3500 Swap Finally Underway, a few questions

[jmgtp]

Haha, ya the doc has me on quite the cocktail of pain relievers! I have a followup appointment today, their preliminary diagnosis is that I likely have a disc issue and am looking at a few weeks or more of physical therapy.

I'm growing more and more concerned that the car will not be done in time to get emissions tested - it is due in late April. I need to find out if I can get an extension or what the penalty for going late is. I know ultimately they can cancel my registration and then I would have to pay something around $200 to get it registered + emissions fees + late fees! I think a solid weekend of work will have the car roadworthy (assuming I can also get my hands on those last hard to find parts!) but I don't know when I will be well enough to do it, then there is the tuning that comes after - and this is assuming nothing at all goes wrong.

[pocket-rocket]

Too bad you don't live close to me. 1) I would have saved shipping on that intake stuff () 2) I would have been helping out from day one 3) I would have had the exhaust under the car for you already and you could be driving it if you had the dogbone mount 4) my cousin gets more vicodine than he needs (he gave me two 500mg earlier, I took one and now my back isn't bothering me at the moment, not to rub it in). It's the thought that counts, right?

[Jonpro03]

Sorry to hear that man. Enjoy some time off.

I like to jack the car up a couple of inches if I know I'll be spending a long time under the hood.

[jmgtp]

My progress is at a halt for now. The back problems I have worsened the past few days. I'm looking at a few weeks of physical therapy before I can be in good enough shape to resume.

I have the exhaust mostly welded up, the last piece is spot welded for fitting. I just need to weld it up right, install, and then its a matter of brakes, wheels, serpentine belt, radiator hose and it will drive.

[Jonpro03]

Wow, I hope it never gets that bad out here. Our pull apart yards are run buy some cool dudes that half the time just let me walk out with sh!t. I would probably pay $2 for that bracket.

[jmgtp]

Tell me about it, the 'odds and ends' stack up quickly. Its stuff you dont foresee when you set out but stops you dead in your tracks when you dont have it on hand.

I live about 1/2 mile from a you pull it junkyard but the prices are so inflated that I don't even bother checking anymore. For their asking prices you'd think they'd pull the part and have it gold plated. As much as I hate to say, eBay has become my go to junkyard and despite shipping costs it is more cost effective 99% of the time then trying to find local used parts. For example, something like the cylinder head dogbone bracket the junkyard wont sell me. They'll sell me the entire cylinder head with the bracket for the low cost of $200. It's frustrating but I think the dogbone bracket is the last of the parts that I need to chase down.

[Jonpro03]

It's the little things that get ya. I ran to the junkyard probably 5 times during my swap.

[jmgtp]

Worked on it last night for the first time in many days. I installed the radiator, fans, and shift cables. The wiring is all done, as are all the vacuum lines.

I have an early 3100 rear exhaust manifold on there with a dinky 2" outlet. I used it because it would put the downpipe in the correct spot. Truth is, that if it was more centered it would line up better with my downpipe. So I went ahead and bought the superior flowing 3400 rear manifold that dumps the exhaust more towards the middle. Its scheduled to be delivered today. I'm likely going to weld a short lead pipe off the manifold with a ball connection to match the cone on my downpipe. Hoping to get the exhaust done in the next few days. After that all that remains is popping the axles back in, brakes, an intake (the 3.1 airbox I bought won't work, grr... need a 3x00 box I think) and then it should be capable of driving.

If anyone has a 3x00 airbox for cheap I'm interested. I also cannot find a bracket to bolt to the cylinder head (drivers side) for the dogbone mount! As if that isnt bad enough, I found that the 97 lumina dogbones don't clear the radiator support on the 91, I might see if I can modify them to make it work but its small stuff like this that is really getting in the way and costing me more money. Still hunting for a lower radiator hose that will work as well. I'm thinking something from maybe a 3400 impala will work but I just dont know, the 3.4 dohc upper rad hose seems to fit well.

[jmgtp]

I took apart all the wire looms, bundled the wires up nice and got them into a single loom - it is SO much clearner. I should have the harness tape today to finish it off. I still need to find a brake booster hose, it doesn't look like places like autozone/advance carry it. Need a serpentine belt as well, and probably a lower radiator hose (I have a new one for an LQ1 but I'm not sure it will work).

Now, all that aside, I think I can have this car street worthy in a few weeks and I'm thinking about tuning with a big concern around getting good MPG.

The engine is an LX9 from an 05 Malibu.
fueleconomy.gov rates the 05 Mailbu with 3.5/4spd auto:

Average User MPG:
29.6
Range: 24 - 36 MPG

I'll do a back flip if I can get nearly 30mpg! I am using a getrag 284 5 speed manual which should be more efficient than the auto trans so that could help and we can also enable 'lean cruise' in the obd-I. The engine is bone stock. I dont think my Grand Prix weighs much more than the Malibu but what is workings against me is the tune. That will be so important to this engines performance and efficiency.

I have a basic LX9/5spd bin to start with. Ben @ Wot-Tech long distance tuned my LQ1 in the past. I'd send him data logs and he'd send me .bins that he would tweak and we'd go back and forth. I don't know if Ben is available now, he seems super busy. Is anyone else capable of doing such long distance tuning? You'd basically have a copy of the bin I start with, I'd send you a data log, you mod the bin accordingly, I burn it and datalog again and we go back and forth until things are looking good. Of course I'd compensate you for your time/effort. Ben - if you are available to do it the job is yours.

[jmgtp]

You could have run it longer than a few seconds with no water

Perhaps, but I didn't want to risk it. Plus, it was LOUD. I'm in a townhouse/condo, meaning I have 2 common walls with the neighbors and I'm sure they had a 'what was that?' moment when I fired this thing up. Haha, that is the REAL reason I ran it for so little time. That's actually the reason I had to go back to factory mufflers on the grand prix last summer, one whiney neighbor didnt like how loud it was the ONE time I drove the car last summer. Oh well, I like it quiet anyway.

Do you plan on getting a dogbone mount for the drivers side? Any 94+ 3100 should work.

Already bought, sitting in a box currently...

the to do list:

-install radiator & hoses, add water
-wire alternator
-figure out which of the 2 white wires in the starter wire bundle is for the tach
-dogbones + brackets
-install o2 sensor
-air filter... got an air box from a 93 which seems like it will not work
-install axles, hubs, brakes
-fill trans (kept the clutch disengaged when I started it, wasn't spinning a dry trans)
-connect shifter cables
-connect throttle and cruise cables
-brake booster, FPR, charcoal canister, cruise control and heater control Vacuum hoses
-make downpipe to exhaust manifold connection
-burn the LX9 bin
-Tune

[Jonpro03]

Do you plan on getting a dogbone mount for the drivers side? Any 94+ 3100 should work.

[pocket-rocket]

You could have run it longer than a few seconds with no water. Good deal that it started on the first try though I fired up the 92 with just the manifolds when I was "fixing" the cat and had the exhaust off- downpipe and all. That thing was loud... It was also up in the air on jack stands about a foot and a half in a garage with a smooth cement floor. I could read my friends lips saying it was too loud, then I reved it to about 2k rpms, lol. That thing sounded like a full blown race car with the lope and no exhaust, lol. Call me hillbilly, but it I got a kick out of it. So yeah, I guess I am nuts

[jmgtp]

Those things sound funny, lol.

Haha, you're nuts.

IT RUNS. Finally, I started it up. I just couldn't wait anymore and there is LOTS left to do but all the essentials were there to make it run. I didn't burn the LX9 bin I have yet but it fired right up on the dohc code. Don't have the tach wire hooked up so I couldn't say where the revs were for sure but it sounded to run a bit high, granted the IAC is set to start a LQ1 with a lope and I just capped off the brake booster port and TB vac connections so I may have had a small vac leak. No exhaust on it yet so this thing was pretty loud! Other than that it sounded smooth, didn't smoke, and fired up on the first try. No immediate CEL but I ran it for only a matter of a few seconds, literally, because it didnt have any water in it. I still have lots of odds and ends to finish up and I really want to redo the wire looms - I bought some OEM grade non-adhesive wire harness tape on ebay so I'm waiting on that as well.

Anyway, some pics as promised.

[pocket-rocket]

I didnt forget! The pics are on my phone but I need to put them on a computer before I can post them and I can't do that here so it will have to wait till I get home tonight. I didn't think I'd like it but the LX9 looks good with the plastic 3500 engine cover. I trimmed the side flap off with an air-body saw to clear the power steering pump and it fits perfect.

Those things sound funny, lol.

[jmgtp]

I didnt forget! The pics are on my phone but I need to put them on a computer before I can post them and I can't do that here so it will have to wait till I get home tonight. I didn't think I'd like it but the LX9 looks good with the plastic 3500 engine cover. I trimmed the side flap off with an air-body saw to clear the power steering pump and it fits perfect.