'84 Cutlass JY5.3, Custom Tick Cam, S400SX4-75, 4L80e, 3.73s

[BanditDave]

This is my first post here but have been working this for a while. Used to be a 403/TH350 car but is now be reverted back to a stock appearing sleeper. I will be doing a lot of catching up here first from previous posts on other forums so bear with me. Thanks!


Hey Guys,

First post on this site...figured I would jump right in and start sharing. This is going to be a lot ocatching up to where I am currently....so away we go.

FINALLY getting my crap together and doing a little simplifying in my life. Back in July I leased myself a '13 CTS-V and while it was absolutely amazing...I was just freaking out about every little thing...it stopped being fun for me because I love to drive stuff and drive it hard. Also because it was rather pricy for me, it precluded me from doing what I really love...build cars.

So, I decided to do a little "life-simplification". Sold my '69 Cutlass project, got rid of the V and got rid of my old truck and got brand new '12 Silverado 5.3L Z71:

I absolutely love this thing. Great economy for a daily (compared to the V...haha) and has plenty of power to tow what I need it to.

Now that my garage is ridiculously empty...but still a mess because I haven't wanted to go in there...I decided to finally pop back in and get my *ss in gear on a project that sat for over 6 years...funny another as long as I have known my wife (absolutely no coincidence there........:secret2🙂

Anyhow, here she is...a longtime love of my life, what I am calling Simplicity:

Here is how she currently sits...disgraceful:

BUT...she will live again...very soon! Here's the list:

- Junkyard 5.3L ~120K on the clock - going to ARP the easy stuff and use LS9 head gaskets
- Right now I am sticking with manual steering so I will need to come up with an aftermarket Alternator-only bracket
- Custom Tick Cam...Martin from Tick is a good dude!
- Edelbrock Super Victor Manifold (too good a deal to pass up)
- S400SX4-75mm Standard BW 96mm Turbine
- rebuilt 4l80e with Transgo HD2 kit
- definitely going with the Denmah-esque "triple billet lock-up ****" for a converter because I don't want that ******** the bed.
- Still working on rear gear...right now I have a built GN rear that was set up for an NA car. Currently 3.73s. Not sure I will stay with them or drop to 3.23/3.42s
- Cell and monsterous Fuel Lab pump PWM controlled.

Here's some pics of the 2004 5.3L:

Much more to come!

 

[BanditDave]

Re: '84 Cutlass JY5.3, Custom Tick Cam, S400SX4-75, 4L80e, 3

Here's another update:

OK...been a long while but finally have an update!!! Started tearing through my house and garage doing a lot of cleaning (there's a dumpster sitting outside that is evidence to that) and now that I have finally turned the corner with that crap I can focus on what's important! :judge:

Speaking of important...I found out I am going to be a Dad a few weeks back and I couldn't be more excited to be honest!!! 🙂🙂🙂 While this will slow down the build for sure, it will not stop it at all...my amazing wife won't let me.

Anyhow, on to the build!!!

Started collecting a LOT of parts over the last few weeks and basically have what I need to finish the engine once I pull the heads and get a valve job done. Still need injectors and purchased the rockers yesterday so another thing off the list.

Here's the 5.3L on the stand sans intake...doesn't look horrendous.

Box O'goodies that were stripped from the engine...not sure if I am going to try and reuse the coils or not.

4L80e getting the HD2 trans-go:

Vette Accessory Drive (C6):

Fuel Lab 1500 HP Fuel Pump

LS2 front cover and conversion parts

Way too expensive LS9 Head Gaskets adn ARP Head Bolts

LS9 Cam (This is getting replaced by a custom Tick Cam)

CTS-V Pan and Pickup...

Car Shop Mtg plates:

Brain Tooley Springs...highly recommend, ridiculously fast shipping.

LS6 Valley Cover

Super Victor, 95-deg Elbow...not shown is the Eddy fuel rails

And finally...garage over-flowing with toys!!!

Enjoy...more to come soon!

 

[BanditDave]

Re: '84 Cutlass JY5.3, Custom Tick Cam, S400SX4-75, 4L80e, 3

Here's the latest update from last week:

Little update for today...more to come this weekend. Got the heads back from my machine shop...great price and great service. This was just a simple clean up, valve job and Tooley spring package upgrade.

And ordered up a Tick Performance Stage 2 Turbo Cam today for the 5.3L! :hump::hump:

http://www.tickperformance.com/tick-performance-turbo-stage-2-camshaft-for-ls1-ls6-engines/

I will actually be getting something slightly different than above as Martin from Tick contacted me after I placed my order and wanted to try something a little different in my rig.

More to come!

Dave

 

[BanditDave]

Re: '84 Cutlass JY5.3, Custom Tick Cam, S400SX4-75, 4L80e, 3

Got the oil pan back today all ready to go...I put two 10AN fittings on it because I am all over the place with decisions sometimes. I also like to do things once and be done so for the current set-up I can decide once the engine is in the car as to where I can get away with the turbo mount. Guy did a great job for a few bucks. I'll just cap the other side that isn't used.

On a side note, I ordered 4 of the new-style camshaft retainer bolts (countersunk-style) for my engine so I can get the engine done this weekend. This was on MONDAY...they still haven't shown up from Florida...I'm a litte peeved about that because it will be another lost weekend. I will at leats try to get as much done as I can until they show up.

Oh well on to the pics...

 

[BanditDave]

Re: '84 Cutlass JY5.3, Custom Tick Cam, S400SX4-75, 4L80e, 3

OK....now we're cooking with grease. Got a lot done on the engine reassembly today. Will wrap up few more things tomorrow and stab the engine and trans case into the car for turbo mock up.

I first stripped down the bock again because I hated the way the aluminum paint looked. I used cast iron with clear over top of it. I think it is MUCH better.





Bottom end looks good...I am really surprised for 120000 miles...rings should be ripe for boost.



It's camming time!!! Tick camming time to be specific!





Installed!



Now on to the timing gear, chain, oil pump, pickup, Pan and Front Cover. I also added a BRP Hotrods oil pickup girdle (a cheap piece of mind investment IMO).

 

[BanditDave]

Re: '84 Cutlass JY5.3, Custom Tick Cam, S400SX4-75, 4L80e, 3

Let's get those heads on....finally!!! Lifters and trays installed and LS9 head gaskets waiting to be squashed...



A few ARP bolts and lube later....





LS6 Valley Cover laid on top



Edelbrock Super Victor intake and 95-degree elbow







Tomorrow will be Pushrods, rockers, valve covers, final placement of Valley Cover and Super Victor.

 

[BanditDave]

Re: '84 Cutlass JY5.3, Custom Tick Cam, S400SX4-75, 4L80e, 3

Ok sorry about the delay...work has been a bear lately. I am honestly glad about that. I would rather have too much and not enough.

Only had a couple hours to work tonight so this update will be brief.

Finished assembling what I could on the engine. That includes installing the pushrods, rockers, valley cover and intake. I then followed that up with soaking my nasty azz valve covers in three scoops of Tide with hot water...after pre-soaking them with Simple Green (I love that shyt). This was a little trick from my modeling days that I still use when I need to take paint off of plastic model train bodies. Strong enough for toys, but pH balanced for valve covers...lol

Anyhow, on to the pics!











After a little scrubbin' and tough lovin'...I let it soak then used a white wall brush (worked GREAT!!!)



Drying from a nice coat of Wrinkle Black...



Hopefully tomorrow the trans will be hanging from the back and this pig will be in the engine bay. Here's to hoping!! :cheers::cheers::cheers:

 

[BanditDave]

Re: '84 Cutlass JY5.3, Custom Tick Cam, S400SX4-75, 4L80e, 3

Small update...making progress slowly but surely.

Finished up the valve covers with wrinkle paint and am not thrilled how they turned out but it was user error, not the paint. I will probably slap another coat on them for uniformity purposes.



Got the glide thrown together for mockup and dropped in the car. Putting the mounts on the engine tomorrow and hooking it to the transmission to get the frame pads properly located.



Also for sh*ts and giggles I picked up the tires this weekend. I was doing a quick once over of the old cage when I was pulling the trans and it is not up to my current standards and abilities so I will be cutting it out this weekend and a 7.50s legal cage (or at least the foundation for such a set-up) will take its place. I figure I will at least get the 10 point cage in place so I am good to 8.50s. I am narrowing the rear frame rails and adding some tubing for a 25.3 chassis in the future. Something like this:

Anyway, here's the meats...





More to come tomorrow folks...trying to convince my wife I need a Holley HP EFI...lol

 

[BanditDave]

Re: '84 Cutlass JY5.3, Custom Tick Cam, S400SX4-75, 4L80e, 3

Here's a little update today...

First off I will start my post with a little rant. When I ship stuff I make sure that it is packed properly, meaning if it has a bunch of openings like the water pump I received today...then I either tape off all the holes or bag the damn thing before I pour 5 gallons of packing peanuts in the box with it. Makes it really easy to get them all out of the pump when you cna hear them crunching away as you spin it. Also, I like to clean off the old gaskets before sending something...feel like that is a common courtesy. That being said, here's he water pump I received today. For what I paid for it, I should have just gotten a new one...stupid me. 😡 :bang:







Now that that's out of my system I can continue on with the update...

I got a nice set of adapters from Dirty Dingo that allows the Fbody water pump with the truck accessory drive. It incorporates a vent tap in it for the steam vent. :nod:









Cleaned up balancer:



Here's a little project I wanted to do. Since I am not using power steering on my car (primarily a drag car with skinnies) I wanted to modify the truck PS bracket to give me maximum crossover pipe clearance. Here's the standard truck alt/PS bracket:



Initial trimming:



Ground and cleaned up to make it look a bit more purpose built:



Primed:



Aluminum painted with clear:



Mounted:





Just for sh*ts and giggles I slapped on the elbow and put on the tensioner. Balancer also installed:





Accessory drive will be something like this (pic courtesy of BMF_Racing):

 

[BanditDave]

Re: '84 Cutlass JY5.3, Custom Tick Cam, S400SX4-75, 4L80e, 3

Also started eyeballing where the crossover piping will go. I have to figure out a good way to mount the turbo...the S400SX4-75 is one heavy SOB!!!

As far as the driver's side crossover...pretty straightforward. Comes off the manifold, down under the Alt bracket in front of the balancer:





Passenger side is a little more elaborate. Comes off the manifold makes a U-turn down and s-turns back up to join with the driver's crossover. Will be ordering up tubing tomorrow.