jeromio

I'm curious about the lack of gusseting on the tabs for the LCA mounts. I suppose the arms are wide enough that diagonal twisting forces will be minimal. The idea of rotating those bars for increased adjustment is very intriguing. You could maintain the camber curve when adjusting ride height. Or dial in a perfect tire contact patch for drag race launching. Of course, machining the tubes to be adjustable and lockable would be tricky. Does the sub-frame get solidly bolted in, or will you isolate it a bit with some urathane or rubber?

Not me. The ds just has to be shortened. The adapter bolts to your pinion flange - no difference here betw. alum. or steel shaft. I believe they are different lengths, but since you have to shorten it, it doesn't matter. I used an A4 ds with my T56. IMO, alum ds is for bling. In this application, the thing ends up like 2 feet long, so the weight savings is minimal. I would also make sure your local ds shop can work with aluminum before you decide.

If anyone is having trouble finding info using the search feature, it's because there are too many of these dumb posts asking for a wide blanket of info. Inevitably one or two kind souls enter the thread and offer up a little bit of general info - just trying to be nice. And then we've just diluted the pool of info even further. So, Kyle, I will admit that this problem is not 100% your fault - there is a lot of junk in the db. But you've only added to it. And it really is not that hard to find the LS1 info on here. One problem is that king-daddy thread on the LS1 is called "Mountiong LS1 into 1971" - which is just not a good thread title. If I was a moderator of this fine board I would immediately delete posts like this. I would then send a PM to the poster, pointing out the uselessness of such a generic, open ended question and point out the marvels of the search function. It would also be key if we could fix some obvious mistakes in thread titles, etc. In the meantime, go here: http://forums.hybridz.org/search.php?searchid=166789

I don't think any "modern" cars (built after 2000 or so) have true duals stock. They have duals to a Y to a single pipe all the way thru the tunnel that Ys out to duals again after the rear axle - purely for looks. The Holden/GTO is a key exception. That car actually has duals all the way back, right up to the muffler. But it's a single muffler - wierd. Working indirectly in the automotive industry, I can tell you, if a mfg can do something to save $0.04 per car, they will do it.

I thought you had duals though? That would make a huge difference.

Idle sound is not really all that indicative. On my car, with 2 1/2 >- 3" and a Mac muffler, 1500 RPM is a really awful drone that will make your ears ring for 30min. after getting out. I added a 3-3 bullet (a nice one) right after the Y and that improved things, but only slightly. I think it turns at around 1500RPM at 70MPH - just the speed you need for say, a cruise to Va. (which I won't be making - my head would explode). There was a thread on here a while ago about exhaust noise (started by Ross I think?). Some good knowledge popped up: you (we) need mufflers as close to the headers as possible. So ideally, twin 2.5" bullets right off the collectors would be the ticket. Tight up in there though. I had hoped the single bullet off the Y would do it, but no. I have a few questions fer ya: Is that tranny mount bolted all the way thru those rails (I hope)? Is your car lowered (hope not)? It almost looks like your exhaust is hanging an inch or more lower than mine was before I redid it (tucked it up higher). Mine got really banged up by driveway entrances and speedbumps. The bits from the diff member back look really nice. I recommend a rather longish, unfortunately potentially ricey looking tip. I put a big 'un on mine and I notice a difference in the smelleys getting into the cabin.

Freaky. I must've just timed it right or something.

Too late, but, just for the archives: R&L Carriers, http://www.rlcarriers.com is excellent. I shipped a transmission from NC to Indiana for like $75. They came to my house, loaded it up, showed up at the other guy's place in 3 days.

I recommend all electrical guages - unless you just prefer the Flintstones way of doing things. Also, Autometer makes crap. My brand new $300 speedo only occasionally shows the odo. I've had other cars with autometer failures too. I recommend VDO if you can find them.

I ran over a giant, sharp rock and holed my pan. I'm about 4" off the ground. You can buy an aftermarket pan with a shallower sump - about $500.

To answer the questions you pose on that page: That "counterbalance" is not actually home-made. It's a stock piece. Also, that crappy-*** diff mount that failed? Yeah, that's the stock design. Made to last at least 6 months. Well, maybe 3.

I'm curious about this. I have DOM tubing and 2 things happenned when I tried to use it: The tubing just kinked, then a weld on the bender popped. This solution seems to help interms of spreading the force exerted by the 2 rollers, but not the die. That's where my tubing kinked. Perhaps you're using thicker walled tubing? Although, my tubing is pretty stout (hence the breaking of the bender).

Crap. Nevermind. Harddrive in the server crashed today. Very, very sucky.

My adventures with the phone company are over (I hope). My website is back up - because I just know that all of you were bummed that it was down and have been anxiously awaiting its return.... I just created the DNS entries, so it may not be up for everyone yet, but it should definitely be active by the 23rd of April (tomorrow). If you can see this image, then your ISP's DNS has been updated:

For what it's worth, I have the brass version of that JTR radiator (b/c I'm po') and it has worked fine. On a hot day stopped in traffic, the low speed fan will come on for maybe 30sec every few minutes.

Do you know someone who works there or something?

I'm looking around for some stock to make this thing from. Man, steel prices are high. Then I look over at aaalll that DOM rollcage tubing I bought. I bought alot of extra tubing. That stuff was expensive when I bought it (2 yrs ago), but at this point, probably about the same cost as plain mild steel square tube. Plus, I already have it sitting in my garage....

Has anyone ever left the motor in the car and then rotated it with a rotisserie? I am about to redo my exhaust and I am loathe to crawl around on the floor again. A few hours and a few hundred $ seems worth it to make a rotisserie for this job. However, I'll need to leave the motor in. I don't plan to rotate the car past 90 degrees. Are there any concerns with, for instance, oil leaking past the rings? I can drain the oil (although at $6/qt, ouch) and remove the battery, but you see what I'm getting at.

Mine is wired such that both speeds are controlled by the ECM. I've only seen the high speed come on once. That was during intial shakedown when I was turning it on manually. My ECM is programmed for the low speed to come on at 186 and high speed - I dunno, I forgot to ask. It only ever comes on low speed and only when I'm sitting still and then only for a few minutes. The fan isn't supposed to draw more than 40amps, right? I hope not, b/c that's the rating for the fuse and relay I used. It moves a lot of air on high speed. I doubt it will be on for very long - depending on how hot your motor runs. Especially with a larger radiator. I think it would be fine - kind of overkill though. I'm surprised your ECM doesn't have a program that supports a 2 speed fan. If it does, I would use it.

Routing the filler was tricky for me. I used an early maxima filler and a radiator hose. It works, but I am concerned about the rubber holding up long term. The basket I got with my tank was damaged. That caused headaches. Also, the gasket was scrogged and I couldn't find another one. So I had to make one. The GM lines are available at most autoparts stores. Fuel filters too. The main mod was the level sender. I removed the resistor and replaced it with a 100ohm resistor from radioshack. Details are on my website. Overall, I think it works well.

My 240 used to very twitchy. Over bumpy surfaces it practically drove itself all over the place. And wet roads were terrifying. It always cornered well (after springs, shocks), but it was not an easy car to drive. I often pondered this - why was my Contour so much easier to drive? After addressing the severe crookedness of the rear end, it is like a different car. I had never bothered getting the rear alignment done b/c it seemed pointless - it's not adjustable. So, in terms of this comparison of 240 to 944 - or even Sentra - I would offer this: build quality. Datsuns just didn't have any. If your car handles like crap, get the full four wheel alignment checked. My right rear wheel was severely skewed. No wonder it was scary! And those few burnouts I did with the LS1 were not the reason that the tires went bald in 5K miles. After I finally got it straight in the rear, the steering wheel is turned about 10 degrees off center going straight! As to the expense/reliability/power of the Porsche drivetrain: there is actually a kit for the SBC swap and I believe at least one vendor has one for the LS1 (Renegade?).

Nope, that's it.

Um, "heh heh", yeah, I think that was the point of his post. Your argument is that because they kept the same crappy design around for 15 years, that it must've been good?

Carbs. Dumb. Especially on an LS1. Like a propellor on a Gulfstream.

Well, I guess Aaron and the rest of you must've been right. I found a loose thing-a-ma-bob piece of random metal in the back. Didn't seem like it could explain the noise. I might've also gotten rid of something in the control arm as I was blowing and brushing th esurfaces of both of them. Hard to say. But I drove around and the noise is gone. It's one of those annoying "Problem fixed itself" kind of situations. I basically just got frustrated at not really finding anything definitive and took the car for a drive. Couldn't reproduce the noise. And I tried. Wierd. With all this I did come to a crystalline realization that my car is a piece of crap though. When I did all my mods to this car, I didn't do the Paraska style anal going over of everything in craftsman like detail. I basically just did a continuing series of tightwad, low budget, not much free-time available mods, one after the other. In looking for this noise, I inspected the whole car. You know that "Ugh, I should've done this or that" feeling you get when you're working on something unrelated? I kept getting that feeling over and over and over and over again. My brake hardlines are random. Wiring is a mess. Got plenty of goober welds here and there. Interior is a mess. Exterior is full of dents, old bondo, rust, peeling paint. It all just looks so half-assed. The car runs and drives and all. But this whole mysterious noise thing has made me realize that I just need to go over the whole car and button up the thousands of little details and go back over all of my "quick fixes". It's rather daunting. Don't get me wrong, I'm generally happy with the car and the structural, macro-level stuff I've done. It's just that alot of that is obscured by all the junkiness. Anyway, thanks for all the ideas.