Like plastic sink drain piping with a cap on one end works PERFECTLY as a tail housing plug for a TH350. Easier to source than the 'universal' tail housing plugs, too.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Her sister is "Gotta get my ass to work in the morning".





To explain a bit more, the plastic tools don't fit in the splines very well (or the pilot bushing for that matter....try it yourself). If they are undersized a bit, they can fit through the clutch disk at an angle, the angle allows the disk to "sag" as you have it plugged into the pilot bearing (that it also doesn't fit very well). This can allow the disk to be off center and the transmission input shaft won't go. The socket and tape fit snuggly in the splines and kept the socket a solid 90 degrees to the disk. Push it in and let the natural radius of the pilot bearing entrance center the whole assembly and as long as you keep pushing it into the bearing, it will stay centered. It's a bit clumsy, but it really did an awesome job of finding the true center without the "error" allowed by undersized plastic tools.

When I was installing T5 transmissions, the clutch fork was on the bellhousing. I could hold the tailshaft with one hand and use the handle from a cheap floor jack to pry the release fork enough to let the clutch slide so it would center on the input shaft and I could shove the transmission in place (drop the jack handle and start grabbing bolts to attach the transmission). Both versions of the T56 try to prohibit this by mounting the fork or the throw out bearing on the transmission. When it was on the bellhousing you could have the bellhousing bolted in place and have a solid mount to release the clutch. Having a helper step on the pedal would have done it for me too, but I never had help so I did it myself.

No that totally makes sense. I appreciate the tip.

So any other recommendations on how to go about putting this engine together? I'm thinking about getting a cheap quart of oil and pouring it down every nook and cranny that I can find before putting the pan on. I'm thinking it'll help clean whatever crap might be in.m there. Then I'll bolt the pan on, do the cam and oil pump and basically go from there.

Soubd good?

Pretty much. ATF has a ton of detergents and does a great job cleaning, just make sure you don't leave any in the motor.

LS7 clutch and aluminum flywheel off. New rear cover gasket and rear main seal in hand. New pilot bearing showing up tomorrow.

Also tomorrow I'm dropping my Camaro off at my dads. Im tired of shuffling cars around just to work on getting this car back together.

Don't forget to get a couple of grade 5 bolts that fit the upper bolt holes for the transmission, cut the heads off, and cut a slot in them so you can remove them with a screw driver. Use those to stab the transmission. It helps with the alignment, and installing the trans. Not sure how it will all work with the LS clutch release bearing, but we'd put the clutch together, bellhousing, and then set the transmission in place, having someone press the clutch pedal as we pushed the transmission home. Works like magic.

Flywheel holders are for suckers:

^^^^ What the hell am I looking at?

My Camaro is now at my parents house so I have room to work. I pulled the pan tonight in the old engine. Man I'm surprised at how black the oil is. And it's so gritty. I also found a few big chunks of metal in the pan.

So I really need to clean this pan. A whole bunch of brake cleaner?

Using a flexplate to lock a flexplate/flywheel.

Gas/diesel/kerosene. Cheaper than brake clean.

So I used a bunch of gas and a little brake clean to clean out the pan. I found what I think are rare earth magnets on the oil filter. They are so strong I thought they were epoxied to the filter. I used those to pick up all the rest of the metal. This is the metal I found in the pan after already flushing it with gas. Pretty much the rest of the lifter.




Clean pan w/Improved Racing baffles.

Damnit I'm such an idiot.

I saw the gasket on the block but it was so stuck I thought it was part of the block. It never connected in my little brain that the pan was flat and the block surface wasn't.

I was torquing the pan bolts down when it snapped. It broke with almost no effort at all.

Think there's a chance it won't leak? I'm assuming you guys will say "of course it's going to leak you idiot!"

I gotta find a new pan tomorrow. I might have to run down to Hawks again tomorrow morning. I really don't want to spend 4 hrs in the car though.

In other news, the block is clean and the Imoroved Racing parts are awesome!

Ah shit. I hate things like that. I broke a friends thermostat housing as I was explaining not to let go of it until the bolts are tight (so the thermostat couldn't slip and crack the housing). It's cheaper than an oil pan, but I felt pretty dumb. That's the joy of cast aluminum.

I'd find a new pan.

Have them ship you a pan. Only take a couple days to get it.

Old pan and broken piece available ? I could have it welded

So I realized that I didn't have to stop what I was doing. I bolted the pan to the block and I'll just keep moving forward putting this engine back together. I already found someone that'll sell me a pan for $75. I'll call Hawks also when they answer the phones at 1:30 and see what they say. I'll just have a pan shipped and when it shows up I'll swap it out.

I think I'll just sell the pan and it's piece with the short block.

We sure do break a lot of parts on non-moving cars here on FRRAX.

Yeah I've been on a roll lately.

I'm putting the new heads on the new block and the light caught the old cam just right. I never noticed just how much material was removed by the bad lifter.

Man, that looks like a failed DOD cam!

Progress!!

So I tried to get the corner of the oil pan welded but they were afraid it would warp. Since the break is outside of the sealing surface, we thought the best option was to JB weld it. So they ground it back for me to give me room to JB weld it. It's JB welded on all sides, so hopefully it holds. I also put some RTV in that area just to make sure.



Painted the valve covers.





My little helper




The LS7 clutch that came with the car went back on.




As she sits right now! I'm running out of parts to install so I guess that means I'm getting close!





That intake manifold gave me a hard time. 9 out of the 10 bolts had boogered up threads. I have no idea what happened but they were threading a good ways then started getting tough. I almost broke a bolt just trying to back it out. So I ran to autozone and rented a tap set and chased all the threads in the heads and on the bolts. Fortunately it worked and they are all torqued down.

She's going back in the car on Sunday!

So my brothers 818 has been running like crap. Literally running so rich it would blow black smoke at idle and foul the plugs right away. So while my brother was in training for the air national guard, my dad and I grabbed a trailer and brought it from his house to a performance shop that specializes in Subaru's. They had some amazing cars there. Anyway, after about a month (there was no rush) they made some changes and got it tuned. It made decent numbers for a stock WRX. Going to be a rocket weighing only 2000 lbs.



So I picked it up and dropped it off at a car detailer that I know. He polished the gel coat and it looks really good.

After the detailer was done a few weeks later I grabbed yet another uhaul trailer and headed over to get it. That's when he called saying he was letting it warm up and it just died. He ran out and put gas in it but that wasn't it. Sounds like a wiring problem. So we got some people to help us push it onto the trailer and I headed to my parents house where were all going to hang out for the night.







Pretty good looking car!



We poked around and couldn't find anything. So we drank beer and just stared at it. The whole plan was to get the car running while my brother was in training so when he got home he would have a finished car. Well, that didn't happen.

He thanked us for our efforts and really appreciates it, but he did mention that when he left he had a running car. Haha. Hey, at least it's pretty!

We honestly think it's a bad ground. So we're going to check for spark and start checking grounds. That's the plan today! Hopefully we find the problem and finally get to drive it!

Well two weekends of working on the 818 and it's still totally dead. No spark. There's no signal to fire the coil packs. The only thing it could be is a bad ECU. Fortunately there are a bunch of them on eBay for $150. So we're going to get another one, plug it in and see what happens. I just can't believe an ECU can just fail like that. We checked all the grounds in the pin outs and they are all good. So idk.

Anyway, in other knees, the LS1 is going back into the 1SC this afternoon! Pics to come later tonight.

Just sorting out the wiring now!

Hey what fluid do you guys recommend for a high mileage T56 that'll see 1-2 HPDE's a year? The internet has too many opinions.

Capacitors just die. Today's capacitors aren't as bad as say, early '90s Japanese ones, but they still go out.

I've always run Mobile 1. Years and years and multiple cars and tons of autocross and tried on a track in Nashville in July (hot). I never had any issues. It's what's in the garage to go in my trans when it's done.

I agree, Mobil 1 .. but specifically the 0W40 "Euro" ... higher ZDPP levels / etc.

~DaVe

I don't think he wants to run that in his transmission.

Exactly what kind of Mobile 1? ATF? I was surprised at the limited selection at autozone last night.

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/mobil1-...CFZy2wAodQIgP2A

Perfect. Thank you. I wasn't sure if ATF was ok to use.

Dexron/Mercon is the stuff you want. The side of most of the transmissions I've worked on say "Dexron III" on the decal on them. It's hard to find Dexron III these days. So I run the current Dexron fluid in a synthetic....typically from Mobile 1. But Amsoil is likely a good choice as is Redline if they do a Dexron fluid (I can't remember). The Mobile 1 has never caused me any issues in 80k street miles, hundreds of autocross passes, etc. It's what's going back into my convertible once the Stage II upgrade is done on the transmission. I already have the fluid in the garage.

WELLLLLL ... OK

That is what I have for oil for my car though, so it's not a bad choice at all. Just not for the T56.

I use Rotella T6 in everything I own.

Damn diesel guys....

Don't put that in your transmission either.

Amsoil in mine... also have Amsoil in the crankcase and rear end... I bought a bunch and got entered into a drawing for a free dealer account...I ended up winning but have yet to set the account up...

It runs!!!!!!!!


https://youtu.be/hQB19QRHpcc

It sounds great! Man I'm excited. My tach isn't working so I'll troubleshoot that later.

Well done! Congrats!!! That has to feel pretty good after this journey.

Wanna come help me pull my transmission? It's already on jackstands for this coming weekend.

Thanks! It really is. I was really nervous.

Yeah I'll help you pull the transmission! Oh wait, I just remembered I have that...thing. Guess I can't make it. Maybe next time. 😄

Heh, that "thing" seems to happen a lot. Strange.

No leaks or other weirdness?

Yeah...kinda like moving day.


I dumped all the power steering fluid, probably didn't tighten something down. Tons of smoke on the initial start, that had me really worried. It was more than I expected. I shut it off and checked the radiator and oil to make sure a head gasket wasn't sealing or something. Then started it up. It smoked for a while then right about when I was ready to shut it off again, it cleared up. So it was just all the oil and crap inside the engine burning off. The lifters were noisy at first but that was to be expected.

Here's the first start. I had pulled an ignition fuse and cranked it over a bunch to build oil pressure before attempting this start. The tach initially jumped up the dropped to zero.



https://youtu.be/c-joK05YEQ8


It's making great oil pressure! So I'm sure I just have a wiring issue. Just sucks that the cam position sensor is such a bitch to get to. Most have to pull the manifold and I really don't want to do that since the threads aren't in the greatest shape. They are all torqued, but I'm not sure if I'll get away with it again. I should have paid more attention to the wiring harness at the back of the engine. I thought I had it where it needs to be, but maybe not. It might be easier to lower the cross member a few inches to give me more room.

My plan is to run it some more, let it get up to temperature and then change the oil filter. I'm sure there's trash it's catching. I have tap water in the radiator for now, I'll also flush that.

So with a mild cam, it's safe to drive without tuning, correct? Is there any danger? I know it needs to be tuned, but I'd like to drive it for a few hundred miles to work the bugs out before tuning it.

Tap water will lead to calcium deposits in the radiator. I had to have the AFCO radiator in my 3rd gen professionally tanked and cleaned to get the crap out of it after I did that. Don't do that. Surely don't drive it that way. And I'd flush it until you were sure you had the majority of the tap water out of it. Flush and fill with distilled water.

Yeah I know. It'll be in the car for like 24 hours. I'll flush it with distilled water and then add water wetter. I think I'll just run that until this winter and replace it with antifreeze.

A step backwards today.



Found the problem! I forgot to connect the cam position sensor. That'll do it! In the process I broke the wire to the oil pressure sending unit, so I had to solder it. I had to take the connector apart to get enough wire, I really hope it's making a connection.

All better! The threads for the intake manifold held up and all is well. I was worried at first because when I first started the car I had no tach. I. Was. Bummed. But I gave it a tap of the gas and it came to life. And my oil pressure gauge is working, so my soldering fix worked. I probably should have removed it while I could get to it and cleaned it, but I didn't think of it. All I know is it's working and the engine runs great. I still have a check engine light, not sure if that's because of the cam or not. I'll pull codes later tonight.

Heh, that's not a step backwards! You didn't have to drop the engine back out, so you're good!!

Very true!!!