Bowers Build Thread

Update:

Specifics on the car can be found in my welcome thread HERE

Build sheet with prices and sources can be found HERE

First update. I don't know if I said this but I ended up getting another motor out of a 97-98 GTP. Tore that down and send the block, heads, crank and pistons to a local race/machine shop. They are doing the following:

Hot tank the block
Replace freeze plugs
Disassemble heads, clean, magnaflux
Recondition valve seats
Reassemble heads using new valve guides, 105# springs
Replace cam bearings
Magnaflux and polish crank
Check Rods for round-ness

They have had everything for about 5 weeks now. I guess I should have thought about the upcoming race season because those guys are paying ALOT more money for their work and obviously get priority.

Supposed to be getting that stuff back today or tomorrow. Will post some pics when I have everything in the same place.

Bowersk wrote:

If anyone is still around here. Take a look at this and tell me what you think. Prices for everything are coming from ZZ Performance as every other site seems to be around the same prices.

What pulley size you think I could run:

Rod Bearing set / LIM / SC Gasket / LIM o rings $128.00
180 Degree Thermostat $15.00
104 Autolite plugs $12.00
Cold Air Intake 0
Autotap Scanner $150.00
Supercharger Pulley Puller $109.99
Ssautochrome Headers $350.00
HP Tuners License for this car $100.00
3.x modular Pulley system $100.00
Xp cam, springs, retainers, DR TC $665.00
Valve Locks $25.00
Oe-r 875 lifters $170.00
Cam Install Kit $120.00
Machined Oil Pump cover $55.00
Front cover gasket $9.00
ZZP custom pushrods $116.00
Oil & Filter
Transmission Fluid & Filter
Antifreeze



Total $2,124.99

looks almost exactly like my motor as it is now
I would keep an eye out for a used ported blower to do also if you can spend a couple hundred more - it will help

I've made some changes since I posted that. I ported my case myself. Thanks to you and a couple other folks here, Ive learned a ton of stuff about these cars in a very short amount of time.

Got another update today too. They finished the machine work on my motor. Ended up costing a little more than I expected but its done by someone, who was albeit slow, who knows his stuff and will help me if I run into any problems during the build. He's also hooking me up with dyno time when the time comes. I'm going to go pick it up in the morning and immediately get to work on it. I'll take lots of pictures.

Patiently Waiting in the all the sudden crappy weather. It was 78 degrees 2 days ago.



Got the block/heads/crank/pistons back from the machine shop today.



Made the mistake of using a new shop rag to dry out some water...now I get to pick out all the lint.











Don't make fun of the blower, i'm trying lots of different things and haven't found anything I like yet.

Been a while since I've posted any progress because there has been very little (thanks to divorce proceedings..lol). Because of those reasons I have decided to put things back together, for now, minus headers and throttle body. Those will be installed with the motor in the car, a little bit down the road.

Out with the old



Built



In with the new, Kinda





Still have to do a couple things but thats gonna take a junk yard trip this weekend. Barring no crazy setbacks, it should be done this weekend.

As it sits right now.



Like I said still have some things to do like find a frickin supercharger pulley puller. I'm not paying $130 for something I'm going to use 1 time.

Also need to find a couple of bolts, spacers and misc items that were lost during a very drunk tear-down.

Hows that coolant elbow going to go in with the LIM on and the tension/alternator bracket on?

Karma wrote:

Hows that coolant elbow going to go in with the LIM on and the tension/alternator bracket on?

lol good eye. Working on that.

Alot of staging going on right now, Like I said it was a very drunk tear down. Still sorting out bolt issues...lol

noticed on your build list you have 02 extension harness.
Keep in mind if you are using the 96's engine harness the 02 extensions will not work b/c our 02's have a different plug than the 97+ L67 cars.
just means you will have to make your own extension.

as the "other" 1996 riv owner pointed out the dhp is a must for us because hp tuners doesnt support us.

Im in the same boat as you trying to find better parts for the 4T60e trans. i really dont want to swap pcms and everything to make a 4t56 work.

also you say 3.5" DP with the headers. i dont think that will work unless you are relocating the primary 02 sensor. Unless you are over 600hp i dont really see the need for anything over 3" from the DP back

Yeah I've learned alot since I started this thread. Abaddon made me the harness extension. I will end up going with the SSAC headers and whatever dp comes with them. Already have DHP tuners, just looking for a beginner .bin for the mods I have.

Really the headers and the throttle body are the only things I need to finish this thing the way I planned on it.

Love to see this stuff happening! Nice build!

Mr.Riviera wrote:

noticed on your build list you have 02 extension harness.
Keep in mind if you are using the 96's engine harness the 02 extensions will not work b/c our 02's have a different plug than the 97+ L67 cars.
just means you will have to make your own extension.

Looks like I'll be making a different one.....

Sok dude, I can manage. Its gonna be a couple months before I get the headers anyways. BTW, going to the local pick and pull this weekend, and the only Riv they have is a 98. Dont forget to send me the measurements I'm supposed to check for the window switch.

First run into with trouble.
https://rivperformance.editboard.com/t8427p15-trouble-starting-after-new-build-vs-cam#131723

Got that fixed though and its running now. Only let it run for a minute and shut it down. Going to break in tonight and run some scans on it because it does have sort of a miss.

First code - 0341 CMP circuit performance

This is probably the wire that got melted and I fixed. Going to have to take the front of the motor off again today, replace the Cam Sensor AND the harness....I'm getting to where I can take the motor mount and power steering pump off in about 3 minutes...lol

Well, replaced the cam sensor and harness, and it purred like a kitten. Put almost 500 miles on it yesterday on what I would like to call a mind clearing road trip to pick up my son from somewhere he shouldn't have went. I put all my faith into the car holding together and it did fine. Kept my foot out of the peddle, did the normal ring break in procedures and just cruised trying to keep my rpms down as far as possible.

Then we get back home, and coming down a back road to my house I got curious and all I can say is that before that back road, I thought you guys were all full of doo doo...lol. This thing threw me and him back in our seats and had me giggling like a damn school girl. I still haven't even put the 3.25" pulley on yet and I am happy with the performance of just the VS cam...No headers, no throttle body, just the cam and the KR reducing small stuff. Now I have the itch again and the headers, throttle body and 3.25 will be on as soon as possible....

Then we are going to go ahead and go to phase 2.

Bowersk wrote:

Well, replaced the cam sensor and harness, and it purred like a kitten. Put almost 500 miles on it yesterday on what I would like to call a mind clearing road trip to pick up my son from somewhere he shouldn't have went. I put all my faith into the car holding together and it did fine. Kept my foot out of the peddle, did the normal ring break in procedures and just cruised trying to keep my rpms down as far as possible.

Then we get back home, and coming down a back road to my house I got curious and all I can say is that before that back road, I thought you guys were all full of doo doo...lol. This thing threw me and him back in our seats and had me giggling like a damn school girl. I still haven't even put the 3.25" pulley on yet and I am happy with the performance of just the VS cam...No headers, no throttle body, just the cam and the KR reducing small stuff. Now I have the itch again and the headers, throttle body and 3.25 will be on as soon as possible....

Then we are going to go ahead and go to phase 2.

...if your ambition and pockets are deep enough you can build an sc3800 up to several hundred (not just 200+ stock) street-able horsepower. ...just sayin' ...congrats.

Albertj

YAY!

Long overdue update here. Got the 3.25 MPS pressed on....did a couple of WOT runs just to get baselines for tuning. After that was done I noticed a chatter at 3k and up that came from the bottom of the motor. Well after alot of thinking and talking about it I got under it today, unbolted the torque converter from the flywheel and had a buddy romp on it a couple times - no rattle. Looks like I should have replaced that dam TC when I had the motor out. Looks like the motor will come back out either this weekend or next. Have to find a place to get a new TC from, and I'm going to go ahead and put the headers on this time while its out.

harmonic balancer in good shape?

Yep, the chatter was gone with the torque converter unbolted from the flywheel and me holding the torque converter back while my friends got revved it for a couple of seconds. Noise had nothing to do with the motor which is a relief. I was afraid the machine shop didnt re-round the rods like I paid them to do. Pretty sure I can pull the motor as-is in an hour or 2 so I'm not worried about that. I also have another car so I'll finish it up this time rather than hurrying to get it back in.

SO BASICALLY, if anyone reading this boring ole thread ever does an engine swap, may as well replace the TC while you have the motor out. Food for thought.

Bowersk wrote:

SO BASICALLY, if anyone reading this boring ole thread ever does an engine swap, may as well replace the TC while you have the motor out. Food for thought.

I disagree. FWIW when I swapped transmissions to a built trans w/ 3.29 gears I kept my stock converter. When I swapped the motor to a VS cam GenV at 120K miles I kept the stock (original) converter. That is still running strong with 160K miles on it now. It's always had regular fluid and filter changes. Basically, unless it's broken or you are building a low-13 sec drag car you can keep the stock converter.

Ok let me change my statement up, if your doing an engine swap in a car that's been sitting for a couple of years, while you have the motor out you MIGHT wanna think about replacing the TC. All it took me is a couple of all out WOT runs and now I get to pull my motor back out again to replace something I could have replaced in 3 minutes while it was already out.