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Project 'Overtime' Pro-Touring 68 Acadian/L92 swap

99K views 281 replies 39 participants last post by  62 NovaWagon 
#1 ·
I have this posted on some other sites, but thought I start the thread here as well in case anyone hasn't seen it. I've just cut and past from another thread.

Here's what the car looked like before I started tearing into it again.



Here's the car as it sits today







Here's some of the goodies I got today :yes::)





DSE Deep tubs



Moser M9 with back brace and G-Bar ready





AirRide suspension (same as a G-bar)





Wilwood brakes









Hydraboost system



I've had these for a while already, but these are the rims I have



So I thought I would finally do a build thread on my car. It's a 68 Acadian that I orginally bought for $700. When I got it, it was white with black racing stripes. I fixed the car up on a pizza shop manager's wage. I had it painted cherry red, rebuild the 350 and th350 and put on 15" cragar rims with BFGoodrich tires. Now that I'm a cop and make way more money than I did back then, I'm doing the car again...but the way I want to. My plans are as follows: (this will probably change many times as I keep changing my mind. I will update as I change my mind)

Pro Touring theme
18" Foose Nitrous II with Falken FK452 tires. 285-35-18 in the rear and 245-35-18 in the front.
Speed Tech subframe with Speed Tech high clearance tubular control arms.
Speed Tech 1.25" solid sway bar.
QA1 coilover shocks.
Wilwood 6 piston calipers with 12.2" rotors
AirRide rear suspension (Same as Alston G-Bar) with QA1 coilovers
Moser M9 housing
Moser axles
Wilwood 4 piston calipers with 12.2" rotors
Strange Pro Nodular centre section with 3.70 gears and half billet posi
DSE deep tubs
LSX454
Tremec TKO600
Flaming River steering column and steering wheel
Unisteer rack and pinion kit
JL Audio stereo (haven't decided what but will be big)
Custom paint job. Leaning towards ghost flames right now
and more to come.
I hope to get working on the car next week as the wife and daughter will be gone for 4 days. I will be living in the shop. Will update as I go.
 
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#91 ·
Thanks kkkunde.

I got the subframe back on. This time for good!!!! I also decided to polish the firewall again with swirl remover/polish. Hard to tell in the pics, but it did make a difference. You may notice that one of the front shocks are missing. That's because the ones I had in there were for a small block and now that I'm going with the LS conversion, I need some lighter ones. I'm also going a bit shorter as there was no room for adjustment on these ones.

Onto the pics:





You can see where I was practicing before I painted :D

 
#92 ·
Scherp,
The car is looking awesome..just sat down and read the thread from start to now..you do some great work...wishI had some of your talent...makes me want to tear mine down and and do the engine compartment like you did..Well maybe after the 1st of the year..keep up the good work..Bravo!!!:hurray::beers:
 
#93 ·
Thanks. Honestly I don't it's all that much talent. It's all trial and error....and a whole bunch of luck. Thanks again.
 
#94 ·
WOOHOO new parts!!!!!!!! :D

Speed Tech steering shaft kit for the rack and pinion. It will be used with the headers that Stainless Works and them built for their subframe.



Since I sold the hyrdaboost, I decided to go with an 8" dual diaphragm booster, polished stainless of course





When it came to choosing a clutch, I know a lot of guys recommended going with the LS7 one. From what I understood, it was rated to 500hp at the wheels. I hope to be around 560 - 570 at the engine so would be close. I finally decided to go with a Monster level 3.5 clutch. Monster is fairly new but have nothing but good reviews over at www.ls1tech.com And they offer a one year, 12000 mile warranty. They guarantee it will find the weak links in your drive train. The level 3.5 is rated at 700hp at the wheels, but is designed for daily driving.











I know I could have gone with a stock LS3 intake, but this one was so tempting. Especially because where I bought it from had it listed on their website for $100 cheaper than it was supposed to be going for and they gave it to me for that price. I plan on getting a Nick Williams 102mm drive by wire throttle body, or if FAST come out with one I may look at theirs.







And finally....the new wheels and tires. Overall I'm very happy with the wheels. The only thing that will take a little getting used to is that I have always liked the really shiny chrome wheels. These are brushed aluminum in the centre and polished around the outside. They are then clear powder coated taking away some of the shine. Other than I wish they were a bit more shiny....I really like them. For those that don't know which wheels they are, they are New Gen's Splitters with Nitto 555's.















 
#95 ·
Nice little parts list you got going..Im running a Fast intake and it was worth it..Of course mine was free..lol Not sure if I would have ponied the cash for it, but deffinately an improvement, especially with the bigger throttle body..

If you ever get froggy try the Nitto NT05's...fun fun fun tire....I ran the NT-555's very nice tire, but not sticky enough..You"ll find out once you drop in that LS3...That motor wakes up and works very well with some traction..lol
 
#96 ·
Thanks Chuck. I kept looking at the FAST intake as it was being released and thought..why not. I needed an intake so thought I might as well go big. It's supposed to add a good chunk of hp with the 102mm throttle body also.

I've looked at the NT05's...sweet looking tire. If the 555's don't hook, I'll definitely give them a shot. The nice thing about the 555's is they don't kill the bank. I think they were only $250 a tire for 305's.
 
#97 ·
Well I decided to atleast put the rear wheels on today. I had to take the rear brakes apart though as I had the rotors on backwards. I'm getting pretty good at installing the safety wire :D I hope to have the fronts on next week as I go into my 4 work days starting tomorrow.

Before I got to the wheels, I spent a bit more time reorganizing the shop. I've put in a few shelving units to make more room. If any of you have ever wondered what you could do with your air tools, here's what I did with mine. I had them under a cupboard before, but the cupboard went to the dump so I made a new shelf. The initial cost isn't cheap as all the female air ends are not cheap. I plan on adding 3 more still for a total of 15.



So now with the 305's, I still have about 2" clearance inside. I think once I wear these tires down, I'm going to send the wheels away to be widened (I can get them done for $150 each where a lot of the wheel companies want $400 each) and look at some even wider tires. Now that I have the wheels on the car, I'm really happy with the way they look. Here's some pics:







 
#101 ·
Thanks Shifty. It's funny I didn't even notice the light there until you mentioned. Damn lights anyways :D

Who is going to do the wheel widening?
If I decide to get them widened, this is the place I was talking about. http://www.greensautomotive.com/test/ I know when I was looking at getting my Foose wheels widened, it was $150/wheel.

I paid $185.00 for 245/40 and $213.00 for $275.00..For the NT-05's

Oh and after having a mail order tune from Wait for me perfromance, the car didnt always seam 100% so I found a LS guy local that had HP tuners..OMFG...My car pulls wicked, and cruises on the highway, its more like a sleeper. I do 80 while getting 19mpg all while crusing at 22-2,300 rpm...It has tons of top end..You will poop your pants with your setup. With a street tune he cailbrated the MAF sensor, anytime you change something on these motors that has to do with air you need to tune it..Another piece of advice is put your air cleaner tucked under your fender, My inlet temp was 125 he said he likes to see 105 or less, I live in a different climate so that might not be an issue but just an fyi...

I have stainless works long tubes, Lunati 599/601 cam 92mm TB 90mm Fast intake and putting 405 to the rear wheels...He said high flowing heads are a waste of money, but you've got the best flowing heads, so its no waste for you, but the cam makes a huge difference..Oh and he said LS motors love nitrous...mmmhhuuuaaa

Im stoked for you....


Now hurry the F-up!

If you need any advice dont hesitate, I've got my car dialed and I think I can give you a little more advice with how stuff works on the car..Learned more from this guy then I did from LStech...
Thanks Chuck. It won't be until the spring now until I get the computer and cam for mine. Have to pay off the parts I just bought before I get another load. Plans for mine include the Mast Motorsports controller and their SS cam. Not sure of the specs, but says it should be around 560 with their set up. I also plan on using the Stainless Works full length headers that are designed to fit the Speed Tech subframe. When I get the Mast stuff, I'll pay the extra bit and get the software to go with it so when I do find someone to dial it, I'll already have the software to go with it, or I'll play with it myself. I think I'll be really happy with the output of the L92, and I'll have the VVT to give me the good mileage to boot. Not sure if I'll go the nitrous route or not...but then again...you never know :devil:
 
#103 ·
Thanks John. I can confidently say there won't be another one like it where I live.

I got the front end bolted back together with the shorter coils. I also got the front wheels on. Thought I would hang one fender and door to see how it's going to look. I think I like it :D

Next on the to do list is to get the tranny mated up to the motor and drop it in. I'll pull the subframe back out to put it all in at once instead of risking dinging up the firewall. I will need to check the clearance on the clutch as well as the scattershield.

Onto the pics:





 
#104 ·
I started doing some work on the engine today. I know the LS conversion is becoming almost the norm, so I thought I be quite detailed in what I'm doing. Any area where I had any questions, I will post more pics. Hopefully there aren't too many to make it boring. Onto the pics:

First thing was to take off the stock oil pan



Yep it's definitely a LS



Replace the stock oil pickup with the one included with the Autokraft oil pan. After talking to another member who did the L92 swap, I decided to leave the stock windage pan on also.



The stock oil pan gasket is metal so there's no reason not to reuse it



To get the stock gasket off, I had to drill out two rivets holding it in place





Gasket in place



Autokraft pan on



When using the Autokraft pan, the stock oil pan bolts are a bit too long. You can either put washers under then or get new bolts. I decided to get new bolts as they look way nicer than the stock one. They cost me about 4 bucks for all of them with washers. Torqued to 80 inch/lbs as per GM specs.



I also put on the Autokraft LS conversion motor mounts. I've seen them put on several different ways, but after confirming with Autokraft, these are the proper way of mounting them. The driver's side and passenger side are both marked, so unless you can't read, it's pretty straight forward. Also, they are designed that when the engine is sitting in the car, you should be able to read the writing on the side of the plates right side up.



This is with the motor upside down



Next came getting rid of the truck intake. If anyone is looking for one with drive by wire throttle body, I'm wanting to get rid of this one. Brand new, never been started.





Taped off the heads.



Next was to get rid of the ugly accessory bracket



Looks way better already



I then took the engine off the stand to start hooking up the scattershield and to dial it in.



 
#105 ·
The stock flex plate (also for sale if someone wants them as well as the stock exhaust manifolds)







You'll notice there is one bolt missing, that is for the dialing in process



That's where I got to today. I started to dial in the scattershield, but didn't have all the hardware to properly secure it to the block. I'm going to get the nuts and bolts in the morning and will hopefully have it dialed in. I will post pics of how to dial in the scattershield/bellhousing when I'm done.
 
#107 ·
My plans were to run a Vintage Air Frontrunner kit. It comes with a Stewart Hi-performance aluminum water pump and an ATI balancer. I need to confirm that it will fit though with the VVT left on. I see Mast Motorsports has L92 spacers to allow kits to fit with the VVT. They sell VA kits, although they don't advertise the frontrunner kit so hopefully it will work with mine.
 
#108 ·
So a little update, a very frustrating one for me, but hopefully someone will learn from my mistake. I started dialing in the scattershield. First I had to buy a dial indicator and a magnetic base. Some write ups I read said you could use a 3" bolt and a c-clamp, but for $18 I thought the magnetic base would be easier. The dial indicator cost me about $20. You can also use a test indicator for this.



I hooked the dial indicator up to the magnetic base and put it on the flywheel to give a good picture of how it looks without the scattershield on.



The scattershield went on and I put the dial indicator back on the flywheel. Here's some pics of how it looks









After posting several questions on another forum, I found out this was not the right way to do it



It needs to be as flat as possible like this



Once the dial indicator was in place, I turned the engine 360 degrees and found the high and low points. My high point was at about 7 o'clock which put my low point around 2 o'clock. Your high point should be almost across from your high point. Once you get your high point and low point numbers, you take the difference and divide by 2. Then you get the off set dowels accordingly. For mine, I needed 0.0021 dowels.

Here's where I made a big mistake. It was recommend that I get some dowels from http://www.robbmcperformance.com/ but I thought "they're all the same and I can just get them in Canada and not have to pay the duty". So I had a pair of Lakewood ones shipped to me. They cost $19 for the dowels and $15 shipping. The Lakewood ones are supposed to turn using a screwdriver......I call bulls$*t. I'll get back to that in a minute.

So I finally got the new dowels



And it was time to take out the old ones. This was quite easy. I took off the exhaust manifolds as they're not being used anyways and used a long bolt. I then tapped them out with a hammer.







Now you want to put some grease on in the dowel holes and on the dowel and tap them in.





Before putting them in, look at them and find out where the high point on the dowel is, for both. You want to have them parallel in the block.

Here's where I was/am getting confused. My high reading was at 7 o'clock and my low was at 2 o'clock. I wasn't sure which way to point the dowels. After watching a video by Keisler, I found you want to point the high side of the dowel towards the biggest number you got with the dial indicator. This is because that number is telling you that it is 0.0035 (for example) away from the center. I think this is correct, but please if someone knows...correct me and help me figure this damn process out. I want to do it right.

So I went to try and turn the dowel with a screwdriver, like it said to do, and I'm not sure who was doing it, but there is no way in hell those things were moving. So I grabbed some vice grips and was able to turn them with those. I kept turning the dowels and remeasuring but ended up no farther ahead. The annoying thing is everytime you need to turn the dowels, you have to loosen all the bolts holding the scattershield, turn the dowels and then tighten them back up. On the passenger side I had no problem fitting the vice grips but on the driver's side, I had to cut out the mechanical linkage bracket. Good thing I'm going hydraulic.

Before



After. I'm going to grind it down smooth and put some red paint on to clean it up.



That last picture gave a glimpse as to why not to use the 'screwdriver type' of dowels. You can only clamp them so many times before they end up looking like this





So basically I wasted $40 on dowels when I was told to get the good ones to start with. Take my advice....get the good ones to start with!!!

Yesterday I called RobbMC Performance and they will ship me a new set on Monday. The new dowels run $28 and the thing that pi****es me off...I paid $15 to have the first ones shipped from a place that is 3 hours away. RobbMC is charging $10 to be shipped from Nevada. The difference between the good ones and the Lakewood ones are that once they are in place, you can use a open end wrench to turn them. They also have a screw down the middle that allows you to loosen the dowels so they turn. Once in final place, you tighten the screw and they are locked in place. Here's a link to the good ones: http://www.robbmcperformance.com/products/dowels.html

Another thing I found during all the trial and error runs was that my magnetic base was not sitting completely flat on the flywheel. I could lightly touch the shaft on it and it would rock. I found out why. When it was sitting on the flywheel, the lip on the crank that comes through the flywheel (hopefully that makes sense) sits slightly higher, causing there to be a ridge. Also, the magnetic base would not sit flat between the two bolts as it was a little bit two wide. Nothing a grinder can't fix.



So today I am no farther ahead, but actually down $40 and a few frustrating hours. Hopefully next week I will get a chance to put the new dowels in and get this done once and for all. I just hope that I have all the kinks worked out and it goes smoothly.

Please if anyone has any suggestions or advice on dialing in the scattershield, please feel free to join in. I want this to be as informative as possible for anyone reading this.
 
#109 ·
Today was a good day. I got the new RobbMC dowels on Monday and really wanted to take another shot at getting the scatter shield dialed in so thought I would try it today. If you wondering what the big deal is about the RobbMC dowels, there is a huge difference between them and the Lakewood ones. You'll see in the pics. I was able to get it dialed in....and on the first try I got it to 0.0035" :D :D :D :D As the minimum recommended is 0.005", I wasn't going to play around with it any more. Onto the pics.

The new RobbMC dowels. They are .021. You can vaguely see a flat spot on the top of them. That is so you can use a 9/16 open end wrench to turn them while in the block instead of a flat screw driver which does not work.





Here's the two side by side. Huge difference



Here's the old one's sticking through the scatter shield. No wonder they got chewed up



And the new ones



Now that I ground down the sides if the magnetic base for the dial indicator, it sat on the flywheel completely flat and there was no movement. A huge must for doing this.







Now that the dial indicator was in place, it was time to get my readings. This time I decided to get only the 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock readings. Last time I was writing them down on pieces of paper and trying to remember which was which or I had a bunch of pieces of paper going with a ton of diagrams. Here's a very easy way to keep track of your measurements. Get a dry erase marker and write it on the face. When you need to repeat, wipe off the marks and start over. Here's my readings.



With these readings I was so happy. I tightened the screws in the dowels and set them in place.





Not sure if I'll get it done today or not, but I plan on doing a new thread showing how to dial in the scatter shield will a bunch of pics.
 
#110 ·
Now that that was done...it was time to measure the clutch.

I didn't take a bunch of pics of this process as I know there are quite a few threads out there, but here's the engine with the Monster on





I took the measurements and found the following: The difference between the end of the clutch fingers and the face of the scatter shield was 3 1/8". The difference between the face of the trans and the top of the throwout bearing when it was fully compressed was 2 3/8" giving me a difference of 3/4". According to the instructions from Keisler, the ideal difference would be 1/4", so it looks like I need 1/2" shims. I've pm'd Shafi at Keisler as I'm not sure if these are shims or not. They were included in the kit. They seem to be shims, but have no threaded holes to mount the throwout bearings. Anyone know if these are shims as they are 1/2" thick together, and that's exactly what I need.

 
G
#112 ·
i used the RobbMC dowels too... they're the best. at www.JollyRodder.com i have the dowls linked along with a great tech article on how to properly dial in a bell housing along with other info of possible interest.

yes, it CAN be a royal PITA to dial it all in but in the end it'll be worth it.

sorry ya had so many headaches, i wish ya the best... still one of the best projects i've seen :thumbsup:
 
#113 ·
Thanks guys. Yes I am definitely glad I went with the RobbMC ones. I just with I would have listened when I was told to get them in the first place.

I spent a couple hours in the shop yesterday and today. I finally got the damn scatter shield dialed in to within specs. It's at 0.005" both ways so I am happy with that. Here's my readings for the final time.



Once that was done, I had to swap the bearing plate or whatever it's called from the one that came with the tranny for a mechanical clutch set up for the new hydraulic set up.



With it off





When you're putting the new one on, you have to be careful as there's a shim behind it that has to go back into place



New plate on



I had already done this step and knew I needed to use the two 1/4" shims, but I thought I'd post a pic of how you measure it. I've explained on the previous page what you need to measure.



Shims going on





Once the shims were, bolted on the hydraulic throwout bearing



And then the scatter shield





Then I had to install the pilot bearing. I read on one of the forums to freeze the bearing over night, so that's what I did. It went in pretty easy.





The Monster is back on...this time for good!!!



And finally....the two have mated :D



I debated about pulling the subframe and dropping it in today, but instead I thought I would run cable coax to the shop while the ground was still soft enough to do it. Next week I will drop the motor/trans in.
 
#115 ·
Thanks Magnus. It was a bit of a headache...but like you said in the end it all worked out.

I got the motor and transmission onto the subframe today. I thought the subframe was back on the car for good, but it was so much easier to put the motor/trans in when it's out...especially when you're doing it by yourself. The one thing everyone should get to make the job easier..is an engine leveler, something like this one: http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/80048/10002/-1
I didn't get the subframe bolted back to the car yet as I need to get some touch up paint for the scattershield and I have a new shifter coming that I may need to modify the shifter hole for.

Onto the pics:





I really wanted to see how the FAST intake would look so I put it in place. It's going to look so sweet with that red.







One question for you guys though who have the Autokraft oil pan, what do I need to get for here? I just put the stock one on for now to keep crap out.

 
#116 ·
Thats it, there is nothing else unless you run an oil pressure switch to that, then you would need to get an early F-body cover that has the pipe nipple on top..Either then that you re-use that thing off your old pan..Thats whats on mine..

There were so many different pan types that GM made those block off plates for cars that different oil pick up configurations...

Your good man!
 
#118 ·
I ran mine off the back of the motor..I bought some metric adapters for cheap and am running my Autometer full sweep sensor right on top..Worked out perfectly..It is easier to do with the intake out..Just an FYI

Edit: Meaning I replaced my OE oil sensor..its just a dummy light anyways
 
#119 ·
Thanks Chuck.

Not a bug update...but got some new parts.

Tremec's new shifter. Thanks Gene!!! According to Gene: The new Tremec shifter is lower profile and has spring biasing adjustment. It also make provisions for the 2-3 shift. Like he also said...since I have never used my shifter yet, I won't know the difference, but I'm taking his word on it.



I also decided to get the new Speed Tech body mounts. I had the original silver ones and got them before Killer Customs bought the company. I thought I would go with the black anodized ones instead. Thanks Roger!!!



It's nice for dummies like me, they have put 1, 2 or 3 lines in them to tell where they go.



If I don't spend a couple hours in the shop tomorrow, likely won't be until the new year. That's okay as last week we were down to -20 Celsius so was getting a bit cold.
 
#120 · (Edited)
We've had a cold snap for the past few weeks and with Christmas and New Years I really haven't had a chance to get into the shop at all. With reading about all the guys that are having to sell their projects, I knew I had to get into the shop today even if it was for a couple hours. Fired up a couple 220 heaters and got the shop to about 10 or 12 C or about 50 F. Got to spend a couple hours out there, not a major update but an update none the less.

I started by changing the old Tremec shifter to the new improved one

The old one



I'll admit I didn't know what to expect when I took the shifter off. I had no clue how it attached. Pretty simple set up, especially to swap the shifter from front to back.



Before I put the new on one, I thought I would take some side by side shots to show the differences. The one on the right is the new improved one. You can the screws which allow you to make adjustments on the new shifter.







And the new shifter is on the tranny.



I know some guys were debating if after market aluminum mounts needed the factory shims when putting into a Nova. Speedtech has assured me they don't require the shims and here's why. The one on the left is the firewall mount and is higher than the back one to make up for the shims.



And finally the subframe is attached to the body for good :D:hurray: It still needs to be aligned, but I had to put it on the ground to see how it looks. Aligning it by myself should be fun :(







Lots of room to spare



And my secret weapon. Two L92's :devil:



I had to cut the shifter hole a bit to adjust for the changing it around. I still need to trim a bit more to make it more even all around. I plan on making a cover to fit over the hole. Do any of you think it would be an issue making a cover and putting some seam sealer underneath and using rivets to secure it down to the floor. I want to be able to just drill out the rivets if I ever need to access the shifter.

 
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