Originally Posted by 383Stro

I will donate some advice LOL. The water pumps rarely fail, people usually replace them because they can't get the system bled, they have a metal impeller (take out the 6 bolts in the front and have a peep) and the only thing there to fail is the bearing in the rear. Don't waste money on anything other than the GM Opti...the others will not last (Accel, MSD). About the headers...I could not get long tube headers to fit on my car without pulling the motor, tying them to the side of the engine bay and putting the motor in after they were in. THey simply won't squeeze past. Maybe someone else can testify to that. Easiest just to break the motor mounts loose and lift the motor far enough to slide them in. As far as oil pressure goes...the LT1s that I have dealt with never had great oil pressure. 5psi is plenty on a hot day after running hard. If you just wanna change it to change it, you should go with the melling high volume, not high pressure and you will have to remove the oil pan, windage tray and then the pump is easy to get to, be careful not to drop the oil pump drive shaft (for lack of better term) to the drive up above. Change the pump, Then I recommend priming the pump. Go to the top of the motor and at the rear by the oil sending unit, under the manifold you will see the oil pump drive held in place by one bolt. Remove that bolt and take it out. get a drill, an extension a 1/2" socket [(I think that is the size I use) if not use whatever size a dime fits snuggly into] and an adapter so you can turn the extension with the drill. beat a dime into the socket (refer to the bottom of the oil pump drive and you will see what we are trying to accomplish) and attach it to the extension....that is how to make the tool to prime the pump. Remove the oil sending unit, put the apparatus down into the hole and fit it onto the spline. Operate the drill until oil comes out of the passage to the oil sending unit. congrats you primed the pump. Replace the sending unit and oil pump drive and lock-tite that bolt that holds it in.

Originally Posted by craby

intake looks nice, are you going to have it powder coated. works great and lasts way longer than paint. one more ? what wt of oil are you using? u can go to a little thicker wt to bring the pressure up for the short run. i replaced my water pump because i didnt want it pissin on my 400 dollar opti if it went bad so i can understand y u would want to change pump if your changing the opti. i had good oil pressure in my 93 then it started dropping to about 10 lbs at idle (thats with 10w30 wt oil) and at operating temp. when it did this the lifters started to clatter at idle. at the time i was changing the pan gasket anyways cause it was hard as a rock and leaking a little. so sence i was taking the pan out i changed the pump to a high volume, high pressure pump. that took care of the lifter clatter and at operating temp my pressure was at 65lbs at above idle and 25lbs at idle. my first 93 held the oil pressure at 60 lbs no matter what the temp or rpms. the oil pump change is not easy, u have to lift the front of the motor as high as u can, take the starter out and a few other things need to be moved. i did not prime the oil pump on the motor when i changed the oil pump and it was fine. the oil is already in the oil passages and such so i dont think its needed like on a new motor. u may have to lift the motor to get the lt headers in and u may not. if u have a car lift so u can get the car up in the air then ive heard the headers will go in easier. not to say they are an easy project. well worth it though.

Originally Posted by whammer3024

the cc503 is also a great cam with stock heads. i believe someone on this site decided to go with that cam, but i could be wrong.

all this talk about cams makes me think i should tear my old motor down and rip out all the goodies on it. i'd have rockers, springs, injectors etc to sell, lol.

go with comp cams for rockers. i forget the exact number, but 7/16 studs non self aligning rockers. you will need guideplates which i suggest trickflow for.

Originally Posted by whammer3024

www.shbox.com

become familiar with that site...it can help out A LOT when you're getting tired and forget where things go