Hopefully all who click will take the time to read this and provide help.....

I have spent a lot of time dreaming on how to make my 97 z28 an asphalt tearing mean but street legal machine. I have also spent a lot of money just in upkeeping the car, thus hindering my dreams. But now is the time.

First off, the history of this vehicle. I bought it in 2003 with roughly 50k on it for 6 grand from a co-worker. It had one owner, who didn't push it a whole lot. Kept on the island of oahu in hawaii, so the mileage was low. The m6 tranny would have trouble going into reverse sometimes, the window motors were dying, the low coolant light is always on after running for a little while, and it had hard starts. But I loved it anyway. Even though it is a dark green (not a fan) with a bland gray interior, it is the fastest car I have ever owned.

Replaced the window motors in 04, yay, now the windows dont take forever to roll up. Got the windows tinted reflective silver becuase it looked good and swapped the tailights and front running lights out just for cosmetics. Left it that way for a good long while.

By 05 the car was paid off, and still seemed to be in good shape. Replaced the stock exhaust with GMMG and installed a K&N FIPK CAI. Left it that way for a while longer, then thought bigger.

Frequenting the LS1tech LT1 boards, i tried to think of other things i could do with the car to make it better, faster, funner. I bought a replacement shorter shifter, which increased the fun factor considerably. Then I read about Lloyd Elliot and the work he did for LT1s on his site eportworks.com. I contacted him looking for guidance. I wanted the LE2 head conversion and asked what complimenting parts I needed.

Using his advice, I have slowly assembled a 52mm throttle body, LT Jet Hot headers, a drivers side polymotormount, a Jet Hot Y-pipe and 30# accel injectors to compliment the head and cam swap that would be to come. I started saving money for the actual porting of the heads and the cam.

But, then more problems came.

My clutch started to slip. So I bought a centerforce dual clutch off summit and installed it myself using my haynes manual. Thinking that problem was taken care of, I headed up to my parents for the holidays and lost the ability to shift in reverse as well as all around shifting being horrible.

Took the car to a tranny shop up there and they showed me that I had installed the clutch to wear only one side was gripping. I had to have a LUK brand clutch installed in its place, professionally. An expensive lesson about ensuring you meet torque specifications. However, once the new clutch was in, it never shifted so smooth, but sometimes it still kicked out of reverse.

Next, the car started misfiring whenever I tried to floor it in a higher gear. almost 2000 dollars and 3 months later, it was discovered the the distributor was dying out. I replaced it myself with a dynaspark version, as well as replacing the water pump that appeared to have lost it's interior seal and was dripping on it. Fun fun. A bonus, the hard starts that accompanied the car went away.

But now the oil pressure is lower than normal, it normally sits right above the red mark ONCE the car warms up. When the car is cold, the pressure is at 40 like it used to be. I was told that this could be the oil pump wearing down. I have a replacement standing by to be installed.

Also, the clutch pedal seems to make a slight wine when it is pushed in. That is still being investigated.

As of now, the car has almost 70k on it, with those issues. Oh and the window motors seem to be giving out again, taking a long time to go up and down. great. ill fix that again when they begin to stop like when i bought the car.

Why do I type all that you ask? Just to give you readers a background on this particular vehicle in hopes of some more assistance. On to the modifcations.

Tomorrow, saturday the 22nd, I am taking the car to a friend's garage in preparation to pull the cylinder heads and send them off to lloyd elliot for porting. My friend has worked with LT1s before and says it should take about 2-3 hours to complete. I am grateful for his assistance.

While the heads are being ported, I plan to order whatever final little pieces I need to complete this conversion. The parts I mentioned above are just that, nothing else is included. I have been told it would be in my best interests to get 02 extensions, locking header bolts, felpro gaskets and rear 02 deletes for the headers to be installed correctly. Also some folks have mentioned getting the over the top spark plug wire conversion to avoid burnt wires.

I asked lloyd about what suspension components he would recommend, he mentioned 'pete z bars' and sub frame connectors.

So I am searching summit and thunder racing for these parts and coming up with some, but not all. I also notice that thunder racing makes recommendations for things like 'a new timing chain' when replacing the existing camshaft. To which I think 'thats not a bad idea, too bad its expensive'

But I knew this would be expensive going into this. That is why it has taken me so long to gather the main parts. I am asking you fellow members for any help you can provide to make sure I cover all the bases in this. I want this conversion to be successful so I can have my powerful dream car, that it will last for a long while, and not make the mistake of buying the wrong parts, or parts i dont need and wasting money, etc. Any part numbers welcome.

ahh, i almost forgot, the 'tuning' portion. I know nothing about tuning the engine. but apparently i need good tuning for this setup to work. i am trying to find something that will allow me a set up for normal day to day driving, and strip use. i dont have the slightest idea what that will entail. so help would be great here as well.

man, one more thing i forgot. the low coolant light it STILL on, and i have checked the coolant level numerous times. it is in spec. it always turns on after the car warms up, does anyone else get this? it is really annoying. i have no clue why it is there becuase the engine is at normal operating temp.

I do not have a lot of technicle knowledge when it comes to working on the car, but I have enjoyed learning, through the self inflicted repairs and the general repairs, as well as the modding that is coming slowly but surely.

Any help on locating these other parts, any other part reccomendations, any opinions, criticism, etc is welcome. I can also try and explain more if the need be. I don't want to mess this up. As I always have said on the LS1tech boards...thanks in advance.
nick

 

First off, welcome to the board!

I got most of what I needed for the LE install from summitracing.com.
Here a detailed list http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2297151/4

Don't cut corners; things like timing chains, rockers, lifters, pushrods and
head bolts should really be replaced. A good mail order tune (got mine from
pcmforless) is a good idea if you want it to run properly with the new cam.
You'll want upgraded injectors (30 or 36#) as well.

Be sure to have the cam degreed when you install it, those custom grinds
can be off +/- and few degress and relaly kill your performance and possibly
even damage the valvetrain. (Mine as off by 6*)

It sounds like you are no the right track; OTVC wires and headers are good
supporting mods. You've got a good cold air intake and catback (awesome!).

Consider getting the intake manifold ported to match the heads to improve
flow and using .026" gaskets to increase compression (worth a few extra HP)

Above all, listen to the advice you get from Bret and Lloyd, they're sharp guys
and they know what they are talking about.

As for the low coolant light, a see a lot of complaints about those coming on.
Mine did it on and off for a while then the water pump died. I haven't had any
problems since I replaced it with an EWP (may or may not be your issue).
Is it leaking anywhere?

 

Your low coolant light is most likely the sensor. My low coolen light has been on for 25000 miles. Its some what cheap and easy to replace. Might even give you the chance to flush that dirty cooling system!

 

In all honesty, you could probably run the stock timing chain. Get a factory replacement. Inless you really hammer on your car. If you pound it hard, get a double roller (Which means you will NEED to convert to an Electric Water Pump, the waterpump is cam-driven. A double roller doesnt alllow for this to work.

And buy the best valvetrain parts you can get. Dont skimp out on Lifters. And DO NOT buy Comp R's ... Your two best bets with lifters are Morel link bar styles $$$ or factory replacements that are brand new.

 

Exactly, a stock replacement is what you want.
Don't run the original chain with 70k on it, it's probably stretched by now.
Even the one we just took off my car (at 30k) had too much play in it
to be reused.

 

as far as gaskets though, ive herd that lloyd recommends using Mr. Gaskets for the heads. I would also definatly consider fixing up the valvetrain a little like pushrods,roller rockers,lifters and what not...you will see a nice gain from the roller rockers (1.6). Getting the intake ported would also be a wise decision seeing how its less restrictive and will give you once again another nice gain. As far as a tune goes, you could get a mail order tune from pcmforless.com or madz28.com, or you could get a dyno tune which i honestly do not no much about excpet for they change ur A/F ratio and a couple of other things....hope i helped you out somewhat man good luck, its gonna be a sick set-up