LS4 / F40 swap - fieroguru (Page 37/216)
blackrams NOV 17, 12:30 PM

quote
Originally posted by fieroguru:

The 383/Getrag distraction has come to an end... now where did I leave that LS4/F40...

I will be bach'n it from Wednesday to next Tuesday, so should be able to make some progress.



Bump. Git-R-Done.

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Ron
The key thing is to wake up breathing! All the rest can be fixed. (Except Stupid - You can't fix that)

fieroguru NOV 19, 06:40 PM
Finally back working on the LS4 swap!

When I installed the camshaft it was supposed to come with the LS2 style chain guide. I couldn't see it in the box, so I left the stock LS4 one in. Well when I was packing up all the LS4 stuff to store it while working on the 383/Getrag, I found it... so first order of business was installing the LS2 timing chain guide:


Then the engine was given a bath at the carwash and the reassembly began. My button head obsession required that I replace the valve cover bolts with stainless button heads. To do this the stock bolts had to be cut to remove the support sleeve.


In this pic you can see the small washer on the left that some vendor thought would work fine for these bolts, but it is way too small, and the center hole as too much slop... the larger washer with the smaller hole is the one I modified:


I stacked 10 on a bolt and put them in the lathe and turned them down to the desired size:


Here is a pic of the engine going back together... you can see the stainless button heads and the washers on the valve cover, also you can see the intake and fuel rail resting in place (I have the VOLM cover off being painted blue).


I painted the front timing cover, installed the stainless button heads and installed the balancer for the last time. It is hard to see in this pic, but I also cut the vacuum elbow off the end of the intake and tapped the holes for 2 plugs. The brake booster vacuum supply will come off the neck of the intake.


It will be a rather slow process as I clean everything prior to installation... I am also fighting the urge to redo the LS4 water pump...

[This message has been edited by fieroguru (edited 11-19-2011).]

KissMySSFiero NOV 20, 09:15 AM
I like the fact that the blue masking tape in the valley matches everything else.
Bloozberry NOV 20, 10:00 AM
Ooooooo.... that's purrrdy. Glad to see you're back on the LS4

I was flipping through the November issue of Street Rodder magazine the other day and thought about you when I saw this ad for a new low profile cast aluminum oil pan for LS series engines by Holley. Thought I'd stick a link to the product in your thread in case you or anyone else in the future might find it useful: www.holley.com/302-1.asp
dobey NOV 20, 10:47 AM

quote
Originally posted by Bloozberry:

Ooooooo.... that's purrrdy. Glad to see you're back on the LS4

I was flipping through the November issue of Street Rodder magazine the other day and thought about you when I saw this ad for a new low profile cast aluminum oil pan for LS series engines by Holley. Thought I'd stick a link to the product in your thread in case you or anyone else in the future might find it useful: www.holley.com/302-1.asp



Interesting pan. I think the C6 Vette pan would be a better choice though, especially for the Fiero, since it's baffled to avoid all the oil piling up on one side during heavy acceleration in any direction. I think it also fits the applications that Holley pan was designed for pretty well, though not entirely certain.
fieroguru NOV 20, 05:12 PM

quote
Originally posted by KissMySSFiero:

I like the fact that the blue masking tape in the valley matches everything else.



Its all about color coordination!
fieroguru NOV 20, 05:24 PM
I was able to get the valley cover installed, if you look close you will notice I was slacking and only used the button heads on the bolts that will be visible:


Then the intake went on with more stainless steel button heads:




Then I spent a little time playing with another water pump option. The big challenge with the LS4 (and all other engines from the same family) is the coolant inlet/outlet are right next to each other and complicates plumbing/packaging. So why not just cap off the coolant exit ports and use the two freeze plugs coming off the heads. Some tube could be used to make a coolant crossover and the thermostat housing could be mounted on the cross over tube is a similar location as the old SBC.


Getting the coolant outlet out of the way, frees up room to run a water pump setup similar to the one I ran on my SBC (probably will need to go further forward to clear the wheel well, but you get the picture):


I am probably going to table the water pump idea until I do a low buck 4.8/Getrag swap... don't really need any more distractions to further delay getting the LS4 running.
Syn NOV 21, 03:29 PM
you know that's one part of this swap that I haven't really thought about all that much is the water pump and front assembly. I really want to do the hatch back gt option so the deck lid wouldn't be a problem I don't think but I don't think that I'll have the gt hatch done by the time I'm ready to install it so that is a dilemma.
dobey NOV 21, 04:27 PM

quote
Originally posted by Syn:

you know that's one part of this swap that I haven't really thought about all that much is the water pump and front assembly. I really want to do the hatch back gt option so the deck lid wouldn't be a problem I don't think but I don't think that I'll have the gt hatch done by the time I'm ready to install it so that is a dilemma.



If you get rid of the stock decklid hinges, the only real issue with the stock LS4 water manifold, is that the fill neck is on the wrong side of the engine. I'm thinking I might get rid of them, and do the same thing fieroguru did here with his decklid, and the custom very-low-profile hinge setup.
kennn NOV 22, 02:35 PM
Guru,

Is the balancer on the LS4 also a ribbed pulley? I'm curious to know if it would fit on an SBC small block to shorten the front end accessory stack.

Ken

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'88 Formula V6
'88 GT TPI V8