Ed's Daily Fun 2SS

[Eddymel1998]

Oh also while doing the oil change from first track day I noticed some oil was leaking from my aftermarket dipstick tube, I kinda hated it anyways but kept it to keep those LS7 covers, decided that was enough so bought some Holley valve covers, got them powder coated and threw OEM dipstick tube back, while at it tried my hand at vinyl cutting by hand, results wasn't great because eive never done it before, especially the strips but from distance and covered by the coil packs it looks fine.




I was going to take the wiring for the coils and tack in in the injector channel, but when I removed it from the plastic those wires were ready to crumble so I sticke them into the plastic units and patched up the wire break, it's not ideal but with cost of new harnesses I'll just stick with this


Have one more project comming, whole was getting valve covers powder coated asked about ceramic coat quote, so after getting bungs welded got theese headers ceramic coated as well, just need some time to install them and wire up the wideband

[SlowLS1]

Happy to see you are still around. Great update and pics!

[Eddymel1998]

Took last week off for Christmas and was looking forward to relaxing for a week, until I made the same mistake I make every year at this time and decided it was the only chance I'd get to work on car for while (last year was cradle bushing, the one before that was removing dash for hud). So I decided to do the long tube headers and in process fix up the threads on the heads, put in the ARP studs and install the wideband sensors and gauge.

Started by removing my old shortie headers, was able to drop the one on passenger side directly under the car, driver side one had to seperate and remove in two because of the steering rack, then went in and took the ol threading tool to the heads, it did remove a fair bit of material so I think it's now got threads in threads but it's better then it was, just have to be careful with the torque on passenger side so I don't spin them

Then I proceeded with the headers, I had them ceramic coated so I tried not to scratch them, laid down some wrapping material and everything, it went in smooth on passenger side but driver's was a nightmare, spent probably an hour or two struggling but it kept getting caught on motor mount, steering rack and a little square poking out of Bell housing, I ended up doing it by raising the car nearly 2-3 feet up was just few inches shy and ended up using a 4x4 post chunk to get it final bit over (fun fact, same chunk that dropped the car on me last year but I was out of options, also maxed out the jack stands and as you can see in pic below even that wasn't enough)

With that done I called it a day and figured I'd do the cats next day and call it early because Christmas Eve, what I didn't realize is that the cats are almost flush fit with exhaust so while I was able to shimmy the tubes enough to mount cats on collectors the cats to exhaust was a different story, I originally intended to use stock clamps because I know they work, but because of the stupid locating screw and bump I couldn't slide them all the way down the pipe on resonator side and they were too long to slide on the cat side, so I settled on what I had which is a set of ebay special Chinese ones I could just wrap around the pipe, they almost certainly are leaking but it's something

[The_bald_eagle_machine]

Originally Posted by Eddymel1998

Took last week off for Christmas and was looking forward to relaxing for a week, until I made the same mistake I make every year at this time and decided it was the only chance I'd get to work on car for while (last year was cradle bushing, the one before that was removing dash for hud). So I decided to do the long tube headers and in process fix up the threads on the heads, put in the ARP studs and install the wideband sensors and gauge.

Started by removing my old shortie headers, was able to drop the one on passenger side directly under the car, driver side one had to seperate and remove in two because of the steering rack, then went in and took the ol threading tool to the heads, it did remove a fair bit of material so I think it's now got threads in threads but it's better then it was, just have to be careful with the torque on passenger side so I don't spin them
Attachment 1159808
Then I proceeded with the headers, I had them ceramic coated so I tried not to scratch them, laid down some wrapping material and everything, it went in smooth on passenger side but driver's was a nightmare, spent probably an hour or two struggling but it kept getting caught on motor mount, steering rack and a little square poking out of Bell housing, I ended up doing it by raising the car nearly 2-3 feet up was just few inches shy and ended up using a 4x4 post chunk to get it final bit over (fun fact, same chunk that dropped the car on me last year but I was out of options, also maxed out the jack stands and as you can see in pic below even that wasn't enough)
Attachment 1159809
With that done I called it a day and figured I'd do the cats next day and call it early because Christmas Eve, what I didn't realize is that the cats are almost flush fit with exhaust so while I was able to shimmy the tubes enough to mount cats on collectors the cats to exhaust was a different story, I originally intended to use stock clamps because I know they work, but because of the stupid locating screw and bump I couldn't slide them all the way down the pipe on resonator side and they were too long to slide on the cat side, so I settled on what I had which is a set of ebay special Chinese ones I could just wrap around the pipe, they almost certainly are leaking but it's something
Attachment 1159810

I installed my TSP 2 inch primary headers, the only hurdle that i had on the drivers side was unbolting the steering shaft. It slid right in from the bottom. No issues. Do you have an auto transmission? Mine was a manual and the install was very easy. I built a set of 2x4 wheel blocks similar to the ones that race ramps sells and when i put my car on all 4 its about a foot in the air from the wheels.

[Eddymel1998]

After that was Christmas Day and I took the day to relax and let all the bruises heal from dropping my head on the concrete and bench pressing the headers all day, but next day I got going on the widebands, firstly I installed a matching gauge pod I bought a while back, using some threaded aluminum bar same as last time to help spread the weight around and hopefully avoid sagging over time, it is slightly crooked and tilted up but not too noticable in the car


I popped the grommet and used the hole right above the battery cable wire to get everything inside and rest of the day was mostly spent wiring it all up right, borrowed a hot signal from the lighter and put in a relay on a fuse tap, then made all the wiring on the gauge side removable so I could remove the trim piece if needed, for ground I threaded an M6 nut on back of a grounding bolt, I did a calibration and left it for next day.

Final day I wrapped everything up, tidied up the wires, cut up the existing grommet to let the wires out and so on, I did have to run the wideband cables along the strut brace so they didn't sag on the exhaust (I still left some wiggle room to let them move around) and coiled the narrowband extensions which are way too long, took it for a test drive and she sounds great, I can tell there's an exhaust leak but no surprise there, gonna re check all the bolts this weekend after week of driving so anything that might loosen up, does.


Overall there are still a few issues, most notably is that widebands don't go hot on remote start and I can't hold ignition on without engine running, which sucks with my job, I might try and see if I can tap the fuel pump fuse in the trunk to trigger the wideband since not much else is hot with remote start. Also those ebay slip on clamps will need to go, I might pick up some v bands and see if a shop can weld them on for me, I don't want to weld the cats directly on because it would mean dropping whole exhaust if I wanted to touch the headers again. Finally I might just buy one of those pin crimpers and pin my own extension wire for the narrowband, it only really needs like 3" of wire and no one sells extensions that short.



Oh also for anyone wondering it's a set of Texas speed 2" long tubes that I got ceramic coated silver, widebands are from innovative motorsport, one of their dual lambda kits, I think I picked it up for $300 on sale last year, they do both aft and lambda but I set it to lambda because it's easier to glance while driving, has a serial out too so might save me few bucks on wideband rental next time I need a tune.

[Eddymel1998]

Originally Posted by The_bald_eagle_machine

I installed my TSP 2 inch primary headers, the only hurdle that i had on the drivers side was unbolting the steering shaft. It slid right in from the bottom. No issues. Do you have an auto transmission? Mine was a manual and the install was very easy. I built a set of 2x4 wheel blocks similar to the ones that race ramps sells and when i put my car on all 4 its about a foot in the air from the wheels.

It's an automatic, there was this square bit, I'm guessing some kind of a blank for some sensor on another car, but it was just in the way and I did look at that steering rack for a while but I didn't wanna risk throwing he steering angle off or something like that by fiddling with it, could've watched a YouTube video or something on how to unbolt it properly but I think it was mostly stubbornness and pride that kept me at it

[Eddymel1998]

Installed the frameless mirror on the car this weekend, bought the harness long while back from gen5 diy and finally figured I'd get to it so picked up a mirror from a junkyard and got it knocked out. I was a bit disappointed with the harness though, the fuse tap they provided did not fit in the fuse slot it's supposed to tap, it butted up against the relay, but I was able to mount on the fuse next to it, just had to do it upside down so current has to grow through 2 fuses now, which is no biggie on a 20 amp fuse, but still kind of annoying. I also spent a while looking for the "upper console" to tap the second half of the harness, I even disassembled the ovehead console looking for it before I found the plug I need behind the center gauge cluster, feel like a picture would've helped a lot.


In the end it all works though, including the auto dim, I know the OnStar stuff is long past useless but it's nice seeing the lights at least, still not sure if I like it more since it seems to stand out compared to rest of the interior, but I'll keep it.


Also I guess as just general update since it's been a while, car just hit 90k miles yesterday, weird to think it was in like the the 50s or 60s few years back when I picked it up, not really sure I'm happy about that but no choice for now. Currently messing around with a tig welder, wanted to weld up some leaks due to slip on cat and shop quoted me a bit under about $1k which to weld some v bands in, which is about what an okay welder with supplies costs, so figured I'd invest that money in a new skill instead. Finally about a month ago or so I was turning around in a parking lot and there were no potholes, no curbs, just a deep paved over dip I didn't see which sent a splitter rod through my splitter and bent it, need to sit down with some carbon weave and epoxy to patch it up, but waiting for weather to improve since I know epoxy likes to act up due to humidity, so for not just shoved a bolt with some fender washers to keep the damage from spreading.

[Eddymel1998]

Figured I'd jump in and give an update, car is still alive and so am I, had my second crack in the windshield in past year and a screw in a tire where I found out inside rears are basically worn to the bar on the inside after about a year of use, been putting a ton of miles as well, slowly nearing the 100k.


Recently took the splitter off and going to try and patch it now that weather is nicer, also ordered some new fancy splitter rods that should work pretty well. Also while driving through Columbia gorge few weeks back, noticed hood shaking from the back pressure build up at over 70, so decided to finally do something about the heat extractor tray, spent while trying to make the oem one fit before realizing it wouldn't work, instead I grabbed some aluminum bar and made some brackets, which I remember someone on here doing, I also added some moulding tape so it stays in place and doesn't rub the hood. Plan is once weather starts to get gloomier I'll fit the OEM tray by threading the bar and screwing it into that. Will say it's pretty fun seeing the 4 foot hot air column shooting out at every stop, crazy how hot these engine bays get.


Also tried welding a v band on the muffler and while welds were fine, the flanges warped just enough to not seal, especially since here are no gaskets, so going to have to re think it.


I have also picked up some Johnson lifters and ARP head studs, currently working on figuring out my parking situation so I can get a second car going and maybe get that taken care of this winter, but we'll see

[Eddymel1998]

Got another batch of updates

Firstly, repaired the splitter, I started by patching the underside with some carbon weave and epoxy

Then I filled the hole with loose carbon strands and epoxy, figured it will act like the long fiber filler

Then finally patched the top, gave it a bit of sanding a coat of some glossy clear I had laying around, it's not amazing but better then it could've been

I also decided to put some new fancy splitter rods since one was destroyed anyways, originally messed with riv nuts for the inner ones but they kept spinning so used a small cheater hole and a magnetic stick instead, used this chance to add some spacers to make the splitter sit more even and replace some rusted hardware with stainless

In between all that cut some mesh for the heat extractor because work has deciduous pine trees and they cover everything in needles, so trying keep some out of the engine and off the belts

[ariZona28]

Nice job on that splitter repair. They can really take a beating on a DD especially in "rough road" country.