I've been following this thread quite closely, my friend manages a junkyard and just got an avalanche in with an 8.1 and low miles, $1600 for the whole package, wonder how easily this would go into a camaro.

Here we are with the test fit going on for the front accessories.

I'm waiting to put the lower pulley back on after I pull the motor back out and install the modified pan.

I have two current issues.

1. Looking for the right adpater fitting to come out of the power steering pump and connect to a -8 female high pressure line. The stock pump has a cool Aeroquip factory quick disconnect, but it hits the frame. I pulled it and found it appears to be a metric - about 16mm wide male fitting needed that is not a taper fit - has an o-ring at the top. That needs to be mated to a -8AN male tip to do the trick. Have a plug from an LS engine and steel fitting that I might be able to weld together...

2. VSS from the Ricmond 6 (like an old Muncie). The stock LS has a 40 tooth reluctor wheel and generates about 128K pulse a mile. The highest aftermarket off the shelf sender I can find is 8K - so about 40K a mile. Checking with the programmer now to see if he can manipulate the tables, or if I have to find a way to put a new reluctor in the trans.
http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6349.jpg

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6350.jpg

this unit should take care of your vss issues...

http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.c...rod/prd126.htm

Man...the VSS stuff has been a headache - that unit above wouldn't generate enough pulse to feed the ECM.

So...after much research and debate.....the VSS is in......

I found the 4L80E reluctor wheel was just a tad loose over the splines. I hand machined four tapered slots into the wheel, then using four pins and lock-tite, I slid the gear in place and pressed it onto the shaft. I then yanked the VSS out of my 07 silverado to get an idea of how much air gap to set. I then wrapped five runs of tape around the wheel and slid the tail housing back on after I machined out the original speed gear hole to allow a straight on approach with the VSS sensor. Once the housing was back on, I wrapped the VSS in reverse tape, slid it in against the wheel, and filled it with epoxy. After that set, I slid the VSS out, and trimmed it off. I modified the mounting bracket and drilled/threaded the housing to hold the bracket tight. Took it all apart, removed the tape from the wheel - then slid it all back together. With my voltmeter on A/C current - I can spin the tailshaft and get voltage readings to increase the faster I spin it. I think we are good!

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6381.jpg

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6383.jpg

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6384.jpg

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6386.jpg

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6389.jpg

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6391.jpg

Here is the other update - Oil pan modified - and on...and the trick new nylon fuel lines are made and ready to go.

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6393.jpg

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6400.jpg

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6372.jpg

Here is the good and bad.

Good - we were able to flogged out the electronics and the engine with dbw throttle is all good.

Good - the air intake is taking shape - and almost done

BAD - after hooking the radiator up and getting it running - it is blowing water through cylinder 1 and 4 (both sides of the engine) and filling up the crank case.

I drained it all out - am going to finish building the air intake, then yank the body back off the frame and pull the heads.

My pics are too big to upload - will get something on the web later to share the disaster.....

Sorry to hear about the water issue. I hope it is nothing that reqires a new motor. Good luck!

Here is the low down on the mow down.

The painless wiring is super high quality nice stuff and easy to work with.

got it all wired with the body off the frame so I had full access to do what I needed, then wrapped the harness purrrty.

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6425.jpg

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6438_op_800x600.jpg

Loaded up - radiator in place....and ready to test it all out - of course the engine failure was already present - I just didn't know it---yet.

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6458.jpg

Then I noticed pressure in the radiator - I never got the engine over 190 in the drive - and it spit water out of both exhaust manifolds.

So...we drained it out.....

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6482.jpg

cappuccino anybody????

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6481_op_800x600.jpg

Here is what I found - BOTH head gaskets blown - how weird is that? I'll get the heads to a machine shop this week.

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6522.jpg

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6523.jpg


I went ahead and started the cold air intake build - it is looking good - but going to be a super tight fit. The air intake goes over the radiator support down the front to a 10" Anderson Performance filter....

Waiting on headers now too - but will work on getting the engine healthy before they get there. I'm actually on a schedule...have to have this flogged out and functional before December. The final report will be in the March 2010 Corvette Enthusiast magazine with all the details of how this thing went down.

Now....I have an eye on a Comp cam xtreme energy cam...some roller tip rockers...and of course we could do a little head work while we are at it. However, I planned on running it stock first - spinning the dyno to figure out what we have as a base line - may be denied that opportunity now. :cheers:

Progress...and goodies.

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6627.jpg

Putting the head on using the torque to yield bolts.

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6638.jpg

These are the adjustable push rods. You can't run the engine with these. They are only used to determine the measurement for the custom push rods. These are non-adjustable rockers - therefore I have to make up the adjustment in the push rod.

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6640_op_800x600.jpg

These are the magnum roller tips. They will give me a tad more lift, less friction...AND they will fit under the valve cover.

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6641.jpg

On the inside - I mounted the new Vintage Air Sure fit system, then sought the perfect spot to run the wire harness. This spot drops the harness right over the back of the engine, and clears the goods on the HVAC.

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6649.jpg

And...the electronics will all be safely tucked away (thanks to the 4' longer harness) in the rear storage compartment.

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6650.jpg


Spent the rest of the day running the now 2 gauge (big thick puppy) battery cables, grounds, and other time consuming stuff.

Will set the new Painless chassis wire harness in and connect it to the Watson Hot Dot - push button starter.

Waiting on -

Push rods
Headers.

It's looking like you're in the home stretch now. Nice work. That really sucks that the head gaskets were toast. But now you know the top end will be solid. Do you have any pics of the cold air intake yet? I'd love to see how that is going to work out.
Keep it up, almost there!:cheers:

I am really looking forward to seeing it on the dyno! Any chance of getting it on video for us to see?

This project is coming along well. That sucks about the head gaskets, but better you find out now than after everything is finished. Did you contact the seller of the engine?

One other thing about these engines is that they "use" oil. I've had to add 1-2 quarts in between oil changes ever since I've owned my Suburban (2500, 4x4, 8.1, 4.10's). Everyone that I know who has one says the same thing though, so I guess it's just an 8100 thing.

Keep up the good work. With that cam and aftermarket exhaust, you're probably looking at 425-450 hp and 500-525 ft lbs of torque. Hope you're ready for frequent tire replacement.:rofl:

Thanks guys. These set backs have just about taking the wind out of my sail...but we are marching forward now.

I did let the seller know- he claimed when I bought it that he bought it from a salvage yard and had no idea if it was good. So, he gets a get out of jail free card.

The push rods are coming now. I needed some that were 8.125 - but Comp doesn't make them that size. I had to get 8.150, and will shim the screw in studs on those valves to get the length back right.

We took video of the first raw start...but can't get it off the Sony camera onto the puter. We reloaded the software twice...but no go. Hope to have it fixed by dyno time. Yes...400 REAL hp and 500 REAL ft lbs of torque would be awesome. The whole plan here was do to "not another" LS swap - yet utilize all the benifits of the LS elenctronics.

Oil burn? I heard that too. This engine is actually a 2007 and came from a medium duty. One place I read said they resolved this issue with better rings/pistons on the newer ones. Time will tell.

Here is a pic of the cold air intake being built. What is tricky here, is I had to notch out the core support (man...I wish I had some of your guys welding and fabrication skills!)....and welded in a work-around.

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/100_6535_op_800x600.jpg

First drive...and video.

Scroll to the bottom of this page to see the video.

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/Killer-II.html

Now...this is with open manifolds...and many loose ends...BUT - it runs and drives.

Now we are waiting on the hooker side pipe headers and will be able to do this right.

I tried loading the required quicktime program and I still can not watch the video. I would really like to see it running too. I have followed this from the start.:(

I don't know why that isn't working.

I have it also at www.digitalcorvettes.com. You might be able to see it through this link off that site.

http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/corv...6/limit/recent

Still no luck. I am running Vista on my laptop so that may be an issue. Not sure. I did download the program and saved the video too. I will work on it.

I am glad to hear you got it going though. How did it do?

Keep the good stuff coming. I am getting the rear of my 69 camaro situated now ( with help) thanks Ron. Next step if sliding one of these bad boy 8.1's in the camaro. Also going to start on a supercharger set-up for it. May have to make all the brackets, but that's par for the course. I think the 8.1 could use just a little more juice for my tastes. Snakeater

Good news!

I was having a problem with the dbw throttle.

It worked perfect until you started moving. As soon as the VSS picked up speed - it went to reduced throttle.

Was going crazy trying to figure it out - no error codes.

Turned out I had bad PCM programming. I goofed up and sent a 4x4 base 8.1 truck program to the PCM guy and something in that wasn't friendly to my VSS...etc.

Got that straightened out...and we are cooking with grease now!

If all goes well, the headers should be here this week - that is the last major piece of the puzzle to get it ready for the dyno...and wrap up.

That's great!! Glad to hear it's back on track. I was reading your posts from early and mid October and it sounded like it was kicking your a** a bit. Now it looks to be almost there and ready for some road time soon!!:thumbsup:

Goood work Chris!! Looks like your son has grown a little since the Camaro build! Keep at it!! :thumbsup:

Cool build man....cant wait to see the dyno results!

Micro update...

The headers finally came and we got them slammed on there on turkey day. I am now waiting on a set of killer JCL spiral baffles in place of the Hooker glass pack inserts. However, we slid the glass packs in and got it up and running.

I am still kicking myself for letting it run without oil for over a mile on 10/31 when the oil cooler line blew off and I didn't know it. No oil gauge at that time - but we have one now.

The engine is quite - After it fully warms up it is holding just over 20 psi of oil at idle. This is a stock oil pump.

The car is not street legal, but we made the run around the (paved) cornfield roads yesterday. The throttle response is crisp and instant. It will take off smooth as butter, but if you slip the clutch at all, or give it any throttle it lites the rear tires up. I have dabbled in the throttle a little - and all I can say is it is too much too fast to dabble with until the car is better suited for road use (no windshield, etc, right now).

The baffles should be here this coming week and we will go to the dyno (weather permitting) next week.

After that I am going to rough out all the a/c lines...etc, then the whole car comes back apart to start the paint/body/firewall - engine bay work.

So far I am happy with our decision to go down the road less traveled here. Would have all been better had we not run into the bum ebay engine - then the bum machine shop that screwed up the heads the first time...then me running it dry on oil. We have had some other dbw throttle issues - but believe it or not it all turned out to be a glitch in the software - not the components...of course after hour and hours of pouring over schematics...and research to verify the compatibility of all components.
:thumbsup:

Very cool! Im glad to hear it's almost there. And looking forward to more pictures as always.:cheers:

And....it is done. We wrapped up with a dyno tune session last week at www.1320hp.com in Lenox, IL. Mike Hornback tweaked the PCM to an all around smooth tune.

Details and video here:

http://mcspeed.homestead.com/Killer-II-page-two.html

For a cam with less lift than the one stuffed in my LS1 69 Camaro - this is impressive. On a cold day, the car is making nearly 600 ft lbs at the crank.

When I took the car for a test drive, I was shocked at how it would just blister the tires in 1-2-3 gear from a roll with NO effort all...and now I know why.

So...what's next you ask? I am going to wrap up the plumbing on the a/c system and install the gauges. I'll also go ahead and wire the entire chassis...then she all comes apart to roll the body over and get it prepped and ready for paint. We already have all the interior..etc, so when it is painted I just have to assemble. We may be putting 2010 ZO6 calipers on as well as a few other fun things before I pick out the rolling stock.

I'm a happy camper. This car is going to be a blast with enough power to slam you in the seat at a mere whisper on the pedal...but smooth enough to idle like a Caddi and just sip the fuel in O/D (plus cruise control).
:thumbsup:

8.1
 

Chris

nice numbers .congrats, should be fun to drive ...
WHEN ITS NOT FREEZING COLD!!!:rofl:

Tom

harness
 

If you could find a marine harness it is only two wires to hook up very easy all self contained best move I ever made is putting one in my chevelle:woot:

Beautiful vette. I was doing some research for a 8.1 thread and came across this. you can see mine at

http://www.fullsizechevy.com/forums/...rado-scsb.html

I am totaly with you on this throtal at 50 or so in third gear just lights up the tires so much toq. scary ma-b 2 much naaaaaaaaaaaaa. just hang on:willy:

Congrats, I bet it's a blast. One thing though, as an owner of an 8.1 powered Suburban....the sipping fuel part. lol I'm not sure if I'd say that they sip fuel, but I'd be real curious as to what kind of mileage you can get out of one of these 8100's in a small, light car with enough OD to keep the RPM's really low, like 1500-1700. I would think that it should be above 20 mpg, but the key is keeping that rpm down. I find that my Suburban does best when I drive 50-55...which the best it's gotten was 14.5 mpg (but that's with 4.10's and a 4L80). What rear gears are you running again?

Running a Richmond six speed tied to a 3:55 rear gear on what should be 26 or so inch tall tires. The 69 Vette has a low drag coefficient, so I suspect it will be smooth.

I was able to get right at 20 out of my old 69 Vette with 3:55 and EFI 468 Rat.

Look for the magazine article series (June and July 2010) in Corvette Enthusiast. I was able to expand on the whole process there.

Article now out...

Hey GREAT news...the first of the two articles is now out. You can view for free here:

www.corvetteenthusiast.com You have to register...but it is free.

Look on PAGE 58!!!!!!!!!!!! - and .... You saw it here first.

Thanks for the update! I was getting worried since I had not seen anything recently. :lol:
I really like this build. Very cool.:thumbsup:

Part II is now out.

Go to www.corvetteenthusiat.com (July issue) and see page 74.


:lateral:

Fixed

To achieve the 524ci's, how much of an overbore was used, +30, or +40?