LS4 / F40 swap - fieroguru (Page 84/216)
fieroguru JUN 15, 07:56 PM
Decided to knock out the front spring upgrade today. I had been running the stock 88 front springs with 1 coil removed, but much prefer a slightly stiffer setup and have done the 84-86 GT spring upgrade a couple times before to get the needed rate improvement. Since I pulled home an 86 GT a few weeks back, it lost its springs today for the LS4/F40 car. It took about 2 hrs to get them off the car with the vast majority of that time dealing with the wheel lock lug nuts that I didn't have a key for. Ended up welding a nut to the lug nuts and then removing them. It was a trial/error type deal and took 3-4 times of trying to finally get them free... not looking forward to doing the rears...

So with the 86 FJF springs free on the bench, it took about 20 minutes to have the ones of the LS4 car out as well. Here they are laying next to each other. The long one is the 86 spring:


I cut 1 3/4 coils off the FJF spring, so it should have a rate of about 275lb/in and match the 275lb/in coilover springs in the rear. 1 1/2 coils makes the two springs have the same free length, but with the higher rate it will compress less. With the extra 1/4 coil removed it will be slightly shorter and should keep the car close to its current ride height, but with a higher spring rate.
Springs ready to go back in:


The springs are back in and I did another bleed of the front brakes, and added the front ground wire from the battery to the chassis (now I have two 2ga grounds to the chassis, + a 2ga + & - going right to the engine).

Last project for the day was to weld up some lateral link relocation brackets for the LS4/F40 car. I am planning on installing them on Sunday and then redoing the alignment.

[This message has been edited by fieroguru (edited 06-16-2013).]

fieroguru JUN 18, 10:05 PM
Lateral link relocation brackets are now installed. I had to make a slight clearance mod for them to clear the 16" wheels, but now they fit. You can also see the rod end lateral links as well.

The car is now setup for the alignment, which I will do on Wednesday evening.

[This message has been edited by fieroguru (edited 06-18-2013).]

fieroguru JUN 19, 08:21 PM
Alignment is done and I took it out and put another 25 miles on it.

Here is a picture of the slight notch I made on the lateral link to fit the 16" wheel (they fit w/o issue on 17's and larger). There is about 1/8" clearance. Yes, I need to get some new rubber bushings, but waiting for Rodney's to come out.


Between the lateral links and the 13" brake kit shoehorned inside the 16" wheels, I can't use lip mounted wheel weights for balancing. only stick on ones in the center of the wheel.

With the spring change, the ride height is still within about 1/8" of where it was before:


I do need to level out the rear coilovers... but that will be the last mechanical thing I do to the car before the 30th.

Next up is buffing the paint to make it look as good as possible.
Trinten JUN 19, 08:32 PM
Wow, cut it close man!! lol

Looks nice though, that blue really does pop.
Rickady88GT JUN 20, 12:43 AM
I saw a few pics of the injector adaptors on another swap on LS1 Tech, and I did not see any keepers? Are yours that way?
When I made mine I made a few of them then changed the design to incororate the original keepers and had to buy 8 new keepers for a total of 2 keepers for each adaptor. With 60 psi pushing on 8 injectors (reduced to 30 psi because of the small boar of the inector) I did not want to take any chances of any of the 16 joints leaking.
IF you want a set of mine, let me know.
I can make them in diferent length too.


[This message has been edited by Rickady88GT (edited 06-20-2013).]

fieroguru JUN 20, 06:30 AM

quote
Originally posted by Trinten:
Wow, cut it close man!! lol
Looks nice though, that blue really does pop.



I would prefer to call it taking full advantage of the available time! This car has so many areas that need further work, I was just trying to get as much done before the 30th as possible. After the 30th I will probably shift gears and focus the majority of my efforts on something else besides the LS4/F40 car (but still continue work on the DoD front).


quote
Originally posted by Rickady88GT:

I saw a few pics of the injector adapters on another swap on LS1 Tech, and I did not see any keepers? Are yours that way?
When I made mine I made a few of them then changed the design to incorporate the original keepers and had to buy 8 new keepers for a total of 2 keepers for each adaptor. With 60 psi pushing on 8 injectors (reduced to 30 psi because of the small boar of the injector) I did not want to take any chances of any of the 16 joints leaking.
IF you want a set of mine, let me know.
I can make them in different length too.




No, mine didn't have any keepers for the spacer to fuel rail or injector to spacer. They were quite snug and relied on the limited space between the injector boss and the fuel rail... there just isn't enough room for them to separate while installed without raising the fuel rail.

Thanks for the offer, but mine are back sitting on the shelf and the larger (longer) LS2 injectors are back in. I used them on a temporary basis with the LS4 injectors while I dialed in the MAF tune.

That is some fine machining you did on those adapters!

[This message has been edited by fieroguru (edited 06-20-2013).]

motoracer838 JUN 20, 10:49 AM

quote
Originally posted by fieroguru:

dealing with the wheel lock lug nuts that I didn't have a key for. Ended up welding a nut to the lug nuts and then removing them. It was a trial/error type deal and took 3-4 times of trying to finally get them free... not looking forward to doing the rears...



I have a cheap 4 way lug wrench, that I cut 1 end off. stick the stub on the nut, weld and remove. I've had to deal with this a lot as a mechanic back in the day.

Joe
Rickady88GT JUN 20, 12:02 PM

quote
Originally posted by fieroguru:


No, mine didn't have any keepers for the spacer to fuel rail or injector to spacer. They were quite snug and relied on the limited space between the injector boss and the fuel rail... there just isn't enough room for them to separate while installed without raising the fuel rail.

Thanks for the offer, but mine are back sitting on the shelf and the larger (longer) LS2 injectors are back in. I used them on a temporary basis with the LS4 injectors while I dialed in the MAF tune.

That is some fine machining you did on those adapters!




Thanks, If you need any let me know.
I just dont see GM using the keepers unless there were a real good reason, and spraying fuel all over the top of the engine seems like something I want to avoid
I cant find my login for LS1, so IF you get he time could you pass this info along? I would hate to see somebodies project go down in flames if the "friction fit" adaptors come apart.
I dont trust my life with the 4 tiny bolts that are holding the fuel rail to the plastic manifold thru pressed in brass threads.

Thanks, Rick
fieroguru JUN 22, 08:46 PM
Buffed the car and it is now ready for traveling to the 30th (its a good 20' car, much closer than that you start to see all the issues with the paint).


We are leaving on Monday so we can stop off at Turkey Run and go canoeing for a couple of days before the show.
fieroguru JUN 25, 04:34 PM
Took the car on a 281 mile trip and used 9.6 gallons of gas. So it got 29.3 mpg. If it hadn't been for the 4 stops along the way it probably could have broke 30. Maybe on the way back...