meindaparish

Hi, and welcome to the party! BRAAP and I are both in the midst of doing lsx z32 swaps, and motor mounts are something i was contemplating on the way back from the 8 hour drive to Tennessee to pick up my LS1 Im definitly going to fabricate them myself, but i don't want completly solid mounts for obvious reasons. So i then thought about trying to make a mount that stays soft at idle and normal driving, but stiffens at race/hard driving. My solution was to try to make a solid mount, with a tough bladder between the mounts and motor, that is filled with non-neutonian fluid. It seems to make sense, at idle the fluid would remain, well fluid. but, as soon as you would apply moderate to hard stress on it the fluid would instantaniously solidfy, giving you the benefits of solid mount! Over the next few days i will be doing more research and maybe even try to make a prototype.

Painted the block after getting it back from the hot tank. Also, cleaned the crap out of the heads and valve covers. The problem is I just found a ls1 longblock with a spun rod bearing for $350! So if the guy selling comes through, the title of this build thread may also need to change, but I'm not getting too excited yet. I really like the 5.3, but it would cost me more in new bearings, gaskets, seals, and labor to put it back together then it would cost to go pick up the ls1 longblock....it just seems to make sense.

Definitly meet up. If you want, pm me your number and we can chat.

UPDATE I spread all my lm7 parts around the garage tonight and took down the short block to it's bare state. I'm hot tanking it tomorrow. I have a buddy who works at a machine shop doing itfor free so that's awesome. I'm heading to thunder racing on Thursday to get some arp rod bolts, main bolts, and head studs. Then maybe find some new bearings and rings. Imthinking NAPA auto parts or car quest for a quick local pickup. And plus, chevy v8 crap is sooooo cheap. And I found a t5 from an 84 z31 turbo model, in a pull a part salvage yard. Now Im just curious as wether I need to change the yoke, or will the drive shaft spline in the z31 t5 be the same as the z32. But I'm not getting my hopes up yet. Here's the project vehicle in action about 2 weeks ago Sittin' pretty

Well, after a year of research and debate on which powertrain to swap into my n/a 2 seater Z32, I've finally decided to go with the lm7 5.3 liter small block chevy v8. I originally wanted the godly ls1, but since the lm7 only weighs about 60 or so lbs. more, i didn't think the ls1 was any longer worth it for my budget build, as i got the entire 40,000 mile engine, wiring, ecu, and accessories for $400. The next issue was finding a tranny that would break the bank or weigh as much as a beluga whale. For this I've drafted the assistance of a borg-warner T5 transmission. The bellhousing that is needed is an 11'' t5 chevy bellhousing. This tranny also helps offset the added weight of the lm7 over the ls1, since it weighs 50 lbs. less than the t56. So the project begins now, gentlemen. I'll keep updates as frequent as possible with as many pictures as i can take. If anyone has any questions or comments please ask, as i'm sure along the way I too will be asking many questions. Also, comments welcome! i picked up the engine yesterday, as well as my ls1 intake manifold. I also purchased the bellhousing i need last night, ill post pics of that later.

I'm gonna dig this one up a litter longer now. I just picked up full 5.3 vortec with all the bells whistles, ECU, and wiring for 400. it has 42,000 miles on the clock. BUT, my problem is now in the TRANNY! Its going to be a road race/ autoX z32 2 seater. So i want an M/T of course. I really don't want to spend 1000 + dollars on a heavy ass t56. So what's the options? Did anyone ever find out more on the t5/ bellhousing thing?