glad to see it coming together for you, Bryan!

When on the track - you DO NOT want to use the engine compression (thus downshifting and using the clutch) for slowing the car.... As Bob Bondurant explained to me one time - Motors are to make the car go forward - Clutches are used to change gears - and BRAKES are used to slow the car down.

Thus the "heel and toe" rev matching technique used to raise engine RPM's to match the required gear change... with all that done before entering the corner - all the while using the BRAKES as needed to make said corner.

Not saying you did or didn't do this - just saying that clutches will take MAJOR abuse at racing speeds on a track when using them for "compression" gear changes.



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Glad you got the motor back and are moving forward Bryan!!!

From what i've learned about my set up and LS's in general, some of these have this issue i have, something overheated cause everything came back bout turn 4 (it only happend in turn one, something to do with the long straight, 6500rpm, onto the throwout bearing which was/is apparently the problem). But yeah, i remember the instructor at the Shelby event said that about engine braking, USE your brakes (knowing your brake zone is what i'm learning, and it aint easy)

Like you said, "consumable parts".....but man its fun!!!!!

Hope you geter done this weeekend just to take a load off....

Phew, what a long day... I was so busy that I only remembered to stop and take pictures once...

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psc7edmhue.jpg

At this point, the engine is in the car and everything is attached / assembled. I need 1 piece of fuel hose for my PCV catch can, a new lower radiator hose, and an AN-fitting for the new PS pump to finish all of the required plumbing to fire the car. That stupid fitting cost me $35 to overnight it from Summit. The price of convenience I suppose...

Tomorrow morning, Eric is going to help me re-stab the transmission, and I will get the rest of the exhaust installed. Barring any problems, we should fire it up for the first time tomorrow afternoon. For the moment, I have the oil thermostat blocked off using the stock block off plate, as there's no point is running the breakin oil through the cooler and new external filter. I've made 2 of the required 4 lines to route the Accusump oil plumbing. I can't finish the last 2 until I reinstall the thermostat.

In addition to the overnighted fitting, I also have some blocks coming tomorrow which will allow us to mount the Accusump cylinder itself. We have a little work to do on this, but I expect we'll get it done before I leave next week for Fort Worth.

A few other things we have to do: bleed the clutch and brakes, clearance one of the brackets on the rear suspension to the Ridetech shock, finish the wiring to the Accusump pressure switch, and update the Holley tune.

Hopefully tomorrow's update will include lots of :D and :cheers:

:hapdance:

Looks good! I'm wondering about your cam specs.....how much lift because it looks like you have the stock rocker covers make sure everything has clearance especially the rocker to oil baffles!

The cam isn't too aggressive, with max lift of 0.629" at the valve (1.7:1 rockers). My previous cam had 0.604" lift. I think both of these are pretty normal for aftermarket cams on the LS engines, but I'll be listening for any sound that doesn't sound right for sure. :)

Well, today did not turn out exactly as planned. We were thwarted by 0.1", literally...

It all started well enough. Eric and I installed the transmission which went smoothly. As these things tend to do, it all took a bit longer than I expected, but we were trying to be thorough and keep everything clean like it originally was. After the transmission was in, we stuck the driveshaft and reassembled the exhaust.

Next up was dropping the car to the ground and finishing up the plumbing which remained. PS hoses, radiator hose, PCV hose. Then pour in some fluids and look for leaks. So far, so good.

Finally, time to reconnect the battery. I do so, get in and flip the switch, and voila! Fuel pressure... I needed to confirm the program in the Holley HP, which we did, then reconnected the O2 sensor. Sensor readings looked ok, gauges were ok, and it was time to see if she would fire.

So I pushed in the clutch, turned the switch, and the engine started to spin. I let off the switch pretty quickly, and I had a strange kick back through the clutch pedal. Hmm, never had that happen before. I was about to hit it again, but Eric talked me into checking to make sure all was ok. I'm glad we did...

I'm using the hydraulics from my original American Powertrain kit, which consists of the Hydramax slave cylinder. The bearing moves forward and back on a shaft, and it's kept in the correct position by a ~2" long stud. It needed to be about 0.1" shorter.

When I measured for the throwout bearing clearance with the new LT1 clutch, I was in the right clearance range of 0.100" - 0.200". But it seems that there is a ring on the outside of the fingers that is further away from the flywheel than just the pressure plate fingers. The stud on the clutch slave was at the same height as the throwout bearing face, but 2" from the input shaft centerline. Long story short, the ring on the clutch caught the stud and snapped it...

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m...psuwy03gq8.jpg

After some cursing and moments of despair, Eric and I hopped on the computer and started searching for solutions. A local Chevy dealer had an F-Body slave in stock, but we needed a way to connect up my hydraulic lines. Eric knew the parts we needed, but at 4:00 on a Friday, how am I going to get them? Turns out a call to Speedway and a $65 Saturday Delivery shipping charge later, and I'll have the fittings tomorrow morning. So we have the pieces on the way to rectify this.

After getting past that panic, we started looking closer at the broken stud. Eric determined it was just a piece of mild steel that we could probably remove and replace. He was able to extract the snapped off piece, and we decided that we could use a bolt to replace it. So I picked up a 4" long Grade 8 5/16" bolt which we then cut to the correct (shorter!) length to give us 1/4" of clearance while still providing plenty of clearance to the clutch ring.

We put it back together and measured everything twice to be sure we will have the correct clearance. We then decided to call it a night. While we hated not to get her started today, we would hate it more if we rushed to put it back together and made a mistake. We'll start fresh tomorrow...

We did find one other problem. My new PS pump reservoir is cracked and leaking. I'm pretty pissed about this actually. I ordered a new pump from AGR to match my rack and pinion I purchased from them last year. It took a couple of weeks for them to build it and send it. The thing looks like it was all beat up. I should have complained, but I've been dealing with other things of higher priority. Sure enough, the damned thing leaks. Thankfully we still have my other pump on-hand, so we are going to swap the reservoir from it to this pump to take care of it tomorrow. That means draining the fluid and making another mess though (I'm a little tired of smelly fluids!).

So... Hopefully tomorrow we'll have better luck and get everything fired up. Onward and upward!

Good post Bryan! Wow.... hate to say it but sometimes that's just hot rodding. Makes me think back to the days of 4 speeds and Z bars and mechanical throw out bearings... it was SOOOOOOO simple! Seems to me BRAKES have become simple and clutches have become complicated. I used to hate drum brakes with all those damn springs and leaking cylinders... and the filth of it all....

Time for some beer and BBQ!

Sorry to hear about the problems, but glad you found a quick way to get the parts you need to fix it. I hope its a good day for you today.
The motor looks great in there!