Operation X

I started by taking the engine harness off & separating the Trans & K member from the motor. Then tore down the block to the heads. Tomorrow, I’ll have the heads off and ready to take to the shop. After that it’s the cleaning.. OMG every part is a mess. Oh, and I also broke the Heater Bypass Bracket. Luckily I have the green one from the other motor…. just needs a little color correction.

And the pile of part to clean

Thanks for watching… stay tuned…

Just an update….

I’ve got my heads back from the shop. Turns out 2 valves weren’t sealing. They had to do a valve job which cost me an extra 100 bucks. I was going to get the flywheel resurfaced and notice it has three hairline crack in the middle all are small (.5″ or less) except 1, which is almost 1in long. So I must replace the flywheel too . But despite the setbacks, I’ve got the heads installed and the rocker arms as well. Torquing the heads down to spec ain’t an easy job. (could be cause I have the block sitting on the ground instead of on a stand.) It’s got new gaskets, new bolts, new valves….. I should be ready to roll. now time to focus on cleaning everything else.

Now that the heads are on, I can start to focus on the details that will make this motor pop. I’ve polished the bolt heads on the LIM & UIM. then clear coated them. that gave them a gunmetal finish which looks nice. I may do that for all the gray bolts on the upper part of the motor. I shot the LIM, UIM & Valve Covers with a coat of clear to get it back shiny. Next job is the fuel rail. I’ve polished the injectors and I want polish the fuel rail and anything else that I can polish. Then finish bolting the pulleys and brackets on & wipe down all the plastic. then the motor will be ready. I’ll need to take the K member and the trans to the car wash and pressure wash them, get all the oil and grime off them. I really wish I had some headers to put on it but that will have to wait till later. Hopefully have her back together this weekend.

I took the K-member and the trans to the car wash. They were filthy, but not anymore

I also painted the fuel rail in an aluminum color paint. I couldn’t polish it. I didn’t want every thing to be black so I though some metallic aluminum paint would work nicely.

I’m glad to report that the motor is bolted to the car…….. that’s all!

One more day of wrenching then maybe I’ll start this baby up.
Got a lot done this weekend. It was mostly details, cleaning, and painting. I took a few quick snap shots, and  messed up my shoulder as well. I probably could have spend a few more hours and finished it but I though it better to rest the shoulder. I’m getting old I suppose.

The progress:
I decided to start putting things back together, but mainly because there ain’t much room in that garage.

I got the motor put back together…..

Because I was in a cleaning mood I wiped down the engine.

This is the part that wears me out and scares the $#!+ out of me sometimes with all the creaks and pops. I see the car just dropping at any moment…. which is stressful!

And with this pretty sight I decided to call it a night!

Well……
It’s been a month since the head gasket failure and now shes back on the road. Now that I’m a month behind and funds depleted, I now must tackle the paint job.

Still have to put the console in and find out why my A/C vacuum controls aren’t working. Not to mention, give her a bath as well, shes filthy. Time to get G15 ready. The days are counting down quick!

I’m replacing the lifters to try to fix my “ticking” irritation. It will be back up and running tomorrow .

The Maro:

The Hardware:

It’s very boring until the big pieces start coming off

Finally down to the lifters

Old Lifters/Rods:

time to call it a night. Rest up and do it again tomorrow:

The lifters that were replaced were not the cause of the ticking. I may have to open up the motor again and dig a little deeper to find the source of the ticking.

G15 will have to wait.

Ok, Its been almost a year since the Operation started. Its been slow to start and frequently MIA. But I’ve started the process and plans to get her G16 ready. On the 18th of this month marks one year since I decided to get her back on the road and I still have a ways to go.

1.)So far I’ve laid out plans on getting a building constructed to operate as a shop/garage. This will speed up the work and give me a place to paint as well.

2.)I also drove it today for the first time in a month. I took it to the shop and had their guy listen to it. He said the Cam shaft bearing sounds to be galled.

I have to determine if I’m going to open up the bottom end or pay someone else to. I really want to do it myself but this is all new to me.

Decisions, decisions.

Alright time to report!

In a couple months I’ll be pulling the motor, yet again. The valve train noise, according to the shop, Is a cam bearing.

Yes, I’ve decided to Cam.  I’m going with a ZZP GT2 Cam. I’ve already started sourcing parts. Today I received some LS6 springs. A few weeks ago I bought some Pacesetter Headers. So all of you can Zip It about them ugly manifolds now. I still need a 97 PCM (mine=96=sux) to tune with. Practically, it will be a fresh motor by the end.

Hopefully soon I’ll be elbows deep in grit and grime again. Not that I like the idea of pulling the motor a 3rd time, but just that I might be faster this time

I can’t wait to get the motor redone, that way I can get back to body work and suspension.