The GTP Build

[zblackbeast]

Talked to sad (husky) a few hours ago. All the bearings, timing schtuff and PCM with wiring harness are in our possession. Were going to a local pick and pull tomorrow to see if we can grab some 96-97 top end stuff to take the machine shop. Hopefully by the end of the week well have the motor put back together and ready to go back in the car. We do still need A LOT of stuff.. Mainly an OBD II interior harness!!

[WideTrackGP_92]

Nice progress boys! I'd love to rebuild my LQ1 that's currently in my parts car. I'm following this thread religiously

[zblackbeast]

Thank you!! Hope were helping some people a long!! If youve got any questions, dont be afraid to ask!

[Husky]

You are going to have a hard time fitting a micrometer in between rod bearings and the crank to find the clearance for oil... Plastigage is just as important as a micrometer in an engine build. It costs a buck or two, you can't afford not to use it. But you knew that...

Mic the inside of the rod. Mic the outside of the crank. Significantly more accurate than plasti-gage. Don't get me wrong, plasti-gage works, but I don't like to use it. I was taught to value precision to an extreme when putting an engine together.





Things are coming along nicely! Today's trip to u-pull-it was quite rewarding, we found two donor cars for top ends, and the car that's going to give us its interior! Needless to say, I'm quite excited.

[pocket-rocket]

Mic the inside of the rod. Mic the outside of the crank. Significantly more accurate than plasti-gage. Don't get me wrong, plasti-gage works, but I don't like to use it. I was taught to value precision to an extreme when putting an engine together.





Things are coming along nicely! Today's trip to u-pull-it was quite rewarding, we found two donor cars for top ends, and the car that's going to give us its interior! Needless to say, I'm quite excited.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying don't use a mic at all and only use plastigauge. Any time I've worked cutting any type of material I've always been taught measure twice, cut once. I prefer both, and it's nice to know when your oil tolerances are correct too. But it's not my build, you do as you see fit

[Husky]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying don't use a mic at all and only use plastigauge. Any time I've worked cutting any type of material I've always been taught measure twice, cut once. I prefer both, and it's nice to know when your oil tolerances are correct too. But it's not my build, you do as you see fit

It's all good man, no worries. I'm not trying to argue, I'm merely saying, to find my oil tolerance I'll subtract the OD of the journal from the ID of the big-end. Trust me, I know the importance of knowing your oil clearance. When you're putting together an engine that people trust to keep them in the air at 10,000' and 200+MPH, you get that kind of thing drilled into your head.

*edit* I re-read my post, and I still feel like I'm coming off as argumentative, but I don't know how else to phrase it, so I'll just throw this out there: You do it your way, I'll do it mine. Both ways give us accurate numbers, it's just personal preference.

[pocket-rocket]

It's fine man. I just didn't want to see anyone screwing up and engine. I didn't know your mechanic abilities and after I saw that engine looking worse than the leaning tower of Pisa, I kind of wondered. I really wasn't trying to argue.

[1988GTU]

LQ1 and a W body go hand in hand. Whale meets a big crater.

[zblackbeast]

The engine stand was my bad! it was about 3 am when i got it on there the first time soo i was a little out of it.. we had the motor disassembled with-in 2 days so i wasn't worried. The block is back form the SHOp (sorry, habbit) and even tho its MUCH more square on the stand, it still leans for some reason.. This is the 3rd or 4th time weve had an LQ1 on this stand that i can remember and it gets a little worse each time. ill get some pix tomorrow. The pistons as sitting in some cleaner right now to get the carbon off of them. We were suppose to go get the rest of the 96-97 top end today, but we got a little lazy. Plus its 15 degrees out, sooo sitting outside in that weather doesn't sound too appealing.

[pocket-rocket]

Yeah, my LQ1 on my stand is only the 2nd engine on it. I would throw a chunk of wood under, the LQ1 is a heavy pig and the wood could keep it from fatiguing to the point of failure. I couldn't do squat in my garage if it wasn't for my salamander.

[zblackbeast]

Heres some pix from the past week or so.... illl start with PRE shop then post shop.





We said F**K it for the night


POST






ENJOY.. were currently masking the block off for paint. Were going with Pontiac blue?!?! Then, getting the rotating assembly in soon..

[WideTrackGP_92]

Blue, huh? That's the super light blue right? Eeeesh...I'd go with black, but that's me. Progress is looking good though!

[IsaacHayes]

Black, red or silver in a black car.

[zblackbeast]

I agree.. BUT he wants to pay tribute to old pontiacs, so let him! but i would like black or red! thanks for tuning in!

[Husky]

Well, in an extremely annoying fit of irony, we'll be plasti-gaging the bearings. Much as I don't want to, someone stole my micrometer set AND my bore gage set, so I am now down to just a dial vernier caliper for precision measuring tools, and that's not gonna cut it.

As for the blue, yeah, I know, nobody likes it(myself included), but I figured that especially with Pontiac going away for good this year, it would be nice to pay homage to the cars that made the brand great. The next engine to go in(this one isn't really much of a build) will most likely be silver or black.

Don't expect much for progress pictures in the next week or so, I've got quite a bit of stuff going on at work, and I'm in the process of signing a new lease and moving, so life is a hair on the hectic side. More as the project progresses.

Edit: The leaning engine of Pisa: When the engine went on the stand, we only had three of the four bolts, and the person that mounted it on the stand didn't square the 'arms'(for lack of better word) of the stand very well on the bellhousing, the vast majority of the lean comes from that.