It's going really well so far guys! Check it out... hope to have it back in the car and running by tommorow (Monday)


Pulling the old motor out


Old motor before disassembly


Old heads are off, cylinder walls in the block were perfect!


Old cam coming out!


New cam, heads and valve covers are on!


Almost done! This thing is some serious eye candy!

I'll keep you guys updated on how everything goes! Until then...

its a nice!!

Looks pretty good. What cam did you use? What size M90 pulley?

looks amazing......right now i just have the front head off with the intake manifold.....its still in the car though what are the necessary things to unbold to just pull the entire engine because i want to just do that n then take the back head off to see if i sucked in a valve

DAMN! im jelious! Looks great tho! take some pics when its all back in again!

The engine is a pain in the butt to remove...

You have to unbolt the Power Steering pump, and the A/C compressor, and then if you get under the car, remove the starter, slowly turn the flywheel with a long screwdriver, and undo the three bolts that hold the flywheel and the torque converter together. Then the bottom motor mount is two bolts. On the back of the motor, passenger side there are two more bolts.

Then the hardest part is getting the tranny and engine apart. It's five bolts and the first four are a breeze, but the last bolt you have to get it from the pass. side wheel well, using a 24" extension.

That engine-to-transaxle bolt stumped three guys (including one former master mechanic) for almost an hour!

*edit* - I'm running the Intense Stage 1 N/A cam (even tho I'm not N/A anymore, but it doesn't matter a ton since the whole valve train in GT/GTP's is identical)

And until I can find a way to scan, I'm just running the stocker 3.8" pulley.

Looks Sweet...can wait to see it when its finshed..Good luck

wish i had the time, money, parts, and know how to do that. looks great.

You do know that the cam profiles for S/C and NA are different. The intake and exhaust overlaps are tuned for either or.

was going to say that. but, I guess I'm using my stock N/A cam with my novi1000 without any issues. probably just not quite as effecient as a cam for boosted engines. should have some nice lift, though.

That looks like it's going real well. Get more pics as you're putting it in again.

Looks like it's coming along great. Glad to see you're finally getting a blower.

Here's some correspondence I had with Scott Cook from Intense. My questions are inside the arrows, and this is why I decided to go ahead and do the N/A cam. So I will see results... just maybe not the same as I would get with a blower cam.

Andrew:

<>

Yes.

<>

Yes, the entire valvetrain is identical.

<< I already have the cam purchased but I don't want to do the top end swap and find out it won't work... any insight you could share would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!>>

If you plan to run a supercharger, you'll get better results with one of our Blower Cam grinds. But any of the cams will fit just fine, since all the valvetrains are identical.

You can learn a lot more on our message forum at www.3800Pro.com.

Hope this helps.

Scott

about how much did that all set you back??

I've beenout of town for the weekend...what happened to all the pics?

Pics still work for me? Anyone else not able to see them?

Oh... and I'm trying not to think about how much this all is setting me back. Not too too much really... if I were to ballpark it, I'd say total between $1,000 and $1,100. Just a quick guess.

Can you get a better link to that thread.

I did notice on the cam specs page the L36 and L67 cams are pretty much the same. But once you get to the aftermarkets things get different.

The small excerpt you gave us basically says the blower grind will be better but all the cams are compatable. I mean ya the cam will fit, a 3800 cam is a 3800 cam. But the lifts and durations and overlaps can make or brake ya. Ya the car will run with it but your going through this top end swap to get more outa your motor. I just don't want you disapointed because you used the wrong cam.

PS did you buy those valve covers red or did you paint them?

Hey, if it doesn't work I'll buy it off ya so you aren't stuck with an extra cam

I think once the cam is in its in, no matter what I think he is going to keep it in there.

That excerpt wasn't a thread, it was email correspondance with Scott Cook from Intense.

A guy over on ClubGP is running the GT1 cam with his top swapped 3800 and no bad results out of his car. My cam is slightly beefier than the GT1 but I should be fine. The cam is in there to stay unless something blows up.

The valve covers are painted with Hi-Temp engine paint.

I wasn't saying bad results would happen just that the blower spec'd cam would yeild much better results.

wow, nice job, that estimate of money that set you back is really cheap. Im not into modding but I might do something simular to that because I say with then three to four years Im trying to get a new tranny and engine because I got high mileage on my se. Keep up the good work and keep us updated.

OK so drummer whats the deal, mondays over lets see the end result. :boogie:

Drummerboy here is my take on the S/I NA Intense cam for your use ,while Herc may be right there are better cams for boosted applications you should get good results with this particular cam,here is a list of cam profiles to compare GT1 na 507/507 lift LSA 113deg,VS 512/507 lift LSA 115deg,xp hot cam 520/536 lift LSA 116,Intense S/1 na 523/514lift LSA 113deg,asyou can see the lift will work good with stock heads the only drawback is the LSA is a little narrow but should work fairly well ,do'nt forget with such a small place in the market there really has'nt been extensive research into optimum profiles for the sc 3.8 most of the R&R falls back to the older GN's .Chico.

yes, I think the results will be satisfactory... the exhaust lobes a bit small... but the intake lobes are large enough to provide some nice gains by letting more air into the motor

the motor is not back in quite yet... I have it in the car, but it's not bolted in or anything, and no wiring/vac lines are connected. i'm having troubles reconnecting the engine to the trans. a guy's coming over today to help out so hopefully I'll get it knocked out!

Hey guys this is the same guy whos motor is blown....i started taking her apart in my garage a couple weekends ago....im back at school now but goin home again this weekend to keep goin at it i have pics that i wanna throw up like drummerboy did but how do i throw them in the post like that......until then ill keep everyone posted wen i get the back head of to see if im doin a top end swap as well or a whole motor swap!!.....hopefully blower here i come

I find the easiest way is photobucket.com

heres the start of hopefully the same project....i was getting to the pitons to see if i sucked in a valve like i think....back head is this weekend....

You didn't drain all the coolant? Get that stuff out before it causes problems in your cylinders. Drain the oil pan put cheap oil in it run it for a couple of minutes at idle. Drain the oil and change it.

well number one it doesnt run....its apart so letting it idle wouldnt work...thats n i know the back right cylinder is shot because the pressure test on everyone but that one was 135 lbs while the back right was 35 lbs so its shot im not worried bout the small damage wen a motor swap prob is the deal....just gotta check for sure

Update: First the good news

The motor is back in the car! Everything is bolted in and most of the vac lines I think are gonna work out. I have them all plugged in at least... hopefully they will work as is.

Bad news: couldn't finish it up today, because I had to buy a new MAF sensor (that set me back $175 MORE...) and every place in town couldn't have it until the morning...

So tomorrow morning, I'm going to pick that up first thing, then hopefully once that's in it'll be ready to go. I'll take more pics and keep you guys posted. Can someone who has a GTP... can you tell me if the vac line coming from under the snout, goes from the LIM, then to the FPR, and then to the lower port on the BBV? Thanks

What I was saying is once it's back together idle it to get that nasty coolant out of where it doesn't belong.

As for that rear bank you never know what it can be till you get it apart. It might be simply changing a valve. My Truck had a valve get build up on it (from a faulty intake gasket)and caused the valve to stick open and having the piston hit it hard enough to bend it a little so it wouldn't seal. I had no compression on that cylinder. Sent the head to the machine shop and rebuilt and all is good again.

ok thanks hercman.....ill be back home in jersey this weekend to take the back head off if it is just the vavle bent it would be great because im a little low on cash and dont have time for the swap myself.....but i also kinda messed a few things up wile taking her aprt like some fuel lines ends....

So I'm gonna get this thread back on topic!

The car runs!!!!!!!

Kinks in tuning to work out:

1) With car in Park, it idles too high... right around 2500 rpms, when it should be 800-1000 rpms. When shifted into drive, it settles down to ~1000 rpms where it should be.

2) I took it for a short drive. The car drives and runs pretty well... only problem is that it will not shift out of 1st gear. So consequently, I can not go above about 30 mph without putting unnecessary stress on the motor.

I think both of these problems are PCM related so I'm gonna email ZZP and get their take on it. Also, I'm gonna see if one of the local club members who has a PT can help me out work out some of these kinks.

Sounds great, let us know how the tranny/idle issues get fixed.

sorry drummerboy just in a bad situation n ur swap is giving me good hopes.....good luck with the rpms

it's cool GTeisele. Just trying to keep you guys updated... and speaking of that...

update - vacuum is better, it's still a little high, but I found a small port that wasn't hooked up to anything so I capped it, and my idle RPM's dropped to about 12-1300, down from 2600.

Concerning the non-shifting issue- I limped the car up to O'reillys and got the Check Engine Readout. I have code P0122 - Throttle Position Sensor low input. I think this is what is causing my car to not be able to shift. I checked the vacuum pull on the line that runs to the tranny and it's pulling ALOT of vacuum, enough that it shouldn't be a problem. So I'm hoping that the Throttle position sensor is the problem, and it's making my PCM think that I'm not giving it any gas, and thus causing it to stay in first gear.

A local guy is coming over tonight and we're gonna swap the TPS sensors on our TB's and see if that fixes my shifting issue... I have good hopes that it will... after that's solved, just need to have it tuned!

Until then,

throttle position sensor is easy just tuck the spring back n it pops right in....i broke mine messin with the TB

New TPS is on and the car shifts like beautifully! The top end swap operation is finally completed! I took it out tonight and shocked myself when I first heard the SC whine!!

Sweet, you should make a vid of it so we can see and hear it. Congrats on the blower.

definatley get a vid of the screeeem man!!

I'll get one up in the next couple days... now I'm gonna go wash my car, throw in a tank of the "good stuff" (92 octane from BP) and just drive and break in my motor...

Congrats on your full conversion across all trim lines. I am really impressed. enjoy, and HAMMER DOWN!

Glad to hear everything turned out good. Enjoy! Do some scanning!

Congrats man! cant wait to c the pics and vid ...

Yep... if anyone has an LS1m or an Aeroforce for sale... lemme know... took it out last night and just drove, trying to let the PCM learn... drove 100 miles or so to break in the motor, then did an oil change to Mobil 1 (only the finest for my new found love )

Now it's hammer time!

two big thumbs up for a job well done ...even if we dont get a vid, some pics of the finished engine bay are a must.

Keep your eye out for one...
http://www.clubgp.com/newforum/tt.asp?appid=24
theres a scanmaster for 175. i'm not familiar with it but as long as it shows KR and fueling parameters you're good to go.

Well... as requested... engine bay pics... I should be able to get a vid soon...

Sorry, they are kind of small!

Sweetness!

wow dude........congrats, i wouldnt have the patience for that junk. hope to see some vids soon!

def a final congrats cant wait to see that thing move with the cam and blower!!

Doesn't IGor have an LS1M for sale.

I dunno, I think I may hold off with that for now. There is a guy named Keith McCord from St. Louis who supposedly is a GTO/GTP tuning god and he is going to be tuning mine and several other guys cars from the local GP club in the next couple weeks. So for now I will just deal with it, but I'm sure I don't have any knock because of all the additional mods I've got, along with only running the stock 3.8" pulley.

So hopefully once this tune is done, I'll have my car running better than ever, and have some pretty decent numbers for bragging rights!

Never say never, it will come back to hurt you.

I was getting 5 degrees on my setup at first until I powertuned it out by adding some fuel on the top end. You could have any amount of KR regardless of what you have, in cases where tuning isn't quite right.

drummerboy, I was curious as to what brand head gasket you used. Also, how was a surface prepped and did you use anything like the copper gasket spray on them?

I just used the parts store Felpros. I head the heads checked for flatness at a machine shop and used a gasket scraper and an old rag to get the old gasket material off, along with any coolant & oil traces.

I didn't use any copper spray. I just placed the gasket with the arrows facing the belts and torqued the bolts to spec. No problems yet! *knock on wood*

Well, Felpros come with their own coating and aren't bare like the Cometic gaskets. I think I'll go that route, might as well change them not knowing the engine's past. At least I'll have good compression. I already bought some head bolts tonight.

I just installed my powerlog Rook. I was recommended to use the GM gasket for the header. I talked to Bob at GM too "41 years experience" (he has it posted above his computer, and he said put it on dry, no rtv, nothing.

drummer... this might be a stuped question... do you think it would be easyer to do the swap with the motor in the car or would you recomend taking it out of the car to do a swap...??

If you're thinking of doing a cam as well, definitely pull the motor. You'll have to ask ordonez1307 about doing the top end swap with the motor still in, because that's what he did.

It was more work for me, but it was sooooo much easier working on the motor on a stand. Torquing the head bolts properly COULD be very difficult with the motor in, I have no idea, but seems like it might be, esp. the rear head.

in the car was a pain, especially the rear head, but if your not doing a cam, then its feasable