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You don't necessarily need sumps under the turbos if you use good banjo fittings and -8AN lines like the APS C6 kit. I run oil restrictors to my turbos (GT3076R in the C6 kit), roughly 0.030" if I recall, which keeps flow volume reasonable and the scavenge pump is always able to win. I recently switched from the electric pump to a mechanical one, but that isn't absolutely necessary.
I'm doing it just as a precaution more than anything. The C5 kit is banjo bolted like the C6 kit is but I don't want to run a restrictor as the LG turbo's are journal bearings and APS (for the factory turbo's) and LG both say feed it unrestricted engine oil pressure. I'm running a turbowerx EXA scavenge pump and have a spare from my old LT1 turbo car just in case, so I feel covered there.
...modify 97-98 return rails to fit LS2 manifold...
Here's mine for inspiration. The previous owner did the initial bending and notching to make it fit, and I spent a little more time with vice grips and pry bars tweaking it to make it fit better. I've run it for over a year since and it works great. Let me know if you have any questions or want pictures of specific areas. It's set up with a pulsation damper for returnless operation in the picture, but I'm plumbing a return line and adding a regulator this year...anybody want a low-mileage pulsation damper?
Here's mine for inspiration. The previous owner did the initial bending and notching to make it fit, and I spent a little more time with vice grips and pry bars tweaking it to make it fit better. I've run it for over a year since and it works great. Let me know if you have any questions or want pictures of specific areas. It's set up with a pulsation damper for returnless operation in the picture, but I'm plumbing a return line and adding a regulator this year...anybody want a low-mileage pulsation damper?
Wait.....so you simply bent the rail to fit the LS2 manifold? I didn't think there was enough there to do that. I was going to have a custom crossover made and welded in (have a local friend who's a good fabricator for a big name shop). If I don't have to do that, then all the better. Guess I'll take a closer look. Though I was going to have the injector cups modded for a little more than the pinhole for flow they currently have too.
The guy I got the intake+rail setup from was running an LS2 in a '98 and bent the rail to make it work. I just touched it up in a few places to improve the fitment. The crossover was touching the top of the intake when I got it--there was a shiny spot where it had been rubbing. That's one of the things I fixed. I bent it upward to put a little more arc in it and flattened the bottom of the tube just slightly (hammering against a piece of wood) so that it no longer touches the plastic.
The guy I got the intake+rail setup from was running an LS2 in a '98 and bent the rail to make it work. I just touched it up in a few places to improve the fitment. The crossover was touching the top of the intake when I got it--there was a shiny spot where it had been rubbing. That's one of the things I fixed. I bent it upward to put a little more arc in it and flattened the bottom of the tube just slightly (hammering against a piece of wood) so that it no longer touches the plastic.
Wow, this is great info. Thanks for that. I was going to pay to have a new crossover welded in. Looks like I'm "tinkering" later today.
Did you drill new holes in the feet of the rails for the bolts? Looking at mine they don't line up.
Ok, I've semi-fit mine without bending yet, and am planning on just drilling a new bolt hole.
Just had my local guy over to check deck height, looks like we're going to be within .001 quench target using a LS9 gasket, yaay for saving a few $$$, lol.
My buddy owned this car and I was with him when he went 202 at the Texas Mile. Glad to see it's getting some love!
Funny part is your buddy bought it from me and I bought it back from him about 4.5 years later. Missed it too much! I have a hunch who you are, though I could be wrong.......
Starting to get some motivation on this now. Just put the heads on today. Valve covers are temp installed just to seal things up. Going to get the oil pump and timing cover on the car tomorrow, possibly the balancer too, then tape up the engine bay connectors and seal the motor up so I can pressure wash the oily grime out of the engine bay that showed up as a result of a leaky scavenge pump line.
Also had a buddy tig a -6 return fitting on to my timing cover for the scavenge pump return (relocating from the APS dump into the valve cover to a more discreet location with a shorter run from the pump). Nice thing is that the cam sensor harness bracket has enough slop to relocate the bottom part down to an adjacent timing cover bolt so it won't be flopping around.
Will probably be getting a LOT done here in the next couple of weeks. Have a four day weekend over Labor Day and am hoping to have it nearly buttoned up by then.
F*** these F***ing oil pump pickups and motherf***ing O-Rings. Melling 10296 and black O-ring came out. Ported Melling 10296 and correct black O-Ring going back in. Easy peasy right? NOPE. NOT. AT. ALL. It simply will NOT go together. Yes, the pickup tube was mic'd and verified to be straight end, not tapered or grooved. Tried freezing the O-Ring, tried with pump bolted in, loosely bolted, and not bolted at all. Even used a prybar (last resort) under the pickup flange and using the cradle as leverage, and had to use WAY too much force to try to just get the flange to the oil pump surface with zero chance of it staying in place (obvious at this point). I do not get it. But I am getting a blue GM O-Ring tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. Can't really do anything else because I need the timing cover on the motor in order to get it together enough to push into the driveway and pressure wash the cradle and underside.
Problem solved. Oil works as good as sandpaper to lube things up and get them together. Dielectric grease works FAR better. Popped right into place just now.
Trying. Got stopped again today though. Was doing a final inspection on the timing cover before I put it on and noticed a tiny hole from the back side of the AN fitting. Turns out when we opened the hole it broke through to the hole for the cam harness bracket, and the AN fitting didn't fully cover it up. So now I need to have that hole filled and need to wait for my buddies schedule to free up (he's my TIG guy). So until he and I can get together I'm kind of stuck, because the next step is cleaning the grime from the cradle and motor.
Trying. Got stopped again today though. Was doing a final inspection on the timing cover before I put it on and noticed a tiny hole from the back side of the AN fitting. Turns out when we opened the hole it broke through to the hole for the cam harness bracket, and the AN fitting didn't fully cover it up. So now I need to have that hole filled and need to wait for my buddies schedule to free up (he's my TIG guy). So until he and I can get together I'm kind of stuck, because the next step is cleaning the grime from the cradle and motor.
Just keep at it. You'll get it done. I've always had issues on every build. It can get very frustrating. Persistence pays off
Doing what I can when I can. Timing cover on today along with the crank pulley final assembled, installed, and torqued down. It's looking like a motor in there now.
Going to have a delay not of my doing now. The sumps that we are custom fabricating for the turbo oil drains, are being put on hold until probably early October. This is due to the car my buddy is building, being painted by him, and that's got him tied up right now. Is what it is. I'm OK with a cold weather dyno tune.
Rack is loosely in place. Plan as of now is this week to get the ABS bracket and PS pump and bracket on, throw some old plugs in the heads to seal them, then power wash the ever living you know what out of the cradle, spring, mount area, and frame areas to degrease and clean everything up. Baby steps.....
Now where did that two wire magnasteer connector go hiding.......
Baby steps. Changed jobs at the beginning of the month (switch from Union to Management) and have been tied up with work. Got a little while in on it tonight, and got the power steering bracket/pump in, lines on and fastened along with the cooler lines, and the ABS is back on it's bracket and bolted in. I'm at the point now where I can put it down on the ground, push it outside, and hose the grime out (after taping up all open lines and connections).
Looking at revising/deleting the APS distribution block and accumulator setup. I need to research it a little more to see if it's ok to do that, but it's an eyesore, and every fitting is seeping oil.
Hoping to get some time in on it this Friday-Sunday, BUT........my daily is getting brakes/oil change/DSG service/timing belt this weekend, and my wife's is getting an oil change and DSG service. So I may not get to this one.
Been a while,nothing to report until now. Finally got my turbo's and parts dropped off at my buddies. He finished painting his resto mod (it's AWESOME) and is going to begin doing those sumps for me. Once I can get the manifolds and turbos back on it should go pretty quick putting it all back together.
05-01-2018, 06:46 PM
