riggs 74

Evershark, No spare tire carrier, I removed that a while ago. I just keep a can of fix a flat with me, or break out the cell phone to send for a truck, there is no way I could put one of my 285 tires back in the carrier if I ever had to change a flat.


Riggs.

riggs 74

Hey the Parts came in, I finally received the LED's I was waiting on. I was able to install the LED's into the instrument panel with the gauges. I still need to wire everything and then reinstall the dash, hopefully soon.

Here are the short LED strips I was waiting on, these are for the high beam indicator and the Brake indicator lights



Here are the results,

Left hand turn signal,



right hand turn signal,



High beam indicator,



and the Brake indicator light,




I like the way it turned out, it defiantly adds a nice custom touch. I am thinking that I will be removing the original clear lens, I think I will have a glare from the LED's that I won't be happy with, we'll see before I reassemble the dash.


Tomorrow I should be getting the rest of my stainless to finish up the exhaust and hope to finish the exhaust by the end of the week.


Riggs.

Garys 68

ok, that's just too cool

Quil

Very nice work on the gauges. Very cool.

DEEPSEA70

Going back a bit. How did you handle your EVAP?

riggs 74

The Evap system, wiring, purge unit, and program were all removed from my setup. My LS2 came from an SS Trail Blazer and was originally equipped with a truck style intake with the purge unit mounted to it. I bought a LS2 corvette intake off Ebay to replace the truck style and never thought about using the Evap system, so I left it off and had the wiring harness rework to eliminate the Evap system. It's program was removed from the ECU when I had it reprogrammed.


Riggs

riggs 74

I don't have any photo's but I do have some updates.

The gauges are wired and back in the car, the interior is mostly back together and I reinstalled the steering column and steering shaft. Tonight I built the rest of the exhaust, but still need to finish welding several joints, I hope to finish those welds tomorrow and post some photo's of the finished exhaust.

In the days to come I plan on dropping the trans pan and installing a drain plug and the temperature sensor and then reinstall the pan. I also have a few small items I want to double check before I turn the key for the first time.

I still need to hook up the battery and test the electrical system for any surprises, at this time I can get some photo's of how the gauges and LED's turned out.

I hope by the end of the weekend I will be able to make an attempt to start the LS for the first time. I will need to fill all the fluids and check the fuel system for leaks, pull the plugs and crank the motor over to prime the oil system, Then the moment I have been waiting for hopefully being able to hear the LS for the first time.

I will still need to rebleed the brakes, I have a stainless line at the rear of the car that won't seal.

I'll keep you up dated.

Riggs.

riggs 74

Exhaust is completed. It was so hard to make this system as nice as I really wanted do to the working conditions being so low, But I am happy with the results, after all it is just a street car that will spend some time on the track.







I'm trying to stay on track for a start up this weekend, so hopefully tomorrow I will install the transmission drain plug and temperature sending unit in the trans pan. It's getting close.


Riggs

Evershark

Great looking exhaust sys...and pics. Looking forward to the end results, sound. I'm understanding that's a Dynomax Ultra Flow "X" muffler behind an "X" pipe, yes?? I assume using two "Xs" was on purpose...or is that just the muffler that fit with your design plan??
Maybe two "Xs" is something I need to consider. I have a serious "drone" with my straight 2.5 pipes and Magnaflow muffs. I put in an H pipe that is worthless.
Keep up the good work. Thanks for sharing.

riggs 74

Evershark, The muffler was one I bought not long ago before I decided to do the LS swap, I like the tone and I was looking for a center mount design so I just reused that muffler. As far as the X pipe design in the muffler, I doubt it has any real benefits being at the end of the exhaust system, the one behind the transmission is the one that will be beneficial to the system.


Riggs.

Evershark

Understand and agree. To solve my drone prob, I'm thinking of using that muffler as an X pipe and "resonator" putting it in place of the H pipe behind the trans...if room enough!??

riggs 74

Well a couple of week ago I tried to start the car, but had no luck.
First I found the ECU control power was not hot while cranking, so I temporally fixed that problem so that the ECU control power stays hot any time the ignition is on or switched to cranking.

Next I found that the Cam gear that Trick Flow spec ed for me was for the 24 tooth reluctor and not for the 52 tooth reluctor. Through Emails, Trick Flow insisted that I had the right Cam gear, Until I had time to call them and talk with another fella about the mix up and show them the part number I was giving them was the one for my application, intended for a 4X cam 52 tooth reluctor wheel. Ed from Trick Flow agreed and sent out a replacement for exchange, Thanks Ed. So a week later I was able to change out the cam gear and reassemble the motor to test fire this once more, but still no firing.

I have about 55 PSI fuel pressure at the rails, after changing out the pressure gauge that was showing much lower pressure, the first gauge was no name junk, you get what you pay for.

I am getting voltage and grounds to all my sensors and injectors, but no input voltages when cranking the motor to start. I decided to buy another scanner that Gary68 told me about, thanks Gary, It's a live scanner, I hooked it up, and got the same result as I did with the small pocket scanner, no response from the ECU. I was looking to see if I was getting a crank signal to the ECU, but that will have to wait until I can communicate with the ECU from a scanner. I had to take apart the Data link connector in order to pass it through the fire wall, and then reassembled the data connector just as it was before I disassembled it. I have Emailed the group that built the harness just the other night and hope to hear from them Monday, I asked for a wiring diagram with color code and pin out description so I can verify that the wiring is what it needs to be.

I also emailed my tuner to see if he agrees that the ECU my be the problem, I hope to also hear from him Early this week, he is hard to get a hold of because he is that busy. I may have to send that back to him for him to have a look at it.


Well while I had the front of the motor off, I decided to change out the power steering fluid reservoir. The unit I had before was not designed well, it was going to allow the fluid to foam up when returning back to the canister because the return was so high on the canister, this would introduce air into the system. I wanted one that had a supply and return on the bottom of the unit, one with a filter was even better. I am trying to guard against the fluid air in the fluid and also to keep it cool, If the fluid temps get to high I can now add a cooler to the setup with out much fuss.

I also didn't like the routing of the lines being over top of the upper control arm, so I fixed that as well.
Here is the power steering reservoir I used http://www.pscmotorsports.com/motors...n-10-feed.html


So I fabed up another bracket and mounted the reservoir off of the spreader bar bracket and rerouted the lines under the bracket and along the frame rail for a much cleaner look. This system is much, much better than the one I had before. I always seam to find better ways, and better parts after I have completed a task no matter how much research I have done in the beginning.




Here are a few shots of what I have done and what I have to look at and ask myself, When will I get to hear that LS fire up?





And I do expect to change out the Radiator over flow bottle at some point, for those that notice that it looks a little out of place.



I will update the thread as soon as I find something out, hopefully soon.

Riggs.

manofsteel1

What a great job you are doing..What do you expect the Ls2 to produce and how about mpg? What are the cost so far involved? Would it have been better to just to have rebuilt what was there? Did your old tranny bolt right up at both locations?

riggs 74

Thanks for the complement, it's been a long process to get here.


Long story short, the old 700R4 I was running is what started the LS bug, along with the old 355 only being a 2 bolt main that I didn't want to push beyond it's HP limits. The Trans burnt up when I last took it to an Auto cross event, so instead of just replacing the trans, I went a totally different direction with going with the LS2 with a 4L70E trans, both were sourced from a low mileage SS Trail Blazer as a drop out unit from a friend in Indiana that sells several LS drop outs each year.

This started out as just swapping in the untouched LS setup, But I can never leave well enough alone, so I started dumping lots of money in the motor, only to find out that the trans was not going to hold up under the new found HP. The 4L70E trans have some week spots in them, both input and output shafts and the servos inside are all prone to failure, so I sent it off to http://www.finishlinetrans.com/ and Andy built me a stage 5 trans to hold up against the new HP and my abuse that I well put the car through.

How much HP you ask, I am running the Trick Flow head and cam combo that they claim will produce 550 FWHP, This will be a nice step up from the old 355 I was running once the car is running again.


How much money do I have in my setup? Too damn much, I was very uneducated about the LS motors and the different directions I could have gone, but I have spent the money and will enjoy the car once it is finished. This is why I try to steer others into a direction that would be less costly, starting with research and a plan to stay with in your budget you first set for the project, as long as it is realistic to your goal.

Riggs.

Gordonm

Perfect saying. I have lost count on mine on purpose. I do not want to know. At this point the money is not the object. Getting it done right is. Yours is looking great.

riggs 74

absolutely


I sent the ECU back to the tuner tonight, I should have some info by the end of the week.

Riggs

Rebelrob

Looking Very Nice Riggs. I am catching up on all my threads tonight.
Seems like you and Gordon are neck n neck getting these LS's completed.
You seem to be very close in getting it running per your updates above.

riggs 74

I was able to get some very useful information today over the phone from current performance. First off I'll go over the problem I have been facing, I have had the car starting on starting fluid, so that meant the coils were firing but the injectors were not, I have sent a lot of time running thru the harness and changing out sensors and just getting nowhere. It turns out that the car has been wired right for a while, the problem is that the 2008 SS Trail Blazer ECU has an extra security feature that can't be programed out. Current performance said they had just ran into this last week with a build they wee involved in, their solution to this was to run the 2007 operating program, it doesn't have the extra security feature like the 2008 does. They also told me how I can hard wire the ECU plug to bypass the system, but I think I will get the ECU reprogrammed to eliminate any failure latter in the future because I don't have a local supplier for the ECU pin connector that is needed to make the connections permanent.


Well you know I had to find out if it was going to work or not, well here is what I found out.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MDpO...yer_detailpage

Sounds a little to smooth running thru the X pipe, and the sound quality of my camera sucks.

Lets remove the exhaust and see how it sounds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq6JD...yer_detailpage

I still have a few things to put back together but I think we are getting close to a test drive.


Now if I can just remove this stupid grin off my face, I don't think it's going to happen for a while.


Riggs

Neptune75

Job well Done! it sound Great. The electric cut outs are cool as it gets.

Eddie 70

Awesome!! Glad to hear and see it is running. Looking forward to hearing your driving impressions of it. Love the cutouts.