95naSTA

I'm glad you guys are diggin it. To do a mini recap, I had polished the valve covers and alternator housings and had them powdercoated clear. Bad idea. They oxidized pretty bad under the clear. Polishing takes a massive amount of time and although it killed me to do it, I outsourced having them re-polished. The time was just not there to spend on the parts. I also had a couple pullies chromed while I was at it. I went with a guy well known in the 3800 community, Jason Farnsworth. Here are some teaser pics he sent me:

Thanks! The rotors are Baer 2-pc 12" made for a F-body. I just had them re-drilled.

I got the new rotors and pads on yesterday so the brakes are ready to bleed. The adapters look like they'll work good offset wise wone I get the front end assembled and camber/toe dialed in. I lost the pump to cooler p/s line and the o-ring for the rack to pump line but the rack to cooler line is hooked up. The fuel lines are cut and fitted. I just need one more 45.. Here are some pics:

Lol. Today (I guess yesterday now but w/e) kinda sucked. I got shitsleep on the plane so I opted for real sleep when I got home. When I woke up it was raining.. I did get some stuff done anyway though. -The tires came today so they got mounted and balanced on the new set of wheels and put on the car -Installed trans tailshaft to engine bracket (still have to run bolt through header support) -Installed adjustable rear dogbone mount and it fit perfectly -Spent about an hour looking for one front wheel adapter (found it) -Figured out I don't need to shave down the studs for the adapters up front -Spent the last few hours looking for the counter sunk nuts I bought for the adapters (found them) It sucks leaving for a couple weeks and forgetting where stuff is.. The mental inventory is updated and a little more organized.. The 275s on a 10" look nasty out back. They fit real good too. I'll try to get pics of that soon.

Here's the updated to-do list: Everything with an x next to it needs to be done before I start it up and take it for a spin. Depending on airplane sleep, I should make some decent progress tomorrow. I did make a new bin for start up, and ordered 245/45 and 275/40 Falken 452s for the 9/10" RSes plus a Haltech dual wideband kit while I was away. I'm just going to throw the WB gauge in a single gauge cup on the column like this. I want to keep the interior as clean/oem+ looking as possible. The novelty of a pillar pod definitely wears off..

I did get that drivers side axle in and did align it.. I'm flat out exhausted. But, I am happy the thing starts right up like a new car, the exhaust has a very nice mellow tone, it rides good, and all those little suspension squeeks are GONE. It's like driving a completely different car. I'm also kinda siked that I did all that, albeit with help, in less time than the suggested book time for just the engine removal and re-seal. That's a nice little notch on my belt. One of my two buddies that owns the shop had a couple 3.5 covers. So, I threw one on. I'm generally not a fan but it's a lot easier than cleaning the bay up.. and it was free. After first start up: Covered: Quietness: And that's as low as it's going. The LCAs are at a crap angle and I get slight axle vibes when I get on it.

Started it up around 9:30 this morning.. The nightmare is over.. just waiting to get on the rack. It's wayyyyy quiet, smooth, and leak free now.

I had a digital dash too! lol. Not mine but just for s&g:

Ballin. Seeing that makes me miss my 3.1 Regal a little bit.. I did the 1.6 junk yard rocker mod just because.

Thanks! Almost got done today.. The rear main was a complete pita and impossible to do until I took the dowl pins out of the block. Got that figured out, Axle seals Trans went in New LCAs with new bushings/ball joints, endlinks and sway bar bushings (outer/inner tie rods looked good) Did the p/s wheel bearing with this. Axles (need a new drivers side, might get that tomorrow) Then the JICs all around And finally the full exhaust Insert misc necessary b.s. in between each step Other than the possible d/s axle, intake mani, and fluids I'm pretty much done. Since I'm taking another full day off, I'm hoping to get it on the rack.

I didn't get quite as far as I had planned Saturday. We spent probably an hour or two checking and re-checking the timing and I started to loose steam after we ate some good vietnamese food.. So, I'll be taking a 'sick day' tomorrow and wrapping it all up. We did get the engine back in right before they closed up shop. So the brunt of the work is finished.. Cleaning the timing covers suckkkked. And due to the limited amount of time, I didn't really get to clean things like the bay etc.

Me busy? Nawwww. Lol. I took off last semester from grad school (mech engineering) to get the Bonneville done. It and all the crap associated to it in my garage are keeping me from moving out of my parents place. If I would have moved the Bonnie would have never gotten done and I wouldn't have been able to find anything. So I've just been banging out as much crap as I can so I can potentially move out and it's not over my head when I'm back in school plus working full time. Trans, axles, LCAs, UIM, engine harness, flywheel, Midpipe/B-pipe/muffler, fuel rail, are all out/off. It's been a min since I worked on a lift. Sooo pimp. The engine will be out and on the stand early tomorrow morning.

Today the i30 goes under the knife for: Resealing the timing covers, oil pans, mains, new valve covers (spark plug rubbers are leaking), new front LCAs, FR wheel bearing, coilovers, and full exhaust. I'll be at my buddies shop for about 3 hours today and all day tomorrow. I hope to get it all done by then.. I will have help so we'll see.

No eye candy this post but I made a little progress. Between my cam having a slightly smaller base circle, my heads being milled 0.050", and the valves being a tiny bit higher from a valve job I had to guestimate my pushrod length. Stock pushrods are 7.03" long. I tried 7" which netted too much lifter preload.. So I went for 6.95", checked those yesterday and the preload was right where I wanted it to be. I got those all in and the temp valve covers all butoned up. I also got some of the plastics cleaned up along with the a/c lines/accumulator.

It's definitely not going on the car like that. For now I'm just going to clean the crap out of it and make it glossy/shiny. I'll probably revisit it later but I don't want to get hung up on it at the moment.

I figured out how I wanted the route the engine oil thermostat, cooler, and lines today. The condenser inlet/outlet blocks sneaking the lines through on the passenger side. There wasn't really enough room to mount the thermostat and have it go through that side anyway. So, I went over through the passenger side. I'll route the trans oil thermo and cooler lines over through there too. The matching cooler (They look identical) will be on the drivers size at the same height. Making -10 an line is just like -6.. but multiply the pita factor by 1.5. I've got calluses out the wazoo from riding bmx, the gym, etc. and it feels like I borrowed a set of pre-teen girl hands to do this. It fits! (twss) Here's the rest of to-do list: Electrical -EWP -Alt to fuse -Batt to starter -HIDs -Engine harness -Fans.. I might just need one slim fan -Clean up the trans/cruise/master wiring -At least redo the trans tables for 3.43s. -Buy new widebands/wire -IAT Mechanical -Get new pushrods in and check preload -Mount engine oil cooler, thermo, and run lines -Mount trans oil cooler and thermo -Re-figure out wihch fittings to use from the trans. It looks like I’ll need some new bends -A/c lines and accumulator -Hook up p/s lines -Heater core lines -Grease the ball joints and tie rod ends -Bleed brakes -Finish installing headers -Hook exhaust up enough to drive to a shop and redo the cat back and add 2 O2 bungs -Install rear dog bone and trans to engine to rear header bracket -Shorten and hook up fuel lines -Buy new tires for new BBSes -Clean stuff like the hood latch, radiator stay, wheel wells etc. and install -Bought like 20 of those u shaped 10mm sandwich clamps -Get hose clamps for the master to abs rubber line and coolant lines -Mount ABS brain up under the steering linkage -Hook the vac crap -Fill trans -Get Baer 2-pcs back and throw in new Hawk ceramics.

Thanks guys. I can't wait to get it running either. And lol Sadie.. I think we're ok. I told her and she didn't seem to mind. haha.

There sure is a lot of metal missing from those..

I don't know if I would run adapters that thin.. I'm going to be using 20 mm thick adapters and that seems like a minimum to have a decent bite with the lugs holding the adapter in place. I still have to grind down the stock studs 10mm or so too.

Like having the flywheel powdercoated? I've got problems. The engine/trans/rear header went in today.. I was solo for the most part. I just had my girlfriend push the engine/trans away from the passenger side unibody when I dropped it in.. She's whatever is more than awesome. Welcome to Philadelphia... Lots of misc crap left but this was a biggie.

Yep, the alt I'm planning to use was sent out along with the aluminum valve covers to be repolished. The alt pulley will be chromed along with the p/s pulley.

I got done a few more odds and ends with the engine and put the hoist together. I also dynamatted the trans tail shaft just in case. Keep in mind: -The alt, p/s pump, and valve covers will all be swapped out when I get them back from polishing/chroming. -I intend to tuck the engine harness and relocate the coils once I'm sure everything is running correctly. I'm hoping I'll get the flywheel and caliper tomorrow. If I'm lucky the shorter pushrods will be here by Saturday but the engine will go in either way.

Good luck man. I hope the repair bill isn't too killer.

They're the same wheels I have now just wider with a chromed lip. They're 2-pc so those are the bolts holding it together.

Lol. I've got a couple things to fix on the exterior.. my hood got punched by the strut and there are a couple spots up front that need attention.. Once that's done I want to have the seats redone.. There's just something to be said about fresh leather.. I still have to tuck the engine harness when I'm sure it runs and drives correctly.. gotta do the rear LCA bushings.. blah blah blah The car will never be done. lol. My knock sensors came in yesterday and I put those in. Those were one of 2 things I needed minimum to get the engine and trans in this weekend. As long as I get the flexplate back tomorrow or Friday I should be good to go. I tightened up the fuel setup with the rail legs and I decided to add one more leg on the rear to make it more solid. You can shake the engine by the rails now. Yesterday I sent out: -The valve covers and alt housing out for repolishing -Alt and p/s pulleys to be hard chromed -Baer F-body 2-pc rotors to be redrilled to 5x115 I have some work related travel coming up next month which should help me afford tires for these guys: