Knee deep into my Head / Cam install...
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 6,979
Likes: 31
From: Wichita KS
Good to hear its not as hard as it looks, I love working on my car and have experience working on them so I think I will do my own swap too, the car can be down for how ever long it needs to be as I got 2 other beaters, keep us posted on it!!
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 559
Likes: 1
From: Lenexa Kansas
Surprisingly, the installation of everything went very well, and it wasn't as scary as I thought. LS1howto.com's instructions walk you through every last step. They cannot, however, save you from your own stupid mistakes. Fortunately, they make tools that can though...
I'll be back with a sound clip once I get her up and running Monday or Tuesday (hopefully).
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 25,889
Likes: 7
From: Virginia Beach
CI 3-5-6-7-8 Veteran
Sounds like you're pretty far along... but I'll still give you a few tips that weren't mentioned here.
1. Seal your knock sensors w/ red RTV so you can hose off your motor w/o worry of water intrusion.
For the crank pully:
1. Use a little anti-seaze on the crank snout to help it get started
2. Get the pulley install tool from LS1tech to make it ultra easy
3. Key the pulley so you don't have to ever worry about it backing out
(GMs superhuman torque values and odd procedure is simply b/c they're using an interference fit, once key'd the pulley can never rotate off)
4. Use loc-tite one pulley bolt
I put my cam in a few months back... wasnt' too bad at all
1. Seal your knock sensors w/ red RTV so you can hose off your motor w/o worry of water intrusion.
For the crank pully:
1. Use a little anti-seaze on the crank snout to help it get started
2. Get the pulley install tool from LS1tech to make it ultra easy
3. Key the pulley so you don't have to ever worry about it backing out
(GMs superhuman torque values and odd procedure is simply b/c they're using an interference fit, once key'd the pulley can never rotate off)
4. Use loc-tite one pulley bolt
I put my cam in a few months back... wasnt' too bad at all
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 559
Likes: 1
From: Lenexa Kansas
Sorry for the delay in getting this answered... I have had some nagging concerns (read broken bolts) diverting my attention. I have an appointment with MC Racing in Shawnee, KS on 4/23. Yeah, they were 6 weeks out when I called. 
Update: the broken bolt has been removed, and Fred Beans is overnighting me a bolt to arrive tomorrow. In other news, the brackets that came with my LG Street series headers were not working well; the first one stripped out on me. When I called LG to ask them how hard to torque them down, they told me the ones they sent are pretty chincy, and they insisted on sending me a full set of their race series brackets. They are supposed to be here tomorrow. That's pretty good customer service, although, I wonder why they are sending out the chincy ones to begin with. I have four of the six brackets attached. Depending on how they hold up, I may or may not replace them with the new ones.
My tentative schedule as of now is to get the fluid levels ready tonight, and be ready to put the valve cover on tomorrow night. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my neighbors will be assaulted with the roar of a beast in the latter hours of the evening tomorrow night...
Update: the broken bolt has been removed, and Fred Beans is overnighting me a bolt to arrive tomorrow. In other news, the brackets that came with my LG Street series headers were not working well; the first one stripped out on me. When I called LG to ask them how hard to torque them down, they told me the ones they sent are pretty chincy, and they insisted on sending me a full set of their race series brackets. They are supposed to be here tomorrow. That's pretty good customer service, although, I wonder why they are sending out the chincy ones to begin with. I have four of the six brackets attached. Depending on how they hold up, I may or may not replace them with the new ones.
My tentative schedule as of now is to get the fluid levels ready tonight, and be ready to put the valve cover on tomorrow night. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my neighbors will be assaulted with the roar of a beast in the latter hours of the evening tomorrow night...
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 559
Likes: 1
From: Lenexa Kansas
Prior to this, I hadn't really done much wrenching on this, or any car. I can blame the cam retainer plate incident on a crappy torque wrench, but the latest debacle was a pure brain fart.
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 2,088
Likes: 2
From: tampa florida
Good luck
Pro
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 508
Likes: 1
From: An Englishman drinking his way through Tewksbury MA
St. Jude Donor '09
I know, isn't it terrible (and embarrassing)? I'd be morbidly embarrassed, but for the fact that I'm a fairly green mechanic. Prior to this, I hadn't really done much wrenching on this, or any car. I can blame the cam retainer plate incident on a crappy torque wrench, but the latest debacle was a pure brain fart.
Prior to this, I hadn't really done much wrenching on this, or any car. I can blame the cam retainer plate incident on a crappy torque wrench, but the latest debacle was a pure brain fart. 
Do you *really* need valve covers to fire it up? 
Anyway, fantastic write-up, very inspiring! I'm up for doing my H/C in the summer.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 6,979
Likes: 31
From: Wichita KS
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 559
Likes: 1
From: Lenexa Kansas
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,364
Likes: 1
From: Rugby North Dakota
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 559
Likes: 1
From: Lenexa Kansas
At long last!
I received my bolts yesterday, and got everything finished up. A local forum member by the name of nwdanner dropped by to help me finish up the exhaust (thanks Neal), and video taped my startup. Fortuantely, everything fired up without any explosions, and my oil pressure came up within a few seconds to 40psi, but as it idled, the pressure came down within a couple of minutes to around 20psi. The car didn't throw any check engine lights, or anything, but it worried me, so I shut it down. I changed the oil pump out to an LS6 pump, and I was very careful not to damage the O-ring, so I'm not sure what's causing the pressure drop. I'll be doing some research to figure out where to go from here... Other than that, the car idled very well, and I was pleased that the exhaust wasn't really loud, and the lope wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Anyway, without further delay, here's the first startup video with a little tail-pipe action. I'll post back once I figure out what I'm going to do to address the oil pressure issue...
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 896
Likes: 1
From: Overland Park KS
You've come a long way with this project kilrb, jumped some very high unexpected hurdles, and pretty much blurred the "green mechanic" title you had given yourself. Great job! Once you get everything ironed out, it's going to feel like a totally different car!I was amazed that it started up so quickly and idled without any issues. A definite sigh of relief! Don't sweat the "sewing machine" effect, every H/C car I've been around has it. It's also more pronounced when the car is sitting in a garage, where the sound can echo around. Once you get it outside that sound will be diminished.
As for the oil pressure issue, my past experience (and I'm no expert by any means) with LSx cam swaps leads me to believe it's the o-ring issue. Given the pressure sender reported ~40psi for a few seconds at initial startup, I believe the oil sender is not the culprit. You didn't have to shim your oil pump for the new timing chain assembly, so there's no worry about a shim being reversed and partially obscuring the pump output port.
If you end up tearing back into it, let me know and I'll lend a hand. I know how frustrating issues like this can be, and having help can make all the difference.
Keep us posted!
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 25,889
Likes: 7
From: Virginia Beach
CI 3-5-6-7-8 Veteran
The pressure dropping is a sign that the o-ring did not seat correctly or the pump is not seated properly.
My buddy Joe (HPADDICT) ported his own LS4 pump... had fine pressure at startup, but as he was driving the pressure started to fall.
He ended up putting a new untouched LS4 pump in and a new o-ring... now all is well.
That damn o-ring and putting my LS4 pump is was the most nerve racking part of the whole process.
Good luck... but really all you can do is start taking the front end apart and re-do the o-ring.
My buddy Joe (HPADDICT) ported his own LS4 pump... had fine pressure at startup, but as he was driving the pressure started to fall.
He ended up putting a new untouched LS4 pump in and a new o-ring... now all is well.
That damn o-ring and putting my LS4 pump is was the most nerve racking part of the whole process.
Good luck... but really all you can do is start taking the front end apart and re-do the o-ring.
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 559
Likes: 1
From: Lenexa Kansas
Can anyone give me any guidance on the procedure for getting to the O-ring? I'm not sure how much of the removal of parts I did was necessary for inserting the cam vs. removal of the crank pulley... I'll obviously have to remove the water pump and the steering rack, but will I have to remove the radiator as well? If it's just the rack and water pump, it doesn't seem that bad. I'm sure I can get things apart quite a bit faster now that I know what I'm doing.
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 559
Likes: 1
From: Lenexa Kansas
Wow, I think I just figured out where I went wrong... While re-reading the instructions on the oil pump install, I realize it states that you should place the o-ring on the pickup tube. I am 99% sure that I took the O-ring out of the old pump, and pushed it up into the new pump. That's probably why it didn't seat right.