Stumbled Across a Transmission

I originally was going to do a T56 transmission for my swap. It’s a good trans and it’s what my Sikky trans mount and driveshaft are designed for. However, they are going up in price lately. It’s hard to find one for less than $1500 and seem to average around $1700. Jeff Jordan from Zilvia opened my eyes to how cheap the TR6060’s are going for. They are even more bullet proof than the T56, not to mention that it will have FAR fewer miles since it’s out of a new Camaro. The only thing left was to find one.

I typically Google for TR6060’s every few nights with little luck. Either it’s a trans that was for sale 2 years ago or something that is overpriced… or just no results at all. Well, I came across a WTB thread on Camaro5.com. I figured I would check to see what luck, if any, the guy was having finding one. Very first reply a guy said he had one that he was selling along with the OEM clutch, hydraulics, OEM pedals, Hurst shifter etc. He wanted $2000 + shipping for everything. Basically he was switching over to an automatic 4L80E for the drag strip… he has a 850-ish whp 5th gen Camaro that was just built. So I promptly become a member on Camaro5 as fast as my man fingers could slap the keyboard. As I go to click on his username to send him a PM, I realize that the dude lives in the same damn town as me… Normal, IL. I thought to myself, you have to be shitting me! Bloomington/Normal is a little over 100,000 people… so it’s not that big. And it’s not like it’s a suburb of a large city… it’s really out in the middle of nowhere. So I end up talking to the guy and the trans is on the east coast where the car was built. But he said he could do everything for $2000 shipped. So I’ll have some extra parts that I can hopefully part out for a few bucks. Looks as though I need to order up that Monster clutch!

As far as pics, nothing major as I have been waiting to post them in a substantial update. But it would be very rude of me to make a new post without some pics. I finally found some black fuel rails. The Black Label ones that I planned on going with have seem to be discontinued. But lucky me Katech just released some a few months back. They are simply FAST rails made for Katech in a black color… and believe or it not the price isn’t jacked up just because it says Katech on them. I also finished all of my hoses including the power steering hoses. Note: the power steering hoses, heater hoses and oil filter hoses will get fastened to the block, frame rail etc to keep them where I want them. I just need to figure out what type of clamps I want to go with. I won’t do that until the hose ends are actually crimped on though. I also got my harness from Chase on there, but I don’t have the coil pack sub harness plugged in yet in these pics.

I also talked to Justin at Sikky today and they have a mount in the works for the TR6060. He informed me that they will be going into production hopefully in a few weeks. They can then just custom make a driveshaft that will work with the TR6060 and my S15 rear-end. Justin(Sikky) has been very pleasant to work with. They have always answered their email within 24 hours and have always been accommodating to me. Thanks again to Sikky!

Nice Update (XRP lines, Chase Bays products etc.)

I decided to mount the XRP oil filter above the frame rail on the driver’s side. I needed to mount it somewhere that was accessible and would also show it off a little. Since the brackets for the filter mount using bolts from the rear, I needed to make it so it was easier to unbolt and access. So I am mounting the brackets to an aluminum 1/4″ plate. I will then mount the plate to the vehicle using some nice hardware. I will also powder coat the plate black before it’s all said and done.

Marking the plate for drilling:

Holes for the brackets drilled and counter sunk:

Drilling with a 90 for the plate mounts:

Test fit:

Here are the heater hose bulkheads all finished. Using 1/2″ aluminum at 1-3/4″ diameter. Drilled, tapped and counter sunk for the XRP o-ring fitting. Backside consists of 3/4″ solid rod with a 3/4″-16 thread cut on the front half, then the back half milled to 5/8″ diameter with a hose catch on the end. Then the center drilled out to 7/16″. I then used a black epoxy paint to give it the proper finish. Some washers and an XRP bulkhead nut will hold it all in place.

XRP fitting in place:

Bulkheads mounted:

Mounting the tucked radiator I picked up from Chase:

Again, using nice hardware throughout:

I also received my engine harness from Chase… thing is awesome! More pics of that in an upcoming update.

For now I needed to get the Mil-Spec connector mounted up for test fitment. I decided to go low on the firewall. Since I am keeping the A/C ports on the firewall, there really wasn’t the standard place to mount it. I thought it would look funny running the harness across the A/C lines, above or below them, and have it mounted where the OEM harness comes out. So I decided to mount it where the green marker circle is:

It will fit there perfectly, but I had to fab an aluminum washer for it on the engine bay side. Usually where most people mount it there’s more room for a bigger mount plate, but not for me. So I cut this little booger out of 1/8″ aluminum:

I should have a lot more updates rolling in for a while, so don’t stray off too far;)

… And It’s Painted

I got the car back on Sunday from Dave’s shop.

I didn’t really get a chance to work on it much on Sunday though as I had my youngest daughter’s 1 year B-day party at our house. I did get it on the jack stands so I could get the dollies back to Dave’s body shop and cleaned up some rubber grommets. It’s gonna be go time now though on getting it back together!

I went ahead and had the cross member, Nismo Power Brace and steering rack brackets powder coated a gloss black. I fought for a little while on the color, but came to the conclusion that black is the only color that fits my style for that type of part:

Cleaned up the wiper motor and mounted up the new Chase Bays master cylinder setup:

My steering rack needed some serious cleaning and help. Even though you won’t really be able to see it under the motor, I needed to address it:

I cleaned all the cast aluminum up with some Maxx Solv and painted the rods and body with some gloss black epoxy paint.

At this point I couldn’t really think of anything better than dropping the motor in for a test fit. I want to give a huge thanks to my boys Kyle and Jeff for giving me a hand with this:

Me struggling putting the driver’s side header in. I actually had to have the motor mounts up and out of the cross member, then drop each header into the car. Then lower the motor into place and bolt the headers up:

It’s officially in… well, temporarily:

The nice thing is that there isn’t going to be much else in the bay that isn’t in there now. I will be tucking the radiator, battery in the trunk, tucked coolant overflow etc. So really the only other things that will be seen in the bay are just a custom intake setup, black braided AN radiator hoses with all black fittings, AN heater hoses also with the all black setup, custom oil filter relocate setup… again with the same all black AN stuff.

Labor Day Weekend Progress

After taking the family to our local Labor Day parade, and beating down little kids to get my fair share of the candy, I came home and got some small things done to the car.

Mounted up the Sikky pan. Had to first modify the windage tray so the back of the Sikky pan would clear.

Modified rear section:

New front pickup in place:

Also needed to tap out the OEM dip stick port to an 1/8″ NPT. Sikky provides an 1/8″ NPT brass plug to fill the opening since the dip stick gets relocated to a new location on the Sikky pan:

New dipstick location:

Pan and mounts on:

I also wanted to mock-up the Chase Bays booster delete/brake line tuck. That way I could figure out where I wanted all the fittings and drill the holes in the bay before primer:

The 90 degree bulkhead location for the rear hardline:

Then the inner fender bulkhead for each of the front brakes:

Also contemplating whether I want my battery in the bay with some nice bulkhead fittings or just simply hide it in the spare tire well. I need to be 100% sure before I go drilling big holes for those bulkheads:

S13 Stack Cluster

Holy moly, an update! I have been extremely busy with everything… well, except for my 240. But that should hopefully change very soon. For now, a couple pictures of an S13 Stack cluster I built for Chase from Chase Bays. As mentioned in previous posts, he’s helping me out with some parts for my swap and I’m helping him out too with some stuff for his S13 build.

I laid it out exactly how he wanted. He sent me four momentary buttons to mount in there also. This is also the first time I’m getting to try out these new indicators I found. They are actually for Harleys… and boy do they work perfect for my application. Since Chase wanted the buttons in the cluster, this one will not be getting the clear cover installed back on.

Hook-Ups, Gotta Love Them

Got some fairly good news this week.  Sikky is going to give me the hook-up on their gear.  Then also allow me to test new upcoming product.  Sikky manufacturers the mount kit to install LS motors into S-chassis vehicles.  I was also contacted by Stance to run their new XR line of coilovers.  Then Chase from Chase Bays and I are working out some trade for a full mil-spec harness, custom tucked radiator and new power steering reservoir setup with AN lines.  I think I’m also going to buy all of my AN fittings/lines through him instead of Summit/Jegs like I usually do.  Better pricing and the company he gets them from can even do custom color setups if necessary.  They basically supply all of the aerospace type facilities, military etc. with their AN gear.  So it’s not something you can buy from a store.  I also received my LS3 “engine controller kit” from CrateEngineDepot.com.  It’s pretty cool because it has the fuse box and everything.  I’ve never purchased a harness like this before… I’m always use to the SR harness.  The harness is going to Chase so he can compare it to his and make sure his harness is complete with everything I need.  The kit also includes the ECU, MAF sensor, weld-on MAF boss, drive-by-wire gas pedal and 2 oxygen sensors with weld-on boss.

 

Long Block and Trans Ready For Removal

I officially have nothing left but to yank the motor/trans. Damon and Kyle are coming over tomorrow to help with the extraction. Damon had informed Kyle and I a couple of weeks ago that he would be coming down this weekend. So I tried to time it so everything would be ready for the motor to come out while he was here. I figured he would appreciate getting to help and I could always use an extra hand.

Except for the motor, everything is out of the bay. Once the motor is out, I can start prepping it for some TIG action. I’m picking up a Miller TIG very soon… most likely next week. I have always wanted one and this gives me a really good excuse to finally pick one up. I will be welding up all the holes and whatnot to give the bay a tidied look. I will also be shaving some of the mounts, tabs and battery tray.

In order to weld on the firewall, the entire dash-board also had to come and everything behind there. Which meant I had to remove the cage along with everything else up front.

It has also become apparent that I will be doing an all new chassis harness since everything is out on the floor. I am trying to work with Chase from Chase Bays to try out his new chassis harness. If not, I will make my own. The engine harness is also sitting in this mess, but I will obviously be ditching that for the new LS3 harness.

My basement is where I store all the important parts.

I also snapped a couple quick pics as I was coming up from my basement. One of my dogs was laying down watching me organize stuff…. and he never sits still. He’s a wild man! His name is Wilson and he has a killer goatee.

Brake Line Tuck and Booster Delete

As mentioned in an earlier post, I will be shaving and filling the bay… especially now that I’m doing a V8 swap.  There will be holes everywhere.

Chase from Chase Bays was kind enough to send me his new brake line tuck and his Wilwood brake booster delete kit.  All he wants in return is my honest opinion on the product and how well it works.  Good timing since I’m about to have everything out of the bay… tearing stuff out now.  I’m interested in seeing how the non hard lines perform compared to the OEM hard lines.  He has assured me,  and everyone else that asks, that there is absolutely no differences in pedal feel or performance.  He has these kits on a slew of time attack cars… so we’ll see.  I’m also very interested in seeing how the manual brakes feel with the Stoptechs and rear Z32’s.  It’s been probably 20 years since I’ve driven something with manual brakes.

Some pics of the goods he sent me: