kyle99gtp
New member
firstly i want to thank Greg (who did most of the work), Tyler (who helped massively), and Kim (who gave me degreaser) for everything. i would have never gotten this done without everyones help.
heres a list of what we did
-replace LIM
-replace s/c gasket
-coolant elbows
-coolant o-rings
-injector o-rings
-180*thermostat
-water pump
-1.9 roller rockers
-105# valve springs
-manton pushrods
-new gates s/c and accessory belts ($71.xx!!!! [
])
-clean stuff
-all needed oil changes
So I got up at 8 am and picked up my s/c belt (had to order it, its not the stock size so they didnt have it). Then I went home and got started. Tyler (firefox05, hes not on here) came around 11 and brought his good tools. I had maybe 2.5 hours of work into the car by this point, then Greg from pace performance showed up.
He did more in the 1st 15 minutes than Tyler and I did in the 2.5 hours. He really knows his stuff. He races an 11 second gp, so he is no stranger to the engine bay of these cars.
Next thing I know, Kim (pontiac68) and her husband came, and she saved me by giving me some really good degreaser which I clean the valve covers with.
We ended up needed to go back into town to get some Teflon thread sealant for the water pump bolts, and on the way, a monstrosity of a cavalier turns down a road. Tyler follows and blows by him, and not to be shown up, he passes us in a no passing zone going up a hill...ricer.
I replaced the stock pushrods with the mantons (same length as stock, but oil restricted). We turned the crank to TDC and used my compressor to pressurize the cylinders to hold the valves up. I had this medieval looking catastrophe/valve spring compressor, luckily Greg had much simpler and easier to use one. Compressed the stock springs, and grabber the keepers (valve locks) with an extendable magnet, replaced with 105#s and zzp modified retainers. Cleaned out the rocker bolt holes with q-tips, and installed the 1.9 roller rockers. We used gm torque-to-yield rocker bolts. The compressor-spark plug fitting wouldnt go into cylinder 6 because the o2 sensor was in the way, so we removed one of the parts of the fitting and screwed it straight on to the hose. A little ghetto, but it worked.
Break time. we ordered pizza from dominoes, and I wanted to say when the people delivered "look what we did with OUR 30 minutes", but it took them like 45...we all ate without washing our hands. No time for stuff like that.
We replaced the v/c gaskets and reinstalled my now clean valve covers. Replaced the lim gasket (which failed in 7 places), the s/c gasket and I cleaned the injectors and replaced both o-rings.
We reattached all the vacuum lines, and got it all ready to go. I changed the oil and filter (in case anything got in it) and refilled the coolant with the yellow stuff. Let the fuel pump prime the car a few times, and started it up. It ran fine for 30 seconds, and then began hating life. It started shaking, and the SES was flashing. Turned the car off. multiple misfires..We try again, and same thing happens, except this time there is a very rhythmic knocking, coming from the rear v/c, you could even feel it, so we shut it off immediately. Tyler at one point unplugged wire #2 from the coil pack and shocked himself putting it back on.
Its like 9pm now and Gregs wife had called like 4 times wondering if he was coming home tonight. He says do you want to tear it back down? I say...yeah.
So we remove the alt again, and go for the rear v/c, all the egr and crap is in the way. Greg goes to pull the spark plug boots off, and when he gets to one he holds it up and says, "I didnt pull this off". lol, we didnt press the plug wire the whole way on, so it was arcing to the spark plug, causing my multiple misfire.
We start it back up, the misfire is gone, but the knock is still there. We pull the rear v/c and I start the car. Its gone, and the rockers are moving fine. Surely enough on the underside of the v/c, the one rocker on cylinder 6 was rubbing on the cover.
Greg then says.."Do you have a dremel?" Sure enough I grabbed it and we "modified" the valve cover some.
It ran fine then. No misfire, no knocking.
Its like 11:50pm, so Greg and Tyler leave after me giving my "thanks so much" speech.
I changed the oil again, and toped off the coolant, and cleaned up the garage. Took a shower and made it to bed around 4am
i still had an ses light, go it scanned and saw it was a cylinder 6 misfire, but the car was running so smooth i didnt believe it. The ses is gone now, i think it was just a stored code.
I installed the 180* and my car runs a lot cooler now too. Go figure since the fans are set to come on at 180* and I was running a stock thermo..
I fixed a broken vacuum line T with heat shrink tubing, rocked 15mm deep well socket out of my engine bay by braking hard out of my garage, dremeled my valve cover so my rockers wouldnt rub, and ghetto rigged the compressor fitting that was keeping the valves from falling into the cylinder. I feel like a real gp-er
and for good measure, heres my g8 springsblockers
heres a list of what we did
-replace LIM
-replace s/c gasket
-coolant elbows
-coolant o-rings
-injector o-rings
-180*thermostat
-water pump
-1.9 roller rockers
-105# valve springs
-manton pushrods
-new gates s/c and accessory belts ($71.xx!!!! [
])-clean stuff
-all needed oil changes
So I got up at 8 am and picked up my s/c belt (had to order it, its not the stock size so they didnt have it). Then I went home and got started. Tyler (firefox05, hes not on here) came around 11 and brought his good tools. I had maybe 2.5 hours of work into the car by this point, then Greg from pace performance showed up.
He did more in the 1st 15 minutes than Tyler and I did in the 2.5 hours. He really knows his stuff. He races an 11 second gp, so he is no stranger to the engine bay of these cars.
Next thing I know, Kim (pontiac68) and her husband came, and she saved me by giving me some really good degreaser which I clean the valve covers with.
We ended up needed to go back into town to get some Teflon thread sealant for the water pump bolts, and on the way, a monstrosity of a cavalier turns down a road. Tyler follows and blows by him, and not to be shown up, he passes us in a no passing zone going up a hill...ricer.
I replaced the stock pushrods with the mantons (same length as stock, but oil restricted). We turned the crank to TDC and used my compressor to pressurize the cylinders to hold the valves up. I had this medieval looking catastrophe/valve spring compressor, luckily Greg had much simpler and easier to use one. Compressed the stock springs, and grabber the keepers (valve locks) with an extendable magnet, replaced with 105#s and zzp modified retainers. Cleaned out the rocker bolt holes with q-tips, and installed the 1.9 roller rockers. We used gm torque-to-yield rocker bolts. The compressor-spark plug fitting wouldnt go into cylinder 6 because the o2 sensor was in the way, so we removed one of the parts of the fitting and screwed it straight on to the hose. A little ghetto, but it worked.
Break time. we ordered pizza from dominoes, and I wanted to say when the people delivered "look what we did with OUR 30 minutes", but it took them like 45...we all ate without washing our hands. No time for stuff like that.
We replaced the v/c gaskets and reinstalled my now clean valve covers. Replaced the lim gasket (which failed in 7 places), the s/c gasket and I cleaned the injectors and replaced both o-rings.
We reattached all the vacuum lines, and got it all ready to go. I changed the oil and filter (in case anything got in it) and refilled the coolant with the yellow stuff. Let the fuel pump prime the car a few times, and started it up. It ran fine for 30 seconds, and then began hating life. It started shaking, and the SES was flashing. Turned the car off. multiple misfires..We try again, and same thing happens, except this time there is a very rhythmic knocking, coming from the rear v/c, you could even feel it, so we shut it off immediately. Tyler at one point unplugged wire #2 from the coil pack and shocked himself putting it back on.
Its like 9pm now and Gregs wife had called like 4 times wondering if he was coming home tonight. He says do you want to tear it back down? I say...yeah.
So we remove the alt again, and go for the rear v/c, all the egr and crap is in the way. Greg goes to pull the spark plug boots off, and when he gets to one he holds it up and says, "I didnt pull this off". lol, we didnt press the plug wire the whole way on, so it was arcing to the spark plug, causing my multiple misfire.
We start it back up, the misfire is gone, but the knock is still there. We pull the rear v/c and I start the car. Its gone, and the rockers are moving fine. Surely enough on the underside of the v/c, the one rocker on cylinder 6 was rubbing on the cover.
Greg then says.."Do you have a dremel?" Sure enough I grabbed it and we "modified" the valve cover some.
It ran fine then. No misfire, no knocking.
Its like 11:50pm, so Greg and Tyler leave after me giving my "thanks so much" speech.
I changed the oil again, and toped off the coolant, and cleaned up the garage. Took a shower and made it to bed around 4am
i still had an ses light, go it scanned and saw it was a cylinder 6 misfire, but the car was running so smooth i didnt believe it. The ses is gone now, i think it was just a stored code.
I installed the 180* and my car runs a lot cooler now too. Go figure since the fans are set to come on at 180* and I was running a stock thermo..
I fixed a broken vacuum line T with heat shrink tubing, rocked 15mm deep well socket out of my engine bay by braking hard out of my garage, dremeled my valve cover so my rockers wouldnt rub, and ghetto rigged the compressor fitting that was keeping the valves from falling into the cylinder. I feel like a real gp-er
and for good measure, heres my g8 springsblockers
Good job on the install, feels good to do it yourself doesn't it?