The only challange on a project like this for me is the fact I did not take the motor out. I have never saw under the hood of a 4th gen until I bought my 96 but since I pulled the motor I knew where everything goes. Had I not done the V6 I would have waited and bought a doner car for the engine swap.

I am building this car as a driver so I do not want a redo because I routed a wire wrong or something dumb like that. The car needs to be dependable. My V6 project has about 50K on and I am still hitting 30 MPG in the summer.

 

Hey craby, i believe your right, i looked at several different sites and i think the upgrade to 3:42 with the g92 was on a 3rd gen. So, i probably do have 3:23 with performance axle and posi track from stock. I think mine have may been changed though cause the guy i bought the car off of had a 97 6 speed also and my car would get him off the line every time, really good too, a big difference. And that was with both of us driving each car. Mine is just soo much quicker.

 

I let this project sit because I have been so busy at work and I don,t really need another driver. I started working it this weekend. I forgot how bad of shape a car that has been worked on by shade tree mechanics can be. I bought a used motor complete, in theory just drop it in, I start looking at the wiring after I installed the motor. What a complete mess, This motor was pulled from a running car. I have found atleast 6 things that would have cause a failure at some point and only about half way thru the harness. This is very time consumming because since I never worked on a LT1 motor that was together right I have to research every clip mount/ground wire.

GM is not helping with their metic studs the have imperal nuts on them, Really GM? I knew you where doing that in the 80's because of older engine designs but LT1 is a complete new design.

I really am finding a lot of things wrong. My 96 is in sooo much better shape then this car. I am really tempted to to pull the bilstein shocks, and posi rear for my 96 and part the rest out.

 

I'm sorry to hear of your woes. I'm not a professional mechanic, but I always try to do things the right way. I have fixed so many things on my cars that have been a "You've got to be kidding me" moment because of the PO. Things I've been meaning to post pictures of on my car's thread but haven't gotten around to yet. The thing that always gets me the most is idiots use of glue to fix things... smh.

 

Well I final got some time to work on this and my daughter is now driving so this project should speed up a lot.

I install the wiring harness that was originally from the car and used the PCM that I know has a tune for a Lt1 hot cam. I was told the used motor had a GM performance Cam in it but the owner was not sure "which one" I think it is stock. Drain out most of the old fuel added 3 gallons of new stuff.

She fired right up, Almost instantly I had to shut her down, no exhaust and no coolant. I need some new hoses and then I will pressure test it. Then I need to get it high enough in the air on stands so I can install the exhaust. My lift sucks for installing exhaust.

 

WOW these cars a rigid. My 93z has the upgraded springs and sway bars. With the car sitting on the back tires I jacked it up and setup jack stand to catch under the sway bar bushings. I let it back down and stated working on the car. I quickly noticed one the stands was not holding anything. I counted the teeth on the stand it was one tooth lower, that is about a 1/2". That means from the rear wheel all the way to the front sway bar bushing would not twist 1/2". I have not seen that on any car from the 80's when I was a mechanic. If fact the only car I have ever seen like that was real race cars with a full cage.

Hard top 4th gens FTW

 

Haha nice. My car with aftermarket sway bars and all the goodies is super rigid. I can lift 3 wheels from one corner of the car pretty much, and I don't even have subframe connectors yet :P

 

Car start spewing oil from the oil cooler. I did not notice it because the first time I started it only ran a second.

I first thought it was the oil cooler, so I pulled it out and sure enough there was a large crack right on the face. I dug through my totes and found the one from the original motor and swapped it in. Oil poured out once again. The first thing I thought was the block was damaged in the wreck. I was already parting the car out in my mind. I posted on here and craby reminded the oil sending unit was right above the oil filter, The next day I checked with my bore scope and the dam thing was missing. I buttoned it back up. She runs great.

This is the first test fire. No check engine light and very quick throttle response. The smoke that shows in he move I did not even notice in the garage. Car has been sitting for years so not a big surprise

 

Long time no update, as I said before no real need for a second daily driver. Sadly my 96 V6 from the Project 96 is showing its age. The motor still running strong. I had to replace the drive shaft because the center bearing failed. It was side swiped last year. The trans is getting tuff to shift cold. It will need the suspension rebuilt and last week the windshield cracked. So at 230K it is time to retire her.

On the plus side I stole the drive shaft from the 93 to fix the 96 and ordered a aluminum for the 1993 I finished up the wiring and had to replace the clutch master cylinder and slave cylinder.

Steering is that last major repair needed. Rack, tie rod ends and hoses

 

i have one of them thats been hanging around for years waiting for me to do something with it. lol, its almost time. hope the seals are ok.