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turboswede
turboswede MegaDork
4/15/15 10:50 a.m.

Replacement connectors are likely available at the nearest parts store stocked with GM weatherpack connectors.

To be honest the scotch locks likely did more damage to the wiring than simply hacking the stock connector off.

Opti
Opti HalfDork
4/15/15 6:04 p.m.

I installed my 9011s in the high beams today.

Old ones out, next to a new one.

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Can anyone see why a 9011 wont go in place of a 9005

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About 5 seconds with some snips and all is good.

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Installed pretty easily, had a bent adjuster which broke the base off the old one, so I moved it back and popped them in. Its still light out so no pics but Ill get some tonight.

Opti
Opti Reader
4/15/15 9:05 p.m.

Just went out and got some pics.

Phillips Xtreme Vision 9006 lows.

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Phillips 9011s for high beams.

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Major improvement over what was in there. There is no fancy cutoff or anything like some of these new HIDs but remember we started with late nineties GM, which means it started as complete E36 M3. The 97 camaro I had was probably the worst OE lighting ever.

DanyloS
DanyloS Reader
4/25/15 6:39 p.m.

If anyone want's to try their own version of this thread I just came across this on the local CL

1998 C5 Vette Philly

Opti
Opti Reader
8/24/15 11:39 p.m.

So Ive really just been driving the ole turd, but the other day I renewed my love for the old girl. I had my first race, it was against a heads and cam, headers, and stalled 5.7 Magnum. He runs in the 12s and I was able to pull on him a little.

So i did some long overdue cosmetic things.

First the rear emblem as cracking and coming apart, and I dont much care for it so I removed it.

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Took a while but I was able to get all the adhesive off.

A few months ago I finally tracked down some decent firethorn red door panels, took me around a year to find them and I think I got a good deal on them, 300 for both shipped and they are perfect.

Before: Youll notice the major delamination at the arm rest and window controls, also the window controls are a soft rubber and were torn right through the window buttons, so I got a new one of those, plus at some point the PO cut the door panel tried to glue it down and put the pad on top of it, it didnt work and looked like crap.

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During:

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The regulator and window is out because when I went to roll the window down to remove the panel I heard a crunch so I felt around on the regulator and of course the cable was coming apart. Awesome, thats gonna delay my work. So saturday night I ordered a GM regulator from amazon and it arrived today, so I got back to it. Youll also notice the E36 M3 ass sound system the PO installed. Atleast he didnt cut the stock harness in the doors, the plug is still there. Ill get stock take off and just restore it to factory, it sounds like E36 M3 and Im not even an audio guy, may do some drop in speaker upgrades later, just plan on running a modified stock headunit with an aux in, had one in the Z28 and i really liked it.

Old regulator:

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Frayed cable

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New regulator

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It went in pretty easy, I just screwed up and separated the glass retainers on the new one think the back part of the retainer was glued to the window, but as soon as I started dropping it in, the old ones fell off and it was a pita to get the back half of the retainers back on once the regulator was in.

Driver side done

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Pass side before

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Pass side done

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Same crappy arm pad on this one, worked slightly better but still not well.

Ive got a busy week but if I get a few minutes Ill throw the new corner lights in, currently on the look out for headers, an intake manifold, a new pass side fender (mines cracked) and a fiberglass targa. Had a lead on a sebring silver top a few months back. After about a month or two of not selling, I got the guy to drop the price and when he did I didnt get the email and someone else bought it, and i havent seen another sebring silver targa since.

Opti
Opti HalfDork
8/24/15 11:52 p.m.

Also sold the old mud bug, makes me sad but I have the garage space now. I was probably never gonna put it back together anyways.

In memory of the Mud bug

Before: 91 S10 Blazer 2 door 4.3 5 speed 4x4. Z28 prior to repaint in the backgrounf

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After: Herculined the entire thing, and I mean everything including the mirrors and even shot the jams, wasnt a spec of white on the entire exterior, and about 5 inches of lift and some 31s IIRC.

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Guy who bought it said he was gonna through the trans back in and flip it. He said the first week after he drug it home he got a few offers on it, but has decided he likes it so much hes gonna keep it. It hasnt been out of the garage in a few years since I pulled the trans and I had multiple people offer to buy it from me if i put it back together or in its current state. It was a cool ass truck and served as a dead nuts reliable DD for my brother for years and then a mistreated ranch truck for a few more, til I rescued it, cleaned it up and stuck a new suspension under it. It was a cool ass truck. A good buddy of mine had the ford version we built from a bronco a few years ago on spring break.

Opti
Opti HalfDork
9/7/15 6:11 p.m.

AWWW YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!

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LG Headers. 1 3/4 Primaries and X pipe. Xpipe looks pretty haggard. Plan on getting some 3 inch race cats from a buddy, then doing a 3 to 2.5" reducer, into the X, gonna cut the two welded parts out of the x pipe and put just on pipe in. to reduce chances of leaks and make it look cleaner.

Still need to order GM exhaust gaskets, clamps, motor mounts, bolts, and an updated starter (to prevent block breakage some early LS1s experience).

Only paid 450 for it.

Opti
Opti HalfDork
10/21/15 2:03 p.m.

So I finally got around to putting the headers in

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My headers, studs, xpipe, stainless pipe, starter, new dipstick and gaskets.

Get her up in the air about 2 feet, HUGE PITA

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Pull plugs and manifolds

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Pull intake to get to most unnecessarily inaccessible bolt so I can remove air pump hoses. Bracket pictured, bolt not visible. Then I still cant get to bolt and get pissed so I chop the bracket off with a sawzall and then remove the bolt. Very therapeutic.

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Driver side goes in from bottom, everyone said its a big deal, mine went in quite easily.

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Pass side goes in from top after you pull valve cover, everyone says it drops right in, it was a huge pain in the ass for me.

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Opti
Opti HalfDork
10/21/15 2:27 p.m.

Remove rest of air pump junk

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New starter vs old starter.

You can see the new starter uses two long bolts. The failure of the old starters happens when the short tab breaks and puts all the torque on the long bolt, and it breaks the ear off the block. Dont want to deal with that.

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Wrap new starter in heat wrap, apparently extra heat from headers kills these quite often and they are a whore to change with headers.

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Install X-pipe and take measurements to figure out how to build rest of x pipe.

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Make rest of X pipe. Dang it looks good, job well done

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Now its time to put it in, should go right in....Okay so maybe Ive taken better measurements in my life. E36 M3 was CROOKED. I had to spread the front pipes which made it all out of whack, I made some quick and dirty adjustments to get it bolted in and pay a professional to fix it.

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Before buttoning the rest of it up, I put my new corner lights in.

Old

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New

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Got some new gaskets for my vararam and talked to them about why it fit so bad, they said not to screw it to the front bumper, so I removed the screws and it fits way better, they should really just not put the provisions for the screws.

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I also bought me a vararam powerduct, which relocates the maf to right in front of the throttle body.

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The mods made quite a big difference, and the car sounds wicked, no extra noise at cruise and part throttle, WAYYYY louder at WOT. Will be shipping the computer of in a day or two for tuning.

Vigo
Vigo PowerDork
10/21/15 6:00 p.m.
Get her up in the air about 2 feet, HUGE PITA

Harbor Freight sells a jack for $130 that makes that really easy (i've done it). You should invest!

Car is looking good. Did you look at or replace the oil sender while you had the intake off?

Opti
Opti HalfDork
10/21/15 8:30 p.m.

Oil sender is new, and I made sure I didnt break it when I pulled the intake off.

Which harbor freight jack are you referring to. I have a low profile racing jack and it doesnt fit under the front. I have to jack up each front corner and put it on blocks before I can get a jack under the front air dam to get to the lifting point on the subframe. The car is lowered and the air dam is about 2 inches off the ground and the jacking point is about 6 inches to a foot behind it.

Jambo
Jambo New Reader
10/22/15 4:37 a.m.

My friend had a Z06 and he built some mini ramps out of 2x6, but 1x6 would work too if your car is really on the ground.

Basically go to Lowes and grab the thickest piece of lumber that will fit under front valence, then cut two long strips for the bases, go one foot shorter for the next 'step' then one foot shorter for the last 'step'. Adjust those lengths to make them longer if neccessary so your valence doesn't hit. Basically yor front tires will be rolling up little steps.

But two or three thicknesses will have your tires a few inches off the ground so you can slide the jack under and use it.

Jambo
Jambo New Reader
10/22/15 4:38 a.m.

Sweet ride by the way. The call of the C5 is strong to me.

Opti
Opti HalfDork
1/28/16 7:33 a.m.

Yesterday I finally yanked my pcm ad sent it off to ECS for a tune.

Vigo
Vigo PowerDork
1/28/16 3:56 p.m.
Opti wrote: Which harbor freight jack are you referring to. I have a low profile racing jack and it doesnt fit under the front.

Whoops, sorry i missed this!

http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/floor-jacks/2-ton-low-profilelong-reach-steel-heavy-duty-floor-jack-with-rapid-pump-62310.html
On a stock height c5 this will go straight under the front, reach the subframe, and lift almost exactly 2 feet. It's the best jack for low cars that i've personally ever used.

Petrolburner
Petrolburner HalfDork
1/29/16 1:36 p.m.
Vigo wrote:
Opti wrote: Which harbor freight jack are you referring to. I have a low profile racing jack and it doesnt fit under the front.
Whoops, sorry i missed this! http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/floor-jacks/2-ton-low-profilelong-reach-steel-heavy-duty-floor-jack-with-rapid-pump-62310.html On a stock height c5 this will go straight under the front, reach the subframe, and lift almost exactly 2 feet. It's the best jack for low cars that i've personally ever used. I

I have the same jack and it worked on my lowered C5 as well as my lifted Tundra. Really a huge range of motion but it weighs 100 pounds!

Opti
Opti HalfDork
2/10/16 11:57 p.m.

Got my PCM back and car runs okay, but Ive got a CEL again. I've got a P0133, 0153, 1133, and 1153. Insufficient switching and slow response, both banks, upstream sensors. I was told the codes would be turned off, because with the LG headers the primaries are too long for the sensors to get hot enough. Im running the rear O2s in the front positions, because they have stronger heaters. Not cutting it though. Gonna get some new O2s just in case.

Finally got some pictures of the X pipe.

 photo 20160206_180219_zpsfvzw1omq.jpg</a

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Also washed and waxed the car today

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Currently shopping for a used fast 90mm and a new top, its been a real pain in the ass to find a sebring silver targa.

Opti
Opti HalfDork
3/8/16 8:19 p.m.

Been hunting real hard for a used fast 90. Missed 4 or 5 over the last few weeks, finally found one today. Should be here in a few days, needs the lower repaired, but I should be able to do that and save about 200. Also ordered a rope seal, so I can seal it all back up, and some button head bolts for the valley cover.

Gonna look around locally for an LS2 throttle body, luckily my buddy has an adapter to mate it to the ls1 harness, if I cant find one around here Ill just order one online.

Got my new O2s in, its been a few days and the code hasnt come back, probably still gonna get it retuned anyways. Gotta get the fast and tb on, then gonna have it dyno tuned, I already reached out to a few local shops.

And of course right after I sent money for the fast I found a perfect sebring silver top for a dang good price, and I dont know If I can swing both with the Intake, TB, and tuning, Im still waiting on a shipping price. Dont know if Ill find another one if I pass this up.

Also ordered some wrinkle red paint for the valve covers. Plan on doing the covers in wrinkle red and bolts in brass, and the coil bolts in stainless allen bolts.

Apparently you cant DIY actual brass coating because of all the nasty chemicals but I found an old trick to get the look I want.

Did my proof of concept a few days ago.

Before

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After

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What I did was get the bolt real hot, then hit it with a brass brush. Ive rigged up a bracket where I can set all the bolts and hit them with a torch and brush them all at once. Im having some trouble finding a brass wire wheel that is solid brass and not steel core, will make it way easier to hit them all at once.

Gonna try copper coating to and see how it looks against the brass. Ill post pictures once I get the brass and copper done and have some wrinkle red to put it against.

Opti
Opti HalfDork
3/9/16 9:05 p.m.

So I got my paint today, and decided to test it. It says 65-90 degrees and under 60 percent humidity....NAH. It was like 50 degrees and about 100 percent humidity since it was raining like cats and dogs, couldnt help myself though.

So I grabbed an oil pump from my scrap bin.

Before

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After. I did this one with a heat gun, instructions say you can heat to 200 degrees for an hour to cure the paint and it will have finer texture, or you can let it air dry for like 24 hours for coarse texture. Hit it with a heat gun set at 180 for about 30 minutes, while I prepped and painted the other piece. Also has a brass bolt to show how it would look.

 photo 20160309_195428_zpsenxlpgyt.jpg  photo 20160309_195350_zpsvtqj0ztc.jpg  photo 20160309_195407_zpsekww90kx.jpg

You can also see the other piece I painted, that Im gonna let air dry

And one with a close up of the texture

 photo 20160309_195418_zps9vrettmv.jpg

The texture seems kinda messy, most pictures Ive seen, have a more uniform look, probably the poor weather conditions or the intermittent localized heat.

Ill have some more pics once they fully cure, and I try a copper bolt.

So what yall think, any suggestions?

Opti
Opti HalfDork
3/10/16 6:07 p.m.

I got some pictures of the air dried part.

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And a close up of the texture.

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After some reading I think I messed up on the one I heated, apparently you are supposed to let it sit for about 30 minutes before you heat it. Im thinking air dry on the covers and heat on the intake, because I want a stock look on the fast, so I want the tighter wrinkles. Gonna sand the fast lettering off the intake, so no one knows.

dculberson
dculberson UberDork
3/10/16 9:33 p.m.

Looking great! I like the wrinkle finish and brass bolt.

Mad_Ratel
Mad_Ratel HalfDork
3/11/16 5:33 a.m.

That wrinkle coat just looks like a dust magnet to me... How well does it clean once it's on the car?

Opti
Opti HalfDork
3/11/16 6:54 p.m.
Mad_Ratel wrote: That wrinkle coat just looks like a dust magnet to me... How well does it clean once it's on the car?

I dont know, that way to much thinking ahead for me. I did plan on testing it once the paint fully cures, I was told it took a long time to dry, and since its been cold and raining all week the air dry part is taking forever. But i plan on intentionally chipping it then pressure washing it to see how it holds up, since I pressure wash my engine bay.

Apparently its pretty durable from what I hear so I dont expect a problem, Ive seen a few compressor housing painted with this stuff that held up great for years, so i expect unless Im beating on it with something sharp it should be fine, and Ill just clean it with a pressure washer and a brush.

FAST should be in on Monday

mazdeuce
mazdeuce PowerDork
3/11/16 7:06 p.m.

I really really like the brass and copper bolts. I'm going to have to borrow that. Good work on this car.

Opti
Opti HalfDork
3/15/16 8:32 a.m.

Got my FAST in.

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Pretty but dirty.

Crack, half repaired

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Where his repair failed

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Scrubbed the upper down, now i cant decide, whether i want the brack wrinkle or not.

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After repair. Jbweld and fiberglass net. Seems to be the recommended repair process, sure is ghetto.

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Also found out the lower was ported by Greg Good, which is good he's pretty well respected in the viper and ls community. Ill get some more pics of the porting and internals once the "repair" has cured.

So wrinkle blacm or the stock grey.

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