------------------
'87 Fiero GT: Low, Sleek, Fast, and Loud
'90 Pontiac 6000 SE AWD: None of the Above

I also cleaned the '96 pistons in it, since they'll have to be clean if I'm going to sell them...

I washed and match weighted the '95 pistons. They weigh within about half a gram of the average weight of the '96 pistons, so the balance should not be affected. The final weight was 406.3 grams each.

Here's a picture:

The early style piston is on the left, while the later style piston is on the right. As you can see, the early piston has a wider top ring land and a wider top ring groove than the later piston. Otherwise they are more or less identical.

------------------
'87 Fiero GT: Low, Sleek, Fast, and Loud
'90 Pontiac 6000 SE AWD: None of the Above

Luck, Fate and Destiny are words used by those who lack the courage to define their own future

------------------
'87 Fiero GT: Low, Sleek, Fast, and Loud
'90 Pontiac 6000 SE AWD: None of the Above

Assembly notes as they come to me...

If you are using bolt stretch to tighten your rod bolts, do so BEFORE you seal the lower crank case and torque the main bolts. Once the lower crank case is in place you can get a wrench and a rod bolt stretch gauge on only half the rod bolts.

GM sells 6 ml tubes of anaerobic sealant to use on the case halves. I've been told that if you don't use 5 tubes, you haven't used enough. The sealer is actually Loctite 518 and is available in 50 ml tubes and 300 ml cartridges from www.mcmaster.com p/n's 75125A66 and 75125A67 respectively. A 50 ml tube is more than enough to do one Northstar and one Getrag (Getrag case halves require the same sealant). I ran a bead in the groove for the case-half seal, a bead on top of the seal, and one more bead on the aluminum sealing surface itself (I think it was inside the seal groove, but I don't really remember if it was inside or outside). My case half doesn't leak yet. (oil filter adapter did, but that's another story).

There are two different versions of the oil manifold (plate that bolts onto the bottom of the lower crank case to close up oil passages), the windage tray and the oil pump pickup. They don't mix. Must use same version of all three. P/N's are in the manual.

Rear main seal is easy to install even once the engine's together. Goes in with a mallet if you use it carefully. No special tools required. Don't forget to dab RTV on the case-half seam before installing the seal. I forgot to RTV the case halves, but I did have some of the anaerobic goo protruding out. I'm going to be on the watch for main seal leaks, though.

Front main seal is difficult to install without a tool. I abused mine slightly and I halfway expect it to start leaking before long.

Use anaerobic goo on the flywheel bolts. The flywheel bolt holes go all the way through the crank flange and are exposed to whatever the back of the rear main seal is exposed to. use the anaerobic sealant on them to make sure you don't get oil leaking around the bolt heads into your clutch.

I used 25mm long class 10.9 standard head bolts for the flywheel. With washers under the heads, these bolts have about 0.060 clearance to the clutch disk and do not touch the rear main bearing bulkhead. However, if used without washers, these bolts WILL contact the main bearing bulkhead and prevent the engine from turning. They will also feel as though they are torquing properly when this happens. Turn your engine by hand before you install the flywheel and again after you install the flywheel to make sure that it still turns and that the rotational effort has no increased.

USE TIME SERTS. My head bolts torqued flawlessly.Torquing those head bolts is a PITA... they go to 22 ftlbs in sequence, then 60 degrees in sequence, then another 60 degrees in sequence, then a THIRD 60 degrees in sequence.

There are two different crank shafts. One uses a 14mm balancer bolt, the other uses a 16mm balancer bolt. My '95 engine originally used a 16 mm bolt, but the crank I got used a 14mm bolt. I had to gank a bolt from one of the parts engines in the shed out back.

The water manifold uses three different lengths of bolt to attach it. Three long ones, one short one and four medium ones. The three long and one short go through the water manifold into blind tapped holes in the cylinder heads. The four medium length ones go into the block and have some type of sealant on them. Only the two that go into the LEFT BANK need the sealant, as the two that go into the right bank thread into blind tapped holes. I wire brushed the sealant off of the two for the right bank and used anti-seize instead.

I only got three of the required four w/p gaskets, so I had to borrow one from a parts engine. I used RTV on both sides of it since it looked rather rough.

I put three dog turds in the coolant, just like GM recommends. I used orange coolant, even though the block had originally been used with green coolant. I did this just so all of our cars would use the same coolant and we don't have to worry about it.

I think that about wraps up the engine assembly notes that I had. If I think of any more I will post them

------------------
'87 Fiero GT: Low, Sleek, Fast, and Loud
'90 Pontiac 6000 SE AWD: None of the Above

Luck, Fate and Destiny are words used by those who lack the courage to define their own future

My coil pack is now on the other set of mounts. In addition to making the engine compartment look better (in my humble opinion), this also frees up room for the chassis side of the Fiero dogbone mount, pictured here.

The dogbone mount has been one of the two areas of chassis cutting required to fit a Northstar, but with coil pack relocation, cutting the dog bone mount is not necessary. Cutting it off at least is not necessary. It may still require some slight trimming. While a torque strut may not be entirely necessary with 4 point engine mounting, I think that a soft (poly or rubber) mounted engine should have a damper to control oscillation at low engine speeds in 1st gear. To this end, future Northstar swappers should retain the dogbone mount. It should still be possible to get oil in through the PCV grommet (capped in the above picture), even with the mount in place.

------------------
'87 Fiero GT: Low, Sleek, Fast, and Loud
'90 Pontiac 6000 SE AWD: None of the Above

Luck, Fate and Destiny are words used by those who lack the courage to define their own future

The engine seems to have good power and response (I haven't wound it out yet), but it smokes like a chimney. It blows oil smoke under all operating conditions except moderate or greater throttle. If the car's sitting still and I bring the RPM up, I can generate a smoke screen behind me. I'm going to call Totally Unsealed tomorrow and see what they have to say about it.

------------------
'87 Fiero GT: Low, Sleek, Fast, and Loud
'90 Pontiac 6000 SE AWD: None of the Above

------------------
'87 Fiero GT: Low, Sleek, Fast, and Loud
'90 Pontiac 6000 SE AWD: None of the Above

Or maybe you're burning super ritch (blind guss).

Aaron