Engine Assembly - Progress

Over the last few weeks, I've been tinkering with the engine, not performance stuff, just trying to make the engine fit with my black and silver theme.
The LS engines aren't the prettiest out of the box, but they can be made to look pretty good with a tidy up, some color and a bit of bling.

The Progress so far,

Partial strip down, all the accessories off, inlet manifold, valley cover, rocker covers, sump, starter, water pump, timing cover, power steering pump, engine mounts.
This pic is the engine almost back together except for Water Pump, Starter, and Power Steering Pulley.



 In this pic, you can see the LS3 oil pan with rear sump,
The sump on my engine needs to be changed to a front sump due to the placement of a cross member on the chassis.
This cross member placement is a decision you need to make with Classic Revival when you order as it could have been placed further forward to suit later engines than the LS1 front sump version.

Bought a second hand VZ LS1 sump off eBay, stripped it down,
HPC coated in gloss black.
You can see the oil ports available for use after removing the recirculating plate just above the filter mount.

Pulled apart the alternator to clean up and add some color.










The VE alternator is made by Mitsubishi.
The most difficult part of dis-assembly was removing the front pulley, there is no where to lock the spindle from rotating, and Holden doesn't sell spare pulleys, so some care is required.
After trying to shock the nut loose with an impact gun, I lucked on the easiest way to hold the pulley from spinning.
Wrap the serpentine belt around the pulley and clamp belt in the vice, as the vice closes, the belts lock up on the pulley and the impact gun will whip it off easily.
Next undo the four long bolts that hold the 2 halves together.


To separate the 2 halves, you don't need to remove the four small screws behind the pulley, these only hold a keeper plate over the back of the bearing.
I removed this and the bearing later so i could get the casting HPC coated.

Wriggling the 2 halves back and forth, the front half will come away from the coils.
you can then easily pull out the shaft and magnet assembly leaving just the coils still screwed in to the back half.

3 screws hold the coil assembly in place, 2 are easily accessible, to get to third, the coils need to be lifted out a few millimeters which bends the wires at the bottom, so care is needed, this will uncover the third screw as can be seen in this pic.
Every thing then lifts out easily.








The trick to re assembling the rotor back into the housing is too press down the brushes in to the bearing housing and insert a pin from the back to hold them down while you insert the rotor shaft back in to its bearing.
You can see the little pin sticking out of the hole in this pic just below the center of the back housing.







Here's a pic with the Alternator, Corvette Engine Mount Bracket, VZ engine mount and sump fitted.










Its funny how the simplest tasks can be quite frustrating,
The pic here is the alternator support bracket.
With the move to the Corvette Engine Mount Bracket, which now mounts to the forward engine mount bosses, effectively moving the engine rear wards in relation to the chassis, the Alternator Bracket sits 12mm off the boss face, and also hit the Engine Mount Bracket forward Web.
Turning it upside down and slotting the mount hole was all that ended up being required.


You may have noticed in an earlier pic the Oil Cooler Adapter, this is from Improved Racing and is specifically designed to fit the LS GTO and Holden LS1 sump and accessories package.
Part number IR-EGM-1007
Its the only adapter i could find that clears the Engine Mounts and Alternator, and doesn't lower the filter below the sump base.

The original LS Oil Gallery Cover is removed to reveal two ports just above the Oil Filter.
The Adapter is a two piece unit.
The first piece is the mounting plate.


This pic shows the port block mounted to the adapter plate.
Two versions are available, -8AN, and -10AN fittings with two 1/8th NPT ports for Pressure and Temp Sensors.








View from below.














View from Side.

In this pic, you can see how the adapter sits in relation to the Alternator and Engine Mount

In the upper right you can see my coil relocation brackets.

The LS3 has the dip stick tube mounting in the block  towards the rear of the engine, as opposed to the LS1 being mounted into the side of the sump towards the front.
In this pic, I've drilled and tapped to suit an M16 grub screw and added some gasket cement around the thread to seal up the hole.

The standard VZ or GTO dip stick tube clears the Engine Mount Brackets perfectly without modification.









In this pic you can see the LH Coil relocation Bracket.
While i hadn't seen this bracket mounted like this before, the holes in the bracket line up perfectly with the bosses in the block previously used by the VE engine mounts.
I'll replace the leads with some right angle versions to clear the exhaust manifolds.

This is the RH Coil Relocation Bracket.
Fits just as neat, but the coil loom plugs interfere with the starter solenoid.

The two choices are either make up a bracket that moves the coils out a bit at the bottom, or get an indexing starter motor like the MSD 5096 model.

These brackets I bought from CBM to suit the LS3 coil.

In this pic, you can see the CAM Sensor extension wire and shield fitted, this is not standard on Holden versions because the loom comes down over the top of the engine.
I saw this part fitted to a crate engine, it suited my needs as i want to hide the wiring as much as practical.
Also in this pic you can see a plug over the crank end i machined up from a bit of acetyl rod i had lying around.
This is to accurately locate the timing cover back into place which needs to seal evenly around the crank balancer and line up with the block sump face to mate to the sump, otherwise they leak.

Engine Mounts

The engine I have came from a 2011 wrecked HSV, so its the 317kw LS3.

The VE engine mount brackets aren't suitable as they place the engine too far forward in the CR chassis.

By swapping them left too right, they position the engine in the right fore / aft location, but using the VE bracket means the need to use the VE mounts which make the engine sit higher than intended,

The CR manual recommends VX, VY, or VZ LS1 engine mounts. However, the mounts in these earlier commodores aren't symmetrical, and push the motor out to the left hand side, requiring that the RH chassis mount be filed out to get the motor central;
However, there are alternatives which give a better fit and finish.



This pic is from another CR builder showing the engine mount chassis slot after filing out to get the engine sitting centrally.

I didnt want to do this with out investigating other options first.

 This is the VZ engine mounts, you can see the difference is about 35mm from left to right engine mount.

I bought these off eBay before I knew about the alignment issues, I also sold them on eBay just as quick, once the solution was found.

After lots of scouring the LS engine sights, i found that the VX,Y,Z commodores used a LH factory Corvette Bracket Position and a custom AU designed bracket for the RH side.

Investigating the Factory Corvette Mount Brackets I found they are symmetrical, the hole positions are exactly the same location as the LH VZ engine mount.

These are the latest version, available online through several US retailers, and from some of the local crate engine importers here.

They generally get removed and replaced for custom fitment into our local cars.

These Corvette Mount Brackets came off an LS3 Crate Engine, i bought them locally for $55 each.

The GM part numbers are:

10349964
10349965

General Progress Update

Progressing with some fiddly bits over the recent month or so,
Firstly, been playing with my CNC mini mill, I blew up the drivers because the stepper motor inductance was way too high for the "black box" that makes it all works.
This is delaying me from making some bits and pieces as i learn how to fix it.
I found a good local resource and have the bits now to put it back together except for some custom mounts which I lathed up over the weekend.
I've upgraded the steeper motors and bought new drivers and power supply so should be going again shortly.

For info, the mill is a Sieg X3 with CNC Fusion Ball Screws and Nuts, custom made mounts, Nema 34 Steeper Motors, Gecko 203V Drivers, and run from a PC using Mach 3 and Cut3d Software.

CNC Fusion now do a complete bolt up conversion kit which simplifys the change over.





On the Cobra side of things however, I finished machining up all the insulator bushes for the Brake, Canister, Fuel Line mounting brackets.

Still have the Stainless Clutch line to make up and fit to the chassis, bent up the tube to fit, but need to mount.

This is the Right Hand Chassis Rail with the Canister Vacuum Line and the Fuel Line mounted.

The Vacuum line is 1/4" Stainless, the Fuel line is 1/2" Aluminium with -8AN fittings.

The bushes are machined from Black Nylon Rod.
I wanted to do something different from the usual tube clamps and give the fitting a more custom factory look.








The LS3 and the L98, L76/7 engines have the Corvette Serpentine belt line, and on the VE Commodore, the Power steering pump is mounted up high on the passenger side (LHS).
The PS pump sits considerably further outboard than the head mounted LS1 pumps, so much that the pump hits the inner wheel well on the CR body.

This pic is from another local builders CR showing the interference of the pump to the body.











Initially I intended to fit the LS1 pump, however, the LS1's used a Firebird / Camaro belt line that sits an inch or so further forward than the Corvette, meaning  I would also have to change Alternator, Water pump, Idlers and all the associated brackets.
Key bit of note here is that there is 3 factory belt lines and several aftermarket systems, all different.
The 3 factory lines are Corvette, Camaro/Firebird (F Body), and Trucks (stick out the front even further than the rest.)
Heres some Links to interesting info:
http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/ccrp_0905_ls_accessory_drive_swap_guide/viewall.html
http://www.billetspecialties.com/
http://www.marchperf.com/
http://www.kwikperf.com/
http://www.c1pulleys.com/

I looked at the after market belt systems, there are many, and i would like to fit a clockwise water pump and simplified belt system, but decided i would relocate the factory pump for now, so it is now moved inboard bolted to the head in a similar method to the LS1.
The top mount uses an existing mounting position in the head, the bottom mount hole has been driled and tapped into the head, this goes through about 10mm of casting before entering the water jacket.
I'll use stainless socket head cap screws, M10x1.5, and seal as per all the other threaded bungs on the block.
(Mod - Changed to KRC power steering pump, Pulley and Mounting - see future post)

I intend to replace the reservoir tube with a -AN fitting if i can find one, otherwise, I'll make one.











I've been cleaning up the engine, I've tried just about every commercial product i could find and some home brews as well, but basically, i've come to the conclusion that to get that new cast look, there is no chemical cleaning method that does a great job, about the best so far would be a custom mix of lemon juice and water and boil the parts, impractical when you dont want to disassemble the complete motor.
The best finish i achieved was a cheapy sand blast kit and I used a couple of bags of soda.
however, short  of sanding and polishing, I've decided to paint the block and i found some VHT paint called NU-Cast Aluminium SP995.
The finish is pretty good and natural looking.

Top View, only the un-machined surfaces have been painted.

I decided to strip the deck when i discovered a wasp nest between the inlet manifold and the valley cover.

Left hand side,
The engine mount is still the VE commodore standard, not the required Corvette style mount.


In this pic you can see the original VE LH engine mount, this will be replaced with Corvette mounts.
This mount positions the block too far forward.

Carbon Fiber Rocker Covers. Trial fittment.

These covers are beautifully made and finished, using the factory head cover seals.

These are available from Scooters Performance, or, and are made by;
www.carbonfibervalvecovers.com

Oil filler and mounting bolt anodized fittings.

Aluminium internal braces, stainless tube mounts,

Groove for the OEM valve cover seal.

The left bank cover also has a breather tube and baffle, which i will probably block off and relocate hidden away on the valley cover. 

Brake & Fuel Lines...Part 1

Today i made a start on my brake & fuel line mounting.
I intend to keep the VE HSV Fuel pump and mount in tank, it has the regulator built in and as such has no return line from the engine, so all I will run from front to back will be Rear Brake Line, Fuel Line, Canister Purge Line, and Battery Cable, (encased in an aluminium tube).

Designed the brackets on Sketchup to mate with the 4 inch diameter chassis tubes.

Brake tube and battery cable down the right hand side,
Fuel tube and Canister purge tube down the Left

Billet aluminium brackets with plastic insulators, and 5mm Stainless steel 5mm Allen key button head bolts.

I bent up the Battery Cable tube with the cable already in it, this also helped the 16mm tube keep its shape through the bends.

After getting the tube profile right, i marked up the bracket hole positions on masking tape on the chassis, the tape stops the paint from chipping.

I'm using 5mm rivnuts, so a 7mm drill bit is required.

Hole #1.

Rivnut #1 in place,
with the mandrel still attached.

The Rivnut tool.
You can see my aluminuim tube laying across the chassis rails.

Bracket #1 in place with Tube weaving around the seat mount bracket on the chassis.

Another View.
The top hole in the bracket is for the Rear Brake Line.

All Right Hand Side Brackets in place with the Battery Cable tube.









Brake tube next.

Engine and Gearbox ....Part 1

Last month, I bought an Engine and Gearbox from a wrecked 2011 HSV VE Commodore.

The car had done 21000 k's when hit in the front LH corner.

The engine is an LS3 317kw version, the gearbox is a TR6060 Tremec.

The engine was sent on pallet from Brisbane to Melbourne, and came with everything required, Looms, ECU, all the accessories still fitted, pedals, tail shaft etc etc.

To fit this engine to the CR chassis, the LS3 sump has to go and in its place, an LS1 front sump and pick up needs to be swapped.

The engine mounts are too far back on the LS3, and need to be swapped for earlier LS1 Commodore brackets and mounts.

The rear gearbox mount also gets changed for a Mackay Rubber A1115 mount, common on many earlier Holdens and available anywhere.

Unloading the pallet with the car hoist.

This will sell on ebay....

Whipped up a stand to move it round the shed while I'm working on it.

On the stand, 

Now its ready to strip of the excess and see what's underneath.

I'm going to simplify the look of the front, Remove the A/C , Move the P/S pump to the RH side,down low if possible, and change the water pump to a conventional rotation (clockwise) drive type, 

Thinking Edelbrock #8895 at the moment.

The manifold may have to stay for a while,but the intention is Kinsler X-Ram in the future, the rocker covers have to go though.

The strip down begins.

Front Brakes

Finished off my Front Caliper Mounting Brackets over the weekend.
I had a delay when i mounted up the CP5570 6 pots and found they didnt fit.......doh.
AP had miss-built the calipers using the inner half of a CP5570 for a 32mm disc with the outer from a 28mm version.
I emailed Co-Ord Sport (where i bought the calipers) and Pete Collen from AP in the UK and within hours they dispatched by airfreight the correct parts.
I had them in 5 days. Fantastic response, especially as i had bought them OS and not locally.

CP5570-812S4 LH Front Leading

 Fitted with EBC Redstuff  DP3032C Pads












The next stuff up was mine, after locating and marking out the caliper mounting holes on the Bracket, I drilled one of the holes about 2mm out of position on one of the Brackets.
I had center punched then drilled in the pedestal drill, but the hole walked a bit as i didn't have the vice secured properly.
After some pondering, I decided to make an aluminium threaded plug and redrill oversize to suit a 10x1.5mm Helicoil insert.
This time i mounted in the mill securely.

Original hole plugged, re-drilled, and ready to tap for Helicoil insert.






 

Hole chamfered, threaded and Helicoil inserted.

LH Caliper Bracket mounted to the VZ Knuckle.
The bracket is rotated by 20 Deg so that the Caliper clears the Lower Arm during suspension movement at full lock.

Bracket, rumbled smooth in vibrating media, then clear anodized.

CP5570 mounted

Steering Rack

Mounted up the steering rack after cleaning up some of the casting marks and painting gloss black.

The rack sits into 2 prefabriacted mounts on the chassis cross tube.

The rack is a reconditioned VP power steering unit with VZ tie rods and tie rod ends.

The rack fits in with out modifications to mounts or casting.

The mount provides verticle adjustment with shims for bump steer control.

The rack input shaft needs modifying by grinding 0.5mm off each face (15mm down to 14mm overall) to fit the steering shaft universal joint.
(Supplied by Classic Revival with a custom intermediate shaft.)

Rear Brakes

Completed the Rear Caliper Mount in recent weeks,
Heres some pics all mounted up:

AP Racing CP5147-802S4 & -803S4 4 spot calipers
EBC Redstuff Pads DP3008C
DBA 4000 Ford Territory 328x26 discs Part No. 42108L/R with VE commodore stud pattern.
Custom made radial caliper mount to suit VE Commodore Knuckles. (My design)

Right Hand Rear assembly.

I also bought a cheapy Banding tool off ebay and fitted new stainless CV joint bands.
10 pairs for $25. Versus $7ea. from auto shop.

Left Hand Rear