywhere and conveniently buy parts for an LS.
- It's too easy to make power, reliably.
- Something, something fuel efficiency
- I have them already and know the platform/generation nuances. I have a 5.3 and a couple 6.0s at the shop.
I grabbed a 6.0 that was sitting under a tarp outside for a while prior to me buying it. I tore it down to the long block and so far so good. I'll pop the heads off to do the valvesprings and it'll get all new valvetrain, cam, timing set, and resealed. It'll still have stock 317 heads and a stock bottom end. It's an early gen 3 6.0, so the rods should hold up with what I want to do with it. Hold up to what you ask? Boost!
Complete 6.0 minus some broken coil packs and wires. Tore down to the long block so far It's overkill, but it'll do. VS Racing NextGen Billet 7875
For a hot side, I have a Holley crossover kit that was off a Chevelle with a TH350, and I suspect I'll need to modify the crossover. It utilizes stock manifolds and has a T4 flange. I'm still unsure what I want to do for a cold side. I'll probably do a rough mock up, buy a quality intercooler and start buying tubing and couplers. Also need a wastegate and a bunch of other stuff like radiator/fan setup (this is why I did not install the rad lines yet), need to figure out if I'll go with a rewired truck harness/standalone, or Holley EFI and a bunch of other crap to make this car safe and reliable with about 550-700whp.
While I accumulate parts, I still enjoy the car from time to time with some other small projects on the list.
I put the tail light bezels on the car now that we mostly straightened the bumper out with my buddy's tractor.
And ultimately I just like driving the car. This is how it sits now. Haven't washed it since I brought it home haha. It sits in my shop with a roof over its head, on a battery tender.
I see a baby seat, you may want to reconsider where the exhaust is exiting.
The baby seat was actually moved to the middle of the back seat after the picture was taken. The pipe pokes out after the door and there are zero fumes in the car after loading the car up with friends and family all spring and summer. The exhaust is likely temporary anyway, but I appreciate the concern!
Life always gets in the way, but I've been chipping away at little odds and ends.
First, the steering wheel. It is old and broken. I suspect when the car was rear-ended, one of the previous owners slammed off the steering wheel and broke it. Every time I climbed into the car, the wheel would catch my shirt or hoodie. I have a few of these Grant GT Challenger wheels sitting around and decided to put one to use. The horn button came off my Trans Am and was a bit rusty underneath, even after cleaning it up I couldn't quite get the cap secured. The horn isn't hooked up as a result, but it looks cool regardless.
Old: Old steering wheel
New: New steering wheel
I took a moment to drive the car recently to my buddy's house. There was a Hyundai Sante Fe crossover thing in their driveway. I backed up next to it. Their back bumpers are in the same position. No one really understands how long these cars are until they see them next to something modern haha. I love it!
Olds 98 vs Sante Fe length comparison
I picked up a radiator and dual fan setup on ebay. I'm sure the fans suck, but that's an easy upgrade. I'm not willing to trust the OE rad from 1975 and wanting something a little newer with electric fans. New radiator with fans! New radiator
I always wanted to take the time to make a switch panel, because racecar. Past me would have just cobbled together something or bought plug and play harnesses. I designed a ground-activated setup (schematics) in Visio and started putting it on this slab of HDPE... otherwise known as a cutting board lol. Once the other relay harness is cut down and wired in, I can wire up some switches, wire a circuit breaker in and then run a 4g wire to the battery. This will need to be done before installing the new radiator. Where will this thing reside? I'm not sure yet - I tried to make it as compact as possible.
Switch/relay panel work in progress
My goal is to keep chipping away at these small projects. It gets overwhelming when you want to do an engine swap or something and have 100 little projects that you just end up cobbling together half-*** just to get the car to run. I will be mocking up a few floor shifters next to see what works best with the stereo and my leg lol. RIP middle seat leg room. That's about it for now.
I like what you're doing with this. So many of these are neglected and eventually disappear. Keep us up to date with your adventures!
Also curious to see how that fluid film holds up.
Thanks. I agree that many, many cars were just neglected and scrapped or left to rot. This car is almost 50 years old and will never, ever be mint. It still deserves to be driven and why not make something cool out of it.
Fluid Film holds up well, even in the Pennsylvania winters. However, it is designed to stay wet. I'd recommend applying it yearly (actually FF does as well). To be honest, the undercoating looks incredible under this car since it mostly lives in my shop.
I know I have a lot of time into this stupid relay board, and I honestly hate the wire terminals I bought and wish everything was laid out differently to have longer wire runs. But, testing out all of the circuits together with an LED strip made it worthwhile. I plan on making one of these for another car soon, so this was a fun test run. Flip the switch activates the relay for that circuit, which in turn flips on the accessory. It is simply, effective, and clean. Well, "clean" - there's room for improvement but for a 1.0, it'll get it done.
I trimmed the board down some and it fits perfectly in the glove box. Next steps are to run the appropriate wires (I'll likely create some kind of harness outside of the car), including the 4g wire to the battery with the circuit breaker, then mount it to the bottom of the glove box.
My dilemma right now is where to put the switches. Maybe in the glove box door, or somewhere in the dash. Once I figure that out, everything will be getting wired and I will likely install the rad/efans and swap all of the hoses out at that time also.
Testing the panel out, one circuit at a time, using an LED strip as the test accessory. Everything in the ground activated relay panel is working. Trimmed down the cutting board. Now... to figure out where it'll get installed? It needs to be accessible should I ever need to swap fuses or a relay. BINGO. It fits absolutely perfect! With the glove box closed, it is completely hidden.
Of course you are LS swapping it, everyone does it,, the sheeple approve. I personally hate the stock 6L in our 2011 work truck, what a turd below 4000 rpm. All the 5.3 and the other 6L I drove were the same, maybe the stock tunes? Yeah, a Turbo and Tune will needed to match the off idle 455 torque.
Last edited by olds 307 and 403; October 16th, 2022 at 02:45 PM.
Of course you are LS swapping it, everyone does it,, the sheeple approve. I personally hate the stock 6L in our 2011 work truck, what a turd below 4000 rpm. All the 5.3 and the othe 6L I drove were the same, maybe the stock tunes. Yeah, a Turbo and Tune will needed to match the off idle 455 torque.
I appreciate the feedback, but this build is not to appease the sheeple, but rather myself.
I was able to sneak a few more hours into the shop this weekend and made some decent progress. I installed the switch panel and ran wires to the glove box. I even had a chance to grab an old shifter for mock up. I immediately realized that I hate it. Not only do I dislike B&M ratchet/t-handle shifters, but this car just doesn't "feel" right with a floor shifter. Maybe one of those universal long handle shifters will get tried out down the road, but for now it'll stay column-shift for the foreseeable future! I was able to pick up a Chevy TH400 last week (not pictures) and am looking into the Jake's Stage 2 rebuild kit.
After installing the switch panel, I decided to stop trying to snake wires around blindly under the dash and start disassembling everything. The intent here is to tie up wiring and cleanly route new wiring. I also needed to pop out the glove box to mount the relay panel.
The speakers were previously zip tied, crudely, under the dash. They sounded like hot trash and would cut out constantly. It was a last minute decision, but I mounted the speakers in the lower dash panel. A USB charger was also added while I had the hole saw set out. I ran a 4g wire, (2) 10g wires, and (2) 14g (I think? maybe 16) wires from the engine bay, through the factory firewall grommet and under the dash to the glovebox. Next up is terminating connectors, cleaning up the factory and stereo wiring, and buttoning up the dash. The engine bay wires will likely get heat shrinked and terminated and a circuit breaker will be installed. I also need to put weatherpack connectors on the two 10g wires as they are for the rad fans. One of the smaller gauge wires will be for the PCM and the other for a line lock. I will need to run one for an electric fuel pump, but that will need to be a new run in the future as I'm unsure on placement.
The cheapo voltmeter is out of commission lol. If you look at this first picture here, the middle of the dash pad has a crack in it. I'm 90% certain that I will be mounting gauges right there. Wideband, coolant temp, oil pressure, and boost for sure.
I grabbed a clunky old B&M T-handle for shifter mock up. Hate it! Switch placement, installed. A little further back than I'd like, but it clears the trim. This is the switch wiring harness that is heat shrinked and soon to be terminated. Each wire will connect to the accessory terminal by the relay panel, and the other side of the harness will connect to the actual switches on the accessory terminal. Removed the zip-ties that held these bad boys under the dash and gave them a new home. Also installed a USB charger (has an on/off button) that uses the OEM cig lighter connection. You can see the new bundle of wires tied up securely under the dash. For a '75, there sure is a lot of wiring going on. Up next is cleaning up the stereo and tach wiring before it goes back together. New relay panel secured in the glove box. Wires are run and ready to be terminated. This is an above shot without the dash pad installed. Wires were run through the factory grommet which is basically disintegrated.
Marine terminals installed, new connectors crimped on. I also replaced the flimsy body ground. I decided to add about 20" of wire off the switches and soldered those wires to the 5-wire switch harness I made. I hate soldering in the car, but took my time and heat shrinker the connections afterwards. The wires were outfitted with connectors and terminated. I decided to hang the wires from above as the glovebox door doesn't allow much room. I found some speaker covers and sprayed them matte brown. I am so impressed with how closely they match the original color! Another look. The self tappers were replaced with screws and I clips. I ran out of time, but finished the day in the engine bay. I made a bracket, painted it brown and fastened it. I anchored some ABS plastic to it and next is to finish mounting the circuit breaker. This will add some safety to my relay panel.
More progress on the Olds. With the interior pretty much straightened out for now, I moved on to the engine bay. I had a hard time removing the lower rad hose, so I cut it and let it drain. Surprisingly enough only a gallon or two hit the concrete floor lol. No surprises in the coolant (rust, oil, critters), so that is always a good thing. The new radiator itself is a bit more narrow than the original. So the rad cover will need to be cut a bit to clear the hose and cap which is on my to-do list. I lengthened the leads on the fan. I had to snip the crap connectors on it anyway in favor of a pair of Delphi weatherproof connectors, so I figured why not extend them out since I typically dislike the look of big connectors hanging off the fans in front of accessories.
One of the Delphi connectors contains both ground wires, and off the male side I essentially soldered two 10g wires into one 4g ground wire for the ground. Not in love the the ground placement, but I have plenty of wire length to change it. The other Delphi connector has two hot leads that connect to individual relays in the glove box. They will both be activated off of one switch (via a jumper on the terminal block).
I have new hoses for everything and surprisingly the trans cooler fittings should work just fine in the trans. I may convert to a barb fitting when I add an external trans cooler, or delete it altogether.
Oh, and the AC crap was removed - the amount of open space between the grills and radiator is crazy! When the motor comes out, I may add some sheet metal where the crispy fabric was on either side of the rad. That stuff was mostly ripped and MIA anyway. I don't know if it's even necessary, honestly. I'm hoping the fans will put in the work to keep the temps down.
Also, I removed that janky little bracket for the circuit breaker and made a larger one. I think I can hide some wires under it now, but did not take a picture until the wires are run and terminated appropriately.
Now... waiting on the next window of time to open up so I can knock out the rest of this project.
Rattle Can Rebuild - Take 1 Rattle Can Rebuild - Take 2 Cleaned up the fan wiring. Most people put connectors on each fan and are fine with that. I opted to extend the fan wiring a bit and offload those junk chinese connectors in favor of some delphi weatherproof connectors Both pins are ground in this picture. I have another connector on the driver side that has two hot pins. Why? The ground is going to the same place anyway, so why not. The hot side is still powered with two different relays (1 relay per fan), but jumpered so they will activate off one switch. I'm not in love with this ground, but I made the wire long enough that I can eventually make a nicer ground stud on the chassis. Efans are in, but the rad shroud needs some trimming. The rad is about 1.5" narrower than stock. So much room for activities without that giant fan swinging around off the engine Another look at the fans in place.
A/C Delete! It was disconnected anyway, so it got the boot. It'll eventually be sold along with the motor.
The spray bomb really cleaned things up lol
So much room for activities! I ended up relocating that cooler line sleeve from the top of the condenser to one of the AC bracket bolts.
Circuit breaker installed and wired up.
Another view, I tried using the factory plastic clips to help keep things tidy.
What the rest of the wiring looks like
So much room in front of that 455. Aside from the junk plastic petcock not getting tight (the rad came with 2 plugs - 1 for the temp sensor and 1 for the heater core) and having to use one of the plugs, everything is bolted in, connected, bled, and ready for a test drive.
Looks good, really like what you're doing with this. So much more room with that compressor out of the picture.
Thank you! I get a lot of kind words for what I'm doing/plan to do with this old girl. I just wish I had more time to knock stuff out quicker. It's more fun to me learning along the way as I'm just a lowly IT guy with an addiction lol.
More items to check off the list:
- Front PS window motor + wire repair
- Wiper Motor
- Washer Fluid Pump (replaced but still not pumping....hmmm)
- Blower Motor (next)
- Driver power window switch fix (next)
I had the car out of the shop finally since I did the rad/efan/wiring install. The trans fluid outlet connection was leaking pretty good, but stopped after it was tightened up. Otherwise it's working excellent and the engine is cool! Using my trusty infrared scanner which is pretty accurate within a few degrees, it measured between 150-160 everywhere. That was just after a little drive around the block and letting the car idle for about 20 mins.
Ebay FTW, cheap NOS washer pump lol.
Old vs new
These cheap metal window switches will be the death of me
First, I had to rotate the rear tires. For some reason, one is down to the wear bars and the other is brand new..... I think the issue is it needs a mini spool.
The driver window switches were finally fixed. I spent too much time engineering a workaround for addressing the soft/broken white metal of the original switch setup. Next time I'll turn to ebay haha, but there shouldn't be a next time.
The blower motor was not fun. The original worked, but was extremely noisy and since the blower runs all the time, it was just nonstop ridiculous noise. Getting to the blower motor is a task. I couldn't see the motor from the engine bay or even from under the car, so I went to Google and read up someone, who will remain nameless on this forum, recommended cutting a big hole in the plastic wheel well to access it. Haha. Well, I see why! The plastic has to be about 1/4" thick or so, which makes it difficult to bend and maneuver around. I removed the GM mud flap and maybe 8 bolts until it was at a point where I could bungie it out of the way. I noticed more bare wires on the blower motor wiring from rubbing against metal. It was the black wire in the picture that connects to the purple wire.
I don't know how this car hasn't burned to the ground with all of the electrical stuff I keep finding that I am fixing along the way.
So I popped off the blower motor and I discovered an old "mouse house" - which was promptly removed from the bird cage and inside the heater box and firewall. The shop vac went to work cleaning up any remnants of Master Splinter's dojo and then I removed the bird cage from the old blower motor (the new one didn't have one) and let it and all hardware soak in a bucket of simple green.
After 20 or so minutes and some gentle scrubbing, everything looks new again. I removed the old brittle sealant from the hvac box, installed the new blower motor with a bead of black RTV, installed the hardware with anti-seize, popper the AC hose in place, and fixed and loomed the wire harness and installed the ground. Then the wheel well, trim, and mud flap went back together pretty easily.
You can see some oil overspray. I hit everything with Fluid Film while it was apart. It'll all come back out for the engine swap and cleaned up properly, but just some piece of mind. Anyway, the blower motor now has a quiet hum and works great.
I was going to throw some money at the brakes, but the front brakes look pretty new and the car does stop good. The brake lines are rough, though. Especially in the engine bay below the master cylinder. I want to install a line lock and need to modify the lines, so I will be replacing them with Nicopper.
Also not shown from recent work is that I started tearing down the LQ4 (6.0L "LS" from a 2500 Silverado) that I want to use in this car. I was skeptical since the outside of the engine is rough looking from being outside, but the inside is very clean from what I've seen so far! I pulled off one head and ran out of time. Next is pulling the other head and oil pan. I also picked up the Sloppy Mechanics' "The Best Cam" which was on sale a month or so ago. After I find some springs and do a trunnion upgrade, it'll be going back together with new OE gaskets and timing set. Maybe some upgraded rod and head bolts?
Since I haven't posted any videos in a while, here is one of it idling at night while getting frosted up. It was around 10* outside when I recorded:
I'm a big documentation guy for my job and that is no different for my cars. I figured I'd share my relay schematic for all of my future accessories. The fuel visual is still a work in progress as I'm unsure what to do for that yet. Also, you could wire another relay that ties into your ignition circuit so the accessories are only powered when the key is on, for example. I wanted everything ready to turn on at any time, especially the fans and fuel pump because race car.
Disclaimer: I'm not an electrical engineer or automotive professional. Use my schematics at your own risk.
I tore the engine down some more last night. The valley cover and knock sensors made a mess of everything, but no red flags. Lifters looked great, cylinder walls look good - don't mind the weird reflections in the pictures. I had just enough time to spin the engine around, remove the oil pan/pickup tube/windage tray and take a look at the rotating assembly. So far so good. I bagged the engine on the stand until I have some more time to turn it over by hand, but I think this engine will be a runner!
After it passes all of the health checks, it'll be time for the cam install.
Do not look at the cam bearings. I repeat, do not look at the cam bearings.
on the shelf and decided to swap them in while I wait for gaskets, timing set, and some other stuff coming for the LS engine.
The lights were not exactly plug and play. There are 15 small LEDs in each housing, and each light came with an H4 adapter harness with 3 spade ends. Mind you, I did not receive a wiring harness and the wire colors were not accurate (black was for 12V, not ground, etc). But they are in, they are bright, and I'm excited to see at night lol. Nothing some time and a multimeter couldn't handle and I didn't have to cut the factory headlamp pigtails off.
Made more progress. Cleaned up the head and valley cover mating surfaces, timing cover mating surface (not pictured) and water pump passages, oil pan surface, pistons, installed cam sprocket and new timing chain, new camshaft (Sloppy Mechanics' "The Best Cam" - chinese version) with ARP bolts, cam thrust plate and hardware. I cleaned up the valve covers and when looking at the heads, I noticed on #7 exhaust valve, it was stuck open...by small rocks. That's nice. The plug looked like crap and was oiled up. Everything looks in tact but I will need to inspect the valve when I disassemble everything for the new valvesprings.
Anyway, I ordered a bunch of parts to finish up this bottom end.
- ICT Billet Valley Cover
- ICT Billet gen 3 timing cover with turbo drain AN fittings
- new balancer bolt and gaskets
- Oil pump o ring
- ICT Billet Oil cooler adapter for turbo oil feed
I also ordered a mini spool for a GM 8.5" rear that states it works with cars with or without C-clips. Really hope it works for my car.
More to come! Still need to figure out what to do for head bolts/studs, springs (leaning towards BTR .625 or PAC 1219), rocker trunnion upgrade vs new rockers, crank sensor, lifters (likely Morel 7717 as LS7 lifters are hit and miss - mostly miss) and a few other misc items.
One last note, I am pretty **** about keeping track of purchases for projects. I'll post the parts list when the engine is closer to 100% for anyone interested in part numbers, total cost, stores, etc.
Mating surfaces and pistons all cleaned up! Another look, cylinder walls look great. New cam sprocket and timing chain installed. I could have left the stock cam sprocket on, but it was off anyway. The crank sprocket can be a PITA so *I leave them on* unless the teeth are jacked up. * signifies I'm an idiot and don't follow my advice haha. Passenger side of the block, looking like the engine sat in the Titanic for the last 20 years Driver side of the block What in the... hey I scored a reman! Unfortunately, I have no idea how many miles are on it, but judging by the internals, probably at least 100k. Cleaned up PS of the block. Cleaned up DS of the block. Then found ROCKS holding the exhaust valve open. WTF
What was done recently:
- rear of block cleaned up
- rear main plate/seal/hardware replaced
- oil galley plug replaced
- heads disassembled and cleaned about as good as they will get for this build haha, need to clean up the valve seats yet
- Morel 7717 lifters soaked in oil then installed with new GM lifter trays
Up next:
- clean up the engine mating surfaces one last time
- head stud install (sorry guys, not going with ARP)
- new GM head gaskets
- assemble heads with new valve seals and PAC 1219 springs
- install rockers/check pushrod length
- break out the paint. I wanted brown, but don't feel like ordering high heat brown, so black it is.
- clean up the crank pulley and 4-way steam tube setup, prep intake for install & buy more stuff!
Flexplate removed. Maybe it's a good time to replace... The oil galley plunger! New vs old. Do they usually NEED to be replaced? No. Why didn't I use a fancy billet unit? Because I had this on the shelf New rear main seal and cover is installed. Small bead of black RTV on the bottom helps make a perfect seal. These heads are disgusting. At least the spring tool makes life easy and simple. Valves, springs, and keepers set aside. Next is valve seal removal and cleaning! Sponsored by RockAuto's finest foaming engine degreaser. Johnson's is the brand I think. 1 can total per head. Let it soak for 15 mins and rinse off with brake cleaner, then flip it over and hit the other side for another 15 mins. Coming along nicely. I should be supervised, but here we go. Sloppy valve cleaning. Valve goes in the drill and is greeted with a scotchbrite pad and wd40. They cleaned up nice, to my surprise. Cleaned up nice. I will be going over the combustion chambers a little more and cleaning up the valve seats. Here ya go, not too shabby for a chemical cleaning. Other head, not bad! Cleaned up the mating surfaces with a scotch brite roloc. Another head shot Morel 7717 lifters were soaking in some motor oil and installed with new GM lifter trays. Another shot of the back side of the engine, we are back on the engine stand! More side profile/lifter install. And another front shot.
Finally! Another update. Heads are assembled, but it was a little sloppy. First time doing it solo. Stock valves and hardware, PAC 1219 valve springs (.625 max lift, pairing perfectly with the Sloppy Best Cam which is like .595/.595 lift), Felpro valve seals, and about 3 hours of time.
One thing I noticed when putting the heads on the engine is that this LQ4 reman had gen 4 bolts, which tells me this was a 2004.5+, but it had gen 3 internals. Anyway, my gen 3 head studs won't work, so I reused the stock TTY bolts (put the marlboro down and relax, this is common) torqued in sequence to 22/50/65lb. OE pushrod length looked good, rockers torqued and are ready to party. New crank sensor installed and I masked the long block up for paint.
Broke out the brown paint to give the valve covers and ugly truck intake some pizzazz and then high heat black paint on the long block. Not going for perfection, the paint job isn't that great and no primer was used, but it's better than the rusty and sandy mess it was originally!
Next steps are picking up a 160* thermostat/housing and painting up the accessories/throttle body. Then start mapping out a fuel system and make decision on what to do for a harness (DIY standalone or aftermarket).
I didn't get too far on this project, but did spend way too much time cleaning the accessories up to prep them for paint. I installed a new Motorad 160* thermostat/housing on the waterpump. Fun fact, LS water pumps are slightly different (as are harmonic balancers) based on the engine/what the engine came out of. Early LS1/truck pumps had a thermostat integrated into the tstat housing. This waterpump came from an early 5.3 and looked clean and had paper gaskets, so I knew it wasn't that old. I think the accessory bracket came from the same engine (I have boxes of stock truck parts so the lines start to blur lol). I bought a new ACDelco tensioner and idler pulley. I didn't have the heart to grab the power steering pump from the parts bin as it's all pretty rough looking lol. That is the last accessory I believe. No A/C.
Also, picked up a set of used Deka 80 injectors. I recently passed on a cheap used fuel cell and holley external pump, I think I'll just weld a sump on the stock tank and buy a new pump, filters, FPR, and run the lines appropriately.
The end is near! I'll need to send the trans out to have it built, pick up a converter, finish the fuel system, turbo cold side kit, blow off valve, wastegate, and a few others odds and ends. I think I can stay in budget - at around 4k total right now.
No progress on the swap. I picked up a couple parts, painted the motor mounts, and have just been driving the car occasionally. Also, I picked up this Grant wheel at a swap meet. It is the same style as the black one, but my horn(s) work with it a bit better and it fits the car SO much better then the black. Not sure on the age of the steering wheel, but it was NIB. I haven't seen one with a red sticker before.
Hey good for you giving this car a great new life. Build it the way You want it. There will always be LS haters. It's not like you are taking a factory W-30 convertible and scrapping the original motor...🤔 You are giving this car much love. I am all for it. I will be watching the progress.
PS: I agree on the new steering wheel choice. That and saying no to the B and M shifter.
I think anyone following this thread deserves an update. The car is still running and driving with factory Olds power. I was just a torque converter, driveshaft, fuel system, and harness away from swapping the LS powerplant into the car. But, I drove it a lot last summer and fall and didn't have the heart to take it off the road yet. It has turned into a reliable old car.
With that being said, my direction with it has changed slightly. I am using the LQ4 (6.0L) LS for another project since it's essentially ready to drop into something. I have a running L33 (aluminum 5.3 "high output" from my 06 SIlverado) lined up for the Olds that will need some very small maintenance items (rear main, oil pan gasket, and swap over all things painted brown lol). The engine already has a small Summit cam, but I may go a little bigger and better valvesprings while it's out. Super reliable engine and if I wanted to keep it N/A for now, I bet the truck headers might fit.
The LQ4 is going into a project squarebody truck. For now, I'm planning a trip with the car to Atlantic City this summer with stock Olds power. Hope it doesn't turn into a roadkill trip haha. Stay tuned...
September 1st, 2022, 06:54 AM
