Well, Instead of resurrecting a two year old thread, I figured I would start over and in a different direction.

When last left off, the '87 Camaro was a rolling chassis sitting in the garage. I blew the 420cid motor and a 700R4 transmission. I started the process of converting the car over to a 5-speed manual along with assembling a rebuild 350 like a GM ZZ4 crate motor.

Then came the divorce.

Now I'm in the process of wrapping up all the loose ends I can in the coming year before I depart Florida for good. The '87 Camaro has been one of those nagging projects I just keep putting off to work on something else.

Well, I think the ZZ4 motor is sold at this point. Co-worker wants it for his 1st Gen Camaro project instead of trying to rebuild a clapped out 327cid. Same fellow is also buying the bottle out of the Bonneville and the two M/T ET Drags.

That leaves me with a 1996 rebuilt LT1 motor, a brand new T-5 transmission, and a 3rd gen rolling chassis. I could simply sell the parts and call it a day. But I've become rather attached to this car (drive anything for 200K miles and you get attached to it.) In order for it to pass PA inspection, it has to go back to being a fuel injected car with a PCM, cat, and all the other odds and ends it currently doesn't have.

So... last night I started going through the LT1 and getting it ready to install in the '87. I've got a deadline now, since I rented a U-Haul and trailer to transport it up to PA in December. Even if I don't manage to get the car running, at least all the major assemblies will be in place and I can finish it when I move back.

I'll start posting pics as I go. Last night I stripped the wiring and accessories off the motor. Tonight I need to get a pilot bushing in the crank and get it up on an engine stand to put a new cam in ( I've got a spare LT4-Hot cam laying around and the LT1 was rebuilt with just a stock cam.)

By Sunday, I need to have the driveline back in the car.

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Bye Bye 1990 Bonneville LE... Now it belongs to my daughter
In the Garage: 2009 Subaru Outback, 1987 Camaro, 2006 SV650S, 1995 Regal 182 "ASANAGI", 1962 Ford Galaxie 500, 1995 Ford F150 XL 4WD, 1953 Farmall Cub

Sounds like fun! Be sure to take pics, you know how we love those.

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Bye Bye:

RIP sandrock

You could make it a nice driver with handling abilities and nice 17s.

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I'd like to know how this goes. My LT1 is waiting to be swapped into my 89 Camaro. I still haven't figured out how I am going to make the speedometer work yet. I had a LT1 VSS end put on a 700R4, so now I dont have an output for the cable driven speedometer.

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--2006 Silverado LT-3/3 RCX Lift, Bilstien 5100's, CAI, Exhuast, BFG A/T's,
Tuners Inc. dynotune, Aeroforce Interceptor, Kicker 10" TC, iSimple Interface
--1989 Camaro RS-LT1/700r4 drivetrain swap, Corvette trans internals w/2200 stall,
rebuilt engine with LT4 cam

Just go back to using the regular tailshaft for the 700R4 F-Body. You don't need to generate the VSS signal at the transmission tailshaft. On the back of your speedometer, you have a VSS signal generator. It's optical and picks up rotation of the speedometer cable, buffers it with the little yellow module, and spits it out the speedometer harness connector. GM uses the same pulses-per-mile factor on practically everything, so you should be pretty close. If you don't have the 700R4 tailshaft, just holler, I'm pretty sure I still have one out in the garage.

How are you planning to hook the reverse flow water pump up on yours? I'm thinking of using a Caprice radiator and water pump to simplify the hose arrangement. My '87 got a 1LE heater box years ago, so no AC system to interfere with the cross-member or passenger side motor mount. I just have a A/C Delete idler pulley on the accessory drive bracket. Looking at the illustrations, the Caprice water pump has the heater outlets on the passenger side.

This morning's task - run to parts store. I need a clutch pilot bearing, water pump, and thermostat. That should be the only engine parts I'll need to have the engine ready to install tonight after swapping cams and buttoning up the motor.

Gee...the garage is going to get a whole lot cleaner when this is done. Years of excess parts are going out the door (how about two boxes of steel accessory brackets for SBC motors...must be about 75 lbs of steel in there.)

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Bye Bye 1990 Bonneville LE... Now it belongs to my daughter
In the Garage: 2009 Subaru Outback, 1987 Camaro, 2006 SV650S, 1995 Regal 182 "ASANAGI", 1962 Ford Galaxie 500, 1995 Ford F150 XL 4WD, 1953 Farmall Cub

I purchased the A/C relocation kit from here: http://www.brrs.efishant.com/index.php? ... &Itemid=53 and moved the compressor. I also switched to a 4th gen F-Body radiator (took minimal modding to the rubber bracket and fan shroud to make it work. I also purchased the e-fans out of a 4th gen Camaro to go with the new radiator. I have the engine just about ready to go (rebuilt, LT4 parts, Painless harness, '93 throttle body for 700r4 kickdown, ect). The transmission is also ready to go, but I have all the suspension parts off of the front of the car preventing the installation of it all. I also still need to drop the tank and upgrade the fuel pump along with getting a new rear end. I'm pretty sure the rear end is an open diff.

The most useful LTx swap link that I have that still works is this one http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/ltx-l ... tions.html . A lot of the more useful ones I had have gone offline.

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--2006 Silverado LT-3/3 RCX Lift, Bilstien 5100's, CAI, Exhuast, BFG A/T's,
Tuners Inc. dynotune, Aeroforce Interceptor, Kicker 10" TC, iSimple Interface
--1989 Camaro RS-LT1/700r4 drivetrain swap, Corvette trans internals w/2200 stall,
rebuilt engine with LT4 cam

Little slow on the work. I had other tasks that needed done...mundane stuff like laundry, sawgrass from hell, and a TV antenna to get installed on the roof so I can watch the Steelers play tonight.

However, all was not lost! I got a clutch pilot bearing installed in the LT1 crank (cool, GM kept the dimensions of the input shaft tip and pocket in the crank the same on the LT1.) I also got a '95 Caprice water pump. Transferred the flywheel from the ZZ4 motor on to the LT1. Finished up tonight with the engine up on a stand, valve covers off, everything cleaned off the front except for the balancer hub. Got to go get a couple of 7/16-20 bolts tomorrow to use with the puller to get the balancer hub off the crank. I'll take one long one, trim it on the lathe to serve as a plug the puller can press against. A regular balancer puller doesn't work with LT1, the end of the crank isn't exposed.

So, that's where I am as of tonight. And it's almost game time, so I bid you all adieu.

Edit: yeah, after watching that game, I might as well have kept working on the car.

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Bye Bye 1990 Bonneville LE... Now it belongs to my daughter
In the Garage: 2009 Subaru Outback, 1987 Camaro, 2006 SV650S, 1995 Regal 182 "ASANAGI", 1962 Ford Galaxie 500, 1995 Ford F150 XL 4WD, 1953 Farmall Cub

Productive evening. Removed the balancer hub, timing cover, oil pan, and intake manifold. (Even made spagetti with home-made sauce & garlic bread for dinner ) The rockers are all loose enough to remove the pushrods and the motor is sitting at TDC #1. Tomorrow when I get home, I'll pull the lifters and get the cam swapped. If I get as far as cleaning the gasket surfaces, I'll be ready to start putting the motor back together.

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Bye Bye 1990 Bonneville LE... Now it belongs to my daughter
In the Garage: 2009 Subaru Outback, 1987 Camaro, 2006 SV650S, 1995 Regal 182 "ASANAGI", 1962 Ford Galaxie 500, 1995 Ford F150 XL 4WD, 1953 Farmall Cub

make sure when you put that IM back on you use ALOT of sealer on the back section they tend to leak easily. btw dont break that steam tube while taking it off there impossible to find (ask how i know). Lastly when you need the 4 gaskets for your steam tube, go buy 4 oil drain plug gaskets for 3 bucks instead of spending $80 for "OEM" gaskets.

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2000 bonneville SLE, cleared headlights + taillights, 2 12'' Rockford Fosgate P3's, 2 Kenwood 1800 watt amps, 1 250 watt Mtx 2 chanel with an Alpine head unit.

If you ever find yourself in that situation again, consider substituting pipe to -4 AN 90degree fittings on the back of the heads (done that already for someone else's LT1.) Also, the aluminum banjo blocks that make up the fitting can be drilled and tapped for pipe fittings. More work than it's worth since the 90 degree fittings are easy enough to find at hydraulics shops and a T fitting finishes the job without getting in the way of the EGR pipe.

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Bye Bye 1990 Bonneville LE... Now it belongs to my daughter
In the Garage: 2009 Subaru Outback, 1987 Camaro, 2006 SV650S, 1995 Regal 182 "ASANAGI", 1962 Ford Galaxie 500, 1995 Ford F150 XL 4WD, 1953 Farmall Cub

I got a bit more done tonight. Cam swapped out, gasket surfaces cleaned off, timing cover and balancer back on. Finished up with the motor ready to flip over on the stand to put the oil pan back on.

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Bye Bye 1990 Bonneville LE... Now it belongs to my daughter
In the Garage: 2009 Subaru Outback, 1987 Camaro, 2006 SV650S, 1995 Regal 182 "ASANAGI", 1962 Ford Galaxie 500, 1995 Ford F150 XL 4WD, 1953 Farmall Cub

Another day of working on stuff. Went out last night to see the latest Harry Potter flick with Carolyn and one of her friends, so kind of a late start today (still woke up at 5:30am...Just didn't feel like doing anything till 8)

So, had to take the old water pump apart (punched the shaft out of it) just to recover the splined coupler. Soaked it PB Blaster for half the day and was able to punch it off the old water pump shaft. Meanwhile, I got the oil pan on and put the motor back down on a storage cart. Lashed all the valves, filled the oil pan and primed the motor for a little while to make sure all the oil passages were loaded.

Finished up with the clutch and intake manifold.

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Bye Bye 1990 Bonneville LE... Now it belongs to my daughter
In the Garage: 2009 Subaru Outback, 1987 Camaro, 2006 SV650S, 1995 Regal 182 "ASANAGI", 1962 Ford Galaxie 500, 1995 Ford F150 XL 4WD, 1953 Farmall Cub

Choose to do something amusing today, Carolyn and I went out and killed some clay targets. Not much work done on the Camaro, though I did get most of the accumulated crap off the top of the car and started cleaning off the cobwebs & dust. Set off a fogger bomb in the garage about an hour ago. That should kill off and spiders hiding in the car by morning. (Chemical Warfare! I Love the smell of Raid in the evening....smells like....Victory! )

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Bye Bye 1990 Bonneville LE... Now it belongs to my daughter
In the Garage: 2009 Subaru Outback, 1987 Camaro, 2006 SV650S, 1995 Regal 182 "ASANAGI", 1962 Ford Galaxie 500, 1995 Ford F150 XL 4WD, 1953 Farmall Cub

Love it!

It sounds like you are really getting there. What is your target timing to move to PA?

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White Horse. 230K miles, It just keeps on kickin'

I've got two weeks to get the Camaro ready to leave (in whatever condition it is in.) along with a load of excess stuff that I don't need at present but don't want to get rid of. I figure since I had to rent the U-Haul truck to tow the Camaro, I might as well pack some stuff in it as well. I only have to get the engine and transmission installed so I can reconnect the torque arm up. Since I'm towing it on a dolly, I'm not going to connect the driveshaft or fill the transmission fluids. I just need all the components back in the car with working brakes and steering. When it gets to PA, it gets tucked into the tractor shed till I move back for good.

Next summer will be the Galaxie's turn to take the one-way trip to PA. After that, the F-150 and the boat trailer will be the last vehicles to go. So about a year and a half total. Maybe two and a half years on the outside if Carolyn decides to go to Daytona State after graduation to start with. (I'm still thinking of taking the boat around Florida and up the Mississippi to get it home.)

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Bye Bye 1990 Bonneville LE... Now it belongs to my daughter
In the Garage: 2009 Subaru Outback, 1987 Camaro, 2006 SV650S, 1995 Regal 182 "ASANAGI", 1962 Ford Galaxie 500, 1995 Ford F150 XL 4WD, 1953 Farmall Cub

Wow! What an adventure that would be!

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White Horse. 230K miles, It just keeps on kickin'

This evening the Camaro finally grew a 3rd pedal. I finished cutting out the opening for the clutch master cylinder and hung the pedals.







Progress went pretty smoothly right up to the point where it was time to hook the proportioning valve and connect the brake lines. The replacement valve I had gotten years ago from LKQ is the wrong type (it came off a disk brake rear end F-Body, where mine is still a drum brake rear axle.) Long story short, the connections for the front brakes are a different thread. Quick solution at this point is to go to LKQ in the morning and see if I can snag the right proportioning valve quickly so I can get the engine in tomorrow. Might get lucky and find the other little odds and ends I need, like the clip that hold the speedometer sender into the transmission.

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Bye Bye 1990 Bonneville LE... Now it belongs to my daughter
In the Garage: 2009 Subaru Outback, 1987 Camaro, 2006 SV650S, 1995 Regal 182 "ASANAGI", 1962 Ford Galaxie 500, 1995 Ford F150 XL 4WD, 1953 Farmall Cub

Day of heavy lifting... Made a quick run this morning to LKQ, found a disk/drum 3rd gen in a few minutes, and came home with the proportioning valve I needed. (after wandering around for a while..Don, they had a more or less complete Burgundy 91 Bonneville. Headlights looked new, but I only brought enough tools to get the brake plumbing I needed.)

Came home, finished up the brake system. Time to install the LT-1 motor.













Engine is tipped way back in the motor mounts right now (oil pan is resting on a jack stand under the car.) This is just until tomorrow when I install the T-5 transmission and raise the engine up to it's normal angle. No, the throttle body is not hitting the strut tower brace, there's still about a half inch between them. It's for a carb/TBI motor, but the LT1 manifold is so low, there's no interference problems.

Very roomy in the engine bay right now. Even with everything on the motor, it's going to be really easy to work on later, compared to the 4th Gen's engine bay.

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Bye Bye 1990 Bonneville LE... Now it belongs to my daughter
In the Garage: 2009 Subaru Outback, 1987 Camaro, 2006 SV650S, 1995 Regal 182 "ASANAGI", 1962 Ford Galaxie 500, 1995 Ford F150 XL 4WD, 1953 Farmall Cub

Oh Bloody-hell. I just realized that by the time the Camaro is tagged in Pennsylvania, it will be 25 years old. It will qualify for an Antique tag and is no longer subject to emissions inspections. Here I am worrying about getting the friggin car to pass a PA inspections when it doesn't have to pass, it just has to pass the general safety inspection (brakes, tires, lights, etc.)

I'll still finish the LT1/T5 installation. It will be nice to have a 300hp car with decent fuel consumption (most 4th gen Z28's get high teens to low 20's for mpg, better than the 3rd gens.) The car is lighter than an 4th gen, less parasitic drag on the engine, and geared with a 3.23 posi axle, so mid to high teens is what I'm expecting.

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Bye Bye 1990 Bonneville LE... Now it belongs to my daughter
In the Garage: 2009 Subaru Outback, 1987 Camaro, 2006 SV650S, 1995 Regal 182 "ASANAGI", 1962 Ford Galaxie 500, 1995 Ford F150 XL 4WD, 1953 Farmall Cub

Is there any other restrictions on an Antique tag? I know in MN "Collector" plates restrict you to collector car events and things like that only. Hence why most older MN cars that get truly driven have standard plates.

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Bye Bye:

RIP sandrock