🔧 BUILD Broke EF turbo LS SC400 Build

General Information

I may have never posted on here before, but for some reason I am inspired to post my build up here. I am going to copy and paste from another site to get us all up to speed. I will try and clean up anything that was specific to the thread I am pulling from. Now that I am getting started on the main fab work I will update this thread in real time.

For anyone who doesn't want to read it all here is the short version. I bought the car on a whim in June of 2016. It is a 1993 SC400 that was from this area, and was meticulously maintained at the dealer. I was going to stay with the original 1UZ so you will see I started installing a procharger on it. I ended up selling off the stock motor, trans, ecu and harness to a local guy and got an iron gen 3 5.3 motor. I am doing a Precision LS-7675 turbo with a truck manifold based kit (more or less). It will be backed up by a TH400, and for now will use a stock ECU with HP Tuners.

Alright, time for the massive dump of info.


A couple years ago I picked up a 1993 SC400. I wasn't really looking for a car, but a late night search found this one, and I have always liked them. I decided to go down and give it a look in person, and it was even cleaner than it looked in the pics so I bought it. Here are a couple pics of when I first got it.

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I wont bore you with all of the middle shit, just hit you with the highlights.

I removed a couple tons of wiring that used to be an alarm system.
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I had the gauge cluster fixed/updated with white LED's.
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Fixed up the wiring that was kind of hacked up from the alarm. Changed the steering wheel, etc. etc.
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I then updated the climate control, and put in a nice head unit.
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Just a bunch of little changes and fixing up small things here and there. The car was extremely well maintained and really did not NEED much. My plan was always to make it fast of course, and do drag week with it. The factory 1UZ motor is a very good starting point and can make some really solid HP. The stock trans can be built to live as well. Packaging was kind of a nightmare as you can see, but other than that it was a good option.

I ended up stumbling upon a great deal on a procharger kit that was actually on an SC400 locally. It was a P1SC that came with some shitty piping, a way too small intercooler, but a Tial blow off valve that actually had the right spring it it! I started installing that setup.
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You can see one of the things that was constantly in the back of my mind for making this a drag week car. Look how complicated that engine looks! If I had a problem on the road not only would parts be an issue, but just the time to do simple repairs is a nightmare. For example the starter is under the intake manifold in the valley.

So when a local kid hurt the motor in his SC I offered mine up to get him back on the road since that is his only car. We struck a deal and I ripped that shit out the next day.
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It happened to work out that a 5.3 LS came up for sale for the same money I just sold my old motor for, so I jumped on it.
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Its update time! Nothing really exciting, but I have been slowly chipping away at things.

First up was wiring. I am planning on using the stock ECU for a little bit with HP Tuners, so I had some wiring work to do.

Harness as I got it with the motor
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Stripped of all of the brittle loom and crappy electrical tape.
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Unfortunately I ended up having to move it around after I had stripped off all of the crap, and it got pretty tangled.
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So I decided to just fully depin everything since I only need a few things from that mess.
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Here is the pile of junk I didn't need from that harness. There is actually a bit more, but that is 99.99% of it.
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And here is everything all apart, ready to be cleaned, routed, extended, and loomed.
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Next up I got some mounts for the LS from Dan Perlenfein. He even made me a custom trans mount for the TH400. These are very nice pieces, and I got them really quickly.
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Got them set in the car, fit like a glove! (BTW they are not bolted down in any of these pics, just have the nut on the other side a few turns)
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Next up I pulled the oil pan off my motor so I could drop it in and see what I am working with.
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Bit of wishful thinking seeing of the truck intake would clear the hood. It wont.
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So keep in mind that the mounts are not 100% bolted down yet. I need to get my trans from my buddy so I can get that in place before locking everything in place (just to take it all back out again). Once I have put the trans in then I can check a few things, and it can all come back out. Engine bay is going to get cleaned up, and the motor will get some TLC as well. I am still planning on trying to get it running and driving this year, but we will see if it happens. I am not one to let things be "good enough" so I may end up spending a bunch of money and time on the motor even though it will remain a stock bottom end.

Anyway I am really happy with the fitment, and how much space I have! This seems to be more room than I remember in an F-body (on the sides) even with a tubular K-Member. Should be able to get a big single in there no problem with a 4" down pipe to run out back. I am really glad I went LS!



Well time for a small update on the thread that nobody follows :) I got the trans, and a converter from my buddy a while back. Turns out the trans was shot, and needs a rebuild. That pretty much killed my plans for just getting it running this year. The good news is that I will be able to use it as a core to verify the trans mount, and hold everything in place so I can do all the fab work and wiring. I need to get un-lazy and move the car over in the garage so I can get the trans in one of these days. Its been hot as balls, and until I got my turbo there hasn't been much of a reason to bother getting it done. That excuse is out the window now though, since this came in last week

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Its nothing special, just a Precision LS 7675, which is a cast wheel journal bearing 76mm. It should be able to max out the 5.3 though, so it will do for now. This weekend (it was hot as balls) I went out to the garage for a bit to try and get some idea where I was going to place the turbo so I can start getting an idea for a materials list. First up I got the radiator sitting in place (close enough)
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These were the most obvious positions (turbo would need to be clocked differently for most) that I snapped some pics of not in any particular order.

Inside forward facing 45
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TA style
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Inside forward facing
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Outside forward facing
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That is really about all I got right now. I guess I also got the LS6 intake since my last update. That is still sitting on the truck steam ports which is why it isn't flat. I also got a set of non-EGR truck manifolds to use as the base of the turbo kit.

So right now I need to get everything mounted temporarily. That includes the trans, front accessories, exhaust manifolds, intake manifold, etc. Then I can lock down the turbo placement 100% and order material to start work. I also need to delete the ABS so I can mount the ECU over there and get started on the wiring. Well that's all for now, thanks for following along the journey of me seeing how dirty I can get my car.



Time for a small update, just because why not :)

I needed to get the trans in so I could check the fitment of the mount, as well as get everything locked into position for fabricating. Doing a trans by yourself is no fun, worse when you don't have a lift, and worse yet when you have to do some modifications for it to even fit. I ended up grabbing a trans jack from Harbor Freight to make my life a million times easier.
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The only downside to it is that it is quite a bit taller than having the trans on my regular jack, but other than that it was SO MUCH BETTER. I could slowly move it into position and make small changes to angle and overall position with ease. Not to mention how nice it is to have the trans stable as you are moving around to get a good look at everything. It turns out it only needed a little massaging to get it bolted into place. Again, that is without a shield on it (or a bell) but I was glad I didn't have to spend hours hammering overhead.

Ignore the mess, the garage is in process of getting a lot of work as well.

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Next up I wanted to see what I was working with on the exhaust manifolds.
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Driver side is actually hitting the frame, but that is fine since I always planned on v-banding them anyway.
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Plenty of space on the passenger side
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Next up was trying to get an idea of what to do for accessories. There are about a million options out there these days. I started by trying to place the stock truck pieces just to get some idea.
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Clearly those weren't going to work, but it was worth a shot. I have since figured out what I am going to do, but I will post more about that when I get all the parts. After that I reassembled the main fuse box under the hood. I need to patch where I cut for the procharger bracket, but the car is going to be outside for a bit while we finish the garage so I wanted to close off the fuses and wiring.
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That was about it. Got the car back on the ground and pushed back out of the way for now.
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Not really a crazy update, but progress none the less. While we are finishing the garage I will get the rest of the parts needed for the accessory drive setup. Once that is all in place I can start on fab work (FINALLY!), so hopefully the garage wont take too long. That's all I got for now, thanks for following along!



Nothing exciting, but parts have been coming in lately. I had to figure out and order up all of the front accessory drive components. Luckily there are a LOT of options for that kind of stuff these days. I ended up with a set of ICT billet brackets that will use a mix of F-body and Truck pieces.

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While I am at it, I got all new everything else too since most of it required f-body pieces anyway.

New tensioner
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New power steering pump pulley
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I have a new water pump, but no pic of it. The new power steering pump will be here early next week as well. I haven't ordered an alternator yet, but I will later when I get a crank pulley.

Next up is some of the fabrication pieces for the turbo kit. I have only ordered the parts and pieces for the hot side so far.

All stainless steel T4 flange, four 2.5" 90's for the crossover, and a 4" 90 for the start of the down pipe
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The stainless steel adapter from the weird 3-5/8" outlet of the turbo to 4" tubing.
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I am still waiting on the 2.5" stainless v-band assemblies and the stainless O2 bung. I will also run another section of stainless on the downpipe, then a bellows, then adapt to aluminum for the rest of the exhaust. I probably wont start on that until after I do the cold side piping, which I will hopefully be able to start directly after the hot side fabrication is done. My garage is currently being finished, so I wont be able to start work for a couple weeks still, but its great to see parts coming in! That's all I got for now, thanks for following along.


Here are the 2.5" stainless steel v-band assemblies and the stainless steel O2 bung.
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They are very nice with indexed flanges built in
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Quick release clamps, another nice touch!
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GM reman power steering pump came the other day as well
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I was a bit surprised to see that the pump did not come with the pulley bolt, or the reservoir cap. Not a big deal, just slightly annoying. That is all I have for now. The garage is taking longer than expected, but I have also been working on the wife's car anyway. Sometime next week I will probably stock up on welding supplies so I can be ready to go. I should have enough to get started, but I know I will need some soon.




On to a bit of news, my garage is 90% done!! Paint went on last night, so now I can trim it this weekend and move everything back. Here are a couple quick pics.

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For reference, here is a pic of the garage when we did our inspection (before we bought the house)
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It had a single light bulb, and the opener was plugged into an outlet next to the switch with an extension cord duct taped to the drywall.

Here is a shot after we had added the sub panel, lights, and pulled down the drywall. I then insulated everything, and put up new 5/8" drywall.
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I know not car related, but it has been a massive project that has delayed the car so I figured I would throw it in there now that I can see light at the end of that tunnel. Next update will be all car!



Well nothing too exciting to report still. I have been busy as hell finishing the garage, and getting our house ready for a party this weekend. I did however order up a bunch more material and pieces. I should have everything to build the intercooler piping except the intercooler (which is on backorder). I have all of the material to build my exhaust, but will probably need a couple v-bands so I can section it. Anyway, here are a couple pics.

Half stainless, half aluminum 4" V-band. I have two stainless steel 90's to come out of the turbo and get me to about the firewall, then it will be aluminum from there to the bumper. The other three pieces are 3" aluminum clamshell clamps for the intercooler piping.
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Detail of the 4" v-band
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And one of the clamshell clamps pulled apart.
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I also got two boxes of piping as well. Those have a single stainless steel 4" 90, ten 3" aluminum 90's, six 4" aluminum 90's, two 4" aluminum 45's, two 2' long aluminum straight sections, a 3" silicone coupler, and a 3" to 3.5" silicone adapter with T-Bolt clamps. I am really hoping to start fabrication next weekend now that I should be done with all of these other projects. My pile of parts/material is starting to take up too much space!




Finally time for a bit of an update! After busting our asses on Friday night, the garage is now 99% done. All that really means for non OCD people is that I have more than 2 outlets (a LOT more) and don't need to drag extension cords all over! Let me back up a second, I needed to get the steering rack out of the car since it was wore out and I got a replacement for it. I also wanted to take the motor out to make taking the rack out easier, and so I could do some things with it on the stand. Thursday night I got under the car and pulled the trans.

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Pretty easy to do with nothing really connected at all. Friday the car and the bike went outside while my buddy and I did the massive amount of electrical work in the garage. Saturday got mostly eaten up cleaning the garage from the previous nights thrashing. In the evening I got the car pulled back into the garage and was able to get back to work on it.

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I let the snow melt off and dry up a bit before getting to work pulling the motor. Not terribly hard (again, nothing to disconnect or move), but kind of a pain in the ass since I have to come at it from the side.
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So one of the first things I wanted to try, was see about fitting AC. I don't think I would run it this year, but if I could build with it in mind it would make things easy down the road. I grabbed a bracket and a junk compressor from a buddy so I could mock it up. He also had this manifold laying around, so I took that as well.
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It is clearly a tight fit, but I think I could make it work. It pretty much kills running a 4" downpipe on the passenger side though, so I grabbed a piece of tubing to see what it looked like on the driver side.
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Again, very tight but I should be able to make that work if I need to. I still haven't decided if I am going to mess with it or not, but its good to know about options. Next up was getting the front accessory drive all installed.

All laid out on the bench (minus the water pump since I forgot where I put it!)
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Unfortunately I have the wrong tensioner, and I clearly still need parts (balancer, thermostat housing, alternator, etc.) but I can move forward with fabrication for now. Once that was done I pulled out the old rack.
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Then I got the new poly bushing installed in the new rack
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Then got it put in for now.
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I am going to change the "EVO component", intermediate shaft, and outer tierods but its in the car so I can fabricate around it for now and keep it out of my way.

Then I got busy organizing all of my material so I could clear the space under my bench.

Pile of tubing!
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Ahhhh thats better
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At that point I was going to call it a night, but I decided to dive in and try and get something done. So I busted out the big boy grinder
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Then I hacked off the end of the driver side manifold
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Unfortunately, that was where I had to end it. Its been so long since I have welded, the batteries in the hood were dead! I am going to stop and get some on my way home today, and I am also waiting on some welding supplies. It was great to FINALLY be working on the car again! Like I said I am still unsure on the whole AC deal, but I think for now I am going to cut up that manifold and see whats up. I will also be putting the motor back in the car as soon as I get my new steering parts (that is a whole story on its own). Thats all I have for now, thanks as always for following along!




WHEW, that was a lot of info! I ended up having to pull the post from a site I had already done this same thing on. So I again apologize if it doesn't make a ton of sense since it was a catch up on a catch up. Going forward this will get updated in real time though. I have some tools and supplies coming this Friday, so hopefully I can get a good jump on some of the fab work. I guess we will see how it goes. Look for an update later in the weekend, or Monday. Hope you guys enjoy the build, I look forward to hearing from you guys.


Thanks,
Sean

Broke EF

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What is up party people!! Small update on this POS today.

I had a long weekend, so I decided to get to tearing my engine apart finally. Itll be a video at some point, so I dont have a ton of pics, but here is the pile.

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Lets just say, it wasnt pretty.
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Lifters look terrible, they were brand new.
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I also cant get the cam out currently. Some of the bearings wanted to come with it, so that caused some headaches. I am going to rip out the bottom end parts to get better access and hopefully get it out without adding any damage. I am not sure of the condition of the cam, hopefully its good.

I am thinking I am going to go get a new motor this weekend. Then I need to decide how sloppy to go with it. I pretty much like 0% sloppy, but we will have to see what time and budget allow really.
 
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Broke EF

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Tha fuck happened there? Wow that thing is munched.
Complete lack of mechanical sympathy :) It had no oil pressure, and I said fuck it maybe the sensor isnt reading right. Spoiler alert, it was reading right.

Jesus, you are living My Summer Car :LOL: Tho I don't mean to make light of your situation, that really really sucks.

Also, I like the subtle Milwaukee flex.
You can make light if it, shit happens. I just wish it was at least fast before it let go.

That was not actually meant as a flex, I just had nowhere else to put them in my messy ass garage. I also wish I had the ratchets since I was only using them to spin the fasteners out. I broke everything lose by hand even though its all garbage.
 
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Broke EF

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Since I am on a clock, I said FUCK WORK and drove for 10 hours straight today to grab a new engine.

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Also I looked a little closer to the cam, and its not good
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Tomorrow I will tear down the new L33, and make some descions. I apparently also need to pick a new cam. I really liked the one that was in there, it was the Motion turbo cam and it was really good for what I was doing. Howver, seems like I should try something else because why not? Mabye a BTR Stage 2 which has a litte more lift in comparison. Anyway, should see another update tomorrow or Sunday.
 

Mr_Roboto

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Since I am on a clock, I said FUCK WORK and drove for 10 hours straight today to grab a new engine.

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Also I looked a little closer to the cam, and its not good
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Tomorrow I will tear down the new L33, and make some descions. I apparently also need to pick a new cam. I really liked the one that was in there, it was the Motion turbo cam and it was really good for what I was doing. Howver, seems like I should try something else because why not? Mabye a BTR Stage 2 which has a litte more lift in comparison. Anyway, should see another update tomorrow or Sunday.
Are the lobes rough? Think I would ask if that will polish out.
 

Turbocharged400sbc

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The lobes look good it's just the bearing Journal looks like it was riding on used Factory bearings.

Most of those are aluminum babbit I think with maybe anodizing, they may just be raw machine aluminum with the normal aluminum oxide layer developing.

I know they went for more durability on cold starts with the aluminum.

I'm pretty sure the aftermarket uses both the old tri-metal type construction as well as the newer aluminum stuff which is more rapid production of mass quantities of identical dimensions.
 

Broke EF

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The lobes look good it's just the bearing Journal looks like it was riding on used Factory bearings.

Most of those are aluminum babbit I think with maybe anodizing, they may just be raw machine aluminum with the normal aluminum oxide layer developing.

I know they went for more durability on cold starts with the aluminum.

I'm pretty sure the aftermarket uses both the old tri-metal type construction as well as the newer aluminum stuff which is more rapid production of mass quantities of identical dimensions.
I think you got it. I dont remeber a cam bearing looking terrible, but apparently it was or went south quick. The one cam journal is pretty rough, bad enough I wont throw it in the new engine. For now I will set everything from that engine to the side.

Yesterday I finished tearing down the old engine. I had to cut the cam bearings out to get the cam out. It looks like a cam bearing is the main culprit of this engines downfall.

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Some bearing material under the mains
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Most of them looked like that.

After that one was done I cleaned up the bench some
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Then got the engines swapped around so I could start on the new one.

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And here is the aftermath of the teardown.
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So it went pretty uneventful. The crank bolt was really a bitch, I had to get the big boy ratchet and a long pipe to get it cracked lose. Also the main caps were really tight, busted the shit out of my hand cracking them lose. You can also clearly see the heads look a lot cleaner than the rest of the engine. They have been off, probably a couple of times. The headgaskets looked terrible and were for sure reused at least a couple times. I dont trust them to be flat, which means I now have to machine them as well. The bearings look great, the pistons move freely on the rods, rings all seem to have spring in them and they all move on the piston. So all in all I think its mostlty good, but I have trust issues so I think I am going to completely go through it.
 
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Broke EF

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Last night I was at a birthday part for a good friend of mine, and it was pretty much all car guys there. A few of them recomened an engine guy, so today I reached out. He responded quickly, and with actual prices!! After some back and forth going over details and him answering all my questions I was sold. So back to the garage to strip it all down a little more and gret it ready to drop off tomorrow.

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The pistons along the back are out of the old engine. They actually still seem fine, and they had new rings already. The dirtier pistons closer to the camera are out of the new engine after pulling off the rings and bearings.

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Old heads are closer, new heads are by the welders all stripped and ready to go to the machine shop as well.

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The valves are sitting on the old motor, he is going to inspect them, but I have a feeling they will get replaced. New block is on the ground after I figured out I can just pick it up LOL

And all loaded into the truck
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The plan right now is clean everything, surface the block, all new bearings, new rings, surface heads, valve job, new valve seals. I am waiting to order all the rest of the parts (cam, lifters, oil pump, etc.) until he has at least started on everything just in case. I am pretty excited to get it all dropped off tomorow and hopefully have a really solid engine that will last me a while.
 

Broke EF

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Not much happening right now since while I am waiting for the engine to come back. I more or less took it easy this weekend to take advantage. I wont be using the rockers that came out of the L33, but I figured I could knock the needle bearings out of them.

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Next step will be to run it all through the ultrasonic cleaner, but I need to get some solution for it first so that can wait.

After that I mostly just cleaned up, and I worked on the supra a little. In the process of cleaning, I decided to pull the converter off of my trans. Let me back up a bit first. I seemingly always had a little bit of trans fluid around the front of the transmission. It could have been power steering, but it was there sometime after I had ditched that. Trans was always good, never gave me any issues and fluid was always good too (color and level) so I ran it. I was planning on having it gone though to be safe, that was before the engine debocle. Long story short...

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Trans and converter are getting dropped off tomorrow. I am REALLY hoping it doesnt need anything, I dont think my wallet can take anymore!!!

Besides that I ordered some parts for the engine. Some things have changed with that, but I will save that for a specific engine update later. In the meantime, I am open for donations and/or sponsprships :D
 

Broke EF

TCG Elite Member
Dec 8, 2017
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You guys are ahead of the curve on this deal, but here is the first video with the teardown of my engine.



I am going to start working on the next part today, and hopefully have it posted this weekend. Anyway, check it out and let me know what you think!

Also, I am picking up the L33 stuff today. I am going to hold off posting all of that info for now though.
 
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Broke EF

TCG Elite Member
Dec 8, 2017
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LOL, I perfer the physical, emotional, and financial sting of doing it in real life. I must be a mashocist.

Its not so much product placement as I just keep buying more and more and have nowhere to put any of it yet. This video was filmed over at least a couple months which is why the stack got bigger. After Sick Summer I am going to start the garage remodel and mount a bunch to the walls.
 
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Broke EF

TCG Elite Member
Dec 8, 2017
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The sticks
Well I am bored, so here is a small update for you guys. Another TCG exclusive!!!!

I have a pretty awesome wife who has been extremely understanding with me hemorrhaging money this winter. Not only that, but she even bought me some wheels!

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They are 17" x 4" Billet Specialties Street Lites. I ordered the ridiculously expensive tires for them last night. I have a line on a set of rears as well, but I need to change the rear brakes to fit a 15 back there. I am going to try to have that done for Sick Summer, but it is low on my list right now.

A small upgrade I did was adding a mount for the holley screen. One thing I really wanted to do this winter was add in the Holley Pro 6.86" screen. With everything else going on, that wasn't going to happen. I still needed to mount my current baby screen somewhere though so I bought the Motion mount for it.

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Please ignore the absolute nightmare behind it! Anyway, it works better than the ball of zip ties my buddy tried to cobble together in the pits last year. I dont think I like it on the column like that, but it will do for now. At some point I need to figure out the dash in this car, but that's way down the road.

Next up I worked on cleaning some parts for the engine. I got a parts washer a while back, and have been putting off filling it. This weekend I found some stuff from Harbor Freight that was cheap (of course) and seemed to be decent. I picked it up and went to work.

Just messing around with an old windage tray.
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The pan off the old motor before
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The baffle before
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The pan immediately after (I got it better after this, it had some residue on it still)
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Windage tray, baffle, and pick up all clean
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There was a little bearing material floating around in there!!
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This past weekend I also took some parts off and brought them to work to get powder coated. One of the perks of my job is having access to a multi million dollar powder coat system, so I took advantage.

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Well that's all for now. Engine updates are coming soon though. That's the good stuff :D
 

Broke EF

TCG Elite Member
Dec 8, 2017
1,724
4,345
The sticks
Its new parts day! But before we get into that, lets talk about my engine a bit. So we all know that the old one was junk. The heads seem ok, and now I am going to reuse them (more on that later), but the rest was no good. I brought the new L33 into the shop and ended up having to do EVERYTHING to it. The cylinders were trashed (pitted) and he actually had to order pistons twice because he had to go bigger than he expected. When I dropped it off the conversation was more along the lines of maybe we should do pistons and rods because that way we have fresh cylinder walls. I said lets get some pricing, maybe I can make it work. Turns out that was the right move since the one cylinder would have never sealed.

Anyway, when it was all said and done I had the block cleaned, decked, cylinders bored and honed, mains align honed, new cam bearings. The crank was balanced with the new weight, polished, and he welded the reluctor wheel for me as well. Then we did K1 rods, Wesico pistons with upgraded pin, new bearings and rings. He sized the rods, and I had him hang the pistons and also gap the rings for me, but I will handle the assembly.

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I went with a Summit PRO LS Stage 2 Turbo cam, and I am using ARP main studs
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In an effort to save SOME money, I am going to reuse my old heads. They were already surfaced, 3 angle valve job, new seals, new exhaust valves, BTR dual springs, new hardware, and Comp Cams trunion upgrade. I will probably leave this setup until I do some aftermarket heads later. I did however get new everything else, LS7 lifters, new trays, new tray bolts, new cam retention plate, new cam retention plate bolts.

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And here we have the BTR small bore MLS headgaskets (same as LS9, but smaller bore), Melling high volume, high pressure oil pump, ARP head studs, King main bearings, summit block plug kit (wont be using the oil barbel), new starter since mine died, assembly lube, ring compressor because of the bigger pistons, and a new wideband O2 for a spare.

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Sac City Corvette oil barbel and font plug
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And finally tires to go on my new wheels
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I am planning on starting the assembly this weekend, and then I can measure for pushrods and get those ordered up. Considering I didnt want to do anything to the engine at all this winter, things have really snowballed! But at the end of the day I will have a bad add (for me) engine that should make really good power and last me quite a while!
 

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