[Doc-Z]

This isn't my first time having to rebuild something on this car. For those of you who care, these are my previous projects:

Yeah...so I'm one of the a-holes who wrecked a GTO. To my defense, the woman I hit was driving a POS w/o functioning tail lights.

https://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthread.php?t=781761

Then I developed a motor problem-which turned out to be gremlins in the ECM. When we figured it out, I had already blown a head, water pump and radiator.

https://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthread.php?t=819137

So that waas 2016 and 2017. You may ask, what about 2018. There had to be SOMETHING wrong with it again... If you did, you'd be correct. After 4,000 miles, the engine developed a slight tick while I was driving it. I mean, it was so slight, I wasn't sure if my mind was playing tricks on me. I wouldn't blame a person for being paranoid after all of the B.S. in the previous posts.

After leaving the car parked for a few hours, I returned to start it and heard a very loud banging noise. It sounded expensive, so I towed the car home (hoping to GAWD it was a bad lifter). ...NOPE! After pulling it apart again and checking everything, it appeared I spun a bearing. We got confirmation of this in late March of 2018, from Steve Coil at Coil racing engines in McHenry IL. He pulled the motor apart to find the bearings spun on cyl. #4 and #6.

Long story short, after it took him almost 6 months to rebuild the engine, I got the motor back. I will NOT say what I spent -BUT- I could have put a down payment on a home. The 6.0 litre (364 cid) was bored over .010 and stroked out to a measly 6.8 litre (or a 418 if you round up). Technically, this isn't an LSX...but it's close enough...

 

[Doc-Z]

But if you are going to spend some $$$ on a motor, why stop at increasing the displacement? So, I found a recalled LSA on eBay from ZZPerformance. After $1250, they sent it to me. It did need a rebuild, so I got the kit and did that as well.

-BUT-

I had 6 months to kill while waiting for the motor to be rebuilt. Certainly, it didn't take 6 months to rebuild the LSA. Actually, it did not. However, after disassembling it, I sanded out the casting markings inside it. I thought about a full polish, but that was a LOT of money for what sort of gains?!? I figured, the $$$ could be better spent on other parts....

...like:

1). Rebuild Kit ($275)
2). a UDP Harmonic Balancer ($1,500)
3). Lingenfelter interchangable S/C pulleys ($300)
4). a direct driven S/C belt tensioner - LSX Innovations and ($400)
5). a G8/Caprice water pump and brackets for P/S pump...($650)
6). Corvette C6 A/C bracket and C5 condenser pump ($200)
7). more Pontiac Metallic Blue engine paint ($50)
8). McLeod RXT Clutch ($800)
9). Ram Clutches Throw out bearing ($200)
10). a Deautchworks Fuel Pump and Injectors ($800+)
11). fittings and hoses (which is fast approaching $350 alone)
12). Bosch Heat Exchanger Pump ($150)
13). Heat Exchanger ($150)
14). Holley taller LSX rocker covers ($300 - this short list is over $6,050 in parts - not including the blower / I'm still accumulating parts!!!)
15). Mod the power steering tubes / hoses and make new brackets for coil packs, P/S resivoir and H/E pump
16). beer for my friends (this could be a $1,000 alone!!!)
17). and tires (lord know's I'll need those!)

I still am going to paint the LSA and CTS-V lid blue, but I kinda of want to polish the top aspect of the lid as a throw back / pay hommage to the late 60's early 70's performance Pontiacs, GTO's & Firebirds.

 

[Doc-Z]

Now, this GTO used to be my daily driver. If it was out of commission, what (pray tell) would I be riving instead???

I'm glad you asked!

Right before the GTO went Ka-BLEWIE, I found a white G6 vert in Indiana. I found a GXP hood and bumpers for it and put those on instead of the basic vanilla ones that came on the car. To save one Pontiac, I managed to resurrect another Pontiac from the brink.

...really, all that was wrong with the G6 was a broken bracket on the deck lid.
It was an easy fix that cost me around $4K for the car, parts and paint. I think it turned out pretty O.K. Problem is, the undercarriage is in "as good" shape as my fathers frame up resto. on his 1960 Pontiac Catalina...

The 3rd pic below is my "gxp' vert next to a G6 Sedan (so you can see the difference between the bumpers and hood)

 

[Doc-Z]

...I saved this spot for someone special...

 

[zech912]

next time you are spending house down payment money on an engine, please try the Mast Black Label 630 Street. That is what I want and it would be nice to have someone else try it first.

 

[vanrah]

The UP side is you still have a VERY NICE Automobile.

Greetings Doc-Z & all; Glad to see that you're making progress (?) & having FUN (?). I now know for sure that we're in the same boat, Crazy Car NUTs! As you now may (?) have exceeded what I've spent on the Bronze Brick? And your keeping track, I did too & forty years later it's a lot. But keep in mind that if ya had spent that much golfing you would have few balls left & a set of used clubs & some people do spend that much on golf. Not to mention boats, motor cycles & snow mobiles. The UP side is you still have a VERY NICE Automobile. Take care Ole' Bob.

 

[Doc-Z]

next time you are spending house down payment money on an engine, please try the Mast Black Label 630 Street. That is what I want and it would be nice to have someone else try it first.

Nah, I'd rather re-invent the wheel, by going w/ an LSA that I could have gotten in a kit. It would have been easier and cheaper that way, but I had to go my own route!

:damnyou:

So, I worked on it all weekend. I managed to get the blower painted (Pontiac Metallic Blue) re-assembled and installed. I also drilled the holes and made brackets to mount the heat exchanger, cut a passage for the heat exchanger hoses and made the bracket for the heat exchanger pump. I also cut and sanded off the two bolt stantions on the CTS-V lid

 

[Doc-Z]

There is still a TON of work to do. The PCV hose wont work with the LSA (even though the part #'s I was able to locate are the same). The hose is old, cracked and brittle. Now, I have to make something for that.

The Power steering lines are not lining up because the belt drive is completely different and the JBA longies are in the way. I cut and welded the bracket for the power steering resivoir onto the bracket for the Power Brake and Clutch resivoirs. Now, all of these are in the same location by the Master Cylinder.

As for the belt drive, instead of using Rashan's "KIT", I had to use various pieces from different platforms to get it all to work. The water pump is from a Caprice/G8. The Alternator bracket is from a G8-which is NOT AVAILABLE anymore. I managed to find ONE in Texas from an auto recycler...but had to buy an alternator with it. The housing on the Alt. is cracked-but HEY! I have the bracket! The A/C bracket is from a C5 vette and the compressor is from a C6.

The rockers on the 823 heads wouldn't allow the stock rocker covers to fit, so I bought a set from Holley (LSX in "natural" finish). The bolts they supply are for DOOKIE. They will not fit into your 241, 243 or 823 heads. The OEM bolts will fit perfectly, but are 1/2" too short for these! Also, there is no place for the coil pack brackets to bolt to...so I am making new ones out of the old ones. They will wind up bolting into the heads using the 2 large bolt holes (see pictures #4 and #5 below).

I can no loger use the OEM air cleaner. I had to use that space for the heat exchanger pump. I managed to find a broken DU-Speed OTR CAI. However, the opening isn't offset for the LSA-which I'm going to have to modify and re-fiberglass. Seriously, this dang car is turning into FranKEn-GOAT!

 

[Doc-Z]

Also, if you look into the blower (above pics), you'll see I did smooth out the inside of the casing a little. This is NOT ported, just sanded down to reduce turbulence and create a better incoming air charge. I only did this before the impellers and did NOT do this where the compressed air leaves the blower and enters the heads. The intake runner of these 823 heads were slightly smoothed to get rid of some burring. For my application, I DO NOT want super smooth runners going into the cylinder. Doing so will cause the incoming air to not be mixed properly and cause an incomplete burn!

 

[Doc-Z]

No pics (yet), but how many people know some fool who would hack up a DuSPEED CAI? I only know of one!

 

[Ls7GTO]

No pics (yet), but how many people know some fool who would hack up a DuSPEED CAI? I only know of one!

Looks like it will be for a worthy cause though!

What are you doing for a heat exchanger and fuel system?

Great build so far and it will be a beast once running and tuned!

 

[Doc-Z]

I've put a few things on hold due to a couple of familiy members health issues. I'll get back to working on it in a few weeks (as I'm taking time off at the end of the year).

Looks like it will be for a worthy cause though!

What are you doing for a heat exchanger and fuel system?

Great build so far and it will be a beast once running and tuned!

Fuel System:
- Stock fuel lines
- Deachwerks DW300c Fuel Pump
(100 psi / 340 Litres/hr or 90 gal/hr)
- Deachwerks injectors
(65#'s / 682.00 cc/hr)

Heat Exchanger:
- CXRacing Aluminum Liquid Heat exchanger *
(23.5 x 6.75 x 2.75)
- Bosch Heat Exchanger Pump *

* = purchased on eBay

I still don't have any pictures as I am SO far behind at work (being self employed), family crap and the holidays, it has been difficult to work on the car. I will be posting up pictures soon of the progress.

SIDE NOTE: As of last week, the build has taken a bit of a turn. Last week it was my birthday, so I went a little CRaZy and bought a different power adder. So, the LSA will be for sale soon (as I have to replace the $$$ I stole from my savings). I'm not going to say which blower I bought, but it will surely be unique.

I have to clean it and replace the coupler, but once it's painted and on the motor, I will get post some pics (of the cut up DuSPEED, new blower and maybe the tails I had imported from Aussie-land)!

Edit: Added pics of the imported tails (VZ's w/o the backup light, but w/ the amber turn signal) which I'm modding and will be legal in the U.S.
(See tail light pics below)

 

[Doc-Z]

Here are some pics I took of a couple of the sets of tail lights I have (with and without a flash)

First up are the stock '06 tails.
Second are the LED Depot Tails

 

[Doc-Z]

Then the is the VX tails (this particular one is broken)
...followed by the VZ tails which do not havebackup lights...yet! (hint hint)

 

[Doc-Z]

I currently have other 3 different sets of tail lights....

 

[bohnman]

Kinda looks like a 2002 Camaro Taillight with the red and orange

 

[Doc-Z]

I finally got around to taking some (inadvertant) pics of the cut up DuSPEED. Trying to make it fit with the blower is going to be tricky...unless I hack up the snout...:uhhh:

 

[Ls7GTO]

WOW that is a serious build!!!!

Going to be awesome! 93 octane pump only with that fuel system?

 

[Doc-Z]

The progress on MuNG is coming along. It's slow going, but TODAY I picked up some of the independant supercharger belt drive parts I had made. Hopefully, I'll get thiose on the car this weekend.

I also added a few more projects to the mix...specifically some CTS-V sedan rims. I may have to reduce the front width from 9" to 8.5", while increasing the rears from 9.5" to 10.5". The rotors were honed out and I have to test fit those (but should be O.K.). Ai attached some pics of the LS9 blower and decided to compare that and the LSA side by side.

THIS POST
- Pic #1:
Side by side comparo. of the 2 blowers.
LS9 foreground and raw aluminum - LSA housing behind painted Pontiac Metallic Blue w/ CTS-V lid
- Pic #2:
Lids removed with tape meaure on top to show alignment of the compressed air inlet.
- Pic #3:
Measurement of LSA rotor housing (actual length 7 & 3/8 inches)
- Pic #4:
Measurement of LS9 rotor housing (actual length = 8 & 7/8 inches)
- Pic #5:
Coupler differences - larger thickness is for the LSA, thinner coupler is LS9

 

[Doc-Z]

While I had everything apart, I was going to replace the coupler (which tend to go bad. Once I opened up the supercharger case, the interior casting was really rough. So much, it looked like the surface of the moon!

THIS POST
- Pic #1:
Supercharher case surface immediately after snout removal
- Pic #2:
Supercharger case after cleaning
- Pic #3:
Interior of case, looking from above down (with flash)
- Pic #4:
Flipped S/C over and used flashlight to illustrate the depth of the casting marks
- Pic #5:
Close up of casting marks