jshapaka

Fixing the pass headlight bucket (will be tubed later) and kouki swap initial fitment Apparently there's a slight difference if splicing the 87-89 bumper onto the 86 fender, will need to cut and glass the lip I guess

Wire removal and tuck

Cleaning up the dash support and pedal mounts

Bolt kit and starter came in CX Racing intake Accessories Fbody pump Blazer alt and 2010 Camaro PS pump

Carpet and sound deadening removal Custom drain hole HVAC and dash removal Patching the firewall First time doing this

Fuel

First test fit Sensors and injectors came in

Changing out the bottom pan, pump and seals

TBO replica lip came in finally along with clutch, flywheel gaskets and suspension components Fbody pan and tray New fbody tray, pickup, and dipstick combo Picked up two LS1 intakes, got a deal on the second one and resold for a profit nearly paying for both Broken header bolt removal (1st time and only second time using a welder) Organization Painting the valve covers

The engine! Sourced, degreased, and painted

Went ahead and refreshed the front suspension and rack while everything was out

Had to swap back to the non-turbo crossmember Turbo crossmember removed Turbo (offset/non-painted) vs non-turbo Non-turbo crossmember installed Dirty Dingo Mounts

A little background if you have the time: This is my first car, which I got when i was 17. When I was 19 or 20, the timing belt, on the stock non-turbo VG, decided to unburden itself, and instead of just replacing the belt and any valves/headwork, I decided it would be cool to swap in a turbo VG. Well this turned out to be a bad idea since I never got it running correctly, which I'd still attribute to the local machine shop that rebuilt it, but either way it was a failed attempt at a stock option swap. After that the car sat, and I'd tinker on it from time to time. In the interim, I had a '90 accord as a daily which was a bit emasculating , then I bought a custom '91 chevy swb off a buddy and drove that around for a while. Then one fortuitous evening I was introduced to the almighty LS in the form of a friend's '04 GTO with a 175 shot. I was done. And shortly thereafter purchased my first fbody/LS in the form of a '01 WS6, which I had until around 2010. Got through college, started my career, got married, bought a house, and unfortunately, the wife hated the Z so it ended up sitting a while longer untouched. Then a few years ago I got a divorce, and "temporarily" stored the car at my stepfather's place, which actually ended up turning into 3 years While the car was stored, I got rid of my tundra and bought a 2000 SS to daily, and basically ended up performing a ton of maintenance including the entire suspension before turning that in on '08 Z06. So around February of this year, the thought of reviving my aging Z into a track car sprouted legs and so began the process of unearthing it and relocating it to my current residence. And even though I'd never done anything like this before, I wanted to approach this project as hands-on learning experience and figured that if I screwed something up it wasn't a big deal since the only remaining value left in the car was sentimental. As luck would have it, there happened to be another guy doing roughly the same swap and had went through the arduous legwork of assisting Dirty Dingo Motorsports develop engine mounts for this application, which they'd just released weeks prior. With engine mounts purchased, around April I picked up a 5.3 out of an '02 Yukon XL from a local yard, and over the course of the next several months, spent many hours researching and started swapping out the various components and purchasing all the odds and ends to fit it into the engine bay of the Z. In October, I contacted Kenny Cash for a new harness and PCM flash. And having received this and completing the integration into the car, I test fired it for the first time last Monday and much to my surprise and relief it started on the first try with no leaks, fires, or explosions. So on the following several posts I'll backfill the photo log, and from there start adding new content as I complete tasks. Thanks for reading! The general plan so far: 5.3L T56 S13/S14 rear sub frame R200/R230 diff Kouki front-end swap Gutted interior No A/C or Heat Power steering retained Stand and Welder Started on the bay Drilled out the stock battery tray Primed Painted Kouki swap pieces and replacement fender

Thanks man! Those pics were from a couple months back. Waiting on my engine harness/tune to get here and finishing up the battery relocation and wiring

Awesome man, I'm doing the same swap in my 86 currently, and I just ordered the brackets. Thanks so much for going through the pain of doing the legwork