1980 Pontiac LeMans Station Wagon - G-T-faux (stuck with it, and can't shake it... like a bad case of herpes)

[motorheadmike]

Last I drove the car it felt okay with the new springs - definitely tighter. There is the possibility that there was a bit of "bounce" in the rear from under-dampening. The shocks are rated at 300/120lbs/in, compression over rebound.

Alternatively I may go to the 223lbs/in spri gs from a V6 F-body - shouldn't need to be cut as much. A nice comparison chart: http://www.angelfire.com/my/fastcar/suspension.html

 

[motorheadmike]

Took a few moments today to pull the pressure transducer off the fuel rail, and then I wired in the LS3/7 MAF. I still need to write the tune and then tune the MAF in - sigh.

 

[motorheadmike]

One of the other parts I picked up last weekend was this 92mm throttle body from Warr Performance. The plan is to remove the ported LS6 intake and 78mm throttle body and replace them with a ported TBSS intake (oh lucky me, more plastic dust) and the Warr unit. I have a feeling that the LS6/78mm setup is choking the engine a bit. I am also planning on moving up to a 4L80E too - with a much looser converter. Because Drag Week 2018 maybe.

Here you can compare the difference in TB diameters (the last column is an area scalar for HP Tuners).

dia    area (mm^2)    area per 1%
75    4418    0.022635
76    4536    0.022044
77    4657    0.021475
78    4778    0.020928
79    4902    0.020401
80    5027    0.019894
81    5153    0.019406
82    5281    0.018936
83    5411    0.018482
84    5542    0.018045
85    5675    0.017623
86    5809    0.017215
87    5945    0.016822
88    6082    0.016442
89    6221    0.016074
90    6362    0.015719
91    6504    0.015375
92    6648    0.015043
93    6793    0.014721
94    6940    0.014410
95    7088    0.014108
96    7238    0.013816
97    7390    0.013532
98    7543    0.013257
99    7698    0.012991
100    7854    0.012732
101    8012    0.012482
102    8171    0.012238
103    8332    0.012002
104    8495    0.011772
105    8659    0.011549

 

[liquidh8]

Nice, drag week would be awesome!

 

[motorheadmike]

Nice, drag week would be awesome!

Doing it in 2016 was pretty epic. I'd really like to have the Monte done for it versus the wagon - but, you gotta **** with the c*ck ya got.

 

[motorheadmike]

Started getting ready to pull the trans out of the wagon by taking off the LS6 intake... and then I got distracted. Decided to see if the TBSS intake would fit with the F-body trans dipstick... and it does! Then I got to playing around with the Warr throttlebody and eBay spacer, and making a short-ram intake. Amazingly it all fit. I am guessing this is due to the raised section in the middle of the Lemans hood.

 

[motorheadmike]

Did anyone else forget I had the wagon apart? I know I sort of did - except when trying not to scratch it every time I walk past it.

Started porting the TBSS manifold which looked like it had been kicked down a flight of stairs.

The way they used to do it was to cut the lid off and epoxy it back on. That is just a ham-fisted short sighted method. Me? I decided to take a 3" hole saw and pop the plug out of the back to gain access to the rear runners.

Then I came in through the front with a deeper 3" hole saw and started chopping out the NVH tube in the rear (I aimed high to avoid damaging the floor and to cut into the pedestal). To aid in this I decided to run a 1.25" hole saw down through the top to removed the pedestal/plug - it helped I think?

I have to decide if I am going to lose the MAP port on the top of the manifold.

The long term plan is to epoxy in a 3" and 1.25" ABS/copper/aluminum/steel plug in the top and back.

I have no shame.

 

[Clutch]

Did anyone else forget I had the wagon apart? I know I sort of did - except when trying not to scratch it every time I was past it.

Started porting the TBSS manifold which looked like it had been kicked down a flight of stairs.

The way they used to do it was to cut the lid off and epoxy it back on. That is just a ham-fisted short sighted method. Me? I decided to take a 3" hole saw and pop the plug out of the back to gain access to the rear runners.

Then I came in through the front with a deeper 3" hole saw and started chopping out the NVH tube in the rear (I aimed high to avoid damaging the floor and to cut into the pedestal). To aid in this I decided to run a 1.25" hole saw down through the top to removed the pedestal/plug - it helped I think?

I have to decide if I am going to lose the MAP port on the top of the manifold.

The long term plan is to epoxy in a 3" and 1.25" ABS/copper/aluminum/steel plug in the top and back.

View attachment 79594

View attachment 79595

View attachment 79596

I have no shame.

Lol your a brave man Mike! That looks scary to me. All in the name of power tho I'm shore you'll make it work

 

[Texas82GP]

Did anyone else forget I had the wagon apart? I know I sort of did - except when trying not to scratch it every time I was past it.

Started porting the TBSS manifold which looked like it had been kicked down a flight of stairs.

The way they used to do it was to cut the lid off and epoxy it back on. That is just a ham-fisted short sighted method. Me? I decided to take a 3" hole saw and pop the plug out of the back to gain access to the rear runners.

Then I came in through the front with a deeper 3" hole saw and started chopping out the NVH tube in the rear (I aimed high to avoid damaging the floor and to cut into the pedestal). To aid in this I decided to run a 1.25" hole saw down through the top to removed the pedestal/plug - it helped I think?

I have to decide if I am going to lose the MAP port on the top of the manifold.

The long term plan is to epoxy in a 3" and 1.25" ABS/copper/aluminum/steel plug in the top and back.

View attachment 79594

View attachment 79595

View attachment 79596

I have no shame.

I admire the ambition and ingenuity. Tuned in.

 

[motorheadmike]

This should be a fun sidebar project... I have a bunch of sets of truck-style injectors, the kind you can decap, so it looks like I may just up the injector flow on the wagon due to "future considerations" (aka boost via a positive displacement huffer).

I'll start with some 0681s off the ol' TBSS.