Thread: Dirt cheap mods: my never ending struggle

From my personal experience and from what others have said don't go with MLS head gaskets. I think you remember what happened lol

Originally Posted by selliott

From my personal experience and from what others have said don't go with MLS head gaskets. I think you remember what happened lol

Haha very true.... only reason I'm thinking about it is that I'm fling to send the block and heads for machining, and I'm 90% sure that zzp never put the correct ra finish on your block, or the heads. Not to mention yours were sized for stock bore. Plus, I'll never be running 30lbs of boost like you!

But you're right, I'll probably just go with felpro. Lots of time to ponder!

Originally Posted by ItHurtz

all that crap you listed, you should just save those pennies for turbo instead of nickle and dime purchasing. Porting is also fun, I love it.

Agreed! I would go turbo if I had to purchase all that. I forgot to mention that I got a whole bunch of parts from a guy for $70, then I turned around and sold the block I got for $100, but I got some good L32 heads and a gen3 supercharger and all accessory brackets. I've already got all the adapters and miscellaneous parts, and I've already modified the wiring harness. Only really thing I need to buy is the boost gauge, wideband, and timing parts/cam which I can definitely use if I decide to swap to turbo.

My main hesitation besides spending several grand on a good turbo is the $1000+ on the exhaust which I've already got modified sd headers so that'd be a waste. But agreed, if I didn't already have the parts, I'd definitely go turbo!

Long run, I think I'll probably run maybe 10lbs boost and save up for a turbo/exhaust work/transmission parts. Don't worry man! I'll eventually get there!

Originally Posted by ItHurtz

Dont forget your meth injection

I've actually wondered about that. Wouldn't I only need this if I wasn't running an intercooler? What point is it necessary? I know selliot doesn't have to run that because he's on e85, but when does it become necessary?

Oh, and while I'm asking stupid stuff. Does the phenolic spacer really make a difference? Or does it just keep the blower cooler (which seems unavoidable in the first place). So I'm assuming it's more for the liquid to air intercooler right?

And other than cooling the manifold and supercharger slightly, why go water to air instead of air to air other than space? Water to air intercoolers are ridiculously expensive!

Originally Posted by ItHurtz

Its in the debate weather you need to run e85 and meth, but if your on pump gas meth only helps. Any point is necessary depending on what you want, stuck on a certain pulley size you can run meth and increase timing a good amount.

Spacer I know nothing about other than it helps prevent alot of the heat transfer but imo its all still under the same hot hood.

The ford supercoupes uses a upsidedown m90 for their air to air setup , if you want to be a badass try and make something like that work!

Haha I like the way you think! Too bad I'm broke as hell!

Good to know though. I'll probably block of throttle body coolant ports so I can toy with that stuff later. First, I need to get with the program and learn how to tune well!

The phenolic spacer helps keep the sc from getting heat soaked, I had one for the original build. But once again it really depends on your end game.

Originally Posted by selliott

The phenolic spacer helps keep the sc from getting heat soaked, I had one for the original build. But once again it really depends on your end game.

Thanks! Yeah, I was looking at the phenolic intercooler by league, but I'm not about to blow $500 just for the core... I'll probably save and see who's got one used by then

sseilmnop has some really nice ones, he is where I got mine.

Originally Posted by selliott

sseilmnop has some really nice ones, he is where I got mine.

Thanks! Guess I'll save up! Haha

Well, I've been holding off posting this for a while, but I've made the call to sell my grand prix. Just comes down to practicality. I could dump $2000+ in parts for this transmission to hold 450hp, or I could spend $500 to rebuild a 4l80e I acquired that can hold nearly 1000hp.

Unfortunately, I sunk a lot of money rebuilding the engine which has held up for over 10,000 miles without issue, and I unfortunately know that no one here will pay any more for a rebuilt vs "low mileage" engine.

Since I've already swapped the interior completely to the gtp model, and I've already unlocked the pcm, and the difference at my local junkyard is $10 for supercharged.

Unfortunately, all of the supercharged engines were 200,000+ mile engines, so I ended up grabbing a 130,000 L26 from a 06 lacrosse that was totalled by collision, and all fluids and everything checked out. Then grabbed a 04 comp g supercharger, brackets, and heads.

The motivation for all this you ask? Well, picked up an 84 Monte Carlo ss project halfway through a 350 vortec swap for $750.

Neverending fun

Originally Posted by ItHurtz

I like the older montes, but inheriting someone elses project is going to open a big can of **** on your end. There is always a secret reason someone gets rid of something regardless of what they tell you.

Nailed it right on the head! The main issue with this project is for sure the body. I'm in the process of gutting the interior and seeing the extent of rust on the floor pan. The frame is rusty, but having stuck an endoscope down the length of it, it's just surface rust. I'm debating pulling everything off the frame and sandblasting and painting the frame, but I'm not sure what all can be feasibly removed. Floor pans are bad mainly on the passenger side because the prior owner had started to part out the car and sold the ac/heater panel that keeps rain from flooding through the firewall so it just pooled in the carpet, but the main structure is still in-tact.

Never messed with old transmissions or carburetors so I'm missing all the brackets and adapters that I never knew existed! I'm a bit excited to learn about "old tech" though.

Biggest hurdle to me is going to the body work, but that's the reason I chose this project. I've worked plenty with the mechanics, but never with body work or painting, so I'm excited to learn new things (and slightly terrified...).

Originally Posted by ItHurtz

We shall see if this project goes anywhere lol, Id like to see it burning rubber.

Hopefully! I think I'll make a separate build thread for this though. I've finally made up my mind about the grand prix.

Though it might be smart to sell it, I'm planing on selling my 06 Acura rsx instead.

For the long run, I think I'll use the junkyard gen v m90 and topswap l26 engine instead of my "expensive" rebuilt one.

Just to get it up and running soon, I'm going to use some L67 heads and just lap the valves and replace springs, while I continue to research and save for my diy flow bench, and save for fun stuff like intercooler etc.

Basically, I'm going to do a super budget top swap while I plan and save for an all out race build.

Do you ever slow down? Lol