Project Drivabeater

duplicolor vynil and fabric dye, gloss black.

if i had more money, or cared more, i would have used SEM dye. much nicer and more durable product, but 3X the cost

the dup stuff works pretty good.  never had luck with any spray on fabric dye though.  always wore off or faded back.  plastic usually worked pretty good though.  buddy did his interior with the dup i think also.  worked very well for him.

got the inner fenders and core support that i kept from the parts truck cleaned and painted. im using a scotchbrite pad and superclead to get this stuff clean and prep the surface at the same time. what im painting it with is medium gloss black from john deere. 7 bucks a can, but its almost indestructable.
so far, im out 3/4 of a can on these three parts alone.



i also got the old, rusty, and very holey inners out tonight.



and started in with superclean and various implements of grease and crap removal. these are the last pictures you will see of this motor, this far together. sunday i go to get the engine hoist from my father, and next week ill start getting it ready to yank.



total 2395.12

looking good bro.  cant wait to see that 3.4 go in there.  i know your going to be happy with the results.  i know i was and surprized with even a stock motor.

Good luck with the swap. Good to see you are taking care of the little details.

thatnks, guys. for everything. the motivation, compliments, help, etc.  i truly appreciate it, and it makes me feel good to recieve it.

sorry i can be a dick sometimes. dont mean to be, just am. ill try better.

michael

so ive been doing a little work here and there this week. monday, i had a half day at work. went to the junkyard, got a throttle cable i think will work. paid 10 bucks. when i got home, i looked at the truck. put it on stands, and started removing, tagging and bagging stuff. started to run out of room pretty quick, until i realized i could put stuff outside and in the bed. made it a lot better.







after about 2hrs of work:





also looked inside the 7727 ECM that dad gave me out of his vette. and guess what i found?





that saved me 50 bucks for an adapter and chips.



throughout the week, ive had a few minutes before work and getting Mary at the daycare to do a little here and there. heres how it looked before tonight.





today i got off work at 4:00. my wife and daughter were with her family, so i came home and got to work. by 5:30, heres what i saw:









the rea main was leaking pretty badly, but what finally caused me to pull the motor now is a leaking freeze plug.





i took a smoke break, put the wheels back on it, rolled it outside, and started soaking with superclean. scrub, soak, scrub, soak, hit with pressure washer. scrub soak, pressure wash. after about an hour....









now im debating with myself. rattle can the frame with john deere paint, or POR15 it? i have half a can left over from painting a roll cage for a customer, so it free..... what do you think?



im also to figure out wether or not i should replace the motor mounts. the look solid, and are pretty firm when pried on. heres what they look like, let me know what you think.







more to come sunday after church.

man, that firewall cleaned up nice.  good progress, i remember pulling my 2.8 out.



we left the rad support in, but i did have a little extra help...



man i miss being able to use a lift. haha

those mounts like never wear out i think!  i would get the poly while your in there anyway.  good score on the prom adapter too!  i think you should wack that shifter arm off the column while you can.  looks kinda odd with a clutch arm in there.  but thats just me.

Reminds me of pulling mine too.  Was real easy with the trans out.  Dropped the trans on a lift and pulled the motor out the the top.  I think I had the same leaking problems as you, but they weren't too hard to fix.

For the mounts I'm a big fan of the style I recommended to Ryo for the 5.3 swap.  Not too expensive or hard to make really.

 

i decided toleave the rubbers in there for now. i have poly mounts in my CRX, and had them in my protege. i hate the extra vibrations they cause at idle. really aggrevates me. if i start noticing too much drivetrain movement, ill change them.

this truck is really starting to grow on my again. i though i was tired of it, but i guess im not. doing this engine swapo the right way, cleaning, painting, repairing, modifying, etc. is really relighting the spark. i may just keep it. ill see if i still feel this way after driving it for a little while, though.

hell, im beginning to think about brake rades, going back to an automatic, and paddle shifters. with a northstar.

the 60 degree family is not much for vibration.  i have had the last two trucks with 60 degree motors in them with solid mounts and there is very little to none that you will notice.  i feel little extra ever so often.  but nothing i'd call close to annoying.  but its totally a personal pref in my eye.

a northstar would be kick ass and you could find a rearwheel setup too and you'll need to start saving for it now.  cause no ones selling for a cheap price.  thought about it myself. 

I have a 3400 in my DD and its smooth as silk, except when the idles a bit too low, I had an IAC stick and the idle went to crap and it was choppier than a stock 350. Good engines.

so yes, i know its not sunday after church. Mary spiked a 102 fever yesterday, and everything went on hold. she just went to bed for a little while so i have a minute. however long she sleeps. ill work on my update.



sunday morning, we overslept for church. Mary was with grandma for the morning (spent the weekend), and we were lazy. nice not to have a child that wakes you up at 5:30-6:00 for a couple fo mornings. Jennifer (the most awsome wife in the world)volunteered to bring her cofee down to the garage and help me out. while i was getting steering linkages unbolted, truck on jackstands, wheels knocked back off, and steering box removed, she worked on cleaning up the firewall where a PO had used bathroom caulk to seal around the firewall. she also did most fo the masking for me. after it was all done, she grabbed a brush and the can of POR15 and asked where to start. i really need to get her something cool for mothers day. not every wife will apply that stuff on a sunday morning.....



she did th top side, while i took the underside. we lwt the stuff dry while we removed the motor mount brackets, exhaust manifolds, oil pressure sender, and clutch from the 2.8. she went upstairs to get ready for the VBS meeting, and i started spraying the firewall and inner part of the outer fenders. heres what it looked like after all that work. sprayed almost an entire can of the JD medium gloss. so theres another 8 bucks....







while that was drying, i broke out the can of gloss black krylon and sprayed the heater box. ive had that can for a long time, its starting to get a little empty.....







i had a few minutes tonight before getting Mary from daycare to get some stuff put back together, and some tape peeled off. heres what it looks like now.











i think its looking really, really good. little too nice for this thing to still be called the drivabeater.....



anyway, if youve read this far, youll probably be interested to see where monew has gone. so, for this installment, im adding in the whole engine swap costs up to this point.

previous balance: 2395.12

parts :

can medium gloss JD: 8

3 cans of duplicolor engine paint: 23

gaskets, wires, thermostat for 3.4: 154.04

plugs: 17.94

PCV:2.69

3.4 from 95 firebird: 75

wiring harness and ECM from 93 lumina: 50

gasket cement: 5.99

total so far:



sit down, now.....





2731.78











HOLY CRAP!!!!!!

im never gonna see that money out of this thing........



 

but its been a hell of a ride so far. guess ill keep going.

michael

looking mighty good!  can't wait to see that 3.4 in there.  its gonna disappear in there among all that black on black.  but that intake will stick out like a sore thumb!

2731.78

HOLY CRAP!!!!!!

im never gonna see that money out of this thing........

Hell, sold the wildside bed for a third of that. You can make the money back.

sell?, that's a 4 letter bad word.

lol

I never said "sell".

You are from the south so isn't it "sale"...lmao

motor will be in by the end of the night.

I never said "sell".

You are from the south so isn't it "sale"...lmao

it doesn't really matter, as long as it has a "s" at the beginning.

Sell, Sale, Sail...

they all mean the same thing...