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2000 Buick Sleeper build - 2nd engine trashed!

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Need to start thinking about traction a bit too. My GTP will spin the tires through an intersection. I think too much power and your just gonna boil the tires. They dont make any aftermarket diffs for these cars. Well I think I found one but it was a time bomb
 
you could increase the size of the spider gears (if available from a larger piece) then blueprint, polish, and cryo the existing diff for a significant increase in strength...

AssembledRH.jpg
 
The size of the differential is the actual problem. I know there's pics somewhere but think um well tiny. Big limitation of these cars but the motors can be built to pull way hard in the mid range. I bet my cars 60 to 80 time would hang with some that were way more powerful
 
blazinzuk said:
Need to start thinking about traction a bit too. My GTP will spin the tires through an intersection. I think too much power and your just gonna boil the tires. They dont make any aftermarket diffs for these cars. Well I think I found one but it was a time bomb
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There are some real expensive LSDs, but I hadn't planned to open the tranny at all. Traction is a problem with FWD, no question. I have to work the throttle all through 1st in my GTP and this Buick will have a lot more torque. But big, instant torque on the open road is :D
 
Blue85 said:
There are some real expensive LSDs, but I hadn't planned to open the tranny at all. Traction is a problem with FWD, no question. I have to work the throttle all through 1st in my GTP and this Buick will have a lot more torque. But big, instant torque on the open road is :D
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I have heard that the LS don't really last long. I forget you have experience with a GTP I always thought the boost coming on so strong at say 3500 rpm was awesome. I was blown away by how fast mine got to top speed (138 indicated on the HUD) 134 on the gps. When I get the tune on mine after the headers and smaller pully I will have my buddy take off the top speed limiter.

Even my GTP is a sleeper dude its debadged but its certainly not super fast but no slouch I have pissed off a couple ricer guys that tried to cut me off, I just gunned it and didn't let them in. Kind of being a dick but hey they started it
 
blazinzuk said:
I have heard that the LS don't really last long. I forget you have experience with a GTP I always thought the boost coming on so strong at say 3500 rpm was awesome. I was blown away by how fast mine got to top speed (138 indicated on the HUD) 134 on the gps. When I get the tune on mine after the headers and smaller pully I will have my buddy take off the top speed limiter.

Even my GTP is a sleeper dude its debadged but its certainly not super fast but no slouch I have pissed off a couple ricer guys that tried to cut me off, I just gunned it and didn't let them in. Kind of being a dick but hey they started it
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under the circumstances, if you got the big dick show em!
 
blazinzuk said:
Need to start thinking about traction a bit too. My GTP will spin the tires through an intersection. I think too much power and your just gonna boil the tires. They dont make any aftermarket diffs for these cars. Well I think I found one but it was a time bomb
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Just add duals.....
Friend had this grand idea...... :doah:
But it did leave some crazy burnouts :haha:
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I've wanted to do a sleeper Buick like this for a long time.
But since I have two other projects going that aren't getting completed....
Looking forward to seeing this progress.
 
4 door sleepers are so cool. When I was in HS I helped a buddy build a Crown Vic up with a dual overhead cam motor swap, and then boosted it with a junkyard found Cobra blower. Made it quite a blast to drive and then it also ended up in the junkyard about a year later looking a little rough after the encounter with the guardrail and culvert. But it was worth it in my book.

The best part about these type of cars is people junk them because they are so cheap, and GTP's and the like are so common around here anyways in junkyards they can be built as a complete junkyard found car.
 
Got the supercharger ported. It turned out ugly, but should be functional. The inlet was enlarged from 67mm to 75mm, so I can run a larger throttle body on it. The outlet "arrowhead" was opened up into a "V" to emulate the Gen V blower design and sharp edges smoothed out. You can also see where I removed the little wall, helping expose more of the intercooler inlet - who knows how much that helps or not.

PICT0587.jpg


PICT0588.jpg


I expected the lower intake gasket to be bad on the donor motor, since they all are and there was some oil and coolant on the outside of the engine. I wasn't expecting all this sludge, though. I spent a long time cleaning it with ATF and brakecleen. This is a 140,000 mile engine.

PICT0590.jpg


Is there any reason I can't use the pushrods and rockers from the 100,000 mile engine? They're just in better shape.
 
Kind of a weird one on the spring retainers. 11 springs went on fine, but the 12th has the wrong ID so the valve lock won't fit in it. I'll have to go down to ZZP to sort this out - plus they forgot to give me the rocker bolts that were supposed to come with the kit. So for the weekend:
-Got the top end cleaned up
-Put the new Cam in
-Put in new valve seals
-new LS6 valve springs (90#) and retainers (except for one)
-Painted the valve covers and supercharger case.

Open items:
-waiting on throttle body to come in the mail
-need to adapt the Northstar throttle body - build an adapter plate?
-Want to do a reservoir/pressure cap for the intercooler. What came with the kit is just a stupid clear tube sticking up from the heat exchanger with a plug in the top. The ION redline has a suitable item, but I might go with a Sea-Doo pressure bottle or something else.
 
Help me understand hydraulic roller lifters here. I assembled the lifters, pushrods and rockers and then rotated the engine. Some valves would never close. I found many of the lifters couldn't be compressed, while a couple of them could. So I took all the lifters apart, cleaned them and depressed the little check valve in the bottom while re-assembling. Then I could easily push the pushrods down a little. After this I tested each cylinder with compressed air in the spark plug hole and all valves opened and sealed as expected.

So were the lifters just stuck from sitting around for a while? I thought maybe the oil would free them up, but if multiple valves were stuck open the engine wouldn't even start. Is this anything to worry about now?


Anyway, the valvetrain is done.

PICT0591.jpg


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EDIT: OK, I did some reading about this - apparently it's normal for the spring in the lifter to raise it up once the rockers are removed, drawing surrounding engine oil in with it. So they end up at their top position and essentially hydrolocked. I'm not sure how you know the right amount of oil to have in them while you're assembling the engine, but it sounds like air is bad. But it seems like once you have oil pressure it should all take care of itself?
 
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whenever ive installed hydraulic lifters, ive let them soak in oil overnight before they go in the engine. However, i have never put a used set in, or messed with some in an engine already...
 
wage92 said:
whenever ive installed hydraulic lifters, ive let them soak in oil overnight before they go in the engine. However, i have never put a used set in, or messed with some in an engine already...
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Ive always know this to be correct. Primes the motor faster. However as long as you do prime the motor it shouldnt matter.
 
Oil pump is attached to the crank. So I'm thinking to pack the pump full of vaseline before attaching the front cover, then fill the oil filter with oil and spin the motor without sparkplugs, using the starter motor.
 
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