Bigred build thread - this is gonna take awhile...............

[Madman337]

Ok so far I have done the rear control arms and panhard rod with Hotchkiss stuff. I noticed the the handling on the car had gotten to be rather evil and at times would just go halfway in to the next lane without me turning the wheel so I got it up on a rack for a look.
I found that the bushings were really bad to the point I could move the wheel back and forth 3 inches without the wheel turning and so I decided to go with Poly graphite bushings. Tonight I did both lower control arms with new ball joints and bushings. Tomorrow I will do the uppers the same was and here are the first pics. BTW I started calling the car Big red after the radiator end tank blew on me in rush hour traffic and it ran with the gauge pegged at the top for several miles before I could get off the freeway.
30965309663096730968309693097030971
The last pic was right down the street from me and just so happened the day after I took the car a part and I got real worried the water would keep rising and there was no way to move the car. Thank God it quit raining cause it got to be 2 feet deep literally 100 yards away.

[popo8]

Glad u started this...

[Madman337]

Glad u started this...


Thanks Popo and I will say this much. I sure am rusty when it comes to actually doing the grunt work geez I am beat LOL

[Madman337]

I got the car back together and did an alignment and new rubber up front and all I can say is that this thing is a whole new car now!
I am very pleased with how good and tight it feels now and highly recommend this kit to anybody. I will update this as I go along with the car.

[Madman337]

BigRed update!
I am picking these up tomorrow.
Trick flow Lt1 195 heads, they have about 8k on them with double springs, Titanium retainers and a small mill job done to them.
I will be getting ahold of Lloyd for a cam soon too, I am looking for about 400-430 RWHP and these will not only help but they leave me room to grow my combo in the future.
32491324923249332494WOOHOO BigRed is getting some love!

[popo8]

Hahaah... gotta love when u can build up the parts pile. Awesome man.

[Madman337]

Got the engine and trans out of the donor today, wasnt as bad as I thought to do it. The whole thing including re installing the K member back in the car only took me and my friend about 6 hours to do and it was our first time removing the engine trans on one of these cars.
330423304333044

[popo8]

Good deal man!

[Madman337]

I am on the fence tho about all this...... Do I just put it in like it is and build the current nearly 300k engine in to a 383 with my new heads ect or do I do heads and cam to this one?
What do you think Popo????

[popo8]

If it was me... the car is complete and running fine now... i would not mess with it. I would build rhe other motor and when its 100% ready... swap it in. Minimal down time.

[Madman337]

If it was me... the car is complete and running fine now... i would not mess with it. I would build rhe other motor and when its 100% ready... swap it in. Minimal down time.
The car lifted a head gasket about 2 weeks ago because I noticed it steaming from the exhaust and it smelled like coolant. I checked the coolant level and it was a little low and there was no evidence that I could see of it getting in to the oil so I used liquid glass in it and that stopped it for now but I know its only a stop gap measure so we can keep driving it. The car does run a little hotter than before and the oil pressure is also lower as well but she has heart and is trying to hang in there. The donor engine only has 125 k on it and seems to run fine as I drove it in to the garage today to take the engine out. I know I am about out of time for the original engine to keep running but I have no other choice but to keep driving it for now. I now know I could do a swap in 2 days easy but I will have to drill and cut holes ect in the mean time for the 6 speed conversion. I am doing the pedals tomorrow so at least thats ready. Thank you again for the console piece as it was the very last thing I needed that the donor didnt have.

[popo8]

No sweat man.... happy to help.

[Madman337]

Ok here is the update so far.
The engine is almost ready for the Camaro just waiting for a few more parts. 1997 LT1 350, Trick Flow Gen X 195 cylinder heads, .026 head gaskets, milled heads down to 62 cc, stock internals for now. Will be adding a tune, exhaust, injectors and a custom ground Lunati cam later on. Cant wait to finally drive my car as a 6 speed.33210

[zoomo]

look at that clean engine itchin for some road grime! :)

[popo8]

Ok here is the update so far.
The engine is almost ready for the Camaro just waiting for a few more parts. 1997 LT1 350, Trick Flow Gen X 195 cylinder heads, .026 head gaskets, milled heads down to 62 cc, stock internals for now. Will be adding a tune, exhaust, injectors and a custom ground Lunati cam later on. Cant wait to finally drive my car as a 6 speed.33210
Awesome.... when do u have slated for first start up???

[Madman337]

Awesome.... when do u have slated for first start up???



Hard to say because I work so many hours that i have to try to get time off to do the car which after doing the TA I know it will take aprox 2 days. I also want to trailer Red down to steam her out really good before i do the swap but after removing the engine and trans. I did see a member who needs a pcm for a 96-97 which I have but I also have a complete LT1 ect that I could make run using it in an older car. I was tempted to donate to his cause tho and who knows I just may do so anyway. I am stoked to see this coming together and even though its not everything I had in mind it will still be awesome.
More to come later so stay tuned.................

[Madman337]

I know I went a little overboard on the Chevrolet orange 200 but it was also a throw back to some of my past builds. What can I say I like the color and even painting the front cover makes it rock old school SBC!

[zoomo]

i like the orange, throw back to the old colors :)

[popo8]

Hard to say because I work so many hours that i have to try to get time off to do the car which after doing the TA I know it will take aprox 2 days. I also want to trailer Red down to steam her out really good before i do the swap but after removing the engine and trans. I did see a member who needs a pcm for a 96-97 which I have but I also have a complete LT1 ect that I could make run using it in an older car. I was tempted to donate to his cause tho and who knows I just may do so anyway. I am stoked to see this coming together and even though its not everything I had in mind it will still be awesome.
More to come later so stay tuned.................
Idk... id keep the stuff if u have the motovation of bringing another ltx vehicle to life... or BACK to life.

[Homerandabe69]

You planning to get some long tubes for that engine?

[Madman337]

You planning to get some long tubes for that engine?
Yes I am, I am going to add some stuff to it later on because we need to be able to drive it now I am running everything else stock but I do need to do a tune on it to tell it "hey your a 6 speed now" and also a vats delete.

[popo8]

Idk that u need to tell it that its a 6 spd... going from a 6 spd to a pcm controlled trans would be a different story tho. I think.

LTXtech.com is my Drug...

[Madman337]

Idk that u need to tell it that its a 6 spd... going from a 6 spd to a pcm controlled trans would be a different story tho. I think.

LTXtech.com is my Drug...

It is my understanding the the spedo will not read correctly and it will run funny until it get the update but I could be wrong.