My Rides and current project

[Moto135]

Hey everyone, first I'm gonna show off all my current vehicles then I'm gonna post my build log from a grand prix related project I've been working on for a year or so.

KTM 250SX

Audi TT

Scorpa SY250

Duramax

YZ450f Supermoto

R6

GTP – This one is my project vehicle, sort of…

So now I’m gonna start loading my build log from another site and try to keep it updated here as well since a few people may have a vague interest in it haha.

 

[Moto135]

So here's the start of my build from another site. I'm just copying and pasting my posts, so I'm sorry if some of it doesn't make sense. But here it is:

First I'm going to apologize in advance for the lack of pictures, I was never planning on writing anything about it. But after browsing this forum some I figured somebody might be interested in it. So, to get to the point, I'm in the process of swapping a supercharged 3800 from Grand Prix GTP into my 1989 Hardbody.
It all started because I rolled my good running GTP and decided it wasn't worth fixing. I did however decide that it would be worth swapping the front wheel drive engine from the car into my hardbody that wasn’t getting much use anymore. Below is a pic of the engine coming out of the GTP. I took the engine and all the wiring harness that I thought I would need from the car

After the engine was out I put a bigger cam in it and found a transmission to mate to the back of it. It turns out that the V6 camaros from similar year cars used the same block as the GTP, so it was a synch to bolt an 4l60e auto tranny from a Camaro up to it, but I still had to figure out how to shift it. I could either learn how to reprogram the GTP ecu, Get one from a Camaro to try to make it work, or the option I went with which was to use a Transgo manual valve body kit.
From there I took a good running truck and took just about everything I could out of it, engine, tranny, seats, dash pretty much anything I thought I’d be replacing or building. My first step after that was to hang the engine and tranny and start building mounts for them. I found out that the original non-power steering was going to be in my way, so I removed all of that and put in a rack and pinion from a Subaru WRX.

After it was all mounted up there was a lot of little things to get done intake, headers, cooling, vacuum lines, roll cage, drive shaft and of course the big one figuring out how to make the ecu work. Below are a couple pics from various steps and a video of the first time I started it.

View My Video

So that’s pretty close to where it is now, before I can drive it I still need to run fuel lines from the fuel cell, figure out how to get lines from the power steering pump to the rack, and some other little things I’m forgetting. I left a lot of details out so ask any questions you may have and I’ll try to keep anyone that’s interested posted.

 

[Moto135]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. Don’t give me too much credit though; it still hasn’t moved under its own power yet haha and there are many members on here with a lot more skill than I have.

Just to give everyone a little more background on the project and myself, I’ll try to go into some more detail now. So, my first ever vehicle was a 1989 4x4 reg cab 4 cyl hardbody that was as basic as they come, no power steering, only one speaker from the radio which was only a radio and had no cassette player and only one side mirror from the factory. I being a teenager from a rural area of course lifted it and put a set of 35’s on it. I beat that truck every day and it never gave me a single problem. Fast forward 6 years and I’m in grad school ( for engineering as some of you may have guessed) and I found this truck for hauling my bikes around to races because I was tired of trying to load bikes in my 99 silverado on 38’s.

When I bought this truck I always had big plans of making it a long travel pre-runner style truck and that is still what I plan on doing with it after I get the engine swap completed. I plan on designing and building the 4-link and a-arms myself. This whole project I’m trying to do as cheaply as I can by doing as much fabrication work as I can and trying to be creative and find existing parts from other vehicles to save the cost of custom parts I can’t make myself. Below is a list of parts I’ve used from other vehicles that may come in handy for someone else.

- 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP engine, wiring harness and ecu
- 1998 Chevy Camaro 4L60E automatic transmission
- 2002 Subaru WRX steering rack – A little wider than optimal, so it will induce some bump steer but it should work for now.
- 2003 Nissan Sentra Spec-V double pass radiator- used so both inlet and outlet are on the driver’s side to match the engine
- 1996 Impala SS driveshaft and slip yoke – Perfect length for where my transmission is placed and has the correct slip yoke
- Spicer 2-2-1309 Flange yoke - Bolts to stock differential but accepts a Ford u-joint so I was able to find a combination u-joint that connects the driveshaft and flange yoke


Oh and one last thing, this is the first time I’ve tried swapping an engine and I only get time to work on it on the weekends, so it doesn’t always go as quickly as I would like it to.

 

[Moto135]

Just an update from the weekend. I had an out of town wedding to go to so most of my time was taken up with that, but I did make it out to the garage some.
First thing I did this weekend was shorten my steering column. I’m 6’3” so I could use a little more room in the cab, I also put a cheap ebay steering wheel and quick disconnect on as well which would have reduced space even further. This was a pretty simple job to do, I just followed asr321’s instructions.

Here is a picture of the collapsible inner steering shaft that I collapsed 4”.

Here is the outer column after I chopped 4” out of it and welded it back together

My next big accomplishment for the weekend was to move the truck from one side of the garage to the other haha. I did this so I could put it up on the lift and hopefully get the underneath things done a little quicker.

That was about the extent of my efforts for the weekend. A couple other pictures though.

This is a pic of my motor mounts I pressed a leaf spring bushing into some DOM tubing then welded it up in a mount shape. I think it will be strong enough, but I really haven’t done any analysis on it to be sure.

And here is just a picture of my Impala SS driveshaft with new flange yoke and combination u-joint. The whole shaft and yokes and everything cost me about $60 which was a lot less than having a custom shaft built.

 

[Moto135]

Sorry for the delay in updating, I have been working on it and have actually driven it breifly. So, to catch everyone up to where I am now. I had to run lines for the power steering, I was fortunate that the one line on the rack fit my PS pump. I used this end and the other end that connects to the rack to have a custom line made at the local hydraulic shop and then used clamp on line for the low pressure side. At the moment the steering won't self center and I'm not sure what the issue is. I know there is way to much toe in at the moment, I'm hoping that fixing this will correct the problem. Any other ideas please let me know.

Next I mounted my fuel cell in the bed and ran fuel lines and wires for the fuel pump.

Then I temporarily wired up the OBD2 port to make sure I had the right wires from the ecu. I am also planing on using the blue tooth transmitter and a cheap tablet running the torque app for all my gages.

Following this I began adding fluids to anything that needed it. A piece of advice, make sure your trans dipstick seal is all the way in the trans before adding fluid haha.

So today I finally fired it up and took it for a very short test drive. Here it is just after I got back. Sorry I don't have any video of it driving yet because my wife wasn't around to do the recording.

The two main issues I discovered after the test drive are that oil is blowing out my dipstick tube and my rev limiter is at about 4500 rpm instead of about 6000.

I am hoping that my dipstick issue is due to the fact that it is old and the seal portion is busted off so it doesn't seal shut and not a crank ventilation issue. I ordered a replacement tube and dipstick to try to correct this.


The next issue I believe is due to the fact that the ecu thinks it is in park and therefore it is programmed to have a lower rev limiter. So I need to figure out how to send the ecu the signal that it is in neutral or in gear or use tuning software to raise the limiter. If anyone can help shed some light on my issues, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Moto135]

Hey everyone just wanted to put up a quick video of the truck. I still have tons of work to do to it but I'm making progress haha.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loDG4ts7_sI

 

[Moto135]

Haven’t been making a whole lot of progress on the truck lately, but over the weekend I finally picked up some steel for the interior. Below are some pictures of where I’m at so far.
First I put a couple of tubes across the front

Then I cut out some sheet metal for the top of the dash. I used my old dash as a template to get the curve right by the windshield. I also bent some tubes for the center console area.

Some more sheet metal cut out

Seat mounted and shifter mounted. This is where it is currently at.

I still have some more sheet metal to cut out for the center console, I have to mount the passenger seat, I’m going to build a pod on top of the dash for an android tablet to mount in to act as my gages and a bunch of wires need to be cleaned up. Then I have to pull everything back out and clean and paint everything.

 

[Moto135]

Basically done fabricating for the interior. Still a few things that need done before everything gets painted, but this is basically what it's gonna look like.

 

[Moto135]

So that's where it is at now. So if anyone has any interest in it, I'll keep this forum updated as well.

 

[Fivefingerdeathpunch]

I posted in your first thread, should be a sweet project.

 

[Moto135]

I posted in your first thread, should be a sweet project.

Thanks! I recall you positing in my first thread, you gave me some advice on my low rev limiter issue. I was able to change the ecu program over to a manual transmission, I just haven't wrote the new bin to the ecu yet. I'm confident that will take care of my low rev limiter issues.