Bringing my 95 Formula back to life

[Cliff30thZ]

I have been reading all the project threads lately and it has inspired me to bring my 95 Formula M6 back to life. I bought this car back in 2005 for my girlfriend at the time, now my ex-wife, but thats another story. It was her dream car and i found this one that was side-swiped and blown up motor for $400. It had a primered fender, the side molding was gone from the door, and the quater panel had a horrible bondo job and spray paint. The engine had been driven so hot it melted a hole through both heads.

The first thing i did was pull the motor and see what i had to work with. The bottom end was good except for 1 piston so i bought a used set off ebay for $30 and reassembled it. I got a set of heads off ebay to finish it up and threw it back in. We drove it like that for 2 years before i bought a Trailblazer SS for her. I still have that too. After that it pretty much just sat there niglected till now. At one point i backed my 2500hd hitch into the front bumper so i threw one off a 94 i was parting out on it.

So today i put it in my trailer and brought it to my house. The only thing i did so far was wash it. Because i just can't leave anything alone I think I'm going to pull out the stocker and swing in my 355 LT1. Its got a forged bottom end with an Eagle crank, Ross 11.4:1 pistons, Oliver billet steel rods, LT1 heads and intake ported by Matt Antonelli and a custom cam. With a carb naturally aspirated in my 84Z it ran 11.5 at 123. It was built for spray, just never had the chance to spray it at the track. It already has a good clutch in it and JDM shifter. It also has a NOS plate and George Baxters 58mm TB. For the ignition i have a MSD coil and opti that was on the stock motor. I am going to install my Hooker LT's and Mufflex 4".

This is probably going to be a long build due to having a family now and no money. Luckily i have a garage full of parts already so might as well put them to use.
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[CamaroZGuy]

happy to see the return of another LT1!

[firebird_1995]

Awesome man! That's going to be a beast when its done.

[popo8]

Great news!!!!

another one will LIVE!


Larry (Popo8) Co-owner
LTXtech.com

[Homerandabe69]

You better put a nice paint job on that thing when it's finished

[Cliff30thZ]

Thanks for the kind words guys. firebird_1995, i have been watching your build closely because i also have a 85 Monte SS. My mother bought it new in sept. of 85 and i took ownership in 95.

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As far as the exterior i have a factory ram air setup for it and a brand new GM front bumper cover.

I didn't get much done on it today, just cleaned up the interior and started disassembly.
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[Cliff30thZ]

Here are some pics of the engine build.
Balancing the assembly
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Decking the block18366
Indexing the lifters1836718368
Bottom end assembled1836918370
Installing the oil pan18371
A look at the pistons18372
Installing the valley screens1837318374
Heads installed and Rev kit18375
Installing the Harland Sharp rockers18376
Intake installed1837718378

[Cliff30thZ]

Look what i found while cleaning out under the passenger seat. I forgot it was even there. 18396

[Cliff30thZ]

I managed to get outside for a hour today and pulled everything off the front of the engine except the balancer and MSD opti. I will stop at my garage on the way home on monday to grab my puller. 18436
Unfortunately i found a nasty rust hole through the passenger side rear floor pan. I will start looking around for an inexpensive replacement to weld in. There is one on ebay, but it's a little pricey. 18437

[Cliff30thZ]

So through no fault of my own i got to work in gutting the interior today. My wife Stacey turned off the alarm at 530 this morning instead of hitting the snooze, yes im blaming her. I woke up 20 minutes berfore I had to be at work so i burned a day. The rust was better than i expected so that made me happy. The most damage is in the passenger rear foot well. I have to repace the whole thing. There are a few pin holes on the passenger front foot well that I can weld up then cover with rust incapsulater. On the driver side there is just some surface rust to clean up and cover with rust incapsulater. I dodged a bullet with the rear seat area. It is perfect and no damage at all. It just started raining so im calling it a day. And a bit of good news i found $2.73 under the seats. My budget just got bigger. 18595185961859718598

[popo8]

hahaha... 3 bucks.... almost a gallon of prenium.

Glad its better than u thought.

keep us posted...and keep the pics comin!


Larry (Popo8) Co-owner
LTXtech.com

[Cliff30thZ]

I started working on the inside driver side floor pan today. I took a wire brush to the entire floor and used a shop vac to suck up the debris. When i was finished i found more rot that needs to be replaced. I got out as much scale and loose rust as i could, then wiped it down with cleaner. I then sprayed a coat of Eastwood Rust Encapsulater. It goes on nice and easy with good coverage. I will let it dry overnight and see how it looka tommorrow. Right now I am cleaning andspraying the floor pans even though I will be cutting out a good amount of them later.
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Here you can see the newly discover holes.
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[popo8]

moving right along...


Larry (Popo8) Co-owner
LTXtech.com

[Cliff30thZ]

I had a pretty busy day today. Got alot done on the car. The first thing i did was drain the trans fluid so i would make a mess as i was pulling the trans by myself. Then i removed the torque arm and driveshaft. Then came the trans.
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After that i decided to start working on the floor pan. I managed to source a pan fron a 94 v6 car that was perfect. the only damage to it was from when they used to forklift at the junk yard to move the car. Once i figured out how much i was going to replace i cut the new pan to size with a cut off wheel.
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Next I fit the new section and secured it with zip screws. Then I traced out what I was going to cut with a paint pen.
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I will finish this update when i get home later. Me and the wife are heading out to Morton's Steak House for date night. Can't wait

[Ninety5PoloZ]

Looks good man, I have to replace my floor pans in my car as well. I will be following this thread closely :cheers:

[Cliff30thZ]

Next I removed the patch panel and used a cutoff wheel to remove the old one. I made sure to cut the inside of my mark to keep the gap tight as possible.
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Here you can see the new panel and the old one. The only diference is the new one came off a car that was undercoated. What a difference. I looked at 13 cars in the junkyard and this was the only good one. It was also the only one undercoated, the rest were worse than mine.
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The only thing to do then was to prep both the patch and the car for welding. I used a 80 grit flap disc to clean up around the cut.
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Monday i will take the patch panel to work with me to clean that up. The undercoating will just clog up my flap wheel, i ill use the wire wheel on the bench grinder to remove it. I have everything else ready so monday after work i should be atleast tacking it in.

I also found the my front torque arm mount. I forget who made it but it was sold thru Jay Fischer Pontiac a long time ago. It used to be in my Camaro, but i made a new one for it so Im useing it on this one.

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[popo8]

Keep it up. I laughed when #13 was ur lucky car for a good patch... :)


Larry (Popo8) Co-owner
LTXtech.com

[Cliff30thZ]

Well lucky for me 13 is my lucky number LOL. I had a couple free hours today so i said screw waiting till Monday so i cleaned up the patch panel.

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Then i clamped it in place with my new set of welding clamps i got at Harbor Freight for $5.99

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I then tacked it in place and removed the clamps.

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Then the fun began with a couple hundred tack welds, using a small flathead screwdriver to make sure the 2 panels lined up. I ran out of time today so I will finish off the welding tommorrow.

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[popo8]

VERY CLEAN.... GREAT WORK!!!


Larry (Popo8) Co-owner
LTXtech.com

[Cliff30thZ]

Haven't had much time to work on the car this month with the weather and family, but tomorrow is all mine. The drivers side is all welded and ground on the inside, just have to seam seal it. Then I will start working on the under side. On Memorial day in between flipping burgers I managed to pull the headers off my 97 that im going to use on the Formula. they are just Hooker super-comps that were sent to Jet-Hot about 12 years ago. They only have dyno time on them and there is a little bit of rust. Going to try to fix that. I pulled the valve cover off the pass side to try and sneek the header out. It didn't work but I did take a pic of the Canfield heads and Jesel rockers. 2009620097

[Cliff30thZ]

Finally got the day to myself so this morning I went out determined to get the k'member out and start cleaning out the engine bay. So after about 30 mins the 6 bolts were out and the k-member was sitting next to the car. 21016 21017 21018 21019 21020 Now im going to got back out there and put the engine on my engine dolly so I can bring it to my other garage and swap it out for the 355.

[Injuneer]

Wow..... great to see those heads and rockers again. Haven't seen them since about 2000. It's a lot different than putting the engine back in your Camaro. I still have the pictures of you and your dad working on the car, with George, Brian, Claude and Jim consuming beer.

[Cliff30thZ]

The good old times. That is the engine that I'm putting in the formula. It went 11.5 in my 84z naturally aspirated.

[Cliff30thZ]

It's been a while since my last update so I figured I'd do one. I have not touched the floors because it's been too hot and I'm too fat to be welding in the sun. So what I have been doing is collecting parts. I decided that I wanted to use the Hooker long tubes that were on my 97 for this car. I bought them in 99 brand new with the ceramic Jet Hot coating. After over two years the coating looked like crap so when I popped the motor I sent them out to get recoated in black 2000 degree. They were only used on the dyno after that then bolted in the car. I couldn't believe what they looked like when I took them back out of the car. The coating was peeling off and there was rust everywhere. I called Jet Hot and had them recoat them. Luckily they have a great lifetime warranty.22913

[SSlowBoat]

Unfortunately i found a nasty rust hole through the passenger side rear floor pan. I will start looking around for an inexpensive replacement to weld in. There is one on ebay, but it's a little pricey. 18437

i have this same hole on both cars, and they both have been jersey cars their whole lives. love the build

[Cliff30thZ]

I completely stripped the factory k-member, cleaned it and painted it. 22914 Next I bolted up the steering rack and the modified LS1 steering shaft. Also had time to bolt down one motor mount before the rain came.22915 Since the rain stopped me I will show this picture. It is fully adjustable heim end upper and lower control arms I stole off my 97 with QA1's and a LS1 brake package I bought off a member. I got drilled and slotted rotors and completely rebuilt the calipers. Then I put an 2 coats of POR15 red caliper paint.22916

[Cliff30thZ]

i have this same hole on both cars, and they both have been jersey cars their whole lives. love the build

Thanks. I managed to find a perfect floor in a junkyard for $125. Just a lot of work welding it in.

[SSlowBoat]

I just got a welder that i have to fix, and then plan on doing the same. Its just weird my hardtop car leaks more than the t top car

[Cliff30thZ]

I got a price quote for the intake, accessory drive bracket, water pump housing and thermostat housing to get powder coated. I don't think $170 is too bad considering ive gotten prices of $100 just for the intake.

[Cliff30thZ]

I just got a welder that i have to fix, and then plan on doing the same. Its just weird my hardtop car leaks more than the t top car

Well when it's time to do the job I'd be more than willing to help.

[SSlowBoat]

Well when it's time to do the job I'd be more than willing to help.

Thanks man i appreciate this. Whos doing the coating? Liquid Powdercoats?

[Cliff30thZ]

Thanks man i appreciate this. Whos doing the coating? Liquid Powdercoats?

I found these guys and they are pretty local to me. coast2coastpowdercoating.com (http://maps.google.com/local_url?dq=powder+coating+morganville+nj&q=http://www.coast2coastpowdercoating.com/&ved=0CF4Q5AQ&sa=X&ei=V84SUt3-G8qKxgHan4CABQ&s=ANYYN7m4nRLidnsg4eta9GE7VrNi2NcP9w)

[dawdaw]

Any updates on this?

[dawdaw]

Cliff30thZ any updates ?