The Camaro Club (UK)

You say the engine build is going pretty slow ...
I would say considering some of the changes you are making that it is coming together very well
Looks like it will be an awesome beast when finished

Agreed, for a start i don't even understand half of the stuff going on here, but it looks impressive and it looks like a lot is getting done

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Thanks guys

Found time to get the rest of the rotating assembly in today.

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

Phwoooaaaarrrrr... sexy shiney engine stuff !

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

A little more work on the engine today as it's been raining it was nice to be working the workshop with the heater going!

Assembled the oil baffle, pick up pipe and front cover onto the engine. I did think about polishing the timing cover, but decided it was too much effort for something you can't really see once the whole engine is built.

After that I cleaned the oil pan out and fitted that. Nice to have the bottom end all done.

Made a start on the assembly of the heads. Checked all the valves were straight as I knew there was a high likely hood of at least one being bent. Turned out there were 4 bent ones. Just as well I had some spares. What was a bit unexpected was finding a broken intake valve guide. So I need to look at making myself a new one and fitting that tomorrow.

Yesterday I marked out the combustion chambers to see how much material I could remove to un-shroud the valves. Turned out more on the exhaust side, but generally not very much. So it didn't take long to get that seen to on both the heads.



After all that I did have enough parts to get one head fully cleaned and assembled.



After that I soaked the lifters in a tub of oil and then fitted them to their retainers and into the block.

Then made myself a valley cover. I didn't have one with my engine parts and it only took 30 mins to make one.



After that I got the assembled head fitted. It gets it off the floor, and makes it easier to keep everything clean!



Just the other head, a few sensors and the rear seal housing to install and this is more or less buttoned up...

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

Another half day on this...

I found a piece of cast iron to machine a valve guide from. I did consider making a bronze one, as I have some, but it seemed a bit pointless unless I made 16 new ones, which I wasn't about to do! It took about an hour to machine one up, pleased with the result... spot the home-made one.



This was the extent of the chamber work, unshrouding the valves a bit. Don't want to remove too much material, this was about 3mm blended back toward the valve seat.



Next thing was to fit the crank damper and then find true TDC, shouldn't need it, but it's always handy for troubleshooting later on



Assembled the other head



Popped it on the block, torqued it down and then installed the steam pipes



Finally the inlet manifold and throttle body. Thankfully it still fits fine after skimming 0.050" off each head - bolts were a little tight in the holes, but it seems to work. 102mm throttle body fitted to the front, should flow ok...



Whether it works or not, I don't know. But it looks kinda cool...

I just need some pushrods for it and it's done.

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

_________________
How to post pics: When writing a message, scroll down and use the "attach file" option. Where possible, a photo sharing service can be used such as Flickr, Imgur etc. The image location (usually ending in .jpg) can be copy and pasted between the ][ brackets that appear when you click the 'Img' button (you can find this button at the top of the message box).

How to post youtube vids: Click on the 'youtubeHD' button at the top of the message box and in the middle of the ][ brackets that just appeared, copy and paste everything from the youtube web address that appears after the = sign i.e if this is the url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cNqaPSHv0 just copy "K2cNqaPSHv0").

If it goes as nice as it looks you'll be a happy chappy

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1997 30th Anniversary SS SLP
1993 GMC Typhoon

Started planning out the accessory drive system today. About 80% of the way through it need to finish the alignment of the steering pump off and then get the bits powder coated at work.

The LS Camaro uses a low mount alternator to help with hood clearance. But the LQ block isn't drilled and tapped for the mounts, so I did that first this morning. I also discovered that the Blazer alternator uses identical mounts to the LS one. And I have a spare one, and it only needs 2 wires to make it work.





Worked in an idler to help with belt wrap too. It was a new one I had laying around, should be fine.

Using a steering pump from a late model Camaro too. Need to come up with a way of mounting the reservoir high enough to feed it. Should be OK.



Total cost so far, nothing... apart from about 4 hours.

I do need to get an F body water pump and tensioner.

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

It is a shame the magazine market has declined so much, because the work you are posting here is better than much of what the so called publishers produce .

Really sharp clear images, good descriptions and of course great work .

I have a couple of Haynes and Chilton manuals that could learn a thing or two from you ...
Looking forward to the next episode